Unenlightened Commentary.

Daily Mail, 19th of April:

God only knows what the long-term effects of regularly viewing online  pornography will be on our children and teenagers, because this generation is the first to be exposed to it. 

But most of us have a pretty good idea: a distorted view of sex and human  relations is probably the least of it.
.....
Surely what all the providers should be doing is requiring anyone wanting access to online porn actively to opt in to these deeply degrading services.

Plainly, there’s no substitute for parents keeping a vigilant eye on their children, especially their internet use.

But if the industry won’t regulate itself to deal with this deeply corrosive social menace, it must be forced to do so.

Daily Mail, 14th of May:

An 'absolutely stunning' photograph of Madonna posing naked on a bed while smoking a cigarette has sold for nearly £15,000.

The sum is three times the estimate placed on the image that was taken in 1990 during the period when the singer had bleach-blonde hair and dark eye make-up.

It is a black and white photo and Madonna has her breasts exposed and just a white sheet covering her pudenda while she lies on a bed.

Filed under the category of "articles I won't read":

London mayoral elections: who are you voting for? Eddie Izzard, Julia Stephenson, Duwayne Brooks and Karen Hampton reveal their choices for mayor in Thursday's election

The Guardian's coverage four years ago was hilarious though.

 Update: I've succumbed just so I could read the comments. This line from Eddie Izzard shows that he is clearly of the Laurie Penny/ Johann Hari school of quoting people:

I have spent many days out on the campaign trail with Ken. I have witnessed first-hand the response he evokes from ordinary Londoners – that "come on Ken, we need you back".

1. He appears to have not made any effort to be impartial in a his quasi-judicial role overseeing the takeover bid for Sky by Rupert Murdoch.
2. He should be asked to resign.
3. He is a mate of David Cameron.
4. He won't be asked to resign.

One of the problems with rape cases is that it is usually one person's word against another's- which ought to be  insufficient for a conviction. In the case of someone who is too drunk to consent then there is the added problem that the alleged victim's evidence is inherently flawed.

Unless of course the perpetrators are thick and arrogant enough to film themselves- like recently jailed footballer Ched Evans whose friend and brother filmed him having sex with a girl too drunk to consent (if he loves group sex that much he's going to love prison).

The victim's (who was irresponsible for getting herself paralytically drunk and alone on a night out) version of events does seem similar to other cases involving footballers, extremely drunk women and group sex where no convictions have been made. I'm not saying they're all guilty but there does seem to be a certain culture involved in the game.

This interview by ex-Labour MP Eric Joyce is jaw dropping: I can't just excerpt a few choice quotes, the whole thing has to be seen to be believed.

He genuinely sees himself as some kind of hard man.

When Argentina's president, Christina Kirchner, started causing trouble over the Falklands, a lot of people surmised that this meant she was trying to stir up xenophobia and nationalism to distract from domestic problems.

The "nationalisation" of the Spanish oil company, Repsol's Argentinian assets on grounds that are frankly nonsensical confirms this. It has been known for a few years that the Argentinian government under Christina and her late unlamented husband Nestor has been corrupt and cooking the books (they actually to criminalise economists who calculate the inflation rate honestly).

In other words they are headed for another financial crisis less that 15 years after the last one.

Some countries have undergone a bigger relative decline that Argentina in the last 100 years- but these have mostly been nations that have been under the boot of crazed ideologies like communism. Argentina's unique achievement is to have achieved the same level of decline under mostly democratic rule.

A clue to why this happens is listening to reports about Argentinian election candidates- it's soon obvious that most of the contenders describe themselves as "Peronist".Unfortunately Juan Peron was an ideological charlatan with no fixed beliefs beyond the idea that he should be in charge. Wikipedia describes Peronism as:

The pillars of the Peronist ideal, known as the "three flags", include: Social justice, Economic Independence, and Political Sovereignty. 

• Social Justice AKA empowering politicians to lie and acquire more power in the name of the poor.
• Economic Independence AKA refusing to conform to standards enforced by impartial outside bodies who cannot be controlled 
• Political Sovereignty AKA empowering politicians to lie and acquire more power in the name of loving their country.

 With an ideology like that no country could prosper.

In the Independent Owen Jones* rightly praises the words of Norway's Prime Minister after the massacre of last year:

Even when the country remained in a state of shock just five days after 77 civilians were murdered, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg struck a defiant note that would have been unthinkable in many countries. "The Norwegian response to violence is more democracy, more openness and greater political participation," he said. No crackdowns on civil liberties, but a pledge not to allow a fanatic to succeed in eroding Norway's democracy.

Praiseworthy indeed. This is how his article opens:

Would the British political establishment have been able to resist demands for the restoration of the death penalty if such a horrifying massacre had taken place here? Support for capital punishment remains largely passive, but widespread; it occasionally surges in the aftermath of horrifying crimes, particularly when children are involved, such as the Soham murders in 2003.

Uh huh, isn't the establishment "resisting demands" of the public pretty much the direct opposite of "more democracy"?

* Think 1970s ideas in a 21st century wrapping.

Julie Bindel writes of women:

Not only are we half the population, each and every one of us is united in the reality or fear of violence from men

Sleeping householders are going to be woken up in the middle of the night to discover someone breaking into their house - only to discover it is the police.

Police in Shoebury, Essex, have been going round testing doors and windows of houses to check if they have been left unlocked - and if they find an easy way in they will wake up the household to warn them their house is insecure

Of course burglary is made even easier when the police are engaged in obnoxious gimmicks- that treat the public like lowlifes- like this.

Don't they need warrants to enter people's property anyway?

This song was from their less well regarded 2nd album so isn't played but is one of their best in my opinion.

I haven't been following the news, so I was wondering- did they catch the French right wing, white supremecist who has been shooting Jews and Muslims to express his rage at immigration?

Earlier this month I pointed and laughed at a ridiculous claim in a story from a local newspaper, which reported:

Police are warning that when cannabis plants reach the final stages of maturity the odour they release has carcinogenic properties.

Officers who deal with the plants use ventilation masks and protective suits and people who have plants in their home, especially anyone with young children, may be exposing their family to a health risk.

After my stirring post the police have now issued a retraction:

AN APOLOGY has been issued by police over an incorrect statement made following a drugs raid.

Northamptonshire Police have retracted a statement which suggested the odour from mature cannabis plants had carcinogenic properties.

A spokesman for the force said: “Northamptonshire Police would like to apologise for the incorrect information provided to the media which claimed that cannabis plants had potential carcinogenic properties.

“This information was provided in good faith. However, we accept the information was misleading and we will strive to ensure this does not happen again.”

The original incorrect statement was published in The Mail on March 1 in a report about cannabis plants being seized by police during a raid in Cottingham.

OK, I had nothing to do with getting them to retract, that appears to have been done as a result of someone bringing the newspaper article to the attention of Ben Goldacre who then started asking questions but I didn't want to say that because his self regard is already too vast.

Streakers at public events are idiots and bores but this is a ridiculous punishment:

A football fan who ran naked across the pitch during a televised Premiership match for a £100 bet has been put on the Sex Offenders Register.
Unemployed Sam Gorman's genitals were clearly on show as he dashed out in front of thousands during the Aston Villa home game against Manchester City.

Aside from the injustice to the idiotic Mr Gorman it undermines the purpose of having a sex offenders register.

I thought the register was there to enable local forces to keep track of people whose predatory behaviour means that they remain a potential danger to the public even if they are free. By diluting the list to include the likes of streakers (even repeat offenders like Mr Gorman) they are making it less useful, because keeping a close tab on every drunken exhibitionist is not going to help solve any sex crimes that will occur in the West Midlands over the next few year.

Posting has been very light.

This is because I've had a lot of work on and just don't have time to blog much.

This is going to remain the case for a few more weeks.

Plus my new favourite website to contribute to is this, but I can't link to my account as you would all think I'm scum.

I will probably be a bit more active on Twitter next week though.

The internet today  is full of posts on Facebook and Twitter about some monster going round an African country and abducting kids from their parents to become part of a personal army. They are calling for this person to be brought before a court to be tried.

So boycott Madonna's albums and tours until she faces justice.

Apologies for doing two QOTDs in succession but retired accountant Richard Murphy's misplaced faith in his own intellectual ability deserves to be repeated:

And I happen to think Ricardo did not get comparative advantage right

It's like a retired green grocer pontificating on how Darwin misunderstood evolution or a bloke at Kwik Fit explaining how Newton's laws of motion are complete bollocks.

Melvin Webb, 54, told Reading Crown Court he was not pleasuring himself in front of a female commuter, merely playing a pretend banjo.

Black members of Congress are far more likely to be investigated for ethics violations than their white colleagues, and understandably some people are upset:

The facts say this: African-Americans make up 10 percent of the House, but as of the end of February, five of the sitting six named lawmakers under review by the House Ethics Committee are black. The pattern isn't new. At one point in late 2009, seven lawmakers were known to be involved in formal House ethics inquiries; all were members of the Congressional Black Caucus. An eighth caucus member, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, had also been under investigation, but his probe was halted temporarily while the Justice Department undertook an inquiry of its own.
All told, about one-third of sitting black lawmakers have been named in an ethics probe during their careers, according to a National Journal review.

This isn't too surprising given the existance of congressional districtsdesigned to ensure most voters are black. Most black representitives do not have to worry about appealing to non-black voters- this encourages politicians to play the race card to succeed and when elections become a matter of ethnic identity rather than competence or integrity- more corrupt individuals thrive.

This can be thought of as the Clay Davis effect:



It is also one reason why ethnically divided countries without a single demos tend to be more corrupt as voters take the attitude that they need a bigger crook representing them than their neighbours.