155 Responses to OPEN THREAD

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  1. George R says:
    July 10, 2011 at 11:25 am

    Islam Not BBC (INBBC) keeps targeting the English Defence League, but appears to have political soft spot for Hizb ut Tahrir (HuT):

    For INBBC:

    “Why isn’t anyone talking about Hizb ut Tahrir? ”

    http://englishdefenceleague.org/content.php?402-Why-isn-t-anyone-talking-about-Hizb-ut-Tahrir

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  2. noggin says:
    July 10, 2011 at 1:21 pm

    this abuse of human rights law, using political correctness to trump commonsense, enact bias  an ideal example
    http://youtu.be/FQb7nqBJHME

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  3. David Preiser (USA) says:
    July 10, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    The BBC kinda sorta realizes what’s going on in Cuba with the new private property rights coming in, but misses a couple of big pictures.  As the Communist dream fades away, it’s amusing to watch the BBC’s hopes fade with it.

    The bulk of the article is about the new freedom to sell private property, specifically houses.  The Beeboid correspondent realizes that the current Communist bureaucracy was an unnecessary burden, and that there’s a black market because of it.  But Voss seems to think this new way will mean a light touch from the government, all intended to help the people.  He sees a benevolent State doing its job and getting out of the way.

    What he doesn’t see is that this is really about a broke government looking for revenue out of desperation because it has run out of other people’s money.  Or he won’t say it in print.  This is curious, because BBC articles about the US and Europe during and after the financial crises were full of concerns that Capitalism had failed and all that.

    Why is the housing supply supposedly 500,000 units short?  Voss doesn’t say.  It might have something to do with the failed attempt at what he describes as an “idealistic Communist state”.  If you want to control the fates of your populace, prevent them from moving house.  This locks down lives in all sorts of ways.  It’s not really about equality and fairness at all.  Just ask the Chinese.  But Voss isn’t interested in that.  He worries instead that this new freedom will cause inequality because those with relatives outside of Cuba will be able to afford more than those who don’t.

    Of course, there’s a subtext there, one perhaps the Beeboid doesn’t even realize.  Cubans living in the US (for this is what he’s really talking about) are escapees from Castro’s idealistic communist state, and a significant portion of them are descendents of Batista supporters who were forced out when the Communists took over.  So they were always enemies of the beautiful ideology, and now Voss is pre-emptively accusing them of ruining lives in the new society that’s developing.

    The other big picture missed out is the farming and food scene.  Voss writes that Raul Castro is trying to get Cuba to be able to feed itself instead of being a net importer.  There is no mention of the irony that what was once a bountiful food source can’t feed itself because of an attempt to create an idealist communist state.  Voss knows that 200,000 Cubans have been earning money in the black market, but sees only a new freedom and caring government when they take up jobs as private farmers.

    Now, normally I would be glad to see a Beeboid actually supporting the idea of a private sector, but that’s not really what’s going on here.  Voss starts his explanation with this:

    In agriculture, President Castro is trying to reduce Cuba’s dependence on costly food imports by revitalising the farming sector.

    Fidel Castro would have called for greater discipline and revolutionary zeal from the farmers.

    It almost sounds like a rebuke, but I’m going to give Voss the benefit of the doubt here and assume he’s just pointing out the difference between the two Castro dictators.

    Instead, the government has leased out more than 1m hectares (2.5m acres) of unused state land to private farmers who today produce at least 70% of all the food grown on the island.

    This, boys and girls, ain’t the new freedom of being a private farmer: it’s serfdom by another name.  And Voss doesn’t get it.  The only difference is that the government can now not only earn money on a currently unused asset, but can gain further revenue taxing the farmer’s income.  Smart move by Comrade Raul, really.  And not quite the freedom we’re led to believe.

    So while the Beeboid sees things happening in Cuba, he only partially understands what it is, and doesn’t see the big picture.  Instead, you get a heart-warming piece about how Raul Castro is helping his people.

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  4. noggin says:
    July 11, 2011 at 8:37 am

    anyone see the marr show….
    Rageh Omar  waxing on about the red cresent films(is that the bbc s new name :-D)..muslim moh doc. sunday?
    i giggled when marr, said “of course you could film in mecca..which most of us couldn t do”…hmmm why is that pandy?
    can t afford the bus fare?..too exotic a place?…inclement weather?
     or that maybe  it is a REAL “apartheid wall” situation, for any non muslim….
    anyway soon changed the subject,( moh doc) in case any questions may get a little erm..difficult

    mind you…..remember ‘An Islamic History of Europe’: utter utter bilge.    
    him, describing some non existent mythical, paradise  then, clenching his fist and squeezing a tear in anguish, (as he explained that the Christians were able to re-conquer Spain 🙂    
    …ahem….i know ragead…we could all be living in crapistan eh.    
         
    i wonder how many lefty beebos helped to film in multi culti Mecca,(titter).    
    The signs are very very bad,    
    pt1. theyve filmed in Jerusalem?? where the old, jew hating, child molesting murderer, never even went.    
    pt2. an EXCRUTIATING line up, of apologists, to drone on ignoring the painful truth, about this paragon of wickedness who made hitler look like a boy scout.    
         
    Why haven t we seen Jian, Hindi, or Sikh extended docs    
    or one indepth about the talmud, or jewish faith    
    over many days?…..why such disproportionate coverage?    
    why a muslim head, of religious programming disproportionate to the vast majority of viewers?    
    Why is he is showing marked bias, particulary on so called flagship programmes, that include religion like biq questions, sunday live etc, –  to islam? disproportionate to to other faiths?  

    anyone hazard a guess 🙂  
         

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