Wilson's Blogmanac

WMD inspectors were not expelled from Iraq

Pip — 2006-11-13T22:25:00Z

1998 President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, after having ceased to comply with UN weapons inspectors on October 31, sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan offering to facilitate the inspections. On December 16, Australian Richard Butler, head of the UN weapons inspection team (UNSCOM), withdrew the team from Iraq, to protect his staff from the air strikes that the US and UK governments were threatening.

From that day on, it became de rigeur for media and politicians to falsely assert that Iraq “expelled the weapons inspectors”, an important falsehood as it is still used as a main pretext for the illegally invasion of the country – the other main one, of course, being the similarly egregious WMDs argument ...

Tagged: un, usa, united+nations, iraq, disinfo, disinformation

Christmas lights ceremony banned for being popular

Pip — 2006-11-13T14:52:00Z

"Ten thousand visitors came in December 2005 - but the fire service says that only a fifth of that number can safely attend.

"So instead of turning families away - or face a compensation claim if someone was injured - council officials have cancelled the event altogether. Organisers suggested ways to make the ceremony next Sunday safer. But a council spokesman said: 'It could still seriously jeopardise the health and safety of those who come.'

"The problems began when North Yorkshire Fire Service claimed the town centre could cope with only 2,000 visitors.

"Scarborough is believed to be the first town to cancel its lights show. The decision has outraged residents, who yesterday condemned it as yet another intrusion of the 'nanny state'."
This London

Tagged: christmas, calendar+customs

Ten Reasons to Impeach Bush and Cheney

Pip — 2006-11-13T14:48:00Z

I support the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for the following reasons:

1. Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal "War of Aggression" against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, and misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization.

2. Violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

3. Violating the Constituton by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without charge, and without access to counsel.

4. Violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.

5. Violating U.S. law and the Constitution through widespread wiretapping of the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant.

6. Violating the Constitution by using "signing statements" to defy hundreds of laws passed by Congress.

7. Violating U.S. and state law by obstructing honest elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.

8. Violating U.S. law by using paid propaganda and disinformation, selectively and misleadingly leaking classified information, and exposing the identity of a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD proliferation for political retribution.

9. Subverting the Constitution and abusing Presidential power by asserting a "Unitary Executive Theory" giving unlimited powers to the President, by obstructing efforts by Congress and the Courts to review and restrict Presidential actions, and by promoting and signing legislation negating the Bill of Rights and the Writ of Habeas Corpus.

10. Gross negligence in failing to assist New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina, in ignoring urgent warnings of an Al Qaeda attack prior to Sept. 11, 2001, and in increasing air pollution causing global warming.
Source

Tagged: impeach, bush

Robert Louis Stevenson

Pip — 2006-11-13T04:57:00Z

1850 Robert Louis Stevenson (d. December 3, 1894), Scottish author (Kidnapped; Treasure Island; The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) who spent some of the last years of his life on the Pacific island of Samoa, originally going there for his health and staying because he loved the 'South Seas'.

He stayed some months in Sydney, Australia in 1890 and on three other visits during the early part of the decade. On one of his visits, with his mother and some in-laws, their party was turned away from at least one Sydney hotel because they appeared to be dishevelled bohemians carrying south sea islands souvenirs and buckets ...

Tagged: scotland, australia, literature, biography

Hugging is illegal, comrades

Pip — 2006-11-13T04:01:00Z

It's a fact that more than six million people have seen Juan Mann's Sydney-filmed Free Hugs video at YouTube, and huge numbers have seen it at Google Video. And while hugs may be catching on around the world just when you thought it was uncool to be a hippie/hugger, the phenomenon is not welcome in -- you guessed it, Communist China.

"Earlier this month, Chinese police swooped in and detained Shanghai huggers, a fate shared by some Beijing arm-spreaders a few weeks before. Reporting for China Daily, Cao Li writes that these participants were brought into custody for lacking a certificate to organize in a public place. Organizers are pessimistic that the powers that be in China will provide proper documentation for future hugathons. 'Why can't we melt the coldness in people's hearts with our hugs?' asked Shanghai organizer Baigu."
AlterNet

Tagged: youtube, video, google, china

Night of Nicnevin (Gyre-Carling), Daughter of Frenzy, Banshee

Pip — 2006-11-10T03:26:00Z

This Scots Pagan festival honours an aspect of the goddess Diana. She rides with her entourage in the night hours of November 9 - 10. Nicnevin, who rode through the night with her followers "at the hinder end of harvest, on old Hallowe'en", as an old Scots poet describes it, made herself visible to mortals on this night ...

Tagged: scotland, pagan, witchcraft, calendar+customs

Polyp cartoons

Pip — 2006-11-05T11:36:00Z

One of my favourite cartoonists is Polyp in New Internationalist (click toons above to enlarge), and I love my much-read copy of Big Bad World. All the latest New Internationalist headlines are at Daily Planet News.

More at Amazon.com

New Internationalist at Amazon

Guy Fawkes Night, UK and New Zealand

Pip — 2006-11-05T06:31:00Z

Guy Fawkes Night (often referred to as Bonfire Night) is celebrated with bonfires and fireworks on November 5, or the closest Friday or Saturday night.

Until the nineteenth century there was a special Church of England service for this commemoration in the Book of Common Prayer. Guy Fawkes Day became a public holiday in 1606 when it was proclaimed by an Act of Parliament. In commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot on this day in 1605, when Guy Fawkes and his comrades tried to blow up King James I and the whole English Parliament, English people still burn a 'guy' in effigy.

Traditionally the guy's cap was made of paper and knotted with ribbon-like paper strips. The dummy carried matches in one hand and a dark lantern in the other. Children would go around the streets asking for money, saying “Please to remember the guy!” In 1850 in Britain there was a strong wave of anti-Catholic sentiment, and the guy was often in the likeness of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster ...

Tagged: calendar+customs, england, christianity

New South Wales Ocean Baths

Pip — 2006-11-05T06:24:00Z

I'm glad I came across New South Wales Ocean Baths, which site I found via Australia's Rainbow Region flickr group. Ocean pools are a lovely part of the NSW coastline. Enjoy the pix at both sites.

That stupid movie trailer guy

Pip — 2006-11-04T06:37:00Z

Who is that stupid-sounding American movie trailer guy (you can here him here) and why is his ridiculous voice on every single show? Does he have throat cancer or something? Can he be stopped?

USA not founded on the Christian religion

Pip — 2006-11-04T05:12:00Z

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, – as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, – and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Treaty between USA and Libya, signed at Tripoli, November 4, 1796, and at Algiers January 3, 1797. Proclaimed by George Washington, the first President of the United States, June 10, 1797

More: Was the USA founded on Christianity?

Tagged: christianity, christian+right, usa

Folklore of Halloween and Samhain

Pip — 2006-10-31T06:20:00Z

Halloween was already an ancient festival of souls 2,000 years ago. It has long been commemorated in countries from Ireland and Poland to Mexico and the Philippines (where trick-or-treating is called Nangangaluluwa, and your chickens are in danger of being purloined).

Halloween customs are relatively new to Australia, but are rapidly establishing themselves. When you come to think of it, every old, cherished custom was once a new-fangled idea, even in the BCE.

The ancient Druids of Britain and Ireland, whose mysteries held sway for centuries before the Romans came to those islands, celebrated a spooky night on October 31. These pagans – Druids, and the Celts in general, of whom they were the priestly class – called it Samhain. In the Northern Hemisphere, the day which falls slap bang between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, is November 1. The eve of Samhain, October 31, was the night the lord of death was said to judge the souls of the departed.

What you could have expected on Samhain eve if you were a suburban Celt or Briton in 300 BCE, was to go to the mall bonfire and watch a neighbour being roasted alive, while you nibbled roast chestnuts with your diet cola. This was an 'end of summer' ceremony, and the druidic priests built a bonfire (bone-fire) to represent the sun which they wished would return, dispelling bitter cold and famine ...

Wilson's Almanac free Halloween e-cards & Samhain e-cards

Tagged: calendar+customs, halloween, e-cards, ecards, samhain, pagan, christian, free

TV GM bans global warming news

Pip — 2006-10-31T05:26:00Z

USA: "The general manager of two TV stations in Maine has ordered his news department to stop covering global warming until 'Bar Harbor is underwater.'"
Monsters and Critics

Our global warming news page and RSS feed
Not everyone is unconcerned about global warming. I've added some new excellent sources to our Climate Change pop-up news page, which you can click at Daily Planet News or from the link in the sidebar of this blog.

If you would like the Almanac's customised global warming RSS feed for your own site or feedreader, here it is: http://feeds.feeddigest.com/globalwarming

Tagged: globalwarming, climatechange, rss, environment

When cornered, blame the victim

Pip — 2006-10-28T21:47:00Z

In Australia, it is widely acknowledged that the provision of dental services for concession card holders has reached crisis point because the federal government, which is a neo-con government, has let it slide -- quite deliberately.

Waiting lists for urgently needed dental treatment have blown out to figures like 27 months. I have been on one such waiting list for more than two and a half years, and two years ago I endured severe pain for one quarter of a year while waiting for treatment.

The front page of my local paper, however, has another theory. The problem, apparently, is caused by the fact that a small percentage of people with appointments don't show up when they should.

Even if this were true, perhaps the "no shows" were too physically or mentally ill to attend their appointment, too poor to travel (the public transport service in my district of Coffs Harbour is woeful and expensive), too poor even to phone. But let's not get carried away with the Advocate's line; the John Howard Government doesn't believe in free health care and would demolish it all if it could. And as long as the public doesn't believe that teeth are part of the body and that health includes dental health, this cynical government (aided by newspapers like this) will get away with it.

Tagged: media, disinfo, disinformation, australia, health