Back in a while

Gone on Holiday back in a few weeks. So any comments won't be moderated till I get back unless they are sent on the first half of Sat 19th Aug. (Might blog via my mobile - but it'll be txt stuff - so perhaps I won't ).

Iain Dale vs MPAC man - first reactions

Just seen Iain Dale and a fellow from MPAC (sorry I have never heard of his name before and have no idea how to spell it - and I've checked over MPAC's web site to see if it helps ) interviewed by More 4 news on the Lefty Lexicon issue.

I thought the MPAC guy was well prepared. (Perhaps had been reading Iain's Blog before turning up.) His analysis of the statement about Palestinians, and the concession that if the statement had been 'some' Palestinians then it would not be racist was a good point. He also made good use of the issue over Labour being accused of anti-semitism with their pig posters with Michael Howard.

Iain, and the interviewer tried to get it back onto freedom of speech - but the change of tack didn't work.

Iain didn't get trounced, but the MPAC guy has to be fairly happy with the outcome. He got his point across clearly, I'm afraid Iain's was less well heard.

I think Iain would have done better on witch-hunts and bringing up the issue of MPAC's campaign against Stuart Ware of panorama. That would have exposed them a bit more.

But thanks Iain for standing in for internet freedom of speech. If you want to know why its important nip over to the MPAC web site to find out.

Economist leads with Nasrallah wins the war

Don't think I would go so far, but mostly as I don't think the war is over - this has only been an opening battle. The UN looks like being its ineffective best again. Hezbollah will keep it weapons and use them again. Israeli military planners will therefore already be planning the next battle to win the war.

The UN and Lebanese government just look like providing the half time oranges - not stopping the fight. They're talk of peace making is false - and they know it.

Iran and Syria are boasting about the battle - now they have no need of dead children to wave in front of the media. Iran is busy putting on cartoon exhibitions that deny the organised extermination of Jews by Nazi fascist forces in the 1940s.

Can anyone think this is over ? Syrians are now clamoring for war over the Golian heights - I can't see how Israel can give those up with out secure peace with Syria.

Its not a ceasefire - just a time out to rearm and rethink. Israel at least looks willing to learn lessons fast. They have suffered much more than they thought to guided missile technology used by Hezbollah and provided via Iran. Soon precision guided long range rockets will be in their arsenal with war heads provided by Iran.

How long does anyone think Israel will be able to sit by and watch this build up ? How long before Hezbollah or another group try to attack Israel again ?

The time table to the next war is now set up. And those who pushed for the ceasefire and allowed the botched UN resolution to go though are responsible for those who will be its victims.

Sorry to be so down - but that's how it looks to me this morning. ( There is a more positive spin which suggests that now Arab honour has been satisfied and Israel has more reasons to want long term peace that a negotiated peace may now follow. I hope that's right - I just don't believe it.)

Update: For another view see Edward Luttwak in the First Post.

The more I look - the worse it is

The more I look the less secure I feel about Islam. First we had Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, warning about the dangers of Multiculturalism ( my post on this here ). Now I read about a priest in Belgium being prosecuted for warning about how Christians will be treated if Europe becomes Islamic.

What do these two men have in common - well actual experience of living as a minority in a muslim country. We should listen to their words carefully whilst we still can hear them. Soon MPAC and the like will try to prevent us hearing the warnings.

See also the Right to Justice campaign.

Update: Also worth a look is the juxapositioned edited interview by Dan Sytman, co-host of “Sytman & Boze” on Seattle'’s KTTH radio of Azzam Tamimi's radio interview here thanks to LGF - first spotted on DFH.

MPAC witch hunts - campaign against Islamo-thought crime

This is best reported else where - but in short MPAC are trying to define an offence of Islamophobia and to stop anyone from making any comments or jokes. The issue here is the Lefty Lexicon at Conservative home.

The aim is of course to prevent free speech. Will Orange stand up to them. ( I have a little sympathy with Orange as a PR officer should know better than to court controversy. But I'm more worried about the precident that will be set.)

MPAC are busy trying to make sure no more cats get out of the Islamofascist bag with another Panorama broadcast - see here. They wish to prevent a diversity of views - their viewpoint can be calibrated by their belief that the BBC is pro-Israeli !

See this extract from their article ( my comments in red ).

What you can do?

All you have to do is send a quick email to the BBC. No more than a paragraph, and to make it even easier there are bullet points below summarising the points against this documentary. Read through them and the contact details follow.

• Demand that Panorama team reconsider their choice of journalist for a documentary on Interpal and that the programme show the true work of Interpal in Palestine and the suffering and oppression of the Palestinian people. (ie censure what the report produces - the MPAC way )

• Surely a journalist such as John Ware, who is notorious as a pro-Israeli Islamophobe (this is just Anglophobic racism - see I can play this game too), cannot be expected to cover this subject with the "accuracy and impartiality" to which the BBC are bound by the Royal Charter(more honoured in the breach for proMuslim bias and institutional left wing viewpoint IMHO), or to fulfill the BBC's commitment to contribute to "a more inclusive society" (BBC: Building Public Value document).

• Allowing Ware to abuse his position in the BBC to pursue an Islamophobic witch-hunt at the license-fee payer's expense will destroy Panorama's credibility and good name and shatter Muslim confidence in the BBC.( So whats to be done with Orla Guerin then on the same basis ?)

Here is a summary of John Ware's Islamophobia:( Now it gets really interesting)

• John Ware's documentary on another Muslim pro-Palestinian organisation the Muslim Council of Britain was widely condemned for John Ware's Islamophobic, pro-Israel bias and received over 600 complaints. (Proving what ? - this isn't proof of anything. You claim 60k members - so one in a hundred could be bothered to write in. Maybe the others were just wondering in Mr Ware telling at least some of the truth. )

• John Ware's bias is evidenced by the great praise heaped upon him from individuals and groups renowned for their pro-Israeli, Islamophobic positions, such as Daniel Pipes and Harry's Place. (Again - this doesn't mean he wasn't objective and correct)

• Ware allegedly openly stated to a Muslim group that this is the start of 'a new cold war.'(Sounds rather familiar from lots of other reports. If his report is close to the truth then this statement would be true also. The actions of MPAC in trying to censure this journalist are the only evidence here - and it supports his statement on a cold war. )

Frankly these rantings from MPAC are just depressing. They show that they just don't do rational thought ( at least not in the extract I've just being dealing with ).

If you don't like MPAC censorship campaign then you can email panorama here panorama@bbc.co.uk to suggest MPAC be ignored in their campaign against John Ware.

Also email Orange to suggest they don't cave here stuart.jackson@orange.co.uk.

Tags BBC MPAC Panorama John+Ware Orange

Incredible A levels

So its record 'result' time again. All the arguments, objections and spin has been so over rehursed these last few years that there is little to add.

But let me point this out to the teaching unions who want to stop carping. Effort is not the same as ability. A levels are no longer a good guide to ability and knowledge. The are starting to be phased out in the independant sector and employers don't believe them any more. State pupils, like my children, will be left with a debaced currency.

To a lesser extent the same thing is going on with degrees.

A levels are now much less useful than they used to be, and thats the education estanlishments fault - especially this NuLabour government, but with some blame on John Majors too.

Orla Guerin - Busted! (Drinking From Home)

Take a look at this analysis of another typical bit of BBC reporting by Drinking from Home. I don't know what he's drinking - but it must be good stuff.

Drinking From Home: Orla Guerin - Busted!

Tag BBC+Bias Orla+Guerin

BA not flying. War over - silly season is open

Bishop talking sense shocker !

Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, has write an article for the Daily Telegraph. Its worth reading, especially his analysis of the problem with Islam and its demands for dominion and how multi-culturalism is failing England.

He asks:

So how does this dual psychology - of victimhood, but also the desire for domination - come to infect so many young Muslims in Britain?

See the article for his answer.

I think this desire for domination is what is being missed by the MSM right now - who do the victim bit - but are missing the nature of the problem we are now presented with.

The miracles of Jesus - Eps 2

Sorry I just missed it today - Boy in a Shed's birthday party was the priority and our video recorder just hasn't worked ever since NTL last switched of our analog signal. Maybe NTL watch again will have it or it will be repeated somewhere.

If you saw it then why not let me know what you thought ?

Thanks.

John Reid responds bluntly to British Muslim representatives

The BBC is reporting the words of John Reid in response to the letter placed in advertisements by British Muslim MP's, Peers and the MCB.

He is reported as follows by the BBC:

The home secretary said he would not question the motives of those who signed the letter, but said it was a "dreadful misjudgement if they believe that the foreign policy of this country should be shaped in part or in whole under the threat of terrorist activity".

Mr Reid told the BBC: "No government worth its salt would stay in power in my view, and no government worth its salt, would be supported by the British people if our foreign policy or any other aspect of policy was being dictated by terrorists.

"That is not the British way, it is antithetical to our very central values. We decide things in this country by democracy, not under the threat of terrorism."

Too right. I imagine he'd prefer not to question their motives and he has some idea of where that would lead him.

Those who wrote this letter have completely misjudged the country they are part of. We will not be black mailed.

Michael Howard has just come out and said it:

Echoing this stance, former Tory leader Michael Howard said the letter had given "ammunition" to extremists.

He said: "It is, I think, completely misconceived to suggest that we should change our foreign policy because it might cause some people to take up arms against us.

"That's a form of blackmail and I think that letter was completely misconceived."

That contains some of what I said earlier here... . I went further to suggest that those who wrote the letter (also quoted in my previous post ) might have felt they had some right to determine British policy, by right of their religion.

This is the underlying problem. These leaders have done nothing of worth that I have noticed to help their fellow religionists dying at each other's hands - where British Foreign policy might help - eg Darfur. But they will pay for adverts where it seems to me the major issue is pride and a desire for dominance rather than care for the citizens of Lebanon. ( The quickest way to stop the suffering in Lebanon would be for Hezbollah to stop firing rockets and get rid of their stock pile of random murder weapons.)

Events will no doubt tell if I have been too harsh or Dr Reid has been too generous. I get the feeling that patience is running out, even on the left, with the MCB and it co-travelers.

BBC spins Nasrallah statement - why ?

The BBC headline could just have easily been "Nasrallah promises unending war until Israel leaves the Shabaa farms" . The BBC article supports that view (or at least did when I took the screen shot below - see I'm learning ), and it was the policy Hezbollah were pursuing before the recent Israeli reaction to attacks on the territory.

I wonder why the BBC went the way it did ?



Tag BBC+Bias

The Conservative's civil war heritage

Daniel Hannan thinks he's spotted a correlation between Arabist sentiment and Europhiles , and Pro-Israeli sentiment and Eurospectics. We'll he's right in my case.

Do what we say or our young men may try to kill you

Does that sound like blackmail ? Does to me.

A letter written in a cloak of reassuring language is doing the rounds in the national press and the BBC today. This idea that foreign policy must change or a small minority of out citizens will try and kill us is a knife pointed at the heart of our democracy and freedom (IMHO). I recognise there are other, more benign, ways of reading this letter. But I think my interpretation is cause for concern. As ever we could all be wrong, but we are required to take a view and a position - or to accept other people will do it for us.

Here is the letter - in green the letter printed today in the press.

Prime Minister, As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens.

It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad.

To combat terror the government has focused extensively on domestic legislation. While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy.

The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.

Attacking civilians is never justified. This message is a global one. We urge the Prime Minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion.

Such a move would make us all safer.

Signed by three Muslim MPs, three peers and 38 groups, including the Muslim Council of Britain.

Again they don't ask for help with Darfur or to stop torture and medieval execution of people in Iran. For religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. Just do what you are told Dhimmi or it will be worse for you.

Prescott - I want my money back

Just watching Prescott (DPM - in charge of not rocking the NuLabour boat any more  ) giving a almost comic performance at a press conference on BBC news 24. He must be rubbing our noses in it - it could be Ronnie Barker giving reading this press release. He's even thanking John Reid and Douglas Alexander for their good work - he must mean all the work. Prescott making a few phone calls to people apparently.

We should get a refund on his inflated salary.

EU Referendum goes to war with Kathleen Carroll of AP

Richard North (of EU Referendum) is going for the jugular with Kathleen Carroll of AP with this post. He's angry as AP haven't taken Reuters open line of admitting their mistake. He also reports on further evidence from German sources showing even more directly the stagting of the 'event' and a video from you tube on Qana.

He's doing us all a service here - keeping on at the media contrived deceit over Qana. See Zapp's video footage below - be warned the film shows the dead body of a young boy which you should find distressing - I did, he looks much like my son. (Hat tip to EU Referendum here).



I just hope some of the wilder rumours about that incident aren't true (I've avoided links to them as I can't judge if they have any truth or not - but the MSM should have been interested in them ).

The First Post's First Birthday

The First Post is a year old today. I have to admit they have interesting articles written often with authority, but without excessive word counts.

They also have a good visual format for online reading - take a look for yourself here .....

Islamofascist ? (Islamic Fascist)

George Bush called the people who are trying to kill large numbers of their own citizens Islamofascists. Sounds spot on to me. The Arch Bishop of York was on the radio this morning telling use we should not use such terms (the language of the Texas ranch - to non stereo typing Arch Bishop said), but try to understand those involved in such plots and how they have been manipulated to such acts of evil by others.

Fascism seemed to have that effect in Germany - the way the organisations try to take over the whole state looks a lot like the National Socialist Party to me.

To my mind Islamofascism sums up the challenge we face nicely. We need to recognise the element that Islam plays in the terrorist movements such as Al Q, Hamas and Hezbollah. But they aren't Islam as many Muslims try to explain it to us. So a qualifier is needed, to protect those innocent people, and given their attitude to authority and brutal disregard for others fascism seems to fit well. They certainly look like fascists to me.

Not sure the Arch Bishop should be type casting Texan ranch owners though.

Update: I Believe the actual words used by George Bush were Islamic Facist. Biased BBC has an interesting article on the BBC trying to avoid those words. So the BBC and the Arch Bishop of York are desperate to suppress them eh ? Must be worth using then. I think the key thing here is they summarise and communicate the threat and nature of our new deadly enemy succinctly- so the BBC won't like that then.

Hezbollah uses Christian villages as shields in missile attacks

Here's some insight into how civilians are being treated by Hezbollah from the Catholic New Agency. Extract below ... I have little knowledge of the CNA, so perhaps their reports need to be taken with a pinch of salt - or even better investigated and confirmed or rebuffed by a member of the MSM ( after all thats what they are for ).

"A Christian from the village of Ain Ebel, who requested to remain nameless for fear of a reprisal from Hezbollah, reported that he found Hezbollah fighters setting up a launcher on his rooftop. Hezbollah fighters ignored his pleas to stop and fired the missiles. He immediately gathered his family and fled his home, which was bombed 15 minutes later by an Israeli air strike.

Hezbollah has also attempted to stop Christians from fleeing their villages. According to Christian Solidarity International, on July 28, Hezbollah fighters fired upon several Christians fleeing Rmeish with their families, wounding two.

Sami El-Khoury, president of the World Maronite Union, adds that media reports about Christian support for Hezbollah are inaccurate. "

Channel 4 news confirm Hezbollah intimidation of Journalists

Imagine my shock as at the end of a report about how terrible things are in Tyre right now Channel 4 (UK TV) admit that Hezbollah 'heavies' have been round to warn of their people against taking pictures of rockets being fired from the town.

This is exactly the sort of caveat that should be on all reports that are posted under restrictions.

Well done Channel 4. I don't suppose anyone heard anything similar on the BBC ?

Check out FT comment on media reporting of Israel-HezB war

Gideon Rachman makes the same point about Darfur I made a week or so ago. ( Muslims and Arabs you need an answer here. )

But he also shines the light back at us westerners. I don't agree with his acceptance of bias in favour of Israel , I'd say it was the other way round and his article is part of the evidence to support that. But there will never be an answer to that point that satisfies all.

Instead lets concentrate on making sure that all the points of view and analysis are at least heard. And false propaganda and systematic bias exposed.

PS Hat tip to The Editors blog that google's desktop search facility has decided I must read and put me onto the FT article.

Newsnight article on Reuters and the bloggers

Post written as watching Newsnight Monday 7th Aug.
So here we go... its Emily Maitlis in the chair.

About 16 mins in – if you just want to catch the article on BBC's watch again. Blogs not mentioned so far. They have photo journalists explaining how blatant the manipulation is – but it wasn't their organisations that reported it.

Hajj speaks to Newsnight to give his reaction. He says he was just clearing dust on a frame from the photo(for the extra smoke photo). Adnan Hajj says no no its perfect on the F16 photo... (Right-O Adnan - sorry if we can't believe you this time - or any of the other times.)

EU Referendum's header makes the picture this time – rather than when only a part of his blog was shown on a Newsnight article on Qana last week. ( Richard North gets interviewed – and the word blog gets its first use in print ). He gets to put his case this time.

Shame Richmond (Daily Telegraph) has been put on to protect the MSM as he works for a right wing paper – perhaps working practices need to be changed – he's very evasive saying the image showed a man with a child in his arms killed in the bombing, so its not that bad if it was staged. I'd be ashamed of myself if I put up that sort of argument – so should he be. (( I've since checked his blog - he makes an argument about photos chosen - but he ignors the difference between the two images he uses as an example of what to chose - one has a western looking red cross worker - the other a eastern bearded Hezbollah supporter with no crosses on him. They have very different messages to the world, especially the Arab/Muslim world )).

Reuters (Paul Homes) says he welcomes scrutiny from Bloggers. And he welcomes bloggers exposing manipulations by MSM. He admits media has been manipulated in the past. Its a fairly honest and complete answer. The say they have pulled all of Hajj's work off their database. He's done well – under bad circumstances. In fact he makes the case for bloggers keeping the MSM true.

Well done to Newsnight for running the article and Paul Homes said encouraging things. Either he's just socking up the bad feeling or he really does get it.

Lets hope things improve and no one dies from misinformation or history changed due to published lies or sloppy journalism.

BBC says "Lebanon PM revises air raid toll"

What they mean is " Lebanon PM revises air raid toll down from 40 to 1"

But perhaps that's too long a heading eh - though the earlier headlines had the 40 figure in them.


Of course the toll could have been 40 - its an inevitable result of dropping high explosives on buildings. Maybe the IDF had some idea of who was in the building, maybe not. But they will make mistakes and kill people. Hezbollah just fire unaimed rockets in the general direction of human beings. They will kill people too.

This is still tragic, but need to be reported straight.

They're at it again - and the BBC is their customer

Drinking from Home has done a little detective work - showing the Hezbollah footlights company out and about in Lebanon - this time its a Woman wailing. Bias BBC has this story too.

The BBC updates its image once it realises its been had - but no apology or disclaimer yet.

Surely now they are going to have to question what they are being spoon fed by one side in this war ? ( Don't get me wrong I believe there is real suffering and terrible tradegy going on in Lebanon and Northern Israel right now. I wish it would stop - but the spinning of the suffereing is something organisations like the BBC should be able to spot and stop. )

(Reuters seem to be good Hezbollah customers - see here ).

Update: Drinking from home gets spotted by the BBC. See their blog explaination of how photos get used and their story on the withdrawl of very upset women infront of many different houses that Drinkg from home was pointing out.

.

I shoudl also point out that the BBC denies using Reuters photos. So perhaps they use AP - they're still in denial.

Reuters suspends Adnan Hajj - photographer from Qana

Just read EU Referendum post on this. ( Also see Amercian Thinker here ). Reuters have suspended Mr Adnan Hajj - see here.

In essence it appears Mr Hajj has been putting his copy of photoshop to good use. American Thinker describes the MSM approach to using these images as 'drive by journalism'.

There must be an increasing problem as western news agencies use local staff due to the threat to westerners. Are we being progressively blinded and fed images by Islamic terrorists like Hezbollah ?

Its a scandal - will it make the MSM today ( or Newsnight ? ) I'll wait and see. (Update: it appears Newsnight will deal with this tonight - what angle will they take - see here. Thanks to ceci n'est pas mon nom for giving me a heads up on this.)

See what I got from Google News with his name below and then comapre to the search on BBC news at about 11:30am BST 7Aug06... ( I've put links to the searchs which of course may evolve with time). (Update: This story has made the BBC at last on Newsnight last night an the internet here - no links with the controversy over Qana though. )

Google News :

NewsBusters

Reutergate Is News Everywhere But in the (formerly) Mainstream ... NewsBusters - 4 hours ago ... To show that the idea of staging events may not be unique to Adnan Hajj, Sweetness & Light seriously questions, based on his whereabouts and his apparent ... Reuters Admits Photo Fraud: Now What About Qana? American Thinker all 2 related »

Melbourne Herald Sun

Beirut bomb pic doctored Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia - 4 hours ago ... The photograph by Adnan Hajj, published by global news agencies on the weekend showed thick black smoke rising from high-rise buildings in the besieged city. ... Reuters Fires Photographer Jawa Report Reuters scandal demands an outside investigation American Thinker Doctored Reuters Photo of Beirut and the Manipulation of the Media Counterterrorism Blog Power Line - Journalism.co.uk - all 36 related »

The worst photoshop I’ve ever seen (Update: More evidence) Hot Air, MD - Aug 5, 2006 ... It probably was the photographer, Adnan Hajj, who ’shopped the image, if only because Reuters HQ could surely manage a slicker job than this. ...

Jawa Report

Another Fake Reuters Photo from Lebanon Jawa Report, TX - 9 hours ago Another photo by Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj has been shown to be doctored. ... Okay, so two Reuters photos from Adnan Hajj Ali have been debunked? Any more? ...

DOCTORED REUTERS PHOTO OF BEIRUT AND THE MANIPULATION OF THE MEDIA FrontPage magazine.com, CA - 2 hours ago ... Reuters' faked photograph of Beirut burning, by Adnan Hajj. Click ... disturbing. And there may be more faked photos out there by Adnan Hajj. ...

Israel Insider

Reuters admits publishing distorted Beirut photo, apologizes ... Israel Insider, Israel - 20 hours ago ... The photographer credited, Adnan Hajj, also was responsible for some of the staged photographs from Qana, such as this one (discretion advised). ...

Reuters admits to doctoring Lebanon strike photo Jerusalem Post, Israel - 18 hours ago The scene was photographed by Adnan Hajj, who had also photographed the aftermath of the Israeli attack on Kana last week, in which the Lebanese initially ...

Hezbollah's favorite photographer? Wizbang, DC - 23 hours ago The big dogs of the blogosphere are all over Adnan Hajj, the Reuters photographer who has the amazing good fortune to be on the scene, camera at the ready, at ...

Blog Consensus: Reuters Photographer Photoshopped Beirut "Burning ... NewsBusters - Aug 5, 2006 ... overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs August 5, 2006. Many buildings were flattened during the attack. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)": ...

A friend e-mails:
National Review Online Blogs, NY - 15 hours ago
Adnan Hajj’s photos are still on the wire, including this one which raises some questions from the cynic in me. The caption reads ..

BBC News:

Your 2 search results for "Adnan Hajj"

Send us your Hajj experiences
Millions of pilgrims have converged on the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Send us your Hajj experiences.
» 88% relevance | 21/01/2005 | similar stories

Mecca dream for aged pilgrim
The man who is probably the world's oldest pilgrim fulfils a dream made possibly by the generosity of readers of BBC News Online.
» 84% relevance | 10/02/2004 | similar stories

West wing challenge

Following on Iain Dale -> I came out as ... where there no Repulicans available ?

Ahh, the ever-cynical and sarcastic speechwriter. Gutsy and not afraid to speak up or clash with authority, his dry wit is amusing. But under it all he's just a big teddy bear... and the world's biggest Yankees fan.


:: Which West Wing character are you? ::

British troops in Afghanistan 'on the brink of exhaustion'

The Daily Telegraph is reporting this here ... if this is true then something must be done now. This is just no way to treat our fellow citizens who are risking their lives.

I hope someone is able to make NuLabour take its eye of its own navel at get something done here ( and stop spinning in immigration etc Dr Reid - get the government focused on the 2 major wars its fighting, 1 its an intrested party in and preventing a 4th in the south Atlantic. )

Update: See also BBC review here ...

BBC 1 Sunday - The miracles of Jesus part 1 - Rageh Omaar

Just watched the first instalment of "The miracles of Jesus" presented by Rageh Omaar. Having commented before seeing the program I thought I'd put my thoughts down now. ( I'm still not quite sure if he wrote the episode or collaborated in the material. ) Rageh introduced himself as an Muslim at the beginning - so let me state my faith as a Christian here - I'm not going to put caveats on every item I write, but you can view what I write in that light

Initial reaction was cautious. I thought the idea of linking some of the miracles Jesus performed to possible expectations of the Jews at the time was a good idea - but remember that's all it is. There are a few problems I could see with what Rageh presented. ( Though I do like his approach of putting the usual argument about do you believe in the miracles to one side - and concentrating on the impact of them being believed and interpreted at the time. )

1) The Wedding in Cana and the miracle of water into wine. This miracle was carried out reluctantly by Jesus at the bequest of his mother. It therefore seems it may not have been planned by Jesus. Hence you can't then speculate about what Jesus was trying to show - he was meeting a need bought to his attention. The only planning would have been God's. John 2 v1-12

2) The story of Jesus walking on water missed out Peter going out to walk to Jesus and making a few footsteps then sinking. Matthew 14 v22-32( The spin from Rageh and the image on TV was they only accepted him when they held his hand. Also the linking to Joshua was the most spurious of the attempts to phrase things in terms of 1st Century Jewish thinking ).

3) The language used - sorry I couldn't identify it [ please post if you know what it was] - used the name Isa for Jesus on a number of occasions. ( Sorry if I heard incorrectly here and I may well have- but its the impression I was left with. If true then its a subtle hint to Muslims which most Christians could be expected to miss ). See extract below - I am not a linguist or translator so I can't attest to the absolute accuracy of what follows, but it gives an idea arguments that can reasonably be made:

Jesus’ name was never ‘Isa ( see http://www.answering-islam.org.uk/Intro/islamic_jesus.html )

Jesus’ mother tongue was Aramaic. In his own lifetime he was called Yeshua in Aramaic, and Jesu in Greek. This is like calling the same person John when speaking English and Jean when speaking French: Jesu, pronounced "Yesoo", is the Greek form of Aramaic Yeshua. (The final -s in Jesu-s is a Greek grammatical ending.) Yeshua is itself a form of Hebrew Yehoshua’, which means ‘the Lord is salvation’. However Yehoshua’ is normally given in English as Joshua. So Joshua and Jesus are variants of the same name.

It is interesting that Jesus' name Yehoshua’ contains within it the proper Hebrew name for God, the first syllable Yeh- being short for YHWH ‘the LORD’.

Yeshua of Nazareth was never called ‘Isa, the name the Qur’an gives to him. Arab-speaking Christians refer to Jesus as Yasou’ (from Yeshua) not ‘Isa.

4) Perhaps the most worrying part is the introduction for next week when Rageh promises to go beyond the Church's teachings to reveal who Jesus really thought he was. This can only be speculation based on an incomplete study of one aspect of his life ( we are not even told which sources are being used for the miracles descriptions - as I have shown they vary from the Gospel descriptions).

I'm, afraid what is being presented is a theological speculation ( which is fine in itself when described as such), but should not be presented as fact. Surely some form of discussion should then follow to make the viewer aware of the diversity of opinions ?( a Jewish, Christian and Muslim representative would be interesting.)

What follows next week worries me - though I found this week program thought provoking - hence the post. But in short I don't think the BBC should be presenting academic theological argument as fact - especially without establishing the range of ideas and I think providing a guide to the Christian teaching on these key matters.

As a Christian I worry that peoples opinions will be formed by a very partial view of only one element of Jesus's life being speculated about from only one viewpoint. Surely the parables and teachings of Jesus deserve some coverage ?

Again lets see if they treat Islam the same way on TV ....

Added Later:

I'm afraid I've mised epsisode 2 - it was Boy in a Shed's birthday party and there was a party to over see. I mention this as I see a lot of people have found this post on Google and could be looking for comment on the second episode. Sorry don't have any yet - hope its on NTL watch again or BBC 3/4 sometime. I'll have a look.

The problem with the call to moderation

So Tony Blair is calling for an alliance of moderation. I wonder if he thinks about how weak that sounds.

To take a secular analogy- lets pretend it was a call to moderation by West Ham fans ( 2nd football team I thought of - blame Iain Dale. ) Extreme West Ham fans have been causing trouble - so everyone goes on air to call for 'moderation'. Be a little less of a West Ham fan - don't always go to away games -try wearing a Tottenham strip some times - do not indulge in the Blog of Mr Dale.

Its not going to go down well is it ? Calling someone a moderate fan is something right off those 'real fans only' adverts that McDonald's ran during the last World Cup. Being called a moderate undermines your position with you peer group.

The question should be which group of West Ham fans have the true following ? Its not extremism vs moderation.

You won't make moderate West Ham fans by getting them all to indulge in the ways of Tottenham Hotspur sometimes. They will just feel undermined by the effort you are making.

Its a weak argument that is bound to fail.

Something better is needed.

Identity theft - how hard is it really to stop ?

Just listened to a report on Identity theft in the UK. I have a solution - but it seems almost too simple.

The major long term draw back of being a victim of such a crime seems to be damage to your credit rating. Which amongst other things prevents you from getting new credit cards, loans or mortgages.

Hold on a minute - why not allow people to switch their credit rating to 'off' - hence no new cards or loans etc could be issued from anywhere. They could then request it to be activated for the time they need it after which they could turn it off again.

Too simple ?

Rockets land in Syria

Its either:

1) Untrue - blame the Jerusalem post if so.
2) An attempt by Hezbollah to drag Syria into the war.
3) A mistake by Hezbollah (again).
4) An Israeli plot to drag Syria into the war (why ?)

We may find out which soon.

Update: No one's declared war on anyone else yet - so no one cares or it isn't true. Either way is good at the moment.

Would the BBC dare put out a program about who Mohammed was presented by a Christian ?

Just seen the advert on TV for a program on Sunday by Rageh Omaar titled The Miracles of Jesus Sun 6 Aug, 6:35 pm - 7:35 pm - if you want to see it and you're in the UK.

Rageh Omaar presents a series which uses drama, special photography and computer generated images to bring the miracles of Jesus to life and tries to decipher their meaning. Here, he looks closely at four famous miracles - the feeding of the five thousand, the raising of the widow's son, the walking on water and the changing of water into wine at the marriage of Cana - and finds that each one provoked a radically different perception of Jesus.

Mr Omaar is most famous for his brave and pointed reporting from Baghdad during the last Gulf War for the BBC, though he's held a number of other posts in his time. He recently produced a documentary called An Islamic History of Europe.

In this 90-minute documentary Rageh Omaar uncovers the hidden story of Europe's Islamic past and looks back to a golden age when European civilisation was enriched by Islamic learning.
Rageh travels across medieval Muslim Europe to reveal the vibrant civilisation that Muslims brought to the West.
This evocative film brings to life a time when emirs and caliphs dominated Spain and Sicily and Islamic scholarship swept into the major cities of Europe.
His journey reveals the debt owed to Islam for its vital contribution to the European Renaissance.

Wikipedia reports that Mr Omaar is a Muslim born in Mogadishu in Somalia .

I'm looking forward to the time that a Christian gets to present on simulated pictures of Mohammed on the BBC - surely the infamous unbiased attitude of the BBC will have that scheduled next week ? However I don't think Rageh wrote the material, I believe he is just presenting - see link to book here. I do hope he does a good job of presenting it. But the BBC really does need to treat different faiths in the same way.

My initial reaction when I first started writing this entry was anger (you can see that in the title), but I hope that was wrong to start like that. We are perhaps all too touchy these days. Debate, as long as it is fair and open should be encouraged.

See comment on this issue on Times Online,
Xt3 seem to have more knowledge of the content of the program and have a description here.

BBC Newsnight misses some of the points on Qana

BBC's Newsnight covered this tonight - there web site is here .. but you need to see their report available for 24hrs in the UK at least here to see what they are saying - at least the link works right now, can't say for how much longer. Its about 34 minutes in if you don't have time to watch the whole thing. EU Referendum blog gets on screen but no mention of their argument - but not credit or mention of Blogs ( its referred to as internet rumour - sore point eh ? ).

The changes in Israeli timing are contrasted with a human rights NGO type. The BBC also admits that the number of dead are about half originally reported. However one of the key points on the rescue event being staged and the strange activities of the Green Helmet guy is missed. Its not like they were unaware of the argument as they have a screen shot of the EU referendum blog that makes the case, ( See EU referendum for the story here ).

Maybe Newsnight don't like taking their direction from 'the internet' (is the word blogs banned on Newsnight now ? David Mason does invite local (to rockets and bombs that is) bloggers to contact him here ). But there is a real question an moral issue of media cooperating in manipulation and propaganda with terrorists and BBC's Newsnight fluffed it totally on Wednesday night.

In fairness to them their discussion with a panel of muslims was much more interesting - "where is the moderate muslim voice" asked a number of times, but never answered to any satisfaction - quite. ( BBC Panorama last Sunday was more of a revelation on this - more on that latter. )

The manipulation of the MSM by Hezbollah

Take a look at this .... Now I know I'm going on about this, but it really is shocking (at least to me). We are being fed what Hezbollah wants us to see..

CNN's Anderson Cooper Exposes Hezbollah's Media Manipulations

Also see

Lifting the Cover of the Hezbollah PR Effort

Hezbollah more likely to kill Arabs than Jews in North Israel

The BBC headline just now is :

Israel hit by Hezbollah barrage

Hezbollah fighters have launched more than 230 rockets from Lebanon, the biggest single-day barrage since the conflict began, Israeli officials say.

One person was killed and dozens injured as some rockets landed up to 70km inside Israel, the deepest so far.

Now I hadn't realised that about 50% of the population in Northern Israel are Arab. Listening to a report on BBC Radio 4 this afternoon from an Arab in Northern Israel he said that they could only sometimes hear the warning siren in the neighboring Jewish town and most of the Arabs had stayed in the area, unlike the Jewish population that had moved further south.

So the most likely victim, or most plentiful target, of the 230 Hezbollah rockets today are Arab Muslims. ( Most of the Christian Arab population has emigrated some years ago ).

But the Arab world doesn't seem to care as far as I can see. ( If you know better post links in the comments section please. )

Update: See the Big Pharaoh here and a cartoon from his web site and I guess www.drybonesblog.com.

The Qana 'story' continues to evolve - but not for the MSM

FrontPage magazine has a interesting summary here ...

There is a real story here - you'd think the MSM could clear this up, unless they created the mess in the first place.

Update: More reporting on Hezbollah manipulating the MSM here ...

Update: Looks like BBC's Newsnight covered this tonight - there web site is here .. but you need to see their report available for 24hrs in the UK at least here to see what they are saying - at least the link works right now, can't say for how much longer. Its about 34 minutes in if you don't have time to watch the whole thing. EU Referendum blog gets on screen but no mention of their argument - but not credit or mention of Blogs ( its refered to as internet rumour - sore point eh ? ). Just watched it - not very edifying I'm afraid. They didn't address the point on the staging of the event. Missed the point guys.

Was Qana staged ?

Was Qana staged by Hezbollah ? ( Will the BBC bother to investigate ? Will it get on Newsnight ? ) This is a question being asked on the internet right now - see Michelle Malkin here ....

People who have no problem aiming rockets at innocent people presumably don't find lying with the media hard either.

Update: EU Referendum has a great piece of journalism which the BBC and liberal media will like to ignore as inconvenient for their message here....Really you should read it !

Also see the words of Dr Mounir Herzallah here... as he explains how Hezbollah have built schools on top of rocket bunkers.

Further update: See Symbel's take on this here - its an atmospheric blog worth looking at anyway !

More Updating:
AP have issued a rebuttal on the Qana photos here - against the British Web site EU Referendum ( being British presumably has the same impact in France as saying right wing in the UK - ie ignore what they say ).
EU Referendum issues their response here .....
For my money the photos are obviously to some degree staged. How likely would AP be admit a bit of over enthusiasm if it existed - very unlikely as it would destroy their credibility. Still here a real story for real journalists.
Also see a previous example of manipulated images from the press corps here ...

Update: More reporting on Hezbollah manipulating the MSM here ...

Hoon wants EU indoctrination in schools

Geoff Hoon apparently wants schools to teach about the benefits of EU membership in schools - along with the other citizenship agenda. The problem with this is the EU is a political body - many disagree with it and don't want their children being brainwashed on the subject.

My little girl (5) already comes home to denounce the hole in the ozone layer. And I know inoculating her against state socialism is going to be a real parental challenge. I don't want to add the EU to the list of things I have to keep her mind open on.

A lady speaks her mind

I assume this was on Aljazeera. She seems very brave or desperate. As often seems to be the case in the middle east she slightly over plays her hand at the end by accusing Islam of being the only religion to attack other religions forcefully. Unfortunately historically I can think of lots of examples that don't include Islam at all.

However, its encouraging that this sort of open debate goes on in the Arab media.

I shoudl add that this clip comes from MemriTV - which is I think an Israeli outfit.