Monthly Archives: October 2009

Have you suffered from disability discrimination?

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If you have, then the BBC wants to know. We all know the sort of things that happen and how upsetting they can be – when the lack of a wheelchair ramp means you cannot get to an art gallery, when the selection committee looks askance at your application because of your health problems, when persecution by feral youths drives you to burn yourself and your daughter to death…

North-Northwester of They’re Joking. Aren’t They? writes:

…it does lead us quite nicely to the BBC’s political class mantra. They’re actually going to allow comments on this story and so must think that they’re onto a winner.

Have you suffered from disability discrimination? Do you live in Barwell? Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Tell us your experiences using the form below.

A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below.

They can only think – if that’s not too strong an expression – and confront this problem (which certainly is too strong an expression) in terms of a clash of competing victimhoods.

You see, Francecca Hardwick wasn’t burned by her distraught and desperate mother as the result of 10 years of barbarians persecuting them in their home and the utter abdication of the authorities from their paid and, in the police’s case, sworn duties – far from it.

She died because some individuals still don’t understand people with ‘learning difficulties.’

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Log Lines

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The BBC and the Times have today both covered the news that old ships logs are being transcribed as a resource for climatologists. No prizes for guessing which media outlet thought the following could be of interest to its readers, and which chose to ignore it:

However, some of the logs suggest that there has been little or no change in sea temperatures elsewhere in the Arctic. Climate change sceptics are likely to seize on these records as evidence that man-made greenhouse gases are having less impact than many scientists have claimed.

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Rush Schools Katty

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Chicago’s first round exit from the 2016 Olympic voting on Friday was greeted with a certain amount of glee by Rush Limbaugh. Echoing the song of praise to Obama made famous by a group of New Jersey school kids, Limbaugh told his radio audience:

Our president, “Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm,” had been running around the world for nine months telling everybody how much our country sucks. He’s been running around the world apologizing for the United States of America. Why would anybody award the Olympics to such a crappy place as the United States?

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe yesterday the BBC’s Katty Kay, clearly missing the reference, was not impressed:

After, you know, listening to that Rush Limbaugh clip again and I don’t think I want to hear it, really, for a fourth or fifth time, is that it’s not Barack Obama, it’s Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama. There’s something insidious going on there, too, in the repetition of his middle name.

Limbaugh responded on his show yesterday:

RUSH: Just unbelievable. This is a member in good standing of the State-Controlled Media and she thinks I’m out there, “Barack Hussein Obama, mmm, mmm, mmm.” She does not realize that a bunch of school kids in New Jersey and across the country are being forced to learn songs and poems in praise of the dear leader such as…

SCHOOLKIDS: He said that all must lend a hand to make this country strong again. Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama. He said we must be fair today, equal work means equal pay. Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama. He said we all must take a stand, to make sure everyone gets a chance. Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama.

RUSH: All right, that’s enough, that’s enough. Now, I must acknowledge that Katty Kay certainly does not watch Fox News, which is the only place the video aired. We aired the audio here, but she’s clueless. She has no idea of the story, zip, zero, nada. Katty Kay, BBC America, has no idea that schoolchildren across America are being propagandized and indoctrinated to support personally the dear leader, Barack Hussein Obama. So when I mock this and have fun with it, she thinks I am being derisive of insidious, insidious, insidious, I don’t want to hear Limbaugh again, I heard it four or five times, I don’t want to hear it again. Hey, Katty, try this.

SCHOOLKIDS PARODY: Rush Hudson Limbaugh. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Rush Hudson Limbaugh. Mmm, mmm, mmm. (Battle Hymn of the Republic tune) My ears have heard Rush Limbaugh on my parents’ radio. He tells me that the left is wrong and stuff I need to know. We turn it off when he is done ’cause there is no other show. Rush, keep broadcasting on. Glory, glory hallelujah. Glory, Clinton couldn’t fool ya. Barack Obama can’t ignore ya. Rush, keep broadcasting on. In 1951 he was born in Missouri. Now he’s on the radio conducting EIB. On the air to set us free from sea to shining sea, he keeps broadcasting on. Glory, glory hallelujah. Glory, Clinton couldn’t fool ya. Barack Obama can’t ignore ya. Rush, keep broadcasting on. Rush keep broadcasting on!

Marvellous.

At least Kay was wearing modest attire for her appearance on Morning Joe. She nearly got them out for the lads on the Chris Matthews Show the previous morning:

Update: Video of Limbaugh’s response to Kay, including the Rush Hudson Limbaugh song.

(A belated h/t to B-BBC reader Jack Bauer who was way ahead of us on this)

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NO PORRIDGE

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A recurring BBC meme is that Prison is “a bad thing” and that better results are obtained by keeping criminals out of jail. So when the Prison Governor Association (PGA) urges government to scrap one year sentences essentially for economic reasons, you can be sure this will receive a warm welcome with the State Broadcaster. Naturally there is A concern expressed but it is that those guilty of even worse crimes might end up getting…GASP…even longer sentences.

Why does the BBC not put up one of the millions of people who have been at the receiving end of burglary, assault or abuse and ask how THEY feel about what the Governors suggest? It is perfectly reasonable for the BBC to provide the PGA with a platform for their liberal wishes (A “six month” sentence is more like six weeks in reality, we are casually informed during the Today interview) but why not allow some balance? I suggest that there are many millions of people who would like to see criminals punished more severely and yet that view point is given scarce prominence on the BBC. Why?

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DROPPING THE PRETENCE

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I commend this post by my colleague Andrew McCann over on A Tangled Web to you. Andrew is able to listen to the atrocious 5LIve more than I and so he gets to endure the full-on bias from that particular broadcasting delight. Give it a read, I think he makes some excellent points.

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PAXMAN TORY TOFF CLAIMS

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I’ve known Jeremy Paxman since I worked with him on the university newspaper in Cambridge in 1971. Then, like most students of that era, he was an crusading lefty. Over the years, his politics have undoutedly changed, partly, I suspect, because he’s now firmly part of the hunting/fishing set. But elements of that sneering lefty, it seems, are still not far beneath the surface. They came out last night when he interviewed Boris Johnson on Newsnight. Boris strongly pooh-poohed suggestions that his past as a member of the Bullingdon Club was relevant to what he is doing now. Jeremy was having none of it. He descended into muttering name-calling, the main theme of which (though it was largely incoherent) seemed to be that Boris was a toff and the Tories were a party of privilege. That, of course, is a constant theme of BBC coverage of the party conference. Well worth a look.

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STRICTLY HYPOCRITICAL

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My thanks to B-BBC reader Martin for bringing up the curious reluctance of the BBC to take action against Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton du Beke who referred to contestant Laila Rouass as “a paki.” This compares with the alacrity with which the BBC moved to dismiss Carol Thatcher following her “golliwog” comment. Now then, I see no reason why Du Beke should be dismissed for what was a clumsy but not a nasty comment on the rather beguiling Ms Rouass, but since a precedent was set in the case of Carol Thatcher, surely it has no choice but to axe their Strictly star? Perhaps Arlene Philips could be brought back in his place?

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SHILLING FOR THE MULLAHS…

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I listened to an item on Today this morning in which IAEA supremo Mohammed AlBaradei was praised for his constructive engagement with the psychotic Iranian regime. Given that the Mullahs have run rings around the IAEA for years now, I wondered exactly WHO the BBC had found that holds such a view? Step forward Hans Blix! Remember him? He was the guy who set himself up as an arch enemy of George W Bush and an appeaser of Iran and thus he becomes a BBC hero. And as for the fulsome praise for Mr AlBaradei, I suppose it is justifed seeing as he has come out and declared that the biggest threat to peace in the Middle East is…ISRAEL.

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A LITTLE BLACKMAIL TO START THE DAY..

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Our wonderful Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, flies to Northern Ireland today to use “his negotiation skills as well as his wallet” to bring harmony between the IRA and DUP, currently bickering with each other over the timing of devolution of policing and justice powers.

Now then, I notice that this article finishes with the suggestion by Shaun “Where’s my butler” Woodward that US firms are queued up to create jobs once this element of devolution has been implemented. This is pure political spin and yet the BBC chooses to finish the item with it so leaving the reader with the impression that it is vital that this act takes place as soon as is possible. In doing so, the BBC aligns the story with the Irish republican position. Plus ca change.

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