Monthly Archives: June 2010

ALL AT SEA….

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More one way reporting of the Hate Flotilla by the BBC. I listened to Sarah Colborne from the Palestinian Solidarity Movement being interviewed on Today @ 7.50am. She spewed forth a series of allegations about the IDF boarding the Mavi Marmara, denied any knowledge of those on board that vessel seeking martyrdom (even though the families of  at least two of the dead have confirmed this), stated that the Israelis opened up without provocation, and claimed all on board were peace-loving humanitarians. Now, this is all standard fare from Palestinian propagandists, but why did the BBC not try to provide balance by interviewing perhaps one of those Israeli soldiers who came under such vicious attack from the Islamic thugs on board the vessel?

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WASHING OVER THEM….

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The BBC Sydney correspondent Nick Bryant – a chap who clearly just adores OZ PM Kevin Rudd’s climate lunacy – reports here on the news that islands like Tuvalu are not, after all, in any danger of being flooded by global warming; in fact, according to the latest research, the reverse is true, the islands are actually growing. But this doesn’t deter our Nick from pursuing his alarmist agenda:

But although these islands might not be submerged under the waves in the short-term, it does not mean they will be inhabitable in the long-term, and the scientists believe further rises in sea levels pose a significant danger to the livelihoods of people living in Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Never let the facts get in the way is clearly his motto. He also quotes the locals as saying that despite the facts, they still are going to drown (and, by the way, they need milllions of pounds of aid from the west).

This die-hard approach is hardly surprising, really. The BBC has been at the forefront of reporting that half the world (and Tuvalu in particular) is going to drown for at least a decade; the intro to this piece from David Shukman (in 2008) is typical:

The fragile strips of green that make up the small islands of Tuvalu are incredibly beautiful but also incredibly vulnerable.The group of nine tiny islands in the South Pacific only just break the surface of the ocean – but for how much longer?

How long will it be before eco-activists such as Bryant and Shukman acknowledge that whenever claims about climate change are subjected to scientific analysis, they disintegrate? Don’t hold your breath.

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Question Time 3rd June 2010

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Question Time tonight comes from Brecon, the third largest town in Powys; home to the Gurkha Regiments and birthplace of Roger Glover from Deep Purple.

The Parliamentary seat of Brecon and Radnorshire is represented by LibDem Roger Williams. Williams is a man so successful that he went from LibDem Welsh Spokeweasel before the election to apparently no job afterwards, and his profile page on the main LibDem website gives a PageNotFound error.

On the panel we have David Willetts, Andrew Neil’s favourite chocolate hob-nob Diane Abbott, Plaid’s Leanne Wood, Matthew Parris and Kelvin MacKenzie (again). Wood is only known for her morbid fascination with “wimmins issues” and being the first AM to be thrown out of the Welsh Assembly (for insulting The Queen).

For those playing the Buzzword Bingo, we’ll be invoking the KneeJerk Responses Protocols which means that Gun Control, Israeli Piracy, and BP Oil Slick all merit an extra free roll of the dice. Those with the phrase “Something Must Be Done” on their cards will be handicapped by a pre-game deduction of 50 points, and news that over 1,000 schools have asked to become Academies will only be worth a point if referred to in a negative way.

As usual the LiveBlog will also cover the entertainingly awful This Week, presented as usual by a bewigged and insane bingo caller from Paisley at the twilight of his career.

Once again David Vance, TheEye and David Mosque will be holding back the hordes of barbarians here from 10:30pm.

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BBC v Israel. Judge Paxman Presiding.

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BBC’s Jeremy Paxman, flagship presenter amongst a flotilla of BBC presenters, sets off on a mission to aid Hamas and uphold the embargo on reason, logic and truth.

(Note: The BBC seems to have issued a special edict. A permanent sneer must be attached to matters concerning Israel. The qualifying prefix “Israel says” must be added to anything speculative, factual, or plain as a pikestaff, if it alludes to Israel in any favourable or mitigating kinda way, to remind the gullible viewer that “Israel” may be lying.)

Newsnight. The Trial.
“Now; Israel has started deporting some of the survivors of the convoy which set out to bring aid to Gaza and ended up being attacked by the Israeli military-who-killed-9-people. They’re being deported from a country they hadn’t want to go to anyway. The UN Human Rights panel, a body usually roundly ignored by Israel, meanwhile has condemned the attack. It’s striking that the US hasn’t questioned Israel’s right to blockade Gaza which they say is an attempt to protect their citizens.
But what’s it like inside Gaaarhza? Tim Whewell has spent a day there.”

Oh what the hell. I might as well add emphasis to the whole lot.

NB. Tim W’s report was almost reasonable yesterday. Will he be psychologically spooked into colluding with Paxman the bully?

Not really, till he consults the repulsive, ex-BBC, Christopher Gunness of the UN relief and Works Agency, whose primary role is spewing propaganda against Israel. “Poverty rates have gone up by threefold in the last year” he says with a triumphant smirk.

“There’s not many people here with not enough to eat,” says Tim, casually. Wait a minute, we thought people were starving but no time for splitting hairs. We’ve a mission to complete.

Back to Pax.
“We’re joined now from from Washington by US Assistant Secretary of State P J Crowley. Mr Crowley why hasn’t the United States condemned this Israeli attack on the flotilla?”

“Well, the US supported the UN Security Council President’s statement which does use the word condemn, we obviously deeply regret the loss of life, we’ll continue to work with the international community to see how we can expand the amount of assistance to the people of Gaza.”

“So the United States does condemn this attack by the Israelis?”

“Well, the US regrets that this confrontation led to a civilian loss of li……..”

“ That’s a different word. Its a different word of course. Regretting and condemning are different things.”

“But we absolutely understand that Israel has legitimate security needs, its people have suffered through rocket attacks over months and years from Gaza, the Israelis had indicated in advance to this flotilla that there was a mechanism by which this material could be inspected and then brought into Gaza, [……….]”

“You don’t use the word condemn let me put to you the remark of the secretary of state…”

No punctuation needed because the beginning was uttered under Paxman’s breath with the comically exasperated yet sarky tone typical of Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder and straight into the next line of attack.
Now Paxman is emoting about the settlements, “Are we entitled to wonder” [….settlements. Joe Biden. deliberate. blah blah….. ] “and now launching this attack on the flotilla. Is there anything Mr. Netanyahu could do which would incur condemnation from the US?”

“You use a very loaded term there by saying this was the launch of an attack…. this was a military operation by Israel, which Israel believes is perfectly legal to be able to make sure that it can prevent the flow of dangerous materials including weapons….”

“Could you give me another word apart from that”

“This is a very legitimate concern that Israel has…”

Enough.

Paxman’s unimaginative, worn out tactic is to attempt to trap the accused into saying a particular word, which Paxman hopes will reveal what he has deemed to be the truth, so he can conclude with a dramatic, “gotcha!” flourish. He wants to expose Mr. Crowley’s refusal to use the word ‘condemn,’ which is what professor Paxman deems righteous. He imagines he’s Rumplole of the Bailey. Or, who was that barrister who won cases for the defence against all the odds, for defendants guilty or not? Oh yes, it was George Carman. Paxman is suffering from delusions of grandeur. Some loonies think they’re Napoleon, or Jesus. Paxman thinks he’s George Carman. He’s descended into a fantasy in which he is judge, jury and probably executioner.

Excuse lack of brevity.

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EVERYONE LOVES LEMBIT?

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When he was an MP, the ludicrous Lembit Opik was a regular on the BBC. They seemed to lap up his “Cheeky antics”. Now that the electorate removed Lembit from his political platform, he has turned to comedy and predictable the BBC provide coverage of his first stand up gig? In what way is this deserving of a valued news slot?

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OCCUPIED VS DISPUTED

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It’s one of those questions we have discussed here on B-BBC. Why does the BBC refer to the “occupied territories” in the Middle East rather than the “disputed territories”?

There was an item on Today @8.53am with regard to the language journalists use to explain stories and Dutch journalist Joris Luyendijk was on to discuss a new book he has authored on the topic. He asked John Humphyrs the direct question if it is right to use “occupied” or “disputed” – Humphyrs instantly side-stepped the question and referred it to Indie Patrick Cockburn who instantly stated they are “occupied” (Hardly surprising, I was shocked Cockburn didn’t instantly start chanting Allahu Akhbar) I thought Mr Luyendijil made a number of excellent points, all of which Humphyrs dismissed or passed to Cockburn for dismissal. It’s funny but even when the BBC discuss bias, they can’t stop themselves being biased”

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WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

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I am not an unqualified fan of Melanie Phillips; sometimes she seems a tad too rigid and a tad too pious in her pronouncements. But her new book, The World Turned Upside Down, is a fascinating – and riveting – read for all those who wonder where the BBC’s Jew-hating, tree-hugging, anti-religious, industry-bashing, climate change fanatical, lefty-loving mindset comes from. Her central theory is that such causes are now espoused by BBC types because they believe that they are “liberal” – but in reality, the agenda of all of the various trendy “-isms” is authoritarian state control of a type best exmplified by Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. And very relevant to the current Jew-bashing that is going on, Ms Phillips trenchantly reminds us in the book that in 2009, the BBC Trustees rebuked BBC Middle East “expert” Jeremy Bowen for claiming that the Israeli agenda in the six days war was not to protect itself from Arab aggression, but to finish the unfinished business of 1948 – to capture East Jerusalem. It’s also relevant to Mr Bowen’s latest reports of hate over the past few days that he received only a mild rap over the knuckles for this outrageous claim; clearly, the Trustees’ real agenda was to allow him to carry on regardless.

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HARUM SCARUM

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I have every respect for the sherpas; but since when were they climate experts? And how, exactly, do they measure that ice is melting in the Himalayas and be able to say with any degree of certainty that in their 20 years of experience or so, it’s worse than what has gone before? No matter about such niceties, to the BBC, it’s a good climate change scare story and it supports the IPCC, and because it involves ice melting, it must be true. At least the sherpas don’t pretend to be scientists – unlike this shower from Ohio State University, who have decided that they can prove through proxies that Arctic ice is at its lowest level ever. Their methodology?

When we look carefully at various chemical and biological components of the seafloor sediment, and how the sediment is distributed — then, with certain skills and luck, we can reconstruct the conditions at the time the sediment was deposited.”

A bit like scriers and necromancers, then. And sherpas. But no worry, to the BBC, it’s all proven, consensus science. If it’s scary it must be news.

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BANNED IN CHINA…

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I was intrigued to find out that Biased BBC is banned in China. A Biased BBC reader writes…

“I’ve just got back from 12 days in Beijing and Shanghaiand there’s no way to access your site! Ironically most of the Beeb isn’tblocked. The Great Leader has obviously realised that the Beeb and his People’sCommunist Party have much in common!”

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