Crazy Talk

Those right-wing nutters in the U$A make me laugh! They are soooo kooky. Here's a few quoteable quotes;

CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck: "Blowing up Iran. I say we nuke the bastards. In fact, it doesn't have to be Iran, it can be everywhere, anyplace that disagrees with me." [5/11/06]

Jonathan Hoenig, managing member of Capitalistpig Asset Management LLC, on Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto: "I think when it comes to Iran, the problem is we haven't been forceful enough. I mean if you -- frankly, if you want to see the Dow go up, let's get the bombers in the air and neutralize this Iranian threat." [6/5/06]

radio host Michael Savage: "I don't know why we don't use a bunker-buster bomb when he comes to the U.N. and just take [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] out with everyone in there." [7/21/06]

Anthrax Woe

Do you remeber the Anthrax attacks that happened just after 911? At the time it was blamed on the Iraqi's (on top of 911). Since then we've not heard much about this. How ever here is some interesting stuff...

It was documented at the time that the anthrax strain used was military grade. This was widely reported in 2002 in publications such as the New Scientist.

"Soon after I [ Professor Boyle] had informed Bowman [the FBI agent investigating the case] of this information [above], the FBI authorised the destruction of the AMES cultural Anthrax database." The Professor continued.

The destruction of the anthrax culture collection at Ames, IA., from which the Ft. Detrick lab got its pathogens, was blatant destruction of evidence as it meant that there was no way of finding out which strain was sent to who to develop the larger breed of anthrax used in the attacks. The trail of genetic evidence would have led directly back to a secret but officially-sponsored US government biowarfare program that was illegal and criminal.

Chilling stuff.

Iraq: The Plan That Dare Not Speak Its Name

There is very little consideration in the mainstream media that the only viable option in Iraq is to leave. I think this is for a couple of reasons. First, that this would be an admission by the political class, not just Neo-Labour, but all who supported the war before it happened and now support the occupation, that Iraq was a colossal mistake of titanic proportions. Second that the original aims of the war; control of the geo-strategic oil supplies in the region, would be lost to the west. I blogged about a recent TV show where the Neo-Labour Harriet Harman tried to defend the (bullshit) position that Iraq was the best decision with the information that they have available. I read a great article that rips this defense to tiny little bits;

"...late that July, Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6 (the British equivalent of the CIA), returned to London from high-level meetings in Washington to report to Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top officials. In a secret meeting, he told them that the decision for war in Iraq had already been made by the Bush administration and that now, in a memorable phrase, 'the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy'....On May 1st, 2005, notes from this meeting, dubbed 'the Downing Street Memo,' were leaked to the London Sunday Times. Thanks to that memo and other documents, it's now commonly accepted that the Bush administration 'fixed' the intelligence around their war of choice..."

Harman tried to bleat on that TV show that it's easy to say in hindsight it was not a great decision. As can be read above, they KNEW it was a bullshit decision but went along with it anyway. What hindsight shows us is how much of a gamble they took and how scared they were of popular opposition to the war. I think this can be seen in the recent victory of the Fairford Coach actions and ongoing Fairford Five Trials. I wonder if the clamp down of dissent we have been seeing stemmed from a fear that is would give a focus to the unraveling of the plot that had been hatched. (If you don't know, the Fairford Coach Trials relate to a couple of coaches of people to were on their way to protest the war at the Gloucestershire US airbase but were illegally detained by the police.) Here is what the appeal court verdict said;

The court accepted (para 48) that in some situations a breach of the peace could only be prevented if action were taken which would risk affecting wholly innocent individuals. As to the Chief Constable's appeal, the court considered (para 52) that the passengers were "virtually prisoners" on the returning coaches, that (para 53) the action taken went well beyond anything held to be justified by the existing common law authorities and that (paras 54-55) it was not shown that there were no less intrusive measures that could have been taken.

Check that, the cops made people "virtually prisoners" for no other reason than they opposed the imperial ambitions of Tony Bliar and is Neo-Labour stogies. Welcome to the war of terror. What is staggering is how much further than this Neo-Labour have been able to go; banning protest outside parliament, ID cards, terror act upon terror act and so on. This juggernaut is out of control.

Bristolian goes on the Attack

I was flicking through the TV on Saturday night when I settled on More4 to watch historian David Starky's current affairs discussion show 'Starkey's Last Word' (you can see the show by going to http://www.channel4.com/more4/microsites/L/lastword/ and clicking on the link '6 Dec: The Iraq Study Group') and to my surprise and anticipation he announced his line up of guests as Harriet Harman (Neo-Labour, Minister for Constitutional Affairs) Ed Vaizey (Tory shadow arts minister) and Ian Bone, anarchist! Bone is the co-founder of Class War, editor of the Bristolian, Vote Nobody organiser and now author of the excellent 'Bash the Rich'. The show was great fun. I bet they put Bone on it anticipating some sparks – and he did not disappoint. They sat him between Harman and Vaisey and their body language suggested that they were a bit uncomfortable with a commoner in their midst. After giving the other two a chance to give their point of view on the debarkle of Iraq, Starkey turned to Bone for his option and the Bristolain let rip;

"I've got a three point solution that would get us out of this [Iraq] much quicker. [Bone counts 1 on his finger] We should get popular opposition to this war back on the streets. [2] We surround No.10 Downing Street on May Day and stay until Mr.Blair goes or ends the war a la Hezbolla, Lebanon. [3] The troops should come home, not wait to be ordered home by George Bush or Tony Blair, but just get on the plane and come home because all they are at the moment is just sitting ducks and aunt Sally's waiting to be shot at and these two... [points to Harman and Vaizey] ..should should be prosecuted for war crimes."

Fantastic! He's just said what I have longed for somebody to say on the Iraq issue. Yes! Bliar and his cronies in the dock! Indeed I would go further and suggest that a massive investigation into not just this war but all UK companies and politicians who supported Saddam at any point be dragged into the dock alongside Harman and Vaisey. Starkey must have agreed with much of Bone's statement as he went on to describe it as "devastating and largely accurate incitement." Shortly after Bone rounded on Harman;

Bone: "The problem here is that we still get these weasel words trying to justify.."
Harman: "It's not weasel words..."
Bone: "It is completely and utterly weasel words...you're not thinking about saying sorry for the 650,000 dead, you're just thinking about justifying your position which was based on lies..."

Shortly after this Starkey had to reign Bone in. Harman looked very, very uncomfortable. Good. Discomfort is the least the political establishment deserve for their complicity in war crimes.

PS. Thanks to the Kebele people for putting on a good night out on Friday. If you missed it, it was their birthday party at the Black Swan and these was some fantastic music going down.

PPS. You've got a a couple of weeks left until the 22nd – the final date to make your views known on the climate-crime scene that may be the Bristol Airport Expansion – write or email to tell North Somerset Council to stop the madness. Responses to the public consultation held by North Somerset Council should be sent in time for the deadline of 22 December to: Kate Durston, Development Control, North Somerset Council, Somerset House, Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1TG. It is crucial to quote ref: 06/P/2701/MP and include your name and address. You can also email: dccomments@n-somerset.gov.uk , again giving the reference 06/P/2701/MP and your name and address. Alternatively, you can respond online through the Stop Bristol Airport Expansion website at: http://www.stopbia.com

Goatlab II, Drumcorps plus the Beginning and End of My Disastrous Career as a DJ

Goatlab II has come and gone and well...wow. I think it was a top night with the bar for performances set skyscraper high. Drumcorps set was amazing. I think it has to be one of the best sets I have ever seen. If you don't know, Drumcorps is the metal-mash project of breakcore producer Aaron Spectre. Live, the project consists of him, 2 midi keyboards, a mixer-type thing, laptop – and for the final mosh effect – a guitar. He was late in setting up and this helped to build the hype for his set. So, by the time he was ready, the room was packed and ready. The wait was worth it. A burst of noise from the midi, and wave of sounds that ran down the length of the room. The crowd jumped to his call for metal action. The crowd loved it, they went c-r-a-z-y and rightly so. It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. R-o-c-k-i-n-g. All that. If you missed it – pah! If you saw it, then welcome to the throng of the blessed. It looks a bit like this:



(Not from Goatlab, sadly, but from Wasted 2.

Now in contrast, Goatlab II was where I had my first chance to DJ. There was a graveyard slot going in the back room and I decided to go for it. To my shame, I did not do my homework so was not on-top of the kit when I started, but was sure I could do something (I mean it's just playing records – how hard can it be?) I started with some classical (The Thieving Magpie) and then mixed it into an ATR old-skool techno track and it all sounded, well, ok. People seemed interested. I played a couple more tracks and after a while the crowed thinned to nothing. (Gone to see Parasite play, I bet...) A bit demoralizing, but I thought I could recover. Then, more people arrived. OK, I thought, time to grab them. So I go back to the Thieving Magpie and they seem interested, then I panicked and mixed (well, sloshed) it into a Napalm Death track. The crowd walked out. Thus was Goatlab II the beginning and end of my disastrous career as a DJ. I'll stick to what I know.

Here's some pictures from Goatlab taken by resident DJ Nim Chimpsky...(Nice one Nim!):

http://www.thebigpicturelibrary.com/Goatlab