http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/ elledark's recent URL reviews on StumbleUpon en-us Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:16:44 -0800 Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:16:01 -0800 http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/ http://cdn.stumble-upon.com/images/logo_su_36x36.png Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:31:14 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/2Vnvi7/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1222054/Blair-EU-president-month.html/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/37062877/ Rant alert ! This is just me getting on my political soap-box again, so do feel free to skip it if you're not in the mood. Thank god for SU where I can let off steam or it'd be coming out of my ears. Apparently Tony Blair, ex-prime minister of the UK, is likely to be made first President of Europe at a special summit of EU leaders next month. I can't even begin to express my disgust if this is true.

Tony Blair infamously lied his country into an illegal invasion of Iraq. The 'dodgy dossier' of misleading information he presented to parliament to justify the invasion was a deliberate fabrication. It wasn't a case of 'bad intelligence', it was cold, calculated misrepresentation of the truth designed to prop up the secret commitment he had given to George Bush to join in the ill-conceived adventure. He was so servile and submissive in his relationship with America that he became known as 'Bushs Poodle' and humiliated his own country.

Since being pushed out of office to make way for Gordon Brown, Blair has trousered millions on the lucrative lecture circuit but, obscene as that is, its not the worst thing thats happened. This man was jointly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths and creating over 4 million refugees, he colluded in Bushs programs of illegal kidnapping (rendition), secret prisons and torture, he was so craven that he gave away the civil rights of British citizens in unequal extradition treaties to please his master Bush .. but yet he was still made a 'special peace envoy' to the middle east, where he did precisely nothing during the whole of Israels savage and prolonged terrorist attack on Gaza.

Haven't we learned anything from the Bush torture years ? The world desperately needs other strong power blocks to counter-balance and check the global influence of America. Its in everyones interests, Americas included. We've all seen the apalling mess that can be caused by an unscrupulous president wielding unfettered power. The European Union, if it ever got its act together, has the potential to provide just such a balance but if f they appoint Blair as president they can kiss goodbye to that. Blair is Americas boy to the core and when the US says jump he will always say 'how high sir'. That is exactly what the world does not need after the colossal follies of Iraq and Afghanistan

Did you get the idea I'm disgusted .. angry ? How could this possibly happen ? Blair is a liar, a war-criminal and a failed politician who betrayed his own country to serve his ego and ambition. He has the blood of innocent men, women and children on his hands. His place is in jail, not strutting the worlds stage. If Blair does become 'President of Europe' I would absolutely love to see his every public appearance met with a barrage of thrown shoes. That wonderful gesture of contempt, given to the world by a brave Iraqui journalist, is what Bush and Blair deserve whenever they dare to show their faces in public. In a world as absurd as this one clearly is, absurd gestures make sense.

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1222054/Blair-EU-president-month.html Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:14:36 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/26DbJ7/www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,26182164-5014090,00.html/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/36764525/
Another mythical city has joined Atlantis in the publics fevered imagination. The city of the sex-mad lesbians. Swedish tourism bodies have been swamped with inquiries from millions of men captivated by a mythical town rumoured to be home to 25,000 sex-mad lesbians. "Chako Paul " is said to have been founded in 1820 in the Swedish woods by a wealthy man-hating widow. Two statuesque blonde women stand guard at the gates of the town, which also features a medieval castle. Reports of this sapphic hanky-panky have reached as far as China, where millions of chinese men are crippling the country's internet providers trying to find out how to get to the town. Ummm ... what on earth do they think they're going to do when they get there ? I mean .. the point of the story is that the ladies are *lesbian* .. right ? Perhaps the chinese guys are all so hot and utterly irresistible they'll be able to 'convert' the girls. Yeah .. I expect thats what'll happen ..:))

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.news.com.au/travel/story/0%252C28318%252C26182164-5014090%252C00.html Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:37:54 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/4Z72kv/www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/obama-wins-nobel-peace-pr_n_314907.html/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/36732680/

I see that today .. "President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in a stunning decision designed to build momentum behind his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism". Predictably the news has sent Americas right-wingers into paroxysms of fury as they desperately try to invent a coherent reason to rubbish the event and diminish the honor done to their country.

We ignore them, of course, but still its a curious award, not based on any solid achievements because there haven't been any. In fact to give a major peace prize to a man who, whatever his rhetoric and probable good intentions, is in reality still presiding over the illegal occupation of one country (Iraq) , waging a brutal war in another (Afghanistan), and has done nothing yet to either curb Americas murderous arms exports to Israel or address the festering injustice of the Palestinian problem does seem a trifle perverse to my simple mind. Which is not in any way to knock Obama, who is probably the best president America could have at the moment. Its just very strange timing for an award of this nature.

A more sensible (and defensible) approach would have been to consider his contribution to world peace at the end of his presidency based on his effort and accomplishment. Still, lets hope this premature award stiffens his resolve and encourages him to reinforce words with concrete actions. Of course Obama deserves no criticism because he didn't make the award to himself but, without being too cynical, it invites the perception that he got it at this point in time mainly for not being George Bush. Lets face it though, if you want world peace simply 'not being George Bush' is a good start .. :)

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/obama-wins-nobel-peace-pr_n_314907.html Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:00:26 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/1DtoLv/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212851/Has-Osama-Bin-Laden-dead-seven-years--U-S-Britain-covering-continue-war-terror.html/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/36022395/

Osama Bin Laden is Dead - he died quietly from kidney failure in December 2001 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Afghanistan at a small ceremony attended by family. Before his death he had, several times, denied involvement with the attack on the twin towers. A fortnight after the attack he is on record as saying .. " 'I have already said I am not involved. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge... nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act.' Despite that, he became the 'bogey-man' used to scare the American public into supporting Bushs 'war on terror' and the justification for long-standing plans to invade certain countries in the middle-east.

Since his death, whenever support for the 'war on terror' was flagging, a new Bin Laden 'video' would miraculously emerge, in which some guy who looked a lot like him would play the pantomime villain and invite choruses of 'boo ... hisss'. Many who have studied the tapes carefully point to significant differences between the real Bin Laden and the character who appears there. The timing of the release of the tapes has always been very fortuitous for the American government. Many conclude that they are fabrications prepared by the CIA to provide continuing justification for what America is doing in the Middle-east. Would the CIA, acting on the instructions of the administration, lie to and mislead the American public ? Well, even the most cursory study of American history provides a very clear answer to that. They would. The only question in this particular case is whether they have.

Right now President Barack Obama is preparing to commit more American tax-payers money and soldiers lives to a fresh operation to find Bin Laden. Official press releases trumpet the fact that squads of U.S. and British special forces have been sent into Waziristan this summer to 'hunt and kill' the shadowy figure intelligence officers still call 'the principal target' of the war on terror'. I ask myself, if they are serious why warn Bin Laden by announcing it in the press ? Think about it. Doesn't that seem like dumbness beyond belief ? Unless of course its just another bit of dramatic fiction aimed at the American public to provide a continuing justification for the American occupation of Afghanistan.

Who knows ? Not me .. or you. All we do know with certainty, because it is fact and on the record, are the many hundreds of times the Bush administration lied to the American people. Thats indisputable. And we know from published documents about times in the past when CIA activities, actual and planned, have been designed to feed lies to the public and mislead them. That too is unarguable fact. So at least the things we *do* know for sure create some kind of context for us here. Whether Bushs bogey-man Bin Laden was the master-mind behind what happened to the twin-towers and whether he is still alive remain in doubt but, frankly, both are irrelevant. Thats not what its ever been about, is it ?

Ellie

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212851/Has-Osama-Bin-Laden-dead-seven-years--U-S-Britain-covering-continue-war-terror.html Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:24:09 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/4zWcAg/www.tortureteam.org/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/35753000/ The Bush Torture-Team Trading Cards - be the coolest kid on the block with the latest Bush torture-team trading cards. Cool pix of all your favorite criminals, nifty stats, and bitchin' info about what made them such great torturers. Get the full set or trade with your buddies. Hours of fun when you're water-bored. Awesomeness dude ..

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.tortureteam.org/ Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:40:19 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/2xgitW/www.ourfuture.org/files/AHIP_chart7.jpg/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/35566355/ Who's Paying To Kill Health Reform ? - click on the chart (or the link for this post) to see a bigger and more legible version. It sheds welcome light on the current health-care 'debate'. These are the people happy to let ordinary Americans suffer and die unnecessarily so they can make money or claim party-political 'advantage'. In simple language, the bad guys.

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.ourfuture.org/files/AHIP_chart7.jpg Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:46:33 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/29YpQb/www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/23/three-former-top-cia-agen_n_266721.html/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/35504145/ Video .. How Americas Dishonest 'War' in Afghanistan Endangers the World - three former high-ranking CIA agents explain why the war in Afghanistan is making the world more dangerous, rather than safer, for Americans. Robert Baer, former CIA field operative in the Middle East and the author of "See No Evil," says: "The notion that we are are in Afghanistan to make our country safer is complete bullshit." And Graham Fuller, former CIA station chief in Kabul, emphasizes: "Both wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) have made the world much more dangerous for Americans and for any American presence overseas." To me this simply seems like a statement of the absolutely, blindingly obvious. The invasion of Afghanistan was a huge Bush folly, the continuing occupation is doing hideous damage, the 'war' is unwinnable, and is being justified through a mixture of lies and misrepresentation. If only Americas politicians and media would just tell the truth for once. Fat chance of *that* happening.

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/23/three-former-top-cia-agen_n_266721.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:11:28 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/1iUi47/www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/inew-rulei-no-shame-in-be_b_264695.html/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/35433362/ Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word - the incomparable Bill Maher on the loony-rights latest rush to refuse to apologize for anything .. ever ! He says of the foaming-at-the-mouth, right-wing refuseniks fury at Obama for even implying America might not always have been 100% perfect .. "Yes, our so-called president actually said people in other countries might like their countries better. I was so shocked I nearly dropped the Bible I was using to help me masturbate into my gun". LOL

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/inew-rulei-no-shame-in-be_b_264695.html Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:12:49 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/29zKOF/weinterrupt.com/2009/08/three-women-beat-wrong-man-senseless-over-wolf-whistle/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/35399128/ Three Women Beat Wrong Man Senseless Over Wolf-Whistle - the title pretty much says it all. Three drunken thug females beat a guy up because they thought he'd whistled at them. Before anyone gets into the 'you-go-girl' crap, flip the coin. Visualise three drunken guys. They think a woman on the street whistled at them or said something they didn't like. So the men chase the woman down, assault her, beat her to the ground and keep on beating her. That OK is it ? Thought not. There isn't one law for women and another for men. Drunken thugs are drunken thugs, whatever their gender. I'm only surprised these three yobs (one of them turned up at court drinking beer) didn't get jail time. If the situation had been reversed and they'd been men they would have. Thats unfair. Personally I'd have given them one jail sentence for the assault and another extra one on top of that for making themselves so stupid drunk they were out of control. Idiots.

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/weinterrupt.com/2009/08/three-women-beat-wrong-man-senseless-over-wolf-whistle/ Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:47:00 -0700 http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/2pHJ9r/www.halloweencostumes.com/vampire-teeth.html/t:4af7ddfc8cb43;src:reviews http://elledark.stumbleupon.com/review/35345715/ Fancy a Bite ? - I seem to have been muttering on a lot about political stuff lately and I'd hate to get stuck in a rut or be predictable so shall we all dress up as vampires today instead ? I know its not halloween but so what ? Theres a 'naughty vamp' costume at this link I quite like, fake vampire teeth, blood capsules and even 'just-been-bitten' makeup that transforms you into a genuine fang-banger. So how about it .. fancy a bite ? ..:))

]]> http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.halloweencostumes.com/vampire-teeth.html