Things you're surprised aren't/ weren't bigger news

[Jemble Fred]

I've slightly hurt my back, and won't be able to do another press-up until next week at the earliest. But all we get is blanket election coverage.

[shit as fuck]

And I'm staggered that people don't seem all that bothered about Skull and Bones. Especially during the American election, where it was revealed that both Bush and Kerry were members.

On a similar note there has been remarkably little coverage of Bush's grandfather's dealings with Hitler prior to and during the second world war, and for which he had a lot of assets seized under 'trading with the enemy' type legislation.  I know having Nazi-linked relatives is nothing to be ashamed of but given that the Bush family wealth derives in part from financial and logistic support of the third reich, and that that wealth was a large part of Bush Snr's rise to power, I think it's quite an important thing to remember.  Especially when the cunt bangs on about his patriotic family history ad nauseum.

[hands cold, liver warm]

And I'm staggered that people don't seem all that bothered about Skull and Bones. Especially during the American election, where it was revealed that both Bush and Kerry were members.

On a similar note there has been remarkably little coverage of Bush's grandfather's dealings with Hitler prior to and during the second world war, and for which he had a lot of assets seized under 'trading with the enemy' type legislation.  I know having Nazi-linked relatives is nothing to be ashamed of but given that the Bush family wealth derives in part from financial and logistic support of the third reich, and that that wealth was a large part of Bush Snr's rise to power, I think it's quite an important thing to remember.  Especially when the cunt bangs on about his patriotic family history ad nauseum.

yeah, Prescott Bush was also a big supporter of eugenics. There is a conspiracy of silence that suggests that a lot of very influential people have a lot to hide about their families. Its not as if there is little evidence to support the idea that P. Bush supported facism, there loads of documentary evidence to show what he got up to.

I'm always amazed that the large sterilisation programme that took place in america in the 20's and 30's never seems to get mentioned.

[bill hicks]

There was a story last year about how people wrongly put  in prison as a result of a miscarriage of justice had to pay back the government for the bed and board they received at her majesty's pleasure. Blunkett's doing, I think. But I was amazed at the lack of outrage over that.

And I'm staggered that people don't seem all that bothered about Skull and Bones. Especially during the American election, where it was revealed that both Bush and Kerry were members.

Yeah thats story did just seem to disappear didn't it? I'm hoping because they realised what a fucking appalling decision it was.

Skull and Bones is a difficult one to report really isn't it though. Vague rumblings of dodginess (the Geronimo and Guevara stuff) but nothing really concrete or truly evil. The figure of ten bonseman in the Bush administration is high, but then we all know that Bush (and just about every US president) is going to give the jobs to his mates ahead of other more qualified people. In Bush's case his mates are his club friends.

The whole conspiracy thing is far fetched. I think it's a handful of US presidents who have actuaqlly been in Skull and Bones (out of 43) and if they really did decide who would be president than Clinton wouldn't have got the job since they turned down his suggested membership (he was apparently tapped, but rejected in the meetings).

And of course they've started admitting women and non-WASPs now so they're  much more inclusive (I wonder if the girls do the sexual history recounting circle jerk thing too...I might apply for Yale if so.)

There are other much more sinister societies that have a hell of a lot more secrecy than S&B to be worried about.

The most important thing we need to discover past the ridiculous initiation (which the extract from R4 is absolutely hilarious) is why was Bush's given name 'Temporary'? Since all the names in The Order of Eulogia are imbued with meaning what does it say about him?

Skull and Bones is mask for the real issue of the Kerry - Bush election, why does the American media ignore the issues surroundignt he American ruling class dominance of US politics? I know it's not a sexy issue for the broadcasters, but surely if the American's are as dismissive of class as they claim they should be very concerned about the dynastic transfer of power among the elite.

[Saturday Boy]

yeah, Prescott Bush was also a big supporter of eugenics. There is a conspiracy of silence that suggests that a lot of very influential people have a lot to hide about their families. Its not as if there is little evidence to support the idea that P. Bush supported facism, there loads of documentary evidence to show what he got up to.

I'm always amazed that the large sterilisation programme that took place in america in the 20's and 30's never seems to get mentioned.

Shocking as it seems (and morally repugnant also), eugenicism wasn't an unpopular idea in the years prior to Hitler's rise to power. Huxley, G.B. Shaw, and leading Fabians were proponents of eugenics, amongst more obvious supporters.

It was the events of WWII that really excised serious discussion of eugenics from the political debate.

[Saturday Boy]

Well, there is that, but where certain rags are concerned it probably presents an argument for more immigration as well.  It would seem the British are rather more in-bred than we'd like to believe.

But that's a dangerous way for people pro-immigration and asylum (i.e. me) to start arguing. If it were found that allowing non-British people into the country did hold minor risks of increases in new diseases (which is of course a contingent possibility), then this doesn't mean that we should deny people asylum  because of it.

The reasons why we should accept asylum seekers and immigrants should be kept separate (in the main) from biology.

[zozman]

Yeah that story (the pay your bed and board one in prison) did just seem to disappear didn't it? I'm hoping because they realised what a fucking appalling decision it was.

There was a bit about this in the last edition of Private Eye.  Whilst it clearly is a fucking appalling decision, it's one that the Home Office are pressing ahead with.  In fact, they won the appeal from one of the ex-prisoners only a couple of weeks back - If I recall, the other ex-cons are thinking of scrapping their appeal because of this ruling.

I can probably dig out the article tonight if anyone's bothered.

What was Bush's Skull and Bones name then?  I'm guessing "fuckmuncher"....

[Bean Is A Carrot]

Yes I also read that, Western Australia was also subject to a series of British atomic bomb tests during the war, which at the time,  being the jolly old fellows that they were thought it was safe , but many years later that area is still very hazardous with many cancer reports, come to thnk of it when i visited WA 3 years ago they did all look a bit toxic accident looking in features.

Are you thinking of South Australia? Check this out, Tony Blair's gunna die of cancer:
http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/site/articleIDs/B7A888EC488888BCCA256EFC000F595B

[MojoJojo]

There was a story last year about how people wrongly put  in prison as a result of a miscarriage of justice had to pay back the government for the bed and board they received at her majesty's pleasure. Blunkett's doing, I think. But I was amazed at the lack of outrage over that.

It was a bit more complicated than the "Charged for Bed and Board" headline suggests though. My understanding of it is that when the compensation is worked out, a large proportion of it is the unearned salary that they could of earned if they weren't imprison. The government has successfully argued that they shouldn't be given compensation for the money they would of had to spend on bed & board if they hadn't been in prison, since they wouldn't of had this anyway.

Bit more understandable from that point, but still seems remarkably tight fisted and mean from a government responsible for ruining the people's lives.

[chav]

And let's be fair on the old government, it's not actually them who put people away, but the judiciary. So let's not have talk of them "ruining lives". And this is a tiny, nit-picking thing to point out, but it's "could/would/should have" - remember this distinction and it will serve you well in later life.

[fanny splendid]

A nuclear power station running out of money, and having to go begging to the local council to ask to stop paying their business rates.

[MojoJojo]

And let's be fair on the old government, it's not actually them who put people away, but the judiciary. So let's not have talk of them "ruining lives". And this is a tiny, nit-picking thing to point out, but it's "could/would/should have" - remember this distinction and it will serve you well in later life.

Dammit, I'm doing it all over the place. And I'm writing lots of stuff at the moment. Time for search and replace.

[Coughlan]

Last year more peolple were injured in fishing competitions than Boxing,Formula and motor cross combined, this was mainly due to people falling in the lake or slipping on the bank but several were also due to the carbon fishing rods getting struck by lightening.

[zozman]

Of course it was the judiciary who put these unfortunate souls away, but I'm sure I don't need to tell you that it's the Home Office who provide guidance to the judiciary, and the Houses of Parliament who make the law.  That's why the Home Office went to the appeal court in July last year and won the right to charge the men for their bed and board.  This is government policy (under fucking Blunkett of course), and not the fault of the courts.

I'm suprised that the almost daily continuation of violence in Iraq isn't covered more, although I suppose it's more of the same.  My cynical side also suspects that because most of the media were pro-war, they've tended not to cover it.  Al-Jazeera is a gold-mine.

[robs_bro]

And this is a tiny, nit-picking thing to point out, but it's "could/would/should have" - remember this distinction and it will serve you well in later life.

Thank you so much for delicately pointing that out chav since it was making me rather cross, pedant that I am.

Could somebody start a Pedants' Thread please? I don't feel 'regular' enough to go starting potentially contentious topics...

[gazzyk1ns]

I started this thread a while ago, feel free to bump it up. It's 8 pages long but I only linked to the start in case you missed it, if you can't be arsed reading it all then just whack your post on the end as usual.

[chav]

The poster implied that the government were locking them up in a false manner, as would be proved when the conviction was quashed later, and that the government were then trying to claim money for B&B off them. That isn't true. The judiciary messed up and forced the police/prison service to falsely imprison them. The government then tried to claim some money for B&B. And, as it transpired, they weren't actually demanding money off the person, but seeking to reduce the compensation payment. It's not as clear-cut as the original poster attempted to demonstrate.

Could somebody start a Pedants' Thread please? I don't feel 'regular' enough to go starting potentially contentious topics...

Heh... neither do I, but then I think "what the hey" and post it anyway.

[chav]

Of course it was the judiciary who put these unfortunate souls away, but I'm sure I don't need to tell you that it's the Home Office who provide guidance to the judiciary, and the Houses of Parliament who make the law.

And it's judges & juries who decide if those laws have been broken in any given case.

[zozman]

Yup - right enough sir.  I still think these blokes were treated very badly though.  There's no other country in Europe that deal with victims of miscarriages of justice by getting a Home Office assessor to dock their compensation of living expenses.  Bit of a kick in the teeth to say the least.

I tell you what's never news - when they inevitably find out that Osama's (remember him?) latest tape is a piss-poor forgery.  They never report it.  Wonder why eh?

[tony peanuts]

I just read about this bit of news from yesterday:
Blair finally admits leaking Kelly's name

Blair basically admits outright lying during the Kelly business... AGAIN.  Surely this should've been bigger news, particularly what with the election coming up and all?  But no, it was essentially hidden at the bottom of page 7 of yesterday's Independent, 3 pages after a story about Ian McKellen appearing in Coronation Street.  
Did the BBC even mention it at all, cos if they did then it passed me by.

EDIT:  Oh, they have.  Still, I'd have thought it would be a bigger story than this.

[oldandnew]

I reckon the pair of wheeled machines we (humanity) sent to crawl across the now barren face of a neighbouring planet are worthy of a few column inches now and again. But what do I know?


For those who have not been following their recent exploits:

MER-A

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20050420a.html

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/images.cfm?id=1636

MER-B

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20050330a.html

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20050202a.html

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20050119a.html


Mission updates from the PI (principal investigator):

http://athena1.cornell.edu/news/mubss/

For discussion, high-quality amateur photo-composites and pre-release leaks from JPL insiders:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/

[My Giddy Aunt]

Yes I also read that, Western Australia was also subject to a series of British atomic bomb tests during the war, which at the time,  being the jolly old fellows that they were thought it was safe , but many years later that area is still very hazardous with many cancer reports, come to thnk of it when i visited WA 3 years ago they did all look a bit toxic accident looking in features.

Are you thinking of South Australia? Check this out, Tony Blair's gunna die of cancer:
http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/site/articleIDs/B7A888EC488888BCCA256EFC000F595B

Am i missing something about Mr Tony here, or am i misreading things?! He grew up in Oz?
http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page4.asp

Please enlighten me!

[Cliche Guevara]

Ah, you must have mis-read "Durham" as "Durban".

Anyway, that's in South Africa.

[Ambient Sheep]

I just read about this bit of news from yesterday:
Blair finally admits leaking Kelly's name

Blair basically admits outright lying during the Kelly business... AGAIN.  Surely this should've been bigger news, particularly what with the election coming up and all?  But no, it was essentially hidden at the bottom of page 7 of yesterday's Independent, 3 pages after a story about Ian McKellen appearing in Coronation Street...

Nahh, I'm sorry, I mean I hate Blair over Iraq and the Kelly thing as much as the next man, but that's not really a story.

Mr Blair has repeatedly denied being responsible for leaking the name. He has insisted the Ministry of Defence merely confirmed Dr Kelly's name when it was already known to journalists.

But in his BBC interview with Jeremy Paxman on Wednesday, Mr Blair said for the first time the Government had been responsible for disclosing Dr Kelly's name. "[His death] was a terrible, terrible thing to have happened. I don't believe we had any option but to disclose his name, because I think had we failed to do so, that would have been seen as attempting to conceal something from the committee that was looking into this at the time."

Surely all that means is that they disclosed his name when the journalists asked if it was him?  It doesn't *necessarily* mean that they disclosed it without them naming him first, does it?

[My Giddy Aunt]

Chernobyl gonna blow up again?

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=633671

[robs_bro]

This is really scary:

Global warming 'proof' detected

Note the BBC's language in the report:

One scientist who disagrees...

--- only one? Blimey.

Like other "climate change sceptics", Dr Kininmonth believes too much reliance is placed on computer models rather than hard data.

--- OK, fair enough, but "Like other "climate change sceptics"..." suggests ridicule.

Maybe it's true?