Sunday, July 31, 2011

Average IQ of IE users is only 82 !

Seems the average IQ of Microsoft Internet Explorer Browsers, measured from actual 2011 IQ tests, is only 82 !

That IQ is not totally moronic, but such people are termed "dull" and if they get as far as going to college, they will find it tough going if not impossible.

But that is an average, on those results presumably many Explorer users must be moronic.

On the same tests, Firefox and Chrome users came out as "above normal" and Opera users as "brilliant".

IMO: Joking aside - and I normally use Firefox - my first thought was: "Whoever has paid for this survey, it doesn't sound like it was Microsoft". I have not noticed a lot of difference in browsers and of course have used very many. Overall people sometimes wonder why so much fuss is made about Rupert Murdoch - and whilst this survey probably has nothing to do with him, you can see how seriously people who read these things view this browser matter. Kids especially may worry. And IE users may be annoyed. The point is that Murdoch has been effectively using such p.r. tricks - if that is indeed what the IE publicity is here - for years to promote such things as the Tea Party. The Tea Party were started by the same groups that started the John Birch society, not by a well meaning general public. And the Tea Parties methods are bad for the US and probably for the world. The Tea Party is not people, it is Rupert Murdoch and the Murdochs should probably be jailed as a threat to democracy, just like Al Quaeda - though maybe Elizabeth Murdoch could be spared as she sponsored Obama, though media companies often support both sides anyway

Saturday, July 30, 2011

A view of Rupert's supporters of his future

Rupert Murdoch’s biographer Michael Wolff  said "One of the better sources I have, with access to News Corp, said the fear inside the company is that Rupert will not see 82 as a free man".

IMO: Well it happened to Conrad Black, and Maxwell snuffed it suspiciously in such circumstances. Saunders perhaps got it best- they said he was 'senile' and took him to the loony bin for awhile. Maybe Rupe will claim he is nutty. What can you say. If I was him I'd want to go on with my work, even after that MySpace business. Rupe is still young enough to master the internet, and while it's a difficult business he is trying, and he could be around in 20 years. I sincerely wish him good luck, but jail may well be more appropriate.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Leveson Enquiry

Many, many people believe "Politicians, police, and all involved are already beginning to turn  (the Leveson enquiry) into a damage limitation exercise. Why? Behind the scenes there will be threat and counter threat amongst all those involved.........those threatened with arrest could say 'if I go down I'll tell everything I know about police, mps, etc....and so protect me, or else'. Hence, the establishment close ranks. We'll end up with 2 or 3 persons max serving a short term in an open prison to satisfy the publics appetite......dozens will escape justice!

We should be aware that, no matter how robust they appear, such things as enquiries and parliamentary committees are only pieces of contrived theatre designed to hoodwink the electorate into believing action is being taken. All the players in these farces/charades are in collusion.......they are exercises in satisfying public appetite - designed to allow the guilty parties off the hook. The establishment always protects the establishment."

IMO: And in the meantime a corrupt gang of govt and press are allowing the elderly to die and wars to flourish. You can see the point of that Norwegian guy who recently killed those fellows. Apparently that had to do with Palestinian nationalism or some such (he was against it, I believe). But it nearly got that bad in the UK under Thatcher when I believe many people wanted to get rid of her and her vile scum, and as we can now see, with the ETFs and all that went before, it might have been better if they had. Most people do not like the idea of a revolution, but who can say what to do. Even people like the Ageing Charities seem to be in it for the money nowadays, and everyone seems to want to help themselves. Cut down the tall poppies at the top, crooked pressmen, judges, bankers and MPs for a start, some may well say. Nearly all on dope and cocaine, stoned right up to the wigs - and poor people like Amy Winehouse pay the price. There must be better ways but if anyone tries to do anything the establishment 'have an enquiry' at the taxpayer's expense. Maybe it is time for strong immediate action. But soon we will not even be allowed to say so.

Clegg says blaggers should be jailed - so jail a Tory MP

Seems Jonathan Djanogly, a junior minister in the Justice Department, has been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which said last night that it had begun preliminary inquiries.  Mr Djanogly paid detectives £5,000 to monitor his constituents covertly, The Daily Telegraph revealed last year.

IMO: Obviously preparing for the EU - just like last time Europe had a fascist dictatorship under der Fuhrer. The only hope for the UK with the "Moat and Duckpond" mob running it, is to learn Mein Kampf.

Chinese failures and the US - Dumb and Dumber

Chinese officials say a design flaw and human error combined to cause the nation's deadliest train accident since 2008.

State media Thursday quoted railway officials saying a severe flaw in the design of signaling equipment prevented a green light from turning to red after a lightning strike halted a train on a high-speed line south of Shanghai. That caused a second train to smash into the rear of the first, toppling several carriages off of a bridge.

The officials also said dispatchers at a station in Wenzhou should have intervened manually after the Chinese-made signaling equipment failed. The accident killed 39 people and injured almost 200.

Internet users exploded in outrage when it was revealed that authorities had buried some of the wreckage at the scene of the crash, rather than removing it for examination

A day after China confirmed it was refitting an old Soviet vessel, and sources told Reuters it was building two of its own carriers, the official Liberation Army Daily stressed the mix of patriotic glory-seeking and future security worries behind the decision.

China's humiliations at the hands of Western powers in the past centuries "left the Chinese people with the deep pain of having seas they could not defend, helplessly eating the bitter fruit of being beaten for being backward," said a front-page editorial in the paper.

IMO: Hmm, and we thought AQ Khan was a worry. But maybe the US Tea Party will deal with the matter. When they lose the war with China, doubtless making California a province of China will not seem so much in war reparations. Dumb and Dumber. And Cable, presumably still a Clegg supporter, says they are nutters.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

UK Telegraph: I'm starting to think that the Left might actually be right

UK Telegraph says:
"It has taken me more than 30 years as a journalist to ask myself this question, but this week I find that I must: is the Left right after all? You see, one of the great arguments of the Left is that what the Right calls “the free market” is actually a set-up. .... As for the plight of the eurozone, this could have been designed by a Left-wing propagandist as a satire of how money-power works. A single currency is created. A single bank controls it. No democratic institution with any authority watches over it, and when the zone’s borrowings run into trouble, elected governments must submit to almost any indignity rather than let bankers get hurt. What about the workers? They must lose their jobs in Porto and Piraeus and Punchestown and Poggibonsi so that bankers in Frankfurt and bureaucrats in Brussels may sleep easily in their beds."

... and so on...

IMO: No, its not quite like that. But decency all round - which has never occurred in Europe in living memory - could have helped. The wretched Thatcher woman pretended to be decent, which made her more popular than she should have been. Unfortunately the last near-decent UK leader may have been Harold Wilson. But right or left, is not the issue really. It is all so sad. I'm afraid that Strauss-Kahn is the new Europe, and you are all f**cked.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Vince Cable lays out tough criteria for Vickers' ringfence for UK banking

Cable will say he fully supports the work of the ICB (independent commission on banking) but will add that he remains a supporter of full-scale separation.

"As you will know, my own instincts lie with full separation," Cable will say as he sets out three criteria that he believes should be used to "demonstrate that a ringfence can be as effective as full separation at a lower cost".

IMO: Of course I agree. And they should have a Tobin tax as well. And that should be just the beginning... And there is another interesting angle, which concerns the EU. The EU could have quite easily got around the problem with Greece etc. by using ETFs. (exchange-traded funds) or by other such means. ETFs nowadays are of course often totally dodgy, much more so than the derivatives which they used to trade all the time. Why didn't they ? And in fact they seem to be trying to reduce the use of ETFs. As of course they should, but why are such a crooked bucket shop operation as 'wine lakes and sugar mountains ltd.' (the EU) being so pious. Well my guess is that they are trying to force a USE this way, and to make the poorer countries toe the line of Germany. In short it is not just crooked banking, as Cable effectively says, but the crooked banking goes hand in hand with crooked politics. The UK should truly beware, but will it ?

Poor old Rupert is in 'complete denial' says senior policeman

Rupert Murdoch is attempting to dodge responsibility for the News of the World phone hacking scandal, a leading police officer has claimed.

Sir Hugh Orde told the BBC :" told the BBC: “You saw the Chief Officer of the police service of this country, Sir Paul Stephenson, saying, 'Look this happened on my watch. I am responsible ... I am resigning.' Compare that to Rupert Murdoch – complete denial of any responsibility of his organisation.”

IMO: This seems to be because the Police have a responsibility to the general public. Murdoch, however, can decide to do whatever he fancies. The Police are employed for various reasons, and one of them is to jail people when they break the law. So if Murdoch has seriously broken the law, and his known 'wilful blindness' and related factors seem to indcate he has, then he should be jailed ASAP. Whether his partying friends like Judge Leveson will jail him, is another matter. But like the police, Leveson has a duty to the public, and if he does not jail Murdoch, he also should be jailed.

Is the corruption in the UK now so bad that none of these worthless fellows will be jailed ?

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Vince Cable attacks 'rightwing nutters' over US debt ceiling talks

Vince Cable has launched an extraordinary attack on "rightwing nutters" in America who are trying to block the raising of the US government's debt ceiling and who are, he said, a bigger threat to the world economy than problems in the eurozone.

IMO: He was right about the Murdochs and he clearly seems to be right again. "Tom the Dancing Bug" sums up the economics in his comic on 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Deficit'.

New deal is a charter for the Fourth Reich

The Irish Independent says: "It is not being widely reported yet, but the document the European powers signed in Berlin last Thursday is in fact the founding charter of the Fourth German Reich".

IMO: Well, I have said that was happening for some years. Pretty evident if you look at the geopolitics and the historical facts, Maybe it will turn out nicely for the bankers and perhaps the rich Chinese speculators, But the article goes on to say about the UK "Between a locked-in Europe of forelock-tuggers and the wide open seas, we will, like our fathers, pick the oceans". I hope so. We did not fight WW2 for no reason. Of course, everyone could end up happy. The Irish must be used to forelock-tugging by now, Guido Fawkes seems to have been doing it for years, for example, but I'm pretty sure the French won't be too quiet, at least to start with. And I don't like to think of Norway's reaction to the whole mess, already we have seen gunplay over this sort of thing, which of course "everyone deplores".

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Britain may be able to break from Europe and probably should

The only long-term solution for European debts — other than an extremely messy break-up of the euro — is for the Eurozone countries to integrate much more closely and become, in all but name, a United States of Eurozone (USE). The Germans and French will need to amend existing EU treaties to make their new arrangements work. And the crucial point is that Britain will have the power of veto over any changes, as well as a new law requiring new EU treaties to be put to a referendum in the UK.

This means we can demand the return of powers back from the EU — if ministers push hard enough. But the Lib Dem leader made it clear he will block any serious treaty renegotiation.

IMO: I have often expressed my views on Europe. Somehow Clegg's corruption, folly, and denial of support to his own party has almost broken up the Libdems. Now the fool may break up the country. His own party and the Tories should perhaps ensure that the UK is allowed to continue to exist. Clegg has been no use to anyone.He should be removed and Cameron obliged to stick to his policies on Europe, or he should go too.


Thursday, July 21, 2011

Guido Fawkes on the Murdochs

"There will no doubt be more thrills and spills to come, wiser heads around Miliband might question the wisdom of becoming the anti-Murdoch party. When the dust settles, Labour may regret lashing itself to a cause of little interest to anyone outside the Westminster bubble and in the process making a mortal long-term enemy of James Murdoch. Guido has heard it remarked that it is actually right-wingers who should be wary of the media business being dominated by the next generation of Murdochs. James, Lachlan and Elisabeth are not conservatives like Rupert, they are actually centrist liberals with greenish tendencies who are embarrassed by the excesses of Fox News. Elisabeth was a big fundraiser for Obama. Imagine both the BBC and Murdoch empires preaching from the same hymn sheet".

IMO: Interesting gossip. Easy enough to check from existing news reports, I imagine. But obviously family ownership of a media group the size of the Murdoch empire could worry anyone, irrespective of politics, in this modern age. But such people could have satisfactory answers to that, too.

Nick Clegg: Ofcom should review Rupert Murdoch's Sky stake

Nick Clegg has told Ofcom, the media regulator, to review Rupert Murdoch’s existing stake in British Sky Broadcasting to see if the tycoon should be forced to give up his holding in the company.

IMO: If Ofcom do not force Murdoch to give up his holding, it seems that they (Ofcom) are not fit and proper people to be running Ofcom. Maybe Ofcom should go the John Yates road. Anyone who can remember our experiences of Rupert Murdoch from the old days could just about have guessed the way the recent meetings would have gone. And the UK establishment is so corrupt that unless something is done, he'll probably be putting in another application to run BSkyB in around 6 months.

IMO: I don't know whether the 'pie' incident was set up by the Murdoch gang but it certainly had the effect of promoting Murdoch's wife. Maybe this will help to encourage Chinese women to go around beating people up. It does not matter to me, but it may matter to Chinese husbands who may themselves turn out to be the most likely victims of their wives, thanks to Rupe. This is an observation based on varied experiences I have noted over quite a few years in the subcontinent. Chinese husbands take note. Perhaps your major worry nowadays may become Rupert Murdoch's wife.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Philippine MPs visit Spratlys amid China warnings

The United States has risen to the defence of its ally Manila, pledging help to modernise its navy, and calling on China to help lower the temperature in the region. The United States has defence pacts with Taiwan and the Philippines and says it has a “national interest” in the free movement of shipping.

Five members of parliament, joined by a small party of soldiers, local officials and journalists, arrived on Thitu island aboard two private planes, and raised two Philippine flags above a government building.  Legislator Walden Bello said the delegation came to promote a peaceful solution to the territorial dispute, but stressed that Filipinos who know the island as "Pag-asa" are ready to defend Philippine territory.  "We come in peace, we support a diplomatic solution. But let there be no doubt in anybody's mind, in any foreign powers' mind, that if they dare to eject us from Pag-asa... Filipinos will not take that sitting down," he said. "Filipinos are born to resist aggression. Filipinos are willing to die for their soil."

Chinese forces have allegedly opened fire on Filipino fishermen, shadowed an oil exploration vessel employed by a Philippine firm and put up structures in areas claimed by the Philippines.

IMO: Not a nice situation. Maybe Obama and the "Tea Party" wimps will eventually just let China take Hawaii next. Firm action should be taken by the US to defend their ally the Phillipines. I really cannot see all that much relevance in the fact that a lot of US consumers have got hooked on cheap Chinese goods and made some paltry differences to the balance of trade. China is heading for yet more Japan-tsunami type annoyances and is likely to either destroy the remaining rights of many of its own people, and/or beg the USA for help. Russia had bad harvests for years and the US did help out, China is now too fat, greedy and selfish for its own good or anyone else's. Obviously Russia was much like the US anyway and that is why it got support. Is China like the US ? I think not.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The NHS is spending £20 on loaves that cost £2 in the supermarket

Gluten provokes painful inflammation of the bowel in people who have an immune-response allergy to the protein, found in wheat, rye and barley products. The condition is known as coeliac disease.

The NHS is spending £20 on gluten-free loaves that cost £2 in the supermarket. Packets of gluten-free pasta were costing the NHS £11.54 per bag. Similar packs cost £2 in supermarkets.

The Govt say: “Work is now under way to identify savings that can be made in reducing the number of gluten-free products prescribed by the NHS.”

The chief executive of the charity Coeliac UK, said the high costs resulted from supply chains in the NHS. But made it clear that such items should still be available on prescription.

IMO: Obvious, isn't it ? First the Govt druggies spend NHS funds by corrupt bribes and practices. That level of overcharging comes from banana republic levels of corruption. Then they try to cover for themselves simply by depriving sick people of their due remedies. And say they have to do it because of the 'cuts' due to corrupt banking. And Cameron's misguided 'privatisation' will merely make matters worse, he is only doing it because of the UKP700 million pound bribe his 'moat and duckpond' friends have trousered. What a crooked lot !

Monday, July 18, 2011

Hot News: Lutz claim to have new Murdoch emails

Hacker's group Lutz said today it was "sitting on their (the Sun's) emails" and was prepared to publicise them on Tuesday.

IMO: That should add to the bonfire, if these emails exist, but they may take time to sift.


Informant on Murdoch gang now dead

Sean Hoare was the first former NoW journalist to come out on the record, telling the New York Times last year that his former friend and NoW and Sun editor, Andy Coulson, had actively encouraged him to hack into voicemail.

It must have scared the rest of Fleet Street when he started talking – he had bought, sold and snorted cocaine with some of the most powerful names in tabloid journalism. These will be the sort of people currently advising the UK Government how to make more cuts to the ill and aged. At the time he died he seems to have been pretty clean.

IMO: I suppose we cannot be certain he was murdered by the Murdoch gang, though that does seem the most likely. His accounts do make it appear also, that he would have nothing to do with the two senior police officers who resigned recently in connection with their involvement (conspiracy ?)  with the Murdoch gang.

IMO: And why not Tobin taxes, a Glass Steagal Act and much much more? The crooks in Westminster and Whitehall are still in the pay of the bankers and crooked businessmen like the Murdochs. Lets hope a few revelations from the Murdochs may at least clear the air a little, and hopefully jail them, before more informants are murdered.

Censorship of political institutions

According to Calder:

"CERN has joined a long line of lesser institutions obliged to remain politically correct about the man-made global warming hypothesis. It's OK to enter 'the highly political arena of the climate change debate' provided your results endorse man-made warming, but not if they support Svensmark's heresy that the Sun alters the climate by influencing the cosmic ray influx and cloud formation."

"The once illustrious CERN laboratory ceases to be a truly scientific institute when its Director General forbids its physicists and visiting experimenters to draw the obvious scientific conclusions from their results".

IMO: In short that would imply that the West is beginning to show strong tends to Chinese communism, not a successful idea as we have frequently seen, for example in such cases as adherence to Lysenkoist views in the USSR. Even successive Presidents of the US have for some time kowtowed to China and this in the longer term is probably in no-one's interests.

Prisoner's Dilemma and Murdoch arrests

An interesting situation. Of course the reasoning that plea-bargaining is (technically) forbidden in many countries is that it can be in the interest of both suspects to confess and testify against the other prisoner/suspect, even if each is innocent of the alleged crime       

IMO: Judge Scalia says plea-bargaining is OK and maybe if you hold to his general ethics, you agree. But many people take him to be a real turd, e.g. see the latest 'Tom the Dancing Bug' on Fat Earl & Judge Scalia. ("wow, awesome, you are raping, then slowly disembowelling that woman" - approved US children's games)

In practice with the 'nods and winks' so normal in a high profile case in the UK, we may be close to technical plea bargaining in at least some of the Murdoch cases.

This could make it look as if Rebekkah's (possibly later alleged faux) confession in 2003 could get her off a lot penalties more later.

But a Nash equilibrium need not be a Pareto optimum (ie all the Murdoch gang and their conspirators keeping quiet at this time might not be the best for them).  There are such a lot of further possibilities, e.g. Rebekkah could win credit for exposure which she could have rightly believed imminent, then later deny any real knowledge.

IMO: Overall if the Murdoch gang at some point keep quiet about their misdeeds at some point soon, that might be best for them and fits in with their ethos. Certainly Rebekkah seems presently to be winning right now on credits - Elizabeth Murdoch is reputed to have said recently"James and Rebekah f**ked the company".

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Useful help Dalai Lama could have given Obama

BoingBoing says "China strenuously objected to US President Barack Obama's private meeting today with the Tibetan spiritual and political leader, saying any dialogue with the Dalai Lama "damaged the Sino-American relations."

"I hope Dalai gave Obama some pointers on how to set up an exiled US government in Canada or Mexico on the day China forecloses US".

IMO: Oh well, both countries seem determined to change their own territories into some kind of Centralia.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Why Kasab is being fed and looked after

Nineteen people died and 131 were injured in the deadly blasts that struck Mumbai on Wednesday. Following the blasts, the common man's anger is directed at Ajmal Kasab, the face of 26/11. The people want to know why the terrorist is fed, looked after and protected at the expense of the nation.

"Well, point, that it takes a long time is a fact. We need to expedite that. I appreciate the point. That's the way things stand today. It takes time," Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said.

Every accused is entitled to a free and fair trial. That's how any civilised democracy behaves. But can the legal process, which is currently slow and tardy, be expedited?

"There is no problem with the law. The infrastructure has to improve with technology and computerisation. In the 21st century we can't still have bullock-cart technology," said senior advocate KTS Tulsi.

IMO: This is correct, but certainly criminal appeals cannot be considered as one of the most urgent tasks. Every civilised country has to find its own order to do certain things and probably allegedly guilty murderers cannot reasonably jump the queue. UK and USA place such people even lower on the to-do list, and there are other factors. Narendra Modi of course goes to the other extreme and seems to want 'rough justice', but having seen quite a few SEZs which seem to be in his view a major improvement, I would not vote for him or his party at this time as it seems to have many faults. The local SEZ at Verna appears to have been a source of dengue and certainly avoids providing even very basic safety equipment to so-called 'ghattis' and other out of state persons, specific cases of workers from UP have been noted. This in itself is a criminal matter, caused by Modi's work. We do not want India run by crooks any more than it is. Modi apparently would like to turn the whole of Gujerat into an SEZ, and he will need to review his ideas if injustice is to be avoided. In fact at present his party seems to be an unpleasant unstable alternative. Effectively Modi is a wingnut extremist and sits with the CPI (Marxist) party. Not the opposite to CPI, but the same thing. He can only bring about the need for more Didis (Mamta B.).

Another one bites the dust

Chembur rural police took in Faiz Usmani, brother of Indian Mujahideen member Afzal Usmani who is in jail for his involvement in the Ahmedabad blasts, for questioning by police for a couple of hours.

Mumbai Police Spokesperson Nisar Tamboli said, "He was brought for questioning by the Chembur unit. He was suffering from hypertension and had not taken medicines for the last three-four days. He was admitted to the hospital last evening and the allegations of torture by police are absolutely untrue".

Murdoch

The FBI is reported to be examining allegations that staff at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp tried to access the mobile phones of 9/11 terrorist-attack victims and their relatives.

A good look at Fox News and Glen Beck in particular should have told us all we needed to know about the way NI operates.

IMO: US individuals may well want to think of NI as being quite diferent to Fox (20th Century Fox and all that retro and other stuff). But it is all Rupert, reminds me of the ethos of some of his newspapers in Australia 50 years ago. A few pages of made up or snooped rubbish and racng results and comics at the back. And I dare say his China operations are hardly any better. I do not imagine that Rupert has crusaded significantly for displaced peasants on the new Yantze projects and the socalled 'socialist' BBC and Guardian at least try. After all basically Rupert supports communism, and is much more of a wingnut than any Fabian. In a "Rapublican Democracy" like the US shouldn't a commie like Rupe be jailed immediately ?

Friday, July 15, 2011

South Sudan

According to Al-Jazeera "The birth of South Sudan is first and foremost a testimony to the failure of the official Arab order, pan-Arabism, and especially the Islamic political projects to provide civic and equal rights to ethnic and religious minorities in the Arab world".

IMO: Yes, the fault is clearly in the failure of modern Islam to cope with syncretism - which used to (and UTAP still does) stabilise India. In India, perhaps the worlds best democracy, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and all the rest, have full human rights as they should. Any country with over a billion people is not perfact in all respects but India tries to reach that goal and is admirably near to doing so. Far better than USA and the horrible China. If modern Islam as commonly practised were even to come anywhere near the standards of the prophet Mohammed as described in the holy Koran, Southen Sudan would not have happened.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Mumbai blasts

Three bombs rocked crowded districts of Mumbai during rush hour on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people in the biggest militant attack on India's financial capital since 2008.

Security analysts say the pattern of the attack points to a local militant group called the Indian Mujahideen (IM). The Indian Mujahideen is described by global intelligence firm Stratfor as "a relatively amateurish group that's been able to carry out low to medium intensity attacks." While its members are mostly local Muslims, the group is suspected of having been trained and backed by militant groups in neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh.

There is a possibility the latest strike could be aimed at scuttling fledgling attempts to revive the peace process between New Delhi and Islamabad.

IMO: Or/and maybe HuT could be involved, they have about 10,000 rather nondescript members and seek a nuclear caliphate in Pak. The HuT coup in Pakistan seems to have recently been prevented, maybe involving Brig. Gen. Ali Khan.

Sunday Times alleged use of web bugs.

Journalists from Sunday Times appear to have sent actual Trojans, hacking into computers belonging to members of the general public, using Trojan horse malware. Apparently this is to obtain stories which they consider newsworthy.  This was allegedly done in at least in 2005-2006 and presumably this practice continues with other Murdoch newspapers.

IMO: Maybe the "Times" and the "Sunday Times" should be closed as well as NoW ? It is said that Murdoch has checked to see what money it would bring in if all his UK papers were sold, and the answer is "very little".

IMO: I also wonder whether Rebekkah Brooks will turn up for interview. She has made a few mistakes at searching interviews already and maybe does not have the talent for it. It is common for dictators like Gadaffi to have somewhat similar problems. It is rather like the old Tamil proverb about the cat believing that the world disappears when it closes its eyes.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Murdoch - it really looks bad

"In a video Rebekah Brooks then known as Rebekah Wade openly admitted to paying police for information. This was in front of a British Parliament select committee in March, 2003. The person sitting beside her, Andy Coulson, interjected and quickly tried to cover it up. It must be noted that there is no way to pay the police within the law. It is bribery full stop. Andy Coulson was clearly lying. In the last few days Andy Coulson has been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption."

"Given that Rebekah Brooks openly stated in March 2003 that they had been paying police and that News Corp failed to take action and the practice continued after this then News Corp and its directors are clearly guilty of breaching section 70.2 of the 1995 Crimes Act. ... There is obviously enough evidence to charge Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.....The reason that News Corp and its directors can be charged under Australian Law is that News Corp was formerly incorporated in South Australia until a majority of shareholders approved a move on 12 November 2004 to the US.  The company was re-incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in the US not long after this. Rebekah Brooks made her admission while giving her evidence in the video in March 2003."

" The Murdoch’s seem to have close ties to police all over the world and News Corp executives seem to be habitual liars all over the world."

IMO: And so on..

Monday, July 11, 2011

David Cameron's plans already killing elderly

Vulnerable pensioners could die as a result of the disastrous Southern Cross care home collapse, an MP claimed yesterday. Labour’s John Mann called on the ­Government to bail out the crippled firm in the same way the banks were in a bid to protect the 31,000 residents who face losing a roof over their heads and the 44,000 staff heading for the dole queue.

Southern Cross yesterday announced plans to shut after the landlords of its 752 properties abandoned the company.

IMO: My own knowledge of the care homes business makes it plain that old people will die if forced to move around like this. And inspection has shown to me that many privately run care homes are deliberately run in a 'cowboy' fashion with a sole interest in maximising profits. The old people there are simply figures in the balance sheet in the eyes of the owners. So often I have seen this.

David Cameron’s plans to sell off Britain’s public services are an all-out attack on the welfare state, Downing Street insiders yesterday admitted. It came as the PM announced that companies and charities will be offered the chance to run everything from schools and hospitals to street cleaning and elderly care. Only the armed forces, the police and the judiciary will escape the proposed shake-up. A No10 source said the plans were designed to rip apart state control of public services and added: “Yes, it could be seen as tearing up the welfare state.”

IMO: And the Southern Cross episode, like so many others, shows us where this will lead. Cameron is the UK's Ratko Mladic, without the brains or stamina of that mass-murderer. Like so many UK politicians Cameron has already shown himself to be little more than a puppet of the near-senile Rupert Murdoch. Cameron claims to have believed the lies of Murdoch, a man now even condemned by bankers, simply to win power, money, and corrupt influence for himself.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

I agree with Dawn newspaper - Murdoch is a giant squid

Dawn says "Rupert Murdoch has been widely viewed by journalists as a giant squid sitting on the face of the media, starving it of oxygen. ... For years, politicians have sucked up to him, seeking his support. Tony Blair was particularly shameless in currying favour with Murdoch. Cameron, too, sought his blessings before the general elections. No politician dared take the risk of crossing him for fear that News International would turn its powerful guns on him or her.

Such inordinate power was often seen to be dangerous in a democracy, but few challenged the mighty Murdoch empire."

IMO: NoW was part of UK tradition and history which Murdoch destroyed to make a few dollars by sacking some employees during a depression.

"But meanwhile, here`s to the Guardian and its team who have made this moment of schadenfreude so delectable."

IMO: Indeed. And the Independent recently pointed out that Murdoch had lied to the Prime Minister about Coulson. I wonder, too, whether the most recent revisions of the Theft Act still include 'recklessness' as a form of fraud. I would have thought that lying to the Prime Minister could come under that category in such a serious and sensitive case.

Saturday, July 09, 2011

News of the World

There is speculation in the Murdoch empire that senior executives could face criminal charges in the US and the UK. Legal experts say that Les Hinton, the publisher of the WSJ, and James Murdoch could potentially face charges under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or the UK's Regulation of Investigative Practices Act (RIPA). The US law means executives can be held to account for bribes paid by overseas subsidiaries, while the RIPA makes company officials liable regardless of their direct role in unlawful practices. "Under RIPA, ignorance of what was going on is not a defence," said a legal source.

IMO: It is blatantly obvious that the whole matter is typical of Rupert Murdoch's style, and clearly in conspiracy cases such as this, very strong remedies are needed. It has also been alleged that James Murdoch paid over UKP100,000.00 in bribes to the police, which again seems to fit with the circumstances of the case. Further it is clear that in any judicial enquiry the phone calls and other communications with the judges will have been tapped, probably well in advance. The judiciary in the UK would be ill-advised to bother with any revelations coming from the Murdoch group, as these will likely have been faked. David Cameron was given a personal guarantee by Rupert Murdoch that Andy Coulson was safe to take on as his Downing Street press chief, and that is the beginning of the lies we will hear from the Murdochs. All these people should be jailed for a long time, in the best interests of the UK community. My instinct would be to give them all preventative detention, perticularly James Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch, as they are all certainly serious repeat offenders with no desire to stop offending. We do not want further bribing of the police by worthless plutocrats, nor implied threats against the UK judiciary.

Friday, July 08, 2011

Cameron says Murdoch should have accepted Brooks resignation

Cameron said there will be judicial inquiries into the phone hacking scandal and another inquiry into why the original police investigation of it in 2006 failed.  Cameron did not announce any further delay to Rupert Murdoch’s proposed £8.3bn bid to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting, but said it would take time because of the number of responses to a public consultation.

IMO: Hardly necessary to point out the number of recent major 'judicial enquiries' in the UK which have been simply a whitewash. June 24th 'Tom the Dancing Bug' on 'Judge Scalia' more or less sums it up, you have to laugh. And Rupert's activities have been a joke since he started buying Sydney dailies, many years ago. Rupert's made big losses on the internet, MySpace alone cost him an estimated $1.3 billion and his other attempts are not good. Even in China, still run by a communist dictatorship who even today hardly admit their quilt for the deliberate killing of 35 million people during their so-called 'great leap forward' and more current items like their recent attepted refusal to acknowledge to their own people the Conoco-Philips oil spill, far worse than the New Orleans spill, will probably hardly cover for his latest RW (Rupert/Wendi) investments  $200 million public offering with regard toXunlei. 126 lawsuits were filed against Xunlei in China, and Rupert certainly will not get around them all, even in a dictatorship. The only question is perhaps - Is the UK by now even more corrupt than the Communist dictatorship in China.


Sunday, July 03, 2011

French arming of Libya's rebels

The French military are presenting their decision to parachute in weaponry to the Libyan rebels in the western Nafusa mountains as a response to a specific local situation. Civilians, they say, were encircled by government forces who refused to allow the opening up of an aid corridor to reach them.

A French military spokesman says weapons including assault rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers were air-dropped earlier this month. A report in today's Le Figaro newspaper suggests that Milan anti-tank missiles may also have been included.

IMO: The middle East is completely saturated with weapons and if the Arabs want to help the rebels with the weapons they repeatedly request, it could very easily be done by them, never mind the English or the French. However it seems that in this case civilians were encircled. In short the French action may well have considerably reduced overall bloodshed if Western reports are to be believed.

IMO: I'm glad India is not involved, the 'middle east' etc etc are at war all the time for one reason or another, and sometimes seemingly for no reason at all. The current Danziger cartoon shows an enormous grossly fat Chinaman unable to fit in a bath which seems to be someone else's, with reference to the south China sea and I suppose we have to be thankful that the Chinese have largely not tried to 'help' in Libya.



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