Bush fires

I can think of one Bush I'd like to set fire to. Is it gratuitous just to say how much I hate Bush for no apparent reason today? I think we have to remind ourselves, even on days when he hasn't done anything newsworthily stupid, what a cunt he is.

And not just him, of course. Blair, too. On his final "world tour" as prime minister. What a fucking arsewipe. Cunts, the lot of 'em.

Serving our country?

You must have had your head under a rock for the past two weeks if you aren't aware of the "international situation" in which the UK found itself with regards to its sailors apparently venturing into Iranian waters.

But you know what? This whole story has really got on my tits.

I have held off from posting about it before because I really don't know where to begin. And even now I'm not sure where I'm going entirely. I'm not one of those bloggers who plans out his posts and then redrafts it a dozen times before posting. Almost 100 per cent of the time I type and post, making a few minor amendments here and there as I go. I like to feel "in the moment". Plus, I don't really have the time to dwell on one post for a week or more.

So, yada yada yada, it's go time!

We saw footage and photos of our brave men and chain-smoking woman. Sometimes they were together; sometimes videotaped separately. Sometimes they were eating; sometimes they were telling the camera, and the world, how sorry they were to have crossed into Iran's waters.

By and large they seemed to be in good health, and they even told us they were being treated well. Within minutes of their release, they were telling news cameras that they were treated well by the Iranians. At their meeting with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the sailors thanked him for looking after them during their "stay".

But now, back on British soil and, more importantly, after having been debriefed, their stories have changed dramatically. They claim they were kept isolated from one another. (In fact, one of the sailors claims they were isolated; another claims they were not allowed to mutter even a word to one another, which I would think was pretty hard if they were in isolation anyway. So much for sticking to the same story...) They claim they were hooded on one occasion and that guns were being cocked behind them; they feared for their lives.

But we are also told that they were allowed to eat and drink and to smoke. That must have pleased the sole female among them, Fay Turney, who seemingly couldn't even make a televised appeal to the British nation without a fag in her hand. I mean, show some decorum, woman.

Am I'm starting to think, "Hold on. These people are supposed to be serving our country. They are supposed to be defiant in capture. Instead they spilled their guts like slaughtered pigs. 'Okay, we'll say we were in your waters. We'll do whatever you say. Please don't put us on trial. Sure, we'll tell Blair to get out of Iraq.'"

I'm not saying they don't have the right to be afraid. Of course they do. But they have behaved like big babies. And now they are coming out with "the truth" all of a sudden? Do me a favour.

I believe that as part of their debrief, they have been told to deliver a load of bullshit now, in order to justify Bush's imminent attack on Iran. An attack that is otherwise almost impossible to allow by international law.

And it's not just me who believes this. President Ahmadinejad claims the same thing too. I wouldn't ordinarily perhaps stand up and be counted alongside such a man. Equally, though, I don't wish to be counted alongside Blair. Or Bush.

No doubt the controvery will rage on. And we'll go to war. And thousands more lives will be lost. Whereas, right now, all that is needed is for us in Britain to shut up. Our "heroes" our back, safe and sound. They have served their country and we should be proud. My only concern is that they might have served their country right on to Bush's dinner plate, ready to be fed into the mouth of another unnecessary war.

We would do well, as a parting shot, to consider the fates of those people in Guantanamo Bay in all this. Compare and contrast what we know about the detention conditions of "our sailors" and those held in Guantanamo. From where I'm standing, I'd say "our sailors" had a fucking easy ride, or a "compulsory vacation", as Ahmadinejad has called it.

Related news links of interest:
Key quotes
What next for captives?
Iran dismisses sailors' accounts
Released sailors tell of ordeal
Mystery shrouds sailors' saga
Iran seeks goodwill over captives
Film pulled from TV schedule

A rack’s a dam and all that stuff

We all knew it was going to happen, of course, but the execution of Saddam Hussein has finally come to pass.

President Bush, we are told, was woken from his sleep (he went to bed at 9pm West Texas time) to hear the news. Wouldn't you think that as leader of the free world he might have stayed up a couple more hours for this momentous occasion? An occasion that has come around due to Bush Jr's illegal war-mongering, invading a country on false pretenses, solely to take revenge on the man who wanted to assassinate the first President Bush.

It's no secret that I think Bush is a cunt. Ditto Blair. A prize pair of cunts, the two of them. And it should go without saying that I have no love for Saddam. He was not a nice man. Did he deserve this fate? Well, maybe yes, maybe no.

Say what you like, though, he went to his death like a fucking hero. And that's how he'll be remembered. Those last few minutes of his life that we've all seen on the news today will live forever. We can only hope that we meet our own deaths with such courage.

And speaking of being remembered... Former Labour party minister Tony Benn said on the 2pm news here today that Blair will be remembered only for doing whatever Bush said. In other words, he will be remembered for being Bush's bitch. What a legacy.

We are the West. We bring freedom and liberty to oppressed nations.

If I may borrow from a film I recently watched: "Stuff it up your arse for nothing, and fuck off while you're doing it."

Is one Israeli life worth 10 Lebanese?

I'm really pleased with the way my tree and plant pics came out, and I'll do another post soon with some more.

In the meantime, I was hoping not to have to moan about the situation in Lebanon again for a while. I'm sure all bloggers try to be aware that they have a readership without necessarily allowing that readership to dictate what they write. First and foremost, we probably usually write for ourselves, and if people like what we write and come back time and time again, that's very gratifying.

-- By the way, let me take this opportunity to thank all of my regular readers for their visits and comments. It is appreciated. --

By the same token, though, we have to write what we feel. And sometimes readers may not agree. That's fine in a general sense -- if we disagree over the merits of a pop group or film, for example -- but can get trickier when you move into the arenas of politics and religion.

The whole business in Lebanon is my current albatross, if you will. In a sense I don't want to harp on about it anymore, because I don't want the patience of my readers to wear thin. But on the other hand, I feel so appalled by the situation that I can't help but write about it. I am essentially helpless in any other way in this matter. All I can do is put my words out there and hope they are read and counted along with those of any other protester.

If you are reading this and you are an Israeli and you live in Israel, know this: Despite what your government may be telling you, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY DOES NOT SUPPORT YOUR COUNTRY'S ACTIONS. Bush does, and Blair does. And some people within their countries may well do, BUT MOST OF US DO NOT.

Furthermore, not content with destroying the infrastructure of Lebanon, the Israeli government has now gone against what it has been saying for days and has indeed decided to invade the country. Troops are creating a "safe zone" two kilometres (1.25 miles) wide on the Lebanon side of their shared border. They are, in other words, occupying a piece of Lebanese land 2km wide, and God only knows how long. CAN YOU BELIEVE THE BALLS OF THESE PEOPLE? They cannot help but lie. They have been lying for days about their intention in the conflict, and the lies just keep on coming.

In the meantime, of course, the death toll continues to rise. The UN estimates current mortalities as a result of the crisis as 600 Lebanese and 51 Israelis. The figures rise every day, but one thing has remained relatively constant: about ten times more Lebanese are dying than Israelis.

And as if all this weren't enough, Israel has also now decided to increase its activity in Gaza, where, according to some reports, up to 150 Palestinians have been killed over the past two or three days. Additionally they have virtually shut down the entire Palestinian fishing industry, firing upon any boat that moves too far away from the shore. Most fishermen have decided to give up even trying to fish. Around 10,000 Palestinians are reliant on the fishermen in this area for their food.

Again all this seems to have been started by the kidnapping of one Israeli soldier. One man.

Final word (for now...): the Israeli administration are a bunch of cunts.

Polling day

The Italians go to the polls today.

Will they see the light and "sack Berlusconi", as The Economist put it on its front page? Sadly, I doubt it. For all the moaning that Italians do about Berlusconi, they seem to really love him. He's like the J.R. Ewing of Italian politics – except, as far as I know, no one has ever shot him.

In some Italian circles he's commonly known as "the evil dwarf".

Trouble is, this evil dwarf wields a shitload of power.

It makes me proud to know that Tony Blair is such a good friend to Berlusconi and Bush. The unholy trinity. Let's hope Italy can succeed where the UK and the States have failed.

For more on this and other Italy issues, including the struggles young Italians have been facing for the past few years with their country's equivalent of the employment laws currently causing uproar in France, see Beppe Grillo's blog.