A Tangled Web: June 2004

>> 30 Jun 2004

O'Donnell's Minimalism

Joe O'Donnell, Belfast's Sinn Fein/IRA Deputy Mayor, has said he will observe a minute's silence to remember those brave soldiers of the 36th Ulster Division who died on the trench-scarred wastelands of northern France during WW1.

It is, naturally, a good thing that any Sinn Fein acolyte should decide to suspend his incessant outpourings of propagandistic toxin - even for only 60 seconds. All the same, as with every other political gesture from the IRA's paladins, there lies an ulterior motive. O'Donnell envisages: 'a ceremonial occasion where all sections of the community...can buy into and feel inclusive and feel comfortable taking part in.'

I feel those not blind to republican winsomness will know exactly how his desire translates. O'Donnell's request goes something like this: 'We in Sinn Fein would like to see bestial IRA terrorists given the same public honour as soldiers who died for their country in the true spirit of defending liberty. I know we haven't a chance of achieving such a request (we don't really want to!!). But, when democratically adherent representatives reject our outwardly venial desire, we can then use such a rejection to energise our third-class electorate - who each possess a First Class Honours degree in naivete - and convince them that Irish nationalism is not given due recognition by the surly Prods.'

We trust the councillors from constitutional parties who sit on Belfast City Council will do their best to ensure O'Donnell is out of mind, as well as out of sight, when they attend the Somme commemoration.

Bishopric(k)s

Further to the article by David Vance below, a friend of mine returned from the main service at Wakefield Cathedral last Sunday. He was utterly appalled at the Left-wing drivel - dressed-up as a religious oration - given by the new Bishop, the Rt Rev Stephen Platten. As is becoming increasingly common with the ascending liberal wing of the Anglican Communion, the Rt Rev Platten adopted the typical ant-war stance so beloved of the ecclesiastical Left. He proceeded to castigate the USA and UK over alleged 'mistreatment' of Iraqi detainees.

When I asked him if the 'honourable' bishop had anything to say about the atrocious killings meted out to captured foreign civilians by Islamic militants, he shook his head. The Anglican Church, the church of which I am a member, is becoming seldom more than a politico/philosophical school for theologically-inclined 'Lefties'. History should illustrate the fact that politics and religion rarely form a miscible symbiosis.

ANGLICANS FOR ALLAH.

I see that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, speaking on behalf of all 114 UK Bishops, have chastised Blair for the conduct of coalition troops in Iraq. They have also emphasised their DEEPLY held view that the root cause of the Middle East problem is the coninuing "conflict" in Israel and support of Israel by the US.

It seems to me, and with all due respect to any Anglican readers, that the sheer depth of immorality from this bleating flock of Bishops is shocking. They have been constant critics of the Coalition attempt to remove the tyrant Saddam and restore Iraq to democracy. They could not have cared less about those hundreds of thousands tortured by Saddam and of course their simmering anti-Semitism is never far from the surface.

When Nick Berg was beheaded by those Muslims that these patronising holy goons wish us to "reach out and embrace" in Christian love, there was not one cheep from Archbishop (and Druid) Williams. I guess the decapitation of innocent defenceless men by fervent Muslim's is nothing compared to the sheer horror of having a pair of underpants put on your head whilst indulging in coarse play equivalent to an episode of the popular "Big Brother" TV reality show. Furthermore, the US and UK have moved to discipline those responsible for any unacceptable conduct in Iraq. But where, pray, was the condemnation from the Muslim religious leaders when Berg and Johnson had their heads cut off? The silence of the damned.

This latest statement from the Anglican Church's UK leadership merely confirms my view that it is, at best, an organised hypocrisy lost in apostasy.

Little wonder the BBC gives it prime time.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GAYS GETTING MARRIED?

"If the U.S. continues to follow the Dutch script, the next few months will see more jubilant headlines about the overwhelming demand for marriage licenses among homosexuals, a few more model gay couples getting married, and then...silence. With its aim achieved and the campaign over, gay-rights activists will simply drop the issue of marriage altogether and move on."

Here's a useful read by Dutch writer Joshua Livestro on the burning issue of gay marriage! I think his thoughts are well worth a read, thoughtful and reflective.

>> 29 Jun 2004

SCRAP THE UNITED NATIONS...

"The United Nations may indeed be the answer, as John Kerry and Ted Kennedy insist it is. But only if the question is ‘what is the most morally corrupt international organization in the world?’"

Here's a great article by Lt. Col Gordon Cucullu exposing the fraudulent and corrupt nature of the UN. Some great insights and well worth a read.

As he puts it, "An institution of democracies would have infinitely greater moral credibility and fortitude than the money- and power-hungry collection of reprobates that now inhabits the buildings on Turtle Bay."

WHY POLITICIANS LIE.

Here's an interesting article on the serial weakness of successive Israeli Prime Ministers by Daniel Pipes. I think the reasons he offers for why it is that each of Israel's PM's betray their word of honour applies to most politicians everywhere! "Grandiosity and egoism" - what a wonderfully accurate turn of phrase. The problem here is that finding a "modest politician" is tricky - I can think of a few...Ronald Reagan being the most noteworthy...but the term is oxymoronic I fear.

Hamstrung Hussein

'How are the mighty fallen' says the Book of Samuel. How indeed!! Saddam Hussein, once mighty tyrant of a country he enfeebled, is now to be brought before the world on charges of crimes against humanity. It is to be hoped his trial culminates in the death penalty, for no other punishment would suffice given the enormity of the crimes he perpetrated against the Iraqi nation.

None of this would have been possible without the intervention of the United States and its allies. Links between Hussein and Al Queda had been noted, but ignored; evidence of a weapons of mass destruction programme is real, not fabricated; the prospect of a destabilised Middle East all too potent had he been allowed to remain in power. That said, the mentally questionable 'San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair' brigade even now believes the USA to be a more corrosive presence on the international stage than the Iraq of old. As the allied forces continue to combat 'insurgents' for whom, in common with all terrorists, murder for the sake of murdering, we must not lose sight of the bigger long-term picture - a democratic polity with the firm application of the rule of law.

DUP Dirty Dealing?

Speculation over the apparent willingness of the Democratic Unionist Party to facilitate a deal with Sinn Fein/IRA is now reaching fever pitch. Brian Rowan, of BBC Northern Ireland, adds his 'two penny'orth' on the prospect of this possible 'deal of all deals'. He claims any agreement would not only involve 'substantial movement' from republicans (in other words, deceitful manoeuvrings with only a tad less secrecy than before) but also significant concessions from: 'all the main players in the process.'

How does such political punditry translate into layman's English? Well, put simply, it is indicative of a future course of events of major asymmetrical proportions. Sinn Fein/IRA will make their usual nugatory gestures which will be hyper-inflated by a gullible, compliant media puppeteered by government spin doctors. The question of Army deployment will then be given moral equivalence with the recindment of IRA killers when the government 'reciprocates' with demilitarisation. The DUP, meanwhile, chortling victory from the rooftops, will have the chance to prove to the world that the political careers of its assembly members will be elevated above the common defence of the Union.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong. As David Vance has said, there is still a big 'if' hanging over all of this. However, should the DUP sign a deal of Faustian magnitude, they deserve to be punished in exactly the same way as Trimble was by the Unionist people. Pro-Union voters did not annihilate the UUP to find themselves blessed with a Mark 2 incarnation.

Arthur Morgan and Geographical Ignorance

Sinn Fein's spokesman on the environment, Arthur Morgan (yes folks, another convicted terrorist!), welcomes the closure of Chapelcross nuclear power station. The Sinn Fein website states: 'Arthur Morgan has welcomed the announcement by the British Nuclear Group of the closure of the Chapelcross power station in the North of England.'

Someone should tell dear Arthur that Chapelcross power station is actually located just outside Annan, which was in Scotland the last time I checked. If only Sinn Fein members were as knowledgeable at geography as they are at decimating human beings.

Here to Fight for Fisher and Wright

Mark Wright and James Fisher, the biggest scapegoats in British military history since Lord Chelmsford, are now subjected to the opinions of another 'independent' body highly critical of the army's decision to reinstate them following their incarceration for the slaying of Belfast teenager (and father of two!!!!), Peter McBride.

Any negativity, officious or otherwise, directed towards these men will undoubtedly provide extra grist to the mill for the republican juggernaut of inexhaustible MOPEry. McBride's mother, Jean, has been a virtuoso in a publicity-seeking arena saturated by terrorists far more proficient in the murder stakes than Fisher or Wright could even comprehend. For them (Sinn Fein/IRA), the blatant double-standards of clamouring for 'justice' for their own whilst, at the same time, contumeliously 'cocking a snook' at the relatives of the thousands they killed, are deftly swept aside as they seek hypocritical and ill-founded retribution.

I think it's best to provide a little context here. Fisher and Wright were convicted (wrongly in my view, given the circumstances and the stakes involved) of murder. It should be mentioned, at this juncture, that Derek Bentley and Timothy John Evans have also been convicted of 'murder' in a UK court. They (Fisher and Wright) have served a term in prison and now seek to rebuild their lives in a legitimate career offering a modest income. Conversely, Sinn Fein is stuffed to the rafters with murderers possessing a shockingly impressive tally of innocent human life; murderers who did not serve so much as one day in prison for the crimes they committed; and murderers who now earn a salary far and above the meagre incomes paid to Fisher and Wright, for participating in a 'peace process' largely designed to wean them away from a lifetime devoted to prolific slaying.

What do we hear the pietistical Mrs Wright about those disgraceful injustices? Absolutely nothing!! For as always, Irish republicans remain trapped in a chrysalis of one-dimensional victimhood: a world where only they have been wronged; where only their pain is real; and where only they think they are entitled to an apology coupled with eternal reparations. Judging by their voting habits over the last few elections, they are less aware of any world outside that jaundiced chrysalis than ever before. Let's hope another branch of officialdom has something to say about that in the near future.

THE SPIRIT OF 1916 ON DRUMCREE HILL..

I was pleased to see that the Newsletter printed my take on the "Drumcree impasse" here... Dedicated to Harold Gracey.

TOLERATING PALESTINIAN MURDERERS..

If there were any longer any doubt as to the inability of the "Security

Wall" to protect Israeli children from Palestinian terror and fascism,

yesterday removed it. After some 300 attacks on Israel by the PLO using

Kassam rockets, none of which previously killed anyone, yesterday's attack

murdered a four year old toddler in the Negev town of Sderot and the

child's grandfather.

Such is the reward for Israel having exercised "restraint" and turning the

other cheek after each of the previous 300 rocket attacks. Thus goeth

the ridiculous leftist canon holding that the PLO will reach some sort of

emotional catharsis by firing rockets at Israel for a while and then

cooling down to make peace. SO much for the view that Israel can just

build a wall and then forget about them, without utilizing military

control of the ground on the other side of the fence.

"I have argued for years that Israel should massively

retaliate for each and every ATTEMPTED murder by the PLO as if the murder

actually "succeeded". My government thinks that would be insensitive and

offend the politically correct folks.

So what is my government offering instead? More talk about the RRH

doctrine. RRH stands for "realy really hard". After each atrocity, my

government threatens that if the attacks do not stop, Israel will respond

"really really hard". Apparently my government wants to defeat the

terrorists by making them laugh themselves to death.

SO how is the government responding to yesterday's double murder? By

threatening a RRH retaliation soon. Get ready for a new attack on an

empty PLO building at night."

by the ever readable Steven Plaut

THREE CHEERS FOR MICHAEL MOOORE...

Do yourself a FAVOUR and read THIS hilarious take on Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11) From the always amusing "Blame Bush" (because Bush is to blame for everything)

THE UN SEX FOR FOOD SCANDAL - THE ONE YOU WON'T SEE ON TV...

Is the raping and impregnating girls as young as thirteen years old in exchange for food by UN peacekeeping forces in the Congo news? Seems not. Peter Jenkins at Brookesnews covers the topic very well and concludes by asking, "Once again, I am left to shake my head and am forced to ask: Where's the Outrage? My Comment: One might also ask since the Vatican was so quick to jump on the Abu Ghraib scandal, why has it been so silent about this scandal? Well, maybe Bono will five the Pope a new pair of sunglasses."

REMOVING LAW AND ORDER IN ORDER TO SOLVE CRIME..

What could be more logical at a time when crime is spiralling ever upwards, and the paramilitaries are ever active, than for the full-time Police Reserve to be made redundant? Yip, here in the post-Good Friday Alice in wonderland, it is more important for the authorities to be seen to appease the lawless than for them to help defend the lawful. Wouldn't it great if it could be like this all the time?

>> 28 Jun 2004

A Sense of Priorities

For once I find myself nodding in approval at a policy proposal put forward by a Labour politician. Caerphilly MP, Wayne David, is introducing a ten-minute rule bill calling for enhanced powers for 'police community support officers.'

Notwithstanding the fact that I would rather see 'organ grinders' than 'monkeys' patrolling the streets of our town and cities - with authorisation to deal with bad behaviour and thuggery in, shall we say, a more physical manner - it is heartening to see a Labour MP wishing to address some of the consequences of Left-wing exercises in 'rights' and social liberalism. What I find upsetting is the almost non-existent chance of his rule bill becoming law in the foreseeable future.

Mind you, I shouldn't be surprised. When all is said and done, this is a government more concerned with venting its spleen over frivolous matters like foxhunting, and introducing bureaucratic regulations which only exacerbate its already maladroit handling of our public services, than it is with actually championing sensible ideas to improve the lives of everyday citizens.

Terror and Irony

Sinn Fein/IRA underling, John O'Dowd, 'advises' the Parades Commission against capitulating to pro-Union demands to allow Orangemen to march down the Garvaghy Road this coming Sunday. When one considers such a request coming from a representative of a movement which has made every conceivable political gain by the threat and implementation of violence, it is surely laughable for any one of them to preach about potential threats emanating from elsewhere.

The Drumcree parade is certainly not: 'a sectarian, coat-trailing exercise through the Catholic community in Portadown.' This particular part of Portadown has had a Catholic majority since the mid-1970's, yet no offence was ever taken to the presence of Orangemen until Sinn Fein/IRA and their poisonous, myrmidon 'Residents Groups' arrived on the scene some twenty years later. Like a virulent disease gradually attacking new areas where once parades took place without any animosity, Sinn Fein are beginning to select new areas for contention. First it was the 'Tunnel' area of Portadown. Over ten years they have sought to infiltrate the Ormeau Road, Dunloy and parts of Londonderry.

Orange parades are reviled by the republican movement not because of any trappings of historical/religious dominance, but because of their cultural embodiment of UK sovereignty over Northern Ireland. And, as Irish nationalism has amply demonstrated in the past, UK sovereignty is only a means of extracting concessions to bolster terrorist demands, never something which merits even the most tenuous constitutional or cultural acknowledgement. If only the 'Young Turks' now in control of the DUP hierarchy could understand that point before they enter a Faustian pact to accelerate their own careers.

DUP(LICITY)?

Further to the Sunday Essay, Frank Millar in the Irish Times, also suggests that the DUP are seeking to sit in power with Sinn Fein by next Spring. Assuming that there is substance in the stories being floated at the moment, it appears that the DUP have just perpetrated the biggest con-trick imaginable on the pro-Union electorate. Here's the "tough stance" the abominable (ex)no-men are adopting:-

1. Sinn Fein to join up to the Policing Board.

2. Sinn Fein to work the Institutions enthusiastically.

3. A "definitive" end to paramilitary activity, according to the International Commission.

Wow - aren't the DUP so brave? Aren't we lucky to have our country's future in their safe hands?

As I wrote on Sunday, Peter Robinson IS the greatest danger to the Union, as will become all to obvious in the next nine months. Is it too late to say bring back Trimble??????

MORE BBC BIAS...

Listening to BBC Radio 4's "Start the Week", I felt transported back into the Student Common Room of my youth where smug leftists pontificated on how to solve the worlds problems to the exclusion of any form of reality. Get this: the "token Tory" was a wimpy woman called Jo-Ann Nadler whose latest book is called "Too nice to be a conservative." Her contribution was to apologise for Thatcher and to yearn for the "One Nation" Toryism so beloved by Ken Clark and Ted Heath. (i.e. The people who put the Con into Conservative)

This laughable liberal love-in cannot be possibly taken seriously. Andrew (Call me Andy) Marr, the oh-so-earnest and impartial presenter, can't hide his left-wing bias. The polite murmering of assent when the guilty conservative dissed Lady Thatcher spoke volumes.Time to privatise this dross! Time to stop the week.

Russell in a Tussle

Scottish Unionists must surely be quaking in their boots at the news of Mike Russell joining the battle to lead the Scottish National Party following John Swinney's ignominious departure. Despite overblown promises to lead the Scottish people to the Valhalla of Braveheart-type nationhood, the SNP continues to flounder in both local and national political arenas. Whatever 'radical changes' take place in the party, the underlying principles will always be the same - the fragmentation and destruction of the Union.

Fortunately, for those of us who passionately believe in the integrity of the Union, Scottish independence is as remote now as it was when the party was founded in 1934. Scottish separatism has had its moments of glory (not least at the end of the 1970's), but the stability and quality of life guaranteed by membership of the broader United Kingdom holds a resonance with a substantial majority of Scotland's voters which the clarion calls for independence have not been able to suppress. It is a lesson that must not be lost on the Unionists of Northern Ireland who, notwithstanding the harbingers of demographic doom and their fallacious predictions, still hold a large majority in the province.

Kelly and Condescension

Isn't it refreshing to know that after seeing democracy and the forces of law and order debased, the imprimatur of devolved government held to ransom by terrorist hoods, and the position of Irish separatism elevated to a position way beyond its political and demographic strength, some of the more disagreeably vocal members of this philosophy still hold nothing but contempt for Unionism in general, and Ulster Protestant culture in particular?

James Kelly, in his weekly diatribe of nationalist obnoxious vulgarity, waxes lyrical about the manifestations of the Orange marching season. We are given a taste of what's to come with the line: 'when the more violent sections of the Orange Order make nuisances of themselves where they are not wanted.' Really, Mr Kelly!? Could that be the same Orange Order which raises vast sums of money for charity; the same Orange Order which has members from various ethnic backgrounds spread over four continents; the same Orange Order subjected to provocative taunts from members of soi-disant 'Residents Groups' that cannot bear the sight of an Orange sash on adjacent public roads (lest it send Sinn Fein apostles into fits of anaphylactic shock), yet see fit to mockingly spectate from nearby streets????

Kelly and his ilk have a vision for Northern Ireland: a vision whereby, inter alia, the pro-Union people are subjected to the authorisation of Irish nationalist politico-terrorist prodigies every time they wish to demonstrate any vestige of their culture and heritage. Why? Because certain adherents of Irish nationalism have an implicit dislike of Ulster's Unionists grounded as much in a Catholic supremacist Weltanschauung, as to an aversion to Protestant political aspirations. As an illustration of this take Kelly's 'Napoleon Pig' impersonation - 'Catholicism/the Pope = good, Protestantism/Orange Order = bad' - rooted in an apocryphal image of the island of Ireland. It is an image - like the infamous happenings in Fethard-on-Sea - where 'Protestants need not apply.' And they say Ulster Protestants are the people afflicted by a sense of sectarian supremacy!!

The Charity Walk: An Update

I manged to complete the walk on Sunday and raised £125 for charity in the process. The trouble is, at the tender age of 31, I now look like Steve McQueen in the last 15 minutes of Papillon.

Clarke, Wide of the Mark

Please take some time to study this nonsense from The Times' Ireland correspondent, Liam Clarke. Even by the woeful standards of contemporary journalistic discourse on Northern Ireland, this article is devoid of any semblance of analytical accuracy.

For example, Clarke takes Melanie Phillips to task over her contention that the British State had to accommodate the IRA due to its failure to defeat them militarily. Among the more risible statements is Clarke's belief in the so-called republican 'acceptance' of Northern Ireland's constitutional right to exist. The term 'acceptance' implies, however muted, an acknowledgement of reality grounded in a set of righteous principles. Since when has the republican movement even tacitly accepted the continuation of the Union?

Sinn Fein/IRA's current strategy is a hybrid. The IRA retains weapons intact to threaten violence as a means of advancing republican aims. Simultaneously, Sinn Fein seeks to wield power in a devolved administration to enable it to hollow out the political and constitutional fabric of the State from within, rather than blatantly attacking it from without. Contrary to Mr Clarke's sanguinity, today's political process reflects an emboldened Irish republican arrogance, not a castrated one. If republican military enfeeblement had really been the outcome of this war of attrition, would Clarke also believe in the inevitability of 'joint authority' in the event of Unionist long-term refusal to share power with unrepentant terrorists? Where exactly does this non-sequitur fit in with his angle on pro-Agreement Unionist 'victories' in the Belfast Agreement?

IRAQI FREEDOM!

What a smart move to bring forward the transfer of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government from the existing June 30 deadline to TODAY! It has certainly wrong-footed the media who were gearing up for another few days of their much loved "quagmire"! The Coalition forces have done a tremendous job in Iraq - DESPITE our rotten liberal media - and as the people of Iraq contemplate the return of their sovereignty, they should pause to recall the sacrifices made by troops from many nations to free them from Saddam's torture chamber regime. The latest instance of this is the kidnap of US marine Hassoun Wassef Ali. The Jihadi scum threaten to behead this brave soldier unless their mad demands are met. What is now required from the interim Iraqi Government is a major clampdown on all these terrorists and their elimination, one by one.

BYE BYE SIR JOHN - AN INSTITUTIONAL DISASTER....

If there was a competition for Britain's worst cop, I'd be backing Metropolitan Commissioner Sir John Stevens. It has been announced that he is to take early retirement. Sir John is the man who infamously concluded that most policemen are "institutionally racist" and has thus done more to demoralise the Met than even Hitler managed during the Blitz.

Sir John has also "distinguished" himself in Northern Ireland by his investigation into the ludicrous "Shoot-to-kill" allegations of IRA propagandists. Once again, he is found to give comfort to the undeserving.

Bye Bye Sir John, you'll not be missed

CLEARLY CANADIAN...

I am a great fan of Canada, love travelling there, and have been following the build-up to this week's General Election with some interest. Over the past decades, Canada has become a sordid wacko Liberal fiefdom and this has been a major downside to this otherwise wonderful country. It looks like, at long last, there's gonna a-change! Liberal leader Paul Martin is in full panic as his Party's hegemony over the political scene looks like breaking up, with the Conservative Party under Steven Harper having every chance of getting it's hands on the levers of power by tomorrow evening. I'm not so sure just how conservative Canadian conservatives really are, but I believe that a change in Canada must be for the better good and so I wish Harper's party well.

>> 27 Jun 2004

GARLAND'S FOR THE GLOBAL VILLAGE...

That most liberal of liberal "unionists", Mr Roy Garland, continues to captivate with his bizarre theories of Unionism in the Irish News. With a stream of asinine cliches, Mr Garland informs us that "we live in a global village", that "the future lies in diversity and inclusion." Way to go Roy - this really is cutting edge stuff and the Irish News shows itself to be a pioneer in hypno-journalism.

Back on planet earth, poor old Roy is still trying to find ways to make it seem brave and noble to accept terrorists into Government when WE ALL KNOW that it was cowardly and immoral.Roy's endless apologies for being a Unionist may amuse his paymasters at the Irish News but they sure as hell bore the rest of us rigid. Can't we change the record?

CLINTON'S VOODOO NIGHTMARE...

I see that former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune has been arrested over killings carried out during recent unrest. Police said he was detained at his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Mr Neptune was prime minister under ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced from office in February.

Readers may recall that Bill "My Lies" Clinton had a lovefest with the tyrant Aristide during the 1990's resulting in American forces propping up this Haitian nightmare. Wonder why the liberals all kept quiet then?

A SUNDAY ESSAY....

IS PETER ROBINSON THE GREATEST THREAT TO THE UNION?

Let's do a reality check on the essence of why one holds a political position opposed to the provisions of the Belfast Agreement. The primary objection to this corrupt political arrangement has always been that it provides terrorist's proxies with the tangible reward of EXECUTIVE POWER in exchange for them graciously agreeing not to slaugher members of HM security forces or blowing up commercial town centre's. They can, of course, (wink wink, nudge nudge) torture and kill members of the communities that they infest without fear of censure ("internal housekeeping" as the NIO puts it), they can naturally remain fully armed and ever active, they can even recruit new members and seek new weapons. To any genuine democrat this is morally repulsive and thus cannot be tolerated.

However, we all know that the political establishment in the UK and Ireland, backed up by the UN, EU and, most disgracefully from those who should know better, the US, favours this pretence of peace at any price. And so those of us who have publicly taken a stance against the Belfast Agreement have been labelled by the liberal lickspittle media as "the enemies of peace" and "wreckers" because we believe that democratic Government cannot contain in any form those who choose to retain a private army. Surreal.

Now comes the bad news. If the Sunday Times is to be believed today (and that's a BIG if..!) then the DUP, driven by Peter Robinson, is preparing to move away from it's alleged anti-Agreement position and accept in principle that the IRA's frontmen can be seated in a new revived Government. All that is sought is a face-saving six-month delay between concluding a deal with the IRA before the latter group proxies are seated in a "reformed" Assembly. In this six month period, the DUP will engage with Sinn Fein, shake hands with them and generally abandon the essence of Anti-Agreement Unionism in exchange for the tantalising return of their "oh-so-precious" devolved Assembly. The Stormont honeypot has always been the ace up Mr. Blair' sleeve. After all, the fine cuisine served up in the Members Dining Rooms is very agreeable, and the salaries aren't half bad.

As always, there is a certain public and private choreography going on. Remember the DUP's much vaunted "Corporate Assembly" model of devolved Government outlined in the "Devolution Now" (or, more honestly "Devolution at any price" document? Well, again if the ST is to be believed,"A leaked document, classified confidential, was circulated last week to party negotiators by the British government outlining possible changes to the Good Friday agreement. It includes making ministers directly answerable to the assembly and responsible to the executive as a whole." Ring any bells? Ker-ching!

Furthermore, consider this. The illustrious Mr. Robinson was working hard for a better Northern Ireland...at Harvard Univeresity this past week - attending a "Leaders of Tomorrow" seminar at the John F Kennedy School of Government. The seminars are held annually for Northern Ireland’s political leaders but this year’s has been devoted entirely to the DUP. Noses stuck in the trough once again!

It seems to me that Unionism is in a bind. The DUP seems destined to follow it's fatal desire to get back into a devolved Government. It lusts to exercise executive power and all local political commentators seem to agree on this central point. Achieving this political goal requires doing SOME sort of deal with the IRA's frontmen. It is merely the choreography of this Faustian pact that so occupies the UK/Irish Governments and the DUP leadership. Naturally, what somes out in the Autumn must be seen as a percieved triumph for the DUP as it cannot risk a reversal of electoral fortunes at the Westminster poll in 2005. Yet the only way the DUP can have it's cake and eat it is if it ameliorates, contorts or otherwise camoflages a clear intent to share power with the IRA. Using a mandate falsely obtained at the polls last November and again last month will be the bizarre justification for this planned departure from principles.

Of course the Ulster Unionist Party is in no better a position to help Unionism. Remember it was Mr. Trimble who sat in a working Executive with a self-confessed IRA commander! If anything, the UUP are an even more craven version of the DUP - at least under it's current leadership. It seems unlikely that the UUP can change unless it engages in a major overhaul and a new younger dynamic leadership emerges (Younger, in UUP circles suggests someone under about 70, it needs to be someone under 50!)

So in the short term, Unionism is faced with the brutal truth that it's political leaders are united in preferrng devolution to democracy. The more things change in Unionism, the more they will stay the same. For years, many politicians in the DUP known to me have decried David Trimble as the greatest possible threat to the Union. I wonder can they now see that he has been replaced by their own "Leader of tomorrow" Peter Robinson?

BRYSON ON SHAKESPEARE...

I am pleased to read the the very entertaining and erudite American writer, Bill Brysonintends investigating the background of the alleged Bard of Avon. I trust he will conclude that the undisputed author of all those amazing plays and poems was the Earl of Oxford William de Vere - the greatest unacknowledged writer there has ever been.

I am an avowed Oxfordian and have found that a fuller understanding of the background of the author of masterful plays like "Hamlet" adds even more to their enjoyment.

To anyone interested in this topic, I would recommend a visit to Joe Sobran's Shakspeare site if you're really prepared to have your every illusion about "William Shaskespeare" blown apart.

>> 26 Jun 2004

INVADE ZIMBABWE...

During the ongoing liberation of Iraq by Coalition forces, one constant whinge from liberals has been why haven't we invaded Zimbabwe. OK - let's go for it. Based on this information from the DT, as highlighted in Samizdata, I reckon we need a new invasion to annoy weenie-liberal types anyway. Going in to remove the Marxist tyrant Mugabe seems pretty good reason to me, along with helping millions of starving Zimbabweans..wonder can we count on Liberal support? And what about South Africa..could we count on brother Mbeke? Mmmm..

The reverse racism of much of liberal thought is exemplified in their refusal to accept doing SOMETHING that will end Mugabe's dictatorship. Sending food is not the answer..sending the Marines is the answer.

White Misses the Point

Barry White, the guy who penned the hagiographic tome on John Hume, protests against the continuation of Direct Rule. Using the abolition of educational selection in Northern Ireland as an example of why democrats should swallow their pride and re-admit terrorist apologists into government, White states that Labour's Left-of-Centre ideals are inimical to the large majority of the Ulster population who are in favour of grammar schools.

Nobody could be a bigger advocate of selected education than I. Ergo, I am appalled at the Government's drive to end grammar school education in the Province. However, educational changes(whatever opposition we hold towards them), categorically do not undermine the constitutional fabric of the State. On the contrary, permitting power to be shared amongst a group of politicians who are determined to use every foul method at their disposal to undermine constitutional stability, is as essential ingredient in the eruption of social turmoil.

If White and Co. cannot think of a more convincing reason as to why the Stormont gravy-train should be resurrected, then I really pity the analytical nous of Bel Tel's hacks.

Important Notice!!

I will not be posting any other messages on A Tangled Web until Monday. Tomorrow I will be participating in a 32-mile cross-country hike organised by the Bradford Rotary Club. I volunteer for this annual madness across the Yorkshire Dales to raise charity money for blind children in Africa. The route (Buckden to Bolton Abbey) is stunning. It was made famous as the area where Calendar Girls was filmed. Wish me luck, I am going to need it.

Hope you all have good blogging sessions during my absence. Till Monday, ciao!!!

THE PEACE OF THE GRAVE...

IRA/Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams wants peace with unionists. And Elvis Presley is alive and well and working in Tesco's in Banbridge!

The sort of third rate guff trotted out by Adams is designed to appeal to liberal opinion whilst his murderous organisation carries on with the more important business of perverting democarcy in both Northern and South Ireland.

Gerry, believing his own hot-air informs us that perhaps the biggest challenge facing his party is reaching accommodation with unionists, most of whom, he argued, regard a united Ireland as inevitable.

Really? What HAS David Trimble been whispering into Gerry's shell-like?

The truth of the matter, and something which Mr. Adams avoids like the plague, is that the IRA must either give up their weapons or give up their freedom, if not their lives. It's time IRA thugs were hunted down, brought to justice or preferably justice to them.

(The same applies to the UVF, UDA and any other terrorist grouping)

Unionists shoudl unite in rejecting ANY form of power-sharing with the IRA's frontmen - which is why the DUP "corporate Assembly" so disturbs me. If the DUP prevail, the IRA get to wield power by proxy and the essence of democracy is compromised once more by avaracious politicians more interested in their poxy careers than the service of freedom and liberty.

For over three decades, Sinn Fein/IRA offered those with whom they differed, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, the peace of the grave. It is this same grave to which the collective body of Irish terrorism needs committed. But Adams and his cronies will studiously avoid this conclusion whilst they are appeased by gutless Governments.

A Few 'Holmes' Truths from Moriarty

As the Irish Republic is gripped by a baseless anti-Bush frenzy, it is pleasing to know of some people in the country's body politic prepared to reveal the inherent double-standards of most 'anti-war' Hiberno-peaceniks. Congratulations, therefore, go to Tony Moriarty for this insightful letter published in today's Irish Examiner.

>> 25 Jun 2004

The War on Terror

Have a look at this excellent article by Victor Davis Hanson in the National Review. Whilst latently some sovereign states deride the efforts of the USA and its allies in tacking the scourge of Islamic terror, there remains considerable subliminal support for their eventual success.

Why? Because at the heart of every sovereign state is an instinct of survival. For democratic polities it is a survival based not only on internal stability (a contradiction in terms if infiltrated by Islamic insurgents), but on a structured international order with reasonable guarantees of global security in the long-term. This is why I fumed over the protests against the 'War on Terror'(the situation in Iraq is an essential and integral part of the war). It hasn't yet occurred to pacifist cowards that the global world order was so badly shaken by the rise of Islamic terrorism in general, and Al Queda in particular, that the West's crusade to eliminate them was an essential part of restructuring and rebuilding a comparable global order. It could no longer be obtained, say, using the theories fashioned to bring about an end to the Cold War.

Hanson is entirely correct when he says: 'we are in a see-saw race with the terrorists.' It is a battle for the very future of global hegemony; an hegemony promising peace and security under the auspices of American protection, or an hegemony geared to suit the bloodthirsty aspirations of men who seek to convert the world to, ultimately, nothing more than a comprehensive Islamic state.

Circles in the Sand

I vaguely recollect a song released in the 80's called 'Circles in the Sand'. I cannot, for the life of me, name the artist who sang it. Nevertheless, the lyrics tend to mirror the machinations of the failed Northern Ireland 'peace process'. Yesterday, Tony 'My Lips Never Lie' Blair, accompanied by the Taoiseach of the one State which simply cannot mind its own business (Bertie Ahern), drew another line in the sand by setting an autumn deadline for progress in negotiations.

How often have we heard it before? Endless 'deadlines' which turned out to be as permeable as a biological membrane during an osmotic process. Tony is fixated with securing his place in history as the man who brought stability to Northern Ireland. I don't suppose it has dawned on him that the best way to secure stability is to create a democracy untainted by the forces of terror. For so long as HM Government indulges terrorist proxies and grants them concessions to which they are not entitled, then for so long will our Prime Minister be perceived as scarcely more than a lap-dog to Irish republican philosophies.

GHADAFFI - THE MUSICAL!!!

Just when you think the world can't get crazier - it does. Thanks to Emily at the ever wonderful "It comes in pints" for this marvellous link.

It seems that a radical dance-music band has teamed up with the English National Opera to produce a stage show on the life of Libya's enigmatic leader Muammar Gaddafi!!! Really! The production, which will not be completed until 2006, will explore relations between the West and the Middle East, as well as the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing for which a Libyan agent was convicted. It will also touch on the 1984 killing of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot in the back as she helped to police a demonstration against Gaddafi at Libya's London embassy.

Wonder what the major tunes for this show biz production will be?

How about " Mad Dogs and Tony Blair go out in the Midday sun" or maybe, "We shot the WPC but we did not down the Pan-am plane"

This kind of rubbish should not see the light of day, it will attempt to glorify this Libyan thug. In my opinion, he is still a pariah whose self-preservation instincts have forced him to play possum lest he follows Saddam down a spider-hole but he is still unfit to be hailed as ADF's Steve Chandra, aka Chandrasonic, suggests on the BBC (where else)

"When I was much younger, all of a sudden this person popped into the press who was completely demonised and seen as the mad dog, and recently we have seen this journey from demonisation to rehabilitation."

Pass the sick bag

AN INVITATION TO A BEHEADING..THE GAMES CHILDREN PLAY.

This is pretty horrific - Arab children play the beheading game on Abu Hamza's website. Sick mindsand the corruption of childish innocence.

PUBLIC SECTOR FRAUD...

It's bad enough that the Government takes away so much of our hard-earned income, but now we read that here in Northern Ireland BENEFIT FRAUD is costing £120 milliona year. In a report, published on Friday, the public spending watchdog estimated that levels of fraud and error in income support was £37.5m, in housing benefit was £27.9m and jobseekers' allowance was £11.9m. This is a scandal and only in the vast wastage of the public sector could such incompetence happen without anyone losing their job.

AN ILLUSTRIOUS VISITOR TO A TANGLED WEB...!

In this week's poll, I posed the simple question: Was Iraq better off under Saddam. It's a kinda no-brainer..or at least that's what I thought!

However - I see one person has voted in FAVOUR of the proposition! I'm not saying who he is, we have to be discrete, but we are deeply touched here at Web central that such an illustrious person should find the time to visit us. It must be a comfort, for example if one is held in captivity, to be able to roam the Web. I'll pass on your best wishes to Mr. Chirac and the BBC - hope those palaces haven't been vulgarised since your enforced departure.

ANOTHER LIE FROM BUBBA BILL..

In his hilarious new novel, "My Life" Bill Clinton reveals that his wife, Hillary, was given her name from the conqueror of Mt. Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary. (Hillary also claimed this back in 1995) Now get this. Hillary Rodham was born in 1947. Sir Edmund ascended Everest in 1953. Oops..another lie. Wonder if the media noticed??????? Maybe her mother was a prophet?

THE DEFINITION OF A HYPOCRITE.

In 1997, wannabe President John Kerry felt that there were no threats to the United States. This prompted him to place this statement in the Congressional Record: 'Now that the [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow even as Government resources for new and essential priorities fall far short of what is necessary?' (Congressional Record, 5/1/97, p. S3891)

Got that? Right, now fast forward....

Twelve days after 9/11, Senator Kerry had the nerve to make this statement: 'And the tragedy is, at the moment, that the single most important weapon for the United States of America is intelligence. ...[W]e are weakest, frankly, in that particular area. So it's going to take us time to be able to build up here to do this properly.' (CBS's Face the Nation, 9/23/01)

After spending years trying to lay waste to our intelligence capabilities, succeeding at times, and failing at times, he now preaches about how our intelligence community was negligent.

Thanks to Barbara Stock, GOPUS, care of the Federalist.

The English Lose in Lisbon, the Irish Lose in Lisburn

Today, I telephoned Lisburn City Council to congratulate them on their stance regarding the scheduled interference of a representative from the Irish Republic. Quite what the Republic of Ireland has to do with the internal affairs of a council within the United Kingdom is beyond me!! Nevertheless, the government of the Republic thought it judicious to send a 'monitor' to observe the selection process for the positions of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Need I remind anyone that the invitation came from Lisburn Sinn Fein councillor, and convicted murderer, Paul Butler.

This latest whinge-fest, augmented by Sinn Fein's 'Brothers in Arms (excuse the pun), the SDLP, arose because Irish nationalism thought it was receiving a raw deal in being omitted from a number of the council's top jobs. The fact that similar practices have occurred, and do occur, in nationalist-controlled councils without a whisper from pro-Union representatives, has not been mentioned. How careless!!

Irish nationalism is a philosophy which only bestows hollow gestures from a position of unbridled strength. Hence the tradition in a few councils of indeed sharing power with those from the local Unionist minority. Nationalist councillors in Londonderry and elsewhere opt for power sharing as a means of reminding minority pro-Union members of their capacity to grant (and thus remove) any semblance of power in the council chamber. It certainly does not arise out of any love for the Unionist tradition. Nationalist quasi-fascistic perspectives on the tenets of Protestant culture can be seen graphically here and here.

Thankfully the Irish Government decided to back down. Here's to them deciding to lessen their pernicious influence in other spheres of Northern Ireland's political life. Cheers!!

Psychological Warfare and Irish Kulturkampf

I see IRA Army Council member and putative MP for West Belfast, Gerry Adams, has been uttering platitudes of reconciliation to the pro-Union populace of Ulster. Whereas once the IRA killed people to advance a 'united Ireland', Gerry now believes we Unionists - apparently resigned to the 'inevitability' of a 'united Ireland' - can take comfort from a medicinal dose of republican magnanimity.

Behind the veneer of disingenuous statesmanship there lies a more sinister project. A key component in the republican strategy is convincing Unionists they have lost the constitutional battle. Of course, there is nothing demographically, socially, economically, politically or statistically to indicate such an eventuality. On the contrary, a clear majority of Unionists now support a position fundamentally avoiding any chance of terminating the Union. Pro-Union voters have witnessed first-hand the debilitating effects of elevating Irish separatism to positions of power: they are hardly likely to countenance a repeat performance.

Gerry Adams goes on to reveal the next phase of his Baldrickesque 'cunning plan'. He insists (with 100 tonnes of weapons at the ready) on the Government 'moving ahead' to trigger Unionist acquiescence to the process. Translation: 'we demand a sovereign government overrides any wishes of a stated majority in an integral part of its domain, and pushes ahead with constitutional and political arrangements which further advance the break-up of the Union to the satisfaction of my AK47-wielding buddies.'

Finally, to rub salt into Unionist wounds (I suppose it makes a change from causing wounds in the first place), dear Gerry is adamant that his statements are bereft of 'patronising' content. Really!? And here's me thinking republicans were as prodigious at sarcastic, patronising cliches as they were in terminating human life.

'At Least Two-Thirds of Our Miseries Spring from Human Stupidity'

Last night I was unable to make my regular contributions to A Tangled Web. I was contacted by the local police who informed me that a client of mine (I work as a counsellor and liaison worker with people affected by drug and alcohol abuse) had attempted suicide and, with no family to call upon, had asked me to visit him at a nearby hospital. Despite a number of years in the job, the capacity of suicidal people to shock never diminishes. They are, for the most part, people beset with so many tragedies that attempted suicide represents the best 'cry for help' they have. In other words, they have problems of a great and distressing magnitude, and issues well-worth crying about.

'What is the point of the above tale?' - I hear you ask. My answer lies in the ridiculous, contemptible reaction of great swathes of the English nation to last night's deserved defeat at the hands of the Portuguese, and the demonstrable lack of perspective therein. Whilst driving home from the hospital I was treated to sights of people crying in the street; punching pub walls like errant infants possessing little in the way of discipline; hooligans chanting racist slogans as they emerged from drinking dens so inebriated that the 70% water ratio in the human body had been transformed into neat alcohol; and other such illustrations of thuggish turgidity.

Let's just recall the events of the last few weeks. Here we have a football team (England) with nothing other than a modest talent; supported by a massive contingent of people for whom football represents the world, the universe and the meaning of life. It is a team captained by an egocentric moron sporting a neck tattoo and two pierced ears (somehow one couldn't imagine Professor Stephen Hawking or Tim Berners-Lee sporting neck tattoos and earrings), whose egregious talents in the game he is obscenely well-paid to play were largely responsible for England's defeat last evening.

Aldous Huxley's quote (the title of this blog) is classically accurate in the milieu of contemporary England's infatuation with football. Having emotionally elevated the national team to a level way beyond what their abilities demanded, the precipitous arrival of reality created masses of gibbering wrecks. They, as much as the England team, were responsible for the upsetting situation they found themselves in on that rainy Thursday night.

>> 24 Jun 2004

THE SAME OLD STORY FROM BLAIR...

Tony Blair is like a broken record. He repeats the same old mantra and imagines that a grateful people will swallow his drivel. Thus, the Newsletter reports him saying that,

"In my view, the challenge is for the IRA to give up violence completely but then the challenge is for all the parties to come together and make the Executive and all the institutions work."

What a load of crap.

Let's sort Blair's nonsense out.

First off, Tony's been saying this for seven years now. It's about reality, Tony, not your fantasy wish-list. The IRA has NOT given up violence as your own IMC report clearly showed. However you deigned to release their bloody killers from prison, you ensured that the RUC was destroyed, you ensured that a blind eye was turned to IRA murders over the past seven years, you elevated IRA KILLERS to places in Government, and YOU wonder why unionists don't trust you. What a joke!

Second, it is disgusting the way you oh-so-cleverly try to equate "Unionist intransigence" with IRA retention of a terrorist arsenal. No terrorist organisation has the right to exist, and in pathetically trying to link this to unionists politicians good or bad you undermine democracy.

The IRA must disband or be brought to justice - that's it. Anthing less is just a hopeless cop-out.

A MESSAGE FOR LIBERALS FROM THE PAST...

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." --Benjamin Franklin

I wonder if Senator Kerry is listening? I know that the Spanish electorate isn't.

IRISH GOVERNMENT BOUND FOR LISBURN COUNCIL.

Unionists are angry that the Irish Government intends to send a representative to a council meeting in County Antrim. The Irish plan to attend the annual general meeting of Lisburn City Council which is due to meet on Thursday evening to elect a mayor and deputy mayor. Details here. Of course this is an outrage. We have a bitter little Sinn Fein Councillor and incorrigible self-publicist, Paul Butler, (who is also a convicted murderer) whose one man mission is to degrade Lisburn Council by elevating his toxic Party. True to form, the Irish Government play along with the charade. Lisburn Council should BAN the Irish Government from having any presence in Lisburn Council Chamber unless invited by the Council itself. Wonder have they the bottle to do that?

THE GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ

Are you fed up with the daily diet of "bad news" stories like this run by our biased liberal media portraying Iraq as a "quagmire"? Do you think that we are perhaps missing seomething? The answer, unreservedly, is YES! Thanks to Ed Thomas's excellent TALKING HOARSELY for this link to Chrenkoff's"Good news from Iraq" series of articles. Here you can read all the good news and great work being undertaken by Coalition forces and ordinary Iraqis in partnership. Of course this does not suit the media storyboard and so it is duly ignored. Read the stories - you'll be amazed at the progress being made by our brave soldiers!

>> 23 Jun 2004

AMAZEing!!!

With all the stories of negativity emerging from Northern Ireland, it's nice to read about developments with a positive and unusual edge. BBC Northern Ireland reports on the opening of the world's largest maze (the previous holder of the title was, I believe, situated in Wiltshire). Visitor figures have exceeded all expectations, and the landmark represents a considerable plus to the tourist infrastructure of South Down.

Rest assured it will be on my itinerary the next time I venture across the North Channel. I only hope I can find my way out again!

Do as I Say, Not as I Do

Republican Sinn Fein (the group not pretending to observe a ceasefire) is advising people involved in the construction industry against carrying explosives around County Kerry during daylight hours. In the opinion of the party's oh-so-sensitive 'Community Affairs Spokesman', it is: 'a tragedy waiting to happen.'

Should we prostrate ourselves at the feet of the world's most chivalrous sage; thanking him profusely for a wonderfully caring attitude towards his fellow man? Or should we titter contemptuously at the fact that a party with such a bloody proficiency at murdering people should issue this type of warning (articulated by a person bestowed with a title of breathtaking hypocrisy)?

Let's face it, if explosives remain undisturbed on building sites in Ireland's rebellious south west, they are more accessible the next time RSF decide to use them to demonstrate the fragility of human mortality.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS..

Reagan: 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.'

Clinton: 'I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky'."

Exquisite from Kathleen Parker

LETTERMAN AND LENO ON TOP FORM...

I laughed at this from Dave Letterman...

"Top Surprises in Bill Clinton's '60 Minutes' Interview:" Out of habit, Clinton vehemently denied ever writing his memoirs"

and then this from Jay Leno...

"Clinton told Dan Rather last night that the worst day of his life was the "day he told Hillary the truth". So he's not going to do that again... Not gonna make that mistake. ...."

Both from the wonderfulFederalist

RONALD MCDONALD MORE TRUSTED THAN AMNESTY!

I enjoyed this story flagged up on Samizdata. It seems that Ronald McDonald is more trusted by discerning Aussies than the bleeding heart pro-terrorist liberals at Amnesty International. Way to go! Indeed good old Ronald even tops the eco wacko's at Greenpeace. What can I say other than mine's an Quarter Pounder, heavy on the relish and irony.

Uncle Hutton and Auntie Beeb

Britain's broadcasting answer to the Politburo has decided to act in the aftermath of the Hutton Report. Former BBC Director of News, Ron Neil, has decided a 'sea change' is necessary to enhance the competence of BBC journalists.

Actually, what is being proposed (colleges of journalism and the like) amounts to nothing other than 'window dressing': action for action's sake. The underlying, fundamental Left-wing ethos of the organisation will not alter, and the public will be left with a state broadcasting leviathan which is anti-American, subliminally anti-Israel and, definitely, anti-Conservative in its political perspectives. Why should I, as someone who holds antithetical viewpoints on all of the above, be forced to pay out a monthly charge to a corporation projecting contrary standpoints to my own? I suggest if Mr Neil is sincere about transforming the atmosphere of BBC journalism, he takes a long, hard look at its base philosophies.

'Gizza Job, I Can Do That!'

Anyone over the age of 25 (which includes me, sadly) remembers 'Boys from the Blackstuff'. I can recall the central character, Yosser Hughes, walking around a depressed Liverpool and uttering the oft-repeated (above) request to any public servant unlucky enough to cross his path. Unemployment is a tragedy which affects many genuinely decent, hard-working people who long to earn a crust for their families, but who have been let down by the system.

Why then should decent unemployed folk in Northern Ireland be forced to compete for jobs with people who have terrorist convictions? The new equality legislation (yes, still more 'equality' legislation, folks!!) could stipulate that loyalist and republican terrorists should not be discriminated against because of their criminal records and terrorist pasts. It's certainly refreshing to know our government cares so much about homicidally-obsessed plebs that it is willing to grant them the same rights as people who have been God-fearing throughout their lives.

So, we may be faced with a situation where terrorist activists (who denied hundreds of families the entitlement to see their loved ones flourish), having served nugatory sentences in Northern Ireland's very own answer to the Iroquois, are placed on the same footing as the general populace they attempted to murder over thirty years. A life of penury is what these people deserve, not opportunities for fiscal betterment.

MORE MEDIA LIES....

Gerard Jackson, Economics editor with Brooke's News, has a masterly article here on the outrageous lies spun by the media about the conclusions of the 9/11 Commission.

Here is an excerpt,

Perhaps Eccleston and the commissioners can explain a 1998 Clinton Justice Department indictment of bin Laden, according to which: "Al Qaeda also forged alliances with the National Islamic Front in the Sudan and with the government of Iran and its associated terrorist group Hezballah for the purpose of working together against their perceived common enemies in the West, particularly the United States. In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."

The indictment was based on information supplied by Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl said that in the mid-1990s al Qaeda and Saddam struck a deal to work together. The go-between was Mahmdouh Mahmud Salim, a close associate of bin Laden.

No connections? You gotta be kidding!

CLINTON ON IRELAND'S ROSE - THE IRA.

In his ongoing publicity drive for his autobiography, "My Lies", sorry I meant to say, "My Life", disgraced former US President Bubba Bill Clinton reveals that Gerry Adams phoned him just hours before the Canary Wharf bombing to tell him the IRA was coming off ceasefire. Can someone please help me with this, cos I'm a bit confused? You see, here's the problem.

After the IRA murdered innocent people at Canary Wharf, Mr Adams claimed that he had no idea if the IRA was responsible for the Canary Wharf atrocity. Indeed at the time he denied this, on the public record. Yet now we discover that Adams phoned Clinton BEFORE the bomb went off. So could that possibly, just possibly, mean that Mr. Adams was aware that an IRA bombing was imminent and that he was covering his back with Clinton by making the call? If so, shouldn't Adams be arrested, interrogated, and made to divulge what he knew and when with regard to this depraved bombing? Isn't this a fresh scandal?

Clinton recalls the day in 1996 when Adams phoned him only hours before the Canary Wharf bombing by saying "The bloom came off the Irish rose, as Gerry Adams called me to tell me that the IRA had ended its ceasefire, allegedly because of foot-dragging by John Major and the Unionists. Later that day, a bomb exploded at Canary Wharf in London".

Two men lost their lives, blown apart by a huge IRA bomb, and Bubba Bill wistfully wonders if the "Irish rose" has lost its bloom. What a prick.

NAZI DEMANDS REPARATIONS FROM THE JEWS.

IRA/Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has met with the bumptious and self-confessed institutionally racist Metroplolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens to discuss British State collusion in the death of Mr. Pat Finucane.

To me this is like a senior Nazi visiting a Jew to find out if the Jew intends paying war reparations for the German costs in WW2. It is disgraceful that Adams should be permitted to preen as a democrat whilst his Party retains an illegal killing machine to back up its "want-list." It is this indulgence of Sinn Fein/IRA that has destroyed the SDLP. The more Adams and his cronies are grovelled to the more our democracy is defiled.

BRAVE MR TRIMBLE RUNS AWAY...AGAIN.

Showing the adept leadership skills we have come to expect, Ulster Unionist David Trimble ensured that he was not in the Province for the first post-Euro election meeting of his Assembly group. Brave Mr. T legged it over to Westminster where there is so much less aggravation!

The thing about this story is that we all know that Trimble has brought a form of electoral meltdown upon his Party. The fact that he might not like to be criticised for doing this is understandable. What gets my goat are those meek and mild MLA's who must see the lights of the DUP train coming at them, and rather than move out of the way, instead stand still on the electoral tracks blinking in some vain hope that Trimble can save them. He can't.

THE STUPIDITY OF THE PARADES COMMISSION...

In our neo-Orwellian world in Northern Ireland post-Belfast Agreement, we have "Independent" commissions for everything. These quango's stacked by Government approved lick-spittles are always at hand to do their master's bidding.

I read this story from the Irish News with interest..

"Former GAA president Peter Quinn was the subject of a question during a debate on community relations in a Westminster committee. North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon (She of the laser brain)speaking at the Northern Ireland Grand Committee questioned whether remarks reportedly made by the Parades Commission member at the launch of a proposed new daily newspaper last month were "helpful...in the context of promoting good community relations". She said Mr Quinn was quoted as saying: "We will not be lying on any field and no grass and no crops will be growing from our blood in August or any other month of the year."

I have met Mr Quinn and found him to be a pleasant man who holds staunch republican views. He is therefore totally unfit, in my opinion, to adjucate on ANY Orange Order Parade. His views are baised and prejudical to a fair decision. Of course that is precisely why he does adjucate on Orange Order Parades.

As we approach the July Marching Season, I reiterate my undiminished support for civil and religius liberty for all. The Parades Commission should be abolished; the Orange Order should be permitted to hold it's parades; the Orange Order should then be held responsible for such Parades being civil and non-aggressive. Beyond that, it's their business. Those who threaten violence should be punished, not rewarded.

Above all, the Orange Order should be allowed to return from the Church Parade at Drumcree. It has been sickening to see militant republicans, backed up by those such as the Parades Commission, deny this basic right to Portadown Orange men.

AYATOLLAH BUSH?

So let me get this right. The Mad Mullah's in Iran capture eight British sailors, hold them prisoners, parade them in front of the media, and the big issue for the BBC is...did the Bush adminstration tacitly approve of "torture" of suspected captured terrorists. I see - it makes so much sense when you have an innate hatred of the United States, as is always the case with the BBC.

Listening to Radio 4's "Today" programme this morning, and a particularly cringing interview with the wacko Lib-Dem Menzies Campbell, I was struck by the way the BBC reckon that it is probably fair enough for Iran to "humiliate" and blindfold British prisoners. After all the ultimate responsibily for this lies with Tony Blair for wrong-headedly supporting the despotic United States! What could be more simple than that?

Back to Iran - if the UK Government had any self-respect - it would make it very clear to the mad Mullah's that unless they release our sailors immediately, then the UK will break off all diplomatic connections to Tehran and argue for the rapid isolation of this rabid slabbering at the mouth axis-of-evil nation.

You can just imagine the BBC's sense of outrage at that!!

>> 22 Jun 2004

Swinney down the Swanny

Separatism is like a cancer. If it is derided and robustly attacked, it will wither on the vine. If it is nurtured and appeased, it will grow in vitality. For proof of this look no further than the announcement by SNP leader, John Swinney, that he is resigning his post due to the poor electoral showing of Scottish separatism in the recent European elections. Successive governments have gone on the offensive against separatism is Scotland in a manner Ulster's pro-Union people can only gaze at wistfully.

There is a lesson for we Unionists here. If the government of the United Kingdom had applied the same standards of constitutional defence across all four nations of our country, would we have seen invigorated Irish Brownshirts declare their political hubris in front of the world's media? It is highly doubtful - for Irish nationalism has no demographic or economic growth dynamics. It is encouraged by appeasement and submission granted at the behest of a government with no concept whatsoever of the sacredness of British identity. Until such time Irish separatism realises that it cannot break the Union, we will be subjected to the sort of arrogant triumphalism we witnessed last week. I suspect, accounting for New Labour's stewardship of UK Plc, we will be in for the long haul.

THE DEMISE OF RONAN...

Every now and again, I get bored rigid with the squeaking of some of those who pop up in the comments section on this site. Inevitably it's the same sort of saddo Irish republicans that drone on and on without any sense of ever understanding, let alone accepting, anothers point of view. Whilst a tolerant fellow, I find that a limited ban is helpful for some of these people. They either become more interesting or go and bore somewhere else. The choice is theirs! So bye bye Ronan the Dronan - or whoever you are.

Doctor, Doctor!!

Oh, to be in England, where New Labour providence has been kind to us all. A wonderful NHS; punctual, clean public transport; educational attainment the envy of the developed world; and a quality of life not seen outside the palatial surroundings of Beverly Hills.

That's the myth!! Here's the reality. Despite this thieving government raiding everything from our private pensions to our hard-earned salaries to plough obscene amounts of money into public services, the general standards of delivery have scarcely been lower. Yesterday, I came across this piece in my local newspaper, the Evening Courier, exemplifying the extent to which some services have deteriorated to almost Third World standards. I dread to think what this country will be like if the electorate sleepwalks into a third term governed by these incompetent morons.

>> 21 Jun 2004

A DISABLED SOCIETY...

A disabled man who was beaten repeatedly in Antrim at the weekend has claimed the attack was sectarian. Bobby McNeill, who is Protestant, received treatment for head injuries following the attack in the Stiles estate in the town in the early hours of Saturday.

Regardless of his religion, (which is irrelevan anyway)what sort of animals attack a disabled person with baseball bats for god's sake? What kind of corrupt mind thinks it right and proper to beat nine bells out of someone with a disability?

I worry about the kind of society we have that is producing this barbarism.

THE LINKS BETWEEN IRAQ AND AL QU'EDA THAT THE MEDIA IGNORE...

Yeah - we all know the media line on this. There were no proven links between Al Qu'eda and Saddam's Iraq therefore Bush lied therefore we need Kerry in the White House. Except...there are numerous instances of links between Iraq and Bin Laden. Here's a good article by Richard Miniter citing 25 examples of contact....the media whitewash just won't work!

"A common enemy, a shared goal and powerful need for cash seem to have forged an alliance between Saddam and bin Laden. CIA Director George Tenet recently told the Senate Intelligence Committee: "Iraq has in the past provided training in document forgery and bomb making to al Qaeda. It also provided training in poisons and gasses to two al Qaeda associates; one of these [al Qaeda] associates characterized the relationship as successful. Mr. Chairman, this information is based on a solid foundation of intelligence. It comes to us from credible and reliable sources. Much of it is corroborated by multiple sources."

Is the media even listening to this or is this hatred of Bush turning them deaf as well as immoral?

ALLAH'S BUTCHERS....

The horrendous decapitation of American Paul Johnson by inhuman Jihadi failed to make much of an impact in our national media. So if a US citizen has his head cut off, that's one thing, if an Iraqi prisoner is "humiliated" by having underpants put on his head, that's an outrage! Here's a take by Ralph Peters on the topic of the barbarism behind the butchery of men like Paul Johnson and Nick Berg

I quote this paragraph to give you a feel for the rage we SHOULD be feeling about these murderers of defenceless Americans...

"After centuries of self-destructive behavior, Arab civilization is unable to compete in a single field of human endeavor relevant to progress. Instead, Arab societies are racing backward into superstition, bigotry and a narcotic culture of blame. They have grown so impotent in every other regard—unable even to translate great wealth into minor power—that Arabs rich and poor, educated and illiterate, are enraptured by their rare “triumphs” over the West, from 9/11 to the barbaric murder of Westerners doing the work that Arabs themselves are too slothful or incompetent to do."

Pollyanna Murphy

Remember Pollyanna? She was the children's character created by Eleanor H Porter whose infectious optimism enlivened those around her. She was, however, destined to face an awful event, which severely dampened her erstwhile zeal and virtually destroyed her ability to take on the reality of her new-found situation.

Does this all sound familiar? Northern Ireland Secretary, Paul Murphy, is Pollyanna's contemporary embodiment: a man so blinded by misplaced buoyancy he cannot perceive one iota of reality beyond the sheen of fictitious spin. How else could one account for his opinions on the imminent resurrection of a peace process now roundly rejected by a vastly greater number of the pro-Union majority?

Murphy has perhaps not comprehended the fact that should the Robinson/Dodds groupies of the DUP gain ascendancy and leap into the political lion's den with proficient murder force, Sinn Fein/IRA, they will create a fissure in their party destined to bring about its own emasculation, and be punished for doing so by the Unionist electorate.

The Belfast Agreement is dead!! This fact hasn't yet dawned on Irish nationalists who think they can collectively bully Ulster's British majority into a submission not achieved when the IRA was systematically exterminating them. Permitting apologists for irredentist terror to gain governmental leverage over Northern Ireland is not an experiment the pro-Union people would countenance again. It's high time our Government started to realise it.

MANDELA - CLINTON'S GUARDIAN ANGEL.

Nelson Mandela counselled Bill Clinton through the Monica Lewinsky scandal, helping him to survive the ordeal that nearly saw him removed from office, the former US president reveals today. This touchy-feely piece of excrement in the Guardian is worth a laugh - I really felt Clinton's pain. My lips quivered. Of course convicted terrorist Mandela is an international disgrace to any right-thinking person. His support of Clinton contrasts with his hostility of Bush. No wonder he is lionised by the left.

PRODS MAKE BEST DADS?

The always readable Canadian David Warren has an interesting article on "Father's Day".

"Surprise, surprise: surveys show that religious men, and especially evangelical Protestants, make more affectionate and reliable fathers. The surveys are themselves surveyed in a new book by a sociologist at the University of Virginia, named W. Bradford Wilcox (who is incidentally Catholic). He shows an unmistakable correlation between things like regular church attendance, and things like not beating children to within an inch of their lives."

Read the case for patriarchy here.

TARGETING THE JEWS...

Melanie Phillips records that "There have been two arson attacks on Jewish targets in London in the last few days. The first, on the South Tottenham synagogue on June 17, and the second on the offices of Aish HaTorah in Hendon on June 18." I wonder what david Blunkett plans to do about it? For example, will he give it the same priority he has attached to dealing with football hooligans - or do the Jews fall a little lower in his list of attractive media headlines?

BBC IS JUST TOO PRO-ISRAEL???

HonestReporting has an excellent article here on the strange tactic being used by the BBC to divert attention from the anti-Israeli bias. It seems that the Beeb have decided that it is shrewd to "defuse the controversy over their anti-Israel bias not by addressing it head-on, but rather by allowing far-out radicals to suggest the Beeb is actually too pro-Israel." Amazing.

PUTIN BACKS BUSH - MEDIA RUNS AWAY!

Funny how the media consistently refuses to cover major stories that lend veracity to the Bush doctrine. Take these comments from anti-war Russian President Putin...

"I can confirm that after the events of September 11, 2001, and up to the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services and Russian intelligence several times received .?.?. information that official organs of Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist acts on the territory of the United States and beyond its borders, at U.S. military and civilian locations."

Best keep quiet about this or it might lead one to conclude that the media has got it wrong in their hysterical canter to unseat Bush.

FRUM ON THE NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE PROCESS..

David Frum at National Review has an interesting take on the folly of the Northern Ireland peace process. Prompted by Dean Godson's biography of David Trimble, Frum concludes...

"British politicians who entered the process intending to protect the union between northern Ireland and mainland Britain--a union cherished by a large majority of the population of northern Ireland--ended by inventing a new kind of multinational structure in which Northern Ireland would somehow be jointly governed by Britain and the Republic of Ireland together.

Northern Irish politicians who entered the process to defend the union found themselves contemplating independence for Northern Ireland-and estrangement from Britain-in order to protect themselves and their interests.

The elected politicians of southern Ireland--who privately recognized that northern Ireland could never be democratically united with the South--found themselves deputized to provide democratic legitimacy for terrorists they despised.

And the terrorists themselves grabbed everything they could get, including face time with the president of the United States, without surrendering either their ultimate intentions--or their ability to revert to violence at well".

FAMILY VALUES...

"From the wild Irish slums of the 19th century eastern seaboard, to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations about the future -- that community asks for and gets chaos."

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 1965

From the Federalist

Chastisement is a Kind of Medicine

Plato famously said: 'It is as expedient that a wicked man be punished as that a sick man be cured by a physician; for all chastisement is a kind of medicine.'

Regrettably, the nannying inclinations of the State may be about to ensure that children are beyond the reach of parents who believe in the correctness of physical chastisement. Having successfully (but detrimentally) halted any form of contact punishment by teachers and the police, Leftist acolytes now wish to proverbially tie the hands of parents and allow children free reign.

Where will such lunacy lead? We already have a younger generation raised without proper discipline in the home, at school, or in society at large. Years of the 'emollient' approach to punishment has left the UK with the most ignorant, violent, insubordinate adolescent and pre-pubescent cretins in Europe. Heaven knows what type of scenario we could face in generations to come as the whole system of societal order (which should begin in the family home) breaks down.

Less Reasons to Stop at Morrison's

Sinn Fein/IRA's own DH Lawrence and interrogator extraordinaire (just ask Martin McGartland), Danny Morrison, takes a bold step towards rewriting history to suit the 'truth' according to warped republicanism, in a recent edition of the Andersonstown News. Believing that we democrats have the memory span of a goldfish, republicans twist the actual turn of events in ways which would make Peter Mandelson incandescent with envy.

The willingness of the Andersonstown News to publicise the writings of a man with a bloody and highly dubious history says much about the calibre of the rag. That said, the conviction with which republican terrorist propagandists project their own stomach-churning lies in a vain attempt to proselytise decent people is, frankly, astonishing. In Morrison's view, the Troubles were the fault of the British State in having the audacity to uphold its territorial integrity in accordance with conventional defensive procedures: a territorial integrity validated by international law and given credence by the democratic preferences of the general populace. As we know, democracy and Sinn Fein/IRA don't mix very well. For Morrison and his ilk, 'righteousness' only pertains to Irish republican fundamentalism and those prepared to butcher innocents in its name.

Oh, and how they could butcher. Notwithstanding Morrison's contention that: 'it wasn't just the IRA which was fighting - but all sides were still at war and entrenched, including the British Army and loyalist paramilitaries', the statistical attributions of murder to the respective groups tell a different story. As the vast majority of the Unionist people (in sharp contrast to their nationalist counterparts) hold no affection for loyalist paramilitarism, it would be wise to view the following table in terms of terrorists versus State forces. We can clearly see which groups had a virtual monopoly on human misery. Yet today, the terrorist groups are still intact whilst the forces employed to lawfully subdue them have been disbanded at the behest of terrorist proxies.

Meanwhile, the most comprehensive anti-discrimination measures anywhere in the Western world have been implemented to give Irish nationalists a better sense of themselves over the last three decades. They respond by electorally endorsing IRA puppeteers in larger numbers than ever before. When it comes to comprehending what passes for elementary human propriety, I think Irish nationalists are the slowest learners of all.

THE PRICE OF PEACE...£36MILLION!

IN an 18-month period since it was last suspended, the Assembly at Stormont has cost us a cool £36m. Lindy McDowell exposes this hollow sham and makes a number of excellent points here. I agree with much that Lindy has to say and her views are refreshing in the otherwise somnabulent Belfast Telegraph. (The newspaper of choice for the insomniac.)Pity she supported the Agreement that she now complains about -but all prodical sons and daughters are welcome!

SHERLOCK HOLMES COULD NOT COMPETE...

No sooner has a man been murdered in South Armagh (bandit country, the IRA heartland) than out comes this statement from the Police informing us that the murder was NOT paramilitary linked. I ask, HOW does the PSNI come to this firm conclusion so quickly? Have they run all their forensics and double-checked every detail? Even Sherlock Holmes would have struggled to keep up with our utterly politicised Police Service of Northern Ireland and ubercop Hugh Orde. If you read the story carefully, it becomes clear that the PSNI are not entirely ruling out a paramilitary link - BUT THE BBC IS!!! What does that say about media impartiality? Whose agenda, one wonders, is the BBC pursuing. After all, by implying no paramilitary link - the only winners here are paramilitaries. Makes you wonder.

>> 20 Jun 2004

A LETTER TO THE IRA....

Paul Fitzsimmons has a very interesting "letter" to the IRA published in the Blanket. Have a read of it here. I think Paul's approach is refreshing, provocative and best of all, progressive. The issue here is all about thinking "outside the box." I have often said that I put liberty and freedom before the Union. As Blair continues to destroy the values of the Union, and unless the English people reject his agenda, I often worry that Unionism itself will become invalid (as indeed will being ENGLISH!) I also believe that the Union, as things stand, is the best way forward. But I could imagine an Independent Northern Ireland but only one built on a set of values close to those of the United States and one in which terrorism was eradicated.

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