- So the question arises: what’s so special about Maggie Thatcher? Defenders of next week’s funeral arrangements say that she was a “transformational” prime minister. This is true. But so was Clement Attlee, who introduced the welfare system and the National Health Service, thus fundamentally changing the connection between state and individual. Yet the Queen did not attend Mr Attlee’s funeral, a quiet affair in Temple Church near Westminster. According to a 1967 report in Time magazine, “all the trappings of power were absent last week at the funeral of Earl Attlee … there were no honour guards or artillery caissons, no press or television, no crush of spectators. Only 150 friends and relatives gathered for a brief Anglican ceremony in honour of the man who had shaped the political destiny of post-war Britain.”
- The decision to acknowledge Lady Thatcher, but not Attlee, makes the Queen appear partisan and is totally out of kilter with the traditional impartiality of the modern British monarchy.
"a particularly stupid Troofer named Tony Rooke decided not to pay his license fee [for the BBC public network in UK] and is now going to court over it. And his defense is that there’s a law that provides that you cannot provide funds to an organization that supports terrorism and because the BBC has broadcast shows debunking 9-11 Troofy Troof, it is supporting the terrorism of the real culprits. No word yet on whom Tony Rooke has fingered as the culprits; whether it’s the neocons, Israelis, or Bilderbergers."
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“If Swedish interrogators want to interrogate him they can do it in London. Everyone in their right mind knows that this is a stepping stone to the US.” Chomsky draws a parallel with Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of having leaked thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks, and says that what to happened Manning is a clear indication of how Assange will be treated if he is extradited to the United States.
Manning has been held in a military prison for almost a year and a half without trial — most of that time in solitary confinement. “There is no doubt that the purpose of all this is to get [Manning] to say something about Assange, who will also be treated the same way if he ever comes to the US… Therefore, a decent country at this time — if there is one — would grant him political asylum,”
Chomsky says of the Swedish legal system “that one can not rely on it, which is not so surprising.” Sweden cooperated with the Nazis during World War II and is now working with the Americans, he points out. “Sweden cooperates with whoever is in power… suppose that Syria asks Sweden to extradite somebody to Syria whom they accuse works with the rebels — would Sweden do it? No!”
“By right [Assange] ought to get a medal of honour. He’s performing his responsibilities as a citizen of a democratic society and people ought to know what their representatives are doing “
""I want to take a few minutes to analyse the state of our society. Let’s take the issue of women’s rights; how women are valued in our society, how women are treated, and what our society is doing to actively fight for and promote the rights of a historically oppressed and marginalised section of our society. In England, women are beaten up by their partners every day. In England, women are hospitalised by their boyfriends and husbands every day. In England, women are killed every week by the people who are supposed to love and protect them. In our society, women are objectified on television as objects for our sexual and visual pleasure and nothing more. In our media, we sell and package and advertise sex to children of younger and younger ages. What do we do to protect women in our society? Men that beat up their girlfriends, or wives; that brutally assault the women they live and sleep with, can expect, at most, a sentence of a few years. Many are released, and do exactly the same thing again."
![Steve Hornsby from Bournemouth said the 3cm diameter balls came raining down late on Thursday afternoon during a hail storm. He found about a dozen of the balls in his garden. He said: “[They’re] difficult to pick up, I had to get a spoon and flick them into a jam jar.” (via BBC News - Bournemouth resident mystified by ‘blue sphere shower’)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lykpo7mrWR1qanjy6o1_500.jpg)
Steve Hornsby from Bournemouth said the 3cm diameter balls came raining down late on Thursday afternoon during a hail storm. He found about a dozen of the balls in his garden. He said: “[They’re] difficult to pick up, I had to get a spoon and flick them into a jam jar.” (via BBC News - Bournemouth resident mystified by ‘blue sphere shower’)
"Now a tiny English village is the latest community to claim to be being hit by the phenomenon known as “the hum”.
Residents of Woodland, in County Durham, claim that every night a noise permeates the air similar to the throb of a car engine.
It is sometimes so strong that it even shakes the bed of one of the householders.
But no matter how hard they look, the community cannot find the source of the problem and, at their wits end, have called in the council to investigate."
Residents of Woodland, in County Durham, claim that every night a noise permeates the air similar to the throb of a car engine.
It is sometimes so strong that it even shakes the bed of one of the householders.
But no matter how hard they look, the community cannot find the source of the problem and, at their wits end, have called in the council to investigate."
— Tiny village is latest victim of the ‘The hum’ - Telegraph
"It had been widely thought Sweden had made the decision to oppose bail, with the CPS acting merely as its representative. But today the Swedish prosecutor’s office told the Guardian it had “not got a view at all on bail” and that Britain had made the decision to oppose bail. Lawyers for Assange reacted to the news with shock and said CPS officials had told them this week it was Sweden which had asked them to ensure he was kept in prison."
— Julian Assange bail decision made by UK authorities, not Sweden | Media | The Guardian
“I’m asking you, do you think I could have, in any way, pose a physical threat from the seat of my wheelchair to an army of police officers armed with weapons? This whole line of argument is absolutly ludicrous, because you’re blaming the victims of violence, for that violence. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the way the BBC report on the palestinian conflict.”
Desmond Leslie also joined the ‘White Eagle Lodge’, a group founded in the 1930s by the Spiritualist Grade Cook, channeling a Native American spirit guide called White Eagle. After he returned to Castle Leslie later in life he established a temple for the Lodge at his home, and this seemed to give him a great measure of spiritual comfort. It is clear that Leslie’s interest in UFOs was very much from an esoteric and occult angle, and the idea of ‘space brothers’ fitted in well with his own philosophy. This biography does not make it clear who initiated the link between Leslie and George Adamski, which culminated in the publication of Flying Saucers Have Landed in 1953. Three-quarters of the volume was Leslie’s historical survey, just 50 pages covered Adamski’s account of his extraterrestrial meeting. The mixed reaction to the book, indeed the downright hostility, suited Leslie’s combative spirit, and he vigorously defended his theories in writing and on radio. He was perhaps the first person, in 1953, to claim that the Air Ministry had a special department to investigate UFO reports. (via THE MAGONIA BLOG: An Irish Gentleman)
Jonathan Rugman, a reporter for Channel 4 News in London, writes on Twitter from Westminster Magistrates’ court that the head of the legal team for Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, arrived wearing a skull and crossbones tie for the first hearing in the case. Mr. Rugman observes: “Internet pirates vs. Swedish prosecutor then!” He added that Mr. Assange is due to appear in the court in the next few minutes. (via Latest Updates on Leak of U.S. Cables, Day 10 - NYTimes.com)
"I believe that this is the first real demonstration that pollination levels are getting worse. I believe it is a significant decline. I believe the pollination levels have dropped by as much as 50 per cent.
“Bee numbers may have declined at our research site, but we suspect that a climate-driven mismatch between the times when flowers open and when bees emerge from hibernation is a more important factor."
“Bee numbers may have declined at our research site, but we suspect that a climate-driven mismatch between the times when flowers open and when bees emerge from hibernation is a more important factor."
— Bee decline already having dramatic effect on pollination of plants - Telegraph
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I do recall Penniston’s story and he did leave me with a sketch of an object he claimed to have seen. I left the sketch in my desk drawer and the story was summarized in Halt’s letter. Here’s Penniston’s narrative to the best of my recollection. I’m paraphrasing, of course:
“….The lights were clearly visible when I arrived at the RAF Woodbridge gate. No one knew the source of the the lights, but some speculated that it was close enough to the approach path of the runway that it could in fact be a crashed plane. Because of this, it was decided that further investigation was warranted. Burroughs, Cabansag and myself were sent out by jeep. We worked our way toward the still- visible lights by way of a logging road. As we approached close enough to have a clear view of the site, [Burroughs?] decided we were close enough and stopped the vehicle. We were still more than 100 meters away and, wanting a better look, I decided to proceed further on foot. [Burroughs?] accompanied me as we closed on what we began to see was an object with lights on it. Our apprehension began to build,so we stopped about 50 meters away, taking cover behind some brush. After studying the situation for about 10 minutes, we decided to move in yet further for a closer look. Just as we began to close the distance to the object, it began to move away through the trees. The faster we moved toward it the faster it moved away. By the time we arrived at an open field a much greater distance had opened up between us,and soon it disappeared beyond a small rise in the direction of a farm house. After a short pause , we decided we had had enough and headed back toward [Cabansag] and the jeep. With a quick glance over the shoulder we saw the thing again back at the hill,this time coming toward us. We ran to get away, but within two seconds it was up and gone.———-(end of narrative)…”
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