On Osborne's options III...

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Norman Tebbit is back on form: "I have never envied George Osborne his job as Chancellor. Well may David Cameron claim to be 'the heir to Blair', but poor George is the heir to Brown and his inheritance was an utterly unprecedented mountain of debt and an unsustainable deficit piling on even more debt."..."despite some brave decisions and much talk of 'The Cuts', public expenditure is rising not falling, debt is increasing"..."Blair's poisonous legacy to his heir Cameron was not just a financially incontinent country, but one with a submerged underclass addicted to welfare".

Read more in the Daily Mail; or, if you don't fancy going there - or if like me you get irritated by all the photos, links, moving ads, narrow column width etc - then the text is HERE in pdf (Google doc).

Obama optimistic (on opportunism)...

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The world watches as the US debt deal progresses and stalls and progresses some more to what could be accepted: trouble is that, as John Redwood says, the "US is just adding to the tensions by this foolish posturing." Indeed from both sides but I am getting the impression more and more that Obama doesn't care as long as nothing has to happen before next year...election year; is he the Gordon Brown of the USA? ("a key Democratic demand that would prevent a repeat of the current crisis before the next election" [from CNN]). Reporting varies, obviously (especially considering the first line quote from last week) but in some places you just a completely different version from everywhere else, John again:

"Listening to the BBC you could get the impression that the tea party minority in the Congress has the power and the wish to wreck the world's financial system."

I agree, and the Beeb don't help themselves: Mark Mardell is a chronic adherent to Obamamania and in all the coverage of the last few years I doubt that 1% is even slightly "anti" Obama; compare that to the BBC's treatment of Bush (in fact Justin Webb and others are too; they can't help themselves but the bias, omission and false reporting is getting beyond a joke..and they're being watched).

Support for an English Parliament Remains Strong...

From April: Toque, "support for an English parliament is stronger than support for the Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat parties."

Obelising obreption...

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Mellow show but still red underneath...

Heinz 57 and Mello Yello. Confused? Well the pictures tends to give part of it away! Laughing, joking, singing and dancing earlier this week and after an apparent Damascene conversion Krusty the Pheonix is now appealing to those he has spent years castigating and stealing from: the middle class, small businesses and the private sector in general; on Tuesday it was an appeal to agribusiness: "We have failed to articulate with the production sector... I want us to work together. We need you and you need us." Well only half of that last sentence is true. More amusingly he has told supporters: "Why do we have to always have to wear a red shirt?... "And the same goes for the word 'socialism'." LOL! Anyway, you got the yellow bit, also, it was his 57th birthday and the Heinz was for comrade Dieterich who seems to be losing faith slating the new 'Law of Fair Costs and Prices'.

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obelize: v. to condemn as spurious, doubtful, or corrupt...
obreption: n. seeking to obtain a gift by false premises...

Observing osophy...

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20/11/2011, a nice looking number and the date that Mr. Bean has announced will be the next Spanish General Election, a few months earlier than expected. This date may not mean much to many but Zapatero's government quickly dismissed the ‘coincidence’ as just another day; it is the date on which General Franco died in 1975 AND when José Antonio Primo de Rivera was shot by firing squad in 20th November 1936. The latter was founder of the Falange Española and son of Spanish dictator General Miguel Primo de Rivera. After José Antonio's execution the date "immediately became a day of remembrance for the Spanish Far Right". Ironically he wasn't 'Far Right' at all and the party - until the Spanish Civil War when it was absorbed into the National faction - could have been considered "republican, modernist, championed the lower classes and opposed both oligarchy and communism".

Worth a read if your interested: 'Franco, Fascism and the Falange - Not One and the Same Thing', by Norman Berdichevsky.

The picture is Dali's 'Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)'. For more info click on image.
 

Oncoming oppression II...

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"Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper." [George Orwell]. I must admit that IMHO the hacking scandal in the UK is getting a bit tiresome: a while back when the Guardian had their 2nd or 3rd attempt to 'get Coulson' I seriously suspected the government (New Labour and then Coalition) and the police were covering it up because they used the same hackers. I thought the same again today when reading about the latest (lop-sided?) coverage and - moreso - Big Brother Watch's post on recently extended powers under the Patriot Act in the USA for - amongst other things - 'roving wiretaps' allowing authorities to monitor mobile devices of a 'person of interest': [edited 14:46]

"In the political climate today, fear of terror threats runs deep and members of the public should be protected. There is, however, a duty to protect the rights of law abiding citizens against intrusion and to protect their rights. This uncontrolled use of surveillance laws by the US government is shameful and a gross misinterpretations of the powers of government."

BBW add a nice quote: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” [Benjamin Franklin]

Now, off on a tangent but loosely connected in a way to this quote, was the reaction to the Olso Massacres: the Norwegian PM stating last friday that "the answer to violence is even more democracy" and indeed this week that more democracy was the answer. I get the nasty feeling that what he means is what all politicians mean when they talk about democracy; and that it will mean less liberty.

Extreme positions are not succeeded by moderate ones, but by contrary extreme positions. [Friedrich Nietzsche]

Obstrobogulous overspend...

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Brilliant (click to enlarge). Hat-tip Matt Wardman over at Anna Raccoon's. It's an online visualisation of US Government Debt starting from a single 100 dollar bill right up to the 114.5 trillion US unfunded liabilities: go here: wfynoway. Equally good is the one of the sources for this figure (another source being the US Federal Reserve of course!): USdebtclock.org - "see the debt in real time" (but also figures for population, stats, money supply, deficits, workforce, tax etc).

Obviously oblivious...

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LOL! "Why are the arguments adduced by the BBC are so shallow and implausible that they can so readily be demolished? You would have thought that, if the BBC wanted seriously to make its case, it would have done a far better job than it has done." [sic] 'No need to argue'...[EU Referendum]. The report [pdf] was covered earlier in the week here and here, blogged here and here, and finally, from another perspective, by Robin McKie in the Guardian today, here.

Late, late update: (apologies for lack of posts...hopefully on Friday and the weekend!) New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism [Link]

Ordinary opinion...

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Much to my pleasant surprise, Hugo seems to have become more human since getting ill: last night he blamed the ref for Venezuela's failure to beat Paraguay in the second semi-final of the Copa America. "In my modest opinion, based on observable facts, THEY ROBBED US OF THE VICTORY GOAL! And I hope that with that I don't offend anyone" [Link in English]. Needless to say he is wrong: there were two players offside, one was right in front of the goalie. That said I wanted Venezuela in the final not least because (1) they deserved it (2) my connection with the country and (3) because Paraguay haven't actually won a game 'in the usual way' yet!...Larissa's made that promise again not that she's worried either way.

Ordinary opinion...

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Much to my pleasant surprise, Hugo seems to have become more human since getting ill: last night he blamed the ref for Venezuela's failure to beat Paraguay in the second semi-final of the Copa America. "In my modest opinion, based on observable facts, THEY ROBBED US OF THE VICTORY GOAL! And I hope that with that I don't offend anyone" [Link in English]. Needless to say he is wrong: there were two players offside, one was right in front of the goalie. That said I wanted Venezuela in the final not least because (1) they deserved it (2) my connection with the country and (3) because Paraguay haven't actually won a game 'in the usual way' yet!...Larissa's made that promise again not that she's worried either way.

Odd one over ocho...

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One over the eight Slang: drunk, intoxicated..."Can someone get a taxi for Alex, he's had one over the eight and needs to go home now." IMHO, the greatest performance of Alec Baldwin's (OK,OK, he was really a dummy) was as the ceremony host of Kim Jong-il's peace ceremony in North Korea where he represents the Film Actors Guild (F.A.G.), a union of liberal Hollywood actors. Of course this was in the film Team America: World Police (click on image), a film that also had the best vomiting scene ever portrayed in the history of cinema. Alec's comments about Cameron are as vomit-inducing. "For the U.K... try not to be like USA. Zero tolerance for abuses like this criminal activity. Cameron should resign." What a pussy.

Obliging Obama...

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"Political donations by News Corp., its employees and their families were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with President Obama the all-time leading recipient"...[Link] And top recipients of News Corp.'s political action committee in 2009-10 elections were the Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Howard Berman - both California Democrats - and Sen. Charles Schumer (Democrat-N.Y.)...OK, BHO is POTUS so you'd expect it (no?) but it certainly doesn't fit the lefty meme. (hat-tip David Preiser at BBBC)

In other money spending news - this time in the UK - since coming to power the Coalition have cut by 90% advertising in the News International titles (Labour spent 7 million a year between 2005 and 2010 (no, they still kept spending all through the 'credit crunch'); Stephen Williams said:

"Despite the dire state of public finances, the Labour Government continued to spend millions with the Murdoch tabloids."

"This confirms the impression that the last Government was obsessed with spin and prepared to use taxpayers' money to push its agenda with a bloated advertising budget."

Obama update: news you won't see on the BBC.

Overseas overdose...

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Not just me then...the "Scumset".... "A lot of our overseas listeners are amazed at the amount of coverage that was being given to this issue". Euro meltdown, rampant "fuel poverty", Obama 'causing' possible dollar debt default, various wars and other non-important news. From EU Referendum, Reason departed...and it is definitely the impression I have; I even listened for most of this afternoon to the live broadcast of the Commons culture select committee on the phone-hacking scandal. Richard at EUR goes on: "What is wrong is the totally disproportionate coverage. And yes I did check ... there has been far more media coverage today than was given in the newspapers to the outbreak of the Second World War." FFS!

P.S. Why is it, that in the full glow of spotlight on media behaviour, the likes of Dan Sabbagh at the Guardian can spout such shit; can lie, blatantly and patently in public? He has a few possible excuses: either (a) Dan was drunk or on drugs (or both...or worse?) (b) didn't actually listen/watch or possibly (probably?) (c) had written most of his article before the event. No wonder his article wasn't open to comments.

Ominous obtrusion of oncoming ordure...

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Try as they might, nothing can hide the ordure hitting the ventilator that is soon to engulf the Euro zone. The Greek crisis has been played down magnificently but it is spreading, as predicted, slowly but surely; unwanted but unstoppable...MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN: the writing is on the wall (it has been for a while); The EU is preparing the mother of all bailouts.

Update: Some might say destiny awaits...

Obganiating on oligopoly...

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Great stuff, IMHO, from Allister Heath, Editor of the independent daily business newspaper City A.M.

"ALL too predictably, some politicians and powerful individuals with an interest in a servile media are using the hacking crisis to cripple freedom of speech, to advance their own ideological agendas and to damage commercial journalism."

"The media and the police need to be thoroughly cleaned-up, and cosy, crony relationships with politicians must be smashed. In most cases, however, the necessary laws already exist, and this cleansing must target any malpractice across the industry, not just at one firm."..."Some of the rules being mooted would have prevented the MPs' expenses scandal as well as the Wikileaks stories."

We know News International is the biggest newspaper company in the UK but what about online, TV or radio? "...in many cases the BBC has extremely high market shares and has crushed private competitors". This isn't healthy: dangerous times indeed.

oligopoly n. - a market dominated by a few producers.
obganiate v. - to irritate with reiteration

Only one oligarchy...

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...in the British media. "For example, traditional Christians are all fundamentalist bigots; the science of man-made global warming is settled; opponents of mass immigration are racist; Eurosceptics are swivel-eyed fanatics; and all who oppose these opinions and more are Right-wing extremists...

...The Murdoch empire may need to be brought sternly to book over the hacking scandal. But the media monopoly that really has undermined and demoralised British society and deserves to be broken up is the BBC". I agree and IMHO the "evidence" gets greater and clearer every day; ironically, considering the author of these quotes, I would add the USA to the list in the first paragraph because anyone wanting to know what's going on over the pond would be hopelessly lost if they relied on the Beeb. Read more.

Order-Order order...

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"The idea that this crisis is only about News International is fanciful." "In short every major newsroom in the land has used illegal techniques to obtain information." Guido says "We Are On the Verge of Killing Popular Journalism"...but just how 'popular' is it? Click image to enlarge. Also, yesterday we read how the BBC and others may be included in any inquiry.

P.S. A very interesting find: "Rupert Murdoch - A Portrait of Satan", from Adam Curtis a documentary film maker who blogs at the BBC. [hat-tip: Millie Tant over at Biased BBC]

Oneirataxia...

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"When Gordon loved Rupert". "Gordon Brown graced the political stage with a rare cameo this week – if half an hour of deluded invective masquerading as reasoned piety qualifies as a cameo. Brown would have you believe that he had nothing to do with Rupert Murdoch." "The Chancellor has started to love-bomb News International." Image link to article; it's from around 2002, about the same time the BBC became aware of the hacking going on...

Plus a late Update: "Is there no end to The Guardian’s self serving hypocrisy?" Autonomous Mind

Opposition ordure...

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Lying hypocritical oaf rolls in the brownstuff (or is he simply forgetful?): Mount Brown has erupted. Incredibly, in stating that News International had "descended from the gutter to the sewers" Crash Gordon seems to have forgotten Whelan, McBride et al - his very own sewer-dwelling ratpack some of whom had been swilling and swimming in shit for Gordy since his Chancellor days and before.

Late update: Cranmer has more detailed info re the scapegoating of RM; as we all know, they're all at it.

Overt (opportunist?) overreaction...

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"The BBC has a monopoly and it's abusing it". I'm a few thousand miles away but can hear the harpie shrieks of hysteria from here. The NOTW debacle has led to a general all-out assault on the great evil empire News International; but consider that 70% of the UK get their news from TV and the image left shows just who dominates that...by miles. Look HERE and you see online the BBC is even more dominant (News Corporation has even less market share than The Guardian!) and no need to even mention radio. Facts and stats from Tim Montgomerie, well worth a read (click on image).

"Lots of nonsense is being said and written about how News International is undermining the diversity of British media. There's only one dominant force in the British media and that's the BBC. The BBC's dominance is overwhelming when it comes to news."

P.S. Also, it's been hard not to notice the Beeb's recent tendency for loving Alastair.

Late Update: you can tell I'm not getting online much: THIS from Sunday:

"They see a straight line from a successful BSKYb takeover to the emergence of a truly pluralistic television media environment. And that vision terrifies them.

Make no mistake about it. The Left’s agenda is about censorship and control. Nothing more, nothing less."

And this, curiouser and curiouser: BBC/GUARDIAN JOIN FORCES, POOL RESOURCES

Orban's outstanding ocracy...

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...or at least that's what Nigel Farage seems to think (LOL!) as he lists the 'achievements' of the EU during Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's six month period as the rotating President of the Council of the European Union. Victor is a centre-right conservative politician and prior to gaining the EU gig called for a 'Strong Europe'; but maybe he's really "the Eurosceptics' secret weapon" as Nigel Farage said. Hat-tip: Calling England

Orinoco obambulation...

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Wandering aimlessly: this and that in Venezuela. First yesterday's dire 0-0 draw in the Copa America: Brazil were shite and Venezuela got a valuable point. Pantallero* Neymar and Venezuela coach Cesar Farias are still at it. I've seen three Santos games this year and Neymar was shit and selfish in all of them (now I've said this it means he will go on to be the new Ronaldo/Messi combined).

Also Krusty has returned home (not to be too mean but that name is sounding more appropriate every day!); needless to say his serious illness** hasn't helped his non-existent humility as much as I hoped it would: it's only the start of the return. He has cried off tomorrow's Independence celebrations, I await some sort of 'show'. Venezuela, a land Columbus (Colon) called paradise, the 'Land of Grace' [oops] was the first Spanish American colony to declare independence although this faltered a couple of times over the following decade the original day is still celebrated (5th July 1811) Much of the country's history is dominated by political/military leaders: caudillos, usually with the help of an 'oligarchy'; some good some bad, for various reasons my 'favourite' is José Antonio Páez [Wiki]

* Venezuelan meaning.
** This will probably get the Ven mafia after me but I believe I know what troubles Krusty; I hinted at it recently when I mentioned waste disposal outlets and said "don't ask"...before all was revealed. You see, back in May he was treated for a 'carnosidad anal', a fleshy growth in the anus, and before that in February he was treated for a prostate problem; now he has been treated for cancer 'down there'. It could be he was unlucky and had "normal" prostrate or colon cancer, BUT (and I must stress I have no evidence AT ALL) but it COULD be because of overuse of drug cocktails administered via suppositories. I don't mean recreational drug use, I mean he has been trying to run the country himself for over a decade, which included 8 hour marathon live TV every Sunday...a Mars a day wouldn't help much.

That said, I wish him a speedy recovery because I want him and his Boliburguesía to lose fair and square next year; he's been sliding so fast downhill (not health-wise!) that even Noam is critical! However, the state of the opposition tends to reflect the football game 0-0 with nothing much happening.

Outstanding IV...

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Multi-culti left wing pricks...Guardianista/BBC prickocracy (LOL!) etc. Pat Condell's message today (YouTube); "An illiberal consensus" - the man gets it and he puts his point across so well! 

Opposing ostrichism...

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'bis vincit qui se vincit in victoria'; He conquers twice who conquers himself in victory (att. Publilius Syrus). Ostrichism is the refusal to face unpleasant facts, something that many politicians suffer from; one who certainly didn't suffer was the man who had the plaque - image left - on his desk; to me that saying transmits similar inspirational thoughts as the quote above. Click on image to go to the website of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library. And click HERE to read of the Reagan Centennial Celebrations and the unveiling of a bronze statue near the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. The man inspired many but saved many more by facing head-on unpleasant facts.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction."

Update: tributes and photos [Conservative Home]

One 'official opinion'...

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"No British government has been in a stronger position"...David Blackburn in The Spectator quoting one official aide. Will it make the slightest bit of difference? Do you care? The European Union's budget of one trillion Euros was called 'relatively small': I'd be happier with about 9 fewer zeros; will David Cameron really secure a consensus to reject anything but a "0 per cent real terms rise for the 2013-2020 Budget round"?

Also, worth commenting on the news [deserves a post to itself really] that George Osborne objected to Britain's involvement in the eurozone bail-out and specifically asked "[Mr Darling] to be careful not to commit the UK to proposals that have a lasting effect on UK public finances"; nevertheless, later the same day Darling did the opposite and tied UK tax-payers' money into the bail-out fund. The following day Darling left office. Remember, the money being shovelled by various routes to the insatiable, greedy, gaping maw of the EU is SEVERAL TIMES the amount being "cut" by the Coalition: so, where is the outrage? Yes I know I've said it before; where are the marches? Where are the Unions? Where are the raving looney scraggly-bearded dodo Marxist Archbishops and hypocitical Polly Trots? I can't hear them. The current scene of the saga isn't a tragedy, it's a farce.

Obrogating oecists...

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Those obrogating oecists wrote a letter; the second sentence and others sections became more famous but it began thus:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." ...

And declare them they did by twelve 'yes' votes and one abstention; it was announced two days later when the text was approved.