Enemies of Reason:
Let’s get the X-Factor out of the way first. It was creaking when it was created, a hotch-potch of the Pop Idol format slung together with a few bells and whistles that weren’t, as it turned out, enough to save it from the threat of legal action for being, well, essentially Pop Idol, but with a few bits tacked on the side. It was a Ford Mondeo with a Ferrari badge on the front. It relies on a clapped-out ‘audition’ section combining the truly awful, deluded and borderline special needs contestants who go home crying, with the epiphanous revelation of ‘the contenders’, who tell their lachrymose backstories to a schmaltzily pitiful glurge soundtrack to try and make you go “Awww, innit sweet, innit sad”. Fuck off! It’s a turd-stained toilet bowl of light entertainment. Ooh, here are the loonies, look! They think they’re good, but they’re not! (Well yes of course they do. They’ve been through seven bloody auditions already before they got in front of the cameras, at each of which they’ve been told to stay behind, all the time seeing half-decent singers get booted off for not being televisual enough) And here are the great ones! Aren’t they rounded human beings with sad little stories to keep you rooting for them all the way to the fucking dismal Simon Cowell dirge Christmas Number One piece of fetid dirty wank that will play over slow-motion highlights of the winner’s ‘journey’ from audition to ticker-tape celebration! Do me a fucking favour. Get the fucking Generation Game back on, Game for a Laugh, Blind Date, Jesus anything, even Jim cunting Davidson was better than this, any fucking thing other than this dogshit. Do the country a favour and crash those fucking helicopters at the start of the show, sparing us any more of Cowell’s beaming monotooth or Tweedy’s perfect dimples. Fuck! Off! Now!
‘Nuff said, really.
Via
Well, where the fuck to start?
DK has done a post about Paul Gadd/Gary Glitter. And to be honest, DK has shown himself to be a bit of a cunt. He starts off saying he thought the point was we punished people
for the bad things that they have done and then, when they have served their term, they are free to go: until they re-offend—if they re-offend—they are free.
That is correct. Do your time and usually that is it. Whether your a murderer or a shoplifter, your previous crimes cannot be counted against you.
But.
Some crimes are so serious that there has to be conditions imposed upon release from custody. For example, murderers are on license for the rest of there lives (page 3, item 6 [pdf]). It is arguable that murder is the ultimate crime, deliberately taking a life, and so these people need keeping an eye on.
The same for paedophiles. These people completely fuck up the lives of others for their own pleasure. How can a five, ten or twelve year old give consent to what a paedophile wants? They don’t know their arse from their elbow at that age.
Unfortunately, with all the bloody parents who simply cannot be arsed to look after their brood screaming “what about the chiiiiiildren?”
Fuck you. You fucking cunt. I would now go on about hoping that some sick fuck comes along and fucks your kids, when you have some, in various ways while you think they are safe and sound at nursery while you’re at work or your best fucking mate does unspeakable things to them when babysitting while you’re out for the evening.
But I won’t because I’m not a cunt.
In todays world, a parent cannot stand on their own two feet independentley, with or without tax credits or child allowance, without handing over their child to other people. Some have the luxury of having family to look after the offspring, but even that doesn’t always guarantee a happy ending.
Most people have to employ, yes DK, employ, not have paid for us, nurseries or childminders. When I leave my child in childcare I am putting the most precious thing in my life in the hands of strangers. So excuse me if I would like paedophiles kept track of and barred from working in those sort of places.
Right, that’s the emotional rant over and ignoring the rest of DKs’ dismissal of parents concerns, justified or not, the post does go have a general theme of ‘is paedophilia a crime or a mental disorder?’.
It is a very good point. Quoting from Carol Sanger (whoever the fuck she is):
If we accept that paedophilia is an illness – and there are reasoned voices who say that it is – then, by definition, we accept it as being beyond the control of its sufferer in exactly the way that we accept schizophrenia. Therefore, we should respond as such: if a man, for reasons not remotely his fault, is posing a risk to others, he should be subject to sectioning under the Mental Health Act, with all the appropriate regret, sympathy and kindness that accompanies such a move. Given the grip of the current bogeyman frenzy, it is hard to see that one playing in Peoria; nevertheless, it would be the only humane response.
If we accept that it is a crime, however, then it is something which the perpetrator can control. He may choose to offend or not, and if he chooses what is unacceptable, again we should respond as such. We catch the bastard, try him, lock him up by way of penalty and then – this is the crucial bit – once he has served his sentence we restore his liberty. In full.
Carol has a good point. But it isn’t as simple as that. For a start no body knows if paedophilia is an illness or just criminal behaviour. If it is found to be a proper mental condition, then section them and cure them of their deviant behaviour. When they come out of their treatment, they will still be monitored, because other peoples mental and physical well being is at risk. Not just anyone, but the most vulnerable, the people in our society least well equipped to deal with it or defend themselves through physical resistance or knowing where to go for help.
If it’s shown that paedophiles just like fucking kids, then they should still be monitored on their release. These guys know it is against the law, they know it fucks kids up mentally, yet they still do it. will face prison for it. I don’t give a shit if they can’t make proper relationships, if they didn’t get enough love from their mother when they were kids. Why should my kids be the ones that proves that Mr Cunty is not a reformed character? It’s not like a fucking joyrider or burglar.
Another of this Carol womans’ quotes:
Putting children in danger outweighs almost any other consideration – except, perhaps, the danger of the precedent set by singling out one identifiable group and excluding it from the principles of law that apply to all others.
The principle of law is that everyone is treated equally, that two people who commit similar crimes receive similar treatment, one is not treated differently because of class or colour or nationality, that a sentence is passed upon the crime and not the person.
A burglar gets treated differently to a dope smoker, who gets treated differently to a counterfeiter, who gets treated differently to an assassin.
But all this appears to go by-the-by where the fucking chiiiiildren are concerned. But this is to debase our justice system and ourselves. As Sanger says at the finale…
The solution, therefore, is either to declare all those on the sex offenders register to be unwell and apply open-ended treatment, compassionately, according to the severity of their condition – or to declare them criminals, take our several pounds of flesh and let them go. Mad or bad. But we can’t, in conscience, have it both ways.
So you pick.
Yes I fucking can. And until someone comes up with a better way I will have it both ways.
DK quoting Tamsin Dunwoody from somewhere else:
Tamsin Dunwoody, Labour’s unsuccessful candidate at the recent by-election caused by the death of her mother Gwyneth, tells Mandrake that she will not put her name forward for the general election.
“It’s the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my political life,” she says. “I’d love to have done it, but the simple truth is that I can’t physically afford to move up there from west Wales with my five children and give the seat my full-time commitment.”
She adds: “I’ve not been able to find a job since losing my seat in the Welsh Assembly a year ago and I don’t have a pot of gold, so I can’t just go off and do what I want. People don’t like to employ ex-politicians, especially Labour ones like me who might unionise.”
Fucking good.
I saw her on the telly during bye-election and she came across as a smug, self-satisfied piece of shit.
We need less like her.
No, not that one , or that one, but the Chinese one that’s dealing with the Olympics:
- The telecast of sports events will be live [but] in case of emergencies, no print is allowed to report on it.
- 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.
- Be careful with religious and ethnic subjects.
- Don’t make fuss about foreign leaders at the opening ceremony, especially in relation to seat arrangements or their private lives.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- All food saftey (sic) issues, such as cancer-causing mineral water, is off-limits. [They have carcenogenic fucking mineral water?!]
- In regard to the three protest parks, no interviews and coverage is allowed.
- No fuss about the rehearsals on August 2,5. No negative comments about the opening ceremony. [They’re very sensitive, they are]
- No mention of the Lai Changxing case. [Who?]
- No mention of those who illegally enter China.
- 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.
- If anything related to territorial dispute happens, make no fuss about it. Play down the Myanmar issue; play down the Takeshima island dispute.
- 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.
- Be very careful with TV ratings, only use domestic body’s figures. Play it down when rating goes down.
- In case of an emergency involving foreign tourists, please follow the official line. If there’s no official line, stay away from it.
- Re possible subway accidents in the capital, please follow the official line. [Are they expecting any subway accidents?]
- Be positive on security measures. [Or yours will be compromised. Possibly]
- Be very careful with stock market coverage during the Games.
- 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
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.
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
