Merkin Has Old Timer's Disease?

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Conor Foley said something yesterday to Fiorili in response to one of my comments on CiF :

'Fio: you can call me Conor - all my friends do - and don't worry about not understanding everything that Merk says, the rest of us often have the same problem as well.'

Well, Conor may not understand my point of view.

Lots of others do as can be seen from the following :

'merkinonparis's comment 24 Dec 08, 12:34am

'In the end, it was a lone Spanish magistrate, not a Chilean court, who ensured the arrest of Augusto Pinochet.'

In the end?

In the end it was a British Cabinet Minister who made sure he didn't receive the justice that his murders deserved.

A Cabinet Minister who is still with us.'

Recommended (203) from 695 comments


merkinonparis's comment 29 Dec 08, 4:03pm

'The only people who are really calling this government to account are those who post on the net.
Of course the government wants to control them.'

Recommended (101) from 218 comments

Update 31st jan 09 :

merkinonparis's comment 27 Jan 09, 12:36am

'"Passports are not issued to us on condition we do exactly what we are told by the state ... If such arbitrary powers are used against absentee fathers, how long before they are used against other people who have annoyed the authorities in some way?"

Correct.'

Recommended (220) from 928 comments


This one is especially interesting.

The quotation had been used by Toynbee but was taken by her from the Daily Heil.

That whirring sound you hear is Arnold spinning in his grave, drilling his way to revenge in Tuscany, no doubt.

No matter.



Anyway, when Conor says :

'don't worry about not understanding everything that Merk says, the rest of us often have the same problem as well.'

you know he is talking a lot of pish.



Moral of the story?

Conor, do your research.


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Soaraway Corruption in The Village.

Those of you who are regulars on this site will know that Local corruption as well as National corruption and International corruption has been well within the range of The Merkin's beady eye.

We have spoken about Local corruption time and time and time again.

And again.

The denizens of this dark den had commented more often than not.

One person in the know had it right :

'Richard W. Symonds said...'

Send it to Private Eye as a matter of urgency.

If you want the email address, let me know.

'They' simply can't be allowed to get away with it.'


Me?

I would prefer to talk to the guys in The Sun.

Quicker and easier.

This one is a beauty (I am reliably informed after speaking to some of the councilors involved).

Let me set the scene.

A Council Leader wanting to do a favour for his friends - and constituents - in the big houses.

A couple of bin-men on very low wages.

Davids and Goliath, it seems.

I had seen how the Council's own Health and Safety guys had condemned some of the private and unadopted roads which the local workers had to travel on.

The Council Leader had dismissed this report and, through a subordinate, ordered the local workers to ignore Health and Safety law under pain of dismissal.

Unfortunately, the unions were not helpful in the matter and the workers were forced into a Dickensian treadmill in order to keep their jobs.

Still, enough is enough and, eventually, the following happened.

One council employee - someone who had actually featured in a story in The Sun about local corruption - ordered the bin men, one day, to repair this private road, bypassing the council's own Roads Dept (Shhhhhh, do it on the quiet, so there is no billing to audit).

Obviously, it's not their job any more than an order from The Leader to dig The Merkin's private garden of love would be.

Quite rightly, they refused to carry out this work - on a road which is not even adopted by the Council - and were promptly put 'on a charge'.

A 'disciplinary hearing' took place last week and, in part, collapsed due to council incompetence in even carrying out the correct procedure.

Not to be deterred, the council immediately instituted disciplinary proceedings against almost the whole department - for having spoken to The Sun.

In addition, they also re-instituted the original disciplinary investigation against The Refusniks who had refused to carry out illegal and unsafe work.

Life in The Village seems to depend on 'strange handshakes' to be tolerable.

Rest assured, your Super Soaraway Merkin will never allow dignity to be superseded by the demands of the domino team, the bowls team or even the T.A.


It is often said that 'we get the politicians we pay for'.

Who, in This Village would disagree with that.

Not many.

I am sure there is more to follow, but we don't agree that The Council Leader should have a private Fiefdom whereby he can order the local workers to carry out work to support his political ambitions.

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The Catholic Orangemen of Togo

'Craig Murray's adventures in Africa from 1997 to 2001 are a rolliciking good read. He exposes for the first time the full truth about the "Arms to Africa" affair which was the first major scandal of the Blair Years. He lays bare the sordid facts about British mercenary involvement in Africa and its motives. This is at heart an extraordinary account of Craig Murray's work in negotiating peace with the murderous rebels of Sierra Leone, and in acting as the midwife of Ghanaian democracy. Clearly his efforts were not only difficult but at times very dangerous indeed. Yet the story is told with great humour. Not only do we meet Charles Taylor, Olusegun Obasanjo, Jerry Rawlings and Foday Sankoh, but there are unexpected encounters with others including Roger Moore, Jamie Theakston and Bobby Charlton! Above all this book is about Africa. Craig Murray eschews the banal remedies of the left and right to share with us the deep knowledge and understanding that comes over 30 years working in or with Africa. Gems of wisdom and observation scatter the book, as does a deep sense of moral outrage at the consequences of centuries of European involvement: even though he explains that much of it was well-intentioned but disastrous.'

Book reviews :

'chilling and Shocking' - MerkinOnParis

"unputdownable" - Boldscot

"well worth a look" - Mercenary Monthly

"where, exactly, is Togo?" - David Miliband


A very famous blogger - TwitterAndBustedWithPurpleKnickers - has kindly allowed me to link to her site if you want to read the tome in question.

And, read it you should as it gives a little background to the corruption that informs British Colonial intervention in Africa.

The next time someone tells you that 'aid' goes to the people via a 'black hole', you can explain how that 'black hole' is more man-made than that from the Hadron Collider.

However, the corruption that takes place in British politics is my favourite part of the book :

'The Customs and Excise team told me that the recommendation was that both Spicer and Penfold be prosecuted for breach of the embargo.

The dossier was returned to Customs and Excise from the Crown Prosecution Service the very same day it was sent. It was marked, in effect, for no further action.

The decision not to prosecute in the Sandline case was the first major instance of the corruption of the legal process that was to be the hallmark of the Blair years.'

It's all there.


Read it here.


Or here


If the link doesn't work (there have been strange goings on afoot) then look at original documents here :

cover

front pages

meat

PS if you want to buy the book you can go here

A first ever advert on The Merkin Blog!!

Proportionality is a Dirty Word

Now, I am not going to tell you what these photos represent.

Can anyone guess?

I'll give you a hint - they are from the Gaza 'situation'

One of them shows an attack on Israel.

Two of them show an attack on Gaza.

Can you tell which is which?

If you can't, all I can say is you must have the Moral Compass of MTFC.

I was pointed in the direction of these photos by FreemanMoxy on a CiF blog about GIYUS and the Israeli spin machine.

His original comment was thrown into the black hole of Orwellian nothingness that is deletion hell but he re-posted the info in another form :

'FreemanMoxy

09 Jan 09, 1:33pm (about 2 hours ago)

Oh what a suprise, the mods have removed the link.

The author Ken MacLeod is not as gutless. Visit his blog, The Early Days of a Better Nation.'

The first time I visited Auschwitz I took photos and posted them back home.
My father gave them to a friend who had lived there for 3 years and never been back to Poland since then.

He cried at the memory.

I had been reticent about taking these photos in the first place but felt that The Whole World should see them.

The photos of Gaza are the same - and these ones show things from both sides.

Look - if you dare!

Update : If you want to see how much hardware is going into Israel for the expansion of the war on Iran, look no further.

And in case you repeat the mantra 'They were only defending themselves' then do listen to Mark Regev admitting that no Hamas rockets fell during the ceasefire.


Gerald Kaufmann MP said it very well when he said 'My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians.'

MTFC - Gordon Brown, Son of the Manse

Barnacle Bill always refers to Mr Brown as OGUL - Our Glorious Unelected Leader.

Just fine.

Gordon Brown has 'picked up' a few nicknames along the way.

Gay Gordon

The Clunking Fist

The Fisting Clunk

The Fifeshire Feartie

All of these have some merit, I am sure.

However, after the latest bout of hypocrisy over the attack on the Ghetto in Gaza, I will never think of him as any less than MTFC.

The Final Solution in Gaza will never happen - but that does not absolve him of responsibility for helping those who would oppress the Palestinians - and us.

Perhaps NIKE should sponsor him - for once an appropriate choice.

The Clunking Hypocrite - As Usual.

Gaza has been under siege for a number of years and, now, a Final Solution seems to be in sight with a full invasion by the IDF.
Will it be any more successful than the attacks on Falluja or South Ossetia or the attempts to kill the Roma in Auschwitz?

Well no, but they will still have had assistance, from a well known Son of the Manse, in the spin war.

Craig Murray said it exactly right :

'Gordon Brown Is a Murderous Two Faced Cunt'

Brown is appeasing domestic horror at the Israeli massacre in Gaza by calling for a ceasefire. Meanwhile British diplomats on the United Nations Security Council are under direct instructions to offer "tacit support" to United States' efforts to block a ceasefire.

I have been told this directly by a former colleague in the UK Mission to the United Nations.


Now, you may say 'this is politics, of course they lie'.

More fool you, eventually.

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