Devizes Melting Pot

“Protection. Conservation. Restriction. Deep ecology. Give me deep technology any day. They don't scare me. "I'm damned if I'll crawl, my children's children crawl on the earth in some kind a fuckin' harmony with the environment. Yeah, till the next ice age or the next asteroid impact." (Moh Kohn, The Star Fraction)/ "This is the fight between God and the Devil. If His Grace is with God, he must join me, if he is for the Devil he must fight me. There is no third way" King Gustavus Adolphus

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Location: Devizes, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

University graduate, currently working as an Information Assistant for the NHS. Interested in politics, history, sci fi etc.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Vist NTodd Land

Enjoy the delights of NTodd's blog Dohiyi Mir and take part in the NToddathon to help him reach 419,067 vists.

You won't regret it.

Iraqi Nightmare

State of emergency declared in Basra

2 Iraqi Women Killed by Coalition Troops

US probe finds Haditha victims were shot: report

Massacre at Haditha: how the occupation turned an Iraqi town into hell
The Iraqi town of Haditha will now forever be linked with the blood and terror of the US occupation. For many it will be Iraq’s equivalent of Vietnam’s My Lai, a symbol of the violence of imperialism.

Before the war the sleepy town of 70,000 on the banks of the River Euphrates was known mainly for its date growing.

Now it is known for a massacre. And that massacre has underlined the much wider process of invasion, and the urgent necessity for every one of the US and British troops to leave now.

At 7.15am on 19 November 2005, a roadside bomb in Haditha killed a 20 year old US Marine, Miguel Terrazas.

A statement released by the US department of defence said 24 civilians were also killed in the blast.

Witnesses described how US soldiers had dragged five men from a taxi and executed them. Soldiers belonging to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division, then moved from one house to another, seizing the families and killing them as they lay helpless.

This was not just a frenzied reaction. It took the Marines five hours to commit their crimes.

This illegal war just gets darker and darker, the more and the US led coalition of the ever dwindling stays in Iraq they begin to dehumanise their Iraqi opponents and then we end up with a masscre like Haditha.

This war is rotten to the core, led by the greedy murderous and insane Bush Junta and their PNAC friends.

The Insurgency has been in its 'last throes' for a very long time, and I've lost count of the number of corners turned.

The War Whores live in their own bubble of fear, unable to face up to the reality that their ammoral invasion of Iraq is a faliure, and a bloody one at that.

Bloodiest month: UK suffers largest post-war losses

In May, 11 Britons were killed in Iraq. These are the worst losses since the war ended, prompting more calls for a British withdrawal


It makes me ashamed that Britain is invovled in the Bush Junta's murderous plans, we need to leave now.

Tectonics

Caught between disasters, Javan villagers brave erupting volcano
"Am I nervous?" asked Heru Suparwaka, watching the needle of the seismograph sketch a crazy route across the page, accompanied by a high-pitched whine. "Of course I'm nervous."

Mr Heru is part of a small team monitoring Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, from an observation post high on its slopes. The area, on Indonesia's Java island, has been on red alert for weeks, since Merapi began spewing out lava and clouds of gas and hot ash. But since last weekend's earthquake, its activity has intensified dramatically, sparking fears of an imminent eruption.

The volcano lies 30 miles north of the epicentre of the quake, which claimed 5,427 lives, according to latest figures. With 20,000 people injured, and up to 200,000 homeless, it might seem that this portion of central Java has suffered enough. But now the scenario of one major natural disaster followed by another appears more probable than not.

If its not man made disasters causing misery (see Iraq), it is natural disasters.

At school, Tectonic plates was always my favourite topic in Georgraphy lessons.

A Bit of Fun

Your Political Profile:
Overall: 10% Conservative, 90% Liberal
Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal
Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal
Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal
Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal
Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Monday, May 29, 2006

The Real American President



I loved Al Gore's speech/presentation about his movie An Inconvenient Truth at The Guardian's Hay Festival, very articulate, intelligent, passionate and charming.

Gives a glipse of what could of been if George Bush had not 'won' the 2000 American Presidential Election.

I just cannot see why this man provokes so much hatred and vicious attacks from the wingnuts and the mainstream American media, you think this guy was Satan with some of the shit they sprout, only recently he was compared to Hitler and Goebbels.

I truly hope Al Gore makes them eat their words.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Friday Cat Blogging


Gorgeous George (the other one!)


George and Heidi best of friends


Happy George and Heidi


Heidi the snoozer

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Room Blogging

As you can see it is much more tidy than the last time I photographed my room





Saturday, May 20, 2006

Movie Review - The Da Vinci Code



*disclaimer: I have not read the book

Well i've finally seen the movie, seen what all the hype, fuss and anger is about and my intital reaction:not good, not bad, just average, I did like the locations though, very pretty.

The movie was not as cool as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, their take on the grail legend was much more enjoyable.

I also could not see why the Catholic Church and Opus Dei were getting so upset about either, its just a film based on a pedestrian novel.

So I give this movie a 4/10.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Friday Cat Blogging


Heidi


George

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Europe in all its Tackiness


Eurovision is only vision Europe deserves
Last week, as it does every year, Europe Day fell on May 9, marking the day in 1950 when Robert Schuman presented his suggestion for a united Europe. Few people, bar those employees of the European Commission in Brussels who get the day off, bothered to celebrate. Compare that with the garish spectacle set to burst onto television screens this Saturday, when 37 European countries join battle in Athens for the Eurovision song contest. From the Atlantic to the Urals, from Kiev to Cardiff, everyone is invited to the party.

This year Eurovision is 51 years old – older than the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union. Watched by hundreds of millions of viewers across the continent, it also appears to be far more popular than any of the festivals or events dreamt up by the eurocrats in Brussels. Eurovision is an orgy of tacky disco music and instantly forgettable tunes, but it is also a powerful monument to the European project and a barometer of its health.

Yep its that time of year, the annual parade of the talentless in the Eurovision Song Contest.

To see why the European Union has so much trouble and will not always work just watch the Eurovision Song Contest, all its explained with the scoring.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Hugo Chavez Vists the UK

The world according to Chávez

He's the new hero of the left - a socialist leader who is tackling poverty in Venezuela while leading the Latin American backlash against 'the empire' of George Bush. But what is Hugo Chávez really like? And how does he feel about being portrayed as a dictator by much of the British press? Jonathan Steele and Duncan Campbell meet him


South America is divided bewteen the more pragmatic policies of Lula in Brazil and Chile's Michelle Bachelet and the more populist policies of Chavez (who as we know reguards Castro as a hero) and Evo Morales.

Yet Evo Morales is different from Chavez because he genuinely comes from a workers movement not to mention being Bolivia's first indigenous head of state.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Special Sunday Cat Blogging

Barney, my sister's boyfriend's cat Ebony





Saturday, May 13, 2006

"Give me liberty or give me death." - Patrick Henry

Human rights law 'may be changed'
The UK government might have to bring in new legislation to prevent the Human Rights Act endangering public safety, the lord chancellor has said.

Lord Falconer said cases such as that of rapist Anthony Rice, who murdered a woman while on parole, raised concerns over how the law was working.

The act was also cited when a court ruled nine Afghan asylum seekers who hijacked a plane could stay in the UK.

Human rights groups said the current concerns were not a fault of the act.

"Amending our human rights act because of gross public service failures is like handing a repeat burglar the key to your house," said Shami Chakrabarti, director of campaign group Liberty.

"Without the act, ordinary people in Britain would have precious little protection from maladministration."

Shami Chakrabarti is correct, the 1998 Human Rights Act is a buffer against a government's authoritarian streak (as we have seen under Blair's rule).

The UK has an uncodified Constitution and therefore our rights are not protected enough from government interference. The Human Rights Act has amended this gross error some bit and Dave the chameleon wants to scrap it, what a total idiot, one minute he is claming he is as green and 'nice', the next he wants to attack civil liberties, whose vote is he going for this time? The fascists it seems.

If you are aganist the Human Rights Act, then you are against civil liberties and the protection of them.

It is an often used quote but it remains as true as it did then as it does now
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."- Benjamin Franklin

Saturday Niece Blogging


Seity with her grandmother


Seity's parents (my brother Ricky and Julie)


Seity with her grandfather


Seity with her aunty (me)

Friday, May 12, 2006

Friday Cat Blogging


Heidi and George - Snugglebunnies


Heidi and George the best of friends


George in his lair

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

NuLab

Support for Labour slumps to 14-year low
Labour support has collapsed to a 14-year low following infighting at the top of the party, according to an opinion poll today.

The Populus survey published in The Times, the first conducted since Labour's local election drubbing, shows the Tories have built an eight-point lead over the Government. Backing for Labour has tumbled by six points since early April to just 30 per cent, the party's worst performance in any survey since 1992.

The Conservatives are up four points to 38 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats are down one point to 20 per cent.

Over the past month, the Government has been hit by a series of hugely damaging headlines, from the cash-for-peerages affair to the foreign prisoner release fiasco, and revelations about John Prescott's private life.

Perhaps its time Labour should reconsider who and what they represent.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Why are we here again?

Blair's terrible legacy: UK soldiers dig in after five killed
April 2003: British soldiers are greeted as liberators as they patrol Iraq's second city. The Parachute Regiment dispenses with hard helmets in favour of red berets as it adopts a softly-softly approach to foster good relations

May 2006: Five British soldiers die as a missile brings down their helicopter. Iraqis celebrate and a firefight kills five more as UK forces rush to the scene. Iraqis continue to be killed in vast numbers throughout the country

A crowd cheers the shooting down of a British military helicopter; petrol bombs set fire to Warrior armoured vehicles; accusations are made that British troops are responsible for civilian deaths, including two children. This is Basra, three years after Iraq's "liberation".

I'd like to know why we are still in Iraq?

Blair should be ashamed of the way he became Bush's poodle, invovling us in a hopeless and ammoral war.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Corners

Car bombs kill 30 in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Car bombs killed 30 people in Iraq on Sunday and wounded more than 70 in one of the bloodiest spasms of violence of recent weeks as political leaders closed in on a deal to form a national unity government.

The southern city of Basra was largely calm as British military engineers examined the wreck of a helicopter whose apparent shooting-down was followed by clashes between troops and youths chanting triumphal Shi'ite militia slogans.

At least 21 people were killed and 52 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a car on a crowded street in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, police and doctors said. The effect was devastating.

Around the same time, two cars exploded in the capital.

So how many corners have been turned?

Iraq doesn't seem to be getting any better, the war party really are delusional if they think everything is sweetness and light in Iraq, they need to wake up and face the fact Iraq is a mess, and a bloody one at that.

I've always thought the US took after the British and Roman Empires but now I realise they have learnt nothing from either. The reason why both empires worked well to a degree was because they collaborated with the local elites, which made governing a country much easier. The US swept away the local Iraqi elites by disbanding the army and getting rid of Baathist party memembers, there was nobody to work with which is one of the reasons the US is having a tough time controlling Iraq.

Invading is the easy part, occupation is much harder.

Shows how little the Neocons and the Bush Junta know of history.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Post Blair Landscape

Third place in country and battered in London - Labour revisits 2004 nightmare

· Party's showing better than some predictions
· Results revive spectre of north-south divide


Plotters move to oust Blair

· Ex-ministers tell PM to name date
· Sweeping reshuffle after polls drubbing


Blair and Brown to discuss future
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown are to hold talks this weekend about the future direction of the Labour Party.

They come as a growing number of Labour MPs, including allies of Mr Brown, urge Mr Blair to say when he will step down.

Mr Blair overhauled his Cabinet in the wake of Labour's local election losses.

Critics say the reshuffle shows desperation but Labour chairman Hazel Blears said voters were not interested in the "froth" of internal politics.

Gordon Brown is one of the key architects of the New Labour Project so if he does become leader I don't expect much to change.

It is scary that John '85p worth is not a stash' Reid has become Home Secretary, to me he is an unreconstructed thug, which is why his post should now be called 'Minister for Squashing Dissent'.

By removing and reducing Charles Clarke to a lowly backbencher, Blair has certainly removed a possible throne contender.

One has to speculate whether Jack Straw was removed because of voicing opposition to a war with Iran, calling it 'nuts', I would not put it past Blair, who would somehow find a way to justify British invovlement in a Bush Junta folly.

Unless their is a radical shakeup in British politics we will contiue on this downward spiral.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Friday Cat Blogging


Heidi


George and Heidi in their favourite basket


George looking gorgeous as ever

Blair Should Go

Labour suffers local poll losses
Tony Blair has suffered a poor night in England's local elections as Labour lost 210 councillors.

The main gainers were the Tories, who had their best results since 1992. The Lib Dems failed to make much headway.

Elsewhere the British National Party doubled its councillors, including winning 11 seats off Labour in Barking. The Greens also made gains.

The prime minister will reshuffle his Cabinet on Friday as he seeks to regain momentum after days of bad headlines.

The projected vote share if the polls were held nationwide shows the Tories on 40%, Lib Dems 27% and Labour 26%. Turnout is estimated at 36% - down three points from 2004.

The British electorate gave Labour and Blair a bloody nose but not a knockout blow.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

A Message

Blair braces for backlash as England votes in local polls
LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair braced for a voter backlash at local elections across England that could end up forcing him to name the day he will stand down from office.

Polling stations in London's 32 boroughs and in other urban centres around England opened at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) on the sunniest and warmest day of the year so far, with first results expected a few hours after they close at 10:00 pm.

Analysts predict that after nine years in power, Blair's governing Labour Party is set for a pounding after being recently buffetted by a sex scandal, the non-deportation of foreign convicts, a cash-for-honours furore and draining public confidence.

Poor results in the race for 4,361 out of 19,579 local council seats could push Blair into a cabinet reshuffle, with ministers most closely implicated in the crises -- all key allies -- most likely to get the chop.

Poor local election results would send a signal to Blair and NuLab that the electorate are not happy with their government but then again when has Blair payed any attention to what ordinary people think?

He was a bit of a idiot for giving a date when he would leave office and then backpeddling on it a couple of months later.

Blair and his government have turned into a bunch of corrupt, deluded, shambolic, authoritarian, warmongering fools.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Disgust

Torture "widespread" under U.S. custody: Amnesty
GENEVA (Reuters) - Torture and inhumane treatment are "widespread" in U.S.-run detention centers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba and elsewhere despite Washington's denials, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

In a report for the United Nations' Committee against Torture, the London-based human rights group also alleged abuses within the U.S. domestic law enforcement system, including use of excessive force by police and degrading conditions of isolation for inmates in high security prisons.

"Evidence continues to emerge of widespread torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody," Amnesty said in its 47-page report.

And the Bush Junta wonders why there is so much negative attitude towards them.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Athenian Tragedy part 2

How were these plays performed?

Attic drama is always part of a religious festival.
Tragedy performed at the City Dionysia (annual festival, March/April)
- procession, followed by five days of competition of choral poetry, tragedy and comedy.

Three days of tragedy competition between three poets and their choregoi (financial backers).
Each poet provided three tragedies and a satyr play, which would be performed during one day.
The three tragedies could form a trilogy (thematically connected plays – e.g. Aischylos’ Oresteia: Agamemnon, Libation bearers, Eumenides - 458 BC), but they did not have to be connected.
The satyr play was shorter, and less serious: usually showed a mythical story with gods in a comical situation, chorus dressed as satyrs. Unlike comedy it adhered more closely to the form of tragedy. None completely preserved. Best preserved example: Sophokles, Ichneutai (the Tracking Satyrs).

The drama competition is between the poets, who wrote the plays, trained the actors and chorus (which took months) and perhaps even sometimes acted in their plays.

The Choregos was the man who paid for the production. A choregia was a liturgy (just as the trierarchy) – wealthy men were obliged to take on this function.

Paying for plays was very expensive – pay for the chorus, expensive lavish costumes (purple, gold) and decorations of the stage.

Choregoi whose plays won set up monuments only one survives:


The monument of Lysikrates in Athens, probably set up in 335 BC.

Athenian Tragedy part 1

Example: Sophokles, Antigone, written 442 BC

Attic Theatre:

Developed from choral performance where choruses sing poetry and dance.
Choral poetry and dance common in the Greek world.
Choral poetry would deal with mythical stories
Greek drama, with chorus and actors may have developed gradually.

Developments not only in Athens:
Aristotle, Poetics 1448 a-b.
Indeed, some say that dramas are so called, because their authors represent the characters as "doing" them (drôntes). And it is on this basis that the Dorians lay claim to the invention of both tragedy and comedy. For comedy is claimed by the Megarians here in Greece, who say it began among them at the time when they became a democracy, and by the Megarians of Sicily on the grounds that the poet Epicharmas came from there and was much earlier than Chionides and Magnes; while tragedy is claimed by certain Dorians of the Peloponnese. They offer the words as evidence, noting that outlying villages, called dêmoi by the Athenians, are called kômai by them, and alleging that kômôdoi (comedians) acquired their name, not from kômazein (to revel), but from the fact that, being expelled in disgrace from the city, they wandered from village to village. The Dorians further point out that their word for "to do" is drân, whereas the Athenians use prattein.

Drama in Athens:

A Place of great innovation, especially under the democracy.
All dramatists whose works are preserved are Athenian (already seen as particularly excellent in antiquity)

Tragedy:
Aischylos (c. 525-456)
Sophokles (c. 495-406)
Euripides(c. 480-406)

Comedy:
Aristophanes (c. 450-380’s)
Meander (342-291)

Original choral performances: chorus of 50.
Sometime in the Archaic period: 2 actors and chorus. (Aischylos’ plays)
By the mid-C5th chorus reduced to 12-15 people.
Sophokles credited with introducing a third actor.

A play consists of dialogues between the chorus and a character, or between two characters on stage, if there is a third character three-way conversations are still rare.
Over time dramatists begin to use this rigid scheme more freely.

The chorus:
- usually plays a group of people somehow involved in the action (e.g. Theban elders in Antigone). They set the scene, comment on the action, provide crowd reaction (and suggest to the audience how to react).
- between scenes they dance and sing, offering general reflections on the action, drawing general conclusions and calling upon specific gods.
- only the chorus leader (koryphaios) has dialogue, all others only participate in dancing and singing as a group.
e.g.
Antigone, 2nd Stasimon (582-630) – follows a discussion between Kreon, Ismene and Antigone about which course of action is right. At the end the chorus introduces the character who enters for the next scene.

CHORUS
Those who live without tasting evil (582)
have happy lives—for when the gods
shake a house to its foundations,
then inevitable disasters strike,
falling upon whole families…. (586)

I see this house’s age-old sorrows, (593)
the house of Labdakos’ children,
sorrows falling on the sorrows of the dead,
one generation bringing no relief
to generations after it—some god
strikes at them—on and on without an end.
For now the light which has been shining
over the last roots of Oedipus’ house
is being cut down with a bloody knife
belonging to the gods below—
for foolish talk and frenzy in the soul.
Oh Zeus, what human trespasses
can check your power? Even Sleep,
who casts his nets on everything,
cannot master that—nor can the months,
the tireless months the gods control. (608)

[The palace doors open]
CHORUS LEADER
Here comes Haemon, (627)
your only living son. Is he grieving
the fate of Antigone, his bride,
bitter that his marriage hopes are gone? (630)