Death of a President | smashingtelly In case you've not seen it yet.  ¶ Tuesday, February 27, 2007 0 Comments

  When the bombing of Tehran begins And it will. Unless we do something. More later.

Remember this  ¶ Saturday, February 24, 2007 1 Comments

  Um It would appear that gleefully enjoying this post makes me a
left wing
conspiracy loon
wingnut loving
loony toons
tory hating
hoody hugging
Nazi bashing
lip smacking
smack taking
dyed in the wool
red to the bone
member of the wooly liberals*

But hey, at least I'm not a liar.

*some or all of the above quotes may have been used on right wing blogs.
The last one is mine.

Update : Political Blogging For Adults  ¶ Friday, February 23, 2007 1 Comments

  End Day - the End of The World A BBC 3 docu-drama based on possible end day scenarios. Very well filmed, a notable hat tip to Groundhog Day - there should be one to 12 Monkeys as well (indeed there may well be one that I missed). Anyhow, another great find by Smashing Telly.  ¶ Wednesday, February 21, 2007 0 Comments

  Educational Television Seriously good video aggregator blog type thing.  ¶ Tuesday, February 20, 2007 0 Comments

  Meritocracy A new word, it doesn't happen very often.

Thanks to Smashing Telly again.

1st part was good.
Hope the 2nd part is too.

link  ¶ Saturday, February 17, 2007 0 Comments

  Hunting For Witches Normally blogs that I find and like the look of are quietly added to the blogroll. Leo's blog though has surprised me because the author is just 15 year old.

My tip as one to watch, and without wishing to give the kiss of death - perhaps a William Hague for the LibDems.  ¶ Saturday, February 17, 2007 0 Comments

  Valentine's Day But please remember.  ¶ Wednesday, February 14, 2007 0 Comments

  Sam Harris at Idea City '05
Smashing Telly comes up trumps again.

Sam Harris (born 1967) is an American author with an interest in neuroscience and disbelief. Okay that's a good start.

Harris's basic theme is that the time has come to speak openly and unambiguously about what he sees as the dangers posed to society by religious belief. While highlighting what he regards as a particular problem being posed by Islam at this moment in respect of international terrorism, Harris has made an outspoken attack on religion of all styles and persuasions. He is especially critical of the stance of religious moderation, which he sees as essentially providing cover to religious extremism ...

Harris freely admits that he is advocating a form of intolerance, but not, as he puts it, the kind of intolerance that led to the Gulag. Rather he is arguing for a conversational intolerance, one in which we require in our everyday discourse that people's convictions really scale with the available evidence. He feels that the time has come to demand intellectual honesty right across the board, and ignore the prevailing taboos and political correctness which, in his view, appear to prevent us from openly criticizing religion.

What troubles Harris the most, is that these are the same people who both elect and are elected as presidents and congressmen. Religion, he observes, permeates American politics to such an extent that it would be futile to consider running for office without professing some sort of faith. When George W. Bush invokes God in his conversation (as he frequently does with respect to both domestic and foreign affairs), Harris asks us to consider how we might feel if the President were to invoke Zeus or Apollo in the same manner.

c.f An interesting post on Presidential hopefuls and their faith demolished in the comments.

Harris says in 23 minutes (All hail Eris All hail Discordia*), what every clear thinking human should know.

Buy me this book.

I have a feeling I may be evangelised. Especially now that Bob has moved on, and do not I use that link lightly.  ¶ Wednesday, February 14, 2007 0 Comments

  Scary Duck Demeans Daves As a proud member of the Society of People called Dave I will with the blessing of GOD take umbrage at Mr Ducks assumption that an evil twin could possibly be called Dave.

I am friends with a lot of people called Dave, one who changed his name to David Charles L***, from something he couldn't bring himself to admit, but prefered to be called Charles, and was a bit of a bore, but apart from him who wasn't a real Dave anyway, the other people I know called Dave are all spendidly top geezers, salt's of the earth, and veritable gentlemen (apart from my youngest sisters first husband who was a wanker) so please change your name for your evil twin, or else.

Hah Guido is an amateur - who needs solicitors.

Labels: Blog Wars, Dave, Dave again cos we rock, Libel

  ¶ Tuesday, February 13, 2007 4 Comments

  IDIOT TOYS: Tech reviews for the bored And so after lambasting cynicism in the last post - I give you the most cynical product reviews around. I suspect Mr Monkey will enjoy this.  ¶ Tuesday, February 13, 2007 1 Comments

  Aside from that Mrs. Obama, how was the play? Samizdata's writer Thaddeus Tremayne found guilty of bad research.
A quick visit to Wikipedia throws up this link.

On a more positive note - Rachel gives a view on his latest speech*, although the cynisism that has arisen in the comments is downright depressing.

Warning : may contain mentions of blogwars.  ¶ Tuesday, February 13, 2007 0 Comments

  The Rizla question. No not more of my harping on at the Rizla Corps blatant hypocrisy.
Much more fun than that.  ¶ Tuesday, February 13, 2007 0 Comments

  Mike Oborski Sad news comes via Tom Watson, that Liberal councillor Mike Oborski has passed away. I first met Mike and Fran many years ago via a computer business I was running at the time, and was pleased to make a full confession several years later when I stumbled upon Mike in the blogosphere.

My thoughts are with Fran.

Local news coverage can be found here.  ¶ Sunday, February 11, 2007 0 Comments

  Duck News Guess which obituary this came from.

They said you were the "next Marilyn Monroe". If only you were fucking the president. The world would probably be a far better place.

  ¶ Saturday, February 10, 2007 0 Comments

  Tim Worstall: Odd Very Odd - why bring up this post now?  ¶ Wednesday, February 07, 2007 0 Comments

  The Law Report: 24 January  2006  - Lawyer Jokes Funnier than all the lawyer jokes stacked end to end.  ¶ Wednesday, February 07, 2007 0 Comments

  Adventures In The Cave - Part 1
Smaller Than Life offers a partwork.

It's one of best reads ever!
Collect them while you can.  ¶ Wednesday, February 07, 2007 1 Comments

  sjhoward.co.uk » Hypocrisy, size zero, and Tyra Banks Read the post - watch the video.

I beg to differ.
SJH calls this

an odd, odd piece of television. The creator and judge of America’s Next Top Model protesting at accusations she’s put on weight, whilst simultaneously claiming to think that ‘curvy women’ are ’sexy’. The sentiment is very good, but the hypocrisy stinks: If curvy is sexy, then why is she so ‘humiliated’ by the idea of being curvy herself? She surely can’t have it both ways. She criticises others’ obsession with weight, yet knows her own exact weight from over two months ago. She says she’s no longer a model, yet shows pictures from her swimsuit shoot. She says perfection is unrealistic, yet admits that she has her photos retouched. It’s all just hot air.

She is humiliated because she has been mis-represented. Would you like bad photo's of you spread world wide if you had an international reputation to keep up?
The sentiment is honest, in my opinion.
As for her involvement in America’s Next Top Model. I cannot comment because I've never watched it, nor do I want to (before I get links to Youtube), but did she only vote for Size Zero models?
If she did, then I will defer. I'm guessing not.  ¶ Wednesday, February 07, 2007 0 Comments

  On Friendly Fire Ducknews comments on the release of the friendly fire video denied to the Coroners Office, but acquired by The Sun.

I totally agree with the Duck team that this needs to be released and the rest of the post, though after watching the video I wonder as BBD asked. Will there be consequences?

Watch the video - the picture means nothing, but the audio with subtitled commentary provides an insight to what must have happened mentally to the men in the aircraft responsible.  ¶ Tuesday, February 06, 2007 0 Comments

  Miss Tickle: A Campaign Miss Tickle has a need - her need is £4200 and she needs it really bloody quickly.
Over to the good lady herself

"But why Miss Tickle?" I hear you ask, "Do you have to raise so much money so very quickly? Are you a slattern?"

The reason is this (it is not very dramatic): we were given the slot only a month or so ago. The lovely directors of the theatre were appointed only two months or so ago. They had to put together their first season within two weeks of being appointed.

Now, those of you who have applied for funding for "The Arts" will know that you tend to need at least eight weeks. In more cases, at least eight months. So people can read Things you have said about How your project will be of Public Benefit. In many cases, you need to be a registered charity to apply for funding at all (from grants or trusts). Obviously if you have a month or so, you don't have Time for any of this. See here for more on annoying funding things.

And anyway, I don't want theatre to be a charity. Although of course it has to be. Grr.

The theatre itself needs One Thousand Two Hundred pounds a week to cover its rent. It has a capacity of 65. There are six shows a week, one of which is Pay What You Can for poor and lovely artists. The tickets come in at a yield of £9.50, or £5 for Pay What You Can.

We have done some maths, and the most we could possibly make would be £9,620. This does not cover the production costs. At all. Not even a bit.

Which is why I have been squeaking so much recently. The panic.

Obviously the theatre needs to have some guarantee that we are not con-artists, which is why they have given us a deadline.

My £4,200 deadline.

So say yah boo to all those mean systems of bureaucracy!

And buy a little teeny word for hardly anything.

(Also, the theatre is in Wandsworth, the council that has recently threatened the lovely and hugely important BAC with funding cuts and a massive rise in rent. You would be saying yah boo to them too. Definitely worth it.)

  ¶ Tuesday, February 06, 2007 0 Comments

  I AM A WATERMELON   ¶ Monday, February 05, 2007 0 Comments

  Politics - the cruelest of worlds? Tom Watson asks the question and then provides an insight into life in the House.
I manage a bad grammar troll  ¶ Monday, February 05, 2007 0 Comments

  sjhoward.co.uk » Blair’s last stand? This is quite simply some of the best political blogging I have seen. Reading the transcript of the interview doesn't hit home any where as near as much as when listening to the intonation, the stumbles, and the throat clearing.

Blair is a man with no where left to run, except America to join David Beckham on a speaking tour (hat tip to Private eye)

Aside: Private eye has added a jump to issue dropdown, you can take the issue number back this far with a little hand editing of the URL ;-)  ¶ Sunday, February 04, 2007 0 Comments

  Wrong video I hope to see justice prevail.  ¶ Friday, February 02, 2007 0 Comments