Resist the war drive against Iran
The capture by Iranian forces of 15 British sailors in the Gulf brought shrill, bellicose headlines last weekend and calls for retribution. The anti-war movement has done a superb job in winning a clear majority against the war and occupation in Iraq. But no one should believe that because the case against the “war on terror” is so overwhelming then no British government can garner support for another military misadventure.
The capture of the British sailors has all the hallmarks of the kind of incident that has been used in the past as a reason either for war or for escalating confrontation. In 1949 the British gunboat HMS Amethyst was fired on in the Yangtze river in China. There was much outrage in Britain at Mao’s People’s Liberation Army, which was on the verge of taking power, for shooting at the ship. There was little questioning of what a British ship was doing on a Chinese river.
Whether or not the British sailors were in Iranian waters is disputed. But what is not in dispute is that Britain has joined the US in pouring warships into the Gulf while pressuring and threatening Iran. Reliable US sources have reported that special forces are already operating in Iran.The Stop the War Coalition has rightly argued that the occupation of Iraq threatens to generate a wider regional war. The commander of the ship HMS Cornwall unwittingly captured the mentality of imperial occupation when he said the sailors had been captured in “our waters”. He meant the waters belonging under international law and treaty to the Republic of Iraq.
In addition to the immediate argument that this incident is not worth yet more bloodshed and war, it is vital to challenge this imperialist delusion. Part of that is simply asking the obvious question: imagine if Iran occupied France, had scores of warships in the Channel, was reported to have commandos operating in the home counties, and was pushing for sanctions against Britain – how would public opinion, the media and the British government react?
What makes anyone think Iran is any different?
Secondly, as propagandists try to gloss the “war on terror” in fake humanitarianism, more and more people need to shout out the single greatest lesson of the anti-war movement. It is not the business of Western governments and the corporations that back them, steeped in the blood and sweat of hundreds of millions of people across the globe, to bring “order” to the “savages”.
It is the business of those of us who live in those imperialist states to do all in our power to stop their militarism and to act in solidarity with those around the globe fighting for a better world.
Everywhere you go this week, make sure people are asking: what on earth are British gunboats doing in Iraqi or Iranian waters in a place called the Arabian or Persian Gulf thousands of miles from home?
It is up to all of us to oppose the war drive against Iran. Can you start a discussion at work or college, arrange a Stop the War meeting, get a letter into your local paper, petition on the streets? And as the People’s Assembly in London agreed last week, if there is an attack on Iran, we will need civil disobedience in every community, walkouts in every school, protests and strikes in every workplace.
If George Bush bombs Iran, we should bring this country to a standstill.
George Galloway
The capture of the British sailors has all the hallmarks of the kind of incident that has been used in the past as a reason either for war or for escalating confrontation. In 1949 the British gunboat HMS Amethyst was fired on in the Yangtze river in China. There was much outrage in Britain at Mao’s People’s Liberation Army, which was on the verge of taking power, for shooting at the ship. There was little questioning of what a British ship was doing on a Chinese river.
Whether or not the British sailors were in Iranian waters is disputed. But what is not in dispute is that Britain has joined the US in pouring warships into the Gulf while pressuring and threatening Iran. Reliable US sources have reported that special forces are already operating in Iran.The Stop the War Coalition has rightly argued that the occupation of Iraq threatens to generate a wider regional war. The commander of the ship HMS Cornwall unwittingly captured the mentality of imperial occupation when he said the sailors had been captured in “our waters”. He meant the waters belonging under international law and treaty to the Republic of Iraq.
In addition to the immediate argument that this incident is not worth yet more bloodshed and war, it is vital to challenge this imperialist delusion. Part of that is simply asking the obvious question: imagine if Iran occupied France, had scores of warships in the Channel, was reported to have commandos operating in the home counties, and was pushing for sanctions against Britain – how would public opinion, the media and the British government react?
What makes anyone think Iran is any different?
Secondly, as propagandists try to gloss the “war on terror” in fake humanitarianism, more and more people need to shout out the single greatest lesson of the anti-war movement. It is not the business of Western governments and the corporations that back them, steeped in the blood and sweat of hundreds of millions of people across the globe, to bring “order” to the “savages”.
It is the business of those of us who live in those imperialist states to do all in our power to stop their militarism and to act in solidarity with those around the globe fighting for a better world.
Everywhere you go this week, make sure people are asking: what on earth are British gunboats doing in Iraqi or Iranian waters in a place called the Arabian or Persian Gulf thousands of miles from home?
It is up to all of us to oppose the war drive against Iran. Can you start a discussion at work or college, arrange a Stop the War meeting, get a letter into your local paper, petition on the streets? And as the People’s Assembly in London agreed last week, if there is an attack on Iran, we will need civil disobedience in every community, walkouts in every school, protests and strikes in every workplace.
If George Bush bombs Iran, we should bring this country to a standstill.
George Galloway
Resisting the Drums of War
The Bush administration promoted the misguided and destructive war in Iraq by targeting our concerns about vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness. The continued occupation of Iraq—or an attack on Iran—will likely be sold to us in much the same way. This video examines these warmongering appeals and describes how to counter them
04.01.07 -- April Fools' Day
As all in Christendom know, Palm Sunday marks the day of a famous ride through town on an ass -- not to distract from this Holy Day, I worked this puzzle (titled “Fools Rush In”) the day before -- one up on the jester! Paula Gamache’s construction is clever for the seven “theme” entries ALLBASSETSAREOFF, SHUTTLECASSOCKS, SASSINGTHEBLUES, BAREFACEDLASSIE, CULTURALMORASSES, SOCIETYPASSAGE, and WASSAILINGWALL -- thereafter it’s business as usual sans all humor or ingenuity, which is fine -- it’s like a Sunday sermon held up by a repeated joke! I did like seeing OOOLA and OBAMA, LINOS and LENO, LIMOS and LIMA, UKASE and KASHA, ADASTRA and LASTRADA in the same grid. Also ANGST instead of the revolting “acne” for “teen problem”. Don’t understand CHICK “lit”. CANTAB is an iffy answer to “Harvard student”. Answers SPOTTY and MESS stick in my mind -- a lot of fill! I was expecting more, I guess the joke’s on me!
Images: Above - Wailing Wall (51D) and Tarot card. Below - Ass; Oop, Ooola, etc.; Shuttlecock; Policeman (66A); and Sydney Opera House (112A). Left click to enlarge any image or the puzzle.
Images: Above - Wailing Wall (51D) and Tarot card. Below - Ass; Oop, Ooola, etc.; Shuttlecock; Policeman (66A); and Sydney Opera House (112A). Left click to enlarge any image or the puzzle.
The Science of Man and Origins of Big Brother
03.31.07 -- SLAS / HERS
John Duschatko’s puzzle utilizes a familiar gimmick (broken words continued on unnumbered lines) in a fresh way. The continuing series of eight Freddie Krueger “A Nightmare on Elm Street” films is a good CONTINUEDONNEXT / LINE clue, coupled with SLAS / HERS -- kind of sweet. Also slashed are AIRP / ORTS, UNDE / RESTIMATE, GLENNM / ILLER, UPRI / SING, SEAS / ONER, PREDE / STINED, INCAPACIT / ATES, RUMI / NANT, and CRINK / KLES -- for a total of eleven “slashed” entries, twelve if IPSO / FACTO is included. More gore in this puzzle PRE / DESTINED groom Oedipus Rex (gouged out his own eyes), jacquerie (UPRI / SING) Canada’s Battle of Fort ERIE, 1866, and brutal villain IVAN Drago, “Rocky IV” who killed Apollo Creed. Lurking cautiously in the corners of this violent construction are PATSY, ANTSY, SPANK, PSST, OKS, LINEN, IRENE, Godfrey’s woman in “My Man Godfrey”, and Mary ARDEN, Shakespeare’s mother, and SPERM. Below: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Oedipus Rex, Glenn Miller, Rocky IV, William Shakespeare, Carole Lombard as Irene, Sperm.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Rex Parker’s five-part report on the ACPT at Stamford CT
http://salmongutter.blogspot.com/2007/03/stamford-experience-part-1.html
http://salmongutter.blogspot.com/2007/03/stamford-experience-part-2.html
http://salmongutter.blogspot.com/2007/03/stamford-experience-part-3.html
http://salmongutter.blogspot.com/2007/03/stamford-experience-part-4.html
http://salmongutter.blogspot.com/2007/03/stamford-experience-part-5.html
Bob and Dave Mackey,the Puzzle Brothers report on ACPT
http://thepuzzlebrothers.blogspot.com/ACPT Online - report by C zar
http://shakespeareandstuff.blogspot.com/2007/03/well-acpt-online-sucks.htmlMore on ACPT - report by Orange
http://crosswordfiend.blogspot.com/search/label/ACPTACPT photos by Nancy Shack
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v107/nancyindg/Crossword%20Tournament%202007/ACPT photos by Pete Mitchell (neauspam's photos)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neauspam/
The War On Terror: The Greatest Hoax Of All Time?
When one examines the history behind the current 'war on terror', government sponsored myths begin to unravel.
Hong Kong Reports Mainland Chinese Eating Infants
You have to be kidding right? Unfortunately this is really happening!
The Next Magazine, a weekly publication from Hong Kong, reported that infant corpses and fetuses have become the newest supplements for health and beauty in China. Not only is the placenta considered a beauty remedy, but also aborted fetuses are much sought after delicacies. In Guangdong, gourmet body parts are in high demand and can even be purchased through hospitals. The magazine's investigations into this form of cannibalism took them to Liaoning province.
According to The Next Magazine, during a banquet hosted by a Taiwanese businessman, a servant Ms Liu from Liaoning province on the mainland inadvertently revealed the habit of eating infants/fetuses in Liaoning province and her intention to return for the supplement due to health concerns. The Taiwanese women present were horrified.
Ms Liu also disclosed that even though people can afford the human parts there are still waiting lists and those with the right connections get the "highest quality" human parts, which translates to the more mature fetuses. A male fetus is considered the "prime" human part
Published British Maps Fake
Former British Ambassador Craig Murray is now challenging the legitimacy of the map just published by the British government in the current dispute with Iran over those 15 captured British sailors and marines.
"Fake Maritime Boundaries
I have been unpopular before, but the level of threats since I started blogging on the captured marines has got a bit scary. It is therefore with some trepidation that I feel obliged to point this out.
"The British Government has published a map showing the coordinates of the incident, well within an Iran/Iraq maritime border. The mainstream media and even the blogosphere has bought this hook, line and sinker.
"But there are two colossal problems.
"A) The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British Government. Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf, only inside the Shatt because there it is the land border too. This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.
"B) Accepting the British coordinates for the position of both HMS Cornwall and the incident, both were closer to Iranian land than Iraqi land. Go on, print out the map and measure it. Which underlines the point that the British produced border is not a reliable one.
"None of which changes the fact that the Iranians, having made their point, should have handed back the captives immediately. I pray they do so before this thing spirals out of control. But by producing a fake map of the Iran/Iraq boundary, notably unfavourable to Iran, we can only harden the Iranian position."
When I spoke with the former Ambassador he told me how dumbfounded he is by the way in which the mainstream media continues to treat this dispute.
The BBC for instance has already interviewed a supposed expert regarding the map, who vouched for its authenticity. But the point is, as Craig Murray, points out, how can such a map exist if the subject of boundaries has never been settled between Iraq and Iran? Turns out the expert had been referred to the BBC by the British Ministry of Defense--who also turned out the plan.
Sounds like the rerun of a bad movie we've already seen.
Oil Traders Fear an Attack on IranOkay, now I'm worried.
03.30.07 -- BUSH MUSH BUSH
David Quarfoot’s construction is a thick meek messy mass of a puzzle bracketed at the top and bottom with George (after the King and Washington) III’s infamous lie READMYLIPS NONEWTAXES. The disparity of clues and answers in between are a farrago of fill with nothing relating to anything else -- RESTDAY, EDMEESE and ADONAIS share a corner; OTHELLO, THERITZ and HOMEBOY another; BATCAVE, ETERNAL and SILENTK occupy a bunker in the lower left, with DEEPSIX, EPISODE and SALINES finishing off the mishmash. The closest the puzzle comes to symmetry is the asymmetrical placement of two screechers whose names begin with the letter Y.
Is the BATCAVE really “Robin’s place”? -- I had the impression he just hung out there! Hey, OTHELLO is a leftover from yesterday’s puzzle, and HOLYPERSON is clued as “Cardinal, e.g.", oh come on! Such uninspired standard entries as DEAD, TENET, IRIS, STUD, ALTO, ROAM, TEL, CREE, ANNA, VATS, PEW, EPA, ACTI, RAT, ORO, SERB, MERE, MEET, AHEM, OTHO crowd together, while BESTBUY, DENTYNE and PEPSI get free commercials and crusty Republicans LOTT, EDMEESE, Dole, Nixon and Reagan dance in the same maze as LOLITAS, a VEIL and a TEACOZY -- where was George the IV? -- TGIF!
The fires of Hell are real and eternal, Pope warns
Benedict appears to be getting into the "hellfire and damnation routine" rather early in his reign. He's doing what I am sure his many predecessors have done when they looked at falling numbers, empty churches and currently, pedophile scandals which are bankrupting many dioceses in the world. But playing the fear card just won't work any more, except with vulnerable children, and Pope Benedict just doesn't get it.What is that line about people in glass houses not throwing stones?
Benedict needs to get his own house in order, and get rid of the priests who are causing pain and anguish, and permanent emotional damage to kids who are being told, as they're getting abused, that it's "God's Will", and that they can never dare tell another human being what happened, because they'll go straight to hell. The fires of Hell are real and eternal, Pope warns
03.29.07 -- Dian, Dyan, Diane, Dianne, etc
Today's puzzle has the spectacle of DIANNE FEINSTEIN running across the middle of the grid and intersecting three shorter down entries, DYAN CANNON, DIANE LANE, and DIAN FOSSEY comprising the theme of four first-name homonyms, but the quartet are just the main celebrities of this construction which also include JUDE LAW, ANNETTE Funicello, Jennifer ANISTON, RIN Tin Tin as answers; Gene Hackman, Walter Matthau, Errol Flynn and Andy Warhol as clues -- and if that ukulele master TINY TIM ever uttered ""God bless us every one!" he could be included. Animals, mythical and real, abound -- UNICORN, PIG IN A POKE, Gorillas, A DEER and an ELF. That trio of architects, Gehry, Meier and PEI (lots of pi, pie, Pei this month) make an appearance, photographer NAN Goldin, author R. L. STINE, along with rulers OLAF I, NERO, MAO, Marc Anthony (think Egypt) -- and finally, a quote from Judas Iscariot "Is IT I, Lord?" -- Jeez!
Illustrated: 36A crossed with 20D, 15D and 22D; and then 16A, 41A, 57D & 63A, 28D, 32D, 14D and 21A. (Left click to enlarge any image.)
Illustrated: 36A crossed with 20D, 15D and 22D; and then 16A, 41A, 57D & 63A, 28D, 32D, 14D and 21A. (Left click to enlarge any image.)
The Great Global Warming Swindle
The Great Global Warming Swindle
Are you green? How many flights have you taken in the last year? Feeling guilty about all those unnecessary car journeys? Well, maybe ... there's no need to feel bad. According to a group of scientists brought together by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, if the planet is heating up, it isn't your fault and there's nothing you can do about it. We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.
Are you green? How many flights have you taken in the last year? Feeling guilty about all those unnecessary car journeys? Well, maybe ... there's no need to feel bad. According to a group of scientists brought together by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, if the planet is heating up, it isn't your fault and there's nothing you can do about it. We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.
Globalists Love Global Warming
Trilateral Commission, chairman of British Petroleum, CFR, Club of Rome fan hysteria to achieve world government
A common charge leveled against those who question the official orthodoxy of the global warming religion is that they are acting as stooges for the western establishment and big business interests. If this is the case, then why do the high priests of the elite and kingpin oil men continue to fan the flames of global warming hysteria?
The Trilateral Commission, one of the three pillars of the New World Order in alliance with Bilderberg and the CFR, met last week in near secrecy to formulate policy on how best they could exploit global warming fearmongering to ratchet up taxes and control over how westerners live their lives.
Confronting New World Order Filth: Bilderberg Hillary
Confronting Hillary Clinton about her secret attendances at Bilderberg. Presidential Forum on Health Care, Las Vegas.
Confronting New World Order Filth: Bilderberg Hillary
Confronting Hillary Clinton about her secret attendances at Bilderberg. Presidential Forum on Health Care, Las Vegas.
Part1
Part2
Part1
Part2
03.28.07 -- Scrambled Gags
Triple anagrams -- five fifteen-letter lines using the letters AEPRS, AERST, AEGLR, EIMST, AELSTS, which when unscrambled to form three different words on a line also form five mildly amusing remarks, a puzzle in a puzzle in a puzzle so to speak. Slow starting, what with clues like “harvests more anjous than needed?” etc., but once the shtick emerges, solves quickly. 
People in the puzzle today (some living, most dead) -- W. C. Fields, Ava Gardner, Ann Meara, James Spader, Marvin Gaye, Mao Tse-tung, Ashton Kutcher (left click to enlarge any image).
People in the puzzle today (some living, most dead) -- W. C. Fields, Ava Gardner, Ann Meara, James Spader, Marvin Gaye, Mao Tse-tung, Ashton Kutcher (left click to enlarge any image).
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