Monthly Archives: March 2008

THOSE MYSTERIOUS YOUTHS – UPDATE.

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You will recall that we discussed the story the other day of how an Anglican priest was viciously attacked by “asian youths” in Tower Hamlets in London. The BBC apologists that frequent this space immediately took issue with my suggestion that the “asian youths” were, in all likelihood, Muslims. They also cheered the BBC’s refusal to suggest that there may have been any Muslim involvement. But guess what – the BBC has now run a story entitled “Muslims denounce attack on priest”! Abdul Qayum, imam of the East London Mosque, also said: “Our congregation is united in condemnation. The imam described the attack as “cowardly and despicable.” Now naturally all condemnation of such brutality is welcome but isn’t it odd that whilst the BBC steadfastly refuses to suggest that Muslims may have been the perpetrators of this violence, it provides a soap-box for Muslims to make clear that they oppose all such attacks. The thing is that this same East London Mosque hosted Saudi cleric Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, who refers to Jews as monkeys and pigs and in 2004 was denied entry into Canada. It also has Muhammad Abdul Bari, the guy who believes the UK should adopt Islamic arranged marriages, as chairman. Moderation incarnate.

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THE WAR ON THE WAR IN IRAQ.

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We all know how vociferously the BBC has opposed the US-led liberation of Iraq. We all know how good news is no news when it comes to Iraq but bad news is of course always welcome. So no big surprise to see the BBC giving all due prominence to the latest Red Cross/Red Crescent report on Iraq under the doom-laden headline “Bleak picture of Iraq conditions.” We get the usual left wing mantra about how Iraq’s humanitarian situation is “among the most critical in the world”. (What, worse than those poor Gazans? Really?) However the BBC and the Red Cross/Red Crescent are not so keen to tell us that..

-Emergency campaigns have supported the immunization of 98 percent of children 1-3 years (3.62 million children) against measles, mumps, and rubella. As a result, there has been a 90 percent reduction in laboratory confirmed cases of measles of children under five (4.56 million) immunized against polio during the 2004-05 national polio immunization campaign, enabling Iraq to maintain its polio-free status. –
-Vaccinated 3.2 million children under five and 700,000 pregnant women, with UNICEF and WHO.
-Provided supplementary doses of vitamin A for more than 1.5 million nursing mothers and 600,000 children under two, and iron folate supplements for over 1.6 million women of childbearing age.
-Trained 11,400 staff at over 2,000 community child care units to screen for malnutrition and to provide monthly rations of high protein biscuits to malnourished children and pregnant mothers.
-Renovated 110 facilities and equipped 600 centers with basic clinical and lab equipment.
-Trained over 2,500 primary health care workers, improving access to essential primary health care.

That’s JUST in the health-care area. The reality is that the BBC driven narrative does not allow for any substantive progress. The war was “illegal” apparently, we were all “conned” into going along with it, and so the Red Cross/Red Crescent report is grist to the mill. There are many sides to the Iraq situation but the BBC is only interested in the “It’s a quagmire get us out of there” angle, which it assiduously pumps out.

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IF IT GETS ANY WARMER, WE’LL FREEZE TO DEATH!

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Had to laugh at the BBC’s propaganda, sorry I mean news reports today flagging up the looming apocalypse that global warming will bring. Using the latest UN report that glaciers are melting at a greater rate in recent history (ie since 1980!) the BBC then hypes this up with the usual images of glaciers crashing into the sea whilst a deadly serious v/o intones just how awful it all is. Just one thing; the latest satellite data shows record ice. Not only record ice but a third more ice than average for this time of the year. The Arctic is also doing well!In fact the Arctic has greater ice concentration in January 2008 than it did in January 1980. Not that you’d guess any of this from the shills for chills at the BBC.

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BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY?

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Here’s a good one for you. I see that four of the seven men arrested by the Irish police (gardai) in County Donegal as part of a probe into paramilitary activity are BBC journalists!

The BBC has said the journalists were working on a current affairs investigation and had full editorial authority under the BBC’s guidelines. A spokesperson said the other parties present were fully aware that they were with BBC journalists. The arrests were made on Saturday night. The men, who are aged between 30 and 48, are being held at Burnfoot, Letterkenny and Milford Garda Stations. They were arrested under Section 30 of the Republic’s Offences Against the State Act. A garda spokesman said the men were being held over “ongoing investigations into paramilitary activity”.

The BBC and Irish terrorism, a perfect partnership.

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David Cameron to relocate to Iran?

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Conservatism may still be strugging to regain a meaningful presence in the United Kingdom but boy is it alive and well in Iran! he BBC’s bizarre obsession with the alleged forces of conservatism in Iran reappears today in its coverage of the Iranian parliamentary elections. This time round though it’s not the 13th Iman’s dining pal and holocaust denier President Ahmadinejad that is the “conservative” – no, it turns out that it is his critics – the uber-fascists – that are now designated “conservatives”! It’s as if the BBC staff-writers have set themselves the objective of labelling the biggest Islamofascists around as “conservatives” in some puerile attempt to demonise that very term. The radical Islamist regime that pollutes Iran can be called many things but as I said yesterday, and as I repeat today, it is in no way conservative. The international left of centre MSM of which the BBC is such a central element, may seek to designate the term conservatism to the Khomeini legacy but the truth is that it is a Nazi-like Islamic theocratic tyranny which curiously enough has created close links with favoured LEFTIST regimes such as Venezuela and Cuba. How long before Hugo Chavez is defined as a leading conservative politician?

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YOUTH CULTURE.

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Well what do you know? The BBC reports that a priest has been attacked in the grounds of his church, in what police described as a “faith-hate“ crime. Canon Michael Ainsworth, 57, was injured by two..ahem… Asian youths at the church, in Tower Hamlets, east London. Canon Ainsworth said a third youth watched as he suffered cuts, bruises and black eyes in the assault at the church of St George-in-the-East. The “youths” also jeered at the priest for being a churchman in the attack on Wednesday night, the Met Police said.

“Two Asian youths”? Oh, I see, that must be the same kind of “youths” who ran riot in the Banlieues of Paris. I think this is a patronising media euphemism for…. Muslims. When we see the media censoring itself we know something is very rotten in the State, broadcaster.

When I posted this story over on my own site. A Tangled Web, the point was made that the BBC are merely reporting what the Police said. That’s a fair point but surely it is up to the BBC to confront the reality that a Christian minister was attacked by two Muslim ouths and report it as such, no matter what precious sensibilities it offends?

UPDATE: Just a little more detail on this vicious attack, none of which is sourced from the BBC.

The Reverend Alan Green, Area Dean for Tower Hamlets, said it was the latest in a series of “faith hate” crimes in the borough. He said: “It was a nasty cowardly attack. There were several groups in the churchyard and two from one group attacked him and the other group came and helped him back to the house. “He was kicked and punched in the head as he lay on the ground, I believe that what was shouted was ‘you f***ing priest before they attacked him.

And then…Mr Allan Ramanoop, a member of the Parochial Church Council, said often parishioners were too scared to challenge the gangs. The Asian church member, who lives nearby, said: “I’ve been physically threatened and verbally abused on the steps of the church.
“On one occasion, youths shouted: ‘This should not be a church, this should be a mosque, you should not be here’.

“Should be a Mosque” …right, I think we have now now ruled out the Zoroastrians… so which group might this leave?

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More Terrible Questions …

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Ten minutes to one and as I wandered into the kitchen a public-school English voice was describing the evils of U.S. capital punishment, with lots of doomy-gloomy incidental colour (“we drove on, our mood – and the weather, overcast … incongruously a mynah bird was crying out in the next room …each morning we loaded up the van and drove to the frontier of life and death …“.

“Not Clive Stafford Smith again – he must have a contract with them, he’s on so often. Hang on – it should be “From Our Own Correspondent” at this time of day, surely ? They’re not giving him a slot on that, are they ?”

No, not Clive Stafford-Smith – but one Vivien White, who has been around a long time. It’s a tribute to his dispassionate reporting that they’re so easy to mix up. You can judge for yourself if you click the link for Saturday on the FOOC page – about 20 minutes in.

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Week-end BBC-related comment thread!

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Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.

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Clarify?

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Via Photon Courier, I found this report from CAMERA about a false news report run by the BBC. Photon Courier writes:

On Friday, March 7, 2008, the BBC World News aired footage purporting to show the demolition and burning of a house belonging to to the family of Ala Abu Dheim, the terrorist who murdered eight Yeshiva students and wounded nine others. The BBC announcer stated that the demolition had been done by “Israeli bulldozers.”

On March 11, CAMERA (the Committee on Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) posted about this news program and observed that the story could not possibly be accurate, inasumch as the house in question was still standing.

Yesterday, March 13, the BBC made an on-the-air statement admitting that its original story had been incorrect and that the images shown were of another demolition.

CAMERA are in fact too kind to the BBC. The last paragraph of the CAMERA report says that the BBC “has forthrightly corrected” the original report. However the word used in the BBC announcement was “clarify.” That word was anything but forthright. There was nothing unclear about the original report; it was simply untrue.

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NOT EVEN A HINT OF BIAS

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We all know that BBC journalists are the very model of professional impartiality, right? So, have a look at the attached image. Dozens of Palestinian journalists demonstrated on Wednesday morning at Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity in protest of the Israeli arrest of journalist Hassan Abdel Jawad. They called not only for the release of the journalist, but for “political prisoners”. (Terrorists to you and me!) Head of the Palestinian Journalists Union, Naim Toubassi, said that the arrest of Abdel Jawad is the latest proof of the Israeli “policy of repression and harassment, not only against political activists, but also against journalists who transmit the truth and exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression.” Can you guess which State broadcaster was part of the fun? Mmmm..maybe they just provided the taxi service, what do you think? The bias is endemic folks, and only the voluntarily blind can’t see it.

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