I see that those poor oppressed dears in the Hamas parliament in the Gaza Strip have voted in favor of a law allowing courts to mete out sentences in the spirit of Islam, the London-based Arab daily Al Hayat has reported.

“According to the bill, approved in its second reading and awaiting a third reading before the approval of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as the Palestinian constitution demands, courts will be able to condemn offenders to a plethora of violent punitive measures in line with Sharia Law.

Such punishments include whipping, severing hands, crucifixion and hanging. The bill reserves death sentences to people who negotiate with a foreign government “against Palestinian interests” and engage in any activity that can “hurt Palestinian morale.”

According to the report, any Palestinian caught drinking or selling wine would suffer 40 lashes at the whipping post if the bill passes. Thieves caught red-handed would lose their right hand.”

Such a CIVILISED people and what a good partner for peace. Give these people a State, right? Israel cannot deal with such a rabble – better to reduce Hamas to rubble. And in the mean-time, the “international community” of liberals can go hang – a bit like Sharia intends.

…..And the winners are……………

Third place for an understanding of the old saying Try, try and etc..

Harrithebastard

Second place for a true appreciation of a Belfast accent

Paul McMahon

The winner for his Chip Shop epic

Pinky

I see that Mr Bean look-a-like and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has renewed Britain’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza, warning of an “unacceptable” loss of innocent lives as Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian enclave entered their third day. Mr Miliband warned that both sides in the Middle East conflict were going through a “very dangerous and very dark moment” to which the only solution was a comprehensive peace settlement between Israel and the Arab world.

Sorry Mr Bean but I am sure Israel will ignore your pathetic bleating. Furthermore, I wonder where Mr Bean HAS BEEN during the endless and “unacceptable” Hamas rocket bombardment of Israel that has led up to this current situation? Just one more leftist politician playing to the media gallery and criticising Israel for the temerity of defending itself. Shame on him.

Wonder what your views are on whether having another job outside politics helps make a more rounded politician? Top Tory William Hague reckons so…

“In a BBC Radio Four interview, Mr Hague insisted that spending time on non-political activities was beneficial to a politician’s performance. He said: “You can gain in your effectiveness as a politician from a wide acquaintance with the world and from a degree of independence that having some outside interests gives. That is my personal view, and I think it has made me a better politician having these interests than I was before. Banning outside jobs, he said, would leave politics “totally professionalised,” to the country’s ultimate loss.”

Having a second job certainly makes for a wealthier politician! However Hague does have at least a half point – those with some real-world experience are perhaps less likely to make totally disastrous political decisions but maybe the compromise would be to reduce the vast salaries that our MP’s are paid? All those in favour say Aye…!

It is one of the quirks of the local Northern Ireland accent that we tend to say “You know” a lot. It’s a space-filler in conversation and whilst I try NOT to say it with monotonous regularity, I sometimes fail, you know. But it seems that we Northern Irish are in good company – step forward Caroline Kennedy, she who would be Queen (of Camelot). In an interview with that paper of record, the New York Times – ahem – she says “You Know” 138 times. I reckon she must be from Northern Ireland and we claim her as our very own. Then again ….nah, she’s, you know, just not one of us, you know.

Gordon Brown boasts that the UK is singularly well placed to weather the global financial storm, thanks to his strong decisive leadership. Oh really?

“The pound’s relentless slide towards parity with the euro picked up pace today after it plunged to another record low against the single European currency. Sterling has lost 13% of its value against the euro this month alone as it sinks to yet more historic lows since the currency was introduced in 1999.

The pound has also weakened significantly against the US dollar, now worth 1.46 dollars – a far cry from its strength against the greenback this time last year, when it was fetching more than two dollars.”

So far, so bad….and then,

Experts are predicting that the pound will soon hit parity with the euro and may be worth even less, given the forecast for further steep cuts in UK interest rates.  The pound’s troubles have been compounded by recent economic figures suggesting the Bank will have to pull out all the stops to prevent a deep and prolonged recession. Official figures out before Christmas revealed that the UK is heading towards recession faster than first thought. Revised output figures showed a negative GDP reading of 0.6% in the third quarter – worse than the initial minus 0.5% first estimated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The gloomier data saw many economists increase rate cut forecasts, with at least another 0.75% reduction thought to be on the cards, which would take the UK bank base rate down to an unprecedented 1.25%. Rates are expected to hit close to zero over the coming year. The weakness of the pound is also linked closely to the UK’s public finances and debt levels, which have been deteriorating rapidly as the country sinks into recession. Data recently showed UK public sector borrowing nearly doubled to £56.1 billion for the first eight months of the financial year.

Brown can rely on our gutless media to spin his Walter Mitty tales of financial genius but the market, the cold-eyed market, cannot be fooled so readily which is why money is pouring OUT of the UK into more long term rewarding areas. The British Pound is being killed by Brown’s economic ineptness  and yet I think he could not be happier about it.

Cometh 2009 -  cometh the Euro?

I’m hoping that Israeli forces now massed at the borders of Hamastan really do move in and sort out Hamas once and for all. This operation has been a long time coming, after thousands of rocket attacks from Hamas, and it is interesting that even Egypt has told Hamas that this retaliation from Israel was inevitable because Hamas could just not stop attacking Israel. I also love the way the usual pro-Palestinian institiutions such as the BBC are moaning about the Israel attack on what they call the “Islamic University.” I was wondering if this esteeemed seat of learning is in any way connected the same University which…

“…was a centre of Hamas power. Witnesses saw fire and smoke at the university, counting six separate air strikes there just after midnight.  Two laboratories in the university, which served as research and development centers for Hamas’s military wing, were targeted. The development of explosives was done under the auspices of university professors. University buildings were also used for meetings of senior Hamas officials. The IDF said rockets and explosives were stored in the buildings.”

The BBC – all the news that Hamas sees fit to print. Given that Hamas plainly state that it is their objective to destroy Israel, why is anyone at all surprised that Israel finally takes action to secure itself?

Did you read that an astonishing 140,000 UK households are pocketing more in WELFARE benefits than the average take-home wage.

The families are living on handouts worth in excess of £20,000 a year, official figures show. The enormous payouts dwarf the incomes of millions of hard-working families who are struggling to cope with the recession and the rising cost of living. The average salary is £25,100 before tax, but after deductions it shrinks to £19,126. In contrast, state benefits are tax-free. A worker would have to earn £27,000 a year to take home more than £20,000. However, half of all working women earn less than £21,424, and one in ten full-time employees is on less than £13,613 before tax.

This is socialism in action where it literally pays more for people NOT to work! Here we see the work ethic so vital to our well-being undermined as a direct consequence of welfarism.  It is time that the Welfare culture was ended but so many people are now hooked on it – (part of government policy of course) – that is hard to see how this will change unless we change governments and change the underlying approach.   

OK, let’s have a little think about this item.

“The Times reports  a leading contender to become chairman of the Republican Party has left senior officials horrified after he distributed a CD featuring a parody song called Barack the Magic Negro.

At a time when the party seeks to recover from heavy electoral defeats in November – and amid calls that it should reach out to younger and ethnically diverse voters – the emergence of the parody, sung to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon, has left many Republicans cringing. Chip Saltsman, a former leader of Tennessee Republicans, who is seeking to take over the party’s national committee, sent the CD to party members as a Christmas gift. But unlike him, few found it funny.

The ditty, written by Paul Shanklin, a conservative parodist, alludes to an opinion piece penned by the black writer David Ehrenstein in the Los Angeles Times last year headlined “Obama the Magic Negro”. In the article the author argued that voting for the “warm and unthreatening” Mr Obama helped whites to alleviate guilt over the country’s past racial injustices. The song has been played by Rush Limbaugh on his conservative talk radio show. “Barack the Magic Negro,” it begins, “made guilty whites feel good/They’ll vote for him and not for me/Cos he’s not from the hood.”

Now then, let me see if I get this. When a left winger like David Ehrenstein talks of Barack the magic negro, that’s cool. But when a conservative parodist makes similar reference, it’s an outrage?

Listen, the real point of this article in The Times is to suggest that it is vital Republicans move leftwards and become more inclusive. Yes – this is the same fractured logic that gave us John McCain and defeat. I see nothing wrong in parody and consider this just one more example of how two legs good, four legs better groupthink now prevails that a Dem is in the White House. I couldn’t care less about the colour of Obama’s skin, just like I couldn’t care less about the colour of Condi Rice’s skin.  It’s their policies and principle that matter to me and NONE should be above parody.