Local Election Guide
It can be hard deciding who to vote for, so to make it easier, I've complied this helpful guide...
Party :: Neo-Labour
Official Website :: http://www.gop.com
What They Say :: "Thank you Tony Blair, and thank you British forces for stopping the Iraq madman and his murder machine from killing countless more Iraqis and others. Whether to seize and destroy the WMD, or whatever reason, I am glad that freedom's forces have put an end to mass graves and terror in Iraq."
Reasons Not to Vote For Them :: Where do we start!...Abu Ghraib, Packers Field, Guantánamo Bay, ID Cards, The War , Dawn Primero, PFI/PPP and so on...
Final Rating :: While some would argue that local issues are not national issues - they are linked - Neo-Labour have to be sent a message from each rendition, from each bombing raid, from money spent on war rather than at home. If you vote - vote against Labour!
Party :: Tory
Official Website :: http://www.goatrave.com
What They Say :: "Dark Lord, I summon thee Demanding the sacred right to burn in hell . . . Take My lustful soul Drink my blood as I drink yours . . . LUCIFER IS KING PRAISE SATAN!"
Reasons Not to Vote For Them :: Councilor Richard Eddy - lord of Bad Taste and Corporate Flyposting.
Final Rating :: Cameron says we can be green and have economic growth - how? How do you square that cricle oh green guru?
Party :: Lib Dems
Official Website :: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation
What They Say :: "Blah, blah, blah, blah, we're different, blah, blah, no war, blah, blah."
Reasons Not to Vote For Them :: Locally there is the privatization of Bristol's sports centers and nationally the Lib Dems are shaping up to become a Neo-Labour lite; "Lib Dems guilty of 'Gross Hypocrisy' over Post Office Plans"
Final Rating :: Pah.
Party :: Greens
Official Website :: http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk
What They Say :: "Share a bath with someone. Who knows where it might lead?"
Reasons Not to Vote For Them :: http://uk.geocities.com/votenobody/
Final Rating :: If you're in Southville its worth voting Green. The ones I've met all seem very genuine, but then the Greens in Germany did end up voting for the war on terror...no matter who you vote for the goverment get in?
Party :: BNP
Official Website :: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/theproducers/springtimeforhitler.htm
What They Say :: Brian Turner (Burnley councilor) convicted of attacking his wife and a police officer whilst a councilor yet the BNP refused to disown him. In fact they even defended him by issuing a statement saying: "we are not in the business of persecuting our members because the state considers someone guilty."
Reasons Not to Vote For Them :: Everything about them.
Final Rating :: Steve Batkin (Stoke-on-Trent councilor) has only spoken twice in his first two years as a councilor and one of those was to ask what 'abstain' meant; Wow - another reason not to vote for them - IQ.
Party :: Vote Nobody
Official Website :: http://uk.geocities.com/votenobody/
What They Say :: "Time and again we are asked to trundle down to the polling station and choose between a couple of carbon-copy candidates from the lets-accommodate-big-business party....."
Reasons Not to Vote For Them :: Because you want to hurt Neo-Labour.
Final Rating :: New Election Manifesto should be:
Bring back The Bristolian!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
The Ministry of Truth
A recent speech by Derrek Jensen makes the point that to understand what Bu$h really means, you need to use word substitution. This is based on the idea that the oppressor casts themselves of the victim to mask their power and violence. For example the old cowboy and Indian films cast the Indians as the aggressor, but as history shows, it was the native Americans who were subject to a genocidal assault. You follow? Another example - the Ministry of Defence - peruses an aggressive war in Iraq. To understand they need to be called the Ministry of War. So Jensen says that when understanding Neo-con speech replace 'freedom' with 'fascism' and replace 'democracy' with 'corporate control'. With this translation you get 'Operation Iraqi Fascism' and 'brining corporate control to Iraq'. It all makes more sense now! Bliar and his Reich are masters of this spin so I have tried this of bits of a Bliar speech:
"...And it is based on enlightened self-interest. Facism is good in itself. But it is also the best ultimate guarantee that human beings will live in sympathy with each other. The hard head has led to the warm heart....Incidentally, when people of talk of “Western-style” corporate control, in my view there is no such thing: there is corporate control or there isn’t. The notion of corporate control being a “Western idea” is a nonsense, and mythology as, most recently the people of Afghanistan have powerfully demonstrated."
It all makes more sense now. ID cards can be called 'freedom badges' and the bombing of civilian areas in Iraq can become 'democratic munition distribution'.
A recent speech by Derrek Jensen makes the point that to understand what Bu$h really means, you need to use word substitution. This is based on the idea that the oppressor casts themselves of the victim to mask their power and violence. For example the old cowboy and Indian films cast the Indians as the aggressor, but as history shows, it was the native Americans who were subject to a genocidal assault. You follow? Another example - the Ministry of Defence - peruses an aggressive war in Iraq. To understand they need to be called the Ministry of War. So Jensen says that when understanding Neo-con speech replace 'freedom' with 'fascism' and replace 'democracy' with 'corporate control'. With this translation you get 'Operation Iraqi Fascism' and 'brining corporate control to Iraq'. It all makes more sense now! Bliar and his Reich are masters of this spin so I have tried this of bits of a Bliar speech:
"...And it is based on enlightened self-interest. Facism is good in itself. But it is also the best ultimate guarantee that human beings will live in sympathy with each other. The hard head has led to the warm heart....Incidentally, when people of talk of “Western-style” corporate control, in my view there is no such thing: there is corporate control or there isn’t. The notion of corporate control being a “Western idea” is a nonsense, and mythology as, most recently the people of Afghanistan have powerfully demonstrated."
It all makes more sense now. ID cards can be called 'freedom badges' and the bombing of civilian areas in Iraq can become 'democratic munition distribution'.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Cost of War Revisisted...
If you take a step back from the human cost of war and look at it is stark financial terms, you can see an interesting picture emerging about why the US is not only loosing the war in Iraq, but loosing it's empire too. Take the example of vehicles - tanks, jeeps, APCs and shit. This is what they cost:
$550 million is being spent to replace lost vehicles and equipment.
$5 billion is being spent on vehicle and equipment maintenance in Iraq/Afganistan.
$6 billion is being spent on repairs (at all levels, from the unit to depot, in addition to the above.)
---
11.5 Billion total.
So take the other side's use of weapons:
RPG - $20 each (Rocket Propelled Grenade, not great against newer tanks but stragegies such as hitting weak spots or firing multiple RPGs at the same point do work. Cost of anti-RPG system? £300,000 PER VEHICLE!).
Van full of explosives - $3,615 ("..can easily transport the equivalent of several conventional 1,000-pound bombs to the doorstep of a prime target..")
IED - $600 (Improvised Explosive Device - a remote controlled bomb that accounts for most of the troops killed in combat. Cost of the anti-IED projects? "Joint IED Defeat Organization is getting a sharply increased $3.3 billion this year to foil the often rudimentary weapons..."
That is why the ticker at CostofWar.com moves so fast...($274,691,329,457 at the time of writing)
If you take a step back from the human cost of war and look at it is stark financial terms, you can see an interesting picture emerging about why the US is not only loosing the war in Iraq, but loosing it's empire too. Take the example of vehicles - tanks, jeeps, APCs and shit. This is what they cost:
$550 million is being spent to replace lost vehicles and equipment.
$5 billion is being spent on vehicle and equipment maintenance in Iraq/Afganistan.
$6 billion is being spent on repairs (at all levels, from the unit to depot, in addition to the above.)
---
11.5 Billion total.
So take the other side's use of weapons:
RPG - $20 each (Rocket Propelled Grenade, not great against newer tanks but stragegies such as hitting weak spots or firing multiple RPGs at the same point do work. Cost of anti-RPG system? £300,000 PER VEHICLE!).
Van full of explosives - $3,615 ("..can easily transport the equivalent of several conventional 1,000-pound bombs to the doorstep of a prime target..")
IED - $600 (Improvised Explosive Device - a remote controlled bomb that accounts for most of the troops killed in combat. Cost of the anti-IED projects? "Joint IED Defeat Organization is getting a sharply increased $3.3 billion this year to foil the often rudimentary weapons..."
That is why the ticker at CostofWar.com moves so fast...($274,691,329,457 at the time of writing)
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
History of the Car Bomb
So much stuff written about anything around terrorism these days is such hysterical crap, that its hard to find any genuine understanding of whats going on or where it might come from. So its good to find some interesting history on the subject:
The Poor Man's Air Force A History of the Car Bomb (Part 1)
Car Bombs With Wings: A History of the Car Bomb (Part 2)
So much stuff written about anything around terrorism these days is such hysterical crap, that its hard to find any genuine understanding of whats going on or where it might come from. So its good to find some interesting history on the subject:
The Poor Man's Air Force A History of the Car Bomb (Part 1)
Car Bombs With Wings: A History of the Car Bomb (Part 2)
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Kendall-Smith is a Hero
He has done what many, many more should have - put humanity above the oil war and said, 'No.'
RAF Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, having refused to serve in Iraq in what he correctly believes is an occupation brought about by an illegal war, is predictably given an 8-month prison sentence, fined £20,000 costs and dismissed from his job. Kendall-Smith, now a national hero, follows in the steps of Ben Griffin who resigned from the Army SAS in a similar protest. (more)
BNP Councillor is Idiot
Steve Batkin (Stoke-on-Trent). Steve Batkin attended none of a possible thirty committee meetings in the nine months to March 2005. Batkin has only spoken twice in his first two years as a councillor and one of those was to ask what 'abstain' meant. Was once told to stop talking to the media after he questioned key facts relating to the Holocaust, including saying that Jewish people refused to debate the subject because they would be exposed as liars. (more)
He has done what many, many more should have - put humanity above the oil war and said, 'No.'
RAF Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, having refused to serve in Iraq in what he correctly believes is an occupation brought about by an illegal war, is predictably given an 8-month prison sentence, fined £20,000 costs and dismissed from his job. Kendall-Smith, now a national hero, follows in the steps of Ben Griffin who resigned from the Army SAS in a similar protest. (more)
BNP Councillor is Idiot
Steve Batkin (Stoke-on-Trent). Steve Batkin attended none of a possible thirty committee meetings in the nine months to March 2005. Batkin has only spoken twice in his first two years as a councillor and one of those was to ask what 'abstain' meant. Was once told to stop talking to the media after he questioned key facts relating to the Holocaust, including saying that Jewish people refused to debate the subject because they would be exposed as liars. (more)
Monday, April 10, 2006
History of Oil
Looking forward to this on Wed 12th April on More4:
21:00 Robert Newman's History of Oil
This innovative history programme is based on Robert Newman's stand-up act and supported by resourceful archive sequences and stills with satirical impersonations of historical figures - from Mayan priests to Archduke Ferdinand.
On the subject of telly - you can get the three excellent 'Power of Nightmares' documentary programs from the Internet Archive!
Looking forward to this on Wed 12th April on More4:
21:00 Robert Newman's History of Oil
This innovative history programme is based on Robert Newman's stand-up act and supported by resourceful archive sequences and stills with satirical impersonations of historical figures - from Mayan priests to Archduke Ferdinand.
On the subject of telly - you can get the three excellent 'Power of Nightmares' documentary programs from the Internet Archive!
Friday, April 07, 2006
While I do not doubt that many in the US war-machine would love to take a pop at Iran:
"It strikes me as very silly, this debate over whether or not the US will "attack" or "invade" Iran. We don't need to invade or attack; we are already at war with Iran. They know it, the Bush Administration knows it, the US military know it... Why don't you?"
But I think they have more plans to unfold in Iraq before they move on Iran. Under cover of the chaos over in Iraq the US seems to be trying to take out the Shia people it does not like.
In late march the US attacked Mustafa Husayniyah in Ur, a compound used by the DAWA party. Jaafari, the PM the US is trying to remove is from this party.
On Thursday the US helicopters brought a Marines unit to Karbala which arrested followers of Muqtada al-Sadr. (al-Zaman/ AFP report on Informed Comment)
Today the two factions are busy preparing for war; "The Mahdi Army, the Sadrist paramilitary, is stockpiling arms in expectation of an American attack on them in Najaf."
"It strikes me as very silly, this debate over whether or not the US will "attack" or "invade" Iran. We don't need to invade or attack; we are already at war with Iran. They know it, the Bush Administration knows it, the US military know it... Why don't you?"
But I think they have more plans to unfold in Iraq before they move on Iran. Under cover of the chaos over in Iraq the US seems to be trying to take out the Shia people it does not like.
In late march the US attacked Mustafa Husayniyah in Ur, a compound used by the DAWA party. Jaafari, the PM the US is trying to remove is from this party.
On Thursday the US helicopters brought a Marines unit to Karbala which arrested followers of Muqtada al-Sadr. (al-Zaman/ AFP report on Informed Comment)
Today the two factions are busy preparing for war; "The Mahdi Army, the Sadrist paramilitary, is stockpiling arms in expectation of an American attack on them in Najaf."
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