Thursday, May 31, 2007

Round Up: Cats and Dogs, Spuds, Cats and Dogs Again, Crudds, Husts, QT, BB and 4th Protocol


First thing took three dogs on foot and two cats by car to the vets. Innoculations. Expense. Also got the full SP on Kennel Cough. Arguably not worth the cash for fit dogs. Homewards Ottey, the girl dog, doesn't want to leave the rest of the pack (cats and human) behind but is persuaded by dog-whispered reasoning.

Have decided to stop earthing up the spuds. 20-odd plants in one bed and half a dozen containers. We started late so we're stopping earthing up late too. House and Garden special soon.

Later cats and dogs are some violent rain storms. Sheltered in the Help the Aged shop where there are some interesting books and a good chat. Some strong sounding information about the Post Office opposite.

Off to a meeting with Jon Cruddas at the Mechanics Institute with a Rally for Remploy downstairs. Then a hustings with all six DL candidates represented. Two by themselves. One by a spouse. One by an NEC member. One Minister. One Bag Carrier. Quite good. Interesting chatter with assorted Respect people on the way in. And Ivan Lewis MP (Johnson delegate) on the way out.

Home for Question Time. Some late Big Brother. And Polonium, Caine and Brosnan in The Fourth Protocol. But this lot is just a list. Perhaps tomorrow. There were some interesting 'phone calls and meetings too.

Labour PPBs: Nice Kinnock vs Nasty Seducer Dave-id



Speaking of Neil kinnock PPB's Rupa Huq linked to the above from 1987 only yesterday.

[pedant]As she amusingly pointed out in a Mrs Malaprop kinda way young Kinnock was big on his Cola mining (sic) heritage.[/pedant] Seriously, I hear there was a grave danger of ADD and obesity unless you are assigned to one of the low E-numbers and/or low calorie seams. Some miners got so big and full of CO2 they had to stay down for months.


This one is (a) fantastic and (b) horrific in equal measures. The jilted lover, representing Tony Blair out of favour, is curiously like Dave-id Cameron. Though the nasty Tories are Bullingdon Bully Bullshitter perfect.

Rupa closes with:

If I was quicker witted I’d have paraphrased the Thatcher “lady’s not for turning” quote with “You Tube if you want to…” but I’m not blessed with sufficient comic genius to pull it off I’m afraid.

I'll not be attempting it. But here is an important sociologist or media theorist or the like, giving us some underpinning knowledge and entertainment. By the way Neil, nice don't pay the rent.

Akehurst and Jones: At it Like Rats in a Sack


Luke Akehurst is pushing out vast tranches of sectarian bile instead of rational arguments in support of his fave Hazel Blears and against such dangerous left wing lunatics as Peter Hain, Harriet Harman, Hilary Benn, Alan Johnson and Jon Cruddas.

In fact The Sun today went one better, giving two or three glorious reasons why Hazel Blears is also a dangerous lefty who will sadly flush the Brown one right down the toilet of old Labour Militancy.

This beggars belief really. Luke rather than The Sun, whose job it is to knacker Labour lefty ideas. Things like, oh, having trade unions, supporting comprehensive schools, ending world poverty.

But to be blunt some of the responses to the enforcer have been a bit on the gaga side of things too. Owen brings up Kinnock as a left slayer and jeers that he never won any elections. LOL responded, this was hours ago and perhaps Luke will have admitted he has been wrong all along by now. But here goes, first with Owen:

Owen: It must be said that Kinnock's longform PPB of 1987 was excellent and dare I say it socialistic in a solidarity kind of way and also that Hatton was a complete and utter tosser. "Lies" he can be seen to heckle as Kinnock runs his taxi line. Labour in Liverpool is making a good fist now of recovering - but TWO DECADES later.

Kinnock should have won elections and it might be said that the early doors New Labourists pissed it away for him in the last couple of weeks with over confidence, smugness and razzle dazzle. And yes back in the day he was considered young, inexperienced, thin on top and welsh.

And then, warmed up, onto Luke:

Luke: Notwithstanding the above. You're just not getting it are you? The "moderate" wing of the Labour Party has never been more overbalancing of the whole aircraft or more right wing.

You are pretty much saying that anyone that doesn't comply with your addled world view can take a running jump. And sadly NL have been saying that to the electorate as well as to the membership, such that we have less and less reliable core vote out there.

Meanwhile the Tories are trying to stop themselves look scarey by saying that are more Luke than Luke and such like. People could even believe them if Luke slips an inch from his orthodoxy.

Owen has reeled off - elsewhen and elsewhere - whole litanies of policy areas where the "left" have 50%+ of those polled agreeing with us (or them, because I am regarded as soft left by the left and hard left by "moderates"!)

The fact that Labour can win handsomely with 35% does not mean it could not win by even more with just a little bit more socialism mixed into the managerial and sell-out tendancies.

Universal quality not fake choice for example. Choice is getting us into a right old mess.

Putting Blair and Brown and the roundheads and organisers at the helm of a really social democratic movement with more principle and less kowtowing to capital and we really would have got somewhere sustainable and real, and not to Iraq.

Finally, cannot the three right wingers you identify get a bit of bottle to stop mirroring and start leading? On immigration for example.

I was pleased to hear Johnson saying he was minded to agree with earnt regularisation for asylum seekers, refugees and over stayers. This is bold and a leader's position. Hain, Blears and Benn are funked on this because they fear the ballot.

Because they fear the ballot. Not because of what is right or wrong. there is nothing so important as winning elections. But there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Tory Campbellisation: Rattiest Press Rat Gets Caught in Tory Honey Trap


According to Iain Dale's own bells and whistles LOL is the first Labour supporting blog to even mention the world stopping news that the Tories plan to appoint a 'phone tapping, prosecution sabotaging, breast monger as their Director of Campbellisation.

Love and Garbage has the right idea. Not sure if the MSM care anymore than the vibrant Labour blogosphere, some of which (Parbury) have not posted anything, not even a one liner, for a fortnight. While Akefirst is first with the Hake, but slow on any news that doesn't involve his affection for Nuts or his contempt for "nutters".

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Gonzales Hired Griffin: Caging One Million Voters


BBC Newsnight has a good follow up story from Greg Palast In Washington. Mr Gonzales, Attorney General is in trouble for hiring Mr Griffin who was prime mover in the "caging" of one million voters across USA in 2004. This was unlawfully removing them from electoral registers for e.g. having names that sounded a bit like the names of felons, had a couple of the same letters, sounded a bit black etc etc.

It's now said that Gonzales was aware of the history. And it is now feared that Griffin will be at it again in 2008.

Seattle PI has a little more here.

Apprentice vs Big Brother: The Job's a Good 'Un



Chose The Apprentice for starters. This lot really are the most inept candidates Sir Alan has ever had. I'm not sure ANY of these last six would have made the last five last year.

They do the QTV type daytime telly sales job. They chose appalling products. They are amazingly inept. They sell just 10% of the channel's usual take for the slot. Sir Alan cannot be happy with how this is going ...

OVER AT BB: East End George is followed by East End Carole as Respect Coalition representative in the the Big Brother House. The other parties have been barred it seems. 11 women so far. The BB Belles.

One guy in at the deep end on Friday. Carole's the one on the far left, natch.

Deputy Dawgs: Paxman Gains a 1st Preference



For those who didn't see the Newsnight debate between the Labour deputy leadership contenders, and aren't satisfied with the blog-down, the programme can be viewed here.

It was all a bit much for one young socialist on the yahoogroups Labour and Socialism Forum:
.

I experienced a shift in consciousness watching the Newsnight debate. I stared in disbelief at the screen and asked myself if I am really a member of the same political party as people who hold views like these. The most left-wing participant seemed to be Paxman.

Recall the NEC! Tear up the rule book! What's that? Paxman says no??! How could he? Sadly our young socialist, let's call him Michael, will not be getting his dream team. Not this time anyway.

Revisionism: Eldest Due Back from Auschwitz



My eldest has been away on a visit to Auschwitz and Krakow. Due back at Midnight. Showed her this site of Revisionist Photos before she left. The premise is to show images after the revisionists have been at them to remove all trace of the nazis and the holocaust with roll-overs of the originals. Above is an "after", below a "before". Not for the faint hearted. The site is organised so that it is progressively more disturbing.

Hattip to Drinked Soaked Trots for War with the one comment on this particular post moaning that Stalin hadn't been revised also.

Caracas TV: Chicago Critique of Corporation Coverage


HERE. Radio Caracas TV was going 53 years with a right wing agenda amidst soaps and game shows. They failed to re-win their licence.

Luke Akehurst: Won't Be Told, Still a Weary Bleary


Luke Akehurst has published a strange "report" of the Newsnight Hustings which some wag dubbed a "distort".

And when Luke starts on reluctant Labour in the electorate as "the enemies" he gets this:

Labour people against the war and fed up with spin are ENEMIES? Hardly. Labour people for the war without regret and for more spin are the ENEMA that could see Labour down the pan.

Venezuela: The Medium is the Message?



Further to the Venezuela story here the above is the FreeRCTV video linked from PragueTory. It begins with a quote from Camus:

A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will be never be anything but bad.

And it ends with a quote from Chomsky:

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.

More on what these quotes actually mean. And what I see as the true situation in Venezuela anon. Those dogs need walking. Meanwhile feel free to watch the video. Consider the quotes. Make comments.

HINT: All Chavez has done so far is advised his people that some of the media are poison, asked them to think before they decide which media to buy, and NOT RENEWED one RCTV UHF licence that was up. RCTV and others have NOT been shut down. Careful who you believe!

Ireland: Punishment Beatings for Adams, and Dale?



While we all wonder not whether Iain Dale escaped unscathed from his search for a pot of Irish Gold last night, but just how scathed did he get? Dave's Part takes a leftists', even a revolutionary leftists', look at the irish elections with some good additions from the commentaria.

This one in particular caught the eye:

And, yes the PDs (that's Lib Dems ... LOL) getting the bum's rush was a small ray of light, though you gotta love McDowell (left with stick - LOL) for his put down of Gerry Adams's (right with stars - LOL) hypocrisy.
In the TV debate Adams claimed he was only living on an average industrial wage. McDowell then asked him how he managed to own a holiday home worth about a million euro then. To which Adams replied it's "owned by the bank".
McDowell - quick as flash - "the Northern Bank?"
It was the first time in many years that anybody has landed a punch on Adams and it was in the George Foreman class.

Totally unfair. But beats something about "tree fellas" I guess.

Meanwhile, back at Dale's and just 8 days (or "almost three weeks") after his ban on potty mouthed comments Dale himself posted not a link but a full on rant with at least six Fs and a C within, with plenty more at the link.

No stamina whatsoever on abstinence, award-winning Tory bloggers.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Political Science: Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test



Of course it is there. It has been for all of eight months. (1972 recording)

Old Grey Whistle Test Story: Randy Newman


Nice clips of Randy Newman singing the excellent Political Science. No one likes us, I don't know why, let's drop the big one now. Post-911 US angst predicted. I wonder if there is a YouTube of that one? Sadly can't keep awake to watch this, even after the thrill of the deputy's hustings. Go set a tape Chris ... Mark "Spark" Radcliffe is on. Which reminds me of his college band, Zoot Suit and the Zeroids since you ask. There were others.

Newsnight Hustings: If not standing, who to vote for?


Hain - Ducked it with blethering about himself
Cruddas - Harman
Harman - Ducked it but interestingly saw Cruddas as offering her a deal
Blears - Cruddas for party renewal, Johnson for politics, Harman as a woman - so Blears for all in one
Benn - All very good colleagues
Johnson - None of the above possibly, but put very nicely

Newsnight Hustings: Different from Prescott?


Benn says something. Blears takes hats off to Cruddas for preaching systemic renewal. Johnson takes hats off to Prezza for telling Tony what's what. Harman says remind the PM to look after women's issues properly.

Cruddas would refuse DPM and Ministerial Brief. But tellingly suggested he wasn't likely to have to make that choice. If so Jon's second preferences are going to be important. See how he himself opts in the next post.

Newsnight Hustings: Amnesty for Asylum Seekers


Johnson tempted, Harman and Cruddas agree with earnt regularisation.
Benn, Blears and Hain don't seem to. Because they're scared politically to be quite blunt about it.

Newsnight Hustings: Cap on Fundraising?


Harman: Cap on Spending not Donations
Hain: Cap on Spending not Donations, no equivalence between millionaires and levy payers
Benn: Yes to spend cap, Including in between elections
Cruddas: All parties too close to big business
Blears: I don't deny it's been a difficult time, small amount of state support
Johnson: No to extra public funding

Newsnight Hustings: Making the Beckhams Poorer?


Harman - Wants to reduce gap and rejects Blair answer.
Hain - Ditto
Cruddas - 2020 Abolish Child Poverty, Equal Schools.
Johnson - Still Backs Blairs Answer, Pull Up not Pull Down.
Blears - Responsibility if to help the majority to get on, not punitive taxes.
Benn - Of course inequality matters. Leeds - rich and poor cheek by jowl. Education is the answer.

Newsnight Hustings: Three Quick Yes/No Questions


Name; Trident; Nukes; School Charities

Cruddas: No Yes Yes
Hain: Yes Yes No
Johnson: Yes Yes No
Harman: Maybe Yes Yes-but-no-but
Blears: Yes Yes Yes
Benn:Yes Yes No

UPDATE: I'm going to check this. The last question was I think for stopping schools being charities and I think Blears and Benn were the other way round.