LOU

Free marketeers, please explain, just as one example:

What is FREE about our pharmaceutical market that has taxpayers funding most of the research for new drugs but getting NOTHING on their investment, since drug companies have no responsibilities to pay us back once they've secured their copyright. THEN, they pay off our legislators to make it illegal for us to buy drugs off the GLOBAL FREE market, thereby keeping prices artificially high and ensuring windfall profits. This is for MEDICINE, people.

There is no free market. American capitalism has always been about regulation of markets, it's just that now all regulation is done to accrue benefit to the corporations, not the consumer. "We, the People" are an insignificant glitch in the grand protectionist scheme of American capitalism.

Corporate shareholders have every right to exercise their rights as citizen-individuals, no more or less than any other citizen. The corporation itself has no rights (or should not) or function other than as a profit making device. Thomas Jefferson specifically warned against ever allowing these behemoths to overwhelm government of, by and for THE PEOPLE.

Mike, I never question American ability to innovate. But, with the hostile takeover of our government by purely profit driven corporate interests, there is no national will to solve the BIG problems - energy, health care, securing our borders, the two tier economic divide we're developing. It's not that we lack the ability, we lack the leadership. And this is by design, because short term profits are king now and the common good is an anachronism.

As for education and communication, sorry that it comes off like a diatribe. But surely you have noticed the nonstop assault by the right wing on both Public Education and the Media. Do you honestly beleive they want a well informed electorate. Because those two areas are key and all it looks like to me is they want to intimidate them, gut them and manipulate them. In fact, it seems a key strategy.
LOU | 08.30.06 - 6:03 am | #

Welcome back to Mr. "H" !!!!!!!!!

I joined Mark Thomas and friends in Parliament square this evening after applying for my right to protest last week. I didn't recieve any postal confirmation of my rights but there were only three Police standing well back.

As we were all individual protestors there was a lot of variety. The best were a campaign to "Reinstate Pluto", "BOO! HISS! RUBBISH! DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING!", a protest about Warwick castle being beautiful but costing 15 quid and a German guy with a sign saying "FREE SPOTS!" who was giving out Free Spots. I watched Mark taking on Brian Coleman. They were very amicable. "This'll do my street cred some good!" said Brian after the Cameras were switched off.

Getting my banner ready meant visiting my friend/foe Mr. Camel,Lazy, last night who has kicked the scag with Ibogaine. Really nice to see him back again. A big positive vibe. A big change. Well done to both he and our friend Steve who saw him through 2 days of hell apparently with the guy who helped Dave Scott on the other end of a phone. I'll let him tell you about it anyway its a remarkable story.

Ravers seize £5million house

This is pretty funny,I heard about it in the week. You don't need flyers and party-lines when London's newspaper gives you free publicity like this (including publishing the address) nice one Acid Monkey!

She said: "You have got to see it to believe it. The sheer scale of these raves is unimaginable. Hundreds of screaming teenagers are turning up in droves and heavy metal and rock music has been blasting out day and night. It was a beautiful and magnificent home but now it is a wreck. There are needles and cigarette butts, broken glass and rubbish everywhere.

"I am shocked that nothing has been done to stop it. I've made hundreds of complaints in the last eight weeks. It appears that squatters' rights are more important than my own. The law is an ass if it cannot control criminal activity of this nature

POLITICIANS

I saw this years ago but in case you missed it...

The charge alleges that the teenager had in his possession a book on improvised explosive devices, suicide notes and wills with the identities of persons prepared to commit acts of terror, and a map of Afghanistan.

His lawyer, Gareth Peirce, indicated he would be pleading not guilty. An application for bail was refused, and the youth was remanded in custody until September 19.



In a career of more than 30 years, she has appeared for, among others, the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six and the families of the victims of the Marchioness river boat disaster.

Her face, and her many past glories, are known in courtrooms throughout the land. When Gareth Peirce takes a case, journalists and lawyers' ears prick up.

Ahh! ahh! aah? Ah! Yes! Yes! oh YES!!!!!

via omegaprojektet

The first brain scans of men and women having sex and reaching orgasm have revealed striking differences in the way each experiences sexual pleasure. While male brains focus heavily on the physical stimulation involved in sexual contact, this is just one part of a much more complex picture for women, scientists in the Netherlands have found.

(The picture puts the nipple count on this blog up to two, I think, by the way.)

also

My country is dead. Its people have surrendered to tyranny, and in so doing, they have become tyranny's primary support group; its base constituency; its chief defender. Every day they offer their endorsement of tyranny by banking in its banks and spending their borrowed money with the corporations that run it. The great Neocon strategy of George H.W. Bush has triumphed. Convince the American people that they can't live without the "good things", then sit back and watch as they endorse the progressively more outrageous crimes you commit as you throw them bones with ever-less meat on them. All the while, lock them into debt. Destroy the middle class, the only political base that need be feared. Make them accept, because of their own shared guilt, ever-more repressive police state measures. Do whatever you want.

Turkish police say they are hunting two suspects over an explosion in the resort town of Antalya that left three dead and hurt at least 20 on Monday.

The blast came hours after at least 27 people were hurt when bombs exploded in Istanbul and the resort of Marmaris.

A Kurdish militant group linked to the banned PKK party has said it carried out all three attacks.

Security has been tightened on Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean coasts as police hunt the attacks' perpetrators.

On Monday night, police revealed they had arrested a man in Izmir accused of being involved in a failed plot to bomb the western coastal town.

The Turkish state news agency said the man was from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatist group.

It said other people were also detained for helping the suspect and that plastic explosives were seized in the operation.

The Turkish economy is heavily reliant on tourism, which Kurdish separatists have repeatedly threatened to target.

via Anna Chen

via Rightwingsparkle

via miserable donuts

Local authorities on Thursday appealed for emergency relief for thousands of families displaced by recent fighting and drought in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.

Fierce fighting over the past two months between government forces and the ousted Taliban militia, coupled with this year’s particularly hash drought, have forced nearly 4,000 families to leave their homes and villages in Helmand, Abdul Satar Mazhari, provincial refugee department chief in Helmand, said.

“They need urgent assistance such as food, tents and even safe drinking water,” Mazhari maintained.

According to local authorities, many of the people have been displaced from Nowzad, Washeer, Garam Seer, Mussa Qala and Sangin districts.

via Skrufff

Osama kept coming back to Whitney Houston. He asked if I knew her personally when I lived in America. I told him I didn't.

He said that he had a paramount desire for Whitney Houston, and although he claimed music was evil he spoke of someday spending vast amounts of money to go to America and try to arrange a meeting with the superstar.

It didn't seem impossible to me. He said he wanted to give Whitney Houston a mansion that he owned in a suburb of Khartoum. He explained to me that to possess Whitney he would be willing to break his colour rule and make her one of his wives. Whitney Houston's name was the one that would be mention constantly.

How beautiful she was, what a nice smile she has, how truly Islamic she is but is just brainwashed by American culture and by her husband Bobby Brown, whom Osama talked about having killed, as if it were normal to have women's husbands killed.

Live from Lebanon- Spiderman

You don’t get in there without a written pass from Hezbollah, so I showed up with my portfolio of graffiti from Iraq and Palestine, to ask if they would like me to do something. As soon as I got in there I felt like I’d got no right to paint where there may well still be dead people yet to be uncovered. “Only if they invite me to,” I told the girl who translated for me. Which they did. Even offered to pay for my materials. A month of wholesale devastation has galvanized the spirit of these people more than I would have believed possible. I’m told that after each nightly bombing run, those families who came out of hiding in the morning to pick through the rubble of their homes, were singing. Now everyone’s wearing hats that say “The Divine Victory”. They told me that they wanted something happy to reflect this, and pretty much instructed me to start right away (not much pressure then). 3 nearly sleepless nights later I returned and spent 4 hours climbing around like a monkey with the stencils I’d made. On the first roof I climbed on I found an Iranian rifle lying in the dust and rubble, which I handed down to the rather sheepish onlookers (who, it has to be said, were conducting an otherwise amzingly efficient clean-up operation). At the end I was so covered in dust and sweat I looked like I'd spent a month at the front line myself. They nicknamed me Spiderman and seemed fairly pleased.

BOMBS AWAY

He says he isn't suggesting we use our nuclear power, but I'm not sure how we deal with Iran if appeasement won't work. Do we wait for something so dreadful that it is necessary? All I know is that it did make me feel a bit better to read about our nuclear capacity. It's the gun in the closet at our home that we hope to never ever use. But if someone breaks in and tries to attack those we love, we are so very glad we have it.

BORED SECURITY

1. restraining then stamping on the head of a man on a bad LSD trip
2. removing armbands without the permission of the owner and without consulting the Glade organisers (several incidents)
3. planting drugs on an individual, claiming they are a dealer, then throwing them out
4. financial theft - in the two incidents of which I am aware, a total of over £300 was taken, in both cases from people who Security claimed were dealing drugs (in reality they just had "personal use" quantities)
5. assaulting individuals who tried to prevent them from causing serious harm to others, invariably removing them from the site
6. verbally abusing a festival-goer who had been lying on the ground in a wide open space, doing absolutely nothing at all (other than communing with nature)
7. the assault on "skinny naked guy" in the main arena area, witness by dozens (if not hundreds) of people.

The general consensus seems to be that Security were over-keen on flexing their muscle, and had a tendency to abuse their authority. This is probably linked to issues raised in the first complaint, such as boredom.

BROWN PEOPLE

maybe there exists a contingency plan in which we seize the Arab-Shiite oil producing southwest portion of Iran with special forces to save the facilities, then send in a ground force for more security, all as part of a limited-surgical war strategy/denies them their principle leverage against the world economy while damaging theirs/the Iranian people revolt and overthrow the mullahs gambit.

(And may I add how absurd it feels to blithely throw around the word “gambit” like a colonial official posted East of Suez a century ago, while sitting in the comfort of my home enjoying a summer’s evening breeze, and all the time such a horrifying and frightening prospect as Iranian nukes and/or a confrontation over them seems absolutely inevitable. I pray it is not, for all of our sake including the Iranian people.)

...I wonder if even if that sort of action were to unfold whether we’d be able to keep the oil flowing and contributing to the world economy. They have extended-range rockets, as we’ve seen them share with Hezbollah but were mostly knocked out (by air power), that could probably reach and take out the oil infrastructure, but at least it would deny them the oil and income. Then it might become a question of which economy cracks first, Iran’s or the rest of the world’s. I presume they’re pretty rickety over there, maybe brittle is the word. All they need is nukes, yeah, that’s the ticket!

Iran is an empire with many unhappy minorities. The Arabs in the oil areas are the cousins in a sense of the Iraqi Shiites. Maybe we can offer the locals the chance to become part of Iraq where their vote actually counts, or if Iraq aplits up join them together in Arab-Shiite-Oil Producing Area-istan. Well maybe I should stop raving now.

tw: brown Because it’s all about the BROWN PEOPLE!

there's trouble at home for Israel's leaders - hundreds of reservists returning from the frontlines furious over the handling of the war have staged angry protests - calling on the Prime Minister to resign.

The discontent isn't confined to the rank and file.

In an exclusive interview with Channel 4 News - a senior tank commander says at the height of the offensive he disobeyed orders - refusing to send his men into high-risk battle because they just weren't ready.

At home, it was Britain's murky involvement in the war in Lebanon.

American flights carrying 'bunker busting' bombs landed at UK airports on their way to Israel.

This afternoon, a Muslim group went to the High Court to accuse the British government of violating international law through its support of the Israelis.

The Islamic Human Rights Commission lost their case.

But what was said in court gave a fascinating insight into the arms cargo of those so-called munition flights.

watch the report

Eight men charged with conspiracy to murder over an alleged plot to blow up commercial flights over the Atlantic were remanded in custody today after appearing in court in Central London.

Three others charged with related terror offences, including a 17-year-old youth and a 23-year-old woman who is married to one of the eight men, were also remanded in custody.

I should be telling you about my house turning into a mad k hole with random shaggers dotted about over the weekend. I've just about recovered now. Thanks to good friends so has the house. I'm glad its just once a year. I had a great Ketamine Kitchen dance to Jony Skrufff's mix with a really nice bunch of Spanish squatters who I actually managed to talk to once I felt a bit normal again.

After reading the report, I was shocked to see that one investigator alone had filed reports on 320 extremists, but only two were discharged. While I certainly sympathize with recruiters and commanders who are under tremedous pressure to enlist and retain soldiers, there can never be an excuse for recruiting or retaining members of the Aryan Nation or their ilk. Providing training to them is providing training to neo-Nazi's who will use those skills against the people of the United States, just like Timothy McVeigh.

No one with evidence of support for, collaboration with, or particpation in hate groups should be allowed to enlist in the U.S. Military.

My Ketamine weekend

SPARKLEVISION

VIEW FROM IRAN

The Iranian regime is parental. It cares for your soul, it punishes you for disobeying its rules, it shelters you from disturbing information, it reads your diary, and it destroys your porn stash. It is sometimes abusive, sometimes distant, sometimes illogical, sometimes it is even loving. Sometimes your mom will let you do something that your dad disapproves of; sometimes the opposite is true.

In Iran, you remain a child: dependent on the whims of your overprotective and abusive parents; sneaking out behind their backs; secretly disobeying them; expert at playing the good child.

click on picture for more

“We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.

“We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs.” [Source]

The actors listed included: Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton and William Hurt.

Directors Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Dick Donner and Sam Raimi also signed their names.

Other Hollywood powerplayers supporting the ad included Sumner Redstone, the chairman and majority owner of Paramount Pictures, and billionaire mogul, Haim Saban.

Fuck America, we can fight our own war on terr-r

Most people would be happy to see the personal use of cannabis decriminalised or penalties for possession lowered to the status of a parking fine, says one of the largest opinion surveys conducted on the issue

whoops wrong survey

A majority of British people wants the Government to adopt an even more "aggressive" foreign policy to combat international terrorism, according to an opinion poll conducted after the arrests of 24 terrorism suspects last week.

However - by a margin of more than five to one - the public wants Tony Blair to split from President George W Bush and either go it alone in the "war on terror", or work more closely with Europe.

You know what I mean? Fuck Bush, we want our OWN War on terr-r with a FUCKING "O" in it right? I can (sort of) understand this when John Reid

...contrasted what he called the common EU values of "human rights, democratic freedoms and justice for all" with an "intolerant, violent totalitarianism that seeks to destroy those values, ironically by subverting a religion whose very name stands for peace".

why do LABOUR politicians come out with this US Republican wank? No wonder the "surveyed public" is fucked off. All this debate about whether our foreign policy makes us less safe. errr...... why is that such a hard question? Why is nothing about RETALIATION mentioned in the motives of these "evil and mindless (tiny number of) people"? Is this tosser really trying to convince me that these guys are thinking "If we bomb innocent Brits we will get an Islamic caliphate quicker"? Or is it more like "You are killing innocent Muslims so we kill innocent Brits. An eye for an eye."

Hmmm... I fucking wonder...

CUDDLE ME

This is Big Brother Pete in the diary room as an example of how its been bleedin obvious he is going to win. Notice the (cough)WANKERS!!!!! I'm going to try this in a pub soon to see if everyone pretends not to notice and smiles charitably.

ITS REALITY MY FRIEND

(a quote taken from London Post 7/7)

I've not been following reality TV this time thank God, but I got a snapshot of two reality shows over the weekend which provoked strong emotions for widely diferent reasons. Firstly, Big Brother. Remember I said Pete The K sniffing tourettes suffering mohichan would win? Well the bookies have stopped taking bets on him. If you are anywhere near a TV which can get UKTV Channel 4, do watch Pete. This guy is going to be a star. Almost makes me wish I had tourettes.

Secondly, Love Island. In the name of Allah the most merciful, why oh why don't Islamic terrorists symbolically bomb things like this rather than random people on their way to work? How do you do a fatwah? I want a fatwah on these people.

Bland rich bitch gets off with rich friend bitch's man. Friend bitch flies back argues pours wine on bitch. Bitch goes out, makes out she is telling only a "close bitch" but makes sure she cries and screams so loud everyone can hear, meanwhile checking that the camera has her best side no doubt. ...FATWAH! FATWAH! NOW!!!

LATER

Bold as Love:

This article was sent to me by a friend. It is basically saying what I have believed for a very long time.Can a good Muslim be a good American?


*Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia.

*Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)

*Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Quran (Koran).

*Geographically - no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day.

*Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.

*Politically - no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and Destruction of America, the great Satan.

*Domestically - no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34).

*Intellectually - no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.

*Philosophically - no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot coexist.Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

*Spiritually - no. Because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Quran's 99 excellent names.

Later'

Intriguing

Mr Reid also said the government believes the first al-Qaeda plot in the UK was in 2000 in Birmingham, preceding the war in Iraq and the 9/11 attacks.

Birmingham? Really? As in Birmingham UK? As in Al Qauida attacking BIRMINGHAM? What was the fucking target? I wonder if we are going to get any details of this thwarted plot, not that i want to appear cynical of course.

More 'publican humour

via Dave in Texas: Green Helmet Man's blog

All 24 suspects, held during raids in London, Birmingham and High Wycombe on Wednesday night, are British.

Imtiaz Qadir, from the Waltham Forest Islamic Association, said: "I know five of the men very well and they are really respectable young Muslim men. I am totally shocked. I don't believe they've done anything to warrant this."

The nineteen named suspects, aged between 17 and 35, are:

From Walthamstow, east London: Abdula Ahmed Ali, 25; Cossor Ali, 23; Assan Abdullah Khan, 21; Waheed Arafat Khan, 25; Muhammed Usman Saddique, 24; Osman Adam Khatib, 19; Ibrahim Savant, 25; Amin Asmin Tariq, 23; and Waheed Zaman, 22.

Also from east London: Nabeel Hussain, 22, from Chingford; Tanvir Hussain, 25, from Leyton; Umair Hussain, 24, from Poplar; Abdul Muneem Patel, 17, from Clapton; Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 35, from Stoke Newington.

From High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire: Shazad Khuram Ali, 27; Umar Islam, 28; Assad Sarwar, 26; and Waseem Kayani, 29.

And, from Birmingham, Tayib Rauf, 22.

Under new anti-terror laws, police have up to 28 days to question the 24 suspects before deciding whether to charge or release them. Questioning is likely to begin later today.

Galloway vs Sky

War and Peace in Texas...

You think your grandma wasn’t like you? We had our doubts folks. We were in it with sixteen million Americans.

Can you imagine?

And throughout 1943, and 1944, and even 1945, the outcome was not assured. The end of it certainly was not known.

Even in August, we had our doubts. The Japanese mainland? What would it cost?

Will my brother be killed? My son?

My husband?

My son’s father.

They didn’t know about the bomb. They just knew we were in the fourth bloody year of the “war”, and they were war-weary, and afraid. And there were many moments when the outcome was in doubt.

The “end of it”, the date, was in doubt.

It seems like it will never be over. Sometimes we all say that. Well. Good. Evil. Yeah.

You still fight evil. You still refuse to let evil have its way.

That’s what you do.

Also from Texas- some news from London:

"BRITISH police claim to have found a "martyrdom video" in which one of the 24 British Muslims arrested over an alleged plot to destroy up to a dozen passenger aircraft sets out his reasons for joining the planned suicide attack.

British officials said the damning evidence had been found in the home of one of the suspects, who include a 23-year-old biochemistry student and a Heathrow security guard with an all-areas access pass.

The guard was in his airport uniform when he was arrested and led away in handcuffs.
The suspects are mostly of Pakistani origin but two are white converts to Islam. Abdul Waheed, 21, changed his name from Don Stewart-Whyte six months ago after growing up as the son of a Conservative Party official. "

FIRE BURN DEM

Girls dem sexy, and dem p*ssy fat
Yeah all di girls, di boys dem looking at
Some bwoy bow down, BOW DOWN DOIN WHATT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nothing in this world could never have mi doin dat
I dont care if dem ban mi
Cause mi seh fi bun b*ttyman yuh caan wrong mi
Yo mi nuh born ova England a real African this
Real real real Rastaman this, BOOM!!!!
Chorus:
Rastaman dont apologize to no b*ttybwoy
Yuh diss black people then mi gun a shot yuh bwoy
Gimme di whole a di girls cause a dem have up di joy
Inna di Lake of fire mi dash yuh bwoy
Rrrrrrrr!!!! We apologize to no b*ttybwoy
Diss King Selassie then mi gun will shot yuh bwoy
Inna di Lake of fire mi dash yuh, AH HOY!!!!

I shared my guilty secret with Paula the other day during a stoned session playing with one of these. I've been listening to Sizzla's "Nah Apologise" for a while and find myself singing it. I'm totally against the sentiment, I think I'm just listening to it "ironically" but I got to admit, its a great track. I get the feeling that people who complain the loudest about what gay people get up to are probably having secret sausage fantasies themselves that they can't deal with, know what I mean? Though I probably wouldn't elaborate on this theory to Mr. Sizzla's face.

In a related incident, Steve from the Synergy project was telling me a really funny story about a "youth event" at the Synergy Centre which was run by a charity called groundworks, but a few Synergy hippies got involved with on the technical side. One of the softer chill guys had brought some decks and was "supervising" the kids using them. Anyway, the story goes some kids wanted to put this track on, not knowing the guy was gay. He fronted the lot of them saying

"OK. If you believe this do it. I am a bwattyboy, come on, kill me. Now."

After the muttering had died down he finnished triumphantly

"Well if you're not going to do it, I'm not going to play it."

I MISSED THIS ONE

Written by two senior journalists at The Times, the book starts with an account of how Abu Hamza who once worked as a doorman in sleazy Soho became radicalised after meeting a jihadist scholar in Mecca.

It ends with his incarceration for seven years after being convicted of inciting murder, race hate, and a terrorism offence.

Despite its forensic detail, the book is written like a thriller and is, in parts, fascinating.

But it does not explain how young Muslims attending the Finsbury Park mosque came to be in thrall to his brand of hatred.

Nor is the case for Abu Hamza the arch-villain convincing; many of the alleged connections to al-Qaeda style terrorists are tenuous at best.

It leaves one main question: is this low-grade hate-monger worth such a lengthy study?

ASS OVER TIT

With a sudden burst of sexy energy, I walked forward on the smooth black catwalk. At the end, I started to walk backwards, and then gave a little spin, something I’d been practicing.

The next thing I knew, like in a dream, my eyes were closed and I felt pain all up the right side of my body. Opening my eyes, I realized - I’d just fallen the fuck down. On main stage.

Lying b****... Machiavellian . . . evil, power-mad witch

via rightwingsparkle

Dick Bennett has been polling New Hampshire voters for 30 years. And he’s never seen anything like it.
“Lying b**** . . . shrew . . . Machiavellian . . . evil, power-mad witch . . . the ultimate self-serving politician.”
No prizes for guessing which presidential front-runner drew these remarks in focus groups.
But these weren’t Republicans talking about Hillary Clinton. They weren’t even independents.
These were ordinary, grass-roots Democrats. People who identified themselves as “likely” voters in the pivotal state’s Democratic primary. And, behind closed doors, this is what nearly half of them are saying.

For Today I Am A Boy

One day I’ll grow up, I’ll be a beautiful woman
One day I’ll grow up, I’ll be a beautiful girl
One day I’ll grow up, I’ll be a beautiful woman
One day I’ll grow up, I’ll be a beautiful girl

But for today I am a child, for today I am a boy
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy

One day I’ll grow up, I’ll feel the power in me
One day I’ll grow up, of this I’m sure
One day I’ll grow up, I know a womb within me
One day I’ll grow up, feel it full and pure

But for today I am a child, for today I am a boy
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy

For today I am a child, for today I am a boy
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy

Standing 6ft 4in tall and with a shock of black hair, the 34-year-old has a voice as unconventional as his looks...As he collected his award from host Jools Holland to a standing ovation, Hegarty said the competition was "a bit nutty".

"It's kind of like a crazy contest between an orange and a spaceship and a potted plant and a spoon - which one do you like better?" he said.

As I sat my beautiful ass by the window in my first attempt to spy a nice cafe in South Kensington the phone rang. Me: "OH, HELLO MATE! HOW ARE YOU? YES, I AM FINE. JUST ENJOYING THE SUN IN A CAFE SOUTH OF THE RIVER! YEAH, I AM WORKING. I AM MYSTERY SHOPPING! Bollocks. Everyone started laughing out loud, shit. Italian background, you know, shouting and moving hands, what makes me really discreet.

Whatever. I made my way to the second cafe, took pictures, sat down to enjoy my Baileys Latte and the phone rang. It was a Brazilian mate of mine, so I felt free to explain him what I was doing in Portuguese, my mother tongue, so nobody would discover my true identity. Finished my Baileys and said goodbye to the barman, who said goodbye back, BUT IN PORTUGUESE!! The fucker was Brazilian too! I completely fucked up everything.

Secret societies, if you thought about inviting me to join you and after reading this you changed your mind, I would like to let you know that I AM GOING TO START MY OWN SECRET SOCIETY, SO PISS OFF!

via Hot Air: a day in Londonistan

via Dan Covan

Being born and raised in New York City, and spending most of my life here I've never seen anything quite like, this past sat. night, as complacent nation put together such an amazing event "One Night of Fire"

Last sat night at 7:57 I went to the center of the Brooklyn Bridge, and met up with over 2 thousand people who had also received word of this gathering to celebrate the heat of the summer,. .if its gonna be hot why not bring it in with a bang, the kind of bang that hurts no one, but might bother many, perhaps many need to be bothered, because they don't bother enough, . .this may be a point of view,.but hello is anybody out there,. ? I dare say YaY!!Some video can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/results?tag=onenightoffire

Hundreds of photos can be seen at:

http://www.ahutchdesign.com/nightoffire/

http://www.601video.com/files/danger/index.html

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=one+night+of+fire&z=t

UNCLE JIMBO ON CNN

via Right Hand of God

PORTOBELLO FILM FESTIVAL 2006: COUNTERCULTURE

3rd – 22nd August. Free admission to everything.

Film, Music, Poetry, Sculpture, Comedy, Cabaret and Combined Arts

With three weeks of non-stop screenings of new independent short films
at at
least two venues every night (Westbourne Studios and Inn On The Green),
Portobello Film Festival is "the biggest celebration of independent
films in
Europe” (The Independent).

Hamza wins right to appeal

Three of the country's most senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London decided Hamza should be allowed to challenge the convictions, setting the stage for an appeal trial as early as October.

"The impact of the pre-trial publicity and the publicity during the trial itself on the fairness of the proceedings generally should be considered by the full court," said one of the three justices, Igor Judge.

The long delay between the time the crimes were committed and the decision to prosecute should also be examined, the appeal ruling said.

Hamza's Finsbury Park mosque was at the centre of some of the most high-profile terrorism cases of recent years.

via Rightwingsparkle (who has a different take on Alan Moore here.)

We have to put our hands up and admit to our complicity in the sexual problems we have. As for incest, yes, in real life, incest is very, very, very seldom an idyllic thing. It's much more often a monstrous thing that destroys people's lives. However, we're not talking about real life. We are talking about the human sexual imagination. Sigmund Freud, frankly, I've not got a great deal of time for, because I think he was a child-fixated cokehead, to be perfectly honest. But his is still the prevalent paradigm in our attitude to sexuality. And Freud said that all sexual desire was sublimated incest. I don't agree with that for a moment, but it does suggest that incest is one of the big players in the theater of our desires. So that has to be referred to.

We felt we had to explore even the problematic areas of pornography, because they're a big part of pornography. We didn't want to be accused of turning out something arty that claims to be pornography but isn't. We felt that if we were going to do this thing, we were going to have to do it properly. We wanted it to be as pornographic as possible, and as artistic as possible. We wanted it to be a pornography that would include even the more extreme pornographies.

One of the Forest Gate terror suspects is to be arrested after child porn images were found on his family's computer, it has emerged.

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who was shot in the shoulder during the ill-fated operation, is expected to be quizzed as part of the investigation into the discovery later this week.

The development comes after extensive forensic tests on his family's computer, which was seized during last month's raid in Forest Gate, east London.

The primary purpose of examining the computer was to establish whether Mr Kahar, or his brother Abul Koyair, 21, also arrested during the June 2 operation, had any links to terrorism. To the astonishment of detectives, a number of 'very disturbing' child porn images were found.

Ooooh....Shall I get one?... shit.... I don't know....