Looks like those of us who forecast that the Muslim Brotherhood would grab the reins of  political power in the post Mubarak Egypt have been proven 100% correct;

A spokesman for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood which now dominates parliament called on Thursday for the caretaker cabinet to be sacked and replaced with a Brotherhood one after deadly football riots.

The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (Hello George Orwell) which won almost half of parliament’s seats in elections over November and December, had said it would work with the military-appointed cabinet for a transitional period.

But the Brotherhood’s spokesman Mahmud Ghozlan said the February 1 riot at a football stadium in the Mediterranean town of Port Said, which left more than 70 dead, showed that the government had failed to manage the country. The incident “proved that the cabinet has failed in administering the country,” he told AFP. ”If this happens, the party that won the most votes is best suited” to form a government, he said in response to a question on whether the Brotherhood’s party should form the cabinet.”

Ah, that Arab Spring.

Interesting to read that Brazil could become the first country to take Twitter up on its plan to censor Tweets at government request.

The move has sparked alarm among privacy groups, who fear  governments will use the same policy to silence dissenting voices. The Brazilian government has requested an injunction to stop Twitter users from alerting drivers to police road blocks, speed traps and drunk-driving checkpoints. Free-speech groups say it appears to be the first use of Twitter’s controversial new censorship policy.

The State will always seek to limit and curtail freedom in order that it can go about its daily business of punishing. The freedom provided by the  social networks like Twitter and Facebook are a bit of a threat to the State and here we see a situation where the State is looking to take advantage of the new rules at Twitter to claw back some of that.

Should there be a RIGHT to open a Council Meeting in prayer? NO – says our Judiciary.  Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has criticised a ruling at the High Court today that having prayers on council meeting agendas is unlawful, saying that the right to worship is a “fundamental and hard-fought British liberty”.

Athens today. All seems to be going to plan! Those austerity plans are working out REAL well from the looks of it…

You have to admire the glorious self interest of Pop fans.

In a newly launchedFacebook page, Israeli fans of U.S. pop megastar Madonna are pleading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off any such plans to strike Iran until the Queen of Pop’s planned show in Tel Aviv on May 29.

That sounds fair enough. Bibi should wait until the final vibe of “Like a Virgin” before he gets into the groove!

You remember the story from a week or two ago concerning the beer called “Top Totty” which was banned in the bar at the House of Commons because it..heaven forbid…offended some feministas? Now read on…

“A feminist campaign which led to “Top Totty” beer being banned from the House Of Commons bar has backfired – after sales increased across the country.  Family-run Staffordshire brewer Slater’s revealed it has seen sales jump since one of its ales upset a MP Kate Green and attracted headlines around the world last week. Slater’s sales director Fay Slater announced that the firm has been bombarded with phone calls and emails from landlords wanting to get their hands on barrels of Top Totty. The welcome boost for the popular ale comes after the four per cent beer was removed from sale at the Strangers’ Bar, in the Houses of Parliament, after shadow equalities minister Ms Green said the pump clip, which features a half-naked lady, was offensive. Now Slater’s says it has sold around 50 more barrels than it shifts in an average week, with around half a dozen pubs saying they want to start selling the controversial ale too.

That seems like a good result, don’t you think?

The lack of discipline in some parts of the US Marines is a problem. They almost seem to invite criticism and provide ammunition to those who want to believe the worst of them and that then makes it hard for those of us who support their  endeavours.

“The US Marine Corps once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the Nazi SS – the special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others.

The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable. However, it was a naive mistake made by Marines who believed the SS symbol was meant to represent sniper scouts and never intended to associate themselves with a racist organisation, said Major Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton. The Marines in the image will not be disciplined because investigators determined there was no malicious intent, Maj Chapin said. Instead, the Corps used the incident as a training tool to talk to troops about what symbols are acceptable after it became aware of the photograph last November. The image has since surfaced on an internet blog. “I don’t believe that the Marines involved would have ever used any type of symbol associated the Nazi Germany military criminal organisation that committed mass atrocities in WWII,” Maj Chapin said. “It’s not within who we are as Marines.”

I accept what Major Chaplin says. But it was stupid.  Those concerned need spoken to. I got into some controversy when I defended the US Marines who urinated over the bodies of dead Taliban. I stand over my stance -as it were. I believe that in the heat of battle we need to show a little more understanding of OUR side. But posing in this way with what looks like Nazi symbolism is just plain stupid.

I believe there was a hair product on the market at one time called Grecian 2000. It was aimed at men seeking to cover up greying hair! Heaven forbid we allow the world to see the effects of age. Perhaps the EU is trying to apply one massive Grecian 2012 to its troubled and some would say doomed currency zone? The effect will be the same – superficial and unable to stop the underlying condition. Lo, the clouds have parted, the sun has finally broken through and the uplands of the Eurozone are filled with the sound of celebration;

Politicians in Athens surrendered after a four-day stand-off and approved a tough austerity package in a bid to avoid bankruptcy, but a meeting of eurozone finance ministers said €325m (£273m) of extra cuts are needed.

It’s all been agreed but for some reason the Troika want Greece to give them a WRITTEN ASSURANCE that agreed austerity measures will be maintained AFTER the planned Spring elections. It’s almost as if they think the Greeks will abandon pledges after these elections. Surely not? If you look below, you can see how the Greek people feel about the CURRENT cuts, never mind those to come.  This cannot end well and the Europhiles are simply

Racist attacks seem to present our MSM with a few problems when the victims are WHITE and the perps are not. I don’t see why. ALL forms of racist violence are to be condemned but it seems that some sorts are somewhat sanitised.

A white man was hit with a bottle and his teenage friend punched in a race hate attack by a gang of Asians, it emerged today. The pair were set upon on a footpath near a retail park in Rochdale, Greater Manchester - the second such brutal attack within days. A 21-year-old man was hit with a bottle before being repeatedly kicked and punched to the head and body as he lay on the ground. His 16-year-old friend was also punched in the face.

“A gang of Asians”.  Chinese?  Koreans?  Or maybe, just maybe, Pakistanis? I guess we will never know when “Asians” is such a wonderful catch me all term.

Here’s a complete waste of money, which is being hailed as progress in other predictable quarters;

Graffiti art and DJ classes are the unlikely activities being used to bring young people together in one of Northern Ireland’s most divided towns. Protestant and Catholic youngsters from Lurgan will also be invited to take part in film making and amateur dramatics as part of the £255,000 initiative to build better cross community relations. The International Fund for Ireland (IFI) backed project will initially run for two years in an effort to foster new relationships in a place with an unwanted reputation for sectarian problem

I know Lurgan VERY well, having lived nearby for 20 years. The suggestion that “tensions” can be relieved by Graffiti Art is well intentioned nonsense.