Barack Obama’s London Legacy: The ‘2008’ State Visit In Photos

AND just like that, Barack Obama was gone. How will his trip be remembered?

Is it for the gaffes, of which there were three good ones: the huge American car got stuck on a bump in Ireland (was that Shergar giving one last kick from the grave?); Obama dated his signature “2008”; and he carried on talking having toasted “the Queen” and triggered the band to strike up the anthem at the banquet?

Anorak

Posted: 26th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (3)

Obama’s State Visit To UK Photos And Gaffes: 2008 And A Musical Hiccup

IT’S Day 2 of Barack Obama’s trip to the UK. Anyone watching on the BBC will know that the special relationship is now an essential relationship, The One thinks it is 2008 – he dated his signature in a guestbook at Westminster Abbey “2008” – and has his own background music – he toasted “The Queen“, thus triggering the Scots Guards to play the national anthem, and then began quoting Shakespeare.

This, says the BBC, is not a sign that Obama is as stooopid as, say, George Bush, but the victim of a “hiccup“.

Anorak

Posted: 25th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

Bahrain Elected Now Sits On UN Human Rights Panel: Syria Narrowly Misses Out

HURRAH for the United Nations. Having kicked Libya off the Human Rights panel (yep, it got in), the UN fielded applications for countries who wanted to sit in judgement. Syria applied. Others got in:

This year’s election for the U.N. Human Rights Council has, once again, produced a body that has fewer “free” countries – 21 of a total of 47 – and has more than one-third of the seats held by members of the Islamic bloc.

Among the 15 countries to win seats on the Geneva-based HRC on Friday was Congo, which joins 11 other countries ranked “not free” by the democracy advocacy group, Freedom House, based on an annual assessment of political freedoms and civil liberties…

Anorak

Posted: 25th, May 2011 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comment

Special Barack Obama Plays Muslim Ping-Pong In London: Photos

BARACK Obama and Michelle are in the UK. The relationship is no longer “special” between the UK and the USA. It is “essential“. We get fatty food and an Air Force. They get Jamie Oliver. It’s a decent trade. The UK should not complain. London is now officially the world’s No.1 target for both home-grown and holidaying terrorists. Outside Buckingham Palace, the usual men and women in black, their faces obscured by beard and mask, taught us with militant Islam you are never alone.

Anorak

Posted: 24th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (2)

Obama’s Cadillac 1 Is No Match For Irish Builders And Shergar

BARACK Obama has been in Ireland. He took along his massive Cadillac 1. Only Irish builders can stop it… By the way: anyone seen Shergar?

Anorak

Posted: 24th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

Barack Obama In Ireland: Photos

BARACK Obama has been to Ireland. It’s a big day for free Ireland. After years of poverty and life ruled by the English pound, the Irish are now free to pay off their own massiove debts – albeit with loans from the, er, English…

10808521

Image 1 of 21

Handout photo issued by Maxwell's of US President Barack Obama enjoying a Guinness in Hayes Bar in Moneygall, County Offaly, during his visit to Ireland.

Anorak

Posted: 23rd, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

Imogen Thomas And Alex Salmond F*** The English

IMOGEN Thomas, the footballer and the alleged super-injunction is, as we told you, great news for Scottish independence. A Scottish newspaper has outed the player who allegedly had dealings with Thomas and his lawyers at Schillings, and SNP head politico Alex Salmond goes on the Today programme to state that an English attempt to censure the paper would be “extremely foolish”:

“It looks to me like English law and English injunctions are increasingly impractical in the modern world.”

Anorak

Posted: 23rd, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

Life Mirror’s Private Eye: Boris Johnson – Me And My Cheese Boxes

LIFE Mirrors Private Eye – Me And My Cheese Boxes, by Boris Johnson:

Metro: Tell us something about you we don’t already know.

BJ: “I like to relax by painting cheese boxes. You get Brie and Camembert in these lovely wooden boxes…I paint the whole thing white with a tube of children’s paint and I look for something to paint. The last thing I painted was a picture of one of my family in front of the Colosseum in Rome. I also like painting whisky bottles

Anorak

Posted: 20th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (8)

Ken Clarke For The IMF? Let’s Examine Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s Package

AS Dominique Strauss-Kahn resings his post at the IMF- and Kenenth Clarke casts an eye over the vacancy and wonder if non-rape rape can be considered a perk of the job – Richard North looks at what the Frenchman leaves behind. And – yep – he really is a socialist:

Démissionné has such a lovely ring to it. With “infinite sadness” DSK feels “compelled” today to present to the Executive Board of the IMF his resignation.

He leaves behind a $441,980-a-year salary, higher than president Barack Obama’s, with the added sweetener of it being entirely tax-free. But struggling Greeks, to say nothing of the Irish and Portuguese, will be devastated to learn that the poor man also gives up the $79,120.00, paid in monthly instalments which, according to his contract, comes “… without any certification or justification by you, to enable you to maintain, in the interests of the Fund, a scale of living appropriate to your position as Managing Director”.

Anorak

Posted: 19th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (6)

Kim Jong-il Is Back In His High Heels

KIM Jong-il is on the up. Following Mr Kim’s stroke in 2008, Anorak’s favourite despot in a hat removed his stacked heels and opted for flats. Now he’s stepped into a new pair of 1-inch heels.

The Korean news organ Joonang Daily reports:

Medical experts believed at that time that he had lost the use of his left hand, as it was always held stiffly by his side or covered with a glove.

Anorak

Posted: 19th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (2)

Dominique Strauss-Kahn ‘Raped In A Parking Lot’

WE live in impoverished times. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the International Monetary Fund supremo, understands that. He used to be a communist. Now he’s a socialist. Today the married man is mired by allegetions of attempted forced extra-martial sex. The French don’t care about affairs. But they do care about crimes. Not too long ago, Strauss-Kahn mused on what the voters would care about to Liberation:

DSK then talks about ending up in a men’s room with Sarkozy, during an international summit, and asks him to stop the dirty tricks about his private life.

Wanting to pose as a victim, DSK starts imagining “a woman (he might have) raped in a parking lot and to whom half a million or a million euros would be promised to make up such a story…”

Anorak

Posted: 16th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (7)

Taxi For Chris Huhne: A Tale of Revenge, Sex And Nick Clegg’s Salvation

ONE by one the LibDems are mired. It’s the turn of Cabinet minister Chris Huhne. Did he get his then wife Vicky Pryce to accept his three penalty points for driving too fast past an Essex speed camera in 2003 to avoid him risking a driving ban?

Anorak

Posted: 16th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (5)

Rally Against Debt In Photos: Greek Formula One And Tea

IN L0ndon, demonstrators took part today in the Rally Against Debt outside the Houses of Parliament, London, to protest over the levels of the national debt.

What the complaint really should be about is the elite carving up the cash and getting away with it:

Heath secretary Andrew Lansley’s wife has come under fire after she boasted about links with Cabinet ministers for her business clients. Sally Low, who has been married to the Cabinet minister for the past 10 years, is the founder and managing director of public relations business Low Associates. Her company’s website claims it can help ‘make the link between the public and private sectors’ and highlights how it ‘also set up a debate between a Cabinet minister and his shadow, which really captured the media’s attention’.

Anorak

Posted: 14th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

Lancashire Toff Praises David Cameron For Being A ‘Toffee-Nosed Slimebag’

A TOFF has accused David Cameron of being toffee-nosed. In Lancashire:

“AN East Lancashire peer who dubbed Prime Minister David Cameron a ‘toffee-nosed slimebag’ has stood by his remarks.

Lord Tony Greaves, also a Liberal Democrat councillor in Pendle, told a national newspaper that ‘a lot of people in our party never liked Cameron’.

“Cameron behaved in a way which was dishonest and disloyal to his deputy and he should be thorough ashamed of himself,” Lord Greaves told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“Any lingering affection for Mr Cameron, as a person, within the party, has disappeared. People are very angry.””

Anorak

Posted: 13th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

Is Barack Obama’s Situation Room George Bush’s Plastic Turkey

ON Saturday 6 December 2003, Mark Lawson told Guardian readers that George Bush was “stuffed by a plastic turkey”.

In a revelation certain to be taught at schools of democracy and journalism for years to come, it has been revealed that the apparently appetising turkey that President Bush carried towards beaming troops last week in Baghdad had been genetically modified to a degree that would lead even the most profit-hungry farmers to protest. The bird was the kind of model used by butchers and Hollywood set-dressers.

Following this disclosure, the president is, unlike his political prop, stuffed…

…the affair of the plastic turkey can only be attributed to insecurity.

…Whatever the details, the message is clear. Though he still lacks anything as pesky as a plausible Democrat opponent, Dubya is starting to fear that his administration may become the second one-term turkey served up by the Bush dynasty.

Anorak

Posted: 11th, May 2011 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comment

Was Hillary Clinton Airbrushed Into Situation Room Photo?

NEW York’s Yiddish newspaper Di Tzeitung airbrushed Hillary Clinton – her with the cough – from the that Situation Room photo of Barack Obama and cohorts watching Osama bin Laden being killed (or not).

They did this because the readers “believe that women should be appreciated for who they are and what they do, not for what they look like, and the Jewish laws of modesty are an expression of respect for women, not the opposite”.

Anorak

Posted: 10th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (4)

Ed Miliband Won’t Dance On Margaret Thatcher’s Grave: But He Might Play The Accordion

SURE Ed Miliband posed for a smiley photo with Nottinghamshire Labour council candidate Keir Morrison who was wearing a T-shirt bearing a picture of headstone and the legend:

“A generation of trade unionists will dance on Thatcher’s grave”

Anorak

Posted: 8th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

South Dakota Department of Public Safety Debates Obama The Muslim Terrorist

TO SOUTH Dakota, where Barack Obama is a Muslim terrorist threat to the locale. Richard Bartholomew notes:

NEWS of an upcoming conference: the South Dakota Department of Public Safety is to hold a Homeland Security Conference on 10-12 May:

Events throughout the world and incidents closer to home have underscored the unrelenting need to enhance preparedness, expand prevention efforts, and improve response capabilities to terrorist threats against our nation. The 2nd Annual South Dakota Homeland Security Conference will bring together nationally renowned experts on emerging threats, highlight cutting edge technological resources and speakers will share their expertise on these topics and more.

Our goal is to provide training and information to response agencies from all levels of government and private sector stakeholders in regard to Homeland Security issues affecting the United States and South Dakota. The conference provides a forum for government and industry to foster the partnerships necessary to protect South Dakota from the potential disasters we face.

Anorak

Posted: 6th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

The Top Ten Voting Systems: The Mi6A4 Gas Ejected Assault Rifle

IN answer to the Alternative Vote elite voting system, Anorak asks for your Top Ten Voting Systems. AV might not make the cut. Writes AGW:

No personal preference, but there seems to be an increase in the popularity of the proportional direct selection policy as evinced by the use of the Mi6A4 gas ejected assault rifle voting system. It is claimed to have been directly efficient during recent political discussion in Pakistan.

US Democrats are said to be so convinced of its effectiveness it may be de rigueur for Secretary Hillary Clinton in her upcoming meetings with troublesome Alaskan Sarah Palin.

Regrettably, from a Liberal viewpoint, there is a distinct and very powerful convincing democratic argument since the heavyweight clips are 30 rounds each and fired in bursts of three…Anorak’s required ten voting systems and all in under 60 seconds.

Oppositions parties are said to favour a more even-handed and directly broader selection system; such as a dirty nuclear device left in the bleachers during the next Super Bowl.

That’s the trouble with political selection systems, generally they end the process with all-powerful and totally corrupt elites.

Anorak

Posted: 6th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment (1)

Osama Bin Laden’s Dead Body Photos: Want To See?

THE White House’s kak-handed handling of the death of Osama bin Laden makes us wonder if public enemy number one rally is dead. We saw Dillinger. Show us Osama.

Damian Thompson says the approach has been good for conspiracy theorists. But wanting proof does not make you a nutter in a tin hat. Questioning the official version of events – one that keeps changing – does not make you a denier.

Anorak

Posted: 6th, May 2011 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comments (18)

A Vote For AV Is A Vote For A Bland Career-Minded Elite

DID you vote for or against Alternative Vote (AV) voting? Or to put it another way: did you vote for less democracy and a way to make it harder to kick out failing governments? Or did you vote No?

Or did you, as millions will have done, do nothing because the debate on AV makes Osama bin Laden look lively?

Anorak

Posted: 5th, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comments (4)

Barack Obama’s Spin And Lies Over Osama Bin Laden’s Death Photo

SHOULD the US show us the photo of Osama bin Laden dead with a hole in his face? Do we need the photo to prove the kill of the mass murderer? Are we now so reliant on visual images that we are unable to get the facts without photographic evidence? And if bin Laden is not dead, where is he? And will he now appear to sqaush Obama, who is basking in improved poll ratings?

Anorak

Posted: 5th, May 2011 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comments (4)

Osama Is Obama: A Potted History Of Media Whoops

BARACK Hussein Obama has name that sounds a bit like Osama bin Laden. It’s also a bit like Saddam Hussein. George Bush has name that sounds a lot like George II, the foreign King who fought the American dream. JFK is but one letter away from JFS (Jane’s Fighting Ships). Maggie Thatcher is easily confused with Teri Hatcher (both Christian!)? I think we can all take something from that. Here’s a pictorial history of the Osama is Obama polemic. One of them is dead. Can the media tell which one it is..?

obama-osama_may2

Image 1 of 9

Anorak

Posted: 4th, May 2011 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comment

Bush Haters Say Obama Won The War On Terror: Hillary Clinton Disagrees

OBAMA killed Osama. That’s the gist of the chant outside the White House. “Yes we can,” comes the chant.

It’s all a bit odd, isn’t it? The war Osama bin Laden started. The war George Bush went into without batting an eyelid. The war that caused Al Qaeda killers to be captured and sent to Guantanamo Bay – that’s the place Obama said he’d close just as soon as he was elected. The war in Afghanistan that was about the US getting Bin Laden and crushing Al Qeda. Well, Obama, who came to power after it had began, has won it.

Anorak

Posted: 2nd, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment

Ed Miliband Plays Cricket With A Tennis Ball And Gets Off With Girls

IN readiness for the local elections, Labour leader Ed Miliband played cricket to Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. Miliband is man blessed with all the sporting prowess of powdered custard.

Anorak

Posted: 2nd, May 2011 | In: Politicians | Comment