Friday, January 20, 2006

"A PROPHET HATH NO HONOUR IN HIS OWN COUNTRY" (John 4:44)

The leader of the British National Party (BNP) predicted that Muslim extremists would attack a British city in a speech made 14 months before the July 7 London bombings, a court was told yesterday. Nick Griffin told a BNP rally in May 2004 that “sooner or later there’s going to be Islamic terrorists letting off bombs in major cities”. He said that the perpetrators would be “asylum-seekers or second-generation Pakistanis living in somewhere like Bradford”.

Mr Griffin, 45, and Mark Collett, 24, a senior BNP member, are on trial at Leeds Crown Court accused of conduct intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. The charges are linked to speeches that the two men gave in West Yorkshire between January and May 2004 and which were secretly recorded by an undercover BBC journalist.

Footage of a speech made by Mr Griffin at Morley Town Hall, Leeds, was played to the jury yesterday. In it, standing on a stage before a desk draped with the Union Jack, the BNP chairman was greeted with applause and cheers. He attacked the three main political parties, the police and the press, claiming that they were all part of a conspiracy to cover up the murder of whites by Asians. Mr Griffin contrasted the extensive coverage given to the fatal stabbing of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager, with the alleged silence over “the forgotten white victims” of racist murders. He listed incidents in Oldham, Colne, near Burnley, Manchester, Glasgow and Sunderland, where he claimed that “young Asians of the Muslim persuasion” had escaped justice after murdering white people. “They’re free, they’re laughing and joking and telling their mates that you can kill a white boy and the papers won’t talk about it, the police won’t do anything about it, the courts won’t convict you.”

Mr Griffin said the Establishment knew that the country was “a tinderbox” but were “hoping against hope that if they shut up about it it will go away”. The mainstream parties, he said, could either “allow us to express the anger and the concern and the fear of the British people”, or they could “try and bottle it all up so it all bloody well goes bang”, in which case “there is going to be blood all over our streets”.

Later in the speech, Mr Griffin appeared to predict his own arrest and trial. “They will take our national and our local leadership and they will throw us into prison on the pretext that, ‘We’re having to arrest radical Muslims who are blowing things up, and if we only arrest them it’s going to upset their community and further radicalise their youth. So we’ve got to show we’re even-handed, so while we’re arresting Islamic terrorist bombers we’ll also arrest elected councillors of the British National Party’. ” Also shown was a filmed speech by Mr Collett, at a Keighley pub in March 2004, during which he said that the BNP was engaged in a “battle for Britain”.

The jury has been told that it is not being asked to pass judgment on the politics of the BNP or of the defendants, but to decide whether the speeches went so far “beyond robust comment” that they revealed an intent to stir up racial hatred. Mr Griffin, of Llanerfyl, Wales, denies two counts of using words or behaviour intending to stir up racial hatred and two alternative charges of using words or behaviour likely to stir up racial hatred. Mr Collett, of Rothley, Leicestershire, denies four counts of the first offence and four of the alternative charge.

Source



FOOD CORRECTNESS AND "WICKED THOUGHTS"

As regular readers will know, I try to monitor here the way the obesity warriors and "healthy eating" evangelists are constantly trying to dictate what we eat. If we don't have the right to decide what food we put into our own mouths, what liberty do we have left?

The thing which most exposes the sheer arrogance of the food fascists is that they generally have not a blind clue what they are talking about. For instance, they ban fizzy drinks in the name of obesity-prevention while at the same time allowing fruit and milk drinks which are equally calorific, if not more so!

And even if they were well-informed, that would not help either -- because what is supposedly good and bad for you is constantly changing. Almost any recommendation that a food-fascist makes today is likely to be undermined tomorrow by a new twist in the scientific research. That is where "Wicked Thoughts" comes in. "Wicked Thoughts" is primarily a humour blog but one of the things the blogger there finds amusing is the constant ups and downs in what is supposed to be good and bad for you. So readers of this blog could well take in "Wicked Thoughts" from time to time in order to see what the latest food antics are. Just to give you an idea of the latest "wisdom" about food, I reproduce below some of the most recent posts from "Wicked Thoughts":

Apple a day not so healthy, say new food advertising rules: "The natural goodness of fruit could prove its downfall under draft rules that govern how food can be advertised. The proposals by trans-Tasman food regulator Food Standards Australia New Zealand have upset nutritionists and growers, who say they will prevent certain fruits from being legally classified as healthy. Under the draft rules, the amount of sugar will be taken into account, meaning apples, pears and most stonefruit will be disqualified from health claims because their natural sugar levels exceed 16g per serving. The draft standard aims to help people choose better food, but nutritionists say it could harm healthy-eating campaigns such as 5+ a Day, which encourages people to have five or more servings of fruit and vegetables daily".

Now margarine is bad for you: "Since butter was fingered as the route to a heart attack in the 1970s, many health-conscious consumers have switched to margarine or, increasingly, one of the low-fat alternatives on the market.... Take the latest breed of spreads that promise to lower levels of low-density lipoprotein, the so-called "bad" cholesterol or LDL, thereby cutting your risk of heart attack. These spreads contain plant sterols, also known as phytosterols, which are naturally occurring parts of all plants and have been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels by an average of 10 per cent. Plant sterols block the body's ability to absorb cholesterol, reducing the level of it in the blood. But as with most good things, there is a hitch. "While they certainly lower LDL cholesterol levels, they deplete the levels of beta carotene and other carotenoids in the body," says nutritionist Rosemary Stanton. Beta carotene is the major source of vitamin A in the western diet and there is growing evidence that carotenoids protect the eyes and have anti-cancer properties"

Now softdrinks are good for you: "Fizzy soft drinks may rot your teeth but new research suggests the sugary refreshments also boost the memory. Contrary to conventional health messages, which have branded the high-sugar drinks as unhealthy, researchers in Scotland found that people who consumed 50g of sugar - just over the amount in one can of soft drink - could boost memory retention by almost one-fifth. Neuroscientists from Glasgow Caledonian University said the effects might also help combat dementia in the elderly - and might eventually lead to better ways of treating memory problems in old age".

Dripping drops out of popularity: "Britons have long had a passion for Chiantishire. Now consumers are turning to olive oil as a wonder food said to help to prevent heart disease and some forms of cancer. According to analysis by Mintel, sales of olive oil have risen by almost 40 per cent in five years, and for the first time the value of standard cooking oils has been overtaken by olive oils. The market is now worth 104 million pounds a year and within five years is predicted to reach 230 million pounds."

Booze in space: "The ban on astronauts drinking alcohol aboard the International Space Station could be about to be lifted. It follows pressure from Russian authorities to allow 'overworked cosmonauts a chance to restore their strength.' A source from the Russian medical team for manned space programmes told the Russian Interfax agency: 'They spend over half a year in the orbit with a heavy workload, especially during exhausting space walks when they can loose several kilos in weight over a few hours. Many people think a small ration of alcohol would help restore their strength.' Moderate alcohol consumption was tolerated on Russia's former orbital station MIR until it was taken out of service, but a strict ban has been in force on the ISS ever since Russia and the US sent the first joint crew."

Diet pills fail health test: Dieters could risk high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems and even DNA and thyroid problems by taking some over-the-counter slimming pills, the Australian Consumers Association has warned. The ACA has completed a study of literature on active ingredients in slimming pills in time for the thousands of Australians who have made a new year's resolution to lose those extra kilos. The study showed the ingredients could be dangerous, while the benefits were nothing more than marginal. ACA senior food policy officer Clare Hughes said many slimming pill products did not have to be registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration and, therefore, went on the market without government evaluation. Pills containing the chemical capsaicin in hot chillies and red peppers or the rind of Seville oranges might increase metabolism, but there was no compelling evidence that they assisted weight loss, according to the ACA study".

Coffee good for women: "Women with BRCA1 gene mutations, which confer a high risk of developing breast cancer, might decrease their risk by drinking a lot of coffee, according to a multicentre team of investigators. Dr. Steven A Narod, of the University of Toronto, Ontario, and colleagues examined the association between coffee consumption and the risk of breast cancer among 1690 high-risk women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. The study included women from 40 clinical centres in four countries. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the average lifetime coffee consumption. The likelihood of developing breast cancer among BRCA mutation carriers who drank 1 to 3 cups of coffee daily, 4 to 5 cups, or 6 or more cups was reduced by 10 per cent, 25 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively, compared to those who drank no coffee, according to the report in the International Journal of Cancer. When the investigators classified the women by mutation status, they found significant protection from coffee for women with a BRCA1 mutation, but not for carriers of a BRCA2 mutation.

Detox diets are a waste of time and money, say scientists: New year detox products that purport to rid the body of harmful chemicals accumulated through seasonal over-indulgence are a waste of time and money, leading scientists said yesterday. Most of the pills, juices, teas and oils that are sold for their detoxifying effects on the body have no scientific foundation for their claims, according to toxicologists and dieticians. They will not influence the rate at which the body rids itself of toxins, and any beneficial effects would be matched at much lower cost by drinking plenty of tap water, eating fruit and vegetables and getting a few early nights. The entire market for detox products, which is worth tens of millions of pounds a year, rests on myths about the human body that are hitting consumers in the wallet, the experts' report has found".

You get the idea.



AN INCORRECT AIRFORCE

A military flyover planned for San Antonio's annual march to honor Martin Luther King Jr. has caused a rift among participants and prompted some to call for a boycott of the event. Two fighter jets from Randolph Air Force Base are scheduled to pass over a section of the three-mile march Monday. Organizers said the display is meant to be patriotic and an honor to King in a city with a strong military presence. But opponents of the flyover said the gesture represents support for the war in Iraq and runs counter to the beliefs of King and his work. The Rev. Herman Price, chairman of the city's MLK commission, said he is dismayed by the divisiveness caused by the flyover. "They say the planes represent war and bombs and death, but at the same time those planes can also represent our freedom and peace," Price said.

"I think that the military plays too significant of a role in our community for us to ignore them and not include them in this march," said City Councilwoman Sheila McNeil. "They are the reason why we have peace, and this is MLK's peace march." Critics of the flyover tried unsuccessfully at an MLK Commission meeting this week to scrap the jets from the march plans. Some said they will stay home this year, while others plan to wear bandanas or yellow ribbons as a show of protest.

Source

No comments: