Murdoch sticks the knife in… again

Posted on September 5, 2005 by Tim Ireland

Observer – ‘Stitched up’ Humphrys faces BBC probe: Humphrys strongly denied the allegations last night, saying his comments had been part of a ‘good humoured, light-hearted speech’ and ‘meant with great affection’. The form in which they had been reported ‘clearly suggest a stitch-up,’ he said. He took particular exception to a suggestion that he had said government ministers had to lie to get on.

Guardian – Humphrys hits back over ‘liars’ speech: Yesterday, Humphrys hit back at the Times report, saying it was “disgraceful” for the newspaper to suggest that his remarks were intended to imply that all ministers were liars. “It’s not what I believe and never have done,” he told the Guardian. Humphrys claimed the newspaper and its stablemate, the Sunday Times, which carried a similar report yesterday, had “conflated” a series of remarks he had made about politicians.

You’ll want to read the transcript excerpt provided by the Times. It begins with some fallout (pun intended) that followed my favourite election interview.








Posted in Rupert 'The Evil One' Murdoch | Comments Off on Murdoch sticks the knife in… again

White House swings into action…. to shift blame

Posted on September 5, 2005 by Tim Ireland

New York Times – White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage: Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina. It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.

No. It can’t possibly be true. Can it?

Well, take a look at this lie that blew through the Washington Post yesterday. (The article in question now carries a correction.)

And, yes, last night we all saw Condi Rice on our televisions, praying in church for the dead and the dying. Not practicing her backhand, shopping for shoes, or laffing it up over ‘Spam-a-lot’.

And today, you can expect to see more presidential hugs. Lots and lots and lots of them.

Rove has his work cut out for him, that’s for damn sure. And he may have to change gear suddenly if Cheney decides to ditch the puppet before he loses an arm.

Independent – Apocalypse in the USA: It is not just that he has handled the crisis badly. His first response was a bemused look, reminiscent of his mental paralysis at the news of 9/11. He then committed a terrible blunder, telling disaster victims to “take personal responsibility”. The individualist message was miscalculated, offensive to the altruism that disasters always ignite. Next, the President seemed to think that it was more important to stop the looting than to save lives. His gaffes don’t end. In storm-torn Biloxi on Friday, he referred two distraught women, who collapsed in his arms, to the Salvation Army shelter.

M. Kane Jeeves – The worst President ever!: Under Bush’s leadership, federal flood control spending for southeastern Louisiana has been cut from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in 2005. Federal hurricane protection for the Lake Pontchartrain vicinity in the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget sunk from $14.25 million in 2002 to $5.7 million this year. Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu pleaded for $27 million. No deal. Iraq was more important.

Time – Dipping His Toe Into Disaster: It isn’t easy picking George Bush’s worst moment last week. Was it his first go at addressing the crisis Wednesday, when he came across as cool to the point of uncaring? Was it when he said that he didn’t “think anybody expected” the New Orleans levees to give way, though that very possibility had been forecast for years? Was it when he arrived in Mobile, Ala., a full four days after the storm made landfall, and praised his hapless Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, Michael D. Brown, whose disaster credentials seemed to consist of once being the commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association? “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job,” said the President. Or was it that odd moment when he promised to rebuild Mississippi Senator Trent Lott’s house–a gesture that must have sounded astonishingly tone-deaf to the homeless black citizens still trapped in the postapocalyptic water world of New Orleans. “Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house–he’s lost his entire house,” cracked Bush, “there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.”

But there is hope. Equally compelling facts and figures about Iraq failed to stop the insanity or bring down the Bush administration, because of the useful presence of the boogey-man.

So what Rove needs to do is to get ‘experts’ to start asking questions about possible sabotage of the levees. No facts or evidence required… just a few well-placed questions ought to do it. That’s how The Osama Solution works.

UPDATE – Daily Kos – A brush with Bush in NO: It actually couldn’t have been a worse experience; a team of us were working to put up a website with directions to every Red Cross shelter in the region when we were evicted from the computer room by the Secret Service. There’s only one room in the Cajundome with telephones and internet access for refugees, and Laura Bush shut it down for eight hours (along with the food service rooms to the side and the women’s showers). You may have seen it on CNN; apparently seven refugees were allowed back so Laura could help them in front of the cameras.

UPDATE – MyDD – Chertoff Still Uninformed About Katrina Details: I say uninformed because I really need to believe that the Secretary of Homeland Security is not lying for political reasons right now…

UPDATE – Halliburton to the rescue!

UPDATE – Sell the Ranch!

UPDATE – Did Newsweek get spun too? Bugger Sell The Ranch, let’s have Burn The Source.

UPDATE – Denny Hastert’s Dark Calculus

UPDATE – Open Letter to the President

UPDATE – Remember seeing George Bush on TV yesterday, wearing the Red Cross like a cloak of invulnerability and asking you to give “cash-money” to the cause? Well…. Red Cross NEVER allowed into New Orleans

See also: Katrina medical help held up by red tape. And this: In St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, just south of New Orleans, victims of the hurricane are still waiting for food and water and for buses to escape the floodwaters, Melancon said. And for the entire time Bush was in the state, the congressman said, a ban on helicopter flights further stalled the delivery of food and supplies.

UPDATE – Police looting in Wal-Mart

UPDATE – More on Karl Rove’s lie machine.








Posted in George W. Bush | Comments (1)

The Ballad of Islam Karimov

Posted on September 1, 2005 by Tim Ireland

Islam Karimov a'la Jed ClampettCome and listen to a story about Islam Karimov
And Uzbekistan, the land he’d like to stay in power of.
He’s a tyrant and a murderer, I’m sorry to be rude,
But the reason we ignore it all is equally fuckin’ crude.

Oil that is. Black gold. Gaseous tea.

Well since that 911 stunt our man’s a millionaire,
When Bush said “Son, I want to launch some planes from there!
“And send you all the suspects we can’t ‘process’ here at home,
“As well as all the dissidents you ‘process’ on your own.”

Torture, that is. Boiled alive behind prison bars.

Well the UK ambassador he had some words to say,
But Blair and Straw they shut him down and sent him on his way,
They made false claims of sex he had for visas in exchange,
But when Blunkett actually did this he was left without a stain.

Semen, that is. Bend over a spell. Take your shorts off.

Y’all come back now, y’hear?

—————————

UPDATE – This post is one of many that will be made today to mark Uzbekistan’s Independence Day. I’ll be adding extras below this line:

—————————

Craig Murray – Preview of a book the UK government would like to ban (available for today only)
TTDE – Don’t buy cotton from Uzbekistan!
Chicken Yoghurt – Uzbekistan: The Debate
Disillusioned Kid – Blogging For Uzbekistan (a long, but v. good post)

There’s a full round-up of links here.

Registan invites comment here

Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Disillusioned Kid for taking the initiative on this. He deserves more than one ‘Huzzah!’








Posted in Uzbekistan | Comments (4)

A quick one for you

Posted on August 26, 2005 by Tim Ireland

Lots going on over at The Political Weblog Project. We have some solid teams forming and we’re right now discussing how low we can go on price.

Lots more will happen next week, but there will be very little happening here until next Thursday (when, I need not remind you, we’re going to have a little chat about Uzbekistan). Any bloggage between now and then will be over at Bubble or part of The Political Weblog Project.

Meantime, Tom is back online after yet another crippling comment spam attack (there’s no way in for them, but they keep throwing themselves at his server) and he would like you to meet a corporate dogsbody by the name of Kevin Hull.

(But here I need to remind Tom that there are others in this big wide world who seek to fend us off with empty assurances that our voices have been heard.)








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Taking a break (so I can do more work)

Posted on August 19, 2005 by Tim Ireland

Bloggerheads is shutting down for two weeks so I can focus on The Political Weblog Project.

When I return on Friday Thursday September 1st, we’re all going to have a little chat about Uzbekistan.

Here’s a new Flash music video to help you spread the word:
Uzbekistan in 20 Seconds

UPDATE – Oh, but I will be in action this Monday 22nd August. This marks a month from Jean de Menezes’ murder and at 6pm there will be a demonstration outside Downing St, calling for the sacking of Ian Blair and demanding a public inquiry. Numbers will count for a lot here, folks. We’ve let too much slip by lately. Considering that I won’t be bugging you for another two weeks is it really so much to ask that you drop by Downing St after work and stand up for what’s right?

Cheers all.

UPDATE (22 Aug) – Final poster here. Seen in action here. About 400 people turned up, by my reckoning.








Posted in The War on Stupid, Updates, Uzbekistan | Comments (1)

Dennis Paul and his pandering to racism

Posted on August 19, 2005 by Tim Ireland

'Dennis Paul - local hero, campaigner and web designerFolks, I’d like you to meet Dennis Paul. Again.

Dennis Paul is a local campaigner for the Conservative Party who dreams of one day holding office. During the most recent election, he put out a misleading pamphlet that pandered to racism (it didn’t go out to everyone; only people who lived in certain areas). He and his wife also chipped in to help Anne Milton squeak to victory. (But Anne Milton would rather we didn’t mention that.)

Dennis is also an excellent web designer, who has cut dennispaul.org and aupairmatch.co.uk out of whole cloth. You will note on both sites that he repeats the mistake of resizing (HUGE!) images with HTML…. but it would appear that this is not his only bad habit.

You see, Dennis Paul (or perhaps one of his able assistants such as Mike Chambers) has a small problem with apostrophes. A few days ago, a campaigner for the Liberal Democrats – Chris Ward – noticed this when looking at Dennis Paul’s new discussion board. There is a very strong indication that all of the posts (under different names) – and many of those that abused the comments system at the Anne Milton weblog – are written by the same person. Posing as ordinary members of the public (a common tactic for the Milton team; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

But there’s joy beyond this ‘tell’ and the very real prospect that a lot of online support for Anne Milton is one man talking to himself…

Dennis recently opened an online discussion room with all the security of a rusty screen door. It was soon sniffed out by spambots, who began to have their wicked way with his website.

Dennis Paul’s response was to blame “Lib Dem spammers” (his words)… before swiftly deleting the offending entry as part of what he claimed was a clean-up of spam. A message heading this discussion board still reads: Apologies for disruption caused by spam postings. My opponents seem hell bent on causing a nuisance. They are cleared regularly so you can browse articles and posts more effectively.

1) The spam is obviously automated dross that most of us are prone to from time to time… but Dennis Paul is especially prone to it because he is hopelessly inept as a web designer.

2) He is also either a liar, a jerk, and/or a delusional and paranoid jerk for claiming that Chinese ads for generic Viagra are part of an attack by Liberal Democrats.

I popped in to have my say and inevitably the conversation turned to his pandering to racism during the election. Most of the original entries are gone now, because Dennis likes to use the spam as an excuse to delete anything that disproves any of his claims or reveals him to be the duplicitous loner that he is. Here’s an exchange that was deleted yesterday:

Dennis Paul refuses to put up or shut up
From: Tim Ireland
Date: Thursday August 18, 2005
Time: 13:12
Comments: How curious that you’ve deleted the entries that: 1) Suggest yet again that it’s you, Dennis, making all of these posts from ‘genuine members of the public’ 2) Called upon you to make good on your threat to ‘take this further’ I’ve made my case. You’ve questioned it (and then requested that I make my case all over again). Are we going to court or not, Dennis? Put up or shut up.

Racism Smears
From: Dennis Paul
Date: Thursday August 18, 2005
Time: 13:20
Comments: Previous sparring bout of tittle tattle deleted – back to the serious claim. The submitter named as Tim Ireland complains of a “misleading pamphlet that pandered to racism and was deliberately sent only to impoverished areas” sent out in my name. This is similar to a claim made by the Liberal Democrats during the County Council election of 2005. As yet, the Liberal Democrats or Tim has yet to clarify or substantiate: a) whose racism I was pandering to; b) racism in what respect; c) their definition of an impoverished area. These claims may be seen by many as the politics of the gutter, smearing candidates with a racist brush for cheap political gain. Will they ever have the courage and sincerity to explain who the racists were I am alleged to have pandered to, where they live, and why they or I am racist…….I await the answer.

Re: Racism Smears
From: Tim Ireland
Date: Thursday August 18, 2005
Time: 13:31
Comments: I refuse to dance your little dance knowing that anytime I do make a valid point, you’ll delete the article. I’ve made my case and you have challenged it. Are we going to court or not?

This scenario was played out time and again as Dennis Paul continued to assert in new posts that I had failed to substantiate my claims, while he deleted any responses from me that did so and/or challenged him on his threat to ‘take things further’ with the authorities. (Chris Ward caught him at it over the ‘Lib Dem spammers’ claim and I have a few screengrabs of my own.)

I called him on his bluff time and again (on his joke of a discussion board and via direct email) and asked him when we were going to court. He responded by deleting every such post and ignoring every email. He then introduced a password system on the discussion board (that made his whole site fall over) before quickly giving up on the idea.

That was fun to watch, but the icing on the cake was the honour of a front-page story repeating his assertion that claims that he had pandered to racism for political gain had yet to be substantiated:

Cheap Claims of Racism Are Unsubstantiated (16/08/05)

Site visitors will note claims in my Discussion Room of a “misleading pamphlet that pandered to racism and was deliberately sent only to impoverished areas” sent out in my name during the 2005 County Election Campaign. This is similar to a claim made by Liberal Democrats during that same campaign.

My opponents submitting posts have yet to clarify or substantiate:

a) whose racism I was pandering to;
b) racism in what respect;
c) their definition of an impoverished area.

I cannot at this stage verify the identity of those making the claims, but they appear to be an attempt to smear my character with a racist brush for cheap political gain. Those who submit posts to my discussion room are responsible for their content and are invited to explain their rationale – this is not a threat, and incidentally, I have made no denial about the content of any leaflet bearing my name.

We are entitled to ask, will they ever have the courage or sincerity to explain who the racists are that I am alleged to have pandered to, the area where they live, and why they or I am racist…….I await the answer.

The thing is… he got his answer. Again and again and again. But he deleted each answer and pretended that no such answer was given. (Unless it was an answer on his terms; the way he’s trying to frame the argument suggests that he wants a ‘poor people of Guildford are inherently racist’ comment from me that he can pluck out of context and use as he pleases.)

This is another thing Dennis Paul has in common with the anonymous posters who have ‘contributed’ to the Anne Milton weblog. When asked to put up or shut up on any particular claim or accusation, they failed to put up… then failed to shut up.

Dennis Paul, I’m calling you out. I continue to maintain that you were directly involved with a misleading pamphlet that pandered to racism. If you have a problem with that, I suggest you make good on your threat to ‘take it further’.

I also maintain that you publish and moderate information on your website in a way that is grossly misleading, and shows a total lack of respect for the truth and the online community. Again, if you have a problem with that, you know what to do.

PS – Good luck deleting this. Jerk.

UPDATE – Dennis Paul’s site has a new message today. It reads: Coming soon…THE SEWER – Guildford’s very own gutter of bile, bull and hate that lies beneath…. (I smell a hatchet-job in the offing. We may end up in court after all.)

UPDATE 2 (20 Aug) – ‘The Sewer Tunnel’ is live. (Wait. Ignore that link. It’s recently been renamed and moved: Click here for ‘The Sewer’.) It’s a bunch of excerpts of stuff that has been said about him on my site and others (or by others on my site). If you ask me, the man has lost it. Maybe we can get him to quote the following:

Dennis Paul fribgiblet wibble-wobble farley-farley-farley on a lurgid bee.

Oh, and the main page for the online discussion room appears to have been removed. How will Dennis get by with no-one to talk to but himself? (No, wait…)

UPDATE 3 (20 Aug) – Oh dear. And he really should learn not to leech images from other websites.

UPDATE 4 (24 Aug) – Oh dear, oh dear. He now claims to have been hacked. Twice. (Details in comments.)








Posted in Anne Milton | Comments (14)

Mo Mowlam passes away

Posted on August 19, 2005 by Tim Ireland

BBC – Former minister Mo Mowlam dies

A sensible woman who worked earnestly and tirelessly for peace. No wonder Blair’s team worked so hard on their little whispers about what might be wrong with her mind. (See Germain Greer’s comments here.)

Goodbye, Mo.

UPDATE – It had to be said.








Posted in The Reality-Based Community | Comments (2)

I was in Legoland yesterday

Posted on August 18, 2005 by Tim Ireland

'Brian' does his bit.BBC – Demo ban protesters deny charges: Ten anti-war activists have appeared in court accused of defying a ban on unauthorised protests near Parliament. Ann Clancy, 70, from Harrow, north-west London, was among those arrested in demonstrations days after the ban came into force at the start of August.

Yes, but did they come into force on the 1st or the 6th? This curious approach to ‘enforcement’ may yet be explained. We shall see.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes… I was in Legoland yesterday. I figured the miniature version of Westminster would be missing something, so I took along a little treat to make the tableaux more authentic.

Here’s a picture of the little fella we nicknamed ‘Brian’ and put in place at about 10:30am. He was still on duty and drawing curious onlookers at 3:30pm. With any luck, he’s still there today. Unless he’s been nicked by a Lego bobby, of course.

PS – I’ve been a little slack on enforcement myself. I hope to get to it sometime on Tuesday. Cheers all.








Posted in The War on Stupid | Comments (2)

Oh, there’s no charge… it’s all part of the service

Posted on August 18, 2005 by Tim Ireland

Hurray! Another liar.

Perfect – Blair must go
Chicken Yoghurt – A marriage of convenience
SMH – The look of a terrorist? It was a police fantasy
Scotsman – Sir Ian tried to stall killing probe
Guardian – Met chief tried to stop shooting inquiry
BBC – Timeline: Tube shooting
Talk Politics – Have you no sense of decency?
Heh. I’m flattered
Craig Murray – The killing of Jean Charles de Menezes

Someone should explain to Sir Ian Blair that it’s the public that’s meant to be kept in a perpetual and disabling state of fear and anxiety, not the authorities.

Speaking of phantoms and fears, here’s Charles Clarke still trying to tie it all together.

The resignations should begin now… Blair, then Clarke, then Bliar. But they won’t. Because the stakes are too high. And we have to show faith in our leaders lest we give in to terrorism. And it was the terrorists who were really responsible for the killing. They created the conditions that contributed to the event, you know. And they’re all working together, yes they are.

UPDATE – An excellent animation at B3ta.








Posted in The War on Stupid | Comments (1)

Dennis Paul II

Posted on August 16, 2005 by Tim Ireland

You’ve met Dennis Paul before… he produced this impressive pamphlet for the impoverished persons of Guildford.

Now he has an unregulated online discussion room (read here or post here) that has – surprise, surprise – been detected and abused by spambots. His reaction was to blame this inevitable intrusion on “Lib Dem spammers”… before swiftly deleting the offending entry.

He is a nice man, and has further plans for the good people who live in my area. You may wish to spend some time getting to know him.








Posted in The Political Weblog Movement, Tolerance | Comments (5)