Sim-O

Now there’s something you don’t see everyday.

The Sun:

“We apologise to Mr Raulynaitis for the embarrassment and distress caused.”

From a 419:

Greetings in the calvary name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What the fuck does that mean?

No, not that one , or that one, but the Chinese one that’s dealing with the Olympics:

1. The telecast of sports events will be live [but] in case of emergencies, no print is allowed to report on it.
2. From August 1, most of the previously accessible overseas websites will be unblocked. No coverage is allowed on this development. There’s also no need to use stories published overseas on this matter and [website] operators should not provide any superlinks on their pages.
3. Be careful with religious and ethnic subjects.
4. Don’t make fuss about foreign leaders at the opening ceremony, especially in relation to seat arrangements or their private lives.
5. We have to put special emphasis on ethnic equality. Any perceived racist terms as “black athlete” or “white athlete” is not allowed. During the official telecast, we can refer to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei”. In ordinary times, refer to Taiwanese athletes as “those from the precious island Taiwan…..” In case of any pro Taiwan-independence related incident inside the venue, you shall follow restrictions listed in item 1.
6. For those ethnic Chinese coaches and athletes who come back to Beijing to compete on behalf of other countries, don’t play up their “patriotism” since that could backfire with their adopted countries.
7. As for the Pro-Tibetan independence and East Turkistan movements, no coverage is allowed. There’s also no need to make fuss about our anti-terrorism efforts.
8. All food saftey (sic) issues, such as cancer-causing mineral water, is off-limits. [They have carcenogenic fucking mineral water?!]
9. In regard to the three protest parks, no interviews and coverage is allowed.
10. No fuss about the rehearsals on August 2,5. No negative comments about the opening ceremony. [They’re very sensitive, they are]
11. No mention of the Lai Changxing case. [Who?]
12. No mention of those who illegally enter China.
13. On international matters, follow the official line. For instance, follow the official propaganda line on the North Korean nuclear issue; be objective when it comes to the Middle East issue and play it down as much as possible; no fuss about the Darfur question; No fuss about UN reform; be careful with Cuba. If any emergency occurs, please report to the foreign ministry.
14. If anything related to territorial dispute happens, make no fuss about it. Play down the Myanmar issue; play down the Takeshima island dispute.
15. Regarding diplomatic ties between China and certain nations, don’t do interviews on your own and don’t use online stories. Instead, adopt Xinhua stories only. Particularly on the Doha round negotiation, US elections, China-Iran co-operation, China-Aussie co-operation, China-Zimbabwe co-operation, China-Paraguay co-operation.
16. Be very careful with TV ratings, only use domestic body’s figures. Play it down when rating goes down.
17. In case of an emergency involving foreign tourists, please follow the official line. If there’s no official line, stay away from it.
18. Re possible subway accidents in the capital, please follow the official line. [Are they expecting any subway accidents?]
19. Be positive on security measures. [Or yours will be compromised. Possibly]
20. Be very careful with stock market coverage during the Games.
21. Properly handle coverage of the Chinese sports delegation:
    • don’t criticise the selection process. [It’s perfect, just like the opening ceremony, ok?]
    • don’t overhype gold medals; don’t issue predictions on gold medal numbers; don’t make fuss about cash rewards for athletes.
    • don’t make a fuss about isolated misconducts by athletes.
    • enforce the publicity of our anti-doping measures.
    • put emphasis on government efforts to secure the retirement life of atheletes.
    • keep a cool head on the Chinese performance. Be prepared for possible fluctations in the medal race.
    • refrain from publishing opinion pieces at odds with the official propangada line of the Chinese delegation. [Or else.]

Via

I think someone’s packed in smoking recently, and it ain’t DK or The Filthy Smoker…

The Irish voted no, and then got told to do something about it.
An e-petition got started and a fat lot of good that did.
e-petition response:

The Irish government has made it clear that they need time to analyse the result and its implications, and to consult widely at home and abroad. At the European Council on 19/20 June, EU Heads of State and Government agreed with the Irish Government’s proposal that they should reflect on the result of the referendum and then submit a report to the European Council in October. In the meantime the Council, including Ireland, has noted that the ratification processes are continuing in all of the other Member States.

Wankers.

[[image:shanacar460.jpg:Fadel Shanas’ car:left:0]]It was never going to be anything else, was it?

The Guardian:

Reuters has said it is “deeply disturbed” that the Israeli military has decided the tank crew that killed one of the news agency’s cameramen and eight young bystanders in the Gaza Strip four months ago will not face legal action.

Israel’s senior military advocate-general told the London-based news agency in a letter sent on Tuesday that the official report into the incident concluded that troops could not see whether Reuters’ Fadal Shana, 24, was operating a camera or a weapon.
…
In the letter to Reuters, Brigadier General Avihai Mendelblit, the IDF’s advocate-general, wrote: “The tank crew was unable to determine the nature of the object mounted on the tripod and positively identify it as an anti-tank missile, a mortar or a television camera.”…and the fact that Shana and his soundman were wearing body armour, “common to Palestinian terrorists”, as reasons for the tank crew being suspicious of his activities.

Some other things “common to Palestinian terrorists”: driving cars, travelling around in groups of 2 or more, wearing clothes, carrying things, eating and breathing.

Zionist cunts.

The Reg:

The government has failed to meet a deadline to respond to European Commission questions over the UK’s handling of BT’s allegedly illegal secret trials of Phorm’s ISP-level adware and its planned rollout of the system to millions of subscribers

Media Matters:

Coveted assignments for presidential debate moderators were handed out last week, and guess who was left off the list … again.

After suffering the bitter, and unprecedented, blow during the Democratic primary season of having candidates refuse — twice — to appear in Fox News-sponsored forums when bloggers raised hell about the news organization’s lack of legitimacy, Rupert Murdoch’s news channel was again left off the list of news anchors tapped to moderate the must-see TV events in the fall.

Heh!

Lenins’ Tomb:

The ubiquitous “analysts” are also agreed that this crisis has checked NATO’s eastward expansion for the time being. However, this doesn’t mean the crisis is over. The longer term effect of this war will be to sharpen the struggle for energy resources and to increase America’s determination to somehow rein in the local power. Russia will almost certainly throw its weight around a lot more in the Caucasus and Central Asia, probably arming and subsidising local proxies. America and those who support it globally will flood regional allies with weapons and money, build up the ‘lily-pads’, support any potentially secessionist current within Russia, anything that might be destabilising and drain resources, try to lure the country into a war it can’t win, and so on. In short, as I’ve said, we’ve just watched the world become more dangerous. Those who thought it would improve stability if US power was ‘balanced’ by two, three, many imperialisms were mistaken. Watch the arms race resume, see that new generation of nuclear weapons proliferate, observe as the mini-conflicts and conflagrations sponsored by different players leave thousands dead, and witness the deadly escalation in global tensions… and then you’ll see what I mean.

Ordinarily, a reaction of “fuck ’em. If they [people in a foreign land] want to build shoddy stuff, so what.” would suffice. But Nuclear fallout doesn’t stick to international borders.

Greenpeace: Nuclear Reaction:

Documents seen by Greenpeace show that French company Areva is failing to implement vital safety procedures in the troubled construction of its prototype European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR) in Olkiluoto, Finland. As well as being 2-3 years behind schedule, 70 per cent over budget, and experiencing 1,500 construction defects along with a damaging fire, the reactor’s safety cannot be guaranteed.

The documents show that, during the construction of the steel framework in the base of the the world’s largest nuclear reactor, welders had no specifications as to how the welding should be properly performed for an entire year and, furthermore, tests to ensure the quality of the welding have not been carried out

Via