[Christ Mas] An Alternative Christmas Message

Rather than share the customary wishes for the holiday, I thought I would print some verses from the bible:

Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar
and stomp righteousness into the mud.
Do you realize where you are? You’re in a cosmos
star-flung with constellations by God,
A world God wakes up each morning
and puts to bed each night.
God dips water from the ocean
and gives the land a drink.
God, God-revealed, does all this.
And he can destroy it as easily as make it.
He can turn this vast wonder into total waste.People hate this kind of talk.
Raw truth is never popular.
But here it is, bluntly spoken:
Because you run roughshod over the poor
and take the bread right out of their mouths,
You’re never going to move into
the luxury homes you have built.
You’re never going to drink wine
from the expensive vineyards you’ve planted.
I know precisely the extent of your violations,
the enormity of your sins. Appalling!
You bully right-living people,
taking bribes right and left and kicking the poor when they’re down.

Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic.
Decent people throw up their hands.
Protest and rebuke are useless,
a waste of breath.

Seek good and not evil—
and live!
You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
being your best friend.
Well, live like it,
and maybe it will happen.

Hate evil and love good,
then work it out in the public square.
Maybe God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
will notice your remnant and be gracious.

Now again, my Master’s Message, God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Go out into the streets and lament loudly!
Fill the malls and shops with cries of doom!
Weep loudly, ‘Not me! Not us, Not now!’
Empty offices, stores, factories, workplaces.
Enlist everyone in the general lament.
I want to hear it loud and clear when I make my visit.”
God’s Decree.

Woe to all of you who want God’s Judgment Day!
Why would you want to see God, want him to come?
When God comes, it will be bad news before it’s good news,
the worst of times, not the best of times.
Here’s what it’s like: A man runs from a lion
right into the jaws of a bear.
A woman goes home after a hard day’s work
and is raped by a neighbor.
At God’s coming we face hard reality, not fantasy—
a black cloud with no silver lining.

“I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

Amos 5:7-24 The Message

That’s pretty much it from me for year. I’m off to Germany to be with my wife, who incidentally got her marriage visa from the embassy (another big joke I will share with you later).

[‘Accidents’ Happen] Propaganda Still A Threat To The UK

“I thought it was only the mafia that referred to killing people as “accidents”…”

Sorry, but I just couldn’t let this one go…

Met Chief’s Terror Plot Warning

I really am fed up with the kind bull that Sir Ian Blair spews. The latest article by the BBC says it all:

“Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair claims the UK is facing an unparalleled and growing threat of a terrorist attack.

However, he said there was “no specific intelligence” about an imminent attack but the threat was “ever present”.” – BBC News (cont.)

Is it just me that questions the logic of that statement? There is “no specific intelligence” but the threat is “ever present”. Does this sound a little Orwellian to you? It should. Either there must be specific intelligence, or there is no threat, you can’t just say that it’s ever present. It’s like saying there is a threat of a meteor crashing into earth- there are small bits of meteors crashing all the time. As for a large one, yes it could happen, but we don’t go around warning each other everyday or living under the cloud of the threat.

“Sir Ian also said he was “confident” of being cleared of misconduct over the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes.

And he defended an anti-terror raid in Forest Gate, claiming the shooting of a man during the raid was an accident.” (cont.)

I thought it was only the mafia that referred to killing people as “accidents”. As far as accidents go, I hope I don’t end up a police “accident” as I’m running for the tube one day (yet another reason not to use the tube).

I don’t know about you but I am just not comfortable with that term “accident”. It makes it sound like something less significant. Let’s not forget, a man lost his life here, an innocent man who happened to be of the wrong skin tone.

I’m sure if Mr De Menzes by some miracle had survived 6 shots fired into his forehead at point blank range, he would have a different take on the incident.

The commissioner criticised the length of the inquiry, adding: “It’s difficult to understand how an organisation can take 13 months to investigate what I did or did not say on one particular day.”

I must congratulate the commissioner on a clever and great example of deflecting responsibility. Why else would an organisation take 13 months to investigate what you said? There’s a PR tactic that you may have heard of, it’s call disinformation. The only reason there could be any difficulty in establishing facts is differing accounts. The delay, commissioner, is with you and the Met.

[Monkey Halfwits] Immigration Again…

No sooner do I post our experience with these home-office trained, monkey half-wits does the inevitable happen:

Police killer suspect fled Britain in a veil

The irony here screams so loud I don’t need to say anything, and can I just say I am not surprised at all! If you want to know what I’m talking about read An Immigration Problem Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

[Funny] The World Explained Through Cows…

SOCIALISM:
You have 2 cows, and you give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM:
You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM:
You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

[Series] I’m A Christian… Get Me Out Of Here!

I’m toying with a new concept and going to see how it runs. Each blogweek* I’m going to run a scenario strictly for Christians, to challenge your perceptions, perhaps to challenge my own. Feel free to take part (in the comments).

This weeks scenario:

Your brother/sister has never held down a job for more than 3 months since leaving school and has been an on/off job-seeker for years. He/She has no savings, lives with your parents and has no aspirations.

One day he/she comes home and declares to the family that their girl/boyfriend is pregnant and you are going to be an Uncle/Aunt. However, since both of them have no steady income, their boy/girlfriend wants to get an abortion.

At no point can you yell “I’m a Christian… Get me out of here!”

*blogweeks are like weeks but could be shorter or longer depending.

[Pisstake?] Honourable Mention

I have recently been profiled by The Pisstaker on his blog of the same name. So it’s only fitting that I offer a reciprocal link to the article.

While I’m very honoured and bemused at the description, cleverly written and quite funny, I do need to correct some factual errors:

I did live in Warwickshire, but have recently moved to Ealing
My wife is Canadian, and we met in Switzerland… long story, don’t ask
The wedding was in Maui, a slight distance from the Midlands

Other than that, very fine and witty, thanks Ed!

[Habeas Corpus] When Did Democracy Become So Confusing?

I don’t know about you but Gloucestershire Police’s statement regarding their lost case over the 2003 anti-war protesters rights to demonstrate doesn’t make me exactly comfortable.

For 100’s of years in the UK we have had a legal system that errs on the side of innocence- that is innocent until proven guilty. Unlike a system in say, Portugal, which is guilty until proven innocent. It is only now in the last few years that we have had a government which has confused those terms.

Gloucestershire Police said it was “disappointed” with the decision, which it accepted, and added that officers acted in “good faith”.

It also expressed “regret” for any inconvenience and said it would now review its policies.

“Policing in [such] scenarios is difficult and complex, with competing rights and responsibilities having to be assessed and acted upon in real time by operational commanders,” said a spokesman.

“Intelligence pointed to the potential for further disorder at the base and it was against this background that the decision was made to stop and turn back the three coaches travelling to RAF Fairford from London.” – BBC News

Not only have we now come to a point in history where the police have difficulty in determining what law to apply where when dealing with the public, we have a police force, when faced with that question, errs on the side of guilty.

It is a good job the law lords overturned this decision. Perhaps the UK does have a faint hope after all, of not becoming a country where everyone is a potential criminal and public assembly and protest is looked upon as a crime against the state.

[Free Wifi] Natural Cafe

Natural Cafe in Chiswick deserves an honourable mention. I’m here on Saturday afternoon making use of their free wifi connection. I’m not into organic food but they do offer muffins and lattes so it works for me.

I just ordered an XL latte as I want to be here for a few hours, and they brought it out in a cup and saucer the size of a breakfast bowl.

[Hitchcock Presents…] The Pigeons!

What would Alfred Hitchcock make of this?

Read all of the comments!

[Even The BBC Are Getting In On The Act] EVERYONE SHOULD DO THIS… RIGHT NOW!

If you own a UK bank account- even the BBC are publishing it: How to claim back penalty charges.