Dinah Lord

While I was swanning around NOLA...

While I was swanning around New Orleans like some vapid character out of a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, brave soldiers were putting their a$$es on the line in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, and a whole bunch of other third world shi&holes.

I was reminded of that sobering fact when I found this in my email this morning.

Greetings,

The British Ministry of Defence canceled my embed after today's dispatch.  Please Read "Bad Medicine".

Next Stop U.S. Forces.

Your Writer,

Michael

 

Please read Mr. Yon's dispatch, Bad Medicine and thank God for our soldiers everywhere.  Contact the UK Ministry of Defense and tell them how valuable Michael Yon's reports are.  Hit his tip jar if you can. 

After a long, hot day taking Pharmacy Road.

A follow up to yesterday's UK riots - 'Patriot' league v. 'Anti Fascists'

I've always worried about what would happen if/when the Islamists got together with the Liberal/ Progressives/Unions and formed an alliance.  Well, that appears to be happening in the UK - and it makes me concerned that we are on the cusp of it here in the good old US of A.   Read on, possums.  

According to the Guardian:  'Patriot league' plots more clashes with anti fascist activists.

The conflicts began after backers of the English Defence League, which describes itself as "a mixed race group of English people, from businessmen and women, to football hooligans", gathered outside Waterstone's bookshop in a planned demonstration against militant Islam.

Unite Against Fascism mounted a counter demonstration, telling its supporters that "everyone in the area should come along and show these thugs that their brand of vicious racism is not wanted in Birmingham or the West Midlands". Scores of police officers hemmed in the chanting protest group, which denies it is racist. There were violent skirmishes around the fringes of the demonstration.

From a bystander:  

It was chaos," said Hannah Taylor, 24, from London. "I had only come up to do a bit of shopping, and found myself in the middle of a full-blown riot. People with small children were running into shops for cover. The whole city centre just descended into some kind of war zone."

Photos appearing in the Daily Mail about the melee make it appear that the English Defence League were definitely the ones attacked by Unite Against Fascism and the video I posted yesterday from the BBC sure shows that's what happened as well, but check out how the Guardian describes it:

The move comes after their (English Defence League )supporters fought battles with Asian men backed by Unite Against Fascism activists in front of shocked shoppers at the Bull Ring shopping centre.

Here is additional video from the Sunday Mercury regarding the protests.  It clearly shows the chaos and confusion that ensued. 

Now, compare the attacks shown in the video above to the pictures from the Daily Mail found here.  Please note how in the video the faces of the clearly "Asian" instigators are all turned away from the camera, making it difficult to ascertain the assailant's identity or race.  I found that to be quite curious.  In addition, note how the Guardian slyly attempts to tar the English Defence League as the troublemakers and make it sound as if it was ALL their fault:

The move comes after their supporters fought battles with Asian men backed by Unite Against Fascism activists in front of shocked shoppers at the Bull Ring shopping centre.

This is after opening their article with:

Groups that say they are opposed to Islamist extremism are plotting fresh clashes with anti-fascist organisations this summer after violent battles between the two sides in Birmingham city centre led to 35 arrests over the weekend.

The English Defence League and Casuals United, two linked groups, are planning protests against what they see as militant Islam in Manchester, Luton, Harrow and other as yet secret locations, according to a website.

But they somehow neglect to tell you this:  Police ready for clashes at BNP festival.  (from Lancaster Unity - a site dedicated to "taking on the BNP and the other riff-raff on the far right."

Police are to conduct a huge security operation in a Derbyshire village this week amid fears of clashes at an annual British National Party gathering. Eighty coachloads of anti-Fascists (Looks like they are bussing them in - sound familiar?) are to protest over the Red, White and Blue festival in Denby, which is likely to attract thousands of supporters next weekend.

Up to a thousand police officers will be stationed in the village. There was violence last year and greater disruption is expected this time. It is the BNP’s first mass gathering since it won two European seats in June.

Lee Barron, a trade union organiser of the protest, said that a peaceful march was planned and that violent protesters should stay away.

Weyman Bennett, of the Unite Against Fascism group, said that the BNP rally would be a “magnet for Fascists and neo-Nazis from across Europe”. Mr Bennett said: “We want to make sure that there is opposition.”

About the upcoming festival, Lancaster Unity claims:

The BNP advertises its festival as a family event involving historical re-enactments, Morris dancing and a dog show. However, previously there have been complaints by local people about skinheads with vicious dogs descending on their village and playing tapes of Third Reich martial tunes.

Stay tuned, there's surely more to follow.

India: England's Badminton team threatened by Muslim terror group L-e-T

... and are forced to withdraw from the World Championship. 

From the Daily Mail.

England has withdrawn from the World Badminton Championships in India after a Muslim terrorist threat was made against the competition.

The eight-strong squad, including Olympic silver medallist Nathan Robertson, has pulled out of the Hyderabad tournament, which starts tomorrow, following reports of a threat by extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy said: 'This was an incredibly tough decision and one we didn't take lightly.

UK: 1 in 78 Britons came under state surveillance last year.

Big Brother is alive and well, compadres...

From the Daily Mail. 

Britain's extraordinary march towards a surveillance state is revealed today by shocking new figures.  They show that one request is made every minute for officials to spy on someone's phone records or email accounts.  The number of Big Brother snooping missions by police, town halls and other public bodies has soared by 44 per cent in two years.

Last year there were 504,073 new cases - an average of 1,381 a day. It is the equivalent of one adult in 78 coming under state-sanctioned surveillance. The snoopers are using a law originally aimed at terror suspects. But their targets include people suspected of storing petrol without a licence and bringing a dog into the country without quarantining it.

Everybody's doing it...

A total of 653 state bodies, including 474 local councils, are allowed to use its surveillance powers.  ...<snip>... Other bodies authorised to carry out surveillance include the Financial Services Authority, the Ambulance Service, fire authorities and prison governors.

They are not allowed to find out the content of phone calls and emails, but can access details of when and to whom they were made or sent.  People who are found to have done no wrong have no right to know they were snooped on.

And the Home Office is asking for expanded powers!

Despite the huge number of requests, the Home Office says there is a need to go further than giving public bodies access to phone and internet records.  Under plans unveiled earlier this year, the police and security services would gain access to the public's every internet click and phone call.

This would include, for the first time, monitoring the use of social networking sites such as Facebook. Every internet and phone company would have to allocate an ID to each customer.  They would then have to store details of calls, text messages and internet sites for a minimum of 12 months. The actual content of calls and emails would not be kept.

As well as phone and email checks, councils and other public bodies have been using actual covert surveillance, though undecover agents or hidden cameras.

Speaking of the UK.  You'll also be happy to know that 'poor students will be given a two-grade head start at University.  (Insane.)

Kenton Lewis, head of widening participation at St George's, said: 'Treating everyone the same way is not appropriate and not equitable. It is far more important to consider the context in which someone has achieved their qualifications.

UK: Police arrest 31 at protest against Islamic Fundamentalism

From The Daily Mail: 
<-Muslim thug goes after the Union Jack

More than 30 people were arrested today after disorder broke out during a demonstration billed as a protest against Islamic fundamentalism.

A total of 31 people were detained in Birmingham city centre during the event, which is believed to have been organised on social networking sites. 

  Another Muslim thug getting his licks in? ->

A West Midlands Police spokesman said the arrests were made at various locations during the protest and a counter-demonstration organised by the Unite Against Fascism group.

The spokesman also confirmed that a car had been damaged during what she described as 'sporadic' outbreaks of disorder in the city centre.

Witnesses said scores of officers were involved in policing the rival protests, which had gathered near Birmingham's Bullring shopping complex.

<- After the vicious attack.

Police had vowed to deal robustly with anyone acting outside the law at the protests.

Police believe the anti-fundamentalist rally was organised by groups calling themselves the English and Welsh Defence League and Casuals United, which is said to have emerged after British soldiers were abused by Islamic radicals at a homecoming parade in Luton.

An eyewitness reports: 

Gary Nichols watched the disturbances from his city centre flat and said he was unable to go outside for about two and a half hours.

He told the BBC: "It started off with a group of white guys who were chanting, 'England, England'. I thought they were just football fans, but then a larger group of black and Asian people turned up and it all kicked off.

"You had people burning the Union flag. People were being kicked - some of them weren't anything to do with the protests. It all seemed to be very systematic - groups were arriving in cars and getting involved in the violence."

BBC video at the link which also identifies the counterprotesters as something called Unite Against Fascism.   I have to admit that when I heard the English group singing God Save the 

Taiwan News Online is reporting this:

West Midlands police say two protests took place Saturday. Police said they believed one unauthorized protest against Islamic fundamentalism was organized by a group called the English and Welsh Defence League or Casuals United. Police said they were not officially informed of the protest.

Another authorized protest was organized by the group Unite Against Fascism that had cooperated with the police in planning the event.

Possums, it's getting very ugly over in the UK.  This evidently happened while I was away.  Far Right Launches campaign of violence and intimidation.

A group calling itself the Aryan Martyrs' Brigade has issued threats including a "death warrant" sent to Weyman Bennett, the joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, stating he will be killed before the end of the year "for crimes against all loyal white patriots and British nationalists".

The threat, which the police are investigating and has a picture of Bennett in cross hairs, states: "We know exactly what you look like and what venues you frequent and can strike at will. The police, special branch, MI5, Searchlight cannot save you from the bullets coming your way. No matter where you are, we will get you, all we need is a lock on your mobile phone signal and you are one dead nigger."

The increase in rightwing violence comes after Scotland Yard admitted it was deploying more resources to monitor far-right extremists amid fears of a terrorist attack. Commander Shaun Sawyer told a meeting organised by the Muslim Safety Forum last month that there was a growing threat from the far right.

"I fear they will have a spectacular …they will carry out an attack that will lead to a loss of life or injury to a community somewhere," he said.

You mean like the Islamos have been doing for centuries?

UK: Muhammed Ali to visit ancestral home in Ireland.

Koran Kisser

Who knew renowned Muslim convert Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali was a son of the old sod?

Ali's great-grandfather Abe Grady emigrated from his home on the Turnpike Road in Ennis to the United States in the 1860s.

Grady sailed from Cappa Harbour in Kilrush, Co Clare, eventually settling in Kentucky, where he married an African-American woman.

Their son also married an African-American and one of the daughters of that union was Ali's mother, named Odessa Lee Grady.

She married Cassius Clay, senior, and they settled in Louisville, where their son was initially given his father's name on his birth in 1942. He later changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to the Nation of Islam after winning the world title in 1964.

Mayor Neylon said further details of Ali's visit would be finalised during a special meeting of Ennis Town Council on Monday week.

Bonus there's-no-place-like-home footage below the fold when Hillary visits Obama'a ancestral home and shakes her money maker.

UK: Government's £285m Mortgage Rescue Scheme helps just TWO families

The program's been up and running since January.  Two families.

The Obama admin's plan isn't working so well, either.

Ex-Gitmo detainee cashing in on Xbox

"We think it will sell big in the Middle East."

From The Sun:

A BRIT who spent two years in Guantanamo Bay as a terror suspect is cashing in with a computer game based on the US detention camp.

Moazzam Begg, 41, will appear as himself in the Xbox 360 game, which could rake in £3million.

Rendition: Guantanamo, due to go on sale in October, lets players control a detainee trying to shoot his way out.

Begg, of Sparkhill, Birmingham, is shown in the game as head of an organisation helping the suspect to escape.

Human rights activist Begg was thrown into the camp on Cuba in 2003 after the CIA held him in Pakistan. He claims he was tortured before being freed without charge in 2005.

Begg said any money he is paid will go to a charity fighting for detainees’ rights.

He said: “The software firm approached me with the idea for a Guantanamo game. I’m involved to make sure it is as true to life as possible.”

Zarrar Chishti, director of the Scottish firm spending £250,000 to produce the game, said: “We checked with police and security services. We didn’t want MI5 knocking our door down.

“We are expecting an extreme reaction to the game in the US. But we think it will sell well in the Middle East.”

UK editor sacked for Fake Torture pics

Flashback:  Piers Morgan:  Remains unrepentant to the end. 

Buh-bye liberal scum.  Putting soldiers in harm's way to advance your moonbat agenda - you didn't check the photos because you wanted the torture allegations to be true.  You should be ashamed to show your face. (has anybody vetted today's alleged leaked photos, I wonder?)

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has been sacked after the newspaper conceded photos of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake.

In a statement the Mirror said it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and that it would be "inappropriate" for Morgan to continue.

The Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR) said the Mirror had endangered British troops by running the pictures. Roger Goodman, of the QLR, said the regiment now felt "vindicated". Mr Goodman added: "It is just a great pity it has taken so long... and that so much damage has been done in the meantime."

“ The Daily Mirror... apologises unreservedly for publishing the pictures and deeply regrets the reputational damage done to the QLR and the Army in Iraq ”

Mirror statement

At a news conference in Preston on Friday afternoon, the regiment demonstrated to reporters aspects of uniform and equipment which it said proved the photographs were fake.

The regiment's Brigadier Geoff Sheldon said the vehicle featured in the photographs had been located in a Territorial Army base in Lancashire and had never been in Iraq.

CIA torture pics already being leaked?

Well, that's what is being alleged.  (And just in time for the Messiah's address to the whole Muslim world.)

Daily Mail:  Obama's bid to suppress prisoner abuse pictures fails as images are leaked

Further images purportedly from the 2,000 include one of a naked man covered in excrement with a guard standing in front of him.

Others yet to be released are alleged to show guards threatening to sexually assault a detainee with a broomstick and hooded prisoners in transport planes with copies of Playboy magazine showing naked women open on their laps.

The president had previously committed to allowing them to be seen but changed his mind after senior generals said it could place U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in greater danger.

The images were released in Australia yesterday where they were originally obtained by the television channel SBS in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

The release comes at an inopportune time for President Obama who is trying to build bridges with the Islamic world.

(Warning:  Pic of naked terrorist hanging upside down from his bunk bed at link.  Too bad they don't show the "naked man smeared in excrement standing in a corridor with a guard standing menacingly in front of him"  P.S.  If I was a guard and had to clean up after a terrorist who shit himself and then smeared it all over himself and his cell I wouldn't exactly be happy, either.)