Monthly Archives: June 2006

Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.

Commenter SteveB complained to the Beeboids, and received the following reply, which he kindly shared with us:

Dear Mr Bxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your comments. We accept that our initial story was
deficient and should have made it much clearer what the killing in the
song lyrics referred to. We revised the story after re-checking the
facts. We also subsequently did an updated story to include the marine’s
apology, which detailed out much more clearly the thrust of the song.

But you make a fair criticism about our first story. We do aim to cover
stories as objectively and accurately as possible.

Kind regards

BBC News website

In spite of the acknowledged deficiencies and lack of clarity in their first version of this story, I doubt that we’ll see any public acknowledgement of these errors, let alone a BBC Newswatch record and explanation of them.

I have long suggested that BBC News Online ought, on each page of their site, including the index pages, to have a link to a page of revisions, so that tellytaxpaying customers like us can, if we so wish, see each and every change to a story as it happened, the better to see how stories develop and who edited what and when.

This would be a useful service for all sorts of people, and would also improve the quality of BBC News Online journalism – simply by virtue of doing away with the opportunity that exists at present for journalists to slap down any old tosh, safe in the knowledge that they can ‘stealth edit’ away their errors and omissions later (as with this, my favourite example) – “Wot me guv? No guv, it was always like that, you must be mistaken”!

The answer has always been that such a system would be impractical – why record a change to a story when it could be as trivial as a spelling correction they say?

Well, the solution, a large scale working example of the solution no less, already exists – it’s good old Wikipedia! If every Wikipedia item can have a list of revisions, large and small, complete with times, dates and some kind of author identifier, surely every News Online page could easily do likewise (though obviously without the free-for-all editing) – heck, the BBC could even use some of Wikipedia’s code to do it.

It wouldn’t surprise me if BBC News Online’s system already has this capability – certainly if I had designed their system this is the sort of information that it would automatically capture, free from tampering by ordinary users. If their system, already does this of course, then there’d be little difficulty in making such information publicly readable.

So Beeboids, if Wikipedia can be this accountable to their non-paying customers, why can’t you be that accountable to your dragooned tellytaxpaying customers? What’s to lose?

P.S. As a further constructive suggestion, when you create a link from a current story to a previous related story, it would be very easy to make those links work both ways – i.e. so that by creating a link from a new story to an old story (for background purposes), the list of related stories on the older story is also automatically updated to point forward to the newer story too – an easy to implement form of “what happened next“ service. It wouldn’t be difficult to implement, and would be tremendously useful to your tellytaxpaying customers.

Sir, As a record producer, a black parent and a taxpaying citizen, I welcome David Cameron’s criticism of Radio 1’s promotion of music that encourages violence (People, June 13).

The BBC and other media continue to install “white liberals” and irresponsible blacks to brainwash our youngsters. The black community is silent and powerless: as in the days of slavery, we have no say in what music our people listen to. We sit back and allow ourselves to be driven down a precarious track, by drivers who are not on the vehicle.

The Government will not do anything until the senseless violence spills over into white suburbia. Three years ago when two young girls were killed in Birmingham, I and others protested about the promotion of violent music. I in particular named the BBC. The BBC continued, saying that there was no evidence that its music policy encouraged violence. Since then we have lost many young lives.

If the BBC has any responsibility to the black community, it will install a panel of responsible people, who will not only monitor the material, but create our own icons.

NEIL FRASER (aka MAD PROFESSOR)

London SE25

Hat tip: An anonymous commenter

Our persistent Spanish comment spammer, El Pajero (a.k.a. Hal, hippiepooter, Irishcustard, englishpatriotuk@hotmail.com etc.), comments (here and here in full):

“If you’re so absolutely confident that your fellow Contributors have absolute confidence in you, why not put this to the test to shut the likes of me up once and for all, and step down from B-BBC – relinquishing all your sabotage powers et al – and see if a few days later your fellow Contributors are willing to readmit you?”

EP, if you knew how Blogger works you’d know that any of my co-hosts with administrator powers (e.g. Natalie etc.) could easily remove me from Biased BBC any time they wish, and there is nothing I could do to stop them. Knowing this, hopefully you will now undertake, as you suggest, “to shut up once and for all”. El Pajero continues:

“I’m sure it has not escaped your attention that you have repeatedly banned me from the IP address I am posting from and a day or two later I have repeatedly been unbanned”.

Again EP, if you knew how Haloscan works you’d know that your ISP, Telefonica de Espana (a strange choice for someone so concerned with the BBC and British democracy, but I digress), has millions of randomly assigned IP nos. All that happens is that from time to time you get lucky and get one that isn’t banned yet. No one has ever unbanned you.

Frankly, none of my poor colleagues who you regularly send your unwelcome rants to has ever expressed any sympathy for you, let alone questioned whether or not you should be unbanned. Having said that, as I have already said, if you are willing to 1) apologise for your past behaviour; 2) accept that Biased BBC is private property and that we make and enforce the rules, I will unban you – it is as easy as that, and more than you deserve after your harassment and implied threats.

I am sufficiently fed up of your tedious attacks that I am tempted to set up an online poll to resolve your problem and shut you up once and for all, however such a poll could well be subject to abuse by Beeboids and their leftie sympathisers keen to get rid of me and the rest of Biased BBC (which may of course be your aim).

However, if any one of my co-hosts, Natalie, Ed, Laban, etc. asks me to leave the Biased BBC team, I will do so. If any of our readers wish me to stay or wish me to go, please say so in the comments on this thread.

If enough real non-leftie non-Beeboid non-obsessed people want me to go in contrast to those who want me to stay I will do so – I have no interest in wasting my time here if I’m not wanted – I do have a real life and other interests, and should probably spend more time on them anyway.

Likewise, if you like my posts and want me to continue posting then please also speak up – your support will be welcome – it’s safer to help me here than intervening in a real world mugging. If you don’t want to speak up in public, for or against, then email me: biasedbbc AT gmail.com. Copy it to Natalie (see sidebar) if you wish.

Thank you. Normal service will now resume, if enough people want it, and if they do, I hope that EP will be honourable enough to “shut up once and for all” if that is the prevailing view.

An agency set up to seize criminals’ assets has cost taxpayers around £60m despite only recovering just over £8m from law breakers since 2003.

The Asset Recovery Agency was set up to tackle organised crime. It was meant to raise enough cash to cover its budget.

Tory Grant Shapps obtained figures from the Home Office showing in the ARA cost four times what it recovered in 2005.

Presumably they mean Conservative MP Grant Shapps, or even Tory MP Grant Shapps, rather than the sneering pejorative style ‘Tory’ prefix used by lefties everywhere.

Hat tip to Bob for this one:

France jails 25 for attack plot

A French court has jailed 25 alleged Islamist militants for planning attacks in France in support of Chechen rebels.

Alleged? They have been convicted by a French court of law. That it was no kangaroo court was indicated by the fact that two of the defendants were acquitted. I thought it was us Amerikkka-luvvin neocon warmongers who were supposed to claim that France is a banana republic whose courts cannot be relied upon, not the BBC.

The featured quote in the grey box is, of course, from the defence lawyer: “These convictions profit the United States, Algeria and Russia.”

Update by Andrew: A screen grab to accompany Natalie’s post:

BBC speak: convicted terrorists are merely “alleged Islamist militants”.

[ADDED 21.00 BST: This post has been updated. The BBC story has now been stealth edited to be less misleading and the identity of the singer, who is a US marine, has emerged.]

Commenter Barker John alerted me to this post from LGF.

The BBC story concerned is by Adam Brookes and is called ‘Kill Iraqis marine song’ probe and misplaced quote marks are the least of its problems. It describes a video of a man, apparently a US marine, singing a song about Iraq.

The BBC story is worded to give the impression that the song is about US marines gleefully killing Iraqis, including children.

…apparently shows a serving marine singing about killing Iraqi civilians.

And

Posted on the YouTube website, the video shows a man in uniform strumming a guitar while singing about killing Iraqis, as others laugh and cheer.

And

The lyrics caught on video refer to the shooting of Iraqi civilians, especially children.

These are weasel words. The lyrics do refer to “the shooting” of a child – but by her own father and brother, not by the narrator. The narrator’s first reaction to seeing an Iraqi girl is to fall in love with her. She takes him home to see her family. It turns out to be an ambush.

You can watch and listen for yourself if you follow the link to the LGF post. (Not work safe or suitable for children due to swearing and general tastelessness.)

I cut and pasted the version of the lyrics given by Rayra, making a few changes where I heard things differently or ambiguously.

I was out in the sands of Iraq

And we were under attack

And I, well, I didn’t know where to go.

And the first thing that I could see was

Everybody’s favorite Burger [or Burqua?] King

So I threw open the door and I hit the floor.

Then suddenly to my surprise

I looked up and I saw her eyes

And I knew it was love at first sight.

And she said…

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad

Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah [This cartoon Arabic is taken from the film “Team America”.]

Hadji girl I can’t understand what you’re saying.

And she said…

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad

Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah

Hadji girl I love you anyway.

Then she said that she wanted me to see.

She wanted me to go meet her family

But I, well, I couldn’t figure out how to say no.

‘Cause I don’t speak Arabic.

So, she took me down an old dirt trail.

And she pulled up to a side shanty

And she threw open the door and I hit the floor.

Cause her brother and her father shouted… [Some LGF commenters thought “shouted” was “shot her”. I heard “shouted.”]

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad

Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah

They pulled out their AKs so I could see

And they said…

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad

Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah

So I grabbed her little sister and pulled her in front of me.

[This line is timed to be the punch line and one can hear laughter]

As the bullets began to fly

The blood sprayed from between her eyes

And then I laughed maniacally

Then I hid behind the TV

And I locked and loaded my M-16

And I blew those little fuckers to eternity.

And I said…

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad

Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah

They should have known they were fucking with a Marine.

This song is insensitive and in poor taste. Soldiers’ songs often are. Twenty years ago two popular songs in the British Army were “Bestiality is Best, Boys” and (to the tune of Camptown Races) “Napalm Burns on a Baby’s Back, Doodah, Doodah.”

In the song, the narrator is described as using the little sister as a human shield in an attempt to stop himself from being shot in ambush. Not exactly in accordance with the highest military tradition, but softened by the fact that that line is obviously meant to surprise by its very ingloriousness. It is the punch line of a black joke.

(AFTERTHOUGHT: The BBC loves to describe its own comedies as “edgy”, meaning “close to the edge of what is permissible” rather than “irritable.”)

Had the BBC been content to report this straight, there would have been a minor story along the same lines as those we have seen about “lads’ culture” or “canteen culture” in the British armed services and police. It could have reported the embarrassment of various Pentagon spokesmen and I’d have said, fair cop. But the BBC, so careful to report the sayings of Jihadists in a sensitive manner, could not resist the chance to selectively quote in such a way as to cause maximum resentment among Muslims.

Another example of bias: the “Bullets began to fly” lines from the lyrics are quoted in the main story and also featured in a quote box. The same quote box has a helpful link to another story called Haditha: Massacre and cover-up? This story has a pair of graphics illustrating two incompatible accounts of the alleged massacre at Haditha. One is labelled “Haditha deaths: US troops’ version” and the other labelled “Haditha deaths: eyewitnesses’ version.” Dunno about you, but I thought this was begging the question.

UPDATE: Hat tip to Mike: the BBC story has now been stealth edited to read “The lyrics caught on video refer to the shooting of Iraqi civilians, especially children, by insurgents and then how a marine responds, opening fire himself.” As is usual with the BBC, the “last updated” field has not been altered.

UPDATE II: DFH provides before and after screenshots of the BBC story and Biodegradable links to an interview with the Marine who made up the song.

Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.

Palestinians may have caused Gaza beach deaths, Olmert says:

Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz indicated Sunday that Friday’s blast on a Gaza Strip beach that killed seven civilians may have been caused by the Palestinians, and not by the IDF.

Peretz told the weekly cabinet meeting that he had established an investigative committee headed by a major-general, which is to present its findings on Tuesday.

Peretz said the panel’s preliminary findings showed that the Ghalia family was not killed by a shell fired by the IDF ground forces or the IAF. Peretz said that one of six artillery shells fired by the IDF was unaccounted for, but that there was a gap between when the shells were fired and the time the Palestinians said the shells landed.

Peretz told the ministers that some 40 Kassam rockets were fired at Sderot and nearby communities over the weekend, and that Nati Angel – the Sderot man seriously wounded by a Kassam Sunday morning at a school near the city – was a “personal friend.” Peretz lives in Sderot, where he used to be mayor.

If this does turn out to be the cause, or even a distinctly possible cause, of this tragic incident, I expect the BBC, particularly given their intensive coverage of the original story, will be extremely keen to revisit the story in depth, in order to ensure that the truth is fully investigated and reported in an impartial manner, lest another serious falsehood is perpetrated and established. But I won’t be holding my breath while waiting for Haw-Hawley and co. to leap in to action.

Update: According to Funerals for Gaza beach victims:

The BBC’s Simon Wilson in Jerusalem says that Saturday’s rocket attacks appear mainly symbolic.

Try telling that to Nati Angel (see above). I can think of some a***s that could do with a symbolic rocket or two up them…

But a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam brigade, said next time the rockets would be longer range and hit deeper inside Israel.

Presumably for even greater ‘symbolism’, eh Mr. Wilson.

Hat tip: commenters dumbcisco re. JP link and Big Mouth re. Wilson quote.

by Christopher Hart of Rageh Omaar’s second book for Penguin, ONLY HALF OF ME: Being a Muslim in Britain. The review is well worth reading, highlighting various contradictions and errors in the former BBC star reporter’s account. A sample:

Never have books explaining Islam been more needed. And you might have expected much from a Somali-born, Oxford-educated Muslim and leading BBC journalist, especially when his book is the second in a two-book deal for which Penguin paid around £600,000. Unfortunately, Rageh Omaar’s book on growing up a Muslim in Britain, interspersed with asides about his homeland, the Iraq war and the general Wickedness of the West, is a crushing disappointment: bland, platitudinous, muddled, lazy, factually unreliable and morally reprehensible.

There is only a single moment here when the disorienting experience of cultural translocation comes alive: when his family first flew out of Somalia in 1972, stopping over in Rome, and the five-year-old Rageh gazed on the city’s fountains, astonished by both the naked statuary and the prodigious waste of water. Otherwise the biographical material here is thin and puzzling. He tells us that he lived around London’s Edgware Road from “five until I was 25”, and while taking A-levels would pop into the “Husseins’ shop to buy cigarettes”. This is odd because I remember him spending much of his time as a boarder at Cheltenham College, a smiley little chap in the fourth form when I was in the sixth.

Unlike Rageh’s book, which, if his first volume is anything to go by, will be heavily discounted and remaindered within weeks, the rest of the review is well worth reading too.

Hat tip: commenter Ralph for the ST link.