So, who was it asked me what a chav is, the other day?
I can do no better than refer them to the queen of Chav,Lady Sovereign.

the Wit (65% dark, 34% spontaneous, 38% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you’re probably an intellectual, but don’t take that to mean you’re pretentious. You realize ‘dumb’ can be witty-after all isn’t that the Simpsons’ philosophy?-but rudeness for its own sake, ‘gross-out’ humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat. I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most effort to appreciate, but it’s also the best, in my opinion. Also, you probably loved the Office. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart – Woody Allen – Ricky Gervais

Via: Accidental Verbosity

G.o.D. guitarist, and excruciatingly funny man Mitch Benn, has a new Dr Demento-like show on Radio 7 . It features loads of hilarious comedy music. I was pleased to hear that his comedy stylings are now being played on the Dr Demento show. I wonder who tiped them off about Mitch?

Ok, maybe I wasn’t the only one to send em’ a missive about him, but as life-time member of the Dr Demento society I figure they would be interested.

Sky is reporting a major raid: including stun grenades and at least one controlled explosion in uber-trendy Notting Hill off Tavistock Road. It is believed they have arrested someone who may be one of the bombers.

“It is half a mile or so from where a bomb was left on Thursday last week and discovered later by a member of the public.”

The Army are said to be involved as well. They are currently sieging a flat in Notting Hill and the local area has been evacuated. There are operations going on in other locations as well but the NH raid is the most major.

Siege is over and it is being reported that 3/4 of the four would-be bombers are in custody. Update: Make that 4/4 the last one has been grabbed in Rome.

This is interesting:

Liverpool Street Station has been evacuated and shut down. Armed police have made a number of arrests there.

Scott seems to have gotten another scalp as a result of his exposing the Islamofascist at the Guardian. Guess the row has caused a bit of chaos at the paper.

TCS has reported on Scott’s coup and mentions our mates at Harry’s Place as well.

Alarm bells should be ringing all over Britain. In a stealthy move last week – just before Parliament dissappeared on their annual 3 months’ hols – the government slipped out an Order in Council, a somewhat medieval device which by-passes Parliament altogether – and embedded a whole bunch of Labour Commissars in the Civil Service. These “Special Advisers” now have the power to overrule Civil Servants (as if they were ever likely to argue with the Minister!) and enforce compliance with government Diktat.

These people are now on the payroll of the Taxpayer, yet we do not know who they are, we have not elected them, they are not subject to scrutiny by any public watchdog, and they are now in charge of affairs in every Department. Coming on top of the disgraced Minister for Transport who stole the investment of thousands of hardworking people when he Nationalised Railtrack without comepsation that he lied to Parliament – and the singular lack of any sort of charge being brought against him for so doing, either by a court or by that increasingly irrelevant body that sits in Westminster and jumps to Blair’s every whim – this is nothing short of a final call to the electorate to wake up!

Blair is stealthily installing a one party dictatorship. He and his “new” Party are what they have always been – Communists in all but name.

Peter Hitchens, writing in the Mail on Sunday, says that this is a putsch. He is right; our unwritten Constitution is now in ruins, and it is about to get worse. Blair’s Republican activists on the Public Accounts Committee are trying to seize the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, the Trust that pays for the Prince of Wales and his household – set up in the 1300’s by Edward III for his son, the then Prince of Wales and which has supplied an income for every Prince of Wales since. This shower of thieves want to get their hands on it – and on any other trusts they can strip, as well – so they can spend the money on themselves and their own interests. If they succeed, we face the possibility of having one of these conniving, scheming, and dishonest cretins calling himself “Head of State”.

It is definitely time to roll out the tumbrils, set up Madam la Guillotine, and start rounding these people up – before they enslave us any further.

Colby has written an interesting and chilling piece on the bureaucratic incompetence when it comes to the space shuttle and the lives that exist therein above us right now. I think this last blunder, whether or not it leads to the Astronauts demise, should be the death knell of NASA. Its time to privatise it and let private enterprise get on with it.

There is an interesting piece by Kaspit on some of anti-semitism that surrounds the Labor divorce that is going on in the US right now.

I don’t know if it’s called that, but it should be. Part of the definition of baroque:

Architecture, departing from the classical canon revived during the Renaissance, took on the fluid, plastic aspects of sculpture.

It’s a bar somewhere in Poland, but that’s all I know about it. More pictures here.

the blog québécois

No, seriously.

Because of recent trackback innudations I have turned off trackbacks for this blog and LC. Sorry for any inconvenience. If you link to us, please send us an email.

Check out this thread on As Maine Goes…it’s a corker.

Tom Paine has posted the latest version of the Shire News Network; it’s up with a report from yours truly.

Shooters can go enjoy Cordite in extremis. As well as those of you who enjoy some writing by Britons. The Symphony is now up for your reading pleasure. There is a bit of sizzling going on at the Bonfire, the Carnival is supposed to be far more reasonable.

The Carnivals of Liberty and Capitalism have arrived for their weekly outing.

I have posted some thoughts on safety vs. the Olympics over at Blogger News Network.

My rubbish undergraduate university has not changed one bit according to this report. Boy, do I wish I had this good a guide to universities when I was looking for one in the mid-80s. What a waste of time, money, and emotion that bloody place was in the end. Colby: ripping parents off for 30 years.

Via: As Maine Goes.

The Flea pointed me to this very interesting piece on Islamism in the UK & Europe and its threat to the US. Its a long piece but well worth the read.

Update: There is a good piece in the Guardian suggesting that Red Ken might just be fanning the flames instead of helping to put them out. Yet another long piece…this time about the Islamist relationship with the Nazis; worth a read. Via: Harry’s Place

Pollard has an interesting piece on whether or not Islam is truly a religion of peace.

Ricky Martin: terrorist empowering useful idiot…discuss.

And while you’re at it, discuss the numbnut extremist as described by Damian Penny. If your country’s security services are investigating you for extremism, it’s not that clever to threaten them with violence.

And speaking of useful idiots the UN has resisted the temptation to condemn suicide bombings. This terrorist-empowering organisation is still in the US - why?

And yet another: a so-called moderate voice vented at Blair in Birmingham at a press conference yesterday. Not the cleverest move, it has to be said; the DT’s description of his statement as “half-witted” is rather kind. Damian and David T have commented on this as well. Turns out Naseem is a well-known loon who is a major backer of RESPECT and thinks Mossad did 9/11.

And, just in case you thought CAIR was “moderate”, Daniel Pipes has co-written a piece to fully lance that idea.

In ten simple points. It is directed at certain recent immigrants who don’t seem to grasp what it means to be a citizen of this great nation.

One of the downsides to being a wildly successful blogger is that many people are after you to promote their causes, figuring that your fame will bring much attention to their projects.

Or so I’ve heard. It must be very annoying.

I did get an email yesterday from one Susan Coulton asking me to endorse this:

Unite Against Terror Statement

Invitation to bloggers to sign and Sign and link

Please consider signing and informing your readers about the statement Unite Against Terror.

Written by bloggers in the UK after 7/7 posted on Friday it has attracted hundreds of signatories from UK USA Europe Iraq and the Middle East.

Terrorist attacks against Londoners on July 7th killed at least 54 people. The suicide bombers who struck in Netanya Israel on July 12 ended five lives including two 16 year old girls. And on July 13 in Iraq suicide bombers slaughtered 24 children. We stand in solidarity with all these strangers hand holding hand from London to Netanya to Baghdad: communities united against terror.

. . .

We invite you to sign this statement as a small first step to building a global movement of citizens against terrorism.

Initial signatories include:

Alan Johnson (Labour Friends of Iraq personal capacity) Ali Fadhil (Iraq); Adele Geras (author); Peter Tatchell; Jane Ashworth (Labour Friends of Iraq pesonal capaciity); Anthony Julius; Alex Gordon (UK National Union of Rail Maritime & Transport Workers RMT - personal capacity); Omar (Iraq the Model Iraq Pro-Democracy Party); Professor Norman Geras (normblog); Dr. Elizabeth Stewart (The Open University England); Jeff Weintraub (USA); Cllr David Boothroyd (Westminster City Council UK); Syed W Ahmed (Islamic Center of Chicago); Ami Isseroff (Israel MidEastWeb for Coexistence); David Green (Oxford University Labour Club and Delyn Constituency Labour Party; Micheline Ishay (Director International Human Rights Program University of Denver personal capacity);Osama Al-Moosawi (Iraq); Shalom Lappin (King’s College London UK) Brian Brivati (Professor of Modern History Kingston University London personal capacity); Pierre-Andr Taguieff (France CNRS Research Director); Cynthia Epstein (graduate center CUNY USA); Christopher Hitchens; Eric Lee; Stephen Bronner; Adrian Cohen and hundreds of others.

Well, I have my doubts about the efficacy of signing petitions against terror—but if Christopher Hitchens and Norm Geras are willing to sign it, then so am I. Or at least my pseudonym is.

I’m not sure what the jihadi will make of it.

“This ‘gnotalex’ . . . maybe . . . he is you, Ahmed!”

“No, maybe he is . . . you, Osama!” (Gunfire ensues.)

Yeah, we’ll go with that theory.

If you want to sign the petition, or to find out more about it, here’s the webpage.

the blog québécois

The police have currently closed off the North Circular to investigate a white Golf on the road near Strawbeerry Vale.

Futhermore we are learning that two of the bombers were offspring of asylum seekers. Way to thank a country for saving your parent’s arses isn’t it? Before this news there has been quite a bit of pressure on the asylum system for reform.

Update: It seems Police have grabbed one of the bombers in Birmingham as well as making 3 other arrests.

Grog, talented bassist and frontwoman of Die So Fluid, is looking for a flat/house share. If you know of somewhere nearish to London. Get in touch via this blog’s email and I will forward it on.

Chapter 2

Rob and David stepped out of their prepaid cab in front of the tailor on Rochester Row, just outside of Pimlico. On the way over, David had suggested that the taxi wait, but Rob was adamant that the fitting would take easily three hours. David started thinking that he had no clue how long a fitting would last. Rob’s suggestion that they retire later to a local hostelry for dinner and a few drinks sold David on the idea. It was an age-old clich but since David married Michaela and his business had become more constant but less face to face, he found that he went out very infrequently. The fact that he and Michaela were on the Euro-pols most wanted list for some time before their marriage certainly added to their proclivity for eating in. At the time of their marriage, Rob gave the couple a very odd but welcome wedding present. He arranged for their names to be purged from the central data-base in Brussels. This combined with the fact that most of their enemies, at least those in the Union hierarchy, were dead or in jail had made married life pleasant and quiet. Not bad for a couple who started out as the illegal tech dealer and his body guard.
As David and his friends life got simpler and more, importantly quieter, the world around them had become all the more dangerous and unpredictable. David had not let on to Michaela that he was convinced that BASH, the Union’s England based foe was about to return with a vengeance. An internal power struggle followed the death of their main leader and instigator, Cromwell. With Cromwell out of it and the subsequent revelation that his second in command had helped the notorious arms dealer Pius in Cromwell’s assassination made the leadership transition rocky. When the Union news broke the story that the heir to throne of a neo-puritan organisation was having a gay-love affair with both Cromwell and Pius, Wentworth could have foretold his own execution by hanging. It was rumoured and reported avidly in the press that the poor soul had also been drawn and quartered on Hampstead Heath.

There may have been calls for sensitivity and restraint in the wake of recent tragic events in London, but in some quarters it is a case of business as usual.

For among the T-shirts sold on the internet by East End-based ilmwear.com is an item featuring – in Arabic and English – the slogan: “Live a praiseworthy life and die a martyr’s death.”

When I called the mobile telephone number listed on the website, a spokesman, who did not wish to be named, said that the company intended to continue selling the controversial garments.

“What we do is art,” he insisted.

“We use it as a vehicle to challenge stereotypes and dispel myths.”

From the Telegraph’s Spy column. I am betting they were shocked that anyone who could read Arabic would rat them out. I am wondering how well the shirts are selling.

Course Murray has a counter which is no where near as insensitive.

hey now woo look at that did she nearly run you down
at the end of the drive the lawmen arrive
you make me feel alive, alive, alive

duran duran

On the accidental killing by British police of Jean Charles de Menezes:

British opposition politicians largely have supported the actions of the government, but Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, said he was “shocked and perplexed” by the killing and demanded an explanation of the killing after speaking to his British counterpart, Jack Straw, by telephone and meeting a Foreign Office minister in London.

“Here was a peaceful, innocent person who was killed,” Amorim told reporters, adding, “Even in the fight against terrorism we should also be cautious to avoid the loss of innocent life.”

Indeed. But methinks the Brazilians aren’t exactly unacquainted with police brutality:

In So Paulo, throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Human Rights Watch/Americas documented a steady increase in the rate of civilians killed by on-duty military police officers. During this period, Rio de Janeiro state authorities did not release figures on the number of civilians killed by police, thus rendering a precise numerical comparison impossible. However, other indicators suggested that So Paulo police were killing civilians at a rate substantially higher than their Rio de Janeiro counterparts. Indeed, by 1992-the record year for military police killings in So Paulo-the number of civilians that these police killed reached 1,470, one-third of the total number of homicides in the state of So Paulo that year. By way of comparison with another notoriously violent city, the So Paulo figure represents more than sixty-one times the number of civilians—twenty-four – that the New York City police killed in 1992, and more than fifteen times the number of police killings per capita when compared with New York.

the blog québécois

Well there is an ever expanding market in Christian video games. So who knows?

This bit of interesting news comes via Fox on the investigation into the London attacts.

Police were reportedly investigating whether some of the July 21 suspects may have visited the same Welsh whitewater rafting center as two of the July 7 suicide bombers: Mohammed Sidique Khan (search) and Shahzad Tanweer (search).

The two bombers went whitewater rafting there on July 4, according to the National Whitewater Center. Police have refused to comment on reports that a brochure for the rafting center was found in an explosives-laden knapsack that failed to detonate on a bus on July 21.

There is some speculation that whomever organised these evil reprobates sent them to Wales to bond while whitewater rafting. The director of the event has recognised several of the men involved in the attacks. It might come to pass that their handler was also on at the adventure centre. There was also another bomb found in a park in North London.

The BBC is reporting the same.

Fans of graphic novels might appreciate this from Afganistan. Let’s hope the would-be bombers from London meet a similar end.

Bruce Dickinson lead singer of Iron Maiden (and Icelandic Airline Pilot, author, Olympic standard fencer and documentary host) opined the following about the EU in the latest issue of Kerrang!:

It’s rotten to the core, riddled with corruption.

Steyn has written another stunning piece about the current state of multiculturalism and those who promote it. He wonders aloud if they are getting the message that their cause is not only daft but dangerous. It has done more to empower Islamists than anything else.

While on the other hand Ms Philips give those of us who don’t buy the “UK was not a target before Iraq” line. In fact there was suppose to be an attack the Palace of Westminster but it did not come to pass. In fact the person involved has just been convicted for his role in planning the attack.

Hit & Run has a piece on Muslim rage and where it really comes from.

And where does Al Q get there ideas? Well from the Muslim Brotherhood; those caring and sharing folks who are trying to mainstream themselves.

This story, about how fraudsters used fear of vampires to cheat a woman out of a lot of money, makes me wonder whether the Englightenment ever made itself felt in southern Italy. It would appear not.

i was lying in a burned out basement
with the full moon in my eyes
i was hoping for replacement

neil young

The Smoking Gun:

JULY 21—Meet Patrick Tribett. The Ohio man was nabbed yesterday morning for “abusing harmful intoxicants” as he attempted to make a purchase at Bellaire’s Dollar General Store. The 41-year-old Tribett, it seems, had been huffing spray paint and needed a refill.

Actually, it goes well with his shirt. Most people look just ridiculous in gold paint, but this guy makes it work somehow.

the blog québécois

We offer our sincerest congratulations to Matthew and Florence who are getting married today. We can only imagine how hard it is in the current climate to hold a wedding. We wish them all the happiness in the world and hope they stay safe.

Some video of the infamous “Hot Coffee” mod from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

It’s obviously not safe for work, but not as explicit as some of the more hysterical press accounts have it.