Journal Entries
In the face of evil
Posted May 17, 2007
Watched a programme tonight on Ch 4, where a Muslim woman revisited Afghanistan 5 years since she was last there, to see if women are being treated any better.
The pictures were shocking. I'll admit, I cried.
Women and girls set fire to themselves in Afghanistan to get away from the hell of their daily lives and to issue one last shout proclaiming their existence at the world. Over 60 each year.
Burkas are as much in evidence now as they ever were under the Taleban. Unlike here in the UK, the women there are quite clear that they wear them out of fear. If they don't, they will if they are lucky, only be harrassed by men and pursued for sex. If they are unlucky, they will be stoned or executed with a bullet to the head.
Amazingly, the reporter found a girl's school in the North. Over 4000 girls travel from miles around. Once inside the perimeter wall, they shed their burkas and it's like someone switches on the sun. Young girls grow inches as the burkas come off and they run around laughing and playing. But they go there at the risk of their lives. In the south, the Taleban execute teachers who try to educate girls.
The combination of religion and culture in Afghanistan is the clearest vision of evil I have ever seen. When half the population is treated with less respect than the goats, you could be forgiven for thinking this is the 15th Century.
But what can be done? It's not enough to say that this is their culture and we must respect it. This is the face of multiculturalism that says we must celebrate all cultures without being judgemental. No. I cannot celebrate depravity.
I've long argued that Islam can only be reformed from within and it will be women who do it. We must give the women of Afghanistan hope and real support. If Afghan men cannot be dragged willingly into the 21st Century, then the West MUST sideline them.
Afghanistan must be colonised and civilised by force. It might take 100 years, but it's worth it. Schools must be built and defended in every village. Let's send our legions of social workers to a land where they might actually do some good.
The fight in Afghanistan against the Taleban and the ignorant is a good fight. There are good people there being suffocated by ignorance.
I cried tonight, but it's nothing to the silent tears being shed every day under the burkas.
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Latest reply: May 17, 2007
And this is ...?
Posted May 17, 2007
http://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/jobs/police_staff/hqrs012_personnel_trainee/
An advert for a personnel trainee with the police. Lousy wages, but hey that's not the point.
"In line with our commitment to increase the diversity of the workforce and reflect the community we serve, the above Traineeships are reserved for people from Black Minority Ethnic origin in accordance with Section 37 of the Race Relations Act 1976."
Racism - pure and simple. This isn't about selecting the best applicant, it's about selecting the right colour. Never mind that 100 black people might apply with a collective IQ in double figures, one of them will get the job. There may be people perfect for the job who are white or Asian or Eskimo, but they are barred from applying.
You should always select the best person for the job, irrespective of colour or gender. To do otherwise just means you are not getting the best person and the standards of the company are going to slide.
Discuss this Journal entry [57]
Latest reply: May 17, 2007
If only
Posted May 15, 2007
Sheriff Joe Arpaio created the "tent city jail" to save Arizona from spending tens of million of dollars on another expensive prison complex.
He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.
He banned smoking and porno magazines in the jails, and took away their weightlifting equipment and cut off all but "G" movies. He says: "they're in jail to pay a debt to society not to build muscles so they can assault innocent people when they leave."
He started chain gangs to use the inmates to do free work on county and city projects and save taxpayer's money.
Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.
He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again, but only allows the Disney channel and the weather channel.
When asked why the weather channel he replied: "so these morons will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs."
He cut off coffee because it has zero nutritional value and is therefore a waste of taxpayer money. When the inmates complained, he told them, "This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."
He also bought the Newt Gingrich lecture series on US history that he pipes into the jails. When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series that actually tells the truth for a change would be welcome and that it might even explain why 95% of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.
With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees set a new record for June 2nd), the Associated Press reported: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed- wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts. On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing pink boxer shorts were chatting in the tents, where temperatures reached 128 degrees. "This is hell. It feels like we live in a furnace," said Ernesto Gonzales, an inmate for 2 years with 10 more to go. "It's inhumane."
Joe Arpaio, who makes his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. "Criminals should be punished for their crimes not live in luxury until it's time for parole, only to go out and commit more crimes so they can come back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things many taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves."
Wednesday he told all the inmates who were complaining of the heat in the tents: "It's between 120 to 130 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to walk all day in the sun, wearing full battle gear and get shot at, and they have not committed any crimes, so shut your damned mouths!"
Way to go, Sheriff! If all prisons were like yours there would be a lot less crime and we would not be in the current position of running out of prison spaces.
If you agree, pass this on. If not, just delete it, but do realize we get the society we deserve!!
Sheriff Joe was just re-elected Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona release Date: 04/02/2007
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Latest reply: May 15, 2007
Away with the fairies
Posted Apr 20, 2007
Just got back from a week in Ireland. Up till now I’ve always just flown into Dublin and stayed there. This time I drove down from Larne and travelled all over. The weather, unusually for Ireland apparently, has been great. I’m told that this is the first time since 1586 that there has been more than 3 consecutive days of sunshine. It’s a beautiful place in the sun. The locals were walking round blinking in the bright light and saying that the best thing about joining the EU is the weather.
It really is like a whole wee country in its own right. Unlike “abroad”, where the locals speak a funny language and English if you shout at them, it’s exactly the opposite here. Road signs are different too. They’re measured in KillyMiles, which are just like real miles, but shorter. The money they use is the same. They call pounds “ooros”, which are just like pounds but smaller.
The EU has been good for Ireland. The country is visibly changing and it’ll be nice when it’s finished. It’s safe to say I think that if you give an Irish boy a Scalextrix at Christmas, he’ll have it assembled by August, complete with roundabouts in the pit-lane, traffic cones on the straights and traffic lights on every bend.
A customer was telling me that when the whole Celtic tiger thing started, people were spending money like it was going out of fashion and the economy started to overheat. So the Irish Government, (just like a real Government but smaller), encouraged people to save money by topping up every four ooros deposited in the bank with one of their own. Obviously this was popular and people started saving instead of buying. There was a maximum set of around 250 ooros a month and you weren’t allowed to touch it for five years. That is about to mature around now, so everyone will have 20,000 ooros and can go and spend it. I wonder what that will do for the economy?
But it’s clear to see what people spent their money on initially. Everyone bought themselves a Mercedes car. They’re everywhere!! It’s also clear that, with the money left over, they bought all their blind, insane and deranged relatives a Punto, (just like a real car, but smaller), because they’re everywhere too; cutting up traffic, parking in the middle of the road, driving at 15 mph and generally making a complete nuisance of themselves. But I suppose that it gets all the mad people out of the house, leaving the Mercedes’ owners in peace to polish their Teutonic behemoths in the drives of their country ranches. Not so daft, your average Irishman!
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Latest reply: Apr 20, 2007
A week in the Province
Posted Apr 8, 2007
Spent last week in Northern Ireland, first time I've been back in a year. It's interesting to see the changes and there are quite a few.
Firstly, there are far fewer Union Jacks and Irish flags. The paint on the kerbstones is fading and the murals are starting to look less relevant. There is one kind of graffiti that is new, but more of that later. I hear there are still occasional bouts of petrol-bomb throwing and the like, but it seems to be more rowdiness than anything else. There's a lot of building going on. Belfast is just one big traffic jam. When you combine mind bogglingly inept traffic management with some of the rudest drivers in Britain, things tend to get a bit fraught. In between the snarled up traffic, the Belfast Telegraph vendors flit around selling papers with their red tabards with the cheery messages on the back. It's difficult not to notice that they're *all* Romanian. There was a set of roadworks at a roundabout on a very busy part of dual carriageway. There were about 6 traffic-clogged roads leading into it, tailbacks for miles and it was being controlled by traffic lights and two guys with stop/go boards. One huge van-driver obviously felt the guys holding the boards were being less than fair because I watched him jump from his van, grab the board from the wee guy holding it and throw it over the fence into the construction site. This met with the approval of many, judging by the resultant horn tooting.
There are so many new roundabouts outside Belfast too. My poor SatNav was totally befuddled. It's like any peace dividend is being spent trying to confuse drivers.
During my stay I stopped in four different B&Bs and hotels in Derry, Belfast and Armagh. All of them were superb. Clean, efficient & with good breakfasts. But I only heard one Irish accent in them. They're all staffed by Poles. Same on the ferry. The bar staff, waitresses and shop assistant were all Polish. The cafes in Belfast also seemed to have Polish staff too. Obviously there are a lot of Poles in Scotland too, but I don't spend as much time in hotels or cafes at home so I don't tend to notice. What happened to all the original workers? The cheery guy at the ferry terminal in Larne has been replaced by a surly bloke with an indeterminate Eastern European accent. Where have all the Irish shop & hotel workers gone?
In my previous job, I had access to the figures showing how much money was being sent out of Britain each week using money transfer services. The amount going to Poland was second only to that going to Pakistan. The worrying part for companies like Western Union and Moneygram is that the banks automatically give Poles bank accounts. Unlike the Romanians and others who have to be here six months before a bank will look at them, it's been recognised that Poles are significantly less dishonest and hence not a bad credit risk. All this no doubt helps oil the wheels of economic migration.
It seems the locals notice the influx too. On a wall in Belfast a UFF sign has been whitewashed out to be replaced by "Polish Out".
Oh dear.
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Latest reply: Apr 8, 2007
swl
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