My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Thursday, October 30

The Quiet Man Slienced as the witless and lacklustre IDS rolls on towards oblivion. It was a lovely picture as he came out to resign, surrounded by the plotters, Howard, May and Ancram. There was something genuine there, his wife has never looked so happy.

And not, the Tory MP's are in a state of cold war against their own party.

The party voted for IDS, the MP's killed him. And now, the MP's will plot and intrigue to ensure one objective common to all wings and factions........ There can be only one..... contender.

They will do their utmost to ensure the new leader is NOT decided by the party at large, and the only way they can do that is to fix it. And that is what they're doing.

I, don't blame them. The party membership is basically ga-ga. They chose the hapless IDS over Portillo and Clarke.

posted by quarsan at 07:08 ... permalink

Tuesday, October 28

What The Butler Saw, well, wasn't much after all.... The Mirror seems to have wimped out from the biggest revelations. The Guardian tries to piece the clues together and comes up with a blank:

"According to the Mail on Sunday and most of yesterday's dailies, the reason Princes William and Harry urged the former butler to withhold publication of his book wasn't (as we were previously led to believe) that they were wounded by him tarnishing their mother's memory but that they feared he would disclose a royal secret so "shocking" and "disgusting" that it would cause irreparable damage to the monarchy. The secret evidently concerns a sex act involving a Palace servant and a high-ranking royal - supposedly attested to by the valet George Smith on a tape which Princess Diana made shortly before her death."

If you really want to know, he saw, allegedly, Prince Andrew getting a blow job from a footman. Whoop-de-doop. The bigger scandal of poor George getting raped by Charles's top aide was, discretely dealt with. I bet most people don't even remember that one.

But he says diana left one final secret, but he won't say what it is..... My guess is it concerns the paternity of Prince Harry, who certainly appears to take after James Hewitt, and not our dear Charles.

Ho hum. We can't even work up much excitement over royal scandals these days. They're about as relavent as Ian Duncan Smith.

posted by quarsan at 08:48 ... permalink

Sunday, October 26

I Confess I'm really missing Quickos. I haven't heard from him since he left for India. I do hope he's alright......

posted by quarsan at 08:51 ... permalink

Saturday, October 25

Is This Britain's Most Cretinous MP? Derek Wyatt, Chairman of the All-Party Internet Group has just returned from a trip to Washington where they've been looking at the spam problem. Here's a quote from him in their press release:

Derek Wyatt, Chairman of the All-Party Internet Group said,

"As 90% of all spamming emails originate in the USA, we must try and persuade our political colleagues in Washington that their current opt-out system might just ensure that the internet becomes blocked forever which will push up costs and act as a major disincentive to use."

Oh No! The internet is going to be blocked..... forever.

But the award for sheer idiocy in the face of reality is awarded to him for his own proposal to eliminate spam. Take a deep breath and gaze into the abyss that is Derek's intellect. It is an idea that is simple to propose, but impossible to put into practice, and if put into practice, totally unworkable.

"MP suggests solution to Spam

Following his visit to Washington DC as Chairman of the all party internet group Derek Wyatt MP thinks that small changes to email addresses could stop spam.

His suggestions run along the following lines Current email address is: derekwyatt@aol.com

New address would be:derekwyatt@aol.swiaoaa.co.uk

Sw1aoaa being his postcode and .co.uk so that we know where the email has come from so an end to .com though .com.uk would be fine.

Since some, especially children, might balk at giving their postcode in an email the postcode can be exchanged for a pin number so:

derekwyatt@aol.123456.co.uk or derekwyatt@aol.123456.com.uk

The pin code is held by the Information Commissioner's Office

ISPs would have to be persuaded of the need to resolve jurisdiction of emails(14th Amendment US constitution) and if they can't then EU and other governments would legislate.

So spammers would be traceable by postcode or pin number and country of origin .

MP welcomes comments to these suggestions
wyattd@parliament.uk"

I am not making this up. This is a direct c&p from his own website, and this from the Chairman of the All-Parliamentary Internet Group - thanks to need to know

posted by quarsan at 09:23 ... permalink

Monday, October 20

The Beat Goes On I see that the Reverend Blair saw an advance copy of the Hutton report.....

posted by quarsan at 21:21 ... permalink

Friday, October 17

Who's The Daddy? for the second year, the Guardian are running the Best British Blogger competition. I was against the idea last year, and they've found a way of making it even worse this year. They've split the prize into six categories - with no overall winner. Funny, they didn't rename the competition to Best Baker's Dozen Blogger.

But it really is a stupid idea - I suspect it has more to do with propping up the Guardian Online than the blogosphere.

What has happened in blogland is that as bloggers reach out to other blogs they like, neighbourhoods have sprung up. and these are neighbourhoods where people really know and support each other. The Guardian doesn't appear to notice this.

Neither do the Guardian notice the international nature of the blogosphere. For only those blessed with residence in dear old Blighty are included. The many Brits living abroad are excluded. So, it's not even the British award.

They decided to continue something that is fundamentally divisive, something that puts bloggers in competition with each other. How very Thatcherite.

And all this for a total of three grand in prize money.

The Guardian have claimed this is an experiment to promote Blogging. It is not. If they wanted to promote blogging, they could start by promoting the diversity of blogging. How about a blog of the day instead?

And their six, clunky categories are just stupid.

What about a photoblog that is 50% well written words? Does that win best written? best photos? What about a blog that is a bit of everything? They are, to all intent, barred from entering.

Perhaps the Guardian could start by explaining how this competition is going to promote blogging, or explain why they haven't listened to a word of what many in the blogosphere have said. Untill then we must assume that these well meaning people just do not understand the blogworld and are just trying to promote their pay-for online services.

posted by quarsan at 07:43 ... permalink

Sunday, October 12

So, I planned a quiet week..... and it isn't going to work out like that. First of all I was picked to be a guest blogger on Troubled Diva, starting tomorrow. This was great news. I've been reading Mike for a long time and really enjoy his blog. It is, frankly a much better and more interesting blog than this one. So, there I was feeling pleased that I had been honoured with a place on the team when.....

I suddenly get some work, doing a complete re-wrrite of a website for a client In ten days. Starting Monday. In addition to this I have this blog, which I am trying to make more interesting and loads of Quickos's adventures to write up.

Doesn't look like I'll get much time to play with my new aquisition this week either.

posted by quarsan at 21:26 ... permalink

Thursday, October 9

Condoms Spread AIDS according to the Vatican

"The president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, told the programme: "The Aids virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom."

So, let's get this straight: the Vatican is against condoms because they are a contraceptive, but the cardinal above says sperm, nevermind the HIV, can pass through the condom. So how can they be a contraceptive?

But I have heard all the claims made in the article with my own ears, by several African priests. Indeed there have been several instances I have known personally about priests giving such sermons.

And when they are doing it in places that have a 60% HIV infection rate...... well one must form the opinion that there is something wrong in Rome. Indeed, when compating these lies with the behaviour of Catholic priests in Africa - and a Vatican report recently said the level of rape, paedophilia and abuse committed by their priests was so high, the only solution was to dismiss EVERY SINGLE ONE of them and start again - there is only one conclusion to be made: The Catholic Church is a crime against humanity.

posted by quarsan at 07:01 ... permalink

Wednesday, October 8

So, it's Arnie as California gives the rest of us a scare and a snigger. But, it does at least show up the hypocrisy of the Republican right of sensible:

Sexual abuse of women is fine for Arnie, but not for Bill Clinton, who must face a campaign to be removed from office
Drug taking in the past is fine for Arnie, but not for Bill Clinton
Financial skullduggery is fine for Arnie and his Enron pals, but not for Bill and Whitewater.
Praising Hitler ans SS man Waldheim, is fine for Arnie and something Bill hasn't done.

The point is that the hard right are just nasty, nasty people. Those of us in the UK remember the Conservative Future - a collection of pimply Nigels and Henriettas that are now the backbone of the party now.

posted by quarsan at 07:29 ... permalink

Tuesday, October 7

Delivering Beer In Cameroon is an exceptionally well written article, that tells a fascinating tale of a trip on a Cameroon beer lorry that illustrates some African realities. Read it here.

posted by quarsan at 10:12 ... permalink

Wednesday, October 1

Exactly why Blair is evil... In his own words.

I was really trying to move away from Iraq and Blair. But I just can't. He offends me so much, I just have to explain why. Please bear with me.

Here is a quote from his sermon:

"Imagine you are PM. And you receive this intelligence. And not just about Iraq. But about the whole murky trade in WMD. And one thing we know. Not from intelligence. But from historical fact. That Saddam's regime has not just developed but used such weapons gassing thousands of his own people. And has lied about it consistently, concealing it for years even under the noses of the UN Inspectors.

And I see the terrorism and the trade in WMD growing. And I look at Saddam's country and I see its people in torment ground underfoot by his and his sons' brutality and wickedness. So what do I do? Say "I've got the intelligence but I've a hunch its wrong?" Leave Saddam in place but now with the world's democracies humiliated and him emboldened?"

The fact that he would make the same decision again, MUST be grounds to remove him from power. It is the proof that he has learned nothing from the WMD fiasco.

If, indeed he had the intelligence, perhaps he could share it with us. What you do, Mr Blair, is work with the UN. Not take it upon yourself to cure the world's ills.

But what truly revolted me about his speech is this:

"During the past months on Iraq, I have received letter from parents whose sons have died as soldiers. One believing their son had died in vain and hating me for my decision. Another, a beautiful letter, said they thought Iraq was the right thing to do and though their son was dead, whom they loved dearly, they still thought it was right."

So, if your son dies and you ask the man responsible for lying about the reasons for it to explain himself, you can be dismissed, but if you say you agree with him it is beautiful.

What a perverse definition of the word beautiful. I truly feel sickened by this remark. Repulsed.

And, if that is not enough, consider Blair on education:

"The new school, its new attitude was summed up by one young student who told me she had been badgering her mum all week to buy an alarm-clock, as she was scared of sleeping in case she missed a single lesson. What better symbol of the opportunities we are giving our children. "

So, on the one hand we have Blair claiming his policies are a success on the basis of one conversation with a solitary pupil, who may, or may not exist against the fact that 3,500 teachers were made redundant because of Blair's not giving schools enough cash to pay their wages.

posted by quarsan at 21:51 ... permalink

Rejoice, Rejoice for it looks like The Reverend Blair's role-model might be kicking the bucket soon. Thatcher fears hastened Moore's exit:

"Charles Moore's decision to step down as editor of the Daily Telegraph after eight years was hastened by fears for the health of Lady Thatcher, the subject of a voluminous biography he is writing....

He has already been paid a ?750,000 advance for the book, which will not be published until after the death of the former prime minister, and he is anxious to spend more time on his interviews with Lady Thatcher."

There is no time to waste, get sharpening those stakes and polish up your dancing shoes.

posted by quarsan at 19:58 ... permalink

The Onion Or Real? You be the judge:

Charlton Heston awarded Charlton Heston Award

"Actor Charlton Heston has been given the first Charlton Heston award, a new prize handed out by the American Film Institute (AFI) saluting acting talent."

posted by quarsan at 15:26 ... permalink

the weblog

my life in the bush of ghosts is a ground breaking 1982 album by david byrne and brian eno, who took the title from a novel by amos tutuola.

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