Israel it seems is not to blame for the faltering peace process, Like Usuals the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Israel is a jewish state and is recognised as such , apparently the PLO recognises Israel, and all the israeli side asked for was to recognise that it is a Jewish State, Yet Abbas the head of the so-called moderate PLO cant bring himself to recognise israel as a jewish state, what basis for the peace process now, this is latent anti-semitism , why cant the Jews have a State Mr Abbas?.
The quotes are from my weekly Conservative Friends Of Israel Email:Abbas: “I do not accept the Jewish State”
· Palestinian Authority president and Fatah chairman Mahmoud Abbas stated unequivocally Monday that he does not accept the Jewish state.
· "I say this clearly: I do not accept the Jewish State, call it what you will," he said at a preliminary conference of the Palestinian Youth Parliament in Ramallah.
· At the end of the conference, Abbas was presented with a large framed map of "Palestine," covering the entire area of Israel.
- So this supposed moderate it seems is no better than Hamas.
An article on this can be seen at Palestinian Media Watch
http://www.pmw.org.il/Bulletins_Apr2009.htm#b280409
Friday, May 1, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Two Quotes which sum up my view on the speech by Ahmadinejad
The rabble rousing anti semite given a hearing by the UN and even cheered on by some nations - that in itself is deeply disturbing, two quotes in response to this explain how i feel about it :
MOSHE KANTOR, EUROPEAN JEWISH CONGRESS PRESIDENT
If Hitler himself had addressed this forum, would UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sit as politely as he did for the lies and hatred spewed forth by Ahmadinejad?
Shame on him, and shame on anyone who stayed in the room to hear, or applaud, his evil rants.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER
We will not allow the Holocaust deniers to carry out another Holocaust against the Jewish people. This is the supreme duty of the State of Israel. This is my supreme duty as prime minister of Israel.
MOSHE KANTOR, EUROPEAN JEWISH CONGRESS PRESIDENT
If Hitler himself had addressed this forum, would UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sit as politely as he did for the lies and hatred spewed forth by Ahmadinejad?
Shame on him, and shame on anyone who stayed in the room to hear, or applaud, his evil rants.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER
We will not allow the Holocaust deniers to carry out another Holocaust against the Jewish people. This is the supreme duty of the State of Israel. This is my supreme duty as prime minister of Israel.
The Durban Review Conference - It would be a joke if it weren't so serious again.
Welcome Ladies and Gentleman to the annual anti semitic circus held this year in Geneva by the esteemed UN , yes that's us the UN, protecting dictators is our game , stopping protestors against the dictators is our aim - after all the great UN secretary has expressed his dismay at the boycotters of the event - is the guy being serious - so legitimacy should be given to an anti semitic circus, where Ahmadinejad and his venezuelan mate Chavez can ban freedom of speech- ie blasphemy laws to stop offence caused to Islam - ie Mohammed Cartoons - i got a sentence to destroy their argument here from Voltaire , I absolutely disagree with what your saying , but i will defend to the death your right to say it.
Now we come to the crux of the event Ahmadenejad being the key note speaker at an anti racism conference , this is the same guy who has denied the holocaust , had a holocaust denial conference where such luminaries as the Facist David Duke were invited , called for the destruction of the state of Israel, is well on his way to building a nuclear bomb and supports terrorist groups worldwide. Lets stop all the nonsense here , it is an anaethma to call this an anti racism conference it is a pro anti -semitism conference - Anti semitism is on the rise across the world,and what does the UN do in it's infinite wisdom , it gives a forum to anti -semites. Yet after all of this the UK government sees it as fit to turn up to this conference giving it a veneer of legitimacy , if there was any more evidence of how lacking in judgement Gordon Brown is , this was it - the US , Australia ,Germany just to name a few have boycotted it, the UK will be at this conference with great luminaries like Robert Mugabe , and Hugo Chavez who last year went in to the realms of anti semitic conspiracy talk when having a go at the group of people who killed jesus , who had all the money in Venezuela.
Now we come to the crux of the event Ahmadenejad being the key note speaker at an anti racism conference , this is the same guy who has denied the holocaust , had a holocaust denial conference where such luminaries as the Facist David Duke were invited , called for the destruction of the state of Israel, is well on his way to building a nuclear bomb and supports terrorist groups worldwide. Lets stop all the nonsense here , it is an anaethma to call this an anti racism conference it is a pro anti -semitism conference - Anti semitism is on the rise across the world,and what does the UN do in it's infinite wisdom , it gives a forum to anti -semites. Yet after all of this the UK government sees it as fit to turn up to this conference giving it a veneer of legitimacy , if there was any more evidence of how lacking in judgement Gordon Brown is , this was it - the US , Australia ,Germany just to name a few have boycotted it, the UK will be at this conference with great luminaries like Robert Mugabe , and Hugo Chavez who last year went in to the realms of anti semitic conspiracy talk when having a go at the group of people who killed jesus , who had all the money in Venezuela.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Gordon Brown A Phoney Yep ! Allowed to Say It , No!
So everyone thinks Gordon Brown is a liar , he doesn't experience the real world , he is a phoney , who doesn't understand normal life and this is exactly what David Cameron said , yet apparently he's not allowed to say according to the speaker-Absolutely pathetic- Michael Martin once again protecting his fellow scot and labour party member -Gordon Brown -sheer bias- not only that but once again the speaker damages freedom of speech.
It has come to the time where Michael Martin needs to step down as speaker of the house of commons his litany of bias against the tories is legendary , his contempt for freedom of speech even more so - please resign for the sake of the integrity of the House Of Commons.
It has come to the time where Michael Martin needs to step down as speaker of the house of commons his litany of bias against the tories is legendary , his contempt for freedom of speech even more so - please resign for the sake of the integrity of the House Of Commons.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Big Brother Is Watching You
We already have the most cctv cameras in europe , we have cameras in our bins , we have a council which thanks to RIPA can now investigate loads of parts of our lives. we have a dna database which has many innocent people's fingerprints on it including children , we have a government who loses are data including driving licenses and benefits left, right and centre, who still wants to plough ahead with a massive nhs database and ID cards - anyone would think the government thinks freedom is a commodity which there happy to lose. Well today as a daily mail article shows it's just got even worse now when your buying that bottle of wine for your MRS you will be spied on in supermarkets and wine places - is there no part of an english person's life any more where they aren't spied on .
Here's the article link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1151505/Buying-wine-Spy-cameras-watching.html- judge for yourselves if we know live in a police state .
Here's the article link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1151505/Buying-wine-Spy-cameras-watching.html- judge for yourselves if we know live in a police state .
Friday, February 6, 2009
Clarkson tells it how it is and gets in trouble for it
Brown is an idiot he does only have one working eye and he lies all the time saying he's saved the world economy. so jeremy clarkson was just stating the obvious
all the liberal pc brigade get off your high horses .
can people say nothing today without others being offended . - Also ever heard of freedom of speech and freedom to offend . Believe me i and many others in private at least have probably said much worse about brown. i for one feel no qualms about insulting a person who destroyed final salary person's, taxed people to the hilt , borrowed way to much and wasted taxpayer's money. Taxi for brown i say.
all the scots labour mps are moaning - bet brown told them to do clarkson wasn't saying he's a crap prime minister because he is scottish he was simply stating that Gordon Brown is scottish which he is. Gordon brown has lied to us repeated he said he wouldn't raise taxes he did , he said he's saved the british/world economy he hasn't , he said he would obey his golden rule he hasn't , he said he didn't postpone the election he did , he said he abolished boom and bust -he hasn't these were all lies.
as for getting rid of him - Top gear is great - dont .
I also think the latest news that clarkson has apologised was a mistake . He shouldn't apologise for making a harmless jokes
here's a link to what jeremy clarkson said :http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/tv/news/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=13779495>1=61503&ocid=today&vv=650
all the liberal pc brigade get off your high horses .
can people say nothing today without others being offended . - Also ever heard of freedom of speech and freedom to offend . Believe me i and many others in private at least have probably said much worse about brown. i for one feel no qualms about insulting a person who destroyed final salary person's, taxed people to the hilt , borrowed way to much and wasted taxpayer's money. Taxi for brown i say.
all the scots labour mps are moaning - bet brown told them to do clarkson wasn't saying he's a crap prime minister because he is scottish he was simply stating that Gordon Brown is scottish which he is. Gordon brown has lied to us repeated he said he wouldn't raise taxes he did , he said he's saved the british/world economy he hasn't , he said he would obey his golden rule he hasn't , he said he didn't postpone the election he did , he said he abolished boom and bust -he hasn't these were all lies.
as for getting rid of him - Top gear is great - dont .
I also think the latest news that clarkson has apologised was a mistake . He shouldn't apologise for making a harmless jokes
here's a link to what jeremy clarkson said :http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/tv/news/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=13779495>1=61503&ocid=today&vv=650
Monday, February 2, 2009
Hamas doesn't want peace with Israel
Apparently until the end of blockade hamas will still fight israel, this will translate till israel gets out of the west bank and then until israel ceases to exist .
All this shows is Binyamin Netanyahu was right on this issue - although on other s such as the peace process i completely disagree with him.what the hell was the point of the ceasefire- hamas still wants to destroy israel and hasn't been significantly damaged.
here's the link which shows hamas comittment to terrorism.http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090201/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictiranhamas_20090201183342;_ylt=Ah_ZF8ag9afMi1L3DWT23wKaOrgF
All this shows is Binyamin Netanyahu was right on this issue - although on other s such as the peace process i completely disagree with him.what the hell was the point of the ceasefire- hamas still wants to destroy israel and hasn't been significantly damaged.
here's the link which shows hamas comittment to terrorism.http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090201/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictiranhamas_20090201183342;_ylt=Ah_ZF8ag9afMi1L3DWT23wKaOrgF
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Israel needs to stand up to racist that is avigdor Lieberman
There is a party called Yisrael Beiteinu Led by Avigdor Lieberman it is essentially racist far right in character with a leader whose penchant seems to be pissing of israeli arabs. Yet for some reason the israeli government indeed the israeli judiciary system under Menachem Mazuz seems to be giving into him. Just recently in an act of stupidity the two main arab parties were banned, sure a minority of them supported hamas , but the majority didn't and anyway for a 20% part of the population who already feel disenfranchised this will only make the situation worse .
Just Recently Avigdor Lieberman like usual made some extremely racist remarks he said "Lieberman had called UAL MK Taleb a-Sanaa "a clown" and "a terrorist," adding that he should "be treated as such. We will take care of you like we take care of every terrorist; we will take care of you just like we took care of Hamas."
Lieberman's current Knesset campaign slogan, "No loyalty, no citizenship," is aimed at the Arab party leaders, whom he has consistently claimed constitute a fifth column working against Israel. Lieberman should have been banned and his party should be also banned unless they stop the anti arab rhetoric
At least the supreme court has now reinstated the two israeli arab parties, but the monster that is avigdor lieberman is allowed to preach his racism , tainting israel's image abroad.
Just Recently Avigdor Lieberman like usual made some extremely racist remarks he said "Lieberman had called UAL MK Taleb a-Sanaa "a clown" and "a terrorist," adding that he should "be treated as such. We will take care of you like we take care of every terrorist; we will take care of you just like we took care of Hamas."
Lieberman's current Knesset campaign slogan, "No loyalty, no citizenship," is aimed at the Arab party leaders, whom he has consistently claimed constitute a fifth column working against Israel. Lieberman should have been banned and his party should be also banned unless they stop the anti arab rhetoric
At least the supreme court has now reinstated the two israeli arab parties, but the monster that is avigdor lieberman is allowed to preach his racism , tainting israel's image abroad.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The vatican gives succour to holocaust deniers everywhere
a deeply worrying article in the times here, 3 days before Holocaust memorial day -the pope reinstates bishops who denied the holocaust - absolutely disgusting -this disturbing article is found in the times.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5591687.ece
The scourge of anti semitism it seems goes to the heart of the catholic church.
The scourge of anti semitism it seems goes to the heart of the catholic church.
An angry message to leeds uni Occupiers
This is utter rubbish israel was defending itself against hamas terrorists . Terrorists who want to destroy the state of israel, terrorists who use children to carry out there aims terrorists who fire from civilian areas including schools and hospitals . terrorists who use civilians as shields . terrorists who have killed 200 members of fatah in the past month.
Do you just ignore what is happening to the people in southern israel. Why should the israeli ambassador be expelled, that is tantamount to calling for israel not to exist - there are 60 arab states 1 jewish democratic state who isn't medieval who aren't terrorists and give equal rights to their citizens. i dont hear you calling for the end of hamas
Do you just ignore what is happening to the people in southern israel. Why should the israeli ambassador be expelled, that is tantamount to calling for israel not to exist - there are 60 arab states 1 jewish democratic state who isn't medieval who aren't terrorists and give equal rights to their citizens. i dont hear you calling for the end of hamas
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Government needs to cut spending not waste it
Every year the Taxpayer Alliance produces a book called the bumper book of government waste and year and year hte amount of spending the government , the EU etc wastes gets worse and worse. 2009 is when government spending and thus waste goes into overdrive. Being the tax and spend socialist he is and with an opposition in david cameron who is scared to mention the word's spending cut's event though this was what bought Britain out of the recession in 1992 and in the earlhy 1980s , Brown is given a free run to wrack up government waste , and Gordon's having a great time , treating the taxpayer's money like his own personal credit crunch. The problem is the last time the government tried to tax and spend there way out of a recession it didn't work , what happened in the 1970s was the tax and spend policies crowed out the public sector , reduced incentives for entrepreneuralism saddled people with higher taxes and increased the power of the unions to a stage when the question could be asked who run's the country and the resounding answer back was the union. Brown though hasn't learnt from history and is repeating this mistake.
The bottom line is the Government cannot be trusted with too much of the taxpayer's money it will be wasted, it will lead to a deeper recession,and it could bankrupt the country. From the NHS it system , to amount of managers and consultants not needed in the NHS , to the wasted money of putting camera's in people's wheelie bins to ID cards and the amount wasted on government reviews , as well as the million's spent on Saving Northern Rock a much smaller bank than RBS which should have on the moral hazard argument been let to go to the wall. All this money could have been saved , taxpayers could have got value for money , but like a baby addicted to milk , the government is addicted to spending taxpayer's money.
To Conclude the latest book on Governmnent spending in 2008 before the recession hit's it peak showed the Government has misspent (that's government speak for thrown the taxpayer's money down the swanney) 101 Billion pounds , the scary thing was this was before the latest government spending binge. This shows that spending more is not the right answer in recession or a time of economic growth , the right answer is to be prudent with people's money and where possible cut government spending.
The bottom line is the Government cannot be trusted with too much of the taxpayer's money it will be wasted, it will lead to a deeper recession,and it could bankrupt the country. From the NHS it system , to amount of managers and consultants not needed in the NHS , to the wasted money of putting camera's in people's wheelie bins to ID cards and the amount wasted on government reviews , as well as the million's spent on Saving Northern Rock a much smaller bank than RBS which should have on the moral hazard argument been let to go to the wall. All this money could have been saved , taxpayers could have got value for money , but like a baby addicted to milk , the government is addicted to spending taxpayer's money.
To Conclude the latest book on Governmnent spending in 2008 before the recession hit's it peak showed the Government has misspent (that's government speak for thrown the taxpayer's money down the swanney) 101 Billion pounds , the scary thing was this was before the latest government spending binge. This shows that spending more is not the right answer in recession or a time of economic growth , the right answer is to be prudent with people's money and where possible cut government spending.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Why Israeli shell's hit a hospital
Yuval Diskin, in a report to the Israeli cabinet, said that the Gaza-based leadership of Hamas was in underground housing beneath the No. 2 building of Shifa Hospital hence why the al shifa hospital was hit , in the past this hospital has also been used to hide hamas munitions and treat hamas terorrists as well hamas terrorists pretending to be injured. this was the same hospital where hamas operatives killed 30 palestinians for collaborating with israel .
this just shows what a disgusting group hamas is - the left should think about this when they idiotically ask us to support the resistance in gaza, saying we all are hamas , and in a particularly disturbing example in holland shouting. Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas, with the help of useful idiot lefy socialist parliament member Harry Von Bommel shouting supporting for another intifada against israel. The left as Nick Cohen showed in his book what's left at least the far left is actively engaging with islamic extremism , someone needs to wake them up and show them what idiots they are being.
this just shows what a disgusting group hamas is - the left should think about this when they idiotically ask us to support the resistance in gaza, saying we all are hamas , and in a particularly disturbing example in holland shouting. Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas, with the help of useful idiot lefy socialist parliament member Harry Von Bommel shouting supporting for another intifada against israel. The left as Nick Cohen showed in his book what's left at least the far left is actively engaging with islamic extremism , someone needs to wake them up and show them what idiots they are being.
The real facts on the hamas -Israel War - what the media ignores to tell you.
heard that israel's killed thousands of civilians , that the attack is disproportionate, that hamas is a brave resistance force not endagering the lives of civilians , that israel has killed un workers and bombed schools , well a lot of these allegations are quite frankly crap believed by a world media interesting in smearing israel .
please go to this site - it debunks many of the bogus allegations thrown at israel
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=3587015&content_id={2824FE24-90B2-4815-966B-B60ED1E3739D}¬oc=1
please go to this site - it debunks many of the bogus allegations thrown at israel
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=3587015&content_id={2824FE24-90B2-4815-966B-B60ED1E3739D}¬oc=1
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
some light thrown on un school incident
i may have been hasty to judge israel it appears according to a jerusalem post article that there was definitely mortar fire from hamas terrorists coming out of gaza -a couple of palestinian bystanders speaking under anonymity have said this also . there also appears due to the power of explosion there may have already been explosives in the school put in by hamas - if this happened i retract what i said completely earlier about israel's attack on the school on the grounds that a there was definitely terrorists firing from the school and b -they actually blew up the school not israel.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
i wont support day 11 of israel's offensive in gaza
i am one of israel's strongest supporter and will continue to be so . i have supported all of israel's actions against hamas in gaza until now
i am sorry i cannot defend the hitting of a school by the israeli millitary killing 50 people including 30 children, i cannot support israel when this is the second time in 2 days a school has been hit ,and whilst i supported the ground offensive the idf normally so accurate should not be this inaccurate , i would understand if these were palestinian run schools as these are used and controlled by hamas but this was used by civilians a school run by the un to keep them out of the line of fighting so they wouldn't be exploited and used by hamas ,and israel ends up killing them and in one full swoop loses support across the world and handles the initiative to hamas. This breaks the idf code of conduct which israel cant afford to do , especially after ten days of doing the right thing when civilian casualties were low and hamas high , but this 11th day israel got it so so wrong.this is a massive and stupid blunder and now israel will have to stop their actions and accept a ceasefire because if they dont , they will even lose the support of there strongest ally that being the United States.
This is turning out the same way as the israel-hezbollah war - with the terrorists coming out on top. this is an utter catastrophe for the world -but once again shows israel is relying way too much on the airforce and not enough on hand to hand combat.
Hamas will receive more support from leftwing liberals as well as the islamic extremists who dont realise that hamas in it's charter states it wants to destroy israel and throw all jews into the sea. israel has just given a massive coup to anti semites and groups like hamas which include al quaeda everywhere.
i am sorry i cannot defend the hitting of a school by the israeli millitary killing 50 people including 30 children, i cannot support israel when this is the second time in 2 days a school has been hit ,and whilst i supported the ground offensive the idf normally so accurate should not be this inaccurate , i would understand if these were palestinian run schools as these are used and controlled by hamas but this was used by civilians a school run by the un to keep them out of the line of fighting so they wouldn't be exploited and used by hamas ,and israel ends up killing them and in one full swoop loses support across the world and handles the initiative to hamas. This breaks the idf code of conduct which israel cant afford to do , especially after ten days of doing the right thing when civilian casualties were low and hamas high , but this 11th day israel got it so so wrong.this is a massive and stupid blunder and now israel will have to stop their actions and accept a ceasefire because if they dont , they will even lose the support of there strongest ally that being the United States.
This is turning out the same way as the israel-hezbollah war - with the terrorists coming out on top. this is an utter catastrophe for the world -but once again shows israel is relying way too much on the airforce and not enough on hand to hand combat.
Hamas will receive more support from leftwing liberals as well as the islamic extremists who dont realise that hamas in it's charter states it wants to destroy israel and throw all jews into the sea. israel has just given a massive coup to anti semites and groups like hamas which include al quaeda everywhere.
Monday, December 22, 2008
report on israel- with the facts unlike the bbc
recently 80 rockets have been fired at hamas from israel , yet you wouldn't hear this on the bbc , or if you do hear it , Israel apparently is in the wrong to defend themselves. What israel should start doing if they want to be proportionate is lobbing rockets back at Gaza - the bbc would have a field day at this.
Then there's this whole crap about collective punishment. Im sorry the palestinian group hamas now controls gaza , why the hell should israel be providing fuel and food for a foreign territory - does England provide france no . How about hamas stop indoctrinating children through hate filled messages at school and start providing their people with food and water -but then to them bombs and rockets are more important.
Then their's bethlehem - yes there are problems - but not from what left wing church leaders such as stephen coulter will tell from nasty israeli jews - no from islamic extremists who are persecuting Bethlehem's christians - did the bbc report this you bet your bottom dollar they didn't.
Then there's this whole crap about collective punishment. Im sorry the palestinian group hamas now controls gaza , why the hell should israel be providing fuel and food for a foreign territory - does England provide france no . How about hamas stop indoctrinating children through hate filled messages at school and start providing their people with food and water -but then to them bombs and rockets are more important.
Then their's bethlehem - yes there are problems - but not from what left wing church leaders such as stephen coulter will tell from nasty israeli jews - no from islamic extremists who are persecuting Bethlehem's christians - did the bbc report this you bet your bottom dollar they didn't.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
baby p -and the sickening suppor for harringay's social services leader.
a baby is brutally hacked to death , causing outrage everywhere, social services met this baby constantly and could see bruises - even a broken back yet did nothing , a doctor clearly saw the baby was in distress and did nothing - the social services head should be villified, and yet madly 60 teachers across the UK are pledging their support to the dangerously incompetent leader of Harringay Social Services her name being sharon shoesmith. The teachers says she has worked relentlessly for children-no she hasn't she has presided over infanticide - which she should have stopped - if anything she should be sacked with immediate effect -and put in jail ofr assistance to murder-she could have stopped it after all.
this is not only what has happened -an independent inquiry blames legal advice-and says their have been numerous example of good work done by social services- Hello ever heard of a thing called common sense- a baby is clearly being beaten -yet social services do nothing - hmm yer great job not.
this is not only what has happened -an independent inquiry blames legal advice-and says their have been numerous example of good work done by social services- Hello ever heard of a thing called common sense- a baby is clearly being beaten -yet social services do nothing - hmm yer great job not.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Finally the Real Mccain arrives in a gracious concession speech
stuck to the bush regime of spend spend spend, a failing economy , two wars not going to plan ,along with the one of the most unpopular president's in history, it was always going to be a tough yer for the republicans , but if one man could save them , it would be John Mccain the maverick (the person who deserved to be the president in 2000)instead of the buffoon Bush. A person who put what was right before party politics a man who stuck it to the extremists in his party for example on free trade, campaign finance, taxes , government spending and immigration. Mccain since 2006 though thanks to the GOP and the religious right has had to stop being himself , he suddenly supported Bush's unfunded tax cuts, stopped calling the religious right the agents of intolerance, became more populist on the economy , although to be fair he always stuck up for free trade,and worst of all was forced to pick Sarah Palin , as the choice of Joe Lieberman wouldn't be allowed .
Then there was the negative campaigning . For sure Obama engaged in negative campaigning against him but Mccain's was much less subtle and more open. You could tell he was never comfortable with Obama Bashing but he let it happen on his watch. It seemed only in the last two weeks when the pressure was off and he started to relaxed, he stopped the personal attack and launched attacks on policy (how he should have started) the whole spreading the wealth ,and how Obama's policy were like socialism were pertinent and true , however the damage had been done thanks to Sarah Palin saying Obama had palled around with terrorists -and then of course Mccain had to say this -thanks for that Sarah (Idiot )Palin.
It was only in his concession speech we saw the Real John Mccain. Standing up to the morons in his own party who booed him when he praised Barack Obama he pleaded with them to stop. They more than anything lost him the election -he couldn't be a maverick with these idiots as his supporters. The Bipartanship he showed in the Mccain-Feingold campaign finance bill, and the immigration bill with Ted Kennedy came out -as he offered his support for Barack Obama . Then there was the taking the blame moment , he didn't have to , he could have blamed bush , the war , the economy , his own supporters, the republican brand , but showing his humbleness he blamed himself -that takes guts. McCain's speech was wonderful and captured the very essence of 'Country First'. What a shame to pull out your best speech as you concede.
Barack Obama could do no better than offer Mccain a man still with much energy as shown by his frenzied last few days of campaign across America, a role as a secretary of state- for example the role of secretary of state for defence -it is surely what a true American War Hero deserves - and after all if Obama's pledge on bipartanship means anything (which after his partisan election campaign -for example not standing up to the democrats on the issue of free trade) - i doubt , then it would be the right choice.
Even with a flawed campaign ,and getting thrashed in the electoral college(a system the electoral college that to me seems a joke and certainly not democratic) the popular vote was close, 52% for Obama 47% for mccain. Who Knows if Mccain had been the man we know he is ,and not the man the Republican Machine wanted him to be , he might have won the election.
Good luck for the future John , Be true to yourself
Then there was the negative campaigning . For sure Obama engaged in negative campaigning against him but Mccain's was much less subtle and more open. You could tell he was never comfortable with Obama Bashing but he let it happen on his watch. It seemed only in the last two weeks when the pressure was off and he started to relaxed, he stopped the personal attack and launched attacks on policy (how he should have started) the whole spreading the wealth ,and how Obama's policy were like socialism were pertinent and true , however the damage had been done thanks to Sarah Palin saying Obama had palled around with terrorists -and then of course Mccain had to say this -thanks for that Sarah (Idiot )Palin.
It was only in his concession speech we saw the Real John Mccain. Standing up to the morons in his own party who booed him when he praised Barack Obama he pleaded with them to stop. They more than anything lost him the election -he couldn't be a maverick with these idiots as his supporters. The Bipartanship he showed in the Mccain-Feingold campaign finance bill, and the immigration bill with Ted Kennedy came out -as he offered his support for Barack Obama . Then there was the taking the blame moment , he didn't have to , he could have blamed bush , the war , the economy , his own supporters, the republican brand , but showing his humbleness he blamed himself -that takes guts. McCain's speech was wonderful and captured the very essence of 'Country First'. What a shame to pull out your best speech as you concede.
Barack Obama could do no better than offer Mccain a man still with much energy as shown by his frenzied last few days of campaign across America, a role as a secretary of state- for example the role of secretary of state for defence -it is surely what a true American War Hero deserves - and after all if Obama's pledge on bipartanship means anything (which after his partisan election campaign -for example not standing up to the democrats on the issue of free trade) - i doubt , then it would be the right choice.
Even with a flawed campaign ,and getting thrashed in the electoral college(a system the electoral college that to me seems a joke and certainly not democratic) the popular vote was close, 52% for Obama 47% for mccain. Who Knows if Mccain had been the man we know he is ,and not the man the Republican Machine wanted him to be , he might have won the election.
Good luck for the future John , Be true to yourself
Friday, July 18, 2008
israel hands hezbollah a propaganda victory in a futile prisoner swap
would you free ian huntley for the dead victim's body to be returned to their family ? the answer would surely be no , yet Israel has released samil Kuntar - a person who killed a whole family including 3 innocent young children 30 years ago for the bodies of ehud goldwasser and eldad regev - that's not to mention the other hezbollah prisoners . In other words Israel has given up a murderer for almost no gain- here are some articles which explain this very well
HERE'S THE FIRST
Israeli critics question lopsided prisoner swap By STEVEN GUTKIN and ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writers
Wed Jul 16, 5:31 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Critics of Israel's lopsided prisoner exchange with Lebanese guerrillas said Wednesday that such deals only encourage more hostage-taking — a fear underscored by Gaza militants who said the swap proves that kidnapping is the only language Israel understands.
ADVERTISEMENT
The deal, in which a notorious Lebanese attacker, four other militants and the bodies of 199 Arab fighters were traded for two dead Israeli soldiers, closed a painful chapter from Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon.
But it also raised questions about whether Israel should reconsider its policy of bringing back every soldier from the battlefield at just about any cost.
Israel has been carrying out unequal prisoner swaps for decades, including handing over 4,600 Palestinian and Lebanese captives in 1983 in exchange for six captured Israeli soldiers. In the past it's even traded live prisoners for bodies, as it did Wednesday.
The rationale for such trades was a wartime ethic seen as essential in Israel's early days to instilling loyalty and commitment from its troops.
In today's world of asymmetric warfare — with militant groups increasingly focused on kidnapping as a way to pressure Israel and with the fight against terrorism now a worldwide challenge — the lopsided swaps could have graver consequences than in the past.
"What we've done now has made kidnapping soldiers the most profitable game in town," said Israeli security expert Martin Sherman.
"There is absolutely no reason why Hezbollah should not invest huge resources now, along with Hamas, in the next kidnapping."
The issue is of immediate concern because the government is deeply involved in indirect negotiations to free its other captive soldier, Gilad Schalit, held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Unlike Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two soldiers whose bodies were returned Wednesday, Schalit is believed to be alive.
Following this week's Cabinet vote that cleared the way for the Hezbollah deal, Construction Minister Zeev Boim, one of only three ministers to vote against it, said he was afraid the swap would make it harder for Israel to win the release of Schalit.
"No one should be surprised if Hamas will now raise the price for freeing him," he said.
Hamas made it clear Wednesday that it intended to do just that.
"As there was an honorable exchange today, we are determined to have an honorable exchange for our own prisoners" held in Israeli jails, Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said. "Let them answer our demands." Israel holds about 10,000 Palestinians in prison.
Haniyeh's spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri went further, saying the swap "shows that the only successful way to free the prisoners is by kidnapping soldiers."
Explaining his opposition, Boim, the construction minister, said Wednesday: "We needed, in my opinion, to take this opportunity to change the rules we were dragged into many years ago, which have led to many lopsided deals."
But the Israeli military said the deal drove home the Jewish state's deep commitment to its soldiers.
"This painful process exemplifies Israel's moral commitment to secure the return of all of their soldiers sent out on operational missions," said a statement Wednesday from the Israeli Defense Forces. "It demonstrates a compelling moral strength which stems from Judaism, Israeli societal values and from the spirit of the IDF."
Wednesday's exchange involved freeing a Lebanese militant convicted of what many consider to be among the most gruesome crimes inflicted on Israelis in their history.
Samir Kantar was sentenced to three life terms for killing an Israeli man in front of his 4-year-old daughter, then killing the little girl by smashing her skull with his rifle butt.
During the grisly attack, the girl's 2-year-old sister was accidentally smothered by her mother during a desperate attempt to silence the child's cries as the two hid in a crawl space.
For Israelis, the 1979 attack was a nightmare scenario feared by many in a nation living in a constant state of war: a terrorist breaking into their home in the middle of the night and kidnapping and killing a family.
Because of the visceral reaction, successive governments held off on including Kantar in any previous swap. Kantar was 16 years old at the time of the attack and he has consistently denied killing the girl, saying she died in crossfire.
That Israel paid such a high price for dead bodies could provide an incentive for militants to kill future hostages, said Yuval Steinitz, a lawmaker from the opposition Likud Party.
"This is a very dangerous precedent," he said. "We are telling them that they don't have to do their utmost to keep captive soldiers alive, to save them if captured."
Nor was the high price of the swap lost on ordinary Palestinians.
"Nobody would have expected that Israel would give up the likes of Samir Kantar. Hezbollah has shown that they are mighty people, and Israel is afraid of them and had to meet their demands," said Samar Mohammed, a 23-year-old architect in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Despite the criticism in Israel, the swap could provide a badly needed boost for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose grip on power is gravely threatened by a burgeoning corruption probe.
Olmert launched a monthlong war against Hezbollah in June 2006 in response to the servicemen's capture. His handling of the war was widely criticized, and he has been under considerable pressure to resolve the issue of the soldiers' fate.
Wednesday's swap closed a painful chapter from the war, and Israelis reacted to confirmation of the young men's death with a mixture of anguish and anger.
One of the soldiers' aunts sank to the ground in despair, and other mourners demanded revenge, chanting "Nasrallah, you will pay" — referring to Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
2.Hezbollah prisoners freed in exchange for dead Israeli soldiers
2 days ago
BEIRUT (AFP) — Five Lebanese prisoners freed by Israel arrived to a hero's welcome in Lebanon Wednesday, hours after Hezbollah handed over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers seized by its guerrillas two years ago.
Among those freed in a prisoner swap greeted with triumph in Lebanon but anguish in Israel was Samir Kantar , who was sentenced to five life terms for a 1979 triple murder, including of a child.
The prisoners were transported to Lebanon late afternoon in a convoy of four International Committee of the Red Cross vehicles via the Naqura border crossing, where they were cheered and applauded by crowds of Hezbollah supporters who had been waiting all day for their arrival.
They were then flown by helicopters to Beirut, where they were accorded a red carpet welcome by Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the entire cabinet and a host of lawmakers and religious leaders.
The five -- Kantar and Hezbollah fighters Khaled Zidan, Maher Kurani, Mohammed Sarur and Hussein Suleiman -- stood on a platform as Sleiman spoke and then shook hands with the politicians lined up to greet them.
"Your return is a new victory and the future in your presence will be a path in which we will realise the sovereignty of our territory and the liberty of our people," Sleiman said.
"I tell Samir and his companions that they have a right to be proud of their country, their army and their resistance."
Kantar kissed his mother, Siham Kantar, 71, after the meet and greet with the politicians as crowds and the media swarmed around him.
His mother had burst into tears while waiting earlier at the airport when she was told that her son had arrived in Naqura and was indeed free after more than 28 years in jail.
"I never gave up hope for a day," she said, choked by emotion.
"This moment makes up for 30 years of waiting. I want to hug and kiss him. My only wish is to see him."
The four freed Hezbollah fighters were captured in the July-August 2006 war which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel were also freed. They and Kantar were the last remaining Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah made a rare public appearance at celebrations attended by tens of thousands of people in the southern suburbs of Beirut Wednesday night.
"The period of defeat is over and the time of victory has arrived," Nasrallah said at the celebrations marking the success of emptying Israeli jails of Lebanese prisoners.
"This people and this nation and this country that gave a clear picture to the world... cannot be defeated," he added.
Kantar told the cheering crowds he thanked God for giving him the strength to endure his almost three-decade imprisonment, which made him the longest-serving Arab prisoner in Israel.
The five prisoners were released in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev , captured on July 12, 2006.
The fate of the two soldiers was not known until their bodies were returned to Israel Wednesday morning.
"Today we hand over Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev," Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said at Naqura, as men placed two black coffins on the ground amid a crowd of onlookers.
The mood in Israel had been sombre as it waited to learn the fate of Goldwasser and Regev, whose capture in a deadly cross-border raid in July 2006 triggered a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.
"Both soldiers have been identified," an army spokeswoman told AFP after forensic tests on the remains.
Goldwasser's family broke down in cries of despair when they saw the footage of Hezbollah handing over the caskets, while neighbours gathered around the Regev home, lighting candles and quietly shedding tears.
"Eldad! Eldad! What have they done to you?" wailed Regev's aunt Hana.
Many in Israel question whether the nation is paying too high a price for the return of the soldiers who are to be buried on Thursday, saying the swap risks bolstering its arch foes in the region.
Israel also was to transfer to Lebanon the remains of 199 Palestinian and Hezbollah fighters exhumed over the past week.
Among the first bodies handed over was that of Dalal al-Moghrabi , who led a bloody commando attack in 1978 that Israelis describe as the "Coastal Road Massacre."
She was killed in a battle with Israeli forces after her group blew up a bus they had hijacked on the road between Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing 36 people.
Lebanese television showed footage of a convoy of trucks crossing into Lebanon Wednesday evening carrying the bodies of the remaining fighters.
They were due to be transported to Beirut Thursday morning, Hezbollah said in a statement.
Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper has billed the festivities in Lebanon as "a celebration of evil."
Israeli commentators warned the swap had given a propaganda victory to Hezbollah, setting a dangerous precedent for any future exchanges and possibly encouraging new attempts by militant groups to seize Israeli soldiers.
3 -my view- SO A Propaganda victory for hezbollah and Hamas rewarding them for their deadly acts - i hope Mr Olmert and his cabinet can live with the disastrous decision they have just made . Oh and also - the response by Mahmoud Abbas praising samil kuntar shows this man is no friend of peace -he is a supporter and lover of terrorism just like his former master Arafat-yet olmert deals with him -because Olmert likes giving in to terrorists as just shown
HERE'S THE FIRST
Israeli critics question lopsided prisoner swap By STEVEN GUTKIN and ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writers
Wed Jul 16, 5:31 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Critics of Israel's lopsided prisoner exchange with Lebanese guerrillas said Wednesday that such deals only encourage more hostage-taking — a fear underscored by Gaza militants who said the swap proves that kidnapping is the only language Israel understands.
ADVERTISEMENT
The deal, in which a notorious Lebanese attacker, four other militants and the bodies of 199 Arab fighters were traded for two dead Israeli soldiers, closed a painful chapter from Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon.
But it also raised questions about whether Israel should reconsider its policy of bringing back every soldier from the battlefield at just about any cost.
Israel has been carrying out unequal prisoner swaps for decades, including handing over 4,600 Palestinian and Lebanese captives in 1983 in exchange for six captured Israeli soldiers. In the past it's even traded live prisoners for bodies, as it did Wednesday.
The rationale for such trades was a wartime ethic seen as essential in Israel's early days to instilling loyalty and commitment from its troops.
In today's world of asymmetric warfare — with militant groups increasingly focused on kidnapping as a way to pressure Israel and with the fight against terrorism now a worldwide challenge — the lopsided swaps could have graver consequences than in the past.
"What we've done now has made kidnapping soldiers the most profitable game in town," said Israeli security expert Martin Sherman.
"There is absolutely no reason why Hezbollah should not invest huge resources now, along with Hamas, in the next kidnapping."
The issue is of immediate concern because the government is deeply involved in indirect negotiations to free its other captive soldier, Gilad Schalit, held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Unlike Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two soldiers whose bodies were returned Wednesday, Schalit is believed to be alive.
Following this week's Cabinet vote that cleared the way for the Hezbollah deal, Construction Minister Zeev Boim, one of only three ministers to vote against it, said he was afraid the swap would make it harder for Israel to win the release of Schalit.
"No one should be surprised if Hamas will now raise the price for freeing him," he said.
Hamas made it clear Wednesday that it intended to do just that.
"As there was an honorable exchange today, we are determined to have an honorable exchange for our own prisoners" held in Israeli jails, Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said. "Let them answer our demands." Israel holds about 10,000 Palestinians in prison.
Haniyeh's spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri went further, saying the swap "shows that the only successful way to free the prisoners is by kidnapping soldiers."
Explaining his opposition, Boim, the construction minister, said Wednesday: "We needed, in my opinion, to take this opportunity to change the rules we were dragged into many years ago, which have led to many lopsided deals."
But the Israeli military said the deal drove home the Jewish state's deep commitment to its soldiers.
"This painful process exemplifies Israel's moral commitment to secure the return of all of their soldiers sent out on operational missions," said a statement Wednesday from the Israeli Defense Forces. "It demonstrates a compelling moral strength which stems from Judaism, Israeli societal values and from the spirit of the IDF."
Wednesday's exchange involved freeing a Lebanese militant convicted of what many consider to be among the most gruesome crimes inflicted on Israelis in their history.
Samir Kantar was sentenced to three life terms for killing an Israeli man in front of his 4-year-old daughter, then killing the little girl by smashing her skull with his rifle butt.
During the grisly attack, the girl's 2-year-old sister was accidentally smothered by her mother during a desperate attempt to silence the child's cries as the two hid in a crawl space.
For Israelis, the 1979 attack was a nightmare scenario feared by many in a nation living in a constant state of war: a terrorist breaking into their home in the middle of the night and kidnapping and killing a family.
Because of the visceral reaction, successive governments held off on including Kantar in any previous swap. Kantar was 16 years old at the time of the attack and he has consistently denied killing the girl, saying she died in crossfire.
That Israel paid such a high price for dead bodies could provide an incentive for militants to kill future hostages, said Yuval Steinitz, a lawmaker from the opposition Likud Party.
"This is a very dangerous precedent," he said. "We are telling them that they don't have to do their utmost to keep captive soldiers alive, to save them if captured."
Nor was the high price of the swap lost on ordinary Palestinians.
"Nobody would have expected that Israel would give up the likes of Samir Kantar. Hezbollah has shown that they are mighty people, and Israel is afraid of them and had to meet their demands," said Samar Mohammed, a 23-year-old architect in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Despite the criticism in Israel, the swap could provide a badly needed boost for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose grip on power is gravely threatened by a burgeoning corruption probe.
Olmert launched a monthlong war against Hezbollah in June 2006 in response to the servicemen's capture. His handling of the war was widely criticized, and he has been under considerable pressure to resolve the issue of the soldiers' fate.
Wednesday's swap closed a painful chapter from the war, and Israelis reacted to confirmation of the young men's death with a mixture of anguish and anger.
One of the soldiers' aunts sank to the ground in despair, and other mourners demanded revenge, chanting "Nasrallah, you will pay" — referring to Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
2.Hezbollah prisoners freed in exchange for dead Israeli soldiers
2 days ago
BEIRUT (AFP) — Five Lebanese prisoners freed by Israel arrived to a hero's welcome in Lebanon Wednesday, hours after Hezbollah handed over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers seized by its guerrillas two years ago.
Among those freed in a prisoner swap greeted with triumph in Lebanon but anguish in Israel was Samir Kantar , who was sentenced to five life terms for a 1979 triple murder, including of a child.
The prisoners were transported to Lebanon late afternoon in a convoy of four International Committee of the Red Cross vehicles via the Naqura border crossing, where they were cheered and applauded by crowds of Hezbollah supporters who had been waiting all day for their arrival.
They were then flown by helicopters to Beirut, where they were accorded a red carpet welcome by Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the entire cabinet and a host of lawmakers and religious leaders.
The five -- Kantar and Hezbollah fighters Khaled Zidan, Maher Kurani, Mohammed Sarur and Hussein Suleiman -- stood on a platform as Sleiman spoke and then shook hands with the politicians lined up to greet them.
"Your return is a new victory and the future in your presence will be a path in which we will realise the sovereignty of our territory and the liberty of our people," Sleiman said.
"I tell Samir and his companions that they have a right to be proud of their country, their army and their resistance."
Kantar kissed his mother, Siham Kantar, 71, after the meet and greet with the politicians as crowds and the media swarmed around him.
His mother had burst into tears while waiting earlier at the airport when she was told that her son had arrived in Naqura and was indeed free after more than 28 years in jail.
"I never gave up hope for a day," she said, choked by emotion.
"This moment makes up for 30 years of waiting. I want to hug and kiss him. My only wish is to see him."
The four freed Hezbollah fighters were captured in the July-August 2006 war which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel were also freed. They and Kantar were the last remaining Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah made a rare public appearance at celebrations attended by tens of thousands of people in the southern suburbs of Beirut Wednesday night.
"The period of defeat is over and the time of victory has arrived," Nasrallah said at the celebrations marking the success of emptying Israeli jails of Lebanese prisoners.
"This people and this nation and this country that gave a clear picture to the world... cannot be defeated," he added.
Kantar told the cheering crowds he thanked God for giving him the strength to endure his almost three-decade imprisonment, which made him the longest-serving Arab prisoner in Israel.
The five prisoners were released in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev , captured on July 12, 2006.
The fate of the two soldiers was not known until their bodies were returned to Israel Wednesday morning.
"Today we hand over Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev," Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa said at Naqura, as men placed two black coffins on the ground amid a crowd of onlookers.
The mood in Israel had been sombre as it waited to learn the fate of Goldwasser and Regev, whose capture in a deadly cross-border raid in July 2006 triggered a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.
"Both soldiers have been identified," an army spokeswoman told AFP after forensic tests on the remains.
Goldwasser's family broke down in cries of despair when they saw the footage of Hezbollah handing over the caskets, while neighbours gathered around the Regev home, lighting candles and quietly shedding tears.
"Eldad! Eldad! What have they done to you?" wailed Regev's aunt Hana.
Many in Israel question whether the nation is paying too high a price for the return of the soldiers who are to be buried on Thursday, saying the swap risks bolstering its arch foes in the region.
Israel also was to transfer to Lebanon the remains of 199 Palestinian and Hezbollah fighters exhumed over the past week.
Among the first bodies handed over was that of Dalal al-Moghrabi , who led a bloody commando attack in 1978 that Israelis describe as the "Coastal Road Massacre."
She was killed in a battle with Israeli forces after her group blew up a bus they had hijacked on the road between Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing 36 people.
Lebanese television showed footage of a convoy of trucks crossing into Lebanon Wednesday evening carrying the bodies of the remaining fighters.
They were due to be transported to Beirut Thursday morning, Hezbollah said in a statement.
Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper has billed the festivities in Lebanon as "a celebration of evil."
Israeli commentators warned the swap had given a propaganda victory to Hezbollah, setting a dangerous precedent for any future exchanges and possibly encouraging new attempts by militant groups to seize Israeli soldiers.
3 -my view- SO A Propaganda victory for hezbollah and Hamas rewarding them for their deadly acts - i hope Mr Olmert and his cabinet can live with the disastrous decision they have just made . Oh and also - the response by Mahmoud Abbas praising samil kuntar shows this man is no friend of peace -he is a supporter and lover of terrorism just like his former master Arafat-yet olmert deals with him -because Olmert likes giving in to terrorists as just shown
Friday, May 30, 2008
The Black Fightback against crime
unfortunately in places like London , it is the black community who has the disproportionate number of people who are victims from gun and knife crime and who are criminals . It has been a stereotype for too long now that blacks represent the left of politics , this article smashes this assumption into smithereens ,and shows that the answers to crime are conservatism.
EVENING STANDARD
A new breed of leaders can tackle knife cultureLindsay Johns29.05.08
document.write('');
Once again this week, London is mourning a teenage knife victim: Robert Knox was stabbed to death in Sidcup last weekend and four others injured by a young man wielding a knife outside a club. It is not surprising that Londoners are looking for tougher solutions to youth crime, such as random searches on the Tube by police using knife scanners. What is surprising is that Boris Johnson's main man in this task is black. Deputy Mayor for Youth Ray Lewis, who holds a summit on knife crime tomorrow, has already made it clear that in tackling street crime he has little patience with the kind of tired clichés about race that we used to hear on the subject from so many black community leaders.
Lewis's tough approach says much about the public mood on crime. But more than that, Lewis is part of an unexpected dividend of Johnson's election - the arrival of a new breed of black and Asian social conservatives in positions of power.
Those who accused the new Mayor of tokenism over Lewis's appointment have already been proved wrong: he has chosen Muslim academic Munira Mirza and the Sikh Kulveer Ranger as, respectively, his culture director and transport adviser. So much for the hue and cry during his campaign over the "watermelon smiles" and " piccaninnies" comments.
What Johnson is helping most here, though, is the emergence into the public arena of a new breed of socially conservative black men with "old-school" values and thinking. Lewis and the west London youth worker Shaun Bailey (Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith) are the highest-profile examples; others include Uanu Sheshmi, director of the London Boyhood to Manhood education programme. It could mean a new and exciting politics, especially in a city such as London, in which the tedious old polarities (black = Left, white = Right) are finally replaced by more nuanced and fundamentally more honest positions.
With their strong emphasis on the nuclear family, traditional notions of masculinity and respect, and the importance of higher education, such black men have decided their future lies with social conservatives as opposed to Leftleaning progressives. After years of publicly funded programmes and progressive failure, Lewis and Bailey have had the temerity to ask what the best social policy for sections of the black community really is - regardless of whether that means they end up supporting the Tories.
Part of that shift is the emergence of a black British middle class, for a long time beleaguered and cowering in the shadow of its more vociferous, workingclass big brother. And it is finally beginning to assert its own intrinsically conservative voice. Inspired by the US black middle-class centres of Atlanta, New York and Washington, black Britain is slowly catching up.
In the same way that Bill Cosby was for decades the voice of middle-class black America, hopefully Lewis, Bailey and others will now articulate the mindset of the nascent black British middle class, itself weaned on old-fashioned African and Caribbean values of discipline, religion and, most importantly of all, education.
In my work as a volunteer mentor on the Southwark Black Mentor Scheme's Leaders of Tomorrow programme, we employ similar "old-school" beliefs, aimed at helping our young people to confound stereotypes, not conform to them. We are trying to enable our young people to fulfil their potential intellectually, not just physically.
We want to nurture the next generation of lawyers, doctors, academics and politicians, not rappers, DJs or athletes - we have enough of those already. Working with young people in Peckham has convinced me that the liberal "softly, softly" approach achieves little, save disappointment and disillusionment, and actually engenders the opposite of respect.
That is why the days when black men who stood for public office felt the need to align themselves automatically with Left-wing causes are now gone. Be it the "boot camp" methods of draconian discipline as employed by Lewis in his Eastside Academy or the mantra of personal responsibility as articulated by Bailey, conservative values are key to their successes.
Yet Lewis, just like Bailey, has impeccable "black" credentials. Unlike figures such as former Big Brother contestant Derek Laud or Lord Taylor (who stood as Tory parliamentary candidate for Cheltenham in 1992), they are not being labelled as "coconuts" - the old accusation thrown at black people who dared to speak out against the liberal mainstream, that they were black on the outside but white inside.
For Lewis, Bailey and the new breed are not just black - they are ¸ber black, in the sense that their backgrounds and lifestyles cannot be besmirched so easily by black detractors. Both are firmly rooted in the community; both are engaged in mentoring projects with inner-city black youth; both have dedicated their professional lives to improving the lot of black British people.
If further proof were needed, Lee Jasper himself, that old firebrand of the Left and Ken Livingstone's former race adviser, welcomed Lewis's appointment.
Both Lewis's and Bailey's conservative stance on the underlying causes of knife crime - the glaring lack of positive black male role models, the abrogation of parental responsibility and working-class over-reliance on the "benefits culture" - embodies views that, more than ever, we should heed.
The MTV Base generation, with their pimp-roll swaggers and their perverted notions of masculinity and faux respect, urgently need taking to task. Men such as Lewis and Bailey can do it in a way no white politicians can: they are not afraid to speak in a hideously un-PC language that is anathema to white liberals when it comes to issues such as black parenting.
That marks an important shift for black conservatives but it says something almost more surprising about white Britain. After decades of prejudice, it seems Britain is finally ready to accept them. It no longer sees black conservatives as the ultimate oxymoron, the jester-pariah figures living the white man's dream, to be scoffed at behind their wannabe-white backs.
But myself, I am just relieved that Britain is finally ready to allow these courageous old-school black men to step up to the plate and make their contribution. At a time when black and white boys alike are being cut down in the streets, God knows we need it. Here's hoping that the only coconuts we see in the future will be in the fairground or in the Bounty commercials, not on the political stage.
EVENING STANDARD
A new breed of leaders can tackle knife cultureLindsay Johns29.05.08
document.write('');
Once again this week, London is mourning a teenage knife victim: Robert Knox was stabbed to death in Sidcup last weekend and four others injured by a young man wielding a knife outside a club. It is not surprising that Londoners are looking for tougher solutions to youth crime, such as random searches on the Tube by police using knife scanners. What is surprising is that Boris Johnson's main man in this task is black. Deputy Mayor for Youth Ray Lewis, who holds a summit on knife crime tomorrow, has already made it clear that in tackling street crime he has little patience with the kind of tired clichés about race that we used to hear on the subject from so many black community leaders.
Lewis's tough approach says much about the public mood on crime. But more than that, Lewis is part of an unexpected dividend of Johnson's election - the arrival of a new breed of black and Asian social conservatives in positions of power.
Those who accused the new Mayor of tokenism over Lewis's appointment have already been proved wrong: he has chosen Muslim academic Munira Mirza and the Sikh Kulveer Ranger as, respectively, his culture director and transport adviser. So much for the hue and cry during his campaign over the "watermelon smiles" and " piccaninnies" comments.
What Johnson is helping most here, though, is the emergence into the public arena of a new breed of socially conservative black men with "old-school" values and thinking. Lewis and the west London youth worker Shaun Bailey (Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith) are the highest-profile examples; others include Uanu Sheshmi, director of the London Boyhood to Manhood education programme. It could mean a new and exciting politics, especially in a city such as London, in which the tedious old polarities (black = Left, white = Right) are finally replaced by more nuanced and fundamentally more honest positions.
With their strong emphasis on the nuclear family, traditional notions of masculinity and respect, and the importance of higher education, such black men have decided their future lies with social conservatives as opposed to Leftleaning progressives. After years of publicly funded programmes and progressive failure, Lewis and Bailey have had the temerity to ask what the best social policy for sections of the black community really is - regardless of whether that means they end up supporting the Tories.
Part of that shift is the emergence of a black British middle class, for a long time beleaguered and cowering in the shadow of its more vociferous, workingclass big brother. And it is finally beginning to assert its own intrinsically conservative voice. Inspired by the US black middle-class centres of Atlanta, New York and Washington, black Britain is slowly catching up.
In the same way that Bill Cosby was for decades the voice of middle-class black America, hopefully Lewis, Bailey and others will now articulate the mindset of the nascent black British middle class, itself weaned on old-fashioned African and Caribbean values of discipline, religion and, most importantly of all, education.
In my work as a volunteer mentor on the Southwark Black Mentor Scheme's Leaders of Tomorrow programme, we employ similar "old-school" beliefs, aimed at helping our young people to confound stereotypes, not conform to them. We are trying to enable our young people to fulfil their potential intellectually, not just physically.
We want to nurture the next generation of lawyers, doctors, academics and politicians, not rappers, DJs or athletes - we have enough of those already. Working with young people in Peckham has convinced me that the liberal "softly, softly" approach achieves little, save disappointment and disillusionment, and actually engenders the opposite of respect.
That is why the days when black men who stood for public office felt the need to align themselves automatically with Left-wing causes are now gone. Be it the "boot camp" methods of draconian discipline as employed by Lewis in his Eastside Academy or the mantra of personal responsibility as articulated by Bailey, conservative values are key to their successes.
Yet Lewis, just like Bailey, has impeccable "black" credentials. Unlike figures such as former Big Brother contestant Derek Laud or Lord Taylor (who stood as Tory parliamentary candidate for Cheltenham in 1992), they are not being labelled as "coconuts" - the old accusation thrown at black people who dared to speak out against the liberal mainstream, that they were black on the outside but white inside.
For Lewis, Bailey and the new breed are not just black - they are ¸ber black, in the sense that their backgrounds and lifestyles cannot be besmirched so easily by black detractors. Both are firmly rooted in the community; both are engaged in mentoring projects with inner-city black youth; both have dedicated their professional lives to improving the lot of black British people.
If further proof were needed, Lee Jasper himself, that old firebrand of the Left and Ken Livingstone's former race adviser, welcomed Lewis's appointment.
Both Lewis's and Bailey's conservative stance on the underlying causes of knife crime - the glaring lack of positive black male role models, the abrogation of parental responsibility and working-class over-reliance on the "benefits culture" - embodies views that, more than ever, we should heed.
The MTV Base generation, with their pimp-roll swaggers and their perverted notions of masculinity and faux respect, urgently need taking to task. Men such as Lewis and Bailey can do it in a way no white politicians can: they are not afraid to speak in a hideously un-PC language that is anathema to white liberals when it comes to issues such as black parenting.
That marks an important shift for black conservatives but it says something almost more surprising about white Britain. After decades of prejudice, it seems Britain is finally ready to accept them. It no longer sees black conservatives as the ultimate oxymoron, the jester-pariah figures living the white man's dream, to be scoffed at behind their wannabe-white backs.
But myself, I am just relieved that Britain is finally ready to allow these courageous old-school black men to step up to the plate and make their contribution. At a time when black and white boys alike are being cut down in the streets, God knows we need it. Here's hoping that the only coconuts we see in the future will be in the fairground or in the Bounty commercials, not on the political stage.
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