Charity Begins at Charities……

‘It’s not true that charity begins at home. Charity begins in the boardroom, probably a plush boardroom surrounded by antiques, in a nice office, situated in a nice part of town. And, the men in suits sitting around them, because they are mostly men, have a combined income of millions of pounds……’

It is not my intent to detract from the good work done by many unpaid and dedicated people on behalf of charities. However, as we all too aware, everything in the global economy has become a business; why should charities be any different? There are countless well known charities which have become a Golden Goose to support wealthy people. Some, it could be argued are not even charities at all and are using charity status to gain tax breaks.

Follow the Money……

You don’t need to be a forensic accountant to see what I’m writing about. Recent figures show that the top 10 bosses of charities are paid almost £4million. Ten people, £4million; charity really does begin ‘at home’. I imagine the 25 year old Scotch in the drinks cabinet will be covered by the ‘company’ credit cards which also pay for the first class travel to the galas and conferences that are crucial in keeping the machine running. Remember, “Your £2 per month could stop Aliesha walking 8 miles a day to collect the contaminated water she needs to keep her and her family alive”; but not before she’s made the equivalent of 2,000,000,000 journeys just to keep the 25 year old Scotch topped up…..

Stealth Tactics……

In this era of ‘social’ media, information is available to those with the money to pay for it and charities love to know our income bracket, occupation, the value of our property and type of car we drive. Older people are generally more generous when giving to charity. Therefore, if you new their age, income, the types of charities they already give to and, sadly, they have been personally affected by illness, they can become a target. Now, I believe charities are a good thing but it makes me very uncomfortable to know that elderly relatives are being targeted. Companies and Charities have been warned about this behaviour and claim that it allows them to collect monies more efficiently. I can speak from personal experience; shortly after we lost a family member to Cancer we made a donation. Within weeks we had received requests from dozens of Cancer charities. My Mother gives to one of the Cat charities and she receives endless requests.  It’s a competition sign you up.

Last year the equivalent of 200 targeted requests were made for ever man, woman and child in the UK……

Opportunities……

A whole new industry has formed around this new model of collecting which doubtless came from a firm of highly paid management consultants. It works like most business models today, using conpartmentmalisation. There are call centres dedicated to collecting, all for a fee of course. Marketing, research,, logistics, efficiency, the list is endless; all doing their bit for charity/a fee……

It’s a sad world when even charities are exploiting people, not for money to help others, but to make money to help themselves. The argument surrounding salaries goes as follows; a person in a similar position on the board of Fortune500 company can earn 10 times what they are paid by a charity. I’ll pause while we all laugh at the irony of that statement;e then point out that they are charities. There are Graduates and people with Ph. Ds in business management who would jump at the chance of earning 1/10th of the salaries paid to the old boy network, who probably have other jobs too……

If it Was Me……

Before I gave a penny to anyone I’d be checking the CEOs salary online. We gave £80 billion as individuals last year. It makes the States contribution look tiny in comparison which is why almost every ad break tells us 1 in 3 will get Cancer and half will suffer dementia. It’s only companies with big budgets and big profits we hear from the rest of the time. What a sad place the world has become when, what had admirable ambitions, has become another cog in the 3 percenters money making machinery, churning 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year…….

A Piece of the Pie……

What really worries me is the conditions created by the Military Industrial Complex. They create a great need for charitable interventions. I’m sure they were near the bottom of the list when 9/11 was at the planning stages but there’s a significantly larger slice of the pie available now……

GIVE GENEROUSLY TO THE DRIPPING TAP VIA PAYPAL “steve.tproject.gmail.com”.

Or just a position as an article writer, editor or researcher will do……

Thou Shalt Not Kill……

The act of murder is rampant in the Bible. In much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, there are laws that command that people be killed for absurd reasons such as working on the Sabbath, being gay, cursing your parents, or not being a virgin on your wedding night. In addition to these crazy and immoral laws, there are plenty of examples of God’s irrationality by his direct killing of many people for reasons that defy any rational explanation such as killing children who make fun of bald people, and the killing of a man who tried to keep the ark of God from falling during transport. There are also countless examples of mass murders commanded by God, including the murder of women, infants, and children.

The following passages are a very small percentage of the total passages approving of murder in the Bible. They are divided here into three parts: 1) Capital Punishment Crimes, 2) God’s Murders for Stupid Reasons, 3) Murdering Children, and 4) Miscellaneous Murders. This list is long, but it barely scratches the surface of all the murders approved of in the Bible.

1) Capital Punishment Crimes:

Kill People Who Don’t Listen to Priests

Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)

Kill Witches

You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)

Kill Homosexuals
“If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.” (Leviticus 20:13 NAB)

Kill Fortunetellers

A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death. (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)

Death for Hitting Dad

Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:15 NAB)

Death for Cursing Parents

1) If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will go out at the coming of darkness.(Proverbs 20:20 NAB)

2) All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)

Death for Adultery

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)

Death for Fornication

A priest’s daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9 NAB)

Death to Followers of Other Religions

Whoever sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be doomed. (Exodus 22:19 NAB)

Kill Nonbelievers

They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)

Kill False Prophets

If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.” When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)

Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God

Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. “The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him.” (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)

Kill Women Who Are Not Virgins On Their Wedding Night

But if this charge is true (that she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father’s house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)

Kill Followers of Other Religions.

1) If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)

2) Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)

Death for Blasphemy

One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD’s name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother’s name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD’s will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD’s name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD’s name will surely die. (Leviticus 24:10-16 NLT)

Kill False Prophets

1) Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, ‘Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,’ do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)

2) But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or who falsely claims to speak for me must die.’ You may wonder, ‘How will we know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?’ If the prophet predicts something in the LORD’s name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NLT)

Infidels and Gays Should Die

So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (Romans 1:24-32 NLT)

Kill Anyone who Approaches the Tabernacle

For the LORD had said to Moses, ‘Exempt the tribe of Levi from the census; do not include them when you count the rest of the Israelites. You must put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and its equipment as you travel, and they must care for it and camp around it. Whenever the Tabernacle is moved, the Levites will take it down and set it up again. Anyone else who goes too near the Tabernacle will be executed.’ (Numbers 1:48-51 NLT)

Kill People for Working on the Sabbath

The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: ‘Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.’ (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)

2) God’s Murders for Stupid Reasons:

Kill Brats

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on his way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. “Go up baldhead,” they shouted, “go up baldhead!” The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two shebears came out of the woods and tore forty two of the children to pieces. (2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB)

God Kills the Curious

And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah, he smote of the people seventy men, `and’ fifty thousand men; and the people mourned, because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us? (1Samuel 6:19-20 ASV)

Killed by a Lion

Meanwhile, the LORD instructed one of the group of prophets to say to another man, “Strike me!” But the man refused to strike the prophet. Then the prophet told him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me.” And sure enough, when he had gone, a lion attacked and killed him. (1 Kings 20:35-36 NLT)

Killing the Good Samaritan

The ark of God was placed on a new cart and taken away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab guided the cart, with Ahio walking before it, while David and all the Israelites made merry before the Lord with all their strength, with singing and with citharas, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God to steady it, for the oxen were making it tip. But the Lord was angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there before God. (2 Samuel 6:3-7 NAB)

3) Murdering Children

Kill Sons of Sinners

Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their fathers; Lest they rise and posses the earth, and fill the breadth of the world with tyrants. (Isaiah 14:21 NAB)

God Will Kill Children

The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will die at birth or perish in the womb or never even be conceived. Even if your children do survive to grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone. I have watched Israel become as beautiful and pleasant as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her children to be slaughtered.” O LORD, what should I request for your people? I will ask for wombs that don’t give birth and breasts that give no milk. The LORD says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. The people of Israel are stricken. Their roots are dried up; they will bear no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children.” (Hosea 9:11-16 NLT)

Kill Men, Women, and Children

“Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple.” So they began by killing the seventy leaders. “Defile the Temple!” the LORD commanded. “Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!” So they went throughout the city and did as they were told.” (Ezekiel 9:5-7 NLT)

God Kills all the First Born of Egypt

And at midnight the LORD killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn son of the captive in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed. Pharaoh and his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died. (Exodus 12:29-30 NLT)

Kill Old Men and Young Women

“You are my battle-ax and sword,” says the LORD. “With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. With you I will shatter armies, destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and maidens. With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and rulers. “As you watch, I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. “Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy,” says the LORD. “I will raise my fist against you, to roll you down from the heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of rubble. You will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for building. You will be completely wiped out,” says the LORD. (Jeremiah 51:20-26)

(Note that after God promises the Israelites a victory against Babylon, the Israelites actually get their butts kicked by them in the next chapter. So much for an all-knowing and all-powerful God.)

God Will Kill the Children of Sinners

If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey, I will inflict you with seven more disasters for your sins. I will release wild animals that will kill your children and destroy your cattle, so your numbers will dwindle and your roads will be deserted. (Leviticus 26:21-22 NLT)

More Rape and Baby Killing

Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children. (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)

4) Miscellaneous Murders

More of Samson’s Murders

(The Lord saves Sampson from standing trial for 30 murders and arson by allowing him to kill 1000 more men.) When he reached Lehi, and the Philistines came shouting to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came upon him: the ropes around his arms become as flax that is consumed by fire and the bonds melted away from his hands. Near him was the fresh jawbone of an ass; he reached out, grasped it, and with it killed a thousand men. (Judges 15:14-15 NAB)

Peter Kills Two People

There was also a man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, but he claimed it was the full amount. His wife had agreed to this deception. Then Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God.” As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?” “Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.” And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of doing a thing like this – conspiring together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out, too.” Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened. (Acts 5:1-11 NLT)

Mass Murder

This is what the Lord of hosts has to say: ‘I will punish what Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt. Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.’ (1 Samuel 15:2-3 NAB)

You Have to Kill

Cursed be he who does the Lords work remissly, cursed he who holds back his sword from blood. (Jeremiah 48:10 NAB)

The Danites Kill the Next Town

But the territory of the Danites was too small for them; so the Danites marched up and attacked Leshem, which they captured and put to the sword. Once they had taken possession of Lesham, they renamed the settlement after their ancestor Dan. (Joshua 19:47 NAB)

God Kills Some More

Then the LORD said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight! And if they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: Those who are destined for death, to death; those who are destined for war, to war; those who are destined for famine, to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.’ “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the LORD. “I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left. Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.” (Jeremiah 15:1-4 NLT)

God Promises More Killing

I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to escape and any who return. I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your streams will be filled with people slaughtered by the sword. I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the LORD.(Ezekiel 35:7-9 NLT)

The Angel of Death

My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out. (Exodus 23:23 NAB)

Destruction of Ai

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the entire army and attack Ai, for I have given to you the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the captured goods and the cattle for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.” So Joshua and the army of Israel set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand fighting men and sent them out at night with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the city and be ready for action. When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them. We will let them chase us until they have all left the city. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the LORD your God will give it to you. Set the city on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders.” So they left that night and lay in ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.

Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the leaders of Israel. They camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the city. That night Joshua sent five thousand men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. So they stationed the main army north of the city and the ambush west of the city. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley. When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurriedly went out early the next morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the city. Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten, and all the men in the city were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the city was left wide open.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Point your spear toward Ai, for I will give you the city.” Joshua did as he was commanded. As soon as Joshua gave the signal, the men in ambush jumped up and poured into the city. They quickly captured it and set it on fire. When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the city was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers. When Joshua and the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the city, they turned and attacked the men of Ai. Then the Israelites who were inside the city came out and started killing the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in a trap, and all of them died. Not a single person survived or escaped. Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

When the Israelite army finished killing all the men outside the city, they went back and finished off everyone inside. So the entire population of Ai was wiped out that day – twelve thousand in all. For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed. Only the cattle and the treasures of the city were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these for themselves, as the LORD had commanded Joshua. So Ai became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day. Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body and threw it in front of the city gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today. (Joshua 8:1-29 NLT)

Killing at Jericho

When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it. They completely destroyed everything in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys – everything. (Joshua 6:20-21 NLT)

God Kills an Extended Family

“You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made other gods and have made me furious with your gold calves. And since you have turned your back on me, I will bring disaster on your dynasty and kill all your sons, slave or free alike. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone. I, the LORD, vow that the members of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.’” Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam’s wife, “Go on home, and when you enter the city, the child will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only member of your family who will have a proper burial, for this child is the only good thing that the LORD, the God of Israel, sees in the entire family of Jeroboam. And the LORD will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This will happen today, even now! Then the LORD will shake Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream. He will uproot the people of Israel from this good land that he gave their ancestors and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, for they have angered the LORD by worshiping Asherah poles. He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and made all of Israel sin along with him.” (1 Kings 14:9-16 NLT)

Mass Murder

The men of Israel withdrew through the territory of the Benjaminites, putting to the sword the inhabitants of the city, the livestock, and all they chanced upon. Moreover they destroyed by fire all the cities they came upon. (Judges 20:48 NAB)

The Angel of Death

That night the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all the corpuses of the dead. (2 Kings 19:35 NAB)

Kill Your Neighbors

(Moses) stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “All of you who are on the LORD’s side, come over here and join me.” And all the Levites came. He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Strap on your swords! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other, killing even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.” The Levites obeyed Moses, and about three thousand people died that day. Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Because of this, he will now give you a great blessing.” (Exodus 32:26-29 NLT)

Kill the Family of Sinners

And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.” [Note that the sin is not looting, but failing to give the loot to the treasury of the Lord.] “So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger: wherefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor to this day. (Joshua 7:19-26 Webster’s Bible)

Kill Followers of Other Religions

While the Israelites were camped at Acacia, some of the men defiled themselves by sleeping with the local Moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, and soon the Israelites were feasting with them and worshiping the gods of Moab. Before long Israel was joining in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the LORD’s anger to blaze against his people. The LORD issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the LORD in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.” So Moses ordered Israel’s judges to execute everyone who had joined in worshiping Baal of Peor. Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into the camp, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as they were weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle. When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. Then he took a spear and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, but not before 24,000 people had died. (Numbers 25:1-9 NLT)

Murder

At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the ditch! And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried out, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!” Then Elijah commanded, “Seize all the prophets of Baal. Don’t let a single one escape!” So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there. (1 Kings 18:36-40 NLT)

Kill All of Babylon

“Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim and against the people of Pekod. Yes, march against Babylon, the land of rebels, a land that I will judge! Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them, as I have commanded you,” says the LORD. “Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a shout of great destruction”. (Jeremiah 50:21-22 NLT)

Micah Kills a Whole Town

Then, with Micah’s idols and his priest, the men of Dan came to the town of Laish, whose people were peaceful and secure. They attacked and killed all the people and burned the town to the ground. There was no one to rescue the residents of the town, for they lived a great distance from Sidon and had no allies nearby. This happened in the valley near Beth-rehob.Then the people of the tribe of Dan rebuilt the town and lived there. They renamed the town Dan after their ancestor, Israel’s son, but it had originally been called Laish. (Judges 18:27-29 NLT) (Note that God approves of this slaughter in verse 6.)

With thanks to EvilBible.com – Check it out……

Karl McCartney: Looking Out For Number 1 – 2020 Update…

‘It’ll be abundantly clear of any of Karl McCartney’s constituents that, to coin the phrase of one the 21^st century’s greatest philosophers, “You’re either with us, or you’re against us.” – [G.W.Bush – circa 2002]……

It is the job of your MP to represent your views in the Houses of Parliament. That applies whether you voted for them or not; they are still your representative in the House. They should gauge opinion and express it when it comes to voting on legislation. Karl McCartney not only ignores the opinions of individual constituents but he actively ‘filters out’ a whole public lobby, specifically by discounting the opinions of people who follow political debate and proposed legislation through social media……

 

38 Degrees……

38 Degrees is a legitimate public interest website. It does not claim any political affiliation; it simply raises issues that are important to the people of this country and which are not prioritised in traditional media. However, 38 Degrees seems to be Karl’s antithesis. Perhaps they are a little too close to the truth? 38 Degrees ‘members’ are just subscribers to updates and information regarding laws that may be under review, as well as other vital stories that would pass them by without the likes of 38 Degrees.

There are many websites that perform similar functions and gauging public opinion through Social Media was actively pursued as a policy in the new ‘transparency’ era. You can raise an e-petition to get your voice heard in Parliament, so a modern MP should be able to gauge opinion through social media and they have flunkies to deal with the tech, so there are no excuses……

Your Automatic Reply:

Thank you for contacting Karl McCartney, Member of Parliament for Lincoln. This is an automatic response acknowledging the receipt of your email.

If you are a constituent raising an issue (or acting on behalf of a constituent), we will reply by hard copy. If you have not already done so, please re-send your email with your full postal

Under Parliamentary protocol, MPs are only able to take up individual cases on behalf of their own constituents. If you are not a constituent living in Lincoln, you will need to contact your own MP. You can confirm the identity of your MP by following this link: http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

Please note that we no longer respond to mass email campaigns initiated by organisations such as 38 Degrees. However, please be rest assured that your email will be read and noted.

The Crux of the Matter……

Karl McCartney MP has shown complete disregard and disrespect for the people he is paid a substantial amount of money to represent. He considers 38 Degrees to be “a left-wing propaganda website”, and its subscribers; “Inarticulate and incapable of thinking for themselves”. The opinion of hundreds of people who bothered to click a link to express their concern to Karl makes that opinion worthless purely due to its source. Karl’s techno boys have found a way to send an automated reply that states they actively ignore emails initiated by 38 Degrees (who are named).

So that’s Karl McCartney’s views on important campaigns to save our NHS and proceed carefully with Fracking, to name just two. In taking this attitude he is dismissing the opinion of nearly 4 million people, 25,000 in his constituency.

I expect my MP to have his finger on the pulse and represent the views of the people he represents, not his own self-centred, bigoted agenda. I’m sure Japan International Tobacco doesn’t have their emails filtered…….

‘Don’t forget that a letter requires a written response and answers to the questions asked. You can write to Karl McCartney MP at: The House of Commons, London. SW1A 0AA. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear from you…….

The Dripping Tap…….

Could Social Media be the Answer to Broken Politics……

‘Social Media has found missing people, contributed to the  organistion of the ‘Arab Spring’ and even deprived Simon Cowell of his predictable Xmas #1.  So, can Social Media bring down our broken and corrupt political system…….?’

FaceBook connects us all following the ‘six degrees of separation’ rule.  Friends of people who know you are friends of others who don’t but we are all pretty much connected and going ‘viral’ takes no time at all……

It would be simple to create a ‘Peoples’ Party’ and, with a little commitment from the electorate, a landslide victory could easily achieved.  UKIP get a lot of flack over their perceived racist views and it’s not hard to see why.  However, I’m pretty sure that most people who voted for them are not racist, they are simply sick and tired of politicians evasive answers; it is interesting to note that all parties have immigration and welfare at the top of their agendas, so accusing UKIP of being racist is a bit rich to say the least and consider the NHS without foreign doctors……

I am not a politician and don’t have all the answers but what I do know is that Special Advisers (SPADS) remain when governments’ change.   As soon as the ‘Peoples’ Party’ takes power cleaning up politics could start with the dismissal of the career SPADS, who guide newly elected officials and in doing so shape policy.  Accountability under a new system freed from the ‘old boy’ networking is plausible.  The details need to be flushed out but industry financed campaigns and lobbying would be outlawed, as would the second home allowance which would be repayable upon sale of an MP’s property if voted out of office…….

This country belongs to us and there is more than enough money to pay for public services, provided we don’t waste money on questionable foreign wars, fancy lunches and chauffeur driven cars.  The time has come to take it back.

Please feel free to get in touch and maybe together we can formulate a campaign and make a difference to our broken system……

www.facebook.com/adrippingtap

The Impotence of Our NHS……

‘First and foremost I must stress that there are many caring and hard overworked professionals working for our NHS (NB: OUR NHS, not THE NHS). It will come as no surprise that the problems lie with a group of technocrats who see anything and everything as a business opportunity, including wars, poverty and our health……’

 

Compartmentalisation……

 

Opening services up to ‘competitive’ tendering, or the lowest bidder as you or I would call it, does nothing to improve a patient’s experience or smooth their journey through the system. In practice it may seem like a good idea but without implementing efficient communication protocols leaves the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. This is particularly damaging for mental health and welfare services and, furthermore, it is potentially dangerous as the patients who need these services are often the least able to negotiate the system when breakdowns occur, and they frequently do……

 

Healthcare Tennis……

 

It may have taken 77 years for a Brit to win Wimbledon but the NHS are world class champions at ‘health’ tennis. GPs refer patients to secondary, probably outsourced service who return serve by referring them back. In the mixed doubles version of ‘health’ tennis it becomes more akin to a game of squash, where patients feel they are bounced around until dizziness, or a lack of a diagnosis causes them to collapse and die. The coroner’s report with doubtless score the game as ‘Deuce’; possibly Advantage to the Chancellor……

 

Tapping the Virgin Oil……

 

The first press holds the most value in the world of Olives just as it does in healthcare. Simply cream off the conveyor belt the in and out 10 minute cases and listen to the tills ringing. Refer the ‘second press’ that requires filtering to tennis association……

 

The Benefit of Hindsight……

 

Take a look at every business or industry that has been privatised, which is what is happening to the NHS by stealth, and ask one simple question; is it more efficient, cheaper, convenient and customer friendly? Gas, Electricity, Phones, Railways, Water [ad infinitum]; none of these have returned competitive prices, improved customer services or, for that matter, any benefit that is apparent to most of us. They have delivered higher share prices, dividends and ‘gifts’ to their friendly MPs, who after loosing their seats and spending a couple of years quietly enjoying the fruits of their labour, end up as ‘consultants’, ‘honouree boards members’ and ‘directors without portfolio’, paid for doing absolutely nothing……

 

Your Government does not care about you, your health, wellbeing or quality of life. They are, with a few exceptions like Dennis Skinner and the late Tony Benn, a den of thieves and it is high time the public revolted and the re-appearance of ‘Madam Guillotine’ took centre stage. I’m perfectly happy to apply for the job of ‘rope cutter’ should it become available……

 

Political Jargon Decoded……

 

Looking forwards:     We have failed miserably and done nothing…

Public Enquiry:          By the time this is over everyone will have forgotten…

In the next Parliament:         Empty promises to get us re-elected…

People who want to work hard and get on:          As opposed to the millions who want to do nothing and not get on? (I’ve yet to meet one)

 

The Manifesto in a Nutshell…..

 

One: We will reduce welfare (most of which goes to retired and working people) but we’ll give the impression it’s unemployed people who don’t want to work.

 

Two: We’ll tackle immigration. Give the appearance that all of the country’s problems are caused by those pesky foreigners.

 

Three: There is no three…

President Obama, Shame on You….

Russia is set to host the Winter Olympic Games at Sochi in six months time amidst growing concerns over its record on human rights abuses against the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities.

President Obama said in an interview on Friday the he ‘did not think it was appropriate for the U.S. to boycott the Winter Games’.  He went on to say, ‘Nobody’s more offended than me by some of the anti-gay and lesbian legislation that you’ve been seeing in Russia’ (Apart from the 14.3m LGBT people currently living in fear of persecution in Russia perhaps?).

He continued; ‘One of the things I’m really looking forward to is maybe some of the gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold, silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes we are seeing over there’.

At the 1936 Olympic Games an athlete named Jesse Owens competed under similar circumstances.  He was an African-American and as such looked upon by Adolph Hitler as an ‘inferior species’.  Jesse won four gold medals which, according to your logic Mr. President, will ‘go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes we are seeing over there’.  As it happened it made no difference to the attitudes of the German Autocracy, nor did it make a huge impact in America where, after years of peaceful protest under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King (who would doubtless today have been considered a ‘terrorist’ ), in 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed, a mere 28 years later……

As a Black African-American you cannot have missed the hypocrisy of your stance on the Sochi Games and if you think that a few LGBT athletes brining home a medal or two will make any difference, just look at your own history.

And just one last thought; if any LGBT athletes do win gold, they’ll probably keep their sexuality to themselves for fear of loosing a lucrative sponsorship deal.

‘How little has changed……’

Criminal Bureaucracy……

‘Would you like a highly paid job with a gold-plated pension in which you can lie and deceive to further your own ends?  When you are inevitably found out you can leave with a golden handshake and move to another similarly highly paid position where you can continue to act with impunity……’

 

Then the Civil Service or one it’s many QUANGOs, banking institutions, regulatory bodies or a politician could be the job for you……

 

With so much apparent criminal activity being exposed with such frequency including, fraud, corruption and money laundering, I find it hard to understand why our prisons are not full of senior company executives and politicians.

Caught Red-Handed……

Amidst the recent batch of exposés carried out by undercover reporters posing as business clients, numerous Lords and MPs have been caught offering their services for a not inconsiderable amount of money.  When a high percentage of the population survive on the minimum wage and take home a little over £1000 per month, employing MPs for a similar amount to do nothing more than pull a few strings and whisper in the ear of their colleagues  it is unsurprisingly viewed by those earning a minimum wage as an insult.  Despite their protestations that they have not committed any crime, it is pretty clear to anybody with a modicum of intelligence that they are abusing their privileged positions to line their own pockets……

Bankers……

The LIBOR scandal is yet another example of people with the power to affect the rest of us by abusing their positions of trust.  The amounts by which they were able to influence the LIBOR rates may have only been in the order of 0.02% but when one takes the size of the average mortgage into account the result is not unsubstantial.  The whole LIBOR and banking system is inherently corrupt.  Why would banks need to lend money to each other?  The answer is what’s known as ‘fractional reserve banking’, a system which requires a bank to hold only a small proportion of the money it lends in reserve.  Because of this system money is created out of thin air and lent at interest to likes of you and me.  For example:  If a bank is required to hold 10% of its liabilities it can lend the remaining 90% to another institution which does the same.  And the result; hundreds of thousands of Pounds are conjured up for the banks to earn interest on. 

The same process happens with ‘national’ banks.  The Bank of England, The Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund and World Banks are not institutions of the state.  They are private entities with the power to print money, lend it to the state with added interest, which is then repaid with tax payers’ money.  This effectively enslaves us all to governments and their favoured institutions by creating a never ending cycle of debt from which we will never escape……

It’s a Fair Cop Gov’……

When the heads of the corrupt banking system get caught out some resign, others are pushed out, but almost all leave with a 7 figure pay out and their enormous pensions in tact.  And do they disappear to blend into the background?  No, they pop up like Lazarus in a new equally highly paid job as if nothing had ever happened.  Nowhere else in the universe in which the rest of live does this happen.

Suppose you have a mundane, 9 to 5, minimum wage job and you see an opportunity to make a few quid on the side.  The chances are, if you are caught, you will be unceremoniously marched off of the premises and prosecuted by your ex-employer.  You may spend some time detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure and when released your misdemeanour will follow you around like a bad smell impeding on your chances of finding new employment.  Your original crime may have only been relatively minor but you receive the full treatment all the same.  This never seems to happen in the case of Chief Executives and Politicians……

Taken to the Extreme……

The United States of America and the United Kingdom are both guilty of wars crimes.  Both have, and are, detaining people without charge and without access to legal representation.  The US admits to torturing detainees and the British Government is guilty of involvement in the ‘extraordinary rendition’ of UK citizens to foreign territories where they claim to have been tortured, and I have no reason to doubt them.  The UK authorities, hiding behind the mantra of ‘national security’, most definitely do not want these allegations tested in an open court.

The United States of America has carried out the extra-judicial execution of foreign nationals in Sovereign Countries with which it is not at war.  The UK now has the same ordinance, purchased from the US, under its control.  For what reason is unclear.

The UK and US are also responsible for supplying military equipment to Israel which is in clear breach of numerous UN resolutions – for example; resolution 242 which instructed Israel to dismantle its civilian settlements in Palestinian occupied territory in accordance with Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions.  And whilst the sabre rattling continues against Iran’s supposed nuclear ambitions, Israel still refuses to agree to the IAEA inspections which take place in all other nuclear states apart from PRNK……

Statistics……

As our elected representatives are so keen on statistics, here’s one for them:  The two chambers seat 1468 MPs and Lords.  With the average crime statistic being 2.07% per head of population, statistically speaking there should be 30 (.38) criminals amidst their ranks.  If we count Chris Huhne as one of them, who are the other 29?  (Answers on a postcard to:  I’m a two faced, conniving, self-interested, narcissist, The House of Commons, London, SW1).

 

It seems that money and power buys you immunity from the law and your status allows you to act with impunity and carries no consequences for actions which would find us ‘plebeians’ facing prosecution and ruin……

Politics and Corruption……

It will hardly come as a surprise to many of you that our ‘democracy’ is not an institution which acts in the best interests of its citizens.  Aside from a few principled politicians you could probably count on one hand, most of our elected representatives are like pigs around a trough at feeding time when it comes to acting in their own greedy self interests.  The recent bout of undercover stings by national newspapers only proves this fact.  Either the journalists involved have an extremely lucky success rate with hit after hit, or corruption is endemic within our democratic elected institutions.  I know which I would stake my money on……

‘A Brief History of Crime – Cash for Questions……’

In 1994 the Guardian newspaper alleged that Ian Greer Associates, a professional parliamentary lobbyist, had paid bribes to two Conservative MPs in exchange for asking questions in Parliament.  The MPs involved, Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith strenuously denied any wrongdoing and issued writs to clear their names.  Despite some insignificant details regarding who paid who and precisely for what, it transpired that Hamilton and Smith had indeed received bribes for asking questions in Parliament on behalf of Harrods owner, Mohamed al-Fayed.

During the investigation into the ‘cash for questions’ scandal several other MPs were implicated although their misdemeanours were more to do with the official declarations of MPs interests than directly receiving bribes.

Neil Hamilton, however, did take Mohamed al-Fayed to court for libel over allegations he had made in a Channel 4 documentary.  Hamilton lost and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2001……

‘Parliamentary Expenses……’

Fast forward 8 years and the Parliamentary Expenses Scandal made front page news almost every day for months.  Whether it was claims for having ones moat cleared or repairs to ones Dovecote, it was pretty clear that the right honourable members had been taking advantage of their expenses claims for personal gain.  Resignations, sackings, de-selections and retirements soon followed but there was no getting away from the fact that in the eyes of the British public, politics and politicians were ‘rotten to the core’.  In an act of penance MPs voluntarily repaid £500,000.00 of their expenses claims.

Following the scandal measures were put in place to ensure that it could not happen again.  The people who put these measures in place were the same people who had abused them.  One of the abuses was that of designating which of your homes, constituency or parliamentary, was your primary residence.  It wasn’t long before many MPs found a workaround by renting property to each other, which although allowed within the new regulations, still smacks of corruption, albeit ‘legal’……

‘Lobbying……’

In the latest exposure of dubious practices being carried out by MPs, journalists posing as representatives of international business clients clandestinely recorded meetings with several members of the House of Lords and MPs.  They appear to show the protagonists giving advice of how to circumvent the rules by using their privileged positions to employ the services of colleagues to table questions.  Tim Yeo MP was filmed boasting about how he coached people who appeared before the Commons and Climate Change Committee, which Mr. Yeo chairs.

As always the members deny all accusations of impropriety or wrongdoing and have referred themselves to the Parliamentary Standards Authority but it is pretty clear to anybody who has watched the footage that they were ‘on the make’ regardless of whatever workaround they use to wriggle out of the hole they dug themselves into…..

‘Double Standards……’

Even when operating within the parliamentary rules MP’s actions still leave the public with questions.  In the case of my own MP, Karl McCartney, who hasn’t fallen foul of any parliamentary rules other than his use of offensive language aimed at constituents and parliamentary bodies alike, his values and actions don’t appear to agree.  He told a constituent that his ‘moral values’ prevented him from appealing to his fellow MPs to vote in favour of gay marriage but those same ‘moral values’ didn’t stop him from accepting a ‘gift’ from Japan International Tobacco, or employing his wife to be his secretary with a salary in excess of £40k per year.  Clearly, Mr. McCartney considers equality for gay people morally unacceptable whilst the peddling of a lethal drug tolerable……

‘Actions Speak Louder than Words……’

Repressive regimes are our friends and trading partners providing they deliver a strategic or financial advantage.  Similar regimes become our enemies and find themselves at the receiving end of the full force of our armed services, and there is no apparent difference between them.  One only has to look at the alliance with Sadam Hussein during the 1980s and the Mujahadeem in Afghanistan; both were our allies when the climate suited, funded and trained by western forces.  Later Sadam was unceremoniously hung and the Mujahadeem were re-branded ‘al-Qaeda’, providing the shadow world government with a non-geographical, ill defined enemy with whom to wage their ‘war on terror’……

Corruption and politics go hand in hand but it is only when their actions are brought out into the open by undercover stings that we see what is going on behind closed doors all of the time.  We are a democracy in name only……

‘BELIEVE NOTHING YOUR GOVERNMENT IS DOING IN THE NAME OF PROTECTING YOUR FREEDOM, WHEN THEIR REAL AGENDA IS TO REMOVE THOSE FREEDOMS SLOWLY BUT SURELY……’

Perspectives on the War on Terror……

The hyperbole used by politicians contains almost all of the extraneous grammatical tautologies possible as I’m sure their armies of spin doctors know all too well, but it only adds to the drama whilst demonstrating to anybody with a reasonable grasp of the English language their ineptitude and, for those who do not examine the analogous statements, it only appears to add linguistic gravitas to their authority……

 

Redundancy and Tautology……

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi is actually quite amusing to watch on TV programmes such as ‘Question Time’ as she struggles to string together coherent sentences.  Quite how such a brainless individual managed to reach the House of Lords evades me but there are no rules in peerage.  On a recent edition of ‘Question Time’ she continually referred to “extremist terrorists”.  In doing so I feel she provided  a useful public service by differentiating between the “extremist terrorists” and the more moderate, left wing terrorists who sit on tube trains wearing vests made from bubble wrap, threatening to carry on popping bubbles until their demands are met.  Lady Warsi; terrorists are terrorists, wherever they come from, whoever they purport to represent and whatever course of action they take.  Otherwise they would be protestors or campaigners.  Calling them “Extremist terrorists” is a grammatical redundancy as anyone who is a terrorist is by definition extreme.

A similar but no less effective use of pervasive language is to define terrorist groups by the religion they practice.  Acts of terrorism perpetrated by people of the Islamic faith is always highlighted as such, whilst acts of retaliation against them are portrayed as faith neutral.  This is particularly apparent in the Middle East where the Palestinians are ‘Islamic’ terrorists or ‘fundamentalists’ but the oppressive occupying Israeli forces are never referred to as ‘Jewish oppressors’.  The same applies to almost all conflicts in Islamic countries where the ‘Christian’ coalition are the occupying force.  This use of language is not only one sided and divisive but does a disservice to the majority of Muslims who are neither extreme nor fundamental.  It is akin to dividing paedophiles into ‘heterosexual’, ‘homosexual’, ‘lesbian’ or ‘incestuous’.  Paedophiles, like terrorists, only require one adjective to convey their twisted ideology and the acts they perpetrate……

It Takes Two to Tango……

The US and UK have a very short memory when it comes to events in world history.  The current bouts of ideological warfare started with 9/11, the ‘axis of evil’ and the ‘war on terror’.  In reality it is nothing more than a continuation of events stretching back through the annals of time.  One doesn’t need to look too far into the past to see the civil rights movement, which only ‘won’ equality for African-Americans in the 1960s or, more recently, the end of apartheid in South Africa.  Neither do you need a history lesson to see the ongoing oppression of the people of Tibet or Burma.  Even the establishment of the United States of America required land grabs and attacks against the indigenous population……

Democracy in Action……

There are between 192 and 195 countries in the world.  Officially, approximately half are democratic.  This does depend largely on your viewpoint and how you define a democratic country.  Personally, I don’t even consider the UK as truly democratic; as for Russia and many others, democracy is far from an actuality.  Whatever your opinion and by whatever means you judge democracy, it has little affect on the relationships between countries.  The US and UK are close allies of Saudi Arabia which is not democratic in any way and has a questionable record of human rights abuses.  However, we have lucrative arms contracts with Saudi Arabia and commit little parliamentary resources to challenge them regarding the treatment of their citizens and especially their treatment of women.

Post 9/11 we joined the US invasion of Iraq, based on the allegation that they could attack us with only 45 minutes warning, possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and had links with ‘al Qaeda.  None was found to be true.  No WMDs were found and the 45 minute warning was proven to be false along with the links to ‘al Qaeda’.  We also joined the US in the invasion of Afghanistan; this time to dismantle the ‘al Qaeda’ training camps and capture Osama Bin Laden who was accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks, although to this day the US government has failed to provide any evidence that this was the case, other than the clearly fake video evidence conveniently discovered in a house in Afghanistan after the invasion.  In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 the Taliban offered to extradite Bin Laden providing the US present the evidence, which they were unable to do, leading to the invasion of Afghanistan and the loss of countless innocent civilian lives.

Ex-Best Friends

The US and UK; self appointed police force of the ‘free’ world, pick and choose who are the enemy and who aren’t.  It has nothing to do with human rights, democracy, religion or any other tangible, publicly available information or policy.  As Colonel Gaddafi discovered, one day you’re in the club, the next your membership has been revoked and the armed forces have joined your detractors to over through you……

In Summary……

Right and wrong has little, if any, relationship to the foreign policies of the west.  Money, oil and strategic concerns drive such policy.  Whilst I do not condone any acts of violence by any side in a conflict, it is not beyond reason to see why desperate acts of suicide bombings are undertaken by people who feel that their voices, culture, history and claims on territory can lead individuals to take such inhumane actions.

We live in a corrupted world where military campaigns are waged against whole populations, 98% of whom have no involvement in the extreme fringes of what is happening in their homeland.  Meanwhile, by stealth and under the guise of security our basic human rights are being undermined.

If we judge the death toll of innocent civilians caught up in the ‘war on terror’ as a marker by which to judge the aggressors we find the real terrorists are the US, UK and their allies……

Britain’s Guantanamo Bay……

‘Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for Defence, has today been forced to admit that up to 90 foreign nationals are being held illegally at a secret military detention centre……’

The Secretary of State insisted that the detention centre at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, is not secret and was discussed in the House of Commons last year.  Although it may not be an ‘eyes only’ secret, this is the first time the majority of the public will have heard about it.

Philip Hammond & Some Bombs

The detainees, some of whom have been held for 14 months, have been denied access to legal representation and have not been charged with any offences but Philip Hammond said “Many of those held posed a danger to troops”.  He claimed the reason they had not been handed over to the Afghan authorities was because of concerns that they would be mistreated.

UK lawyers acting for eight of the men have launched habeas corpus applications in the High Court in a bid to have them released, raising comparisons with the outrage over the GuantanamoBay prison camp.  The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) rules dictate that British Forces are only allowed to hold suspects for 96 hours.

Phil Shiner, the lawyer for eight of the men, said the Government had failed to train Afghan Security Forces how to treat people lawfully and humanely, leading to the secret detention facility to protect their human rights, ironic though this seem.  Shiner again reaffirmed that the prisoners has not been told what they were accused of and denied access to legal representation, except for two men who had been allowed a one hour phone call each with a lawyer on Wednesday.  Hammond again said that many of the detainees were suspected killers of British troops or known to be involved in the preparation, facilitating or laying of improvised explosive devices and it would be wrong to put them “back on the battlefield”.

“We would like nothing more than to hand these people over to the Afghan authorities so they can be dealt with by the Afghan judicial system,” he told the Radio 4 Today programme, dismissing the description of Camp Bastion as a secret facility as “absurd”, but then he’s not the one being illegally detained there.

Yet again we see the erosion of basic human rights by our Government, indefinite detention without trial and access to legal advice and the ‘rebirth’ of the Data Communications Bill allowing access to your private email, text messages and internet searches.

And while the Data Communications Bill is on the agenda; my understanding is that one of the intentions is to stop people ‘preaching’ hatred and inciting attacks on one group by another.  Does this extend to the vile rhetoric of politicians misleading statements about immigrants or the divisive ‘them and us’ approach to the ‘shirkers and strivers’, those who want to ‘work hard and get on’, as opposed to those, who by implication, don’t want to work hard and get on?

As for the 90 detainees at Camp Bastion, when the coalition forces withdraw from Afghanistan they should be released, as is standard practice for prisoners of war unless they are responsible for crimes against humanity.  An Afghan national who attacks the invading forces with whom they profoundly disagree should be treated as any other prisoner of war at the end of a conflict and released.  After all, the invasion was carried out under the pretext of dismantling ‘Al Qaeda’ training camps which were abandoned long before American boots hit the ground.  In the interim the coalition forces, under the control of the new world order, have sought to impose their ideological ‘democratic’ model on a country which as never operated such a system and probably never will.  Instead, imposing a government comprising ex-warlords and some very shady characters that will fall apart the minute foreign forces withdraw.

Will we also be bringing American and UK forces to the International Criminal Court for the extra-judicial execution of innocent civilians and their families by drone aircraft in another sovereign country’s airspace and one which is not involved in the Afghan dispute?  I doubt it……