King of the Bank of England caused the Credit Crunch

The annual speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet for Bankers and Merchants
of the City of London at the Mansion House by the Governor of the Bank of England has a lengthy history - it is a tradition. It is the time of year when the Governor provides a broad review of past activity and future expectations. The Oracle speaks.

What he said last year at the Mansion House on Wednesday 20 June 2007 to the City Glitterati as they fumbled over their 3rd or 4th brandy, adjusted their weskits and lit up their vast cigars .... on expectations for inflation (and how totally fucking wrong they were) has been examined here before.

Our central view remains that inflation will fall back this year as the rises in domestic gas and electricity prices last year drop out of the annual comparison, and the recent cuts in prices feed through to household bills.

How wrong could he be ?

As ever, there is room for differences of judgement as to the appropriate level of Bank Rate – as shown by the differing views within the MPC. But every member of the Committee is determined to bring inflation back to target and keep it there – or as close to the target as possible – indefinitely.

So as a result he and the MPC have three times reduced Bank rate since then. ... resulting in what the Daily Mail has today ... (Brent is US$114 a barrel as the market open today)

Elsewhere he delivered a surprising (and in retrospect a shattering message) ...

Your decision to grant independence to the Bank of England ten years ago is widely and rightly regarded as a fundamental improvement to the conduct of economic policy in this country, and we in the Bank are grateful to you for giving us the opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of an independent central bank.

This is of course a delusion - for example King , 30 odd working days later he was asked by Loyds Bank to be allowed to take over Northern Wreck with support from the BOE but handed this hot potato very swiftly (within hours) to the Chancellor in the lievely expectation that he would refuse. Which he did.

Financial stability more generally is a topical concern in financial markets. More than
one banker and merchant in the City has said to me recently, “I cannot recall a time when credit was more easily available”. How worried should we be?

His answer takes some time to deliver - it is one that changed the world. It's force has been overlooked, misjudged and largely unheard.

Securitisation is transforming banking from the traditional model in which banks
originate and retain credit risk on their balance sheets into a new model in which credit risk is distributed around a much wider range of investors. As a result, risks are no longer so concentrated in a small number of regulated institutions but are spread across thefinancial system. That is a positive development because it has reduced the market failure associated with traditional banking – the mismatch between illiquid assets and liquid liabilities – that led Henry Thornton and, later, Walter Bagehot to promote the role of the Bank of England as the “lender of last resort” in a financial crisis.

Distributing credit risk around may spread it, but it fails to reduce it. The result is that the "the mismatch between illiquid assets and liquid liabilities" is further from understanding, monitoring and control. The total risk is the same but identification is more difficult and deliberate concealment on many, many more balance sheets, not only within the control of the FSA but often offfshore is not only made possible , but certain. Control by the Central Bank has evaporated.

New and ever more complex financial instruments create different risks. Exotic instruments are now issued for which the distribution of returns is considerably more complicated than that on the basic loans underlying them. A standard collateralised debt obligation divides the risk and return of a portfolio of bonds, or credit default swaps, into tranches. But what is known as a CDO-squared instrument invests in tranches of CDOs. It has a distribution of returns which is highly sensitive to small changes in the correlations of underlying returns which we do not understand with any great precision. The risk of the entire return being wiped out can be much greater than on simpler instruments. Higher returns come at the expense of higher risk.

Mervyn has identified the increase in risk - he fails to say what he intends to do about it, unless the key is here ...

Whether in banking, reinsurance or portfolio management, risk assessment is a matter of judgement as much as quantitative analysis. Ever more complex instruments are designed almost every day. Some of the important risks that could affect all instruments – from terrorist attacks, invasion of computer systems, or even the consequences of a flu pandemic – are almost impossible to quantify, and past experience offers little guide.

Then he adds a lesson we all learnt at a very early age... are we to assume this modest understatement encapsulates a policy ?

Be cautious about how much you borrow is not a bad maxim for each and every one of us here tonight.

The wonderfully understated double negative is a kicker - he continues....

The development of complex financial instruments and the spate of loan arrangements without traditional covenants suggest another maxim: be cautious about how much you lend, especially when you know rather little about the activities of the borrower. It may say champagne – AAA – on the label of an increasing number of structured creditinstruments. But by the time investors get to what’s left in the bottle, it could taste rather flat. Assessing the effective degree of leverage in an ever-changing financial system is far from straightforward, and the liquidity of the markets in complex instruments, especially in conditions when many players would be trying to reduce the leverage of their portfolios at the same time, is unpredictable. Excessive leverage is the common theme of many financial crises of the past.

To which he adds ..

Are we really so much cleverer than the financiers of the past?

So there we have it , Uncle Mervyn's Old fashioned Home Remedy for Financial Stability ...be careful how much you borrow - be careful how much you lend

The result ... well, 200 miles up the Great North Road the Northern Wreck were getting ready to ready to close their accounts for the half year 11 days later. Within a month the FSA had approved their Basle II arrangements so they could having seen a massive 40% growth in lending with a rise in attributable profits of less than 1% agree on a dividend rise (eventiually of course to remain unpaid) of 33%.

Nearer at home the rate at which bankers charged for interbank lending reflected Uncle Mervyn's Old fashioned Home Remedy for Financial Stability be careful how much you borrow - be careful how much you lend .... was kicking in.

36 days later Northern Wreck released their accounts and the shares dropped £1 in minuutes - a gleeful and unconcerned CEO had unloaded all his shares at the top of the market in January.

Another 9 days after that the gap between Bank Rate and Libor had reached the limit - the bankers had absorbed Uncle Mervyn's Old fashioned Home Remedy for Financial Stability - be careful how much you borrow - be careful how much you lend

The Bankers stopped lending and borrowing ....

Read the full speech here

Big Knobs and Royalty found to hang out in all the best places

This curious story which appears in the Daily Telegraph ..

Has absolutely no connection with this November 2007 post - Royal Blackmail - a long history ... Amazing Pictures

Nor has it any connection with the remarkable story in the Daily Telegraph about.. (They are short of helicopters for bad guys to do ..er. er bad things ... er in Afghan ...er )

which probably has no connection with a Hooray Hazz Peter party at the Anchor ...

... as Autumn draws on for the mother in law from hell. Apparently the stagger shares a cottage ...

The CIA don't like Alex Salmond - their mouthpiece Tom Gallagher carries the mesage of his paymasters

If you go to the George Soros backed, CIA funded "Open Democracy" site you can at the section on Authors select the person calling himself Tom Gallagher.

The brief biography explains that he curently holds the chair of East European Studies in the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford University and that he is the author of two recent books , The Balkans in the New Millennium (Routledge, 2005) and The Balkans After the Cold War: From Tyranny to Tragedy (Routledge, paperback edition, 2005). His Theft of a Nation: Romania since Communism (Hurst & Co, 2005) is published in the United States as Modern Romania (New York University Press, 2005)

In further notes to the article discussed below he is also confusingly called chair of Ethnic peace and conflict studies at Bradford University.

He is described ... "Tom Gallagher has written extensively on sectarian and religious issues in modern Scotland, including : Glasgow, The Uneasy Peace: Religious Tensions in Modern Scotland (Manchester University Press, 1987). He is currently embarking on a research project exploring the reaction of the British state and society to the emergence of Muslim radicalism from the Salman Rushdie affair of 1988 to the present "

An article is reprinted , dated 9th September 2007 "Scotland’s nationalist-Muslim embrace" but there is no mention of which publication it first saw light so presumably this is its onlyl .

A sub heading accurately reflects the main thrust of the article - "Scotland's establishment has responded to an abortive terrorist operation by reaffirming support for the country's Muslim minority. The silences as well as the words are politically significant"

What follows is basically a polemic against the SNP and its leadership. This commences by considering the "official" reaction to the puzzling Glasgow Fire / bomb attack . Describing the SNP, the police , the Church of Scotland and the Trade unions, who organised a 1,500 strong George Square June 7th rally as "the cream of Scotland's establishment" he riles against them for having offered bridge building to the country's 60,000 Muslims. "Nobody wondered aloud about the religious dimensions of the religious dimensions of the violent ideology that had evidenty motivated the would-be massacre".

He heaps condemnation on Osama Saeed, who is 1. Young 2. Articulate 3. Muslim. 4. a political activist - he is a former SNP candidate and is also head of the Scots branch of the Muslim Association of Britain.

The ruling SNP has, he claims "assiduously cultivated " Muslims and quelle horreur elected as an MSP Bashir Ahmad who is brown and most likely has a beard. Their leader, immediately after the Glasgow near Apocalypse sought , by a personal visit to Glasgow's central mosque assuring leaders of his determination that their members would not become the focus of attack. (Apparently he also failed to commend "have a go hero" , Mr Smeaton - whom we now know was a fraud and tackled no-one although feted wearing a kilt in the US - organised by whom ?)

In doing so ( the SNP is, he claims the grievance party par excellence) he appeals to the Muslims in a co-ordinated attack on Whitehall Government.

Naturally his ire is saved most for Salmond, (a man who has never worn a uniform) the man who spoke out against the illegal bombing of Kosovo, which he perceives simplistically as solidarity with Milosevic , not as a stand against illegal wars and bombing civilians from 20,000 feet, and that he ignores his atttacks on Albanian Muslims ( bunch of mafia thugs and gangsters to a man) and recalls that Robin Cook called Salmond "Belgrade's stooge".

Salmond he sees leading a separate Scotland , not as a modern efficient state but a sort of leftist London authority "committed to redistributionist policies and a neutralist foreign policy garnished with fashionably right-on rhetoric in the hope that a durable patriotic consensus would emerge."

In this some Scottish Muslims " that see Islam primarily as an ideological tool to create a revolutionary new state" will see this "Scottishness" as an acceptable way to further their own agenda which he has identified elsewhere as the establishment of the Caliphate.

There are 9 comments on the site which are almost universally hostile to this juvenile nonsense - "To attack Salmond as a handmaiden of terrorism, which basically this article tries to do, is Daily Mail journalism at its worst."..."This was a disgraceful article attacking a leaders efforts to maintain calm in a volatile situation" ...

Professor Gallagher fights back ..."The trouble is if unquiet spirits like me don't occasionally rock the boat, all the signs are that an SNP-led Scotland, whether inside or outside the UK, will be a very narrow and conformist place" ..."The SNP is now an Alex Salmond fan-club and sections of the media are in danger of going the same way."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article3735949.ece
Now in the Sunday Times yesterday , Profesor Gallagher is afforded the space to vilify the Scottish leadership "Salmond must shun Iran - Salmond's anti-English stance and courting of radical Muslims could turn Scotland into a new East Germany"

Apparently when Salmond was in the US for some hoopla event called Tartan Week, he glided over the recent remarks of the Iranian regime through its ambassador in London, that their joint hostility to British imperialism provided the basis for a solid partnership between Edinburgh and Tehran.

The Scots under the "supremely opportunistic" Salmond , instead of condemning an Iranian regime, which is covertly arming thugs who have killed Scottish soldiers in Iraq, Salmond instead courts it and other dangerous regimes .

This "slippery operator " (as distinct from any other politician perhaps ?) makes "questionable alliances in order to drive forward the electoral ambitions of the SNP". Again the young, Muslim Osama Saeed is the object of his evident dislike ( an islamic zealot) with a working chance for gaining the Glasgow central seat (Polls show Labour and SNP equal in March) and has been appointed as a member of the Scottish government's working group to look at the issue of Trident replacement.

This " cocky but inexperienced politician " (Salmond is inexperienced ? has this guy been living in a cave for the last 30 years ?) )and Scotland with its heavily subsidised economy and crumbling social fabric, bears comparison to the old East Germany and is only kept afloat by liquidity of the banks and the solvency of the state - imperilled it appears by Salmond's reckless posturing.

All this will exact a price says the professor ... but Salmond is "unlikely to be the one to pay for it."

Again the comments , pithy and brief suggest the Professor is pissing ddirectly into the raw scottish wind of change. " Where is this man coming from???" .... "Tom Gallagher also seems to speak an utter load of tosh." ...and from Brussels ... "So this is what happens when you question the status quo.....If I were Salmond I'd take this as an endorsment that whatever he is doing is working. The mud slinging had to start sometime......" May I on behalf of all Scot/nats thank the contributer for this piece, even if he must have been drunk when he wrote it. - More votes for the SNP, keep up the good work" ..." This is exactly the type of pontificating nonsense that riles people in Scotland. "

Finally the location of where he comes from emerges when we discover that the author is "a research fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC "... supporting Freedom around the world." This organisation's funding comes almost entirely from a governmental appropriation by the US Congress and it was created by a Reagan era act of Congress.

The NED was a response to the wave of exposure of covert CIA activity - in the UK, suporting Encounter, Jim Haynes and the Traverse Theatre etc., So effectively they are a branch of the CIA - a quasi public face for them and their proxies and fellow travellers like Professor Gallagher.

"A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA" said Allen Weinstein, who helped draft the legislation establishing NED, during a 1991 interview with the Washington Post.

Lord Patel's advice to Alex Salmond is ...Don't go for solitary walks in the countryside.

Aangirfan has an entertaining dialogue found on a lap top computer in Glasgow recently...

PS : Must make more enquiries about who promoted Smeaton so much and organised that trip to the US , medals etc.,.... Hmmmmm

Tools for urban terrorism ™ # 4 Black Pepper

It is well known that the Metro is now the national newspaper of record ... therefore it is unnerving to read this report from the trial of Sadeer Saleem, Mohammed Shakil and Waheed Ali today ...

"The deadly devices were made of a mixture of black pepper and hydrogen peroxide so 'unique' that the bombers must have had help designing and building them, Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, told the jury at Kingston Crown Court.

The 'improvised' explosive mixture was made in a bath at the Leeds house, packed in plastic bags and kept cool with ice-packs."

Lurking in every spice draw, indeed on every table top is explosive Black Pepper. THIS PICTURE SHOWS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE - there is enough here to blow a Jumbo Jet out of the sky or disable a Chieftain Tank. TAKE CARE. If you have to move it, the best safety precaution is to do so wearing oven gloves.

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the kitchen.

DO NOT PANIC.

Touch nothing. Simply pick up your phone NOW

Dial 999 and explain that you have explosive Black Pepper in your house and request the emergency services, Bomb Squad and the local Counter Terrorism Unit to attend immediately.

SPEAK CALMLY AND QUIETLY.

... AND WAIT FOR YOUR LOCAL EMERGENCY SERVICES TO RESPOND

If you are blond and bleach your hair, you are advised to inform the Police officer you speak to of this fact.

Bonza scheme for body ornaments to raise the beer coupons

The Australian sense of humour which seems to extend to shitting in your shoe has found new ways to disgust foreigners. A new range of T-shirts, which is described as "provocative" is now on offer by 2 Sydney loafers Peter Legras and Adam Hunt.

Mr Hunt, who used to work, is proud of the different designs at a A$49 (US$45)and A$59 (US$55) and are not on retail sale, but only through their website goatboy.com.au

Eva Cox , who sounds like a harpy representing some ranting feminist bitches from an outfit called Women's Electoral Lobby said the T-shirts talked . What they said was "They're tasteless, crappy, crass and stupid and if people want to be seen as tasteless, crappy, crass and stupid, they'll wear the shirts."

The Diana T-shirt, which has been superimposed on to the bodies of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip in on site adverts has been attacked by Professor David Flint who says he is a monarchist.

A striking similarity

The Daily Mail reported last week ....Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, said: "On 16 December 2004 the defendants travelled from Leeds with one of the London bombers, Hasib Hussain, to London where, over a period of two days, they conducted a reconnaissance of potential targets."

"While they were in London they met and spent time with another of the London bombers, Jermaine Lindsay."

"It is the prosecution case that the locations visited by the defendants on 16 to 17 December 2004 bore striking similarity not only to the locations visited on 28 June 2005 by three of the London bombers, Mohammed Sidique Kahn, Shezhad Tanweer and Jermaine Lindsay, when they carried out another 'hostile' reconnaissance of possible targets but also to the locations at which the bombs were actually detonated less than two weeks later on 7 July 2005."

The locations visited included 3 locations crowded usually with tourists, above ground....The London Eye, The Natural History Museum and the ..er .. London Aquarium - 3 bombs were triggered in underground tunnels and one (intended for a tube) on a bus.

" ..a striking similarity"

The three defendents are all from the Beeston area of Leeds where 3 of the 7/7 crew came from have a "striking similarity" ...they are brown men with beards. Salim and Shakil's telephone numbers were on the remnants of a phone found at the Edgeware Road bomb site later linked to Mohammed Siddique Khan.

Rachel North reports on the CCTV film the Police have produced from 7/7 bombings - nobody else does. yet.

Rachel North has done a sterling service by providing the best account of the CCTV provided by the Police on Friday at the 7/7 supporters Trial.

Your can read her full account here . This is an attempt to provide an annotated list thast extract the fact from the opinion - not necessarily in the order she reports them shown.

We saw CCTV footage - never seen in public before

1. The departure from 18 Alexander Grove, (the bomb factory address.) - of the 7/7 bombers sky blue Nissan Micra, hired from a Leeds car rental firm, leaving for London in the early hours of 7 July 2005. No time given.

2. Woodall Services on the westbound M1 (this probably means South bound) at 4.53am, 7/7/05 Shehzad Tanweer in white trousers and white branded sports top with a black coat stopping to put petrol in at 4.51am, then entering the petrol station shop at 4.54am, returning with a carrier bag of goods, ( sandwiches and snacks) - and the car driving away at 5.14am. (Total 21 mins)

3. Germaine Lindsey, waiting at Luton station. Walking from the car park where he parked his burgundy Fiat Bravo near to the entrance of Luton station at 6.41am. Moving about, sometimes off-camera in the ticket hall for three minutes. Walking to the exit again, his mobile in his left hand, at 6.44am. Getting back in his car and repositioning the Fiat nearer the ticket hall.

4. 6.51am the Micra arriving containing the 3 from Leeds and parks next to Lindsey's Fiat Bravo. At 6.53 there is movement between the two vehicles and the boot is opened and closed several times. At 7.14am Lindsey goes back into the ticket hall, a minute later, he returns to the group and at 7.16am the men put on their rucksacks and leave the car park for the station.

5. At 7.25 the men are on the concourse, getting onto a Thameslink train bound for London. At 8.25am the men arrive at Kings Cross station, move to the London Underground network and separate at 8.26am.

6 . Various shots from station CCTV of actual blasts from tunnel. Exploded train at Edgware Rd. We saw footage of the Aldgate train explosion, seen from the Liverpool St platform it departed from. Passengers crouching in shock, smoke pluming and billowing, two police officers going to the platform. Then the same platform again from a different angle. Then stills of the exploded carriage are shown. Torn apart, as lives of the living and dead were torn apart. (No film on board trains)

Next, stills of the Piccadilly line train, (on which RN was a passnegr) externally of carriages.

7. CCTV of Hasib Hussein, exiting Kings Cross Underground station at 8.54am, then heading through Boots at 8.59am. Moving across the main railway station concourse at 9am, bending over outside next door shop WH Smiths

7a. We heard how witnesses saw Hussein waiting on a bench on the Northern line platform at 8.45am, exiting the Northern/Victoria line escalator, Making a purchase, something that looks like a battery at 9.04am.

8. At 9.05, Hussein leaves the King's Cross concourse, heading out of the railway station, and by 9.07am he is out of the station, crossing York Way and heading into McDonalds at 9.15am , as rain falls. Two minutes later he is out of McDonalds and heading up Gray's Inn Rd, towards Euston Rd, making calls on his mobile. By 9.20am he is in Euston Rd, having slipped on a pair of sunglasses.

10. He took the 91 bus to Euston Square, where the driver told the passengers to get off. (Unclear if there is film of this.)

11. Hussein boards the number 30 bus, heading for Tavistock Square. (Unclear if there is film of this.)

12. CCTV footage of the exploding bus shot from inside the reception of the British Medical Association. The man at the desk, a woman in reception, ducking for cover, as the explosion happens, then the receptionist man going to the door, where the red bus, torn apart is smoking outside. Thirteen more people are dead.

13. Next we saw the footage from the bus in front of the No.30, the passengers jerking in shock as the bus explodes behind them.

14. Home movie (?) of Khan leaving for Pakistan. November 2004 apparently given by his wife to a friend who gave it to Police.

Without actually seeing the films and stills it is difficult to comment but 2 principal queries come to mind immediately.

1. Where and why were cameras overlooking 18 Alexander Grove - presumably dark at that time.

2. At film 4 the times to not conform to the times showing on (some) of the famous (and only) shot of the 4 together seen so far - 7.21. Apparently film shows them "At 7.25 the men are on the concourse, getting onto a Thameslink train bound for London" .. so why was there any complication / confusion about which train they caught ?.

Again, there is nothing that contradicts a theory that the bombers were not under the impression that they were on a drug courier run.

RN says that lawyers for the 3 defendents .."The defence are not contesting it; they are not contesting these facts " ... Surely the time for contesting the evidence is when it is considered and the people responsible can be cross examined on the source, accuracy of timing.. when perhaps the press copies will be available.

Anyway we must be grateful to RN for this snapshot so far... it is nice to see that the 8,000 pieces of CCTV have yielded some evidence.

There is some interesting discussion at Blairwatch. as well as at Rachel North's and R has contributed to discussion at 9/11 .

Cannot find anything in the weekend papers.

Mugabe - exactly what do you think Mbeke can do ?

"There is no crisis in Zimbabwe," President Mbeke told journalists in Harare after holding talks with President Robert Mugabe on the way to Lusaka, to the despair of the liberal elites , more effective in observing wars of colonialist overthrow than undertaking them.

In this they betray their apparent and common inability to understand that not only is Mbeke is virtually powerless, his own hold on power is remarkably tenuous.

As chronicled here endlessly, the lights are going out all over Africa - more so in the rainbow state as the rolling power cuts from struggling ESKOM fails to power what was a booming economy - now suddenly jammed into reverse.

Decades of political indecision, benign neglect, unwillingness to listen, have finally hit, coinciding with a public eruption of the swelling crime, corruption and factional ANC strife. Outside political circles the the national police chief faces trial for corruption with charges of deals with a local mafiakingpin and dealer in hard drugs.

Inside the tent, the freshly elected African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma who waits to adopt Mbeke's mantle just escaped jail for raping an HIV-positive woman last year. This year he faces trial - unless a deal can be done - in connection with South Africa's very murky multi-billion-pound arms dealings with British, German and French arms manufacturers.

The new / old ANC leaders today are still framed by the jargon of their exiled years in the eastern bloc - yet they and their families splurge in excesses of consumerism of must have Mercedes 4x4s. Overseas hideaways fed from fraud, strutting wives and mistresses with Marc Jacobs bags bought in the shopping malls of Europe , shod by Jimmy Choo and supported by a claque of seedy Europeans hidden away in Cape mansions who watch as the bag of gold at the end of this rainbow is rapidly disappearing.

Crime soars in the neglected townships, swollen with refugees from Zimbabwe, food costs soasr and shortages mount against this desperate background of lawlessness.

Only now is the power shortfall, long predicted, throttling the returns of years of foreign investment . Result. Stocks sold off and the rand slides and the big boys start looking elsewhere, the world now being their global oyster.

In a post Westphalian world where the sovereign state - which was never very sovereign in this this region - has collapsed , the money moves and the market moves on.

Power cuts have hit the country's platinum, gold, manganese and high-quality export coal mines with a hammer blow, with no production on some days and only 40% to 60% on others, exports decline, employees lose pay ...... health services - with over 6 million HIV positive patients, under the under his eccentric , alcoholic health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who recently jumped the public queue for a liver transplant, wither as cash dries up.

In December Mbeki and Zuma stood for the leadership of the ANC at the party's five-yearly electoral congress in what must increasingly be seen as a watershed in post Mandela politics. Pithily put by one blogiste as "from rascist hellhole to 3rd world shithole in 3 Presidents"

Thabo Mbeki, gained an M.A. degree in economics in 1966 from the University of Sussex at Brighton and after working for three years until 1970 for the ANC - often seen as sitting out the war . Although he subsequently underwent military training in the Soviet Union.

Mbeki, prevented from standing again as state president beyond next year's parliamentary and presidential elections, wanted to remain the power behind the throne of a new state president of his choosing.

Zuma, a Zulu populist with some 20 children by various wives and mistresses, hoped to prove that last year's rapecase, and the trial he faces this year for corruption and other charges, were part of a plot by Mbeki to use state institutions to discredit him. A former detainee on Robben Island and leader of the ANC’s military wing, Mr Zuma has long been one of the most popular leaders among the party’s militants.

Mbeki and the old warfighters assumed that the notion of corrupt Zuma , taking on Nelson Mandela's role thought the election was a formality.

It wasn't.

Mbeki was blind to his unpopularity - a wicked combination of his arrogance , his failures in solving health and crime problems, and above all his failure to deliver to the poor , made him a loser. He lost. The defeat was humiliating by 2,329 votes to 1,505 and pro-Zuma candidates took a clean sweep of the top six positions on the party’s National Executive Committee. .

Now Zuma insists that he is the leader of the country and the ANC , Ruthlessly he expects (and largely gets) MPs in parliament to take its orders from him.

An elderly and failing Mbeki soldiers on until next year as state president, asking MPs to toe his line.

Without authority at home he has none to wield abroad - and soon FIFA will withdraw the 2010 World Cup.

Meanwhile in Zimbabwe , Mugabe ignores what he can and resists what he must. This week he secured the endorsement of his party to stand in next year's presidential elections, when he will be 84 years old.

He has't the slightest intention of leaving and will do anything to remain in power - he murdered tens of thousands of Matabele , has forcibly and happily exiled anywhere between 2-4 Mn to surrounding states and has a large corrupt and fiercely loyal clique who will cling to his power.

Surrounded by nations wallowing in the failings of the African Energy Pool, who will increasingly find it difficult to feed their people, calls for Mugabe to maintain and observe the Constitional niceties is pointless.

Mbeki says there is no crisis. 2 weeks after elections , Zimbabweans are being denied the results. Mbeki says there is no crisis, but the people are living under martial law. Mbeki says there is no crisis but Opposition MDC lawyers have been harassed, brutalised.Mbeki says there is no crisis yet South African equipment and property has been seized. Mbeki says there is no crisis and thousands of soldiers, police and members of youth militias are roaming the streets.

Mbeki says there is no crisis.

Will Nu Labour get Balls at last ? Brown to go in shock psycho - drama - queen

Department of Special Collections and University Archives
McFarlin Library. University of Tulsa
Has the manuscript of a poem by Malcolm Lowry - Tashtego believed Red

Stubbs the quirky, fatalistic second mate on the Pequod had a harpoonist, Tashtego a "native" Gay Head Indian from Martha’s Vineyard. One of the last of his tribe which is about to disappear. The role of the noble savage is one he shares with Queeqeg , a prince from a South Sea island . Fuelled by rum he is more practical and less intellectual than Queequeg.

It is a popular belief that Tashtego's Polynesian friend was the origin of the name for Captain Queeg in Herman Wouk's "Caine Mutiny" made memorable by Humphrey Bogart in Stanley Kramers 1954 film of the book.

Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg, takes over the command of the Destroyer / minesweeper "Caine" a run down World War One ship.

Abandoning his girl May, he starts immediately losing respect of his officers by browbeating officer to sell him their liquor ration , smuggles liquor on board and swiftly and certainly loses the crews respect in a series of calamities.

On the first voyage the ship runs aground and Queeg blames the helmsman, they lose a gunnery target by over riding the cable, due to Queeg's inattention whilst disciplining a sailor for leaving his shirt tail out.

These failings culminate in the loss of a portion of strawberries the recovery of which becomes an epic enquiry which seals the dislike of the crew faced with his cowardice in action, when he leaves a dye marker to cover his premature retirement from action resulting in his being called "Old Yellowstain".

Lieutenant Stephen Maryk makes an amateur self diagnosis of him as a paranoid and maintains a diary of his increasingly eccentric behaviour to justify his analysis. This includes Queeg's obsessive habit of rolling steel ball bearings in his hand, both within and outside his pocket.

In a momentous typhoon Maryk seizes command and the story continues to dissect Queeg's actions in the form of a court martial not for mutiny but a lesser charge of Conduct to the Prejudice of Good Order and Discipline (the sort of charge that might apply to say a Chief Constable shagging WPC's on his staff).

Brown as Queeg

Gordon Brown has always appeared as a solitary and remote, isolated and driven character - widely believed to be a supressed homosexual - marriage has not stilled the rumours. Since assuming power - an assumption like a monarch and not the result of a populist party wide vote, his isolation has become more evident.

His curious physical tics have become morbidly amplified - Guido pokes relentless fun and obtains some schoolboy merriment at an episode when he picked his nose and ate the result in the House of Commons to be captured on the in house cameras and widely circulated as a vicious prank.

In public speech - of which we necessarily see more - and under stress, his odd open mouthed mouth breathing, his rapid claw like hand dragging down documents - scrawled over with huge type in blunt black Magic Markers have become increasingly evident.

The consequences of his famed indecision or as the Cameronian low lifers prefer, "dithering" are now framing his office... the call for an Autumn election, the Northern Rock extended debacle, troop levels in Iraq, signing the Lisbon treaty, appearance/ non appearance at the Beijing Olympics ceremonies.

The bizarre personal appearance - a combination of his own negligence and no doubt the despair of unheard helpers - trousers tucked in his sock, his persistently ragged necktie, inexpertly applied and hideously coloured face make - up and persistent facial tics and tricks all re-inforce a troubled person - not made any more likeable by has pallid face and the unfortunate asymmetry of his glass eye.

There are also the consistent stories of staff falling out, leaving - Spencer Livermore at his side for a decade departing for Saatchi & Saatchi (Some reports said Brown made Livermore cry with one of his tirades) .. or not starting such as David Pitt-Watson he personally selected as Labour Party Secretary.

Now we have the bizarre story in the Sunday Mail as the juvenile Ed. Balls (Maryk) is lobbying to mutiny and take command as the financial typhoon finally hits, and the Local election looms with premonitions of disaster as the Labour vote slumps in the polls, Bae corruption, Beijing, the kalaidoscope is shaking......

Balls, even if he is a simpleton is ambitious , he is not without allies, the Guradian says yesterday that Gordon is "clinically depressed" . Although he has his enemies - the craven war criminal Jack Straw apparently offered to biff Balls at a cabinet meeting last week.

Others lurk, and sensing danger to their own over arching personal agendas - Zionist Foreign Secretary the Boy David Miliband and Zionist backed Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell are scuttling about ... preparing their legions... and the funds to catapult them into the lead.

...and Queeg is in his cabin , fiddling with his balls.

UPDATE : Famous for 15 megapixels has some filthy film that is relevant if the sight of a grown man fiddling with his balls is not too much for you.

GMP Counter Terrorism Unit hot on the trail of ...er.. terrorists

In the shadow of the memorial service of murdered Chief Constable Michael Todd who had been so closely connected with so called Anti-Terrorist operations both at Scotland Yard and the GMP this is worth considering...

The Greater Manchester Police have posted a curious note on their website "GMP Counter Terrorism Unit first year (Trafford)" which reports the results of the sterling work of GMP CTU, which now has more than 300 officers and staff.

It starts , somewhat confusingly (if this is their First Anniversary), "Since the creation of the GMP CTU, in July 2007" .. and then continues, " ... Omar Altimimi was sentenced to 9 years for terrorist offences and Yusuf Abdullah was sentenced to 3 years for proceeds of crime offences. In November 2007, Abdul Rahman pleaded guilty to terror offences and was sentenced to 6 years in prison. And in January 2008, two men, Steven Kerr Robinson and Wayne Cook, were jailed for a total of 12 years for terrorist offences."

It is worth considering what these cases are, as they may well be unfamiliar to many readers.

Abdul Rahman

When this came to court at Manchester Crown Court in November 2007 the Times reported "Shop worker Abdul Rahman admits urging Muslims to jihad".

It appears that as a result of plea bargain Rahman had initially been charged with assisting another to commit or prepare a terrorist act, which carries a maximum life sentence on conviction.

The judge, his Honour Clement Goldstone QC, indicated that the defendant would only be jailed for a maximum of 6 years and this charge dropped if he pleaded guilty to 3 lesser charges to avoid a trial :
1. Possessing a letter which amounted to a “call to arms” from a friend who was fighting in Afghanistan (sent by his friend and former housemate Aslam Awan, 25, who was fighting in Afghanistan and is now banned from entering the UK)
2. Disseminating terrorist propaganda - the first person ever to be charged and convicted for this offence.
3. Aiding the breach of a control order ( he had helped a 22-year-old British man - who cannot be named coded as AK -) flee to Pakistan by paying his airfare. Rahman gave him £480 to flee the country. Before taking a flight to Lahore via Tehran, CCTV filmed AK at Birmingham Airport after he had ditched his usual traditional Muslim attire for Westernised clothing.

When arrested Rahman had a jiffy bag ready to send to Afghanistan containing two hunting knives and mobile phones. When police raided Rahman's house, they found computer discs of speeches given to crowds in Pakistan claiming "Allah is calling for jihad".

The report adds that Video footage of Rahman and two other men were released by Greater Manchester Police today, but this does not appear to have been produced as evidence in court.

The clips, recorded in the winter in the Lake District, show Rahman singing jihadi songs and giving a commentary as the two other men crawl on their stomachs through the snow as if they were Mujahideen in Afghanistan. The clips were found when police raided Rahman's home. See videos edited by GMP here Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 this looks more like a bunch of Asian lads fooling about in the snow playing cops 'n' robbers.

Rahman was reprimanded by the judge for grinning as he sat in the dock whilst the case against him was outlined. He came to the UK in September 2004 on a four-year student visa to study biotechnology at Dundee University, but quit the course after one day telling his tutors he had money problems.

Omar Altimimi & Yusuf Abdullah

The BBC first reported on this case on Friday, 7 July 2006, "Pair charged after terror raids " 8 addresses in Bolton had been raided on 27th June 2006 and as a result Omar Altimimi, 36, from Lansdowne Road, Bolton, was charged with four offences under the Terrorism Act 2000. Yusuf Abdullah, 29, of no fixed address, faced one charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act and a further charge under the Theft Act.

The BBC provided further explanation that Mr Altimimi's charges relate to the possession of articles for the purposes of terrorism, and the collection of information likely to be useful for terrorism purposes and that he also faced a charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

It also appears from a report of his trial at Manchester Crown Court in the International Herald Tribune that Altimimi was arrested in March 2006 on suspicion of money laundering, involving US$54,610 (€40,109) stolen from the Yemen Tourist Board. At the time of his arrest, Altimimi was attempting to withdraw funds transferred to him by Abdullah, police said. This was 7 weeks prior to the raids in Bolton.

The GMP reported (undated) "Man found guilty of terrorism offences" that the case started with a fraud investigation at the Nationwide Building Society in Bolton which involved the attempted Yemeni fraud.

It appears that Altimimi had multiple identities which he used fraudulently - Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter, head of the Greater Manchester Police Counter Terrorism Unit, said: "We will never know who Altimimi really is. He developed a range of identities, which would allow him to expand his terrorist activities. He is a congenital liar and has lied throughout this investigation." He had arrived in Britain from the Netherlands in 2002, and applied for asylum for himself, his wife and their three children claiming to be an Iraqi fleeing persecution.

2 computers had been seized at addresses in Lansdowne Road, and Eastbank Street in Bolton which were said to belong to Altimimi. These revealed terrorist material, much of it downloaded from a secret password protected Al-Qaeda Internet site. Details of this here at Manchester Evening News report 6/ 6/2007 "'Terror hoard' on dad's computer " - which would have filled 900 filing cabinets if printed out said the prosecution, making bombs, setting up terrorist cells etc.,

There was also material related to a job description for a role in Greater Manchester Police, application form for Bolton Council and for a teacher training position with Bolton Community College.

It became clear that Altimimi also had a number of different identities that he was using - by the end of the investigation three different names and eight bank accounts had been linked to Altimimi. One identity was this ...


Articles found in his shoe when arrested included an Immigration and Nationality Directorate card issued by the Home Office in the name of Iraqi, Abdullah Mahr Abou Hawas (above) , a Halifax debit card in the name of AHM Abdullah and a Co-op bank card in the name of Abou Hawas.

During the investigation officers carried out enquiries in 14 countries stretching from Scandinavia through to Middle East. A BBC video news report on video is available here

Yusuf Abdullah, 30, (also known as Nashwan Gassar) pleaded guilty to money laundering when on trial with Altimimi in July 2007 which related to the fraud on the Yemen Tourist Board about which the Nationwide Building Society had tipped the Police off .

The jury at Manchester Crown Crown found Atlimimi guilty on Wednesday 4th July of four counts of possessing material of use to terrorists, then convicted him Thursday 5th July of two further charges of the same offense and two counts of money laundering.

The following day Judge Maddison , Recorder for Manchester handed Altimimi a 9 year sentence and Abdullah 3 years. He added that Altimimi was "a sleeper for some sort of terrorist organisation, it is not known when, if and how you might have been called upon to play your part."

Although Tony Porter had said ""We will never know who Altimimi really is," the prosecution told the court that Altimimi was linked to terrorists in the Netherlands and to Junade Feroze, (The Blackburn car dealer arrested in his gold Mercedes) who had been sentenced the previous month to 22 years in prison for his part in a "dirty bomb plot" led by Dhiren Barot.

Tim Barnes QC prosecuting said “He is associated through an address in Rotterdam with Arab terrorists in Europe. The Crown can also prove that he sent a money order to Thailand to a man who was subsequently convicted in his absence of terrorist offences in France.”

Another defendant in the case known by the name of Bakhtiyar Berwiss also wanted in connection with the Yemen bank transfers absconded while on bail.

Steven Kerr Robinson & Wayne Cook

The BBC first reported on this obscure case on 7th May 2007 when Steven Kerr Robinson, 42, from Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, was due to appear appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday 8th May charged with offences under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.. Packages containing caustic soda were sent in the post to a councillor in Blackburn, Lancashire, and a journalist in Glasgow on 25 April.

At the trial at Manchester crown Court reported by the Daily Record (now removed)but cached here headlined "Poisoned Vodka SNLA Terrorist Gets 6yrs " Scott Robinson had admitted sending vodka bottles filled with lethal caustic soda to a journalist and a councillor at an earlier hearing. BBC report here

His co-accused and neighbour, Englishman Wayne Cook, 46, had denied the charges of using noxious substances to harm or intimidate but was found guilty.

The Court was told Robinson said he was acting under orders from a man (Adam Busby)who claims to be the leader of the Scottish National Liberation Army.

The judge told the pair: "What you did was to prepare packages into which you placed bottles, miniature vodka bottles, from which the vodka was removed and caustic soda placed.

"You then sent them through the post. One was sent to a lady, a journalist in Scotland, and another to a councillor on Blackburn-with-Darwen Council.

"The reason you did that was in furtherance of a campaign by the Scottish National Liberation Army. People are entitled to their views - they are not entitled to the sort of actions which that organisation carry out."

The court was told one of the vodka bottles, sent to councillor John Wright, was intercepted by Royal Mail. The other was received by journalist Myra Philp, (who was at the time executive news editor at Scottish Express Newspapers) who said after the verdict she had been the target of a campaign of SNLA harassment.

The prosecution claimed Cook, a neighbour of Robinson in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, had become involved with the plot for revenge against Blackburn-with-Darwen Council after his son died in their care.

Counter-terrorist boss Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter said: "This was not some clumsy joke. Had anyone drunk the contents, they would, in all likelihood, have died." ..or put another way, if anyone receiving unsolicited a small bottle of vodka that had been inxpertly tampered with had drunk it without notincing it ddn't smell of vodka and tasted pretty damn awful ....

They both got six years each.

Summing up

So there you have it, Abdul Rahman who absconded on a student visa and his wannabe mates larking about in the snow - and keeping a letter sent to him and bunging a mate on the run £500 quid. Why wasn't he returned to Pakistan when he dropped out before he beacame such a pain in the ass ?

Altimimi (?) and Abdullah. Evidently no-good criminals who were caught in a raid wait 7 weeks AFTER they are brought to the attention of the GMP Counter Terrorism Unit, as a result of action by alert Nationwide Building Society staff . Which gives another guy Bakhtiyar Berwiss the opportunity to do a runner and A & A ample time to remove anything of interest to Plod. Masses of agit-jihadi fillums and literature and petty fraud (the bit which they managed to uncover) - they got to visit 14 countries however, which will improve their knowledge of geography and different currencies if nothing else. Abdullah was in fact only prosecuted under Proceeds of Crime Act and a further charge under the Theft Act so he can not in any sense be called a terrorist.

Again, an evident failure of the asylum / immigration service to let Altimimi in the country and let him stay.

Robinson & Cook - Terrorists ? Dangerous lunatics, maybe. It is odd that these Bolton based terrists acted on behalf of the SNLA who want to reverse English immigration into Scotland and restore gaelic as the country’s national language

The results of 300 man years work plus (and plus a lot of overtime - luvvly jubbly sarge !) , and a wodge of taxpayers money ... either there is no terrist threat out there to worry about or there are plenty and these guys haven't a fucking clue about how to find them, never mind fit them up.

The cost ? Who knows ...and who cares ? This is the cost of the War on Terror.

Poole Council, Dorset Police, dungeons, S & M and Mistress Wildcat's soiled panties for sale : Amazing Pictures !!!

Well, Well, Well ! Poole Council and Dorset Police hit the headlines again.

37 year old Catherine Frost is a high ranking £27,000 a year council employee who is in some way involved in handing out money to the sick and the jobless.

The News of the World is also happy to tell us that she also handing out punishment as Mistress Wildcat for £100 an hour S & M sessions in a dungeon in the basement of her large detached house at Queens Park ( handy for the golf course) on the outskirts of Bournemouth.

Confronted by NOW she said, "The bondage and sado-masochism scene is misunderstood. There's nothing wrong with it. We're a friendly bunch of people."

A (satisfied ?) customer tracked down by the ace sleuths of Rupe the Poop's porn empire revealed.."She gets all sorts of customers including some high-ranking policemen. People who have authority in their professional lives sometimes enjoy an hour being bossed about for a change."

Council bosses have asked her to stay home while they investigate her seedy sideline .. more here

But cached copies of her slaves website "My Slave Days" , Cameron of Bournemouth are available here - along with details of his dungeon ..."The plasterers are in today and they hope to finish today and just come back to do a little sanding down then that will be that job done." .. plus some things that are not suitable for a Sunday newspaper ....

Mistress Wildcat's website is cached here and she has a shop so if "If worn underwear or foot wear is your thing then look no further! "

Peter Powell sacked ... Neil Munro dragged dead from the sea at Sandbanks .. John Nash Strategic Director for Children's Services on TV defending spying on 3 year old children ?

Now high ranking Plods are queuing up for a touch of the lash or maybe a discreet package of soiled undies....

Barry George

Barry George is held in custody awaiting a second trial for the murder of Jill Dando after his successful appeal in November 2007 . Jill was killed on 26th April 1999. It was almost a year later on April 11th April 2000 that Detective Constable John Gallagher interviewed him. Over one month later on 25 May 2000, George was arrested on suspicion of murdering the presenter. He has been in prison ever since for a crime he did not commit.

There is an Official campaign Website for Barry which provides helpful information and useful links. This includes the Finding of LORD JUSTICE LEVESON and THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE SIMON on 15th November 2007 - which concluded

54. It is impossible to know what weight, if any, the jury attached to the FDR (Firearm Deposit Residue) evidence. It is equally impossible to know what verdict they would have reached had they been told as we were told, by the witnesses who gave evidence before us, that it was just as likely that the single particle of FDR came from some extraneous source as it was that it came from a gun fired by the appellant. The verdict is unsafe. The conviction will be quashed.

There is also a guest book you can sign in support of Barry George who it appears will not appear in court until June. This contains some fascinating comments ..including this . The Name and e-mail is available on the site but has been contracted here.

Name: S W
E-mail address: s@hotmail.com
Comments: Just before this incident I was for a year and a half Barry's postman and spoke to him more often than most people, I got to know him quite well. I regard myself as a good judge of character and although Barry wasn't the brightest of people I vow to this day He is no murderer. The day He was arrested I phoned the Hammersmith Police station and told them in no uncertain terms my feelings on this, I gave my name and address. I also phoned the solicitors (Keene and Co) and put my name forward as a character witness. To this day I have never heard back.
Monday, March 3rd 2008 - 01:34:35 AM

There is also a part of the inoccent website devoted to the case for Barry George

See also Thursday, June 21, 2007 Where were you when Jill Dando died ?

You can also listen to Barry's sister Michelle Diskin, talking to Jenni Murray on Women's Hour Tuesday 27 August 2002 ,talk about about her fight to clear her brother's name here .

Identifying the enemy - recruiting the soldiers

Philip Zimbardo conducted the famous experiments with Stanford University students in 1971 where normal college students were randomly assigned to play the role of guard or inmate for two weeks in a simulated prison. The guards quickly became so brutal that the experiment had to be shut down after only six days. You can learn more about the deatils of the study in a slide show and commentary by Zimbardo at this "Stanford Prison Experiment" site.

He has now labelled this transformation which leads good people to engage in eveil actions the "Lucifer Effect." Not only the name of a literary magazine which Lord Patel was involved with in the early '60's at Leicester University, but also God's favourite angel who fell from grace and became Satan. Zimbardo has another website devoted to this idea.

Giving the enemy an identity

Zimbardo raises the question - What does it take for the citizens of one society to hate the citizens of another society to the degree that they want to segregate them, torment them, even to kill them?

It requires a ‘hostile imagination,’ a psychological construction embedded deeply in their minds by propaganda that transforms those others into “The Enemy.” That image is a soldier’s most powerful motive, one that loads his rifle with ammunition of hate and fear.

..and provides a list of ways with examples of how this is done.

The Enemy as Enemy of God
The Enemy as Barbarian
The Greedy Enemy
The Enemy as Criminal, Committer of Atrocities, Torturer
The Enemy as Rapist, Desecrator of Women and Children
Sex and War
The Enemy as Death
The Enemy as Beast, Reptile, Insect
The Enemy as Abstraction
Heroic Warfare: The Enemy as Worthy Opponent

He shows how this was used by Julius Streicher, the editor of a weekly newspaper, Das Sturmer, “The Storm Troope,” that spread anti-Semitic propaganda to the general public in Germany, which re-inforced .This was paralleled by texts shaping the beliefs of school children in which Jews are portrayed in a series of increasingly negative scenarios.

The use of stereotyped conceptions of Jews as lecherous old men seducing young Aryan women, of dirty Jewish butchers, unscrupulous Jewish lawyers, hard-hearted Jewish landlords, rich Jewish business men and their wives ignoring the poverty around them, all combined to create a hate-filled image of Jews.

Words and images. A continuing process that starts with stereotyped conceptions of the other as worthless, the other as all-powerful, the other as demonic, the other as an abstract monster, the other as a fundamental threat to our cherished values and beliefs.

Public fear is notched up and with an enemy threat imminent, reasonable people act irrationally.

People, proud of their "independence" act in mindless conformity.

Peaceful people act as foot soldiers - which ceaseless litigation provides them with the tools to make others conform.

Dramatic visual images of the enemy on posters, television, magazine covers, movies, and the internet imprint the readers and viewers , with the powerful emotions of fear and hate.

BBC video here - Strategic Director for Children's Services, Borough of Poole, the grey haired, grey suited, man in a grey background defends the use of RIPA powers - deeply unsettling. Full Council statement here "...an officer trained in RIPA procedures will attempt to establish if the family leave their stated address in the morning and return to it in the evening. " that wouldn't be training by Common Purpose would it ?

Those interested might like to consult the "Poole Partnership Terms of Reference" *** in which one of the things that must be done is to " Build common purpose and shared commitment." and "Poole Partnership will implement and monitor by:
1. Acting within the spirit and letter of the law."

*** or not if you have a low boredom threshold and can read these endless pages of worthy pap.

UPDATE "A view from Middle England" has interesting views on Mr Nash.

Royal Order of Jesters - something funny going on

The Burning Taper Sunday March 9th. " Another 'isolated incident'? Retired judge, fellow Jesters under investigation for hiring prostitutes in New York "..has more information including the full text of :

HON. THOMAS M. REYNOLDS OF NEW YORK IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, December 8, 2005 - TRIBUTE TO JUDGE RONALD H. TILLS
" ....One of his great loves is the largest and oldest fraternal organization in the world. As a Mason, Ron Tills has held numerous responsibilities within the Masons and the organizations within it, including Proctor of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, Potentate of the Ismalia Shrine Temple, Director and President of the Shrine Oasis and Director of the Buffalo Court 22 of Jesters."

Congressman Tom Reynolds is a member of Springville Lodge in New York and Ismailia Temple (of Buffalo, NY) of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (the Shriners), according to Congressional SourceWatch

Ahabs other leg also has an intiguing post at Rigorous Intuition Friday April 11th 2008

In which he makes the connection between "Son of Sam" , David Berkowitz , his letters to Jimmy Breslin , (He used a 44 Charter Bulldog) of the 22 Disciples of Hell and John "Wheaties" Rapist and Suffocator of Young girls who was in fact John Carr who possibly blew his brains out at Minot Air Force base, North Dakota in 1978 - the base where they "lost" 6 nukes recently.

The book he points out, by Maury Terry "The Ultimate Evil " about the Son of Sam slayings has .." multiple mentions throughout the book of a group called the 22 as well, carrying out ritualistic crimes ...."

Terry's book pointed to the Process Church -originally developed as a splinter client cult group from Scientology, so that they were declared "suppressive persons" by L. Ron Hubbard in December 1965

The Burning Taper also has a piece on an ROJ e-mail circular "Mirth Missives" (see also Frost here) which apparently circulates amongst this august body.

This appears to be some sort of spatchcock e-zine circulating frat house jokes, whilst it wouldn't disturb any adult it seems a curious item for well meaning masons and shriners to get involved in.

But then as ahe points out, Spitzers successor is a man called David Paterson , a mason (member of Boyer Lodge #1, of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York. ), whom both he and his wife 'fess up jointly to sexual infidelity and the use of cocaine and marijuana.

Bro Hoddup tells us that Boyer Lodge No. 1 was established in 1812 and is the oldest continuously operating Prince Hall lodge in the world.

Located in Harlem, the lodge is named in honor of Haitian soldier-statesman Jean Pierre Boyer, who later became the first president of Haiti after their war of liberation from France. In the 1820s, Boyer Lodge and two others for free blacks in New York that had been chartered by Prince Hall's African Lodge in Massachusetts, formed what was then called the "Boyer Grand Lodge," for the state of New York.

After the schism over the National Compact in the 1840s, the lodges descended from, or aligned with, Boyer Lodge eventually came together to form what is today the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of New York.

Worshipful brother Walter S. Cook III, Past Master of Apollo-King Solomon's Lodge No. 13 of the Grand Lodge of New York has reported that Brother Paterson has requested the use of St. John's Lodge No. 1's famous "Washington Bible" for his swearing in ceremony, and that the request was granted.

"This national treasure (Washington was sworn in using it) was nearly destroyed on September 11, 2001 when the World Trade Towers in New York were attacked by terrorists. The Bible had been on loan from St. John's Lodge #1 for an exhibit in the Faunces Tavern Museum, just a few blocks from the horrific event. Two days later, Brother Tom Savini, Director of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library and Museum was taken under special escort to Faunces Tavern Museum where he was able to recover the Washington Bible.

Another interesting site is a U. S. Government page which has compiled the passages to which Bibles were open when Presidents took their oath of office. You can find it here.

Some other interesting facts: candidates at St. John's Lodge take their obligation on this Bible which is also used to obligate the Grand Master of New York. Three other presidents have used it for their inauguration and it was to be used at a fourth in 2001, that of George Walker Bush, following in the footsteps of his father, President George Herbert Walker Bush. However, inclement weather caused a last minute cancellation in order not to expose this irreplaceable treasure to the elements. The Bible does not travel by air; only by land so as to minimize the potential for damage. It only travels in the presence of three carefully selected members of St. John's Lodge"


I tell you, you couldn't make this fucking stuff up..... and it's tax exempt.

Dick Cheney AKA the dark destroyer - the eyeglasses have it

Cryptome brings to our attention this picture from the Veep's White House Office of Dick hanging out his flies fishing ? Click on pic to make Dick Big.


Or bigger still

Poole Council, RIPA, Soft Cops and sleepwalking

Tim Martin, head of legal and democratic services at Poole Borough Council, said: "The council is committed to investigating the small minority of people who attempt to break the law and affect the quality of life for the majority of law-abiding residents in Poole. "On a small number of occasions, RIPA procedures have been used to investigate potentially fraudulent applications for school places.

3 points to make

1. The fears expressed about the misuse of these secretive powers by over 600 public bodies have proved to be true.

2. Maybe a co-incidence, but isn't this the area, Sandbanks, where policeman Neil Munroe was found dead after supposedlyfalling / jumping / being pushed off a cross channel ferry?

3. Isn't this the Borough where many dark claims have been made about the influence of Masons in civic affairs ? The impacability and lack of concern of the civil servant interviewed on TV gav e the lie to Mr Shakespeare's warning ...

" Man , proud man,dress'd in a little brief authority"

which continues with unerring precision to describe the self important fnctionary and apologist for the council's covert intrusiveness..

Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd—
His glassy essence—like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

Measure For Measure Act 2, scene 2, 114–123

Finally before imploding, Lord Patel attended a meeting of the local metropolitan Borough Council who were explaining there novel system for private rented housing of "Accredited" Landlords, Letting Agents and Tenants.

This is a self designed scheme , unique to the Borough developed under what they see as their mandated job under the Housing Act 2004 to monitor Housing.

Taking up the issue with a charming, sensible lady in sensible flat heeled brogues, with a sensible handbag, Lord Patel suggested that they were becoming ..er.."soft cops" by introducing norms and standards that were not a legislative requirement.

This was a concept with which it was evident she had to struggle. A term like "soft cop" not coming easily to this matronly lady. There was a flash of realisation ... "Yes... Yes .. I suppose we are ". A sly grin formed, which broadened.. "Well someone has to."

God only knows
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man
We're working our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway
When in fact we're slip slidin' away

PS : "This was a complicated case" he said about the school for which a 3 year old was destined whose sibling already attended...they had 2 houses. Yes, really fucking complicated.