"Wherever You Are" + "Mein Kampf"

The response of the British to 911 was to align themselves squarely alongside the US and send troops into Afghanistan and Iraq.

Members of the Military Wives Choir at RMB
Chivenor in Dorset celebrate reaching number one.

And look at this result: something really uplifting: Wherever You Are (Military Wives with Gareth Malone) Official Video
I've bought that single 3 times - and I suspect many people have done similarly.
Amazing. The Beeb must have made a mistake and done something positive for a change.
I don't even live in the UK - abandoned the place years ago, yet this song brought tears to my eyes.

Or, if that sort of thing is not to your taste, then maybe you might try to get your upliftment from here instead: Gotta Get Them Damn Jews In Order To Save the World
Hop on over to the Facebook link they give in that post - 100.000.000 person hate Israel and feel the lurve. You might like to report that Facebook page for racial and religious hatred, or like/friend it instead and feel like you are helping Palestine in their jihad (holy war).

Quite coincidentally, I started reading Hitler's Mein Kampf a week ago. That was because my daughter Lily had a project to do just before school closed for the Christmas holidays. It was to watch a movie - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - and then do some research on the Nazi death camps, and then write it up as project notes.

Lily knew it was about the Holocaust. I have told her a lot about Hitler and the death camps, and she is fascinated in how he could get the German people to do such despicable and horrifying acts. She understands that it seems to be something in us all - not just those "bad" Germans, that has the potential for this sort of psychopathic crime against "other" ("not us") humanity, and that we must not forget these lessons of history.

Well, we watched the film together on a Sunday night, then she went to bed, and on the Monday she was busy, head down, working on her report and doing the research on her laptop. In the afternoon, she came and asked her mother and I if we would like to hear her report, and she read it out to us. She had apparently found the film footage taken by Eisenhower's liberating American forces, and lots of other vid clips and notes about the inhumane treatment and torture of the Jews - some of which I had known about and some I might have forgotten (I saw a lot about it on the BBC TV in documentaries when I was a child).
 
And there she was, this fresh-faced and serious little girl reading it all out from her handwritten notes, in a matter-of-fact way, and even demonstrating with a baseball bat, some rope and her hands some of the torture the Nazis inflicted on the Jewish victims. For example, (and this is only a small part) by binding them in such a way as to painfully stretch and deform and eventually break their limbs in max prolongation of agony; their use of clubs with pointed nails sticking out of them, to club the backs of the victims so as to inflict max pain and max prolongation of agony.
Innocence observing evil's record. I was in tears as she was reading it out.

She asked, "Daddy, why did Hitler hate the Jews so much?", and I had to explain that it was all because the Jews engineered the crucifixion of Jesus as a common criminal, over 2,000 years ago. That many Christian sects and all true Muslims could not forgive them that.
I told her that probably the only way the Nazis could have done what they did would have been if they were able to perceive the Jews as being less than human - maybe "descended from pigs and apes" as the Koran so unequivocally puts it.

Muslim women representing
Islam - "The Religion of Peace"™ 

She is as mystified as I am when I tell her that there are people alive today who either deny the reality or the extent of the Holocaust, calling it a "myth" or try to ameliorate it , and there are others - including the appointed president of Iran, and other leaders or religious/clerical leaders and members of the Middle-Eastern Islamic countries who apparently still hope to see themselves carrying Hitler's "final solution" to a conclusion, to avenge the sin of Christ's crucifixion and fulfil Allah's command to exterminate the Jews for their sins.

But her question - "...why did Hitler hate the Jews so much?" - was what got me reading Mein Kampf. I wanted to be able to understand his rationale for what he did, and explain it to her. I told her that was why I was reading it, and that I had not actually wanted to read it, though I had been steeling myself for the time when I would have to.
I am reading this English translation, here, if you want to take a look: Adolf Hitler - Mein Kampf (James Murphy translation).pdf

I am finding myself quite fascinated by its cold, insidious horror. It seems reasonably lucid, coherent, and well-written.

Lily and I cycled to Mission Bay - 2010-07-13

Lily is an amazing girl!

Lily at Mission Bay 2010-07-13

When she was about 8½, she wanted to go for a bikeride, "but further this time, beyond Kelly Tarlton's" (Underwater World)  - maybe to the next bay on the round-the-bays-route.
So on 13th July 2010, she and I set off and cycled to Mission Bay and back - 21K in all. Not bad for an 8½ year old.
We set off about 1520hrs and returned about 1810hrs.
Click here to see the route: Mission Bay bike route (21K) - Gmaps Pedometer

We stopped at Mission Bay for a rest and to take a couple of photos and a quick video.
On the way back, we had a refueling stopoff at Subway, where we shared a foot-long "melt" and a large lime shake from the next-door McDonalds.
Lily was pretty tired. I kept getting her to keep up her speed and stay in a high gear.
It was getting cold as the sun went down, and her hands got very cold. It had got dark by the time we got to Freemans Bay, and she was crying because her hands hurt. We stopped to warm them under my shirt (Argh! Cold little hands!) and then continued home.

A sad follow-on from this tale is that on Sunday 25th July 2010, I discovered that both our bikes

Killing ourselves slowly, by degrees

A penfriend sent me this: 

Tribute to Peter Whittall (poem) - CEO of Pike River Coal.

Cool and calm and collected ...These are All such awesome traits

But how does a man portray them when so worried for his mates

Not many could front up to be so honest and forthright

Especially not continually and not for so many nights

The Turmoil deep inside you must have been tearing you apart

But you swallowed all that anguish and delivered from the heart

Brave is not the word... That describes your week of hell

Not only coping with the families ...but with the media as well

If ever there was a model to who’s character I would aspire

Pike River’s Peter Whittall’s would have to be my first desire

Stoic, strong and true ....and just plain brave beyond belief

You've won the heart of most Pete, as you've led us thru this grief

I think I've heard it said that you're from across the Tassie ditch

Mate that isn't a problem.....well ...perhaps just a little glitch

Nothing that can't be solved I'm sure most people will attest

You are now an adopted KIWI and perhaps, one of the very best

A truly deep and caring man... Whose pain was put aside

To report about his men ...in whom he couldn't mask his pride

You are a legend Peter, one who I would be proud to call a mate

You are very much a KIWI...one who’s hand I'd like to shake

_________________________________

What the families of the Pike River coalminers must have been going through - then and now - I cannot imagine.

Veena Malik - unlikely champion for women's liberties in Pakistan

I picked up on this news item in my news aggregator (Google Reader), last night.
This YouTube video clip from Memri TV was very interesting:

This is Veena Malik - the sort of dominatrix hostess in the TV show "Big Boss" - the Indian version of "Big Brother". 
What impressed me about this Pakistani actress was her apparently unrehearsed and highly articulate self defence and then counter-attack on her mullah critic - and the media in general - for the "trial by television" that she saw herself as being subjected to in that televised interview.
_____________
Assuming that this was not a carefully-planed publicity stunt, I thought that she really stood up for herself well and showed herself to be  a good spokeswoman for all downtrodden and suppressed Pakistani women. The interview gives us further reminder (if any were needed) of the sorry lot of the millions of women living under the heel of the Fascist jackboot of the religeo-political Islamic regime in Pakistan.
_____________
The Indian so-called "reality" TV show referred to is shockingly bad, IMHO - I watched a few clips of it before making a post about it in Dec. 2010 - "How can she slap?" - something unpleasant on Indian TV .

_____________
After seeing the clips of that show, I had relegated the "actress" in question to the category of "rubbish" in my mind. However, I am now a fan of hers, after watching her stout defence in this latest clip.

Splattergate - "No Pressure" shows the route to Greenie neo-fascism

Image via Wikipedia

"You will be killed if you do not agree with us."

With apparently gobsmacking stupidy, 10:10 reveal themselves as the ultimate Neo-fascists of Greenie.
The "No Pressure" video: How to Cut Carbon Emissions

(WARNING - this is a pretty grim splatter video. If you cannot see this video, it is because 10:10 seem to have been belatedly trying to expunge the thing after it had gone viral. Just google it to find another posted copy.)

On realising that they had just shot themselves in the head, there is this belated and brain-dead apology which is not an apology.

As Brian Micklethwaite puts it:

"I am still absolutely dazed with amazement at the total, one hundred and eighty degree oppositeness of the message this video sends out to the message they were trying to send out."

Other comment in the blogosphere on this are to the effect that:

• This is an appalling blunder which may be repeated, because Greenies cannot help it. The film was irrational, suggesting that when they made this film, the Greenies who made it were emoting, but with an emotion that seems to have been overwhelmingly negative. Thus, instead of being positive and inspiring passion, it inspired hate-filled blind rage, whose slogan is 'Smash everything'. This is not a good basis on which to make decisions. Furthermore, the rage is probably largely narcissistic. Each Greenie (and in fact, each Leftist in general) feels personally outraged by the attitude of The System towards them, which bolts onto their desire for destruction a profound lack of awareness.
• The Greenies who made this film (being unaware of themselves because they are so consumed with their own magnificence) are unaware of other people (in whom they have no interest), and so they inevitably make massive miscalculations as to what is acceptable behaviour and how that behaviour will be perceived by others.
• Psychologically, it's not a pretty picture, and so neither is that video.

International "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" (20th May)

Since 20th May is the first international annual "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" ("Be there or be dhimmi"), I was going to draw a cartoon or something, but instead I have dug up a perfectly good cartoon representing Mohammed, drawn by an Israeli girl in 1997. Here it is:

Mohammed as a pig, standing on the Koran whilst he writes in it.

I got this cartoon from THE PIG AND THE PRINCESS.

Israeli girl Tatiana Soskin:
Drew the "illegal" cartoon of Mohammed as a pig.

The pig, of course was the depiction of Mohammed. The princess was Tatiana Soskin (pictured right).
Seems like this simple young Russian/Jewish girl living in Hebron in 1997 became, perhaps understandably, pissed off at the Arabs/Palestinians continually bombing and shooting into her home town. As a sign of protest, she drew a cartoon depicting Mohammed as a pig, standing on the Koran whilst he writes in it. This could seem like fair comment to most people.

It's not clear from the post in THE PIG AND THE PRINCESS as to what crime she was believed to have committed, but In 1998 she was apparently given 2 years' prison sentence for committing what the presiding judge considered to be some kind of racist act or atrocity akin to (wait for it) - what the Nazis did during the Holocaust. Amazing.

The mind boggles that the Jewish authorities and legislature could have been such dhimmis, but there we are - and bugger the principle of "freedom of speech", I suppose.

I must admit, until I read this, I had always thought the actions of the Israelis demonstrated them to be a pretty hard-headed and rational bunch, with a strong sense of moral integrity/justice, but this one - if true - has me at a complete loss. I wonder, under what circumstances could it be justifiable and make sense?

As for the annual international "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day", this cartoon from DayByDay Cartoons is priceless (click on the link if this copy below is too small to read):

Yet again, reckless police driving highlights the need for a review

Accidents involving Police cars are likely to be at
least 50% caused by risky/reckless Police driving,  if not 100%.

The above heading is from frogblog, and the post poses this question: "What the hell is going on with police driver training, attitudes, and practice?", to which I made this comment:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you look at it from the perspective of insurable risks, and address that as the causal problem, then something interesting happens. I would suggest that a brief study of the history of UK Police Driver Training Standards might save you 90% of the potential cost of the review that you speak of - save time too - and set you on a path to a tried-and-tested solution fairly quickly.

From memory, it was during the '60s in the UK that Police metropolitan districts were becoming increasingly concerned at the escalation in the number, severity and cost of road accidents involving Police vehicles. Insurance for Police vehicles was escalating as a result - becoming prohibitively costly, because Police drivers had become such a high risk group - a very high average number of accidents per 1,000 miles driven (I forget the actual number, but I do recall thinking that Police drivers must have become almost uninsurable risks).

The myth of "bank quality of customer service"

After responding to an online questionnaire on "Quality of Customer Service" from my bank, I was asked if I had any further comments. Well, I did, and this was it: (However, I shall not hold my breath in anticipation of a reply.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thankyou for giving me this opportunity to speak up as one of your customers.
The bank asks me: "In your own words, what do you think [the bank] is doing wrong with their direct communications to you?"

In answer: 
Though I consider the bank to be not a bad bank per se, the bank's communications (and this survey) would seem to cynically conceal the bank's objectives to maximise revenue/profits at the expense of their customers.
The emperor has no clothes. Usury is a basic and very old form of parasitism - ethically unscrupulous - and this truth cannot be altered, however much you might try to disguise it or declare and pretend it to be otherwise. The sin of usury was an observation in the Old Testament, so it has certainly been nothing new for humanity for 2,000+ years. Not as old as intestinal worms perhaps, true - they are parasites that have been sucking the blood of their human hosts for tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years.

Mythbusting - FLOP15 “Takes Note” of Copenhagen Accord

The cat's out of the bag now.
I should really start off by coming clean - I have an admission to make. I am a recent and very reluctant apostate to the faith of "Global Warmism", because I now know that what the Warmists say - that Global Warming is happening, and that it is anthropogenic (man-made) - is a lie.

The leaked Climategate emails and documents from those selfsame Warmists expose AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming) as a lie.

At least one person that was included in some of the correspondence, Steve McIntyre of the website Climate Audit, verified the authenticity of at least some of the messages. McIntyre is reported to have said, “Every email that I’ve examined so far looks genuine. There are a few emails of mine that are 100% genuine. It is really quite breathtaking.”

How did I become an apostate?

"How can she slap?" - something unpleasant on Indian TV

There is an mp4 of this vid clip which you can download from here and in the event that the YouTube clip (below) becomes unavailable.

He's just slapped her, hard.

It is taken from an Indian TV game show (see picture right) that went badly wrong. The vid clip seems to have gone viral - there are several "response" vids and remixes of it on the Internet. I don't think the remixes are very good, but they might be amusing to some.


What went wrong is described below.

To the left - Rihanna introduces VEVO to YouTube

I was taking a look at Introducing VEVO: A New Music Video Destination Powered by YouTube. 

There's a YouTube vid clip there with a girl (pictured, right) talking - "Rihanna introduces VEVO to YouTube".

Rihanna has a crick in her neck?

I think I have heard of her - I think she must be an American pop singer anyway, as she referred to "lyrics" and herself as "...artists like me".

Her appearance was distracting. Her face seemed to be covered in makeup, mascara and false eyelashes and she had a silly obscuring hat and these weird puffed-up shoulder pads on her jacket that made her look deformed. (Why do people do this to themselves?) Despite how she looks in the vid clip, I reckoned that she was probably quite attractive underneath it all and had normal shaped shoulders and nice hair under that hat. I have no idea what her singing voice might be like, but her speaking voice was clear and she enunciated her words clearly in English with an American accent.

I watched the clip twice without really listening too much to what she was saying, because there seemed to be something wrong with her, and my attention was distracted, focussed on watching her upper body movements.

Professional suicide by a climatologist - "Wot an assh#le"

Professor Andrew Watson
from East Anglia University.
Uses argumentum ad hominem

Witness this vid clip example here of professional suicide on BBC TV's Newsnight on the 4th December 2009. With the simple phrase "Wot an assh#le", a professor Andrew Watson (pictured right, as he uttered the words), in one fell swoop:

• brought his own professional reputation into disrepute;
• brought the reputation of his academic institution into disrepute;
• destroyed his credibility and any presumption of his objectivity - by uttering an ad hominem which ironically in retrospect may have been more aptly describing himself rather than the person he was name-calling;
• risked bringing the already seriously tattered UN IPCC policy on "global warming" (of which he is a proponent) into further disrepute.
  

This was a fascinating piece of TV, and it looked like professional suicide.

Far out, man

Someone had sent me an email with some photos and comments about how freely narcotics were available in times gone by. I tracked the source down to this Italian site. I thought the email was too good to stay buried in my mailbox, so here are the photos and comments (in English), with some comments by me.

Heroin

A bottle of Bayer's heroin.

Between 1890 and 1910, heroin was sold as a non-addictive substitute for morphine. It was also used to treat children who had a bad cough.

Having a cough may never have been so much fun.

____________________________

Long live plastic bottles!

Someone sent me a link to this item about the "Eco Bottle" - there is a picture of this 650ml bottle to the right. There was room for comments after the item, but it was limited to a max. of 400 words, and so I have posted my thoughts on the matter below.

Essentially, "Charlie's" brand has decided to sell water in a kind of plastic that is apparently made from plant matter as opposed to crude (fossil) oil. Greenies would lurve this, of course - you can almost feel the planet cooling - hence the post is on a website for something called "The sustainable greenlist directory". Everything has to be "sustainable" and "recyclable" nowadays it seems, except people of course - although that earliest of great recyclers, Adolf Hitler, apparently effectively demonstrated that even people did not need to be wasted and were recyclable by having his henchmen render the body fats from several millions of  innocent Jews to produce a kind of soap and used the ashes of their burned bodies to make road asphalt to build into roads. Some people have remarked that there is no limit to the fertile imagination of the mind of Man. I remember my mother telling me about this Hitler and what he had his German people do, as I listened to her in wonder as a child, and I recall years later the truth hitting home when I studied the history of the Nazi regime.

Anyway, as my old colleague Malcolm would say - did say, actually - "That's all water under the bridge now. Why can't we just forget about it? We must move on". Only trouble is, I can't move for all these historical corpses lying around and for knowing that there are currently an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims on the planet who are brought up to believe that they should start up again where Hitler left off and make a proper job of it this time.

But I digress. I would suggest that this "Eco bottle" could be a frivolous and cynical marketing exercise intended to make money out of gullible people.

Freedom of Information in NZ? Hmmm.

I stumbled upon this interesting post Freedom of Information on g.blog.

Here is a sample of the start of it:

"You know, being anti-pornography, against the exploitation of children, and being of the view that publishing explicit photos of a person without their explicit informed consent is a form of stealing someone’s right to their own identity, it’s not often I have a chance to defend the availability of child pornography. But here I go, for the first time ever. You can mark it on your calendar if you like."