This is a very interesting development.
When America and Israeli are looking set to attack Iran, why is the Uk suddenly backing off?
Soldiers families are angry about the politics being played with the deaths of their children.
Could our Albion just be respecting the trurh?
I doubt it.
Anger as Britain Admits it was Wrong to Blame Iran for Deaths in Iraq: "MPs and soldiers' families have demanded an explanation from the Government after a U-turn over claims that Iran was complicit in the killing of British soldiers in southern Iraq.
Britain has dropped the charge of Iranian involvement after senior officials had repeatedly accused the Tehran regime of supplying sophisticated explosive devices to insurgents. Government officials now acknowledge that there is no evidence, or even reliable intelligence, connecting the Iranian government to the infra-red triggered bombs which have killed 10 British soldiers in the past eight months.
The twist comes three months after British officials first made strong assertions, widely reported in the media, of an Iranian hand in killing British soldiers. The highly publicised allegations emerged as America was locked in tense confrontation with Iran over its nuclear policy. It led to a major row and the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, warned Tehran of the consequences of continuing interference in Iraq."
Friday, January 06, 2006
News from Italy
"Italian kids hunted out stockings on Thursday ahead of the Epiphany holiday which brings a final round of gifts for children and the knowledge that seasonal festivities are almost over .
According to tradition, a white-haired witch known as the 'Befana' arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings of good children with toys and sweets .
The naughty ones, on the other hand, find a lump of coal ."
I thought this was Condi rice on a visit.
I guess it is just the same old epiphany. It would indeed be a miracle if Rice brought anything but a cold and deadly smile.
The Italians have been trying to arrrest suspicious if not very wise men from the middle east who have been trying to steal their citizens.
Maybe under their Berlusconi leader, they will just hand the CIA men the odd lump of coal.
According to tradition, a white-haired witch known as the 'Befana' arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings of good children with toys and sweets .
The naughty ones, on the other hand, find a lump of coal ."
I thought this was Condi rice on a visit.
I guess it is just the same old epiphany. It would indeed be a miracle if Rice brought anything but a cold and deadly smile.
The Italians have been trying to arrrest suspicious if not very wise men from the middle east who have been trying to steal their citizens.
Maybe under their Berlusconi leader, they will just hand the CIA men the odd lump of coal.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The un Quiet Death of Freedom?
The BBC that fought against the war in iraq has been crushed. Now they do not even quote our greatest living dramatist when he tells the truth about the destruction of our free world.
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?: "To its credit, the Guardian in London published every word of Pinter's warning. To its shame, though unsurprising, the state television broadcaster ignored it. All that Newsnight flatulence about the arts, all that recycled preening for the cameras at Booker prize-giving events, yet the BBC could not make room for Britain's greatest living dramatist, so honoured, to tell the truth.
For the BBC, it simply never happened, just as the killing of half a million children by America's medieval siege of Iraq during the 1990s never happened, just as the Dhafir and Padilla trials and the Senate vote, banning freedom, never happened. The political prisoners of Belmarsh barely exist; and a big, brave posse of Metropolitan police never swept away Maya Evans as she publicly grieved for British soldiers killed in the cause of nothing except rotten power."
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?: "To its credit, the Guardian in London published every word of Pinter's warning. To its shame, though unsurprising, the state television broadcaster ignored it. All that Newsnight flatulence about the arts, all that recycled preening for the cameras at Booker prize-giving events, yet the BBC could not make room for Britain's greatest living dramatist, so honoured, to tell the truth.
For the BBC, it simply never happened, just as the killing of half a million children by America's medieval siege of Iraq during the 1990s never happened, just as the Dhafir and Padilla trials and the Senate vote, banning freedom, never happened. The political prisoners of Belmarsh barely exist; and a big, brave posse of Metropolitan police never swept away Maya Evans as she publicly grieved for British soldiers killed in the cause of nothing except rotten power."
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?
When I write about the death of freedom I feel like an outsider who is not going to be believed.
When I see Pilger writing this article I feel chilled.
Bush and Blair are completing their programme to destroy a free world.
700 people have been to Blairy england this week.
Our visitors are going up staedily.
But we have to do something more than read and write.
If the mad dads can do something we surely must be able to find a way to confront the new barbarism.
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?: "Freedom is dying.
Eighty-year-old John Catt served with the RAF in the Second World War. Last September, he was stopped by police in Brighton for wearing an 'offensive' T-shirt, which suggested that Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes. He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and handcuffed, with his arms held behind his back. The official record of the arrest says the 'purpose' of searching him was 'terrorism' and the 'grounds for intervention' were 'carrying placard and T-shirt with anti-Blair info' [sic].
He is awaiting trial."
When I see Pilger writing this article I feel chilled.
Bush and Blair are completing their programme to destroy a free world.
700 people have been to Blairy england this week.
Our visitors are going up staedily.
But we have to do something more than read and write.
If the mad dads can do something we surely must be able to find a way to confront the new barbarism.
t r u t h o u t - John Pilger | The Quiet Death of Freedom?: "Freedom is dying.
Eighty-year-old John Catt served with the RAF in the Second World War. Last September, he was stopped by police in Brighton for wearing an 'offensive' T-shirt, which suggested that Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes. He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and handcuffed, with his arms held behind his back. The official record of the arrest says the 'purpose' of searching him was 'terrorism' and the 'grounds for intervention' were 'carrying placard and T-shirt with anti-Blair info' [sic].
He is awaiting trial."
Insurgency or low key civil war in Iraq?
The level of bombing has suddenly escalated. Shia and Sunni are becoming more antagonistic. A Shia minister's sister is kidnapped by Sunnis.
At what point should we start to call it civil war?
The Sunnis protest about the elections. But the UN seems to be content.
What is true?
t r u t h o u t - 50 Killed in String of Bombings in Iraq: "And this morning, Baghdad residents awoke to massive traffic jams and roadblocks as Iraqi security forces responded to a more personal attack: The kidnapping of the sister of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr. Mr. Jabr is one of the most polarizing figures in Iraq, a former Shiite militia leader whom Sunni Arabs have accused of orchestrating a widespread program of assassinating Sunnis.
After the kidnapping, Iraqi forces shut down bridges, set up checkpoints and rerouted traffic across much of central Baghdad. But insurgents penetrated the security to launch several car bombs throughout the city. In Khadhamiya, a large Shiite district, a stationary car bomb ripped through an Iraqi police patrol at about 10:30 a.m., killing 5 and wounding 15, the Interior Ministry said."
At what point should we start to call it civil war?
The Sunnis protest about the elections. But the UN seems to be content.
What is true?
t r u t h o u t - 50 Killed in String of Bombings in Iraq: "And this morning, Baghdad residents awoke to massive traffic jams and roadblocks as Iraqi security forces responded to a more personal attack: The kidnapping of the sister of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr. Mr. Jabr is one of the most polarizing figures in Iraq, a former Shiite militia leader whom Sunni Arabs have accused of orchestrating a widespread program of assassinating Sunnis.
After the kidnapping, Iraqi forces shut down bridges, set up checkpoints and rerouted traffic across much of central Baghdad. But insurgents penetrated the security to launch several car bombs throughout the city. In Khadhamiya, a large Shiite district, a stationary car bomb ripped through an Iraqi police patrol at about 10:30 a.m., killing 5 and wounding 15, the Interior Ministry said."
CBS News | Sharon Out Of Surgery After Stroke | January 5, 2006 05:03:55
sharon is finished. There is little or no chance of him resuming control of Israel's destiny.
The butcher of the camps has ended his relabelling as a man of peace. He will end as a man of blood, even as the blood drains out of his brain.
But there is great hope that the new leader of the Labour party can now lead the country towards peace and justice. Let us hope for that.
CBS News | Sharon Out Of Surgery After Stroke | January 5, 2006 05:03:55: "Hawkins reports that Sharon's stroke throws Israeli politics into a period of uncertainty as Sharon runs for re-election on March 28 as the head of a new centrist party, Kadima. He enjoys a wide lead in the polls. The party's strength is centered on Sharon, and if he were forced to step down, Israel's political scene would be thrown into turmoil.
Ehud Olmert, 'is a veteran Israeli politician,' said Daniel Kurtzer, former ambassador to Israel. “Although it was clear during the last months in the Likud [Party] that his popularity was beginning to wane. He is a proven leader but he will now have to build a popular base certainly for the next few months of governing.” "
The butcher of the camps has ended his relabelling as a man of peace. He will end as a man of blood, even as the blood drains out of his brain.
But there is great hope that the new leader of the Labour party can now lead the country towards peace and justice. Let us hope for that.
CBS News | Sharon Out Of Surgery After Stroke | January 5, 2006 05:03:55: "Hawkins reports that Sharon's stroke throws Israeli politics into a period of uncertainty as Sharon runs for re-election on March 28 as the head of a new centrist party, Kadima. He enjoys a wide lead in the polls. The party's strength is centered on Sharon, and if he were forced to step down, Israel's political scene would be thrown into turmoil.
Ehud Olmert, 'is a veteran Israeli politician,' said Daniel Kurtzer, former ambassador to Israel. “Although it was clear during the last months in the Likud [Party] that his popularity was beginning to wane. He is a proven leader but he will now have to build a popular base certainly for the next few months of governing.” "
Bush could bypass new torture ban - The Boston Globe
It is the usual story, victory without victory.
Torture is gone officially. But Bush can still do it as commander in chief.
America, when will you give up dictatorship and return to democracy?
Bush could bypass new torture ban - The Boston Globe: "Bush could bypass new torture ban
Waiver right is reserved
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | January 4, 2006
WASHINGTON -- When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief."
Torture is gone officially. But Bush can still do it as commander in chief.
America, when will you give up dictatorship and return to democracy?
Bush could bypass new torture ban - The Boston Globe: "Bush could bypass new torture ban
Waiver right is reserved
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | January 4, 2006
WASHINGTON -- When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief."
Guardians of power the myth of the liberal media
Here is abook that is likely to tell us what most of us bloggers know already, that the supposedly liberal press runs a right wing agenda. It is interesting that they actually claim that this is a psychopathic agenda, one of ruthless exploitation of people and planet.
media alerts: "AD: The focus of your book is the liberal media. Why have you chosen this target rather than the right-wing media which many would consider far worse?
ML: As Joel Bakan notes in his book, The Corporation, the current status quo is fundamentally psychopathic - it systematically subordinates people and planet to profit. Much of the suffering in the Third World is the result of deliberate military, economic and other interventions to subordinate the interests of local people to Western corporate profits. Much of the destruction of the environment - for example of the climate - is the result of the same psychopathic set of priorities."
media alerts: "AD: The focus of your book is the liberal media. Why have you chosen this target rather than the right-wing media which many would consider far worse?
ML: As Joel Bakan notes in his book, The Corporation, the current status quo is fundamentally psychopathic - it systematically subordinates people and planet to profit. Much of the suffering in the Third World is the result of deliberate military, economic and other interventions to subordinate the interests of local people to Western corporate profits. Much of the destruction of the environment - for example of the climate - is the result of the same psychopathic set of priorities."
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
AlterNet: MediaCulture: Marketing Narnia
It looks like the neo-con Christians are pedalling narnia as an antidote to Harry Potter (see the link)
For all the brilliance of hi teck animation this film is crap.
It is crap because Lewis' Narnia is crap.
His characters make Blyton's famous five look really dynamic. They are very pale shadows of Harry and co.
What really annoys me about Narnia is that there is no real learning here for the children. they escape to a fake Christian Fantasy worlf which lacks the complexity of the real world we live in.
While you come away from Potter knowing evil is a part of you, you come away from Narnia thinking it is probably just the other person's problem.
Yuk.
AlterNet: MediaCulture: Marketing Narnia: "What Lewis did understand as a theologian was what he already knew as a literary critic and fantasy writer: that the imagination was a crucial human apparatus. Thus his response, his theodicy perhaps, to the terrors of the second war, and its effects on the childhood psyche was to create an alternative world, a land only accessible via the banality of a wardrobe and the richness of a child's imagination. Lewis' greatest theological contribution was to posit imagination in the face of evil. Lewis' theology was therefore naturally concerned with myth. And here is where he cannot be fully appropriated by the kind of evangelicalism that is buying up copies of Mere Christianity."
For all the brilliance of hi teck animation this film is crap.
It is crap because Lewis' Narnia is crap.
His characters make Blyton's famous five look really dynamic. They are very pale shadows of Harry and co.
What really annoys me about Narnia is that there is no real learning here for the children. they escape to a fake Christian Fantasy worlf which lacks the complexity of the real world we live in.
While you come away from Potter knowing evil is a part of you, you come away from Narnia thinking it is probably just the other person's problem.
Yuk.
AlterNet: MediaCulture: Marketing Narnia: "What Lewis did understand as a theologian was what he already knew as a literary critic and fantasy writer: that the imagination was a crucial human apparatus. Thus his response, his theodicy perhaps, to the terrors of the second war, and its effects on the childhood psyche was to create an alternative world, a land only accessible via the banality of a wardrobe and the richness of a child's imagination. Lewis' greatest theological contribution was to posit imagination in the face of evil. Lewis' theology was therefore naturally concerned with myth. And here is where he cannot be fully appropriated by the kind of evangelicalism that is buying up copies of Mere Christianity."
Nuclear War against Iran
Well maybe I was wrong about Ritter's verdict.
Likkud already voted for bombing.
the Iranains were mad enough to give the neo-cons and Israelis a great big excuse for real Shia martyrdom.
it is a mad mad mad world we live in.
Nuclear War against Iran: "The launching of an outright war using nuclear warheads against Iran is now in the final planning stages.
Coalition partners, which include the US, Israel and Turkey are in 'an advanced stage of readiness'. "
Likkud already voted for bombing.
the Iranains were mad enough to give the neo-cons and Israelis a great big excuse for real Shia martyrdom.
it is a mad mad mad world we live in.
Nuclear War against Iran: "The launching of an outright war using nuclear warheads against Iran is now in the final planning stages.
Coalition partners, which include the US, Israel and Turkey are in 'an advanced stage of readiness'. "
Reuters AlertNet - US Rep. Murtha says he wouldn't join military now
Take note of this. My reading suggests Murtha wants an end to recruitment for a criminal invasion.
Reuters AlertNet - US Rep. Murtha says he wouldn't join military now: "WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing on Monday that he would not join the U.S. military today.
A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Murtha told ABC News' 'Nightline' program that Iraq 'absolutely' was a wrong war for President George W. Bush to have launched.
'Would you join (the military) today?,' he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.
'No,' replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.
'And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve',' the interviewer continued.
'Exactly right,' said Murtha, who drew White House ire in November after becoming the first ranking Democrat to push for a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as it could be done safely."
Reuters AlertNet - US Rep. Murtha says he wouldn't join military now: "WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing on Monday that he would not join the U.S. military today.
A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Murtha told ABC News' 'Nightline' program that Iraq 'absolutely' was a wrong war for President George W. Bush to have launched.
'Would you join (the military) today?,' he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.
'No,' replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.
'And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve',' the interviewer continued.
'Exactly right,' said Murtha, who drew White House ire in November after becoming the first ranking Democrat to push for a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as it could be done safely."
AlterNet: Blogs: The Mix: ACLU calls for special counsel on domestic spying
AlterNet: Blogs: The Mix: ACLU calls for special counsel on domestic spying: "The American Civil Union placed a full-page ad in the New York Times demanding an investigation into George Bush and the NSA's warrantless surveillance programs. The ad likens Bush's crimes to those of Nixon. 'What should we do when the president lies to us and breaks the law?' asks the headline. (Hint: 'Kidnap him, fly him to Morocco, and torture him' is probably the wrong answer.)"
That is still my first choice for any extraordinary renditions this year.
That is still my first choice for any extraordinary renditions this year.
Scott Ritter on Iraq's future
I am not as pessimistic as Scott Ritter. He thinks Iraq is headed for civil war. the surprising thing is that the country has resisted that inspite of massive provocation.
I do not think history can repeat itself now either, with the Anglos regretting their backing for the Shia and reverting to the Sunni arabs, as happened in 1920.
What the Americans now face is a very weak Iraq next to an ever stronger Iran.
It is no longer possible to think of Iraq as a bolster against the Iranians.
If Ritter is right then a military strike against Iran is inevitable.
I think we will just see a Likkud backed Isreaeli air strike against the Iranian weapons facility.
Democracy sweeping the middle east.
Do not make me laugh.
America has invaded many countries since the second world war it has not established a stable democracy in any of them.
AlterNet: Blogs: The Mix: Elections in 2005, Civil War in 2006?: "And while the failings of interim governance can be blamed on secular Shi'a like Iyad Allawi, or non-SCIRI Shi'a like Ibrahim Jafari, SCIRI operated behind the scenes to take control of the formulation of Iraq's new constitution (through the October 2005 referendum vote) and the new Iraqi government based upon that constitution (through the December 2005 election). Most Iraqis, when casting their votes in December, were ill informed about the reality of the internal political dynamic that they were participating in, and in effect certifying through their participation. America's rush to create a free and democratic Iraq has, in the end, created the exact opposite. We simply replaced one form of tyranny (the secular dictatorship of Saddam Hussein) with another (the theocratic dictatorship of SCIRI)."
I do not think history can repeat itself now either, with the Anglos regretting their backing for the Shia and reverting to the Sunni arabs, as happened in 1920.
What the Americans now face is a very weak Iraq next to an ever stronger Iran.
It is no longer possible to think of Iraq as a bolster against the Iranians.
If Ritter is right then a military strike against Iran is inevitable.
I think we will just see a Likkud backed Isreaeli air strike against the Iranian weapons facility.
Democracy sweeping the middle east.
Do not make me laugh.
America has invaded many countries since the second world war it has not established a stable democracy in any of them.
AlterNet: Blogs: The Mix: Elections in 2005, Civil War in 2006?: "And while the failings of interim governance can be blamed on secular Shi'a like Iyad Allawi, or non-SCIRI Shi'a like Ibrahim Jafari, SCIRI operated behind the scenes to take control of the formulation of Iraq's new constitution (through the October 2005 referendum vote) and the new Iraqi government based upon that constitution (through the December 2005 election). Most Iraqis, when casting their votes in December, were ill informed about the reality of the internal political dynamic that they were participating in, and in effect certifying through their participation. America's rush to create a free and democratic Iraq has, in the end, created the exact opposite. We simply replaced one form of tyranny (the secular dictatorship of Saddam Hussein) with another (the theocratic dictatorship of SCIRI)."
Cindy Sheehan meets the mayor of London
Cindy Sheehan is campaigning for peace round Europe just now. The very non-new Labout mayor of London has been lending his support.
London will be a lot safer from Islamist bombers when we renounce Blair and all his works.
Iraq is his legacy.
Let it not be London's broken mill stone.
t r u t h o u t - Cindy Sheehan | Friends Don't Let Friends Commit War Crimes: "The Mayor of London held a reception in honor of our peace efforts at the new and very modern City Hall, near the impressive and intimidating Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Mayor Ken Livingstone has always been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war and the war crimes of Tweedledum and Tweedledee ... Bush and Blair ... the corrupt, yet sadly comical, mis-leaders of two of the most powerful countries on the planet. I believe Bush and Blair are too far gone for redemption. They both need to be removed from their power and tried for their war crimes and betrayals. Until they are removed, the murder and the mayhem will continue."
London will be a lot safer from Islamist bombers when we renounce Blair and all his works.
Iraq is his legacy.
Let it not be London's broken mill stone.
t r u t h o u t - Cindy Sheehan | Friends Don't Let Friends Commit War Crimes: "The Mayor of London held a reception in honor of our peace efforts at the new and very modern City Hall, near the impressive and intimidating Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Mayor Ken Livingstone has always been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war and the war crimes of Tweedledum and Tweedledee ... Bush and Blair ... the corrupt, yet sadly comical, mis-leaders of two of the most powerful countries on the planet. I believe Bush and Blair are too far gone for redemption. They both need to be removed from their power and tried for their war crimes and betrayals. Until they are removed, the murder and the mayhem will continue."
Hail the conquering hero chief. A fascist who cannot even make the oil flow on time.
While a token right winger writes in the Independent that Bush may turn the tide in America this year with a slow withdrawal of troops on the back of the introduction of democracy in Iraq, the dreadful truth is available to all who wish to see it.
Bush has just pulled the plug on Iraq reconstruction money making his invasion one of the biggest disasters for an invaded people in history.
Another book comes out today with yet more evidence that the CIA knew theat Iraq had no weapons programme for mass destruction and had given up in 1992.
Hail to the chief, then,
and snow, ice and collapse of heating oil too.
t r u t h o u t - Iraq's Oil Exports Hit Lowest Level since War: " Iraq's Oil Exports Hit Lowest Level since War
Reuters
Monday 02 January 2006
Baghdad - Iraq's oil exports hit their lowest level since the war, according to figures released on Monday, heightening a sense of crisis as fuel supplies grow scarce and political leaders struggle to form a government.
Iraq exported 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in December, a senior official said - less than any month since exports resumed in mid-2003 after the US invasion and about half the level seen during sanctions under Saddam Hussein."
Bush has just pulled the plug on Iraq reconstruction money making his invasion one of the biggest disasters for an invaded people in history.
Another book comes out today with yet more evidence that the CIA knew theat Iraq had no weapons programme for mass destruction and had given up in 1992.
Hail to the chief, then,
and snow, ice and collapse of heating oil too.
t r u t h o u t - Iraq's Oil Exports Hit Lowest Level since War: " Iraq's Oil Exports Hit Lowest Level since War
Reuters
Monday 02 January 2006
Baghdad - Iraq's oil exports hit their lowest level since the war, according to figures released on Monday, heightening a sense of crisis as fuel supplies grow scarce and political leaders struggle to form a government.
Iraq exported 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in December, a senior official said - less than any month since exports resumed in mid-2003 after the US invasion and about half the level seen during sanctions under Saddam Hussein."
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Print - Steven Spielberg's Controversial New Film: The War on "Munich" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News
The assault on Spielberg's new film began even before it came out.
But the time has passed for neo-conservatism. We are all waking up to the relativism of morality.
The only way forward to peace and justice is a balanced look at what is happening in the world.
Spielberg is trying to contribute to this. We should go see the film.
"The War on 'Munich'
By Michelle Goldberg
Neoconservatives launch a pre-emptive strike on Spielberg's latest, which dares to break the rules of post-9/11 political correctness."
But the time has passed for neo-conservatism. We are all waking up to the relativism of morality.
The only way forward to peace and justice is a balanced look at what is happening in the world.
Spielberg is trying to contribute to this. We should go see the film.
"The War on 'Munich'
By Michelle Goldberg
Neoconservatives launch a pre-emptive strike on Spielberg's latest, which dares to break the rules of post-9/11 political correctness."
Monday, January 02, 2006
A year in Blairy England
To all our friends, family, and to the readers of Blairy (rhymes with merry) England.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2006
A year ago G and I were married happily, through a druid ritual in the north ring of the Avebury Temple complex. Our four children opened and closed the proceedings as holders of the mythical gates in the east south west and north. It was a very special occasion, the fulfilment of a dream that I had been only dreaming for 20 years. It was such a delight to have wonderful friends and family willing to risk the fierce cold of a winter solstice open-air ceremony.
It would also have been a wonderful beginning to the year but for a particularly spiteful and stupid head teacher/cum bad fairy at the boys’ school, called Clare Stanley. She felt able to complain to Social Services of her concerns about our parenting, “of J in particular.”
At the same time she also felt able to close down the school for a day due to snow, which failed to fall. It was the only school in the county to close. C was already assessed as the intellectual and emotional centre of his year 6 class by his teacher. He was later chosen for the “gifted and talented” summer school on transition to secondary school, as was my daughter R before him. But J, after an excellent report in year 1 for the second half of the summer term, was floundering in a group of boys described by one teaching assistant as “without motivation for learning”. He had also been paired with a boy with serious physical and mental impairments.
They say it takes a whole village to raise a child. That means co-operation and collaboration. But rather than helping us as parents, supporting J through a change of family circumstances, physical relocation and a change of schools, Charlbury School took an antagonistic stance to G and I. J was not a happy boy last year. He was struggling to adapt to the loss of regular week ends with his dad among many things. By their condemnation of G and I, Mrs Morris, and Mrs Stanley made his life a lot more unhappy.
Even today I remain utterly furious with the treatment we have received.
I resolved to write this diary of life in Middle England under the Government of Blair and Co in a place reputedly as fine as anywhere in the country. It focuses on the spiritual, ethical, political and educational aspects of family life and world ethics. Here is a link to my first entry:
January
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/01/thoroughly-modern-marriage-or.html
Though I had wanted to focus mostly on family life I became more and more angry with the steady destruction of freedom and dignity for all the people of England.
Almost immediately I found myself picking up in the news the criminal culpability of the parents in the houses of Windsor, Thatcher and Blair, even if Euan Blair is no more than a drunk and disorderly student.
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/01/sins-of-parents.html
February.
Auschwitz reviewed! Life is awful.
Blairco invited us to remember Auschwitz, at the same time that the stories of torture surfaced among the coalition’s troops in Iraq. My disgust with the hypocrisy reached a new higher level. If we were being abused, then the Iraqis were being brutalised.
The Government’s war on terror had become a war on our own democracy. I wrote “These may be the last days of Liberal Democracy. If we do not stand up and be counted, in parliament and all areas of our lives, the freedom under law which has made this country the highest ideal for many of the citizens and countries of our world will be gone, and probably forever.History is about to repeat itself. A charismatic leader, dismissed by many as a second rate mind, is positioning himself for permanent power. "You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history," proclaimed Hitler, 72 years ago this week, standing in front of the burned-out Reichstag, surrounded by national media. "This fire," he said, his voice trembling with emotion, "is the beginning." He used the occasion - "a sign from God," he called it - to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their evil deeds in their religion..”
“The rules of the game have changed after 911,” said Blair. He clearly thought he could get away with anything now, as did Bush.
March.
H gets into Cambridge. We go to Social Services. R goes to Africa. The Pope died.
As Blair pressed ahead with laws to terrorise us, I pressed complaints against Charlbury School under the European Laws on Human rights. Meanwhile, H, my older daughter was offered a place at Cambridge to study for a Post Graduate Certificate in education. That would make us three qualified teachers in the family, all of us with significant pastoral responsibility, both for children and adults.
Social Services opened and closed our case as fast as they could. We went to see the closed file. Social Care officially judge us to provide "good diet, clothing, and accommodation, a loving home, affectionate parenting, excellent access to books, toys and good social contacts. The children have a good social situation".
This judgement was backed by two doctors and two health visitors.
But what did Charlbury School offer? The head of Governors substantiated most of my complaints. Bullying and violence at the school continued to escalate. The head has had no real authority since the no-snow closure. Parents’ anger had continued to increase.
Meanwhile on the International scene "US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair deserve life sentences, with the possibility of parole after 25 years, for the war crimes and genocide in Iraq, according to a lawyers' panel”. Another International Tribunal repeated this ruling later.
Nationally, the Government’s assault on parents’ and human rights escalated. The Observer | UK News | Child database 'will breach human rights' I wrote “It is not only Blair and the new Home Secretary who are a threat to our Human Rights. The dreadful Margaret Hodge is on the attack too.”
I discovered the Simultaneous Policy, a strategy for changing the world across all the national vested interest boundaries and a way to focus the world movement for peace and justice.
I attended a panel of Governors to address my complaint that the management of the school was incompetent and a referral to social services abused our human right to privacy. They failed to address the issues properly. The social worker had judged the referral appropriate, so that was the end of it as far as these school governors were concerned. They avoided discussing the school closure, and dismissed my criticisms of management as motivated by retaliation. Mrs Stanley, through her adviser, claimed that “to inform is to consult” in terms of the human rights act. This is absolutely outrageous and an abuse of the English Language and English law.
I spoke at length with our local Health Visitor who insisted she never made a referral without discussing it first. It is a matter of ethics. The new Childrens’ Department of the county council must decide which policy is correct for them.
The death of the Polish Pope made huge headlines. Bush and Blair turned up, despite his condemnation of their war crimes. Never mind the ethics, never mind the politics, this is good media coverage! Spin! Spin! Spin! But George hears the word of God direct.
April.
Stanley buckles under the pressure. The truth hurts Blair too.
I used to live next door to Rowan and Jane Williams in the village. Rowan is a saintly man and quite a contrast to the new ex-Hitler youth Pope. As well as speeches against the war he has begun writing about parenting.
“Jane would come back regularly and say that the problem was not teaching children how to read;” wrote Rowan, “the problem was communicating with children who were simply not used to talking with adults at all or being talked to by adults. Children had, in effect, been turned loose. Literacy is not only about words; literacy is about the reading of feelings and persons, about speaking and listening: emotional literacy, social literacy. "When H was six her teacher commented that you could have a conversation with her as if she were an adult. That is how we brought her up, with deep respect for her intelligence and humanity. It was hard for me to listen to her pain one afternoon about not having her chosen college at Cambridge. But I listened patiently as I always have.
In many ways we are not merely good enough parents we are really good parents. I cannot stand being judged by my inferiors as has happened this year.G told me the other day that H described to her the "loving" and "listening" qualities she values in me. I am also proud that she has formed such a confiding relationship in G.
Election torpor gripped the country. The only excitement was a stream of leaks exposing Blair’s lying connivance with Bush over the secret war plan.
Evidence started to build up that Bush had stolen his second election. New Labour was caught rigging ballots with false postal votes.
The “Respect agenda” was launched. I wrote “Mr Blair wants us to forget his sins and think of the future of education. If we re-elect Blair and the Opus Dei-fied Ruth Kelly, we will have to put up with an even tighter stranglehold on education from a National Curriculum that has already failed our children. We will also have to put up with an ever greater intrusion of the state into the lives of parents.No wonder parents and children are in revolt.Set us an example of respect for the truth, and direct honest clear communication, Mr Blair.No more plagiarising student theses. No more lies and spin.It is not the footballers' foul mouths we need to worry about affecting our children. It is political leaders who are war criminals, too powerful to be brought to justice.”
Suddenly, just as we are about to take J away from school in utter disgust and dejection, Stanley resigned. Several middle class children, including the son of a governor, had already been removed from the school. Stanley would still be there till the end of term but a back up head would be on hand, part- time, to help. From sources inside the governors I have discovered the school was heading for special measures, and the staff were actively resisting improvements suggested by the chair of governors. But some staff and governors chose to claim that all the school’s problems with parents were my fault for complaining.
May.
The tide has turned.
The Downing Street memo leaked just before the election. The Tories stale old message offered too little to topple New Labour, but the Blair majority for a Tory agenda had been wiped out.
We decided to keep J at the school. Under the influence of the incoming head things started to improve. He is happier and more confident. R may not have won the county swimming this year but she has made a huge step forward intellectually and socially after the Africa trip. She proves the case that late developers can go on to do really well at secondary school.
The blogosphere is making a big difference. People are finding the truth no longer comes in state manipulated media and television. But information comes fast on the web through blogs like mine. A vast engine of assault on the Bush Blair dominance of the world is building strength.
By the end of the month I was confident enough to write a positive assessment of how we are as a family.
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/05/respect-man-but-have-we-earned-it.html
June.
Making the G8 History?
Those early months of 2005 had been some of the darkest of my life. I have never been so hurt and angry. By April Stanley had resigned but the slur on my family remained. My work had suffered. I had become depressed.
Now I became more confident, joining the Joseph Rowntree Power Enquiry and writing open letters to my MP, David Cameron. He replied to some of them. But he avoided the Downing Street memo issue. We have an elite consensus conspiracy here just like in the states.
I now made one of my daftest decisions of the year. I took us all to Edinburgh to campaign on poverty. Bob Geldof, the organiser, after telling us to come in our millions, was much smarter. He did not turn up, preferring pop songs in Hyde Park. Naturally so did all the media.
It was amazing, camping by a midge infested lake, listening to the destruction of the Lions rugby team on the radio while driving into almost deserted Edinburgh streets. I am not sure the boys even understood the gesture. Edinburgh was full of Christian NGO’s. The real activists were all camping in an ecology centre near Gleneagles. You live and learn, maybe.
The G8 made some doubtful commitments to Africa. Blair, Brown and Bush felt happy. Most of us felt cheated.
July.
H graduates. Euen Blair crashes his car on the way to graduate.
It is a great day when you see your daughter graduate. “It is the day when almost 20 years of preparation for life culminates in a short ceremony. I am painfully aware that is her dead mother’s wealth that has supported her though university, while G and I have merely done our best to help her learn to play the Academic English Literature game.”
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/07/graduation-day.html
Too bad the event was overshadowed by the crushing security put on for the attendance of the war criminal prime minister who runs our country.
I observed that the country has become a police state, and wrote the “After Downing Street rap.” My poems on Falluja in Charlbury were printed in Australia.
Blair’s cuckoos came home to roost on 7/7. The bombers explicitly blamed his war crimes. He responded with ever more frightening measures of control. The battle between Blair and the Law really started to hot up.
August.
Holiday time, but the politics stay hot.
G and I had a wonderful week off in Wales together. The five of us went surfing in Cornwall. We started as a motley crew but finished as a tight team. We had triumphed over wind, rain and cold weather. The surfing was a disappointment. We enjoyed camping and playing cricket.
September.
A school transformed. A happier family.
And a production in Oxford
The new head, Jane Holt, has made changes that have turned the school around. Very soon J is learning to read fast. He has a decent new teacher. Even in September the transformation in the running of the school is extraordinary. I only wanted an apology from Stanley. Though I still did not have one, this was worth more. The Stanley faction of governors have mostly gone and been replaced with better ones.
Joel thrives now, and R and C are doing very well at Chippy School.
Suddenly my reclusive life has become more outgoing. I directed a play in Oxford with R and her three best friends as the actors. Directing your own daughter is not exactly easy, but we battled our way through it. I am glad to have done it though I doubt I shall do it again. The girls were as good as they could be under a very tight schedule.
Hurricanes blew through America. But even the destruction of New Orleans was not enough to prove just how corrupt the Bushmen are. But they were humiliated.
In England Blair was no longer strong enough to enforce his most draconian terror measures. The forces of democracy are rising again.
October.
Big steps forward
G gave up smoking and drinking. We all worked very hard to support her make these changes. I am so proud of us all. Within a short time G was fitter, stronger, and full of energy, looking forward to teaching again. All the extra building blocks I started to assemble in January to make us a good working unit were fitting into place. Our general practitioner had advised us to have every possible check on J to ensure our case against the education department. Every check outside the school came out very positively. I can say with little fear of contradiction now that J’s problems were natural and normal, except for the destructive effects of the dysfunctional school environment.
Our local authority has been defensive and complacent in response to my challenge. But the corruption of the Bushmen and Blairco was under ever greater scrutiny. The obscenity of Iraq will not go away. The destruction of Falluja ranks higher than Guernica as a war crime.
Blunkett and Blears had turned our Home Office into a great big joke. In 1984 speak they resigned because of misconduct, while simultaneously insisting on their uncompromised integrity. Yes Sir, and black is white, too, in Blairy England. Now he blew Pensions. Eventually he was laughed out of office, a contemptible corrupt immoral creep. The most reactionary and repellent cabinet minister in 100 years ended his political career as a Whitehall sex farce character. He was one of the last of the big Blair beasts. Thankfully, he is gone.
November.
Family therapy and more.
I have had family therapy to help earlier parentings as well as being a family therapist myself. This was a much better experience. The children were amazingly open and honest about life in our family. The therapists were impressed. But at the very first session they decided we did not need their help. I do not suppose they often meet a well functioning family like this one. I am so proud of us. Our lives get better by the week.
On the world scene the annus horibilis continues for Bush and Blair. Both are lame ducks, maybe even ripe for plucking.
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/11/fake-terror-road-to-dictatorship.html
By giving dictatorial powers to a crackpot head the Government has tyrannised my family this year. But we have come out stronger. Now the county must learn its lessons and so must the government. More power to heads is not justified. More power to governments is still less justified. But redress has begun. Now one Bushman is on trial and others will soon join Scooter Libby. Bush and Blair are being pounded by the forces of freedom and democracy for the first time. At last the craven media has joined in. Blair’s last deforms seem doomed to be defeated. There is renewed talk of impeachment for both Bush and Blair.
December
I JOIN WRITERS IN OXFORD, LAPIDUS, WOMB TWIN WORK, WYCHWOOD POETS. CHRISTMAS WITH THE WRITERS AT THE OXFORD PLAYHOUSE. CHRISTMAS WITH OXFORD STORYTELLERS. G TEACHING AGAIN. I EVEN ENTER THE POETRY SOCIETY COMPETITION
MEANWHILE, BLAIR GIVES UP ON EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE REFORM AND FIGHTING GLOBAL WARMING. BUSH FIGHTS FOR CLIMATE DESTRUCTION AND TORTURE AGAINST ALL THE WORLD.
Althea Hayton came to visit us at the end of November unleashing an extraordinary burst of energy in both of us. We find we can both be our better selves! An outside world that had offered both of us much rejection in recent years suddenly started to welcome us once more with enthusiasm.
To cap it all we suddenly decided to move house. We could have stayed here till at least spring, but a stunning cottage presented itself to us outside the village and we could not resist.
I have been 14 years in Charlbury. R has lived here all her life. She is a swimming legend here in her young lifetime. But it is time to move forward. Many people have supported us in our struggle with Stanley. Many congratulated us on her going. The transformation of the school is there for all to see. But Charlbury has not offered us true friendship. Our best contacts are all outside the place.
I have lived here longer than in any other place, though I have worked in Oxford. I will doubtless miss so much about it. But G and I can now start afresh in a new place together. Over the next few weeks we will try to tie up the loose ends.
Nationally Cameron has had a remarkable triumph. I had a letter from him from the House of Commons the day he was selected as Tory leader. But his stance on Iraq is reprehensible. He fails to appreciate the monstrous crime we have perpetrated on the children of Iraq with our depleted uranium nuclear war.
The year ends with Harold Pinter receiving the Nobel Prize for writing. He denounces the crimes and corruption of the current world order in his acceptance speech.
We are with you Harold. Here is to a new year of poetry and education, and the repeal of repressive laws everywhere. Perhaps Blake’s England can rise from the ruins of the Blair experiment, the Blair disaster.
Please join me in a toast to International Peace and Justice and the rejection of tyranny.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2006
A year ago G and I were married happily, through a druid ritual in the north ring of the Avebury Temple complex. Our four children opened and closed the proceedings as holders of the mythical gates in the east south west and north. It was a very special occasion, the fulfilment of a dream that I had been only dreaming for 20 years. It was such a delight to have wonderful friends and family willing to risk the fierce cold of a winter solstice open-air ceremony.
It would also have been a wonderful beginning to the year but for a particularly spiteful and stupid head teacher/cum bad fairy at the boys’ school, called Clare Stanley. She felt able to complain to Social Services of her concerns about our parenting, “of J in particular.”
At the same time she also felt able to close down the school for a day due to snow, which failed to fall. It was the only school in the county to close. C was already assessed as the intellectual and emotional centre of his year 6 class by his teacher. He was later chosen for the “gifted and talented” summer school on transition to secondary school, as was my daughter R before him. But J, after an excellent report in year 1 for the second half of the summer term, was floundering in a group of boys described by one teaching assistant as “without motivation for learning”. He had also been paired with a boy with serious physical and mental impairments.
They say it takes a whole village to raise a child. That means co-operation and collaboration. But rather than helping us as parents, supporting J through a change of family circumstances, physical relocation and a change of schools, Charlbury School took an antagonistic stance to G and I. J was not a happy boy last year. He was struggling to adapt to the loss of regular week ends with his dad among many things. By their condemnation of G and I, Mrs Morris, and Mrs Stanley made his life a lot more unhappy.
Even today I remain utterly furious with the treatment we have received.
I resolved to write this diary of life in Middle England under the Government of Blair and Co in a place reputedly as fine as anywhere in the country. It focuses on the spiritual, ethical, political and educational aspects of family life and world ethics. Here is a link to my first entry:
January
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/01/thoroughly-modern-marriage-or.html
Though I had wanted to focus mostly on family life I became more and more angry with the steady destruction of freedom and dignity for all the people of England.
Almost immediately I found myself picking up in the news the criminal culpability of the parents in the houses of Windsor, Thatcher and Blair, even if Euan Blair is no more than a drunk and disorderly student.
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/01/sins-of-parents.html
February.
Auschwitz reviewed! Life is awful.
Blairco invited us to remember Auschwitz, at the same time that the stories of torture surfaced among the coalition’s troops in Iraq. My disgust with the hypocrisy reached a new higher level. If we were being abused, then the Iraqis were being brutalised.
The Government’s war on terror had become a war on our own democracy. I wrote “These may be the last days of Liberal Democracy. If we do not stand up and be counted, in parliament and all areas of our lives, the freedom under law which has made this country the highest ideal for many of the citizens and countries of our world will be gone, and probably forever.History is about to repeat itself. A charismatic leader, dismissed by many as a second rate mind, is positioning himself for permanent power. "You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history," proclaimed Hitler, 72 years ago this week, standing in front of the burned-out Reichstag, surrounded by national media. "This fire," he said, his voice trembling with emotion, "is the beginning." He used the occasion - "a sign from God," he called it - to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their evil deeds in their religion..”
“The rules of the game have changed after 911,” said Blair. He clearly thought he could get away with anything now, as did Bush.
March.
H gets into Cambridge. We go to Social Services. R goes to Africa. The Pope died.
As Blair pressed ahead with laws to terrorise us, I pressed complaints against Charlbury School under the European Laws on Human rights. Meanwhile, H, my older daughter was offered a place at Cambridge to study for a Post Graduate Certificate in education. That would make us three qualified teachers in the family, all of us with significant pastoral responsibility, both for children and adults.
Social Services opened and closed our case as fast as they could. We went to see the closed file. Social Care officially judge us to provide "good diet, clothing, and accommodation, a loving home, affectionate parenting, excellent access to books, toys and good social contacts. The children have a good social situation".
This judgement was backed by two doctors and two health visitors.
But what did Charlbury School offer? The head of Governors substantiated most of my complaints. Bullying and violence at the school continued to escalate. The head has had no real authority since the no-snow closure. Parents’ anger had continued to increase.
Meanwhile on the International scene "US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair deserve life sentences, with the possibility of parole after 25 years, for the war crimes and genocide in Iraq, according to a lawyers' panel”. Another International Tribunal repeated this ruling later.
Nationally, the Government’s assault on parents’ and human rights escalated. The Observer | UK News | Child database 'will breach human rights' I wrote “It is not only Blair and the new Home Secretary who are a threat to our Human Rights. The dreadful Margaret Hodge is on the attack too.”
I discovered the Simultaneous Policy, a strategy for changing the world across all the national vested interest boundaries and a way to focus the world movement for peace and justice.
I attended a panel of Governors to address my complaint that the management of the school was incompetent and a referral to social services abused our human right to privacy. They failed to address the issues properly. The social worker had judged the referral appropriate, so that was the end of it as far as these school governors were concerned. They avoided discussing the school closure, and dismissed my criticisms of management as motivated by retaliation. Mrs Stanley, through her adviser, claimed that “to inform is to consult” in terms of the human rights act. This is absolutely outrageous and an abuse of the English Language and English law.
I spoke at length with our local Health Visitor who insisted she never made a referral without discussing it first. It is a matter of ethics. The new Childrens’ Department of the county council must decide which policy is correct for them.
The death of the Polish Pope made huge headlines. Bush and Blair turned up, despite his condemnation of their war crimes. Never mind the ethics, never mind the politics, this is good media coverage! Spin! Spin! Spin! But George hears the word of God direct.
April.
Stanley buckles under the pressure. The truth hurts Blair too.
I used to live next door to Rowan and Jane Williams in the village. Rowan is a saintly man and quite a contrast to the new ex-Hitler youth Pope. As well as speeches against the war he has begun writing about parenting.
“Jane would come back regularly and say that the problem was not teaching children how to read;” wrote Rowan, “the problem was communicating with children who were simply not used to talking with adults at all or being talked to by adults. Children had, in effect, been turned loose. Literacy is not only about words; literacy is about the reading of feelings and persons, about speaking and listening: emotional literacy, social literacy. "When H was six her teacher commented that you could have a conversation with her as if she were an adult. That is how we brought her up, with deep respect for her intelligence and humanity. It was hard for me to listen to her pain one afternoon about not having her chosen college at Cambridge. But I listened patiently as I always have.
In many ways we are not merely good enough parents we are really good parents. I cannot stand being judged by my inferiors as has happened this year.G told me the other day that H described to her the "loving" and "listening" qualities she values in me. I am also proud that she has formed such a confiding relationship in G.
Election torpor gripped the country. The only excitement was a stream of leaks exposing Blair’s lying connivance with Bush over the secret war plan.
Evidence started to build up that Bush had stolen his second election. New Labour was caught rigging ballots with false postal votes.
The “Respect agenda” was launched. I wrote “Mr Blair wants us to forget his sins and think of the future of education. If we re-elect Blair and the Opus Dei-fied Ruth Kelly, we will have to put up with an even tighter stranglehold on education from a National Curriculum that has already failed our children. We will also have to put up with an ever greater intrusion of the state into the lives of parents.No wonder parents and children are in revolt.Set us an example of respect for the truth, and direct honest clear communication, Mr Blair.No more plagiarising student theses. No more lies and spin.It is not the footballers' foul mouths we need to worry about affecting our children. It is political leaders who are war criminals, too powerful to be brought to justice.”
Suddenly, just as we are about to take J away from school in utter disgust and dejection, Stanley resigned. Several middle class children, including the son of a governor, had already been removed from the school. Stanley would still be there till the end of term but a back up head would be on hand, part- time, to help. From sources inside the governors I have discovered the school was heading for special measures, and the staff were actively resisting improvements suggested by the chair of governors. But some staff and governors chose to claim that all the school’s problems with parents were my fault for complaining.
May.
The tide has turned.
The Downing Street memo leaked just before the election. The Tories stale old message offered too little to topple New Labour, but the Blair majority for a Tory agenda had been wiped out.
We decided to keep J at the school. Under the influence of the incoming head things started to improve. He is happier and more confident. R may not have won the county swimming this year but she has made a huge step forward intellectually and socially after the Africa trip. She proves the case that late developers can go on to do really well at secondary school.
The blogosphere is making a big difference. People are finding the truth no longer comes in state manipulated media and television. But information comes fast on the web through blogs like mine. A vast engine of assault on the Bush Blair dominance of the world is building strength.
By the end of the month I was confident enough to write a positive assessment of how we are as a family.
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/05/respect-man-but-have-we-earned-it.html
June.
Making the G8 History?
Those early months of 2005 had been some of the darkest of my life. I have never been so hurt and angry. By April Stanley had resigned but the slur on my family remained. My work had suffered. I had become depressed.
Now I became more confident, joining the Joseph Rowntree Power Enquiry and writing open letters to my MP, David Cameron. He replied to some of them. But he avoided the Downing Street memo issue. We have an elite consensus conspiracy here just like in the states.
I now made one of my daftest decisions of the year. I took us all to Edinburgh to campaign on poverty. Bob Geldof, the organiser, after telling us to come in our millions, was much smarter. He did not turn up, preferring pop songs in Hyde Park. Naturally so did all the media.
It was amazing, camping by a midge infested lake, listening to the destruction of the Lions rugby team on the radio while driving into almost deserted Edinburgh streets. I am not sure the boys even understood the gesture. Edinburgh was full of Christian NGO’s. The real activists were all camping in an ecology centre near Gleneagles. You live and learn, maybe.
The G8 made some doubtful commitments to Africa. Blair, Brown and Bush felt happy. Most of us felt cheated.
July.
H graduates. Euen Blair crashes his car on the way to graduate.
It is a great day when you see your daughter graduate. “It is the day when almost 20 years of preparation for life culminates in a short ceremony. I am painfully aware that is her dead mother’s wealth that has supported her though university, while G and I have merely done our best to help her learn to play the Academic English Literature game.”
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/07/graduation-day.html
Too bad the event was overshadowed by the crushing security put on for the attendance of the war criminal prime minister who runs our country.
I observed that the country has become a police state, and wrote the “After Downing Street rap.” My poems on Falluja in Charlbury were printed in Australia.
Blair’s cuckoos came home to roost on 7/7. The bombers explicitly blamed his war crimes. He responded with ever more frightening measures of control. The battle between Blair and the Law really started to hot up.
August.
Holiday time, but the politics stay hot.
G and I had a wonderful week off in Wales together. The five of us went surfing in Cornwall. We started as a motley crew but finished as a tight team. We had triumphed over wind, rain and cold weather. The surfing was a disappointment. We enjoyed camping and playing cricket.
September.
A school transformed. A happier family.
And a production in Oxford
The new head, Jane Holt, has made changes that have turned the school around. Very soon J is learning to read fast. He has a decent new teacher. Even in September the transformation in the running of the school is extraordinary. I only wanted an apology from Stanley. Though I still did not have one, this was worth more. The Stanley faction of governors have mostly gone and been replaced with better ones.
Joel thrives now, and R and C are doing very well at Chippy School.
Suddenly my reclusive life has become more outgoing. I directed a play in Oxford with R and her three best friends as the actors. Directing your own daughter is not exactly easy, but we battled our way through it. I am glad to have done it though I doubt I shall do it again. The girls were as good as they could be under a very tight schedule.
Hurricanes blew through America. But even the destruction of New Orleans was not enough to prove just how corrupt the Bushmen are. But they were humiliated.
In England Blair was no longer strong enough to enforce his most draconian terror measures. The forces of democracy are rising again.
October.
Big steps forward
G gave up smoking and drinking. We all worked very hard to support her make these changes. I am so proud of us all. Within a short time G was fitter, stronger, and full of energy, looking forward to teaching again. All the extra building blocks I started to assemble in January to make us a good working unit were fitting into place. Our general practitioner had advised us to have every possible check on J to ensure our case against the education department. Every check outside the school came out very positively. I can say with little fear of contradiction now that J’s problems were natural and normal, except for the destructive effects of the dysfunctional school environment.
Our local authority has been defensive and complacent in response to my challenge. But the corruption of the Bushmen and Blairco was under ever greater scrutiny. The obscenity of Iraq will not go away. The destruction of Falluja ranks higher than Guernica as a war crime.
Blunkett and Blears had turned our Home Office into a great big joke. In 1984 speak they resigned because of misconduct, while simultaneously insisting on their uncompromised integrity. Yes Sir, and black is white, too, in Blairy England. Now he blew Pensions. Eventually he was laughed out of office, a contemptible corrupt immoral creep. The most reactionary and repellent cabinet minister in 100 years ended his political career as a Whitehall sex farce character. He was one of the last of the big Blair beasts. Thankfully, he is gone.
November.
Family therapy and more.
I have had family therapy to help earlier parentings as well as being a family therapist myself. This was a much better experience. The children were amazingly open and honest about life in our family. The therapists were impressed. But at the very first session they decided we did not need their help. I do not suppose they often meet a well functioning family like this one. I am so proud of us. Our lives get better by the week.
On the world scene the annus horibilis continues for Bush and Blair. Both are lame ducks, maybe even ripe for plucking.
http://blairyengland.blogspot.com/2005/11/fake-terror-road-to-dictatorship.html
By giving dictatorial powers to a crackpot head the Government has tyrannised my family this year. But we have come out stronger. Now the county must learn its lessons and so must the government. More power to heads is not justified. More power to governments is still less justified. But redress has begun. Now one Bushman is on trial and others will soon join Scooter Libby. Bush and Blair are being pounded by the forces of freedom and democracy for the first time. At last the craven media has joined in. Blair’s last deforms seem doomed to be defeated. There is renewed talk of impeachment for both Bush and Blair.
December
I JOIN WRITERS IN OXFORD, LAPIDUS, WOMB TWIN WORK, WYCHWOOD POETS. CHRISTMAS WITH THE WRITERS AT THE OXFORD PLAYHOUSE. CHRISTMAS WITH OXFORD STORYTELLERS. G TEACHING AGAIN. I EVEN ENTER THE POETRY SOCIETY COMPETITION
MEANWHILE, BLAIR GIVES UP ON EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE REFORM AND FIGHTING GLOBAL WARMING. BUSH FIGHTS FOR CLIMATE DESTRUCTION AND TORTURE AGAINST ALL THE WORLD.
Althea Hayton came to visit us at the end of November unleashing an extraordinary burst of energy in both of us. We find we can both be our better selves! An outside world that had offered both of us much rejection in recent years suddenly started to welcome us once more with enthusiasm.
To cap it all we suddenly decided to move house. We could have stayed here till at least spring, but a stunning cottage presented itself to us outside the village and we could not resist.
I have been 14 years in Charlbury. R has lived here all her life. She is a swimming legend here in her young lifetime. But it is time to move forward. Many people have supported us in our struggle with Stanley. Many congratulated us on her going. The transformation of the school is there for all to see. But Charlbury has not offered us true friendship. Our best contacts are all outside the place.
I have lived here longer than in any other place, though I have worked in Oxford. I will doubtless miss so much about it. But G and I can now start afresh in a new place together. Over the next few weeks we will try to tie up the loose ends.
Nationally Cameron has had a remarkable triumph. I had a letter from him from the House of Commons the day he was selected as Tory leader. But his stance on Iraq is reprehensible. He fails to appreciate the monstrous crime we have perpetrated on the children of Iraq with our depleted uranium nuclear war.
The year ends with Harold Pinter receiving the Nobel Prize for writing. He denounces the crimes and corruption of the current world order in his acceptance speech.
We are with you Harold. Here is to a new year of poetry and education, and the repeal of repressive laws everywhere. Perhaps Blake’s England can rise from the ruins of the Blair experiment, the Blair disaster.
Please join me in a toast to International Peace and Justice and the rejection of tyranny.
Happy New Year Mr Rove
Fitzgerald is taking his time, but just before Christmas he moved closwer to indicting Rove. Whoever thought he would escape is deluded.
t r u t h o u t - Jason Leopold The Case against Karl Rove: "As of Friday, neither Rove nor Luskin had explained Rove's misstatements to Fitzgerald's satisfaction, those familiar with the case said. The 11th-hour testimony from Viveca Novak - who Luskin pointed to as a crucial witness in keeping his client out of court - does not appear to have been helpful to Rove in dodging an indictment, they added.
Rove's alleged failure to disclose his conversations with Cooper and Novak, and the fact that he did not produce the email he sent to Hadley on two separate occasions, are the reasons he's been in Fitzgerald's crosshairs, lawyers close to the investigation said. "
t r u t h o u t - Jason Leopold The Case against Karl Rove: "As of Friday, neither Rove nor Luskin had explained Rove's misstatements to Fitzgerald's satisfaction, those familiar with the case said. The 11th-hour testimony from Viveca Novak - who Luskin pointed to as a crucial witness in keeping his client out of court - does not appear to have been helpful to Rove in dodging an indictment, they added.
Rove's alleged failure to disclose his conversations with Cooper and Novak, and the fact that he did not produce the email he sent to Hadley on two separate occasions, are the reasons he's been in Fitzgerald's crosshairs, lawyers close to the investigation said. "
A new year to confront the big lie.
Delusional nonsense is now mainstream in America. Millions believe in the rapture. A third of the stupid people are fundamentalist Christians.
Too many of them are in power. They are destroying the world for all our children and they do not care, because what is important to them is not this world but the mythical next one.
t r u t h o u t - Bill Moyers The Delusional Is No Longer Marginal: " Immoral Imagination
Mike Leavitt, the former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, declared the election a mandate for President Bush on the environment - a mandate for an administration that wants to rewrite the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, as well as the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the government to judge beforehand if actions might damage natural resources.
The Environmental Protection Agency had even planned to spend $9 million - $2 million of it from the administration's friends at the American Chemistry Council - to pay poor families to continue to use pesticides in their homes. These pesticides have been linked to neurological damage in children, but instead of ordering an end to their use, the government and the industry were going to offer the families $970 each, as well as a camcorder and children's clothing, to serve as guinea pigs for the study.
I read all this and then look at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer - pictures of my grandchildren: Henry, age 12; Thomas, age 10; Nancy, 7; Jassie, 3; Sara Jane, nine months. I see the future looking back at me from those photographs and I say, 'Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do.' And then I am stopped short by the thought: 'That's not right. We do know what we are doing. We are stealing their future. Betraying their trust. Despoiling their world.'
And I ask myself: 'Why? Is it because we don't care? Because we are greedy? Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to sustain indignation at injustice?'
What has happened to our moral imagination?
The news is not good these days. I can tell you that as "
Too many of them are in power. They are destroying the world for all our children and they do not care, because what is important to them is not this world but the mythical next one.
t r u t h o u t - Bill Moyers The Delusional Is No Longer Marginal: " Immoral Imagination
Mike Leavitt, the former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, declared the election a mandate for President Bush on the environment - a mandate for an administration that wants to rewrite the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, as well as the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the government to judge beforehand if actions might damage natural resources.
The Environmental Protection Agency had even planned to spend $9 million - $2 million of it from the administration's friends at the American Chemistry Council - to pay poor families to continue to use pesticides in their homes. These pesticides have been linked to neurological damage in children, but instead of ordering an end to their use, the government and the industry were going to offer the families $970 each, as well as a camcorder and children's clothing, to serve as guinea pigs for the study.
I read all this and then look at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer - pictures of my grandchildren: Henry, age 12; Thomas, age 10; Nancy, 7; Jassie, 3; Sara Jane, nine months. I see the future looking back at me from those photographs and I say, 'Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do.' And then I am stopped short by the thought: 'That's not right. We do know what we are doing. We are stealing their future. Betraying their trust. Despoiling their world.'
And I ask myself: 'Why? Is it because we don't care? Because we are greedy? Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to sustain indignation at injustice?'
What has happened to our moral imagination?
The news is not good these days. I can tell you that as "
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Installing Big Brother or what is hidden in the Bushes
In the 1970's the Nixon administration was getting close to a police state. The Bushmen who were there then and are back now with Bush junior liked it that way and want it back that way.
911 was all part of the plan to install Big Brother.
As we start 2006 the big question is whether they will get away with it or whther a combination of libertarians from both left and right will come together to roll back the interfering state.
Hold your breath.
Its good practice for the water boarding that may come later if we lose.
village voice > news > Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway: "INSTALL BIG BROTHER
The failures of the FBI and CIA in 9-11 were not because of any wall. These agencies failed because they weren�t doing their jobs right. The congressional investigation found the CIA couldn�t penetrate al Qaeda�an especially odd claim since we had helped to create and finance al Qaeda as an instrument to win the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. John Walker Lindh and other Americans walked right into al Qaeda and were greeted by its high officials. How come the CIA couldn�t do the same? No wall kept the CIA from getting Osama bin Laden. They just couldn�t find him. As for how the hijackers got into the U.S., it�s hardly a mystery. An FBI informant among the Muslim community in San Diego socialized with two hijackers and rented a room to one of them. When Congress tried to figure out how this happened, the Bureau covered it up, refusing to allow the informant to testify. Again, there was no wall here�just plain incompetence made worse by a deliberate cover-up. The FBI reportedly was informed in April 2001 by a longtime reliable asset of an impending attack using airliners as missiles. It did nothing. An operation known as Able Danger reportedly turned up information on and tracked hijacker Mohammad Atta as far back as 1998, but the Pentagon wouldn�t tell the FBI what it knew. Even now, the Bush administration is fighting to prevent the Able Danger officials from testifying before Congress about what they knew and when they knew it. When it comes to intelligence, the only thing worse than the FBI�s record is the CIA�s.
Given all that�s happened, the only explanation for the Bush domestic spying is that it�s political. There are no crimes involved here. But there is an overweaning desire by this so-called conservative government to establish and i"
911 was all part of the plan to install Big Brother.
As we start 2006 the big question is whether they will get away with it or whther a combination of libertarians from both left and right will come together to roll back the interfering state.
Hold your breath.
Its good practice for the water boarding that may come later if we lose.
village voice > news > Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway: "INSTALL BIG BROTHER
The failures of the FBI and CIA in 9-11 were not because of any wall. These agencies failed because they weren�t doing their jobs right. The congressional investigation found the CIA couldn�t penetrate al Qaeda�an especially odd claim since we had helped to create and finance al Qaeda as an instrument to win the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. John Walker Lindh and other Americans walked right into al Qaeda and were greeted by its high officials. How come the CIA couldn�t do the same? No wall kept the CIA from getting Osama bin Laden. They just couldn�t find him. As for how the hijackers got into the U.S., it�s hardly a mystery. An FBI informant among the Muslim community in San Diego socialized with two hijackers and rented a room to one of them. When Congress tried to figure out how this happened, the Bureau covered it up, refusing to allow the informant to testify. Again, there was no wall here�just plain incompetence made worse by a deliberate cover-up. The FBI reportedly was informed in April 2001 by a longtime reliable asset of an impending attack using airliners as missiles. It did nothing. An operation known as Able Danger reportedly turned up information on and tracked hijacker Mohammad Atta as far back as 1998, but the Pentagon wouldn�t tell the FBI what it knew. Even now, the Bush administration is fighting to prevent the Able Danger officials from testifying before Congress about what they knew and when they knew it. When it comes to intelligence, the only thing worse than the FBI�s record is the CIA�s.
Given all that�s happened, the only explanation for the Bush domestic spying is that it�s political. There are no crimes involved here. But there is an overweaning desire by this so-called conservative government to establish and i"
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