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Here's the thing. He seems like a nice guy. Hell, I'd go have a beer with him. Watch the game. That kind of thing. But good lord he shouldn't be President of the United States.
Via BoingBoing comes this absurdity; A U.S. Publicly funded 'Magnet' High School devoted to Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness:
"In late August, Maryland's Joppatowne High School became the first school in the country dedicated to churning out would-be Jack Bauers. The 75 students in the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness magnet program will study cybersecurity and geospatial intelligence, respond to mock terror attacks, and receive limited security clearances at the nearby Army chemical warfare lab.
The new school is funded and guided by a slew of federal, state, and local agencies, not to mention several defense firms. Officials say it will teach kids to understand the "new reality," though they hasten to add that the school isn't focused just on terrorism. School administrators, channeling Cheneyesque secrecy, refused to be interviewed for this story. But it's no secret that the program is seen as a model for the rest of the country, with the Pentagon and other agencies watching closely.
Students will choose one of three specialized tracks: information and communication technology, criminal justice and law enforcement, or "homeland security science." David Volrath, executive director of secondary education for Harford County Public Schools, says the school also hopes to offer "Arabic or some other nontraditional, Third World-type language."
Link to the article in Mother Jones:
Black Ops Jungle: The Academy of Military-Industrial-Complex Studies
As Nashville's latest resident I'm eager to find out the goings on about town. Hence my purchase of free newsagraph 'Nashville Scene'. I've read it today with interest - and was pleased to see their endorsement of Mayoral Candidate, (now soon to be Mayor), Karl Dean.
Imagine my shock and surprise when, leafing through the back of this fine listing magazine looking for Phone Sex Ads, I came across the image above.
I don't know what to think Dear Listeners. Of course being a 'little person' should be no barrier to working the pole, yet I can't help feel that 'Little Lacey' is exploited somehow. Am I wrong?
(P.S. Before anybody emails me with the suggestion, yes I will try to get her on the show).
So Diebold is changing their name to, I shit you not, 'Premier Election Solutions'.
Why not just re-brand as 'Honest McTrusty's Dependa Vote' if they're gonna go to the effort of ordering new stationary?
F*ckers.
Yes, it has been cancelled. The 1/2 Hour News Hour previously on LTA:
After watching the embedded clip above I find no reason to go into detail about why the show was asked to cease production. I find the whole thing has a creepy fascist, anti-life, anti-art vibe; I mean who the fuck doesn't like art?
If you don't then email me and I'll take you around some galleries no matter what city I'm in at the time to explain to you the transformative nature of personal creativity.
These people just hate and hate. But who specifically do they hate? And why?
People say to me: "Oh, sure Jett, it's great to go to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, but is it worth going any other time?"
Yes, my friends - it is worth visiting off-season, if only so you can be greeted by these intensely scary advertisements at Edinburgh Airport's baggage reclaim
Via BoingBoing comes the news that Oklahoma is offering the above license plate for your vehicle of choice.
No comment is necessary.
Oh, except to say "Oklahoma - what the fuck is wrong with you?"
Here's today's listing of 'films' at my local movie house:
More information on this wonderful little strapline can be found here:
Try as I might with my wee podcasts and videos I've never gotten close to something like the above.
Via BoingBoing.
Have just returned from 10 day shoot in London for 'Project X'.
While walking to the tube from my hotel in Earl's Court, spied this wonderful item: a 'Knife Surrender Bin'.
Fantastic!
What other kind of 'Surrender Bins' should we have in the streets I wonder?
Yes, friends - if you're in Kentucky these days why not visit the brand-spanking new 'Creation Museum'?:
Creation Museum - Prepare to Believe!
The Cyberweb has been a 'buzzin' with all sorts of news about this exciting venue where, according to the website: "'facts' don't speak for themselves"!
Here's a preview:
Now, strangely, not everyone seems to be a fan of the CM:
But I'm sure one trip to this wonderful world of Biblical Literalism would dispel anyone's doubts about the fundamental truths on display. I've checked the LTA Frappr Map but don't see any listeners in Kentucky. Which is a shame. Do we have anybody even remotely nearby who's willing to make the drive down and check it out?
(Photo from the Creation Museum Website: 'Guest Services Staff get together for a week of inspirational training')
This creepy woman at Manchester Airport wants you to "Treat yourself after security control."
Other unsettling signage at U.K. Airports:
Relax and Shop: John Carpenter's 'They Live' is a Documentary
The British Airport Authority Wants You to Relax
UPDATE May 3rd, 2007: Long-time LTA listener 'James Brown' sent me this story from the Times Online, (link below - followed by the text from the Times)
Bmi chief accuses BAA of forcing passengers to shop
by David Robertson
Sir Michael Bishop, the chairman of bmi, has criticised BAA for using increased security as a pretext for getting passengers to spend more time shopping at its airports.
Echoing the concern of a number of airlines, Sir Michael believes that BAA’s lack of investment in security scanners has forced passengers to arrive at airports earlier.
BAA recommends that passengers arrive four hours before an international flight and three hours before a European flight to clear security. Longer check-in periods give passengers more time to shop in the terminals.
Sir Michael said: “BAA asks people to come to the airport early only for the shopping. But people want to pass through as quickly as possible and that dichotomy has got to be solved, because what people want is seamless travel. People don’t want to go shopping.”
Bmi, the former British Midland, reported yesterday that operating profits during 2006 had risen 85 per cent to £10.2 million. However, the company estimates that this figure could have been £10 million higher were it not for security disruptions at Heathrow. A terrorism threat in August forced BAA to increase security inspections and enforce new regulations regarding what articles can be taken onboard aircraft.
A number of airlines have criticised BAA for inadequately staffing its security checkpoints after these changes. Ryanair kept a log on its website of the number of security checkpoints open at Stanstead and apologised to its passengers for delays caused by BAA.
The airport operator is also thought to have paid compensation to airlines for failing to meet security processing targets.
The Civil Aviation Authority is proposing guidelines that would require BAA to process 95 per cent of passengers through security within five minutes. BAA was not immediately available for comment. Although many passengers have long suspected that BAA tries to encourage shopping by keeping them in airports longer, it is unusual to hear such criticism from an airline owner.
Virgin Atlantic backed Sir Michael’s complaint. A Virgin spokesman said: “Heathrow appears to have turned into more of a shopping mall than an airport. It’s got to go the other way because passengers want a seamless process of check-in, clear security, then get on the plane.”
Bmi said that it planned to take advantage of a recent “open skies” agreement between Europe and the United States to initiate transatlantic services. Sir Michael said that the airline was still talking to its partners in the Star Alliance network but confirmed that bmi would fly to the United States from Heathrow once the new rules come into affect next March. The airline intends to lease more Airbus A330s to service the planned routes.
Sir Michael, who owns 50 per cent of bmi, added that he was considering the future of the airline after expressions of interest from British Airways and Virgin. Lufthansa, the German carrier that owns 30 per cent of bmi, also has an option to buy out Sir Michael from the end of next year. He said: “There are many options in the future ownership structure.”
Via Digg and many others.
One of my favourite films is John Carpenter's 'They Live'. It posits a world in which Aliens, (aka 'The Upper/Ruling Class'), control the populace through subliminal messages. The hero of the film, a homeless construction worker played by professional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper, discovers special sunglasses, (referred to in the film as Hoffman Lenses, after Albert Hofman perhaps), which let him see how the Aliens are controlling us.
It turns out that U.S. Dollars really look like this.
And billboards are saying this.
There are many things special about this film:
1) It's a Hollywood picture in which the hero is a homeless person.
2) It has a 'Kubrick-like' structure of 2 acts - with the second act, which takes place after the discovery of the Lenses), having a completely different feel: 1st act is serious/2nd act is action film. In the 1st act the hero is keeping his head down, accepting of the situation, sheep-like / in the 2nd act he instantly becomes an avenging everyman.
3) The infamous 'fight-scene' in which the hero must convince his male friend, (played by the AMAZING Keith 'too much presence for the movies' David), to don the Hoffman Lenses for the first time: this fight goes on for 5 minutes of screen time - and is simultaneously a jab at men's propensity towards violence, a commentary on how the common man is kept down through 'divide and rule' tactics, a satire on the movie convention of 'two guys gotta fight before becoming buddies' and a wonderful example of building tension through action.
I could go on and on but the point of this post is this:
'They Live', like most science fiction, is a commentary on the time it was made - yes, it's a few years old - but it's really about Our Time. Its basic message is that those who rule over us use media to keep ordinary folks trapped in a system of enforced consumption for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful.
In the film, the 'man in the street' is unaware of the surrounding subliminal messages that compel him to shop and value money above all else. The Aliens in 'They Live' have to keep these messages secret lest people rebel and revolt in reaction to being controlled. But look at where we're at now. It's worse.
I took the photos in this post a couple of days ago while waiting for a plane at Belfast International Airport. The information screen there was no longer informing me about my flight times - it was telling me what to do.
Relax and Shop.
Consumer Capitalism has got to the point where the messages telling you to conform to the system don't have to be hid anymore. And why not? Since the Cold War's end there's no competing system to worry about. No reason to hide the persuasion.
Relax and Shop.
But I think we can see the end point a' comin' - when the President of the United States had to say this after a major terrorist attack:
"They want us to stop flying, and they want us to stop buying."
then some thing's afoot. I'm not sure what it is but there's something brewing on the horizon.
There's got to be a better way to live - one that's not based on mindless consumption of products. I'm getting this feeling that we're in for some major changes - when our system has no reason to hide its propensity to order people around, folks are going to notice. Notice and resent. That resentment's gotta go somewhere and people are tired of the lack of spiritual nourishment that we find around us. That's a powerful combo.
OK, that's enough ranting for now, I'm off to read Time Out. Not long ago they renamed their 'Shopping' section 'Consume'.
Excerpt from an article in the Washington Post today, (via Metafilter):
"Living under the gag order has been stressful and surreal. Under the threat of criminal prosecution, I must hide all aspects of my involvement in the case -- including the mere fact that I received an NSL -- from my colleagues, my family and my friends. When I meet with my attorneys I cannot tell my girlfriend where I am going or where I have been. I hide any papers related to the case in a place where she will not look. When clients and friends ask me whether I am the one challenging the constitutionality of the NSL statute, I have no choice but to look them in the eye and lie."
Complete article:
Frank Rich's column in the New York Times is always worth a read. Unfortunately the Times puts his work behind a 'pay-wall' called Times Select. I doubt Mr. Rich is a fan of this.
Anyhew, I happen to pay for Times Select and present for your edification Frank's most recent column. Don't read it if you're the kind that gets easily upset. We're watching right now - IN REAL TIME - these people, these world criminals, loot the U.S. Treasury, and cause untold misery to hundreds of thousands of people. I fully expect my children and grandchildren to ask me why - why didn't I do more - to alleviate the suffering the U.S. Federal government is causing right now around this tiny planet.
The Ides of March 2003
By FRANK RICH
Published: March 18, 2007
TOMORROW night is the fourth anniversary of President Bush’s
prime-time address declaring the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In
the broad sweep of history, four years is a nanosecond, but in America,
where memories are congenitally short, it’s an eternity. That’s why a
revisionist history of the White House’s rush to war, much of it
written by its initial cheerleaders, has already taken hold. In this
exonerating fictionalization of the story, nearly every politician and
pundit in Washington was duped by the same “bad intelligence” before
the war, and few imagined that the administration would so botch the
invasion’s aftermath or that the occupation would go on so long. “If
only I had known then what I know now ...” has been the persistent
refrain of the war supporters who subsequently disowned the fiasco. But
the embarrassing reality is that much of the damning truth about the
administration’s case for war and its hubristic expectations for a
cakewalk were publicly available before the war, hiding in plain sight,
to be seen by anyone who wanted to look.
By the time the ides of March arrived in March 2003, these warning signs were visible on a nearly daily basis. So were the signs that Americans were completely ill prepared for the costs ahead. Iraq was largely anticipated as a distant, mildly disruptive geopolitical video game that would be over in a flash.
Now many of the same leaders who sold the war argue that escalation should be given a chance. This time they’re peddling the new doomsday scenario that any withdrawal timetable will lead to the next 9/11. The question we must ask is: Has history taught us anything in four years?
Here is a chronology of some of the high and low points in the days leading up to the national train wreck whose anniversary we mourn this week [with occasional “where are they now” updates].
March 5, 2003
“I took the Grey Poupon out of my cupboard.”
— Representative Duke Cunningham, Republican of California, on the floor of the House denouncing French opposition to the Iraq war.
[In November 2005, he resigned from Congress and pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from defense contractors. In January 2007, the United States attorney who prosecuted him — Carol Lam, a Bush appointee — was forced to step down for “performance-related” issues by Alberto Gonzales’s Justice Department.]
March 6, 2003
President Bush holds his last prewar news conference. The New York Observer writes that he interchanged Iraq with the attacks of 9/11 eight times, “and eight times he was unchallenged.” The ABC News White House correspondent, Terry Moran, says the Washington press corps was left “looking like zombies.”
March 7, 2003
Appearing before the United Nations Security Council on the same day that the United States and three allies (Britain, Spain and Bulgaria) put forth their resolution demanding that Iraq disarm by March 17, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, reports there is “no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq.”. He adds that documents “which formed the basis for the report of recent uranium transaction between Iraq and Niger are in fact not authentic.” None of the three broadcast networks’ evening newscasts mention his findings.
[In 2005 ElBaradei was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.]
March 10, 2003
Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks tells an audience in England, “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.” Boycotts, death threats and anti-Dixie Chicks demonstrations follow.
[In 2007, the Dixie Chicks won five Grammy Awards, including best song for “Not Ready to Make Nice.”]
March 12, 2003
A senior military planner tells The Daily News “an attack on Iraq could last as few as seven days.”
“Isn’t it more likely that antipathy toward the United States in the Islamic world might diminish amid the demonstrations of jubilant Iraqis celebrating the end of a regime that has few equals in its ruthlessness?”
— John McCain, writing for the Op-Ed page of The New York Times.
“The Pentagon still has not given a name to the Iraqi war. Somehow ‘Operation Re-elect Bush’ doesn’t seem to be popular.”
— Jay Leno, “The Tonight Show.”
March 14, 2003
Senator John D. Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia, asks the F.B.I. to investigate the forged documents cited a week earlier by ElBaradei and alleging an Iraq-Niger uranium transaction: “There is a possibility that the fabrication of these documents may be part of a larger deception campaign aimed at manipulating public opinion and foreign policy regarding Iraq.”
March 16, 2003
On “Meet the Press,” Dick Cheney says that American troops will be “greeted as liberators,” that Saddam “has a longstanding relationship with various terrorist groups, including the Al Qaeda organization,” and that it is an “overstatement” to suggest that several hundred thousand troops will be needed in Iraq after it is liberated. Asked by Tim Russert about ElBaradei’s statement that Iraq does not have a nuclear program, the vice president says, “I think Mr. ElBaradei frankly is wrong.”
“There will be new recruits, new recruits probably because of the war that’s about to happen. So we haven’t seen the last of Al Qaeda.”
— Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism czar, on ABC’s “This Week.”
[From the recently declassified “key judgments” of the National Intelligence Estimate of April 2006: “The Iraq conflict has become the cause célèbre for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.”]
“Despite the Bush administration’s claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, U.S. intelligence agencies have been unable to give Congress or the Pentagon specific information about the amounts of banned weapons or where they are hidden, according to administration officials and members of Congress. Senior intelligence analysts say they feel caught between the demands from White House, Pentagon and other government policy makers for intelligence that would make the administration’s case ‘and what they say is a lack of hard facts,’ one official said.”
— “U.S. Lacks Specifics on Banned Arms,” by Walter Pincus (with additional reporting by Bob Woodward), The Washington Post, Page A17.
March 17, 2003
Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, who voted for the Iraq war resolution, writes the president to ask why the administration has repeatedly used W.M.D. evidence that has turned out to be “a hoax” — “correspondence that indicates that Iraq sought to obtain nuclear weapons from an African country, Niger.”
[Still waiting for “an adequate explanation” of the bogus Niger claim four years later, Waxman, now chairman of the chief oversight committee in the House, wrote Condoleezza Rice on March 12, 2007, seeking a response “to multiple letters I sent you about this matter.”]
In a prime-time address, President Bush tells Saddam to leave Iraq within 48 hours: “Every measure has been made to avoid war, and every measure will be taken to win it.” After the speech, NBC rushes through its analysis to join a hit show in progress, “Fear Factor,” where men and women walk with bare feet over broken glass to win $50,000.
March 18, 2003
Barbara Bush tells Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she will not watch televised coverage of the war: “Why should we hear about body bags and deaths, and how many, what day it’s going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it’s, it’s not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?”
[Visiting the homeless victims of another cataclysm, Hurricane Katrina, at the Houston Astrodome in 2005, Mrs. Bush said, “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this — this is working very well for them.”]
In one of its editorials strongly endorsing the war, The Wall Street Journal writes, “There is plenty of evidence that Iraq has harbored Al Qaeda members.”
[In a Feb. 12, 2007, editorial defending the White House’s use of prewar intelligence, The Journal wrote, “Any links between Al Qaeda and Iraq is a separate issue that was barely mentioned in the run-up to war.”]
In an article headlined “Post-war ‘Occupation’ of Iraq Could Result in Chaos,” Mark McDonald of Knight Ridder Newspapers quotes a “senior leader of one of Iraq’s closest Arab neighbors,” who says, “We’re worried that the outcome will be civil war.”
A questioner at a White House news briefing asserts that “every other war has been accompanied by fiscal austerity of some sort, often including tax increases” and asks, “What’s different about this war?” Ari Fleischer responds, “The most important thing, war or no war, is for the economy to grow,” adding that in the president’s judgment, “the best way to help the economy to grow is to stimulate the economy by providing tax relief.”
After consulting with the homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, the N.C.A.A. announces that the men’s basketball tournament will tip off this week as scheduled. The N.C.A.A. president, Myles Brand, says, “We were not going to let a tyrant determine how we were going to lead our lives.”
March 19, 2003
“I’d guess that if it goes beyond three weeks, Bush will be in real trouble.”
— Andrew Bacevich, a retired Army colonel teaching at Boston University, quoted in The Washington Post.
[The March 2007 installment of the Congressionally mandated Pentagon assessment “Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq” reported that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 9, 2007, there were more than 1,000 weekly attacks, up from about 400 in spring 2004.]
Robert McIlvaine, whose 26-year-old son was killed at the World Trade Center 18 months earlier, is arrested at a peace demonstration at the Capitol in Washington. He tells The Washington Post: “It’s very insulting to hear President Bush say this is for Sept. 11.”
“I don’t think it is reasonable to close the door on inspections after three and a half months,” when Iraq’s government is providing more cooperation than it has in more than a decade.
— Hans Blix, chief weapons inspector for the United Nations.
The Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that 71 percent of Americans support going to war in Iraq, up from 59 percent before the president’s March 17 speech.
— Ari Fleischer
[Asked in January 2007 how Americans have sacrificed, President Bush answered: “I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night.”]
Pentagon units will “locate and survey at least 130 and as many as 1,400 possible weapons sites.”
— “Disarming Saddam Hussein; Teams of Experts to Hunt Iraq Arms” by Judith Miller, The Times, Page A1.
President Bush declares war from the Oval Office in a national address: “Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure.”
Price of a share of Halliburton stock: $20.50
[Value of that Halliburton share on March 16, 2007, adjusted for a split in 2006: $64.12.]
March 20, 2003
“The pictures you’re seeing are absolutely phenomenal. These are live pictures of the Seventh Cavalry racing across the deserts in southern Iraq. They will — it will be days before they get to Baghdad, but you’ve never seen battlefield pictures like these before.”
— Walter Rodgers, an embedded CNN correspondent.
—Hillary Clinton.
“Coalition forces suffered their first casualties in a helicopter crash that left 12 Britons and 4 Americans dead.”
— The Associated Press.
Though the March 23 Oscar ceremony will dispense with the red carpet in deference to the war, an E! channel executive announces there will be no cutback on pre-Oscar programming, but “the tone will be much more somber.”
March 21, 2003
“I don’t mean to be glib about this, or make it sound trite, but it really is a symphony that has to be orchestrated by a conductor.”
— Retired Maj. Gen. Donald Shepperd, CNN military analyst, speaking to Wolf Blitzer of the bombardment of Baghdad during Shock and Awe.
[“Many parts of Iraq are stable. But of course what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everyone.”
— Laura Bush, “Larry King Live,” Feb. 26, 2007.]
“The president may occasionally turn on the TV, but that’s not how he gets his news or his information. ... He is the president, he’s made his decisions and the American people are watching him.”
[The former press secretary received immunity from prosecution in the Valerie Wilson leak case and testified in the perjury trial of Scooter Libby in 2007.]
“Peter, I may be going out on a limb, but I’m not sure that the first stage of this Shock and Awe campaign is really going to frighten the Iraqi people. In fact, it may have just the opposite effect. If they feel that they’ve survived the most that the United States can throw at them and they’re still standing, and they’re still able to go about their lives, well, then they might be rather emboldened. They might feel that, well, look, we can stand a lot more than this.”
— Richard Engel, a Baghdad correspondent speaking to Peter Jennings on ABC’s “World News Tonight.”
Via No Quarter comes this collection of Fox News graphics from Welcome to Pottersville.
Of course it's easy to bash Fox News, but I've got to hand it to them - their use of the 'text crawl' is brilliant. Any of the content in the main 'video' section of the broadcast can be spun in the text below for desired effect.
It seems to me after watching a while that the concept here is not just to offer a 'view' on the news, but to present an alternative reality that 'cocoons' the viewer - if Fox News is always on, (and don't forget Dear Listener the 'Always-On' TV seems to be a staple of many U.S. households), then just a wee glance up from time to time is all it takes to wrap the viewer in a warm blanket of fictional reality - kinda like some sort of historical parallel fiction.
Via Metafilter comes this new 'YouTube like' service, GodTube:
There are some choice vids such as: Baby Got Bible, Christian Camp Slingshot, and of course I had no choice Dear Listeners, but to upload a wee film myself:
UPDATE - Friday, March 9th: Thanks for the emails re: GodTube going offline - for your viewing pleasure you can watch the clip on YouTube:
Feel like the web is just too left-leaning? Feel Wikipedia's not fair and balanced? Well, never fear cause now there's Conservapedia!
As someone who doesn't see themselves as 'left' or 'right' I was all hyped up to try this exciting new web resource.
But then I saw this entry:
Uh oh.
I don't care how right-wing / neo-conservative / pre-emptive attack / love Bush / hate the tree-huggers you are:
Jesus did not hang with dinosaurs.
Repeat again after me:
Jesus did not hang with dinosaurs.
Also:
The earth is not 10,000 years old.
Evolution is real.
Our planet revolves around the sun.
And, just cause you want to make the world a better place, maybe through ways not involving force, that doesn't make you a pussy.
And one more time:
Jesus did not hang with dinosaurs.
While trying to find an online copy of my last arrest report for this post:
I came across this story featured on the United States Drug Enforcement Agency website:
Ahh, very clever to disguise yourself as a DEA Agent. Quoting from the story:
"DEA Special Agent in Charge Gilbride stated, “The DEA Badge this individual was carrying was fake, but the charges he faces for robbing homes, stealing drugs and terrorizing the community are real. Impersonating a federal agent is a serious crime and will not be tolerated."
But where would you get authentic looking gear to pass yourself as a member of one of America's finest? Well, why not try the DEA Online Store accessible from the above website? After all, they're having a Winter Sale!
A joint study by the University of Ulster and the University of Queensland has found that Northern Ireland is the most bigoted place in the west.
Press release from the University of Ulster:
"Northern Ireland has the highest proportion of bigoted people in the the western world, according to research by Professor Vani Borooah.
Not only does Northern Ireland – along with Greece – have the highest proportion of bigots, but the bigots are on average more bigoted than those in other countries.
The main target of the Northern Ireland bigots are homosexuals, followed by immigrants or foreign workers.
The study was carried out by Vani Borooah, Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Ulster and John Mangan, Professor of Economics at the University of Queensland and is to be published in the prestigious economics journal, Kyklos.
Nearly 32,000 people in 19 European countries as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA were asked as part of the Human Beliefs and Values Survey – Would you like to have persons from this group as your neighbours? The five groups were people of another race, immigrants or foreign workers, Muslims, Jews and homosexuals.
In Northern Ireland 44% of the 1,000 respondents did not want persons from at least one of the five groups as their neighbours. The province was closely followed by Greece (43%). The lowest proportion of bigots was in Sweden (13%), Iceland (18%), Canada (22%) and Denmark (22%).
As regards each of the five groups the percentage of respondents in Northern Ireland who would not like them as neighbours was homosexuals (35.9%), immigrants or foreign workers (18.9%), Muslims (16%), Jews (11.6%) and people of a different race (11.1%).
For the same groups, the average of all the countries surveyed was respectively 19.6%, 10.1%, 14.5%, 9.5% and 8.5%.
Homophobia was by far the main source of bigotry in most western countries: over 80% of bigoted persons in Northern Ireland and Canada and 75% of bigots in Austria, the USA, Great Britain, Ireland and Italy would not want homosexuals as neighbours.
The exceptions to this were the Scandinavian countries in which the main target of bigotry was Muslims: 74% of bigoted Danes, 68% of bigoted Swedes and 63% of bigoted Icelanders did not want Muslims as neighbours. The corresponding proportions for homosexuals in these countries were, respectively 37%, 44% and 43%.
The study also explored who among the various countries’ populations were most likely to be bigots. It found:
· Women are less likely to be bigoted than men.
· The young (15-29 years) and middle-aged (30-49) were less likely to be bigoted than those aged over 50.
· People who were unhappy were more likely to be bigoted than those who were not unhappy.
· Some evidence that financial dissatisfaction might also be a source of bigotry.
· Right wingers, especially those who felt their government’s priority should be ‘maintaining order in the nation’, were more likely to be bigots than those whose politics were middle-of-the-road or left-wing.
· Students were less likely to be bigots than non-students.
· Those in socio-economic classes A-B (upper and upper-middle class); C1 (middle class, non-manual) and C2 (middle, manual) were less likely to be bigoted than those in D-E (unskilled manual).
The study also explored attitudes towards three of the groups – Muslims, immigrants and homosexuals. People in a number of countries, Belgium, France, Finland, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg, were more likely to be bigoted towards Muslims than Northern Ireland citizens.
However in every country, except Greece and Italy, people were significantly less likely to be bigoted towards immigrants and homosexuals than people in Northern Ireland. Along with Greece, Northern Ireland was the most homophobic country in the western world."
The PDF of the study can be found here:
Love Thy Neighbour: How Much Bigotry Is There In Western Countries?
An interesting discussion of the study was found on Radio Ulster's William Crawley hosted Sunday Sequence programme this morning. Click the 'Hear/There/Everywhere' section on the link below to listen, (programme should be online for the next 7 days):
Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence
(Photo above: Sunrise near a 'peace wall' in Belfast this Friday morning past / Image below taken from the study referenced above).
Oh God, they're at it again.
LTA listener Allie let me know that those wacky comedians behind the America Show have put another episode up at YouTube.
Now, I ask you - who the hell defends Wal-Mart? I mean, they're a massive company that spends millions a year on press and publicity - they don't need really bad comedians to press forward they're message that 'unions are bad'.
Crap.
The America Show previously on LTA:
People often ask me, "Jett, why no LTA tips on how to win a bar fight?".
In response I present the video above.
Also if you want to go more in-depth I recommend the following:
Bas Rutten's Big Book of Combat, Vols. 1 & 2, (Includes 6 CDs)
Holy crap!
Cheney: Talk of blunders in Iraq is 'hogwash'
And in other news, the winners of the annual LTA 'Can't See the Forest for The Trees Award' goes to this guy:
Quite possibly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.
Remember folks - if people ask you what it's like here in Belfast - tell them it's just like this.
UPDATE, 7PM: So impressed was I with Captain Planet that a 'Video Response' had to be created: LTA 'Captain Planet Saves Belfast' Video Response
UPDATE 2, 10:35PM: Thanks to LTA listener, 'Child of TV' who sends in a link to the complete episode...and do my ears deceive me or is that LeVar Burton as the Narrator??!?!?? Complete Episode:
'If It's Doomsday It Must Be Belfast'
UPDATE 3, April 8th, 2007: More on LTA Meets 'Captain Planet Saving Belfast' can be found by clicking on the link below:
More Captain Planet Goodness, AKA Silvest11 is going to 'Knock My F**k In"
Here's a photo taken at what I'd like to think was the U.S. Consulate here in Belfast. But alas it's actually the headquarters of the Ulster Bank - situated next to the Consulate.
You can't take photos of the Consulate itself of course. The Feds are worried takin' pics will steal their soul or something like that.
To enter the Consulate itself one has to go through a horrible security procedure in a bizarre perspex box, isolated away from all in case you have a dirty bomb or some sort of equivalent. You can't bring in your phone/camera/iPod/cameraphone/camerapod/walkman or anything electronic onto the 'compound'. Again I think it's cause they're worried about your 'juju'.
Anyway I had to go to the Consulate to get a replacement passport as the old one was just about full up. They were pleasant enough inside - not that I got to get close to an actual living person mind you - the procedure involves speaking through another layer of perspex, (plexiglass) - human touch must at all times be avoided.
I would have liked to walk the grounds afterwards but was informed that if I did so the guards would swarm on me pretty quick.
All in all a shitty experience.
What are Americans so scared of? Jesus, we all have to live in the world. Maybe they get a lot of threats - who knows? I'll enquire when I get back - for I'm off to the States you see.
First time in two years.
What will I find?
Am concerned of course. Folks from the States who don't live or travel outside of that great land mass seem unaware of its total collapse of moral and political authority as of late. The news coming out of the area is not good. But then, when did I ever believe the news?
So I'm off on a fact-finding mission Dear Listeners. I'll record what I find and report back to you in the next podcast. As I'll be travelling a great deal I may be absent from this blog but I trust commenters like Phil and Jama will keep you entertained.
Stay well.
Well, I'm not starting anything here - merely trying to find out more about the folks who labelled Letter to America 'Lib'; as seen in this post:
So I started reading Chronwatch - but I didn't get very far because the first paragraph of their latest post reads thusly (italics mine):
"The pure lunacy of the Iraq debate is only understood when one arrives at the understanding that the collective we in the West are not really a part of this mislabeled “War”. The war is being fought between many tribes of Islam that fall into the major categories of “Sunni” and “Shia” whose differences are equivalent to the differences between the Methodists and the Baptists; totally and utterly insignificantly absurd except to a culture that is repressive and barbaric and living in a savage pre-enlightenment era."
Hey, Chronwatch. Guess where Letter to America lives?
Northern Ireland.
Yes, that's right, Northern Ireland. Ever hear of something called The Troubles? You know how many people died here because of a conflict between two different sects of Christianity?
As many as died during September 11th.
Guess that means we're 'repressive and barbaric and living in a savage pre-enlightment era' over here huh?
Or, maybe, just maybe - and call me kinda kooky here for suggesting it - it's HUMAN FRIGGIN' NATURE - and we gotta find a way to deal with it - CAUSE WE'RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER.
Man...some people.
The Internet has been all a buzzin' with a story that Fox News has commissioned a right wing version of the Daily Show.
Well, it's called 'The America Show' and a couple of trial versions of it are now on YouTube; for examples see the clips below.
It is the worst thing I have ever seen.
I posted a 'Video Response' to them but they've got their clips set to 'moderation'; I have a feeling they're not gonna let it through.
UPDATE: 11:07pm - It appears that this IS NOT the new Fox show, known as 'This Just In'. Now I really do feel like an asshole.
UPDATE 2: November 29th, 2006: Hmm...according to this comment by BD there might just be something to this 'Fox-connection' after all. Will have to investigate.
UPDATE 3: December 4th, 2006: Still no clarity on the provenance of the 'The America Show'. Will investigate further. On another note, LTA has been noticed due to my response to the America Show:
ChronWatch Blogs
What I find interesting about the ChronWatch post is that there is no mention of the reality that is the terrible lack of comedy in the America Show, (if you haven't seen it click on one of the first 2 clips below - it really will be the worst thing you've ever seen).
Instead they assume that America Show detractors are what they call 'Libs'. Long time listeners to the podcast will know that I'm neither Liberal nor Conservative and have voted for a variety of different political parties in my life. So I've never been called a 'Lib' that I know of. And this got me to thinking. Look at this word closely:
Lib
What does it remind you of? It seems to be that in the English language the majority of racist slang words have the same shape and sound - mostly one syllable and ending sharply:
Mick
Kike
Chink
Spic
Wog
Pol (ack)
Nig (ger)
Heeb
Jap
Kraut
It looks like these folks view people on the left as a different race. So of course the 'Left's' values are different. It's OK to hate the 'Left'. And that's what it's all about really.
That's why the America Show is so unfunny.
It's not just the total lack of timing or actual jokes. It's an underlying feeling of hatred directed towards 'the other'.
Who said Democracy was boring? Belfast proves them wrong!
For those of you who don't know, folks are trying to kick-start representative democracy back into action here in Belfast. Those pesky politicians met today at a place called Stormont.
All was going kinda well, well maybe not that well...well, we'll never quite know because a guy by the name of Michael Stone entered the building with a knife, a gun and 6 to 8 explosive devices.
Stormont Attack Devices Defused
Years ago Michael Stone killed some people:
1988: Three shot dead at Milltown Cemetery
Yet, several years later he was set free under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
I don't think they'll let him out again.
Am not trying to be flippant Dear Reader. It's just that sometimes this place gets to you.
What I need tonight is a bit of levity - submitted for your enjoyment some clips of the incomparable Andy Kaufman. He always brings a smile to my face.
