MUNGUIN'S MIDWEEK MÉLANGE

Sarah Champion. Generous to a fault for our brave boys... She put her wreath on expenses.

Big occasions are glittering and star studded with the so-called great and the so called good.
No-one sees when you give a homeless soldier a few quid to help him out.

That's about how we see it.

We remember. It started just one day after the referendum.

Great speaker, friendly, sincere and  intelligent.
Good luck Chris.

Yeah yeah, whatever Ed.

Bye Danny

Nicola in our local food bank.

What is the sense of science that can put a man on the moon, yet is incapable
of putting a bit of bread on the table of every human being?

I wonder if this one was produced in England too...

Busy, busy, busy....

Just in case you thought that Rachel Reevese represented nasty, right-wing
Islington Labour, Johnny boy confirms that the unemployed
 are bugger all to do with Labour.

I'd not go in that place with my wallet in my back pocket
unless I could get a padlock for it and an AK49.

And today it was confirmed that there will be no change in the government of Israel.

So we can expect to see more of this kind of thing. We are sure that there are atrocities on both sides. (In which wars are there not?) But it seems to us that our media is reluctant to report anything from the Palestinian point of view. So here's a little balancing. There are any number of pictures of similar barbarity on the net.

So, now you know.

If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an accord with Israel. It's natural, we took their country. It's true that God promised it to us, but in what way does that concern them? Our God isn't theirs. There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing. We came and we stole their country. Why should they accept that?
(David Ben Gurion. The first prime minister of Israel, quoted by Nahum Goldmann in The Jewish Paradox.)

DON'T WATCH THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE A BUCKET HANDY

It reminds me of John Major in the car driving past his old home, just like he was a normal person, only we all know he rehearsed seeing it four of five times before he got it right.

Seriously, I have rarely heard so much rubbish in my life. The Labour Party may well have been most of or all of what Murphy talks about once upon a time, until Mandelson, Brown and Blair got their evil Tory hands on it.

But a long time ago it ceased to bear any resemblance to what Jim is talking about here, particularly with reference to the poor... and all over the world, if you please. 

What, Jim, about the poor in Afghanistan and Iraq, who had their legs blown off in the wars you supported? What about the inquiry into these wars that you so strongly resisted? What about the poor in Palestine, the unarmed kids being shot by Israeli soldiers? 

And what about the poor in Scotland Jim, denied their desperately needed sickness benefits or on poverty wages on zero hour contracts, with you backing so many of IDS's vile policies? (And yes, I know Labour's stated policy is to get rid of zero hour contracts, but you you blow off about that you should probably tell all the Labour Councils that employ these contracts about that policy, becasue talking the talk is hardly enough when people are starving...)

If anyone believes any of this crap, then I suspect that they also believe in Professors McGonnigal and Snape and I'll look forward to seeing them on platform 9 3/4 where we can watch the cow jump over the moon together.
++++++++++

It's going to be printed for 5 days to judge its viability.
We should grab it ... or we will lose it
++++++++++

Ha ha ha...

PS: This is what we call a political meeting in Scotland

TERRORIST THREAT IN EUROPE GROWING

The Foreign Office has warned of a high level threat of attacks in France and Germany as it followed the USA, telling its citizens to take care when travelling.

The Foreign Office advice is that the attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.

Apparently authorities in Britain last week intercepted an al Qaida-linked terror which would reportedly have been similar to the deadly commando-style raids in Mumbai.

On Tuesday night the Eiffel Tower had to be evacuated for the second time in 2 weeks following a bomb threat. On Friday, even Sweden announced it has raised its threat alert to the highest level ever because of an increased threat of terror attacks.

It seems that Osama bin Laden could be masterminding these latest plots himself.

The UK Home Secretary said Britain was working closely with other countries including the US on counter-terrorism. The USA’s advice included the warning that particularly vulnerable sites might be public transport systems and other tourist infrastructure.

We should all be a bit wary and keep our eyes open. Of course the smaller and more insignificant the town you live in the safer you are likely to be. But areas where there are likely to be large numbers of tourists, Edinburgh, Inverness for example are apparently most vulnerable.

Let’s hope that Mr Obama, the Palestinian President and the Israeli Prime Minister can sort something out that will bring forward peace in the near east very soon, and that we have the good sense to get ourselves out of Afghanistan in short order.

The plight of people in Palestine and Israel and the interference of NATO in Afghanistan together with the needless killings and torture of civilians there, are the main reasons that this terrorism will not go away.

Barack Obama leaves Netanyahu to work something out and goes for dinner....alone

Binyamin Netanyahu was humiliated when, while meeting with the President of the United States in the White House, he refused to back down on his plans to build more settlement in occupied territories of the West Bank.

The United Nations, of which Israel is a member and the United States, which is a generous funder of Israel, have both demanded that no new homes be built on what the UN declare to be Palestinian lands. Mr Netanyahu disagrees, and his government has given the go ahead for a mass of building works.

So Mr Obama, faced with the immovable, left the meeting with Netanyahu and went to dinner. He invited the prime minister to stay at the White House, consult with advisors and “let me know if there is anything new”, according to a US congressman.

The Times reports that one Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by mistrust. Another said that the prime minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea”. (I’m not sure why the President of Equatorial Guinea would get that treatment from the President of the USA. In fact, as a president and head of state, he is entitled by protocol to a better reception than a mere prime minister.

That aside, Netanyahu and team were sent off to the Roosevelt Room and after the president had eaten, had another brief meeting with Mr Obama. The prime minister also extended his stay for emergency talks aimed at restarting peace negotiations. However, with no progress being made he left for Israel with no official statement from either side.

It is an embarrassment that he had to return home isolated and embarrassed. He may have found George Bush a walk over. The current president is a different kettle of fish.

I try not to take sides in the Palestine-Israel affair, simply because it is too complicated for me to understand. What I can see is that, under the UN agreed situation Israel has a right to exist, and within its own borders be safe, so the shelling from Gaza and the intermittent attacks by suicide bombers are intolerable. On the other hand the Palestinians are treated incredibly shabbily by Israel and under Netanyahu, the situation has worsened. Starved of food and water, and essentials, including medicines, life, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, has become equally intolerable. Both sides are at fault, and unless something gives, it will only get worse.

I doubt that Netanyahu is an easy man to deal with. He is a hard line right winger. I imagine that his intransigence was less to Barack Obama’s taste than it had been to George W Bush’s. ‘Know thine enemy’, is a good maxim. Mr Obama has already shown that he does not suffer fools gladly. Clearly Mr N, didn’t bother to learn that, and has paid for it with a red face.

Pictured: The Israeli Prime Minister and President Barack Obama


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