Bush still in Denial

The other day we were told (through a report by a group of American security people) what Mr & Mrs Joe Public already knew ... that the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq had made the threat of terrorism infinitely worse than it already was. The Iraq situation is an effective recruiting sergeant for terrorists. Still it was good to be told by the people that should know these things. President Bush, of course, completely disagrees with the analysis. One can't help wondering why he employs security sspecialists if he disagrees with what they say.
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It was good to see a more intelligent President the other day, when Bill Clinton addressed the UK Labour Party Conference.
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Another breath of fresh air at the Conference when Home Secretary John Reid made a humorous and barnstorming speech that raised his profile as a potential successor to Tony Blair (i.e., a strong challenger to Gordon Brown). I liked his opening remarks about the ex-Deputy Leader Roy Hattersly's contribution to harmony in the Party by stating that he would shoot himself if John Reid ever became Leader. Reid said, "Up until now I had not really thought of a good reason for standing!"

When your Hard Drive crashes.

It’s really quite scary how dependant one becomes on the computer, and it is not until it turns up its toes and goes to cyber-heaven (or should that be hell?) that the dependency really hits home.

About a year ago I read an article by David Pogue of the New York Times and he made it clear that it was not so much a case of IF your hard drive crashes, but WHEN. A chain is as strong as its weakest link. The sobering fact is that although the computer is basically a solid-state box of electronic circuitry, it’s weakest link is a device which relies on moving mechanical parts, i.e., the hard disk drive.

If your computer dies or is seriously past its use-by date, take it to bits, then apply a small screwdriver to the hard disk drive cover and you’ll find inside a little pile of shiny discs with a small gap between each, all spinning on a common spindle. So there’s one set of moving parts for you. Then there’s a set of arms pivoting near the perimeter of the discs, resembling nothing so much as a group of gramophone record pick-up arms (for those of you who can remember such things!) that swing backwards and forward across the surface of the discs a hair’s breadth from the surface. The potential for wear and tear and physical damage to the surface of the discs is clear to see.

As a result of reading that article I made the decision to purchase an external hard drive and I kept all my important files backed up to it. The final demise of my 6-year old computer the other week caused high levels of stress, but the existence of my external hard drive at least reduced the likelihood of a complete nervous breakdown!

Getting the new machine up and running was not all sweetness and light, however, since I was switching from Windows 98 to Windows XP, and I found that my accounts program – which happily runs on either of the operating systems – was unable to open any of my accounts files that it had created and saved whilst running in Windows 98 mode. It was quite happy to start creating new files for me in Windows XP but now I was faced with the loss of six years personal financial data, and I had to go through the painstaking process of setting up all my accounts again, and accessing the various current and savings accounts (fortunately available online) to get some balances to start the new files with.

The other little glitch was the loss of all my incoming and outgoing e-mails, and the e-mail address book from my e-mail client program. These are not easy to locate and backup and I had forgotten that programs like Outlook Express and Thunderbird (I use the latter) have an “Export” function that you can use to export all this data to a text file. I recovered some of my addresses by going to my BT web mail, but it had not been kept so up-to-date.

So – if you don’t want to lose your window on the world, your financial documents, your precious writing, your spreadsheets and databases, and your sanity, learn the lesson the easy way, not the hard way: make regular backups to CD-ROM disks or to an external hard drive. Don’t forget … it’s not IF but WHEN your hard drive crashes. Don’t come crying to me when it happens!

A final thought: there have been stories of data recovered from discarded computers turning up in Africa and providing access to online bank accounts. You might like to follow my lead here ... remove the hard drive and take a sledgehammer to it!

A Bumper Year for Stickers. A Bad Year for my Computer.

Grateful thanks to Marcia Rinner of Ohio for sending me this, recently seen on a bumper sticker: Bush: Premature Iraq Elation.

There's been a bit of a gap in my blogging verbiage recently following the tragic death of my computer. It was six years of age, which I suppose made it quite old, and it was running good old Windows 98 SE. It became very crotchety in recent weeks and then suddenly felt unable to do anything at all for more than 5 minutes without locking up. I took the poor thing to the local computer hospital where it was put to bed, connected to wires and monitors, and lay under a notice saying NIL BY A-DRIVE. There was no viral infection. The hard disk drive had turned up its toes and was beyond repair. This was a case of death by slipped disc. The computer doctors got me to agree to a "Do not resuscitate" instruction, and I placed an order for a new machine.

I had managed to back up most of my important files on an external hard drive, but for reasons that are beyond me I no longer have my e-mail address book, nor any of the e-mails I have sent or received over the past few years. So if there is anyone out there who's been wondering why I haven't been in touch lately it's because I don't know "where you live" any more.

I am now finding my way around a sparkling new machine running supercalifragilisticWindowsXPalidoshus.

NANNY STATE

My wife and I have just returned from celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary by cruising the Cambridgeshire Fens in a small cabin cruiser. On a visit to the city of Ely I visited the public toilets. I have to say they were a model of sanitary excellence but I couldn't help noticing a large notice on the wall. It was a guide on How to Wash your Hands in eight photographically illustrated steps.

Dropped Connection

My daughter-in-law has dropped her mobile phone into the dog's water bowl.

All is not lost - I should now be able to call her up on the dog and bone.

"To Engage is not to Endorse"

...So said a Jordanian intelligence officer on a comprehensive documentary shown on BBC television last Sunday entitled Al Qaeda - Time to Talk?

This in-depth study of Islamic extremism, terrorism, and the West's so-called War on Terror, gave us a little insight into the minds and thoughts of those who are prepared to kill themselves and others. There was considerable coverage on what is really going on inside Iraq - not just what the politicians want to show us.

It was suggested that it might be time to talk to some of these people, and the Jordanian security officer made a fair point in saying that to ENGAGE is not to ENDORSE. Clearly all other efforts being made so far have failed miserably.

I feel it is worth remembering that although, officially, we "do not talk to terrorists" there are plenty of precedents. The first Prime Minister of the newly born state of Israel was a Zionist terrorist. Nelson Mandela was an ANC terrorist. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were IRA terrorists. Oh, and going further back in time, if I've got my history right, America (Land of the Free) was not exactly created by peaceful means!

To my mind, what was made abundantly clear by the BBC program is how efficiently the Bush/Blair axis of testosterone is acting as a recruiting sergeant for young disaffected and disillusioned Muslim men. Bush said a little while ago that he was conducting a Crusade. He later back-tracked from that terminology. More recently he announced that he was fighting "Islamic Fascism". This attempt at evoking 2nd World War flash-backs is puerile. There is no comparison.

I now read that he is trying to introduce into Law methods of interrogation that are bordering on (if not actually) torture.

If you are fighting a war of ideas and principles, and trying to uphold decent values against those who live entirely by hate or religious fundamentalism or both, then how do we uphold our values or even make them slightly attractive by resorting to barbarism ourselves?

The most worrying thing about all this, of course, is that we are not just confronting a foreign enemy: we are producing our own, right here in our midst. There are almost certainly "sleeper cells" in the UK., the USA., and most major European countries.

It's about time our so-called leaders gave some serious thought about what is causing all this, otherwise we are in for a very long haul.

Good News for Steam Loco Buffs

It was a joy to be on Pickering Station the other day and watch a train of restored LNER teak coaches being pulled in by the A4 Pacific locomotive Sir Nigel Gresley. Pickering is at the southern end of the 18 miles of heritage railway between Pickering and Grosmont (linking there with the national network for the old fishing town of Whitby). The line was salvaged back in the late 1960s after the Beeching Report had taken an axe to swathes of branch lines the length and breadth of Britain. Originally purchased, renovated and operated by an enthusiastic bunch of volunteers, the line is now run by a successful heritage railway company licensed to run scheduled passenger services using restored steam locos from as far as back as 1905 up to end of British Rail steam services in the mid-1960s; there are also restored diesels from the period of changeover from steam to diesel and electric.

The North York Moors Railway brings in thousands of enthusiastic tourists to the line, and the Sir Nigel Gresley has always been the pride and joy of the line. It's "identical twin" the Mallard (which broke the world steam loco speed record at 125 mph) can be seen at the National Railway Museum in York. The Gresley has also been no mean performer in the speed stakes, having clocked up an impressive 112 mph in the mid-1950s.

It has made a welcome return to the line after a total strip down and re-build necessary for a renewal of it's 10-year operating licence. The renovation took three years of dedicated hard labour by people with railway mechanical and engineering expertise.

I always get a bit of thrill when I see this loco in full steam, not only because most steam locos have the ability to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, but because as a young boy back in the early 1950s I played with a Hornby Dublo electric train set. I had two passenger trains: (1) an LMS train pulled by the Duchess of Hamilton and (2) an LNER train pulled by the Sir Nigel Gresley.

Long may little boys aged between 7 and 70 continue to be captivated by steam trains!

Falling Polls and Rising Poles

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has returned from his summer vacation to problems with the polls and the Poles.

The Labour Government's popularity (and especially that of Blair himself) has plummeted to a level not experienced since before they came to power in 1997. I predict that this decline will continue until or unless he comes up with a date for his handing over the reins to (presumably) Gordon Brown. He also needs to drop the messianic zeal which drives his policies and pronouncements on the Middle East.

As for the Poles, they are causing big problems, not because we don't like the Poles (on the whole we do) but because they are suddenly here in such astonishing numbers. Once again the Government has not been able to do its sums properly. When the first batch of Eastern European countries swelled the membership of the European Union a couple of years ago, most of the existing members introduced (legal) controls on the rights of the new Member States to cross borders to work. But not Britain - oh no! We are so stupid that we decided controls were unnecessary, and some ministerial nincompoop calculated that there would be an influx of roughly 15,000 workers from the new Member States. The reality is that half of Poland seems to have taken up residence here. The figure is somewhere nearer half a million workers already here and/or applying to work here.

The result is huge pressure on public services and housing, and a growing resentment regarding availability of jobs for the Brits. Places like Slough, to the south west of London, now have increasing numbers of Polish shops and there are posters and notices all over the place in Polish.

All this could have been avoided if we had displayed the same common sense approach of other EU Member States who opened their borders only under strict controls. I don't think there is anything wrong with immigration, because much of it benefits our society, but like anything else you can have "too much of a good thing". Anything good taken in excess becomes bad.

So, for Labour, the polls are a problem and the Poles are a problem, and yet strangely the Opposition Parties are not cashing in on the Government's woes. One would have expected the re-branded Conservatives under the leadership of David Cameron to be riding high and looking like the next Government, but they are not. (Perhaps David Cameron looks, talks and acts a little too much like Tony Blair?!) The Liberal Democrats are doing no better either. What appears to be happening is that people are just deserting all the Parties in droves.

A bad omen for democracy.

Encouraging American Poll Results

In a recent New York Times/CBS Poll 53% of the Americans polled were against the Iraq operation, 62% thought it was going badly, and 51% considered Iraq to be an issue which is separate from the "War on Terror".

You see? There's nothing wrong with Americans. It's just their government that's a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.

Hypocrisy

We went into Iraq on the grounds that we were being threatened with weapons of mass destruction. It turned out that no such threat existed. The occupation then became part of the "War on Terror" even though "9/11" had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein or anyone operating inside Iraq. Then it became an exercise in imposing Democracy and was therefore "A Good Thing".

Our friendly accomplice in the "War on Terror" is Pakistan. Pakistan is a military dictatorship. Excuse me, but wasn't Iraq a military dictatorship? Why are we not going into Pakistan with all guns blazing?

Zimbabwe is being ruled by a tyrant who has destroyed his country's economy, rigged elections, bulldozed thousands of homes, and has banned any access by the BBC. Why are we not going to Zimbabwe with all guns blazing?

Do our politicians take us for complete fools when they feed us with all the garbage in defence of their stupid actions? Evidently they do.

Telling it like it is

Three cheers for John Prescott!

We sometimes like to make fun of Britain's Deputy Prime Minister for his bluff manner, his indiscretions with his secretary, and his tendency to mangle the English Language, but the fact remains that he has a better brain than we give him credit for. One of his great assets is his willingness to tell it like it is; he is refreshingly free from the effects of the government's spin machine. Blair's government has made such an art of "spin" that hardly a single person can believe anything he or any of his ministers says these days, so that is why Prescott is a breath of fresh air.

His latest assertion made in a private meeting with Labour MPs (but in the knowledge that the Press were waiting outside) is ... "The Bush administration is 'crap' on the Middle East process."

Some British newspapers have come out in favour of Prescott's refreshing (if uncouth) description of the Bush regime, and here are some quotable quotes from some of his fellow MPs ...

Ian Davidson - Glasgow South West MP
"I think that John Prescott is to be commended for the quality of his political analsysis. His comment on American policy is brief and accurate. Brtain has got to ensure that it is no longer seen as simply being the glove puppet of the United States."

Peter Kilfoyle - Liverpool Walton MP
"What he is reported to have said reflects the views of many people in the Labour Party. It may not go down well in international diplomacy - but in the Labour Party it will be welcomed as a rare flash of honesty from a senior member of the government."

Ken Livingstone - Mayor London
"I have no idea what John Prescott did or did not say since it was a private conversation, but the current US administration has been a disaster for the American people and has done untold damage not only to international relations but to the environment."

Jon Trickett - Hemsworth MP
"The actions and language of the British Government are actively hindering the prospects for peace in the Middle East; simultaneously enhancing the threat from terrorism, our historic influence with Arab countries has been squandered."

Glenda Jackson - Hampstead & Highgate MP
"I entirely endorse his view. This is why Parliament should be recalled. This government is failing miserable as far as our approach towards the Middle East is concerned. We are simply bag carriers for Bush and all his policies have been a disaster."

Martin Salter - Reading West MP
"It is abundantly clear that the Bush administration has been less than enthusiastic in pursuing the Middle East road map, and indeed many of its policies have actually inflamed the situation rather than sought to resolve this long-standing conflict."

From my own point view, there is nothing outlined above with which I disagree, and there is plenty to suggest, from recent polls, that most of the British people hold a similar view to John Prescott.

The White House has responded by saying that Bush has been called worse things. (Ain't that the truth!)

Overcharged and Remote Controlled!

My house is full of battery chargers. There's one for my mobile phone, one for my wife's mobile phone, one for my wife's second mobile phone used on another network, one for my Bluetooth earpiece, one for my digital camera, one for my wife's camcorder. Then there's all the old chargers that went with older equipment that cannot be used with new equipment. Why can't I be bothered to dispose of them? None of these devices can be used other than on the specified piece of equipment, because they are either different voltages, or have different connectors, or both. It's a nightmare. First you have to find a suitable storage place, then remember which charger fits which device. I can already hear you shouting "Why don't you label them?" Oh, OK - I suppose I'll have to.

Isn't modern technology wonderful? It enriches your life with more clutter.

Now I'm done complaining about all these non-compatible battery chargers, I can move on to Remote Controls. Sometimes they are so remote you can't find them.

There's a remote control for analogue television, one for digital television, one for the hi-fi unit, and another for the VHS/DVD player/recorder. Then there's the small hi-fi unit in the kitchen and another in the dining room, and there's the kitchen TV, so that's another three remote controls.

Is anyone else remotely interested or emotionally charged up about this? It matters not - I've got it out of my system!

A Note to British Muslims

You and I have different Faiths but we share the same Country.

One of the so-called "Muslim Community Leaders" (by the way, who are they and how do they become "leaders"?) was on television the other day expounding the peaceful nature of the Islamic message. He deplored the radicalisation of a minority of Islamic youth and the fact that anyone born and brought up in this Country could contemplate blowing up aircraft in mid-flight and killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children (some of whom, incidentally, would be Muslims).

He somewhat diminished the quality of his statement, however, by drawing attention to the fact that American and British foreign policy was likely to be providing ammunition to those who wanted to think in this perverted way.

Excuse me, but we live in a democracy, and if we disagree with our country's foreign policy (and I, for one, do) we kick the government out at the earliest opportunity. We do not display our displeasure by going out and blowing up our fellow citizens on the London Underground, nor do we decide to send airliners hurtling into the Atlantic Ocean.

In short, disagreeing with government policy is not a reason for mass murder.

I listened on BBC radio last week to a man born in this country of Pakistani parents. He gave an eloquent and intelligent summary of his own views which ran roughly along the lines of my own argument outlined above. He also asked the question, "Who are these so-called Community Leaders? Nobody has ever asked me to vote for one? How do they become leaders?"

If anyone has the answer to that question, or wishes to comment on anything I have written here, please click the "Comment" link below.

Blogmania

When I became "Blogger Beck" I decided that I wanted to avoid a single theme or mood. Instead, I would try to present a multi-faceted, eclectic mix of subjects and moods. The news at the moment is almost universally gloomy, be it the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, the discovery of a terrorist plot to blow up airliners in mid-Atlantic, or the fact that David Beckham has been dropped from the England Football Team by the new Coach Steve McLaren. Even worse - one of my socks has gone missing again.

I have always hoped that I could reach a readership that understood the meaning of words like multi-faceted and eclectic (if for no other reason that they might drop me a line to explain them to me). Obviously I've been pulling the wool over some people's eyes as I seem to have picked up a couple of readers who run Knitting blogs. They are generally complimentary, for which I am grateful, since they could so easily have just knit-picked my posts. The last time I looked at a knitting pattern it struck me as being a great deal more complicated than a page of HTML code, and possibly even more baffling than Javascript. I am full of admiration for anyone who can make sense of them (and that includes my dear wife).

Wondering how to lighten the mood, albeit for a short time, I was rooting through some old files on my computer and was pleased to come across a collection of slogans for car bumper stickers. (I believe for readers on the far side of the herring pond that should read "car fender stickers". I could be wrong: my position on U.S. English is still somewhere half way up the learning curve.) I have no idea where they came from, but I freely give acknowledgment and credit to whomsoever collected them in the first place. So, here are some of them, to lighten your day ...

• I love cats...they taste just like chicken
• Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
• Born Free. . . . .Taxed to Death
• Cover me. I'm changing lanes.
• As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in public schools
• The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.
• Laugh alone and the world thinks you're an idiot.
• Conserve toilet paper, use both sides.
• Sometimes I wake up grumpy; Other times I let her sleep
• SAVE A TREE: Eat a beaver
• I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather ... not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.
• According to my calculations the problem doesn't exist.
• Some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill.
• Pride is what we have. Vanity is what others have.
• A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.
• He who laughs last thinks slowest
• Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
• Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes.
• Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.
• Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
• i souport publik edekasion
• Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home.
• Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder...
• 3 kinds of people: those who can count & those who can't.
• "Auntie Em: Hate you, Hate Kansas, Taking the dog." - Dorothy.
• "Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"

"i souport publik edekasion" is a familiar kind of language, because in recent weeks I have been subscribing to a community question-and-answer site called Yahoo! Answers, and there is a disturbingly high proportion of contributors who actually write like this. There are some very good questions covering complex subjects in politics, chemistry, physics, philosophy, etc., but a high proportion of questions are mind-blowingly dumb, such as, "Can I get pregnant by masturbating?" and "How can I get a girl to like me?"

It's all very reassuring because I can answer those questions.

Onward and upward - keep smiling!

Iraq

Don't listen to the politicians talking about Iraq. Get the inside story from someone who is living there! Check out my link in the left-hand panel - "Girl inside Iraq" (or just click the heading above this post).

Critical Security Alert

The first item I hear on the news at 7 o'clock this morning is that the US and the UK are on the highest security alert following the arrest of 21 British citizens in connection with a plot to blow up a number of air liners in mid-flight. All our airports are now in chaos. Whilst all remain open, passengers are no longer being allowed to take any hand luggage on board. They are being restricted to travel documents, passport and prescription medicines. No newspapers, books, children's toys, laptops. The consequent delays are causing aircraft to back up on the ground, and further incoming flights have had to be diverted.

I am thankful for a couple of things: (1) I'm not proposing to fly anywhere right now, and (2) these bastards have been identified and arrested by the security forces.

I hope everyone has noticed how the Bush/Blair Axis of Testosterone joint foreign policies, military actions, the so-called War on Terror, and political reactions to events in the Middle East over the past two or three years has made the world so much safer!!(?)

Israel and Lebanon

We are getting nowhere fast, and if Israel can't accept that in order for a ceasefire to be workable they will need to withdraw from Lebanese territory as part of the deal, then there is no hope.

I am also a little tired of hearing about Iran's provision of weaponry for Hizbollah when we all know that the USA is the principle provider of weaponry for Israel.

Bedroom Bat

I received a phone call late Sunday evening from a distressed neighbour. She had a bat whizzing around in her bedroom. She couldn't persuade it to go anywhere near the open windows, and having a strong dislike of flying creatures (especially in the bedroom) asked for assistance. By the time I got round next door the bat had flown downstairs and was now doing arial acrobatics in the kitchen and dining room. The neighbour's cat, whilst perfectly used to chasing birds, took one look at the cavorting bat and beat a hasty retreat.

Meanwhile, my neighbour had produced a fishing net. I noticed the bat coming straight at me, and took a wild swing with the net with more desperation than accurancy, but was astounded to find that the net now contained the bat. I covered the top of the net with a large envelope and walked my catch down the road before releasing it (so nobody could acuse me of taking my bat home!)

Job done, I wished my neighbour a good night and retired to my own (bat-free) bed to dream of big game hunting.

Plum Target?

Have the Israelis totally lost the plot? Not content with bombing a UN observation post and killing UN pesonnel (in spite of being repeatedly told of their existence) they have now bombed a fruit farm.

How to win hearts and minds!

Hizbollah are now increasingly supported by the general population of Lebanon. Even the Christian community there is allying itself with Hizbollah.

Madness, total and utter madness.

Fundamental Beliefs

There are creationists and there are evolutionists. They are at opposite ends of a belief spectrum.

I have never understood their problem. If you believe in God as the creator of the universe and this world, then what is wrong with regarding the evolutionary process as part of that creation?

To those people who get hung up on the 6 days of creation and a 7th day of rest as written in the Bible, this too is no problem. A "day" as we know it could not have existed before the creation of the earth and its place in the solar system. References to periods of time in the Old Testament appear to be very shaky; people apparently reached ages measured in hundreds of years. How credible is that?

I interpret the story of the creation as an allegorical description of a 6-stage process; the exact timing is not important. A black and white interpretation of anything is usually faulty. The creationists and evolutionists should make their way towards the middle of the belief spectrum and see how much they have in common.

A Question of Perspective

Apparently George W Bush's close affinity with Israel (not, incidentally, shared by Bush Senior) goes back to his time as Texas Governor; on a visit to Israel he was taken on a helicopter trip by Arial Sharon. George is reported to be have been shocked by how small and vulnerable the country looked, and said they had driveways in Texas that were bigger.

Somebody needs to take Dubya on one side and explain to him that when you are very high up, things tend to look a bit smaller.