S. Africa.

Hmm. S. Africa has a staggering 22,000 murders a year.
I wonder why abolitionists forget to use this nation as part of their arguments when they claim that 'the death penalty does not deter'?
Increases of many hundreds of per cent since abolition apparently: do not count; prove nothing; are not relevant; do not take into account 'other factors', blah, blah.
I wonder if, what are now hundreds of thousands of extra , tragic deaths in S. Africa, ever disturb the sleep of all those 'worthies' who brought this situation about? - I expect not.
They have convinced themselves that 'capital punishment does not deter'. - Wrong! [See first link!]

LINKS: http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2003-3-MURDER_IN.htm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=558689&in_page_id=1811

Labour, your malice is showing!

That appalling government minister Jim Knight, has been trying to undo some of the damage done by the even more appalling Ed Balls.
Balls has attempted to attack "faith schools" and grammar schools in recent weeks. No matter what the positives might be, these must be pilloried.
[ It was the sheer ,pettyminded spite demonstrated by leftwingers which made me turn against them when I was becoming politically aware in my mid to late teens.]
"With Mr Balls away on holiday, Mr Knight stepped in to calm the row at a meeting organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews." A number of Jewish headteachers are "hopping mad" - and no surprise there.
What Balls had done was to wickedly imply that the majority of faith schools demand 'voluntary' donations on admissions forms.
In practice "They were only able to identify six schools which asked parents for up front contributions - all faith schools and five of them Jewish." AND all of these had valid reasons for doing so.
Really. This government ought to be more careful when disseminating its abundant malice.


LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=558763&in_page_id=1770

Pure arrogance.

If you have any Christian experiences, any member of that ever growing phalanx of aggressive atheists will 'destroy' you if you have the temerity to voice them.
Ad hominem arguments will abound.
There are two lines of attack: firstly you have misinterpreted what happened {probably due to some kind of mental incapacity} OR secondly you are a liar! {No doubt. No questions. Whatever you say happened - DIDN'T!}

This new breed of aggressive atheists are seriously unpleasant people. Isn't it strange? - Whenever I meet an atheist who is not of the left - they will treat you as a human being, an equal and will possibly even debate with you.
When that atheist comes from the left - you can often FEEL the hatred, not only of your beliefs but of you for having them. {Unless you are muslim, of course, when all bets are off.}
Seriously, test me on this one!

Abu Quatada.

The trouble is, when you say you oppose recent Europe-originating Human Rights legislation, it can make you sound as though you are some kind of anti-freedom, anti-democrat.
["S/he opposes 'human rights' - must be some sort of fascist." ]
And don't the liberal left use that grossly misleading lever to the utmost?
Of course, it is the legislation itself which is wrong. It is designed to protect the guilty and not the innocent. It is fundamentally flawed - and one has to wonder whether something this crass might not have been deliberate and malicious rather than accidental. Who knows the thought processes of those determined to undermine any remaining vestiges of hope and justice in the EU nightmare?
Consider the case in the news this week of Abu Quatada.
Melanie says:
"What would any sane country do if it discovered that living among it was Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man, who was wanted by his own country on terrorism charges? It's a fair bet that it would deport him to that country as fast as it could."

We of course have decided instead to protect his 'human rights' and probably allow him to sponge benefits off us for the rest of his life.

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/columnists/columnists.html?in_article_id=558783&in_page_id=1772&in_author_id=256&in_check=N

Babies born to addicts.

So. Let me be sure to get an overview, here.

"The number of babies born to drug-addicted mothers has almost doubled in four years. There were 1,970 such babies born last year - compared with 1,057 in 2003."
I think that this will be an extremely good way of measuring levels of drug abuse and whether they are declining [ha, ha] or increasing.

Please remind me how long ago it was that this present moronic government downgraded
cannabis to Class C?

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/womenfamily.html?in_article_id=558513&in_page_id=1799

Deep Moral Outrage.

As short a time ago as the 1970s ,when I first entered the teaching profession [?], I can remember the deep moral outrage of so many, almost certainly a heavy majority of people, when someone was branded a thief.
At a school in a pit village, there was a profound sense of disappointment combined with disgust whenever such things were discovered. It appeared that the feeling was shared equally by staff, parents and pupils.
Latterly, this has gradually been eroded. Thievery today may raise the odd eyebrow; the odd comment but that is as far as it seems to go.
It is no longer considered to be a sign of social breakdown or moral deterioration. It is unlikely to result in school expulsions. It is seldom prosecuted and when it is, is seldom punished. This has largely coincided with a period in which the world has become less immoral and considerably more amoral.
These attitudes have been derived at least in part, from the mad, leftwing, world view that 'property is theft', a slogan originally coined by French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon [photo] in 1840. In true, hypocritical fashion, the generally well-heeled, liberal left cast admiring glances in that direction.
May I point out that when homes are burgled, it is much more likely to be the working class rather than the middle classes who will suffer.

Ah, Mr Archibald.

You could have heard a pin drop at the Hong Kong conference designed to persuade the airline industry to cut back on its production of so-called greenhouse gases to fight "global warming."
The "Greener Skies 2008" conference had just heard from David Archibald, a solar scientist asserting that climate change is mostly dictated by solar cycles, not carbon dioxide levels, as conventional wisdom suggests.
Archibald didn't just tell the group not to worry about carbon dioxide emissions. He told those gathered they should figure out ways of increasing CO2 output.
"In a few short years, we will have a reversal of the warming of the 20th century," Archibald warned, according to Cargo News Asia. "There will be significant cooling very soon. Our generation has known a warm, giving sun, but the new generation will suffer a sun that is less giving, and the earth will be less fruitful. Carbon dioxide is not even a little bit bad – it's wholly beneficial."

I just do not understand atheists.

Apparently a recent survey has shown that a majority of people believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus.
Okay. Fine. But apparently, this includes some declared atheists.
[???????????????????????????]
The basic problem is that atheism is not a logical position anyway:
"I KNOW that there is no God!"


"I suspect" or " I fear that " or "I am unconvinced by the evidence on offer... " Maybe.





Okay. Trouble is that those are all agnosticism.
Recently on Ceefax Letters, people have attempted to deny that 'atheism is in effect a religion'. Fine. But as what is purely a 'belief system' - and based on a step of faith - it comes pretty close.











LINK: http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/wnnewsletters/
display.var.2178708.0.easter_beliefs_depend_on_the_survey_you_read.php

Jerusalem.

It may be a thundering good tune by Hubert Parry but William Blake's words are truly a mishmash of old donkey droppings.
'Jerusalem' is not and never has been a hymn. It is a testament to silly legend.

"... and did those feet in ancient times walk upon England's green and pleasant land?'
- Er... No!

It is all based on a ridiculous folk tale that Joseph of Arimathea brought the boy Jesus on a package holiday to Glastonbury.

What utter tosh! And churches have sung about it? Bah humbug!

Well done to Southwark Cathedral for apparently banning it as the piece doesn't even mention God!

Unfortunately, this is not a purely Christian response but also has input from the ubiquitous PC lobby which claims that it should be banned for being militaristic. [The same mob who want to ban 'Onward Christian soldiers.'] Ah, me.

Still - I expect that even they can be right sometimes - even if only by accident!

I do not often want to see traditions rooted out - but in this case ...

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=558480&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=

How to con the public.

I draw your attention to a discursive piece on global warming from the always interesting and oft times informative, Garbagegate.







LINK: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/garbagegate/item2/ccrook5.htm

The madness never ends.

Are you a criminal? Are you a single mother - (no embarrassing questions asked about what possible level of extreme promiscuity might have led to that situation) ? Are you homosexual? Are you disabled (possibly unable to cope)?



That is just super.You WILL be able to act as a foster parent in Somerset.




Are you a responsible, law abiding, CHRISTIAN, married couple who have standards?

Do you set guidelines and boundaries for your present children? Do you occasionally issue a well merited smack when you are defied?




YOU ARE TOTALLY UNSUITABLE!











I am sorry to have to keep asking the same old question. What would happen in identical circumstances in Somerset if the prospective foster carers were muslim?

















Dave and Heather Bowen are unsuitable even when having agreed not to chastise any foster child. He is a respected school governor; she a special needs adviser.

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=558151&in_page_id=1770

The Cost of Immigration.

"More than a million immigrants live in housing subsidised by the taxpayer, a Government-sponsored report disclosed yesterday.

It said the number of foreigners in council or housing association accommodation had soared over the past five years.

One in nine subsidised homes is now occupied by a migrant family."

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=558273&in_page_id=1770

Another con with figures.

Periodically, it is announced that 3% of our prison population are 'banged up' for 'motoring offences'.
This only bears a passing resemblance to truth.
1} It includes people who have used 'cars as a weapon'; drivers so dangerous that they have threatened human life and in some cases have actually taken it.
2} These figures include the very worst of drink drivers - such as some who have reached a THIRD conviction and others who may have been three, four or even more times over the limit.
3} It includes those jailed for 'Driving whilst disqualified - and these days, that means multiple times!
[I have not been able to establish the fact, but believe that this figure also includes the TWOCers who, having stolen a car, then get involved in police chases endangering the public and the pursuing officers.]

Let us think again, shall we? - The next time that you hear that there are 'so many motorists in clink', you will perhaps be able to enjoy a rather more knowledgeable perspective.
'Motorists' - tosh!
Time is long overdue that there be a minimum 5 year sentence for those who indulge in car chases with police!

Labour does not help the poor and hardworking.

The scrapping of the 10p starting rate of income tax has infuriated many on the Labour left.
Every now and then the old style left do experience some sort of epiphany - [consider Claire Short admitting that uncontrolled immigration is bad for us all] - and in this instance, they have realised that this policy will hit low paid, working class people quite hard. To my astonishment, some of them actually appear to care.
This government has attempted to bleed ever more taxation out of those of us who work.
Amongst all the many other things this government has got wrong, hammering the living standards of ordinary people is high on the list of accusations.
Indeed. When did a Labour government last lend genuine help to the working person?

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=557480&in_page_id=1770

Mugabe.

It is a long time since a comedian made us laugh with his Mugabe joke:
- How can we tell that the man comes from Yorkshire?
- Well, if you read his name backwards all is revealed - E BA GUM!





Tragically, there is absolutely nothing remaining to laugh about where this evil despot is concerned.
Life expectancy in 'his' country has plummeted from 60 to just 37 years old.
Inflation is 100,000%. He is a liar, a brutal blackguard, a cheat and a multiple murderer.
His country - under Ian Smith one of the wealthiest in Africa - now has 80% unemployment and people are literally starving to death.

{Dare I ask - just how terrible was British colonialism after all?}
SO THEN! Where are all those leftwing hypocrites who made out that the Ian Smith regime was so terrible?
Under which rocks have they scuttled because the silence from these appalling people is deafening?

How many starved under Smith? How many could not live or work?
I am not defending a non democratic system but imposed democracies in Africa have tended to be just as successful as what has happened in Iraq. Why military action in Iraq but not in Zimbabwe?
So why virtually no attacks on this vicious man? [ Didn't the hapless tories even give the wretch a knighthood - or is my memory failing? ]
The left got what they wanted in S. Rhodesia.
So, is the silence a result of mere embarrassment or is it more sinister? Is it that in our Brave New PC World, we are not allowed to attack evil if perpetrated by a leader who is black?
My view? - A combination of both.

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/newscomment.html?in_article_id=557518&in_page_id=1787

Render unto.....

In late June 2006, I featured the redoubtable Josephine Rooney on this Blog.
Josephine, who is a devout Christian, has been jailed a second time in Derby for refusing categorically to pay her Council Tax.
She reasons that the council has not been properly vigilant and has failed to remove prostitutes and drug dealers from the area around her home.
On the last occasion, regrettably to her, a 'well-wisher' paid the amount so that she only served a single day.
In view of all the adverse publicity, one wonders whether this was a 'well-wisher ' at all!
This time the 71 year old hopes to 'do her porridge' in order to draw attention to the case.
She has the money and has placed it into a holding account.
With my attitudes to justice some may be surprised that I support her campaign - after all, she is prepared to 'pay the price' for her crusade.
I admire the doughty lady enormously. She has standards and is operating to valid principles.






LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=557863&in_page_id=1770

Freedom.

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

- Thomas Paine.






[My thanks to Stan Parr of Pershore for supplying me with so many important quotes in the two year life of this Blog.]

Breaches of trust.

On this Blog, I have tried to reveal many of the hidden secrets of the ponderous and ineffective justice machine in this country.

One of the out and out scandals is the reluctance to jail people for 'Theft in breach of trust'.

When I began on The Bench, this was considered to be worthy of certain custody in almost all of cases and rightly so.

By the time I left, the guidelines had changed to make it 'Entry point, community penalty' thus vastly reducing the numbers jailed for this heinous offence.

We now take appalling behaviour in our stride. As a society we hardly blink at such serious matters.

Crime will never drop until it is punished. Quite apart from anything else such as rehabilitation and deterrence, there is a moral imperative to punish.

It is manifestly wrong - indeed, profoundly immoral - to give a weak and unbalanced punishment for any offence.

What message do you send to would-be offenders? What message do you send to those who DO obey the rules of society?

And no. We are emphatically NOT talking about revenge but rather justice and righteousness.

There is no vindication in any society which allows its citizenry to damage others knowing that offending is so under punished as to be worthwhile.

I

Wot - no previous?

According to the laughably named SMARTJUSTICE [linked to The Prison Reform Trust] one third of imprisoned women have no previous convictions. THIS IS ONE OF THEIR MANY SKEWED FACTS.

They go on to suggest that these women should not have been jailed.
Well. Having been in the system, this is very easily explained.

It is all due to rampant sexism.

Courts will find many reasons NOT to jail women who certainly get away with far more than any man could possibly hope to - particularly when they argue that they have children. [This cuts considerably less ice for a man.]


This being the case, it naturally means that women only tend to be jailed for considerably more serious offences. Of the present prison population only about 6% are female!

The one third mentioned misleadingly by SJ will almost all represent VERY grave offences indeed - that is the bit they forget to tell you.


This group is committed to EVEN more community penalties which is like trying to empty an ocean with a teaspoon.
Moreover, for somebody to be jailed for a first offence, whether male or female, the offence is always going to be especially serious.

A second amazing fact from this group is that most prisoners will be released and will reoffend.

They conveniently forget to mention that reoffending rates on Community Penalties are astronomical; that breaches exceed 50%; that prison life is at worst, comfortable and therefore less a punishment than a minor inconvenience and that absolutely no incarcerated offender CAN offend in the community whilst locked up!

What was it said about "Lies,damned lies and statistics?"

Giving.

Christians have a duty to give. The countless scriptural texts which indicate that generosity to the needy is a necessity for believers consolidates my point.

Christians should also give to support their Church.

What does concern me often is whether believers try to find out sufficient information about how their monies will be used.

I know it was many years ago, but I do recall the scandal when War on Want were found - albeit indirectly - to be funding terror groups. Was that accidental?

Should Christians give to groups such as Amnesty - which "fights torture" when this is a leftwing front which always seemingly manages to fight against justice, unerringly taking sides with wrongdoers, at the same time?

Should we give to groups which have tried to sever links with their Christian pasts such as The Red Cross?

Should we be giving to groups with leftwing and even marxist agendas?

Christians, please do be generous. Please try to ease the lives of the unfortunate, the destitute, the sick, the hurting and the impoverished BUT please find out first PRECISELY what will happen to your donations.

[It is also wise to establish what percentage of your giving will actually reach 'the sharp end' and just how much will be eaten away in 'running costs'.]

Increase your giving - TODAY!

[If anybody is interested, we support our Church, TEARFUND, LEPRA, SENSE and occasionally the PDSA and THE SONGBIRD SURVIVAL TRUST. In addition we do our best for The Handsworth Christian School.]

Incidentally, I refuse to buy 'The Big Issue' - too many funds going to drug dealers; too many sellers wrongfully adding to their benefits which I am already funding.

Surprise!

"The number of Britons in work has dropped by nearly half a million since the onset of mass immigration from Eastern Europe, figures showed yesterday....
According to the breakdown released to MPs, the number born in this country in jobs fell from 24.4 million in 2004 to 23.9 million last year....
But the scale of the fall suggests that more British-born workers have given up competing with immigrants- who are prepared to work harder for lower wages - and joining the 5 million who depend on benefits.
Sir Andrew Green of the Migrationwatch think tank said: "This is the first clear evidence that there is a relationship between the extent of unemployment among British workers and the growth of employment of Eastern Europeans."

Not my words. What comment could I possibly make?

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=557633&in_page_id=1770

Fact of life.

One of the unchangeable facts of life is, that every comedy series and every drama which has an extended TV run, given sufficient time, will turn into a soap!