Another Catharsis

Seems that life just continues to get more and more hectic. What do you give up on, well in this instance I gave up on this valve. So here I am back to vent, discuss, indulge in dialogue even if no-one reads my ramblings.

I was having a look at the Help for Heroes website today, what an incredible group they are and I include in that group all who have contributed. People do the most amazing things when they are motivated, a cause like this has motivated thousands who have done the most extraordinary things to raise money. From the wounded who have climbed mountains, run/walked/staggered marathons to youngsters who have raised money or given their pocket money. I am in awe of them. when the capacity for good is tapped into like this it is humbling, it also brings into stark relief the horrors that others visit on us.

Listening to the crass stupidity of the religious nut in Florida proposing to burn Korans to remember 9/11. Have we learnt nothing from the Holocaust, it is a short step from burning books to burning people. I am not religious but I would defend any persons right to worship the religion of their choice. All I ask in turn is to not have their choice shoved down my throat. This idiot in Florida appears to have forgotten that Christianity in recent times has pushed itself as the religion of tolerance(not always the case viz Crusades, Inquisition etc etc:). The incredibly sad part of all of this is that by and large the majority of the proponents of both faiths(Christian and Muslim) are content to co-exist and just want to get on and live their lives, worship their God and feed and educate their families. Zealots, fanatics and fundamentalists will lead us down the path to destruction if we don't stop them.

I know that the constitutional amendments enshrine the right to free speech and I imagine that this pompous preacher will invoke that to allow him to launch a diatribe and to destroy what I assume is his property(I assume that he has purchased Korans for this purpose). Surely Barack Hussein Obama should now show his leadership and intervene and try and persuade this idiot that he should not do this. He has already succeeded in inflaming the passions, in this case rightful passion, of the Muslim world. If he can't, then his own congregation should point out that this behaviour is likely to lead to more deaths of service personnel in Afghanistan.

I think that the thread that links these two together is that if the idiot gets his way then he is likely to create even more need for organisations like Help for Heroes. I know that there are a lot of people who for various reasons do not agree with the war in Afghanistan, whatever your thoughts on the war, support the troops who don't have the luxury that we have. We can say "no" and voice our negative views, they cannot. They have to pick up their kit and do our elected governments bidding, often under-supplied, under paid and over stretched.

Clarkson

I see that Jezza has been carpetted again for an intemperate use of language. There was a huge furore over his driving a car up the side of a scottish hill, his suggestion about the murderous intent of lorry drivers, his description of Brown to an Aussie reporter. Has the BBC not realised that in the latter instance and his latest comment about Brown, Clarkson is reflecting the views of a large percentage of the UK populace. One only has to look at the result of the recent by-election in Norwich North(a previous Labour bastion) to see that this is the case. We are treated to the spectacle of a Prime Minister under seige from his own party, the opposition and the electorate, clinging like grim death to his role. It is entirely unedifying and demeaning for us as a country. He is surrounded by cronies who time and time again are caught out in lies and petty politicking.

The recent Labour scramble to denigrate Gen Dannant for daring to ask for extra troops and support for them to actually fight and prosecute the war in Afghanistan, a war that we have been put in by Labour(one of the few correct decisions they have made in my humble opinion). No doubt the comments by the former SAS Commander Brigadier A Wright over supplies today will put him in the firing line by the low lifes of the Labour spin factories. What a shabby lot our current batch of politicos are. We would be completely up the proverbial excrement creek without a propulsion method if Hitler was camped at Calais today. They would all be running round trying to get the next boat to Canada with as much money as they could stuff into their pockets.

The only issue I take with Clarkson on his comment is the use of the "c" word, Brown isn't one, they are useful, a source of eternal delight and wonder and shouldn't be denigrated in this way and associated with the festering pile of ordure that inhabits No10.

Think back the days of Cabinet meetings before Blunkett and Straw shuffled off. Between the three of them you had three good eys and four good ears, the most capable and intelligent creature in the room was Blunkett's dog. Are we really sure that the dog hadn't seen the light and led him into the field of cows and then tried to make a break for it? Sadie the Black Lab for PM, maybe we should start a petition!

Sometime

It's been a while since I sat and placed metaphorical pen to paper in the ether. In my defense this was in part because I was actually using genuine pen and paper to berate my MP. There is a link on the Royal British Legion's site for The Broken Covenant in which their is discussion about how we as a nation have broken the covenant that exists between us and our Servicemen and women. Whatever your view on the wars that we are currently involved in we should never lose sight of the fact that we as civilians have the luxury of debate. The squaddie has none. He/she has signed the dotted line, taken the shilling and must troop off to whatever foreign clime deemed by the British Government to have caused offence or be in need of our assistance. I would urge anyone who peruses this rambling to have a look at the Royal British Legion site, whatever your view of the merits of the war in Iraq or Afgahnistan remember that it is the people in the uniform who are on the frontline that guarantee us the right to express those views. Consider this, Pakistan have this week insisted that You Tube block certain feeds, China blocks some of the BBC content, Zimbabwe doesn't even allow British journalists to report from there, we, within reason have pretty much unfettered access to all manner of information, news and content. We also have the right to express ourselves freely, again within reason. These were hard won freedoms, won by servicemen in uniform putting it all on the line. Support or don't support the war BUT ALWAYS SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!