AOL incinerator

Fatal fire mother 'wanted to create drama'
(BBC report on 31 January 2011)

It reminds one of a well known (and documented) life saga of AOL member Brandi620, doesn't it?
A council estate mother accused of murdering two of her children in a fire started it because she wanted to create a "drama", a court has heard. The wench, originally from Buxton, escaped while daughter Niamh, five, and son Cayden, two, died in the fire. She consequently denies their murder and charges of arson and causing grievous bodily harm to her son Kiernan, then eight months.

Nottingham Crown Court heard she had a troubled relationship with the children's father. No shit, Sherlock!

Timothy Spencer, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that she sought attention from her partner James Maynard and "Da Crew",  'friends' she desperately sought to find on AOL chatrooms, after their relationship had broken down.

"There were many ways with which she could have dealt with things. What she chose to do was to create a drama around herself and her children and that drama culminated in her setting fire [to her] own home."

The fire burned through the roof and destroyed upstairs windows He added that the defendant found out Mr Maynard, 28, had cheated on her several times, and said she had attempted suicide. The couple split up in May 2008 but later reconciled and their youngest child was born in August 2009.

The jury heard that, on the night of the fire, Ms ----- became annoyed with Mr Maynard deciding to do a shift at the hotel where he worked and not returning at the time he was expected back. Ms -----  started complaining of an intruder in the garden via her Facebook page and also tried to ring police on a non-emergency line that was out of order, the court heard. Wrong Popo line! When a friend rang her to ask if she was all right, she told her someone had tipped over a barbecue in the garden and thrown plants around, the prosecution said. CCTV was played to the court and metallic banging and crashing could be heard along with a woman's voice shouting "hello".

Mr Spencer said: "The prosecution says this was the start of the drama that Miss ----- started that night. "It was in fact a charade and the person doing the banging was her and it was designed to create the idea she was being targeted by a vandal or vandals so that she would gain attention."

A dreadfully final letter

A few years ago I came into contact with a young, highly intelligent computer scientist, with a Master's Degree from Princeton. The contact started in 2006, flourished into some pretty active exchanges of wit, his development of "MyTunes" and sporadic e-mails concerning Computers, the Internet and the Government, a potentially sinister triangle. I lost contact in late 2009 when I stopped the use of the particular Yahoo! mail account which I had used primarily to maintain contact to a person not part of my life any longer.

By coincidence I found a cross reference to that mailbox last night on my PC and decided to re-open it. What I found was chilling: dated December 30th 2010, the highly intelligent doctoral candidate, who called himself BeeZee (from his initials B.Z. and pronounced busy, for he relentlessly immersed himself in grotesque workloads) announced his imminent death.

Normally I would keep things like that - especially for the reason that I lost a brother under similar circumstances - quiet and hidden. But it was Bill's wish to have his note disseminated, "as long as you do it in its entirety and without alterations." I do so also because the torment contained in the letter profoundly changed my previous perception that suicide is the ultimate selfishness of the person taking his/her life. On the contrary, it is often selfishness of the people left behind to expect and insist on someone to live on with so much pain in them we cannot possibly comprehend.

Finally, the letter was sent originally to 40 people in Bill's life; some close, like 'friends' and mates from university, some remote, like me. As one can read in the final paragraphs of his suicide letter, the farthest people in his life were unfortunately his parents.

Bill died on Sunday, January 2nd 2011 when life support was shut off after a botched attempt to hang himself. Since then his wish to have his story told has gone global. It is haunting read.

Egypt: Advice from US not needed

Le Débat du Jour

Sec of State Clinton should be very careful in her support for violent demonstrators who want to overthrow Egypt's president; she might get more than she bargains for, namely a pro-Iranian regime under a staunchly anti-Western radical, 69-year old senile Mohamad El-Baradei, who has defended and advocated the Iranian ambitions to obtain nuclear weapons as recently as last year.

Dildo versus Dickheads:

One demonstrator, scared Chicago police in a huddle of fear and paranoia

Also, advice from the US is highly inappropriate: if the same demonstrations took place in Washington, Chicago or Los Angeles, a bloodbath by the hands of the respective  police would ensue.

Current Music: ANI DIFRANCO - Self Evident (CD: "Carnegie Hall 4.6.02")

In memory of: a space shuttle crew

Today 25 years ago I watched in disbelief in the dealing room of BNZ in Los Angeles as the routine start of the Challenger space shuttle ended in a fireball not even 2 minutes into the flight. Within seconds global trading came to a halt as traders absorbed the tragic event.

In memory of the crew:

Francis R. Scobee - Mission Commander; Michael J. Smith - Pilot
Gregory B. Jarvis - Payload Specialist 1; Christa McAuliffe - Payload Specialist 2
Judith A. Resnik - Mission Specialist 1; Ellison S. Onizuka - Mission Specialist 2
Ronald E. McNair - Mission Specialist 3

Some enchanting evening...

Concert et après spectacle

The concert last night at the Borderline was just brilliant, with New Orleans resident Ani DiFranco in top form. We enjoyed not only the nearly 100 minutes of superb and eclectic presentation of tunes combining sophisticated and mind-tickling lyrics and Ani's trademark staccatos by voice and guitar, but also the intimate post-show get-together at a nearby club. There we could witness that the singer does not only possess great performing gifts, but also an ever alert bright mind with great wit and eloquence. Emily and I were completely taken in by the bright star lightening up our dinner table.

King's Speech

The King's Speech in Newcastle

Bank of England's point man Mervyn King ventured into the heart of Britain's economic wasteland yesterday, to deliver a speech that I had read in late afternoon already before going to a concert. I pretty much agree with the points Mr King relayed to an audience assembled in Newcastle's Civic Centre last evening.

The current economic mayhem is a result from the intricately irresponsible and insane US Housing and Banking industries, and culminated in the implosion of these sectors in 2008-2009. Since then, recession has hit many parts of the world (with the notable exception of the Far East and Australia) and in Britain the danger of a double-dip recession very probable (already the last quarter of 2010 has shown a shocking contraction of the economy by 0.5%; a second consecutive quarter of negative growth would constitute such double-dip).

Faced with the conundrum of weak - if at all - growth, high unemployement and soaring inflation rate, it was of no surprise that Mr King's speech entailed bleak assessments and predictions. Surprising, albeit highly appropriate, was the BoE Governor's endorsement of the Government's austerity programme to reign in the heritage of the Labour regime which has laid the foundation for the current misery in Britain.
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/speeches/2011/speech471.pdf

Lebanon, in an endless quagmire

I have been affiliated with the Phalange party (Phalanges Libanaises) of Lebanon for many years and have maintained close contacts with the family clan dominating the Phalange for decades. The current situation in Lebanon, which let to the ouster of Prime Minister Saad Hariri (a Sunni, as mandated under Lebanon's constitution) today and the coup-style installation of MP Najib Mikati, threatens to spin out of control. Mikati is a traitor, a Sunni MP from Tripolis, who ran and won as a candidate of the Hariri-led party in 2009. Today he has become an agent of the extremist Hezbollah, and this threatens to plunge Lebanon once again to the brink of civil war.

I was about to travel to Lebanon on Friday. The trip was cancelled yesterday at the urging of the (British) Foreign Office.

The coup staged by Hezbollah was to prevent the UN-sponsored tribunal investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Harik Hariri (father of the now ousted PM) in 2005 to reveal its findings, which put the blame for the killing solely on Hezbollah.

Kataeb Party (Phalange) leader Amin Gemayel reiterated his party’s support for caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri for the prime minister’s post, saying he was the most competent person to form a new government.

Euro's last FM

http://www.last.fm/user/euro2hell

The music that rules my world...

Cheers! The Booze Calculator's here

Ever wondered how last night's binge drinking has hit your wallet and how it affects your waistline?

Bring in the Booze Calculator to figure out the damage, courtesy of BBC!

Ignore Palin Week

You're officially invited!
Ignore Sarah Palin Week! (2/28-3/4)

Location:Anywhere on Earth, as long as it's "Palin free"

Time:12:00AM Monday, February 28 - March 4 5:00PM

Event

Where to find me

WHEN?    February 3rd, 06:30pm - 08:00pm
WHERE?  Clement House, Hong Kong Theatre
EVENT?  
"Growing the aid budget at a time of deficit reduction: moral imperative and political challenge"
WITH?    Harriet Harman, MP and Shadow Secretary of State for International Development

Can't wait to counter the contentions of the daft bint

Face it, Facebook

Seen on

xxx (name withheld) is so happy that "Facebook has decided to allow my personal data be shared with 503,562,602 other facebook users without bothering me with nerdy questions first, foremost my postal address and phone numbers, office details, etc."

"We want all people exchange data, bring together paedophiles and children, murderers and victims," FB owner Zuckerman is rumoured to have boasted.

Adopt-A-Stalker

Daft-a, Barf-ta, Bafta

Outside the insular confines of Britain, "bafta" means nothing to the world as it is. Americans might think it is a misspelling of barf or daft, and instinctively are not far off the mark. For BAFTA, the wannabe Oscars of the British film industry, annually awarded by British pundits of miniscule IQ and infantile mind, is the penultimate laurels a flick could be bestowed with in jolly good England.

It is no surprise that the overwhelming part of this year's nominations goes to The King's Speech, which captured nods in 14 categories. It left me ... well, no pun intended ... speechless. I mean, it's a lovely, oh so lovely and harmless, G-eese rated movie "to be viewed and enjoyed by the whole family," canines and carnivores included. Let the cat out of the bag, with your final choices!

Films that are much more likely to prevent me from falling asleep before the credits have run their course are: True Grit, Inception, The Kids Are Alright, Black Swan, 127 hours, The Town and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - in that order.

Wham! Wake me up before I gag-gag...

Upcoming concerts

Three events coming up where you'll find me:

1) SHEA SEGER
   at Borderline; January 25th, at 7:00pm

2) ANI DIFRANCO
   at the Shepherd's Bush Empire; January 27th, at 7:30pm

3) VANESSA PARADIS
   at Koko, Camden; February 2nd, at 7:00pm

Keep your envy down. 

BoJo

Boris Johnson to launch campaign for new London airport

I agree with the 2nd-most powerful politician in the country:
Boris Johnson will step up pressure on the government to change its aviation policy with a report warning that London will lose jobs to European competitors unless David Cameron backs a new hub airport in the south-east. The London mayor has lined up senior business leaders, including Richard Reid, London chairman of KPMG, and Stuart Popham, former senior partner at Clifford Chance, to back his call for ministers to act more urgently in addressing the need for greater air capacity.

In exchange - and that is my personal take on it - we could easily close a few other airports that serve hardly any useful purpose and sell them to private industries or the military: Plymouth, Bristol, Cheltenham, Coventry, Derby and Norwich fulfil no purpose and could effortlessly and unnoticeably be scrapped in exchange for another London area airport.

Economic research on the merits of such revamp of the map of English airstrips have begun last October at this office and is expected to be concluded before the summer recess of Parliament. Stay tuned!

BoJo

Pre-weekend duties...

I support and co-sign the letter written by Boris and David, condemning planned union strikes when highest publicity is assured: during the royal wedding and the 2012 Olympic Games. The letter openly asks union members to revolt against their Stalinist leaders and chase them out of office (preferably throw them into the path of a Circle Line train; but that is MY spin of it).

Just one more thing:

Can Marina please make the wardrobe choices for Boris, and let her tie the knot?

Ta!

Weekend

T.G.I.F, eh?

11am at the St Pancras champagne bar for a flute of Chandon-Moët. Departure at 11:32, arrival at 02:45pm (Paris Mean Time). Arrival at Rue Pierre et Marie Curie - depending on how Emily negotiates traffic - at around 03:30pm (Paris Good Time) to commence the "same procedure as last year," starting with a bottle of Bollinger.

Back on Monday at 11am (British Dull Time).

Posted via BlackBerry

Shooting of a popular Congresswoman

It was only a matter of time when the appallingly despicable public polemic, like the one spewed by a hate-mongering Sarah Palin, who has sunk as low as putting up a map with targeted Democrats in Congress with gun sights, would trigger some nutter to actually take shots at one of Palin's potential victims.

Today it happened: re-elected Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifords was shot, together with 16 others, among them a judge and a staff member of the Representative who was one of six people killed. Also among the dead is a 9-year old child. Sarah Palin can be blamed for instigating the climate under which this shooting happened. What a tea party she will have tonight!

The SARAH'S PACK map on Sarah Palin's website ("17 more to go," with shooting victim Giffords presumably off her hit list today):

2011 - resolute w/o resolutions

First weekend back at home after a most brilliant trip to South Africa. Happy to say, the memories are still as vivid as the tan is still intact.


Returning first to Paris, the late 'fall-out' from Christmas had to be tackled: numerous postal notifications that parcels could not have been delivered while we were gone. For practical reasons - we did not want to fill up our suitcases with prezzies handed to us in South Africa and rather stuff them with local memorabilia and momentos - we gave each other stuff we had on our wish list on Amazon.co.uk.; and it worked brilliantly. Emily had to hire a taxi to the post office to pick up her gifts, a procedure repeated by myself on Wednesday.

At work everythign worked smoothly, no substantial backlog of work had accumulated over the past 3 weeks. On Friday my office welcomed four MEPs, an opportunity to vent my disdain for the euro, and to gloat over the 5% fall of the euro's value since the start of the year. More than ever, my contention written in my doctoral thesis some 15 years ago, that the eurozone - back then still in the process of preparation - would not survive two business cycles, holds as true today as back then. After the first boom & bust cycle, the eurozone looks like a conglomerate of limping and forlorn states brushing with various degree of financial ruin. In my eyes the EU commission's duty would be to declare Chapter-11 and to dissolve the doomed "union." It was good to take the European guests to an American restaurant, serving American wine, and rubbing in salt into the gaping wounds of our patients from the continent. It's good to see that, already in the absence of any legitimation from voters, the EU witnesses how the rug of secured financing is also being pulled from underneath their feet. Yes, I wholeheartedly applaud the doom heading towards the Soviet-EUnion, and its rapid demise.

When Boris asked me later, "you didn't mention anything adverse to our European friends, did you?" I just shrugged. After which BJ mumbled, "oh dear, this will cost London another 30 free tickets for the Olympic Games for some European bureaucrats to make up." I'm afraid he's right...

E1 and E2 (Emily proposed the idea to be called QE2) planned a weekend in London. But as it is her first weekend at home too, and she owes visits with friends and family to belatedly exchange good wishes for the New Year, we decided to make it next weekend, in Paris. It's nice to know that everyone around us is healthy and cheerful, optimistic for 2011, and all visitors to our South African homestead have made it back safely. At a time when Arab hoodlums and ghetto fucks lurk behind every bend on the road and in many airports, safe trips cannot be taken for granted anymore. I wish we'd nuke these bastards already.

I will keep myself occupied with resuming my duties as Anglochat's resident psychiatrist on AOL, unpacking the many parcels waiting under the Christmas tree (ok, it's a palm tree, actually), fake surprise as I unwrap them, and call people to thank. I also plan some ice-skating tomorrow at Somerset House. And I am pondering whether to post a picture showing tan and tan lines, and white spots... but I might lose this blogsite's G rating in the process. Maybe I will cut or black out the bits that could cause a ruckus.

Happy New Year to some, and things you deserve to others... personally I hope that the year will be as good as 2010, I'd settle for that. And let's forget about the last decade: it was the worst since the 1940s, I think. Arabs have ruined the fun for the rest of the world for a whole decade. It's time to retaliate. 

Current Music (Spotify enhanced): CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG - Heaven Can Wait