Olympic opening opus...

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Well, maybe not an opus but certainly worth a read: the whole article is spot on IMHO: Ian Birrel in the Evening Standard: "After Danny Boyle’s rose-tinted NHS homage, Coalition attempts at its essential overhaul could be political suicide"...

"Meanwhile the case for reform grows more urgent, the funding choices more stark. Ironically, the end result is that a sentimental segment of an otherwise exhilarating Olympic ceremony will only make it that much harder to save the very institution put on show with such pride to the world."

Update: and just in case any of you were in doubt*: "Labour politicians yesterday hailed the Olympic opening ceremony as a ‘socialist’ event and ‘the best advert for the party for years".



*What did anyone expect from a Marxist?

Olympic opening opus...

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Well, maybe not an opus but certainly worth a read: the whole article is spot on IMHO: Ian Birrel in the Evening Standard: "After Danny Boyle’s rose-tinted NHS homage, Coalition attempts at its essential overhaul could be political suicide"...

"Meanwhile the case for reform grows more urgent, the funding choices more stark. Ironically, the end result is that a sentimental segment of an otherwise exhilarating Olympic ceremony will only make it that much harder to save the very institution put on show with such pride to the world."

Update: and just in case any of you were in doubt*: "Labour politicians yesterday hailed the Olympic opening ceremony as a ‘socialist’ event and ‘the best advert for the party for years".

*What did anyone expect from a Marxist?

Olympic opening...

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I hope Umbongo doesn't mind: "After the display of highly selective British history, M. Dupont turned to me and remarked “C’est formidable mais ou sont les Anglais?”. Update: but they weren't 'leftie' says Boris.

Olympic opening...

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I hope Umbongo doesn't mind: "After the display of highly selective British history, M. Dupont turned to me and remarked “C’est formidable mais ou sont les Anglais?”. Update: but they weren't 'leftie' says Boris.

Olympian oaf...

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Bad language warning. If ever proof were needed that Mark Serwotka, general secretary of Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union is not only a cunt but also a complete dumb-arse fuckwit surely this is it: "I think the government is whipping up hysteria about the Olympics, there'll be no disruption to the Olympics, this is a 24-hour strike before the Olympics actually takes place"...worth noting only 11% (57% of 20% turnout) of all members voted for strike action. The bus drivers were going to go on strike, some train drivers ARE going to strike and now this. 

Olympian oaf...

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Bad language warning. If ever proof were needed that Mark Serwotka, general secretary of Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union is not only a cunt but also a complete dumb-arse fuckwit surely this is it: "I think the government is whipping up hysteria about the Olympics, there'll be no disruption to the Olympics, this is a 24-hour strike before the Olympics actually takes place"...worth noting only 11% (57% of 20% turnout) of all members voted for strike action. The bus drivers were going to go on strike, some train drivers ARE going to strike and now this. 

Outgoing opportunities...

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[Edited - 'dead' image removed]
...36 degrees centigrade today, 41 in the car. Back in my old haunts for a bit I was catching up on last week's outrage and was surprised to read this today: "Catalonia has become, for the first time ever, the main area of emigration".



This really is a bad sign; one of the main drivers - if not the powerhouse - of the Spanish economy is seeing a fall in it's lifeblood. 

Outgoing opportunities...

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[Edited - 'dead' image removed] ...36 degrees centigrade today, 41 in the car. Back in my old haunts for a bit I was catching up on last week's outrage and was surprised to read this today: "Catalonia has become, for the first time ever, the main area of emigration".

This really is a bad sign; one of the main drivers - if not the powerhouse - of the Spanish economy is seeing a fall in it's lifeblood. 

Outgoing opportunities...

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...36 degrees centigrade today, 41 in the car. Back in my old haunts for a bit I was catching up on last week's outrage and was surprised to read this today: "Catalonia has become, for the first time ever, the main area of emigration".

This really is a bad sign; one of the main drivers - if not the powerhouse - of the Spanish economy is seeing a fall in it's lifeblood. 

Ongoing omissions...

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Omissions, not emissions! The BBC continue to omit half of many stories (when they feel like it): usually the bits damaging to the Coalition are not omitted and anything bigging-up Labour (but not mentioning 13 years of New Labour) is always trumpeted (fine example here, WTF?) Today's half truths: "Government criticised as deaths on UK roads go up" [Link] (and screen shot to observe stealth edits). What's omitted? Well first there's the usual tactic of putting the bad stuff 'above the line': "The government has been criticised for a lack of leadership after the first increase in road deaths for nearly a decade"..."Our correspondent says the coalition ditched national targets when it came to power..." 8 paragraphs of this followed by the sub heading "Shocking": then you have to scroll down and see at least some of the real story.
"Road deaths might have gone up but – with the exception of last year – the number of people killed or seriously hurt on our roads still remains the lowest since national records began."...and the 'Shocking' is in fact "It is shocking that road accidents are the main cause of death among young adults aged 16-24...". OK so they put it but at the end you say but less than one minute 'research' by Ows reveals that the rise is only due to the fact that there was a massive fall in 2010 (over 15% down with traffic levels 2% down that year). Click on image to enlarge clear downward trend...I won't politicise the near flat-lining years on that graph.

Ongoing omissions...

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Omissions, not emissions! The BBC continue to omit half of many stories (when they feel like it): usually the bits damaging to the Coalition are not omitted and anything bigging-up Labour (but not mentioning 13 years of New Labour) is always trumpeted (fine example here, WTF?) Today's half truths: "Government criticised as deaths on UK roads go up" [Link] (and screen shot to observe stealth edits). What's omitted? Well first there's the usual tactic of putting the bad stuff 'above the line': "The government has been criticised for a lack of leadership after the first increase in road deaths for nearly a decade"..."Our correspondent says the coalition ditched national targets when it came to power..." 8 paragraphs of this followed by the sub heading "Shocking": then you have to scroll down and see at least some of the real story. "Road deaths might have gone up but – with the exception of last year – the number of people killed or seriously hurt on our roads still remains the lowest since national records began."...and the 'Shocking' is in fact "It is shocking that road accidents are the main cause of death among young adults aged 16-24...". OK so they put it but at the end you say but less than one minute 'research' by Ows reveals that the rise is only due to the fact that there was a massive fall in 2010 (over 15% down with traffic levels 2% down that year). Click on image to enlarge clear downward trend...I won't politicise the near flat-lining years on that graph.

Orinoco overflow...

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Classic: "The Upside Down World of Venezuelan Economics" [Link] in picture form (click image to enlarge). The banner promotion is 'free petrol with car wash'...they're not joking either: the petrol price hasn't changed for about 13 years and even before it was far too cheap; you may recall my latest experience of this last year when we paid a dollar for 43 litres (well, 50 cents really). Connected to this is possibly the worst solution to stop the smuggling of the cheaper-than-water fluid to Colombia: rationing?



Update: this isn't surprising either: 'Concentration and Abuse of Power Under Chávez', the Human Rights Watch report released today.

Orinoco overflow...

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Classic: "The Upside Down World of Venezuelan Economics" [Link] in picture form (click image to enlarge). The banner promotion is 'free petrol with car wash'...they're not joking either: the petrol price hasn't changed for about 13 years and even before it was far too cheap; you may recall my latest experience of this last year when we paid a dollar for 43 litres (well, 50 cents really). Connected to this is possibly the worst solution to stop the smuggling of the cheaper-than-water fluid to Colombia: rationing?

Update: this isn't surprising either: 'Concentration and Abuse of Power Under Chávez', the Human Rights Watch report released today.

Ocean's 'ogre'...

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"That's a twenty footer." "Twenty-five." replied Quint. 'They're going to need a bigger boat'. In 1975 the first film to have a real effect on a young Ows was Jaws. I liked to fish and liked the sea and I had read the book long before the highest-grossing film in history at the time came to town on a wave of 'hysterical' media stories of it literally keeping people out of the water (I also have a very personal link to Jaws 2...something I've mentioned before [that post that will give you a hint as to my opinion of a 'death order' for any shark, ogre or not]). The superb and ominous soundtrack helped Jaws become 'one of the greatest films of all time'. And now it's being remade and produced by Robert Rodriquez, that tells you what it will be like ...bloody brilliant (see what I did there?).



The sad irony is that Jaws is being played out for real in Western Australia: with Ben Linden the fifth person killed by a shark off WA's coast in less than a year: the latest victim of Brutus; "If something is in the four to five metre vicinity and it's a white shark - which is the description we've got from witnesses - you make the assumption that it could be the same shark."

Ocean's 'ogre'...

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"That's a twenty footer." "Twenty-five." replied Quint. 'They're going to need a bigger boat'. In 1975 the first film to have a real effect on a young Ows was Jaws. I liked to fish and liked the sea and I had read the book long before the highest-grossing film in history at the time came to town on a wave of 'hysterical' media stories of it literally keeping people out of the water (I also have a very personal link to Jaws 2...something I've mentioned before [that post that will give you a hint as to my opinion of a 'death order' for any shark, ogre or not]). The superb and ominous soundtrack helped Jaws become 'one of the greatest films of all time'. And now it's being remade and produced by Robert Rodriquez, that tells you what it will be like ...bloody brilliant (see what I did there?).

The sad irony is that Jaws is being played out for real in Western Australia: with Ben Linden the fifth person killed by a shark off WA's coast in less than a year: the latest victim of Brutus; "If something is in the four to five metre vicinity and it's a white shark - which is the description we've got from witnesses - you make the assumption that it could be the same shark."

Ominous Olympian oversight...

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The crazy situation with security firm GS4 (they are "very, very disappointed and embarrassed") now has the media spotlight firmly on safety issues: one employee for G4S says he believes "there is a 50-50 chance someone could carry a bomb into one of the Olympic venues." It is certainly worrying that during intensive training to operate X-ray machines - the primary purpose of which is to detect lethal weapons and explosives - "failed to spot decommissioned hand-grenades and firearms during a test"...oops.

Ominous Olympian oversight...

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The crazy situation with security firm GS4 (they are "very, very disappointed and embarrassed") now has the media spotlight firmly on safety issues: one employee for G4S says he believes "there is a 50-50 chance someone could carry a bomb into one of the Olympic venues." It is certainly worrying that during intensive training to operate X-ray machines - the primary purpose of which is to detect lethal weapons and explosives - "failed to spot decommissioned hand-grenades and firearms during a test"...oops.

Obscene oligarchy...

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Time to dust off the 'Le rasoir national', the 'capital' device invented by Dr Joseph Ignance Guillotin: he suggested this beheading device with the intent of creating a socially equal form of capital punishment; they don't deserve the honour but it sounds just the job for swollen headed pretentious nonentities with a penchant for sapping and clawing their unearned wealth from the worn and blistered hands of toiling, hard-done-by, persecuted Euro taxpayers. No, not the casino bankers but Eurocrats! Last week saw the judgement (EUR-Lex) from proceedings that started towards the end of 2010:  Michel Bourges-Maunoury and Marie-Louise Heintz (married and retired Eurocrats) went to Court of Justice to avoid tax; the operative part of the ruling is "On those grounds, the Court (Third Chamber) hereby rules:

The second paragraph of Article 13 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, initially annexed to the Treaty establishing a single Council and a single Commission of the European Communities, and subsequently, under the Amsterdam Treaty, to the EC Treaty must be interpreted as meaning that it precludes national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings which takes account of the income, including the pensions and allowances on termination of service, paid by the European Union to its officials and other staff, or to its former officials and former staff, in calculating the cap on a tax such as the wealth tax."

Or, as the Express put it: "income paid by the EU and subject to EU tax could not be taxed 'either directly or indirectly by a member state'. It also ruled that recipients were exempt from declaring the amount to national tax authorities." We have our own oligarchic shysters in the form of the Kinnocks (and others) whose MONTHLY combined pension is 33% higher than the ANNUAL income of most single pensioners.

"Recent research showed that European taxpayers are now spending £1billion a year on pensions for retired officials."

Obscene oligarchy...

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Time to dust off the 'Le rasoir national', the 'capital' device invented by Dr Joseph Ignance Guillotin: he suggested this beheading device with the intent of creating a socially equal form of capital punishment; they don't deserve the honour but it sounds just the job for swollen headed pretentious nonentities with a penchant for sapping and clawing their unearned wealth from the worn and blistered hands of toiling, hard-done-by, persecuted Euro taxpayers. No, not the casino bankers but Eurocrats! Last week saw the judgement (EUR-Lex) from proceedings that started towards the end of 2010:  Michel Bourges-Maunoury and Marie-Louise Heintz (married and retired Eurocrats) went to Court of Justice to avoid tax; the operative part of the ruling is "On those grounds, the Court (Third Chamber) hereby rules:

The second paragraph of Article 13 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, initially annexed to the Treaty establishing a single Council and a single Commission of the European Communities, and subsequently, under the Amsterdam Treaty, to the EC Treaty must be interpreted as meaning that it precludes national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings which takes account of the income, including the pensions and allowances on termination of service, paid by the European Union to its officials and other staff, or to its former officials and former staff, in calculating the cap on a tax such as the wealth tax."

Or, as the Express put it: "income paid by the EU and subject to EU tax could not be taxed 'either directly or indirectly by a member state'. It also ruled that recipients were exempt from declaring the amount to national tax authorities." We have our own oligarchic shysters in the form of the Kinnocks (and others) whose MONTHLY combined pension is 33% higher than the ANNUAL income of most single pensioners.

"Recent research showed that European taxpayers are now spending £1billion a year on pensions for retired officials."

Order-order ordure II....

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[Edited: 'dead' image removed]
No, not Guido's shit but the shits in Parliament; there is no defence so all the waffle is Balls. "Guido noticed that defending the Brown era of financial regulation on the Opposition front bench were; Brown’s former SpAd Ed Miliband, Brown’s closest aide and henchman Ed Balls, as well as Chris Leslie, Brown’s (uncontested) leadership campaign manager."  I'm hoping the circling domestic fowl will be landing on their perches soon.

Order-order ordure II....

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[Edited: 'dead' image removed] No, not Guido's shit but the shits in Parliament; there is no defence so all the waffle is Balls. "Guido noticed that defending the Brown era of financial regulation on the Opposition front bench were; Brown’s former SpAd Ed Miliband, Brown’s closest aide and henchman Ed Balls, as well as Chris Leslie, Brown’s (uncontested) leadership campaign manager."  I'm hoping the circling domestic fowl will be landing on their perches soon.

Order-order ordure II....

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No, not Guido's shit but the shits in Parliament; there is no defence so all the waffle is Balls. "Guido noticed that defending the Brown era of financial regulation on the Opposition front bench were; Brown’s former SpAd Ed Miliband, Brown’s closest aide and henchman Ed Balls, as well as Chris Leslie, Brown’s (uncontested) leadership campaign manager."  I'm hoping the circling domestic fowl will be landing on their perches soon.

Olympics only...

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Traffic lanes that is, Chaika lanes: "As anticipated, the "Chaika lanes" are going up all over London. The road markings were painted last night and adjustments to traffic lights will begin this week."

[EU Referendum].

Olympics only...

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Traffic lanes that is, Chaika lanes: "As anticipated, the "Chaika lanes" are going up all over London. The road markings were painted last night and adjustments to traffic lights will begin this week."
[EU Referendum].

Olé, olé, olé, olé...

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Just over four years ago in Vienna, Cesc Fabregas scored a penalty against Italy that put Spain into the semi finals of Euro 2008: Spain's first victory over the Italians in a major tournament for the first time since the very first time the teams first met! That victory was still 'only' after a penalty shootout, "so the official records still show that the Spanish have only registered one victory in a major finals over the Azzurri: their first-ever meeting at the 1920 Olympics." [Guardian] Since then the Italians have shown who's boss time after time...so tonight history was on the side of the Italians: history got stuffed; like so many things when faced with what is surely the best team ever to grace a football field. And to finish on one twitter comment on the BBC's (click on image) online commentary: "The reign of Spain continues in Ukraine..."

Olé, olé, olé, olé...

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Just over four years ago in Vienna, Cesc Fabregas scored a penalty against Italy that put Spain into the semi finals of Euro 2008: Spain's first victory over the Italians in a major tournament for the first time since the very first time the teams first met! That victory was still 'only' after a penalty shootout, "so the official records still show that the Spanish have only registered one victory in a major finals over the Azzurri: their first-ever meeting at the 1920 Olympics." [Guardian] Since then the Italians have shown who's boss time after time...so tonight history was on the side of the Italians: history got stuffed; like so many things when faced with what is surely the best team ever to grace a football field. And to finish on one twitter comment on the BBC's (click on image) online commentary: "The reign of Spain continues in Ukraine..."

Ousting offers Orinoco opportunity...

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[Edited: 'dead' image/video removed]
The latest MERCOSUR summit ended this weekend: held in Mendoza Argentina local artist Filippo Norberto gifted each leader a portrait (click on image for the others). At the summit there were 'two major regional shifts': Venezuela was finally allowed entry, something not managed beforehand because founder member Paraguay had always vetoed it; luckily, beforehand, the other members had decided to suspend Paraguay after the senate there ousted (by almost unanimous decision) the incumbent president. This squeezing in of Venezuela by hook or by crook (see cartoon in that link) seems more about settling accounts. The previous links are in Spanish: for a good and brief summary in English go HERE (by Michael Soltys of the Buenos Aires Herald).

Ousting offers Orinoco opportunity...

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[Edited: 'dead' image/video removed] The latest MERCOSUR summit ended this weekend: held in Mendoza Argentina local artist Filippo Norberto gifted each leader a portrait (click on image for the others). At the summit there were 'two major regional shifts': Venezuela was finally allowed entry, something not managed beforehand because founder member Paraguay had always vetoed it; luckily, beforehand, the other members had decided to suspend Paraguay after the senate there ousted (by almost unanimous decision) the incumbent president. This squeezing in of Venezuela by hook or by crook (see cartoon in that link) seems more about settling accounts. The previous links are in Spanish: for a good and brief summary in English go HERE (by Michael Soltys of the Buenos Aires Herald).

Ousting offers Orinoco opportunity...

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The latest MERCOSUR summit ended this weekend: held in Mendoza Argentina local artist Filippo Norberto gifted each leader a portrait (click on image for the others). At the summit there were 'two major regional shifts': Venezuela was finally allowed entry, something not managed beforehand because founder member Paraguay had always vetoed it; luckily, beforehand, the other members had decided to suspend Paraguay after the senate there ousted (by almost unanimous decision) the incumbent president. This squeezing in of Venezuela by hook or by crook (see cartoon in that link) seems more about settling accounts. The previous links are in Spanish: for a good and brief summary in English go HERE (by Michael Soltys of the Buenos Aires Herald).