Life of Brian - stoning

From my favourite comedy film.

Mus'ab Hassan Yousef

In a previous post I mentioned the story of Mus'ab Hassan Yousef, son of West Bank Hamas Leader Hassan Yousef, who's converted to Christianity and denounced Hamas in unequivocal terms. In this interview, translated by Memri, he describes how he came to his decision to turn his back on the Islamist organisation his father helped to found.

To view the clip on Memri's website click here or to view a transcript of the interview click here.

Yousef: As a child, I believed that all Muslims are like my father. If you are brought up on Islamic values – how do you turn out? You will be like my father, who is my role model, and whom I love very much. But then, my surprise began. After three days or so, [I began witnessing] greed and avarice, prisoners stealing food from others, prisoners enjoying things that not all prisoners could enjoy, such as visits inside the wings, which were restricted to some leaders of the Islamic movement in the prison. Such things may happen. People may become greedy sometimes, and their faith weakens, and they eat more. This is not our business. But the problematic thing was the interrogation of people suspected of collaborating with Israel. That was one of the most serious things, which led to a fundamental change in my life – not just in my life, but in the lives of many. Beatings, floggings, needles under the fingernails, the melting of plastic on the body, tying people to chairs for days and weeks... Hamas – or to be more precise, the Hamas leadership in prison – all played a role in this. They all praised and applauded the Hamas security apparatus, and even backed them fully when they tortured prisoners. I don't want to mention names. The Palestinian people are unaware of this. To be honest, I am sorry that the Palestinian press, which is supposed to be free, has not shed light on what goes on in prison. These people have made sacrifices. Some of them have been in prison for 20 years. How can you interrogate them, accusing them of collaborating with the occupation? He made sacrifices, just like you and me, and is a human being, like you and me. How can you place yourself above these people, and torture them, flog them, and interrogate them? We are talking about brutal, violent torture. Imagine, all night long... I was only 18 years old, sleeping in my bed under conditions... In a prison of the occupation... But that was not enough – they had to create a prison within the prison, and inflict torture in addition to the [Israeli] torture. For a whole year, I would hear people being tortured screaming all night long. Sometime they interrogated three people at the same time, and they would torture them in the most brutal ways. In approximately three years, no fewer than 16 people were killed. I say to the people of my region, Ramallah, if they are watching this show – who killed brother Muhammad Abu Shaqra? Outside prison, people believed Israel killed him, but in fact, it was Hamas. Later, Hamas paid "blood money" as compensation for its crime.

Man Passes Gas, Charged with Battery on Officer

Taking the Micheal.

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- As if getting a DUI wasn’t enough, a man arrested for driving under the influence got in a lot more trouble at the police station.

Police stopped Jose Cruz on Route 60 in South Charleston Monday night for driving with his headlights off.

Then, he failed sobriety tests and was arrested.

When police were trying to get fingerprints, police say Cruz moved closer to the officer and passed gas on him. The investigating officer remarked in the criminal complaint that the odor was very strong.

Cruz is now charged with battery on a police officer, as well as DUI and obstruction.

Sex Drive with Seth Green

Ahmabobblehead lashes out at U.S., Israel

I see the contemptible Ahmadinejad has been coming out with his usual crap in a speech to the UN. What a wanker.

On a day many other world leaders had focused on ways to emerge from the world financial crisis, Ahmadinejad charged that "Zionists" were at the centre of many aspects of the world economy.

"They have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centres of some European countries and the U.S. in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner," he charged.

Ahmadinejad said Israel - which he typically refers to as the Zionist regime - was on a "definite slope to collapse."

[..]

In an apparent reference to the U.S. presidential race, Ahmadinejad suggested a quest for the Jewish vote leads candidates to offer support to Israel they might not otherwise give.

"It is deeply disastrous to witness that some presidential or premier nominees in some big countries have to visit these people, take part in their gatherings, swear their allegiance and commitment to their interests in order to attain financial or media support," he said.

Cox and Balls

Priceless!

Stevie Ray Vaughan - So Excited

I had tickets to see the great man twice. The first time he collapsed on stage a few days prior to the gig (caused by his drug and alcohol excesses) and was admitted to hospital - he subsequently went into rehab and cleaned himself up. The second time he was killed in a helicopter crash, a couple of months prior, after playing at a blues festival somewhere in America. If my memory serves me correctly the helicopter he boarded was actually meant for Eric Clapton.

The song he's playing here is from a studio album called The Sky is Crying (comprised of songs that never made it onto his previous studio albums), although the studio version is almost unrecognisable from the live version shown. SRV was known for varying, often radically, the way he played any particular song.

Iraqi's warmth to Israel exacts a heavy price

I salute this brave man. In 2005 his 2 sons were killed in what many Iraqi's see was as an assassination attempt on his own life because of a previous visit he'd made to Israel. Undeterred, he visited Israel again, attending an International Institute for counterterrorism conference.

He's now at the center of a political storm, in Iraq, after his fellow Iraqi lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to strip him of his immunity and allow his prosecution for visiting Israel - a crime punishable by death, no less.

It's worth noting that Iraqi children are being and have been treated in Israeli hospitals for all kinds medical conditions.

BAGHDAD (AP) — First his two sons were murdered. Now he faces prosecution. The reason for Mithal al-Alusi's troubles? Visiting Israel and advocating peace with the Jewish state — something Iraq's leaders refuse to consider.

The Iraqi is at the center of a political storm after his fellow lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to strip him of his immunity and allow his prosecution for visiting Israel — a crime punishable by death under a 1950s-era law. Such a fate is unlikely for al-Alusi, though he may lose his party's sole seat in parliament.

Because he had visited Israel, many Iraqis assume the maverick legislator was the real target of the assassins who killed his sons in 2005 while he escaped unharmed.

Now he is in trouble for again visiting Israel and attending a conference a week ago at the International Institute for Counterterrorism.

"He wasn't set to speak, but he was in the audience and conversed with a lecturer on a panel about insurgency and terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel," said conference organizer Eitan Azani. "We didn't invite him. He came on his own initiative."

Al-Alusi has a German passport, allowing him to travel without visa restrictions imposed on other Iraqis. Lawmakers accused him of humiliating the nation with a trip to the "enemy" state.

The uproar shows how far Iraq has moved from the early U.S. goal of creating a democracy that would make peace with Israel and remove a critical force from the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"What has happened was a catastrophe for democracy," Al-Alusi told The Associated Press in an interview in his Baghdad home. "Within an hour's time, the parliament became the policeman, the investigator, the judge, the government and the law. It was a sham trial."

Al-Alusi said he went to Israel to seek international support for Iraq as it struggles against terrorism, and insisted that the outcry reflects Iranian meddling in Iraq's internal affairs — an accusation often leveled by Sunnis like himself against Iraq's mostly Shiite neighbor.

"Iran is behind Hamas and Hezbollah and many other terrorist organizations. Israelis are suffering like me, like my people. So we need to be together," he said. "Peace will have more of a chance."

Khamenei says Iran, Israel on 'collision course'

The unelected, fire-breathing "Supreme Leader" of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has come clean about the Iranian regimes true intentions about Israel. If we recall his protégé, a certain Ahmabobblehead, said "the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time" (depending on whose translation you are to believe). I actually showed, an Iranian work colleague, a phonetic version of Ahmadinejad’s speech and asked him what it meant. His immediate reaction was to wave his hand in contempt and say “wiped away....destroyed”. He then asked me if work for British intelligence.

Let’s take the best case scenario i.e. that Ahmadinejad was referring merely to regime change in Israel. – whatever that is supposed to mean.

Here we have the words of Khameini presumably at Friday prayers:-

TEHRAN -- Iran's highest authority lashed out against Israel on Friday with some of his harshest comments in recent memory about the Jewish state.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is Iran's top political and military figure, said his country's hostility to Israel extended beyond the government to the Israeli people as well. In saying so, he was brushing aside recent overtures by top Iranian officials to the Israeli public.

Khamenei said Iran and Israel were on a "collision course," a statement that could further increase tensions in a Middle East already fearful of a conflict between the two countries.


[..]


Khamenei left little doubt about Iran's position on relations with Israel, saying he was raising the issue "to spell an end to any debates" on it.

"It is incorrect, irrational, pointless and nonsense to say that we are friends of Israeli people," said Khamenei, who delivers prayer sermons only on special occasions.

Iranian officials typically increase anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian rhetoric in the week before the last Friday in the holy month of Ramadan, which is called Jerusalem Day in Iran. This year, it falls on Sept. 26.

The Muslim holy city of Jerusalem not being mentioned once in the Koran, of course.

Pat Condell's feedback page

I know Pat Condell's videos may be construed as controversial, by some people, because of his strident views on political Islam. To be fair to him though he is equally disdainful of all religions. Check out the feedback page on his website, it's full of really vile threats to his life not to mention unbelievably bad grammar and spelling.

Here is a taster :-

ur just a ignornat whtie son of a bitch that needs to b bheaded wid a blunt knife

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i don't care about religioists. i know where you live and i'm coming to shove a coke bottle up your old pathetic ass and rape all the women of your family. i can't believe i pay taxed for old impotent farts like you. satan bless ameri-fuck-ca.

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The entire time I watched your video on youtube, I was shooting you a bird you piece of fucking shit. I hope you die today in a horrible fiery car crash with a full tank of gas. Fuck YOU.

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i cannot fucking wait until you die (which will be probably soon) and stand before your creator. I bet that would scare ur little gay accent right out of you. I am 100% sure ur gay. Just by the way u look.

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why don't you kill yourself white bastard? or do you want me to do it?
do you have a white daughter to rape and molest?
or are you scared your number is decreasing you redneck?

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i saw your videos and their fuckn bullshit you white cunt, come link me up in birmingham lets discuss this in person you motherfucker

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fuck u !! and fuck all the zionist christian and atheist like u ! u are an ignorant mother fucker extremist ! u are a terrorist old man! u are a son of a bitch ! fuck u and fuck every body loves u ! if i see u in the streets i swear i am going to cut ur head off

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Fuck you old bastard watch out buddy cause am coming we have lots of people where you live jihad is declared on you bitch you dont ever insult islam or prophet muhammad(pbuh) sorry old bastard but i hope you had a fun time on earth cause your going to hell with the christians jews and athiest

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Cunt

i hope u die... very painfully

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u son of a hoe ur mama shouldve aborted u when u were in her womb,if she hadnt and i waz alive dat time i would punched her right dere so u couldve died... FUCK UUUUUUU!!!!!

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you suck asshole and if i see you on the streets il punch your fucking face in

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Pat Condell = nothing but a jew-loving, ZOG-sucking, nigger-fucking race traitor and truly, a CUNT. Fuck off you fucking shitskin faggot.

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you suck fucing jewish dicks sucker hahahahaha,you try to be famous,but you looking like a boar,hahahaha,youcan change nothing by your stupid vids,just see your face in the mirror and you will see a boar hahaha and fuck you again,just wait for dead

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FUCKER!!!!!

OMG!!! i seen u in real life!!!! i m 100% sure it was u!!!! i will do anything to find u!!! then tell me about islam and watch what i do to u

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Nice!

Palestinian Mayor for Jerusalem?

I dare say he, Zohir Hamdan, is unlikely to win the Jerusalem Mayoral election but he does come across as a very interesting character.

Hamdan, 53, the mukhtar (head) of the east Jerusalem village of Tzur Baher who is married to three wives and is the proud father of 18, announced his candidacy on Wednesday. In an interview to Ynet he says: "I was married to a Jewish woman from Tel Aviv, but we divorced about three years ago". His name has been mentioned before as a possible mayoral candidate, but according to Hamdan, those were just speculations; this time, its official.

Hamdan was born in Jordan, and studied engineering in Beirut. "I love this country, that's why I came here in 1974. My father and other relatives were already here. It was a family reunion; it was my duty to come here for my father", he said, describing his love for the country and for Jerusalem. Since his arrival, Hamdan has held several jobs, among them chief negotiator for east Jerusalem.

Tzur Baher, Zohir Hamdan's village, was in the news recently for a different reason. Terrorist Hossam Dwayyat, who killed three people by running them over with a stolen bulldozer, was a resident of the village. However, Hamdan goes about things in the opposite direction, wishing to bring Jews and Arabs closer together. "I'm chairman of the co-existence forum in Jerusalem. I was the first one to bring co-existence into the frey. When the Tanzim were shooting at the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo, I sympathized with the residents of Gilo."

"I have many Jewish friends from all over the country," adds Hamdan. "I go to visit them; they visit me and shop in Tzur Baher. We don't have any problems here. Since I announced that I was running for mayor, the phone hasn't stopped ringing. More Jews call to congratulate me than Arabs".

Read it all.

RIP Richard Wright

Pink Floyd are probably my favourite rock band - their music was way ahead of its time and has indeed stood the test of time. Sadly their keyboard player, Richard Wright, has succumbed to cancer.

PINK Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright died yesterday after battling cancer.

Wright, 65, was a founding member of the legendary British rock act.

His spokesman said: "The family of Richard Wright announce with great sadness, that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer."

A self-taught keyboard player and pianist, Wright met fellow band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason while at architecture school.

He was a founder member of The Pink Floyd Sound in 1965 and their previous incarnations, such as Sigma 6.

Wright is the second original member of the band to die recently, following the death of Syd Barrett last year.

In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright, along with Barrett, was the group's dominant musical force.

Two of his best known works were The Great Gig In The Sky and Us And Them, both from 1973's classic Dark Side Of The Moon album.

Galloway cut to shreds

I can't abide George Galloway for his views and his aggressive attitude in interviews. Here we see him getting a taste of his own medicine. Excellent stuff.

BBC misinformation?

The meaning of the word stillborn, as far as I'm aware, is when a baby is born dead - it seems clear cut to me.

The BBC however has other ideas. According to this report on their website:-

An Israeli soldier has been removed from duty and jailed for two weeks for refusing to allow a Palestinian woman in labour to pass through a checkpoint.

The soldier was in command at the checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Nablus. The woman was trying to reach a hospital in the city.

She was forced to give birth at the checkpoint. Her baby was stillborn.

Strangely, further on in the report we get this:-

It took an ambulance from Nablus 50 minutes to get to the checkpoint. At which point the baby was dead.

"At which point the baby was dead". Surely if the baby was stillborn, it was dead before the ambulance even left Nablus or am I missing something here?

Ali G interviews the Beckhams

I know this clip of Ali G interviewing the Beckhams is quite old but I didn't actually see it at the time. Someone mentioned to to me the other day and I decided to have a look for it on Youtube. It's absolutely priceless.

The joy of Houmous

Anyone who's read up about quantum mechanics (I'm a novice in this regard) will know that the sub-atomic world is very strange indeed. It's a world where Newton's laws are meaningless and even a flummoxed Einstein was reduced to comment that "God does not play dice".

As we all know the Large Hadron Collider is about to be switched on. One of the aims of the project is to try and detect "God's particle" or the Higgs Boson particle which is supposed to explain why matter has mass.

The project has involved scientists from around the world - including Israel and Palestine it would seem. This from Ynetnews:

The project also brought about several unexpected collaborations, with Israeli scientists working side by side with Lebanese, Pakistani and Iranian counterparts. But one cooperative effort stood out the most, that of the warm bonds forged with a young Palestinian scientist from the Birzeit University.

When work on the project ended the Israeli team even organized a celebratory party together with the Lebanese and Palestinian scientists. Both Israeli and Palestinian flags were hung.

One day, Mikenberg recalled, suffering from joint hunger pangs for some decent hummus, the Lebanese, Palestinian and Israeli scientists "swung by Paris and scarfed some down, Israeli and Arab together. Science knows no borders and no enemies. It's a wonderful thing."

Iran's holocaust cartoons revisited

The infamous, and very tasteful, Iranian cartoon competition, about the Holocaust, included an entry from a staunch Palestinian supporting (anti-Zionist but not anti-Semitic, of course) Brazilian cartoonist, Carlos Latuff . As it happens, the party-of-god supporter, Norman Finklestein, showcases his cartoons on his website. Latuff's entry, which earned him second prize and the reward of $4000, depicts a despairing Palestinian lamenting the existance Israel's defensive wall.

Strange, why would someone get so upset about a defensive wall?

Keegan leaves Newcastle, again

Personally I don't blame him.

From what I've read in the press, players were bought and sold, without his prior knowledge nor his consent, at the behest of Newcastle's "Director of football" Dennis Wise.

My recollections of Dennis Wise, as a footballer, are that he was a mediocre, dirty player who did little for the image of the game of Football. Alex Ferguson once said of him that he could "start a fight in an empty house".

What are Newcastle FC thinking of when they give more weight to an apparent thug, rather than a footballing legend who'd achieved so much more for them in the past.

Btw I am not a Newcastle fan, but I've always admired their passion for attacking football, as embodied by Keegan's football philosophy.

I'd have Keegan over him any day. Anyway, this is the report:-

One of the most protracted, and painful, farewells in football was confirmed last night when Kevin Keegan finally resigned as the manager of Newcastle United. An increasingly acrimonious three-day stand-off between Keegan and Mike Ashley concluded with the club's billionaire owner refusing to be backed into a corner by the former England coach's demands before forcing him to walk out.