Sunni and Shi'ite United!

At long last the Sunni and Shi'ite peoples of Iraq have found common ground, something they fully agree on. It's all the Americans fault.

Okay, so perhaps that should read 'Americans and their allies', since several countries have taken part in (mis)handling the situation in Iraq, but the sheer weight of American numbers (not just the troops but the companies tasked with rebuilding the country) present and very visible presumably paints the whole mess in a very stars-and-stripes pattern to the general population.

A leading Shi'ite cleric from Najaf, Sheikh Ali Mirza Asada, states that "the roots of our problems lie in the mistakes of the Americans committed right from the beginning of their occupation", a position that his Sunni counterpart, Sheikh Harith Al-Dhari, seems to concur with. Despite the fact that he is currently a fugitive in Cairo having been accused by the predominantly Shi'ite government as a supporter of terrorism, he sings in harmony with his exilers - "Since the beginning the US occupation Iraq from bad to worse" [sic].

Whatever you may believe about the original intentions of 'liberating' Iraq the simple facts are that since the war 'ended' US troop deaths per day have increased, civilian deaths per day have increased even more, and neither statistic shows any sign of slowing down. We may not hear about bombs going off on the news any more, but that's simply because they have become so fucking commonplace that it's dull news.

What is the solution for Iraq? I'm buggered if I know. But one thing I'm certain of is that this isn't it. And when someting so consistently fails to yield results for such a long time surely the only ones who would refuse to change tack would be the imbeciles of the world. Isn't that right, Messers Bush and Cheney...?

Cheers m'dears!

Court jesting

I don't know about any of you but I am quite looking forward to the upcoming film The Last King of Scotland. No, not because it has the word 'Scotland' in the title - I am not even remotely that shallow - but because it stars Forest Whittaker and James McAvoy, two of (in my mind) the most interesting actors around. Add to that the story's factual basis on one of the most notorious figures in recent history, Idi Amin... like I said, I am looking forward to it.

And why, might you ask, do I bring this up. Well, I am sure most people are aware that the title of the film comes from Amin once claiming the Scottish throne for himself - and if you weren't you are now. This leaves me incredulous... I hate using the phrase "I'm not racist, but..." as most comments that start in this way are the most bigotted you will ever come across. But in what way did an African guy ever come to the notion that he might be the hereditary heir to the throne of a country that is very, very white? That is not to say that someone from a background other than 'North European' could never come to a future Scottish throne, presumably through marriage, but to be considered as an heir to it now? Maybe, just maybe, there was some rough and tumble between a former king and an ancestor of Mr Amin, but I'm sure that the queue for the throne would be filled with plenty of people who have greater claim.

Of course, Idi Amin was a posturer, a man who hyped himself, and believed the hype too. What is it that drives people to make such overtly outrageous claims? Yes, I know - the blog world is full of folk pretending to be other than they are, but that is a creation of a fictional persona rather than an over-inflation of the self. And of course such claims, in the political world, are laden with propoganda... Amin presumably felt that his claim to the Scottish throne would give him more kudos, if not in the international world then at least at home. And when you are lying for the home crowd it seems you can get away with more riduculous claims - remember Comical Ali insisting that the invasion of Iraq was failing even as US tanks crawled up the street behind him? Well, I know success or failure in Iraq seems to depend on your own personal standpoint (and that's a whole other post) but you get my drift!

Perhaps my favourite example of this kind of thing is a memory from my childhood when I found my Grandfather chortling at the newspaper one day. I asked him what was so funny... It turns out that a prominent figure in the Middle-East (possibly Arafat or Gaddafi) had whipped up a bit of a frenzy amongst his own supporters when he claimed that the west had wrongly claimed a famous playwright and poet as it's own, when in fact he had been an Arab living in 17th century England. The name of this disputed hero? Sheik Spear.

I shit you not!

Cheers m'dears!

One for the Roadie...

You may remember that a month ago I wrote about the Iggy Pop rider... No? Fair enough, I'd forgotten about it myself until today when I received an e-mail notifying me of a new comment made on that post. Not that it's anything unusual to receive comments on old posts... it's just that this time the comment was from Jos Grain, the architect of said rider and roadie for Iggy and The Stooges. Which was a surprise...

Anyway, he provided me a link for his own site where a fresher version of the rider can be found (I think there are one or two additional laughs in there too)... If you haven't read the rider yet, do - it's well worth it! If you have then may I advise you to check out his site anyway... hell, it amuses me! I particularly like his weird artwork, most especially the statuette entitled "Uzi Godmother" which he apparently gave to Spider from the Pogues as a wedding present last month...

There's nothing like a crazy Dutch guy to brighten your day. Apparently.

Cheers m'dears!

A short lecture to the following persons:

1) All you people who stand side by side on the escalator blocking the through-route for those of us whose underground trains are actually at the platform.

2) All you people who think that the turnstiles and the ends of the escalators in underground stations are the perfect places to congregate and chat.

3) All you people who get on to the underground train and then stop, at the entrance, because you are now on - despite there being a dozen people behind you who would also like to board.

4) All you people that sit on the underground trains playing very loud music on your mp3 'phones without using headphones.

5) All those people who think that it is perfectly acceptable to allow their child to sprawl across 3 seats when the train is jam-packed.

And lastly, 6) The surly teen who jumped into the seat that I had literally just vacated for a frail old lady and then sneered and shrugged his shoulders when I took him to task - you know who you are.

................

You're all cunts.



Here endeth the lesson.

Cheers m'dears!