Johnnie Walker Walks
Johnnie Walker, owned by Diageo, did a brilliant ad/infomercial for their premium whisky.
The ad is called, “The man who walked all around the World”. It is supposedly the true story behind Johnnie Walker and how from he started to produce one of the finest blends that Scotland has ever sold, from his small grocer store in Kilmarnock.
Of course, it is all weepy. Of course, given Diageo is a giant company, this internet only advert has a large budget. You are watching an ad that cost £1000 a second to make – even though all it really is is Robert Carlyle walking down a road. So of course, it will pull a few heart strings. (Heart strings being pulled and alcohol are not a good idea). On an aside, Robert Carlyle certainly sounds more Scottish in this ad than he does normally.
However, the heart strings being pulled are not those of the viewer. They belong to those who buy Johnnie Walkers and those who made it. Diageo closed their bottling plant in Kilmarnock. The town that had a 189 history with Johnnie Walker.
Over 700 people lost their jobs. A decision confirmed in September, despite strong community opposition.
So much for the heart strings. The $$$s always come first.
The Johnnie Walker you buy from now on will have no association with Kilmarnock. It will be one of many cheap blended whiskies. It may have Johnnie Walker on the label, but it will have no actual association with the town of Kilmarnock.
Add comment November 1, 2009
There is one man to blame for the rise of the BNP
The BBC Question Time programme gave Nick Griffin the oxygen of publicity and he choked on it.
Jack Straw was useless. However, if you draw up a list of politicians who engage in Muslim bashing for cheap political points, Jack Straw is up there with Nick Griffin. After all it wasn’t Griffin that said he would not talk to women wearing a burkah.
David Dimbelby tried too hard. He wanted a posh version of the Jerry Springer show in order to boost ratings. His show invited a Nazi and Dimbleby just had to show that he was not a racist sympathiser.
The provocativability of the audience was guaranteed. The Mail is wrong. If you took any group of 200 people from Britain, the same level of disgust would be shown to the BNP.
The BBC did not as Peter Hain suggest, boost the BNP. He should look closer to home.
Poverty and fear drives extremism.
The house price bubble and lack of social housing.
Unemployment.
Taxes hitting the poorest.
“British jobs for British workers”.
MPs expenses.
The Government created monster of “Radical Islam”.
All of these were fostered by the man Peter Hain is happy to call his Leader.
Peter Hain – your Leader is helping the BNP. Gordon Brown the best recruitment tool for the BNP.
If you push the politics of fear you get the politics of hate.
Add comment October 24, 2009
New BNP Membership List
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Is your neighbour a stupid racist?
The British National Party appear to have a bit of a data protection issue. Details of their now 16,000 members has been leaked.
Everyone knows what they stand for and now you can know who they are.
The full April membership list is available here on wikileaks.
This excel document contains nine spreadsheets of detailed, confidential party membership information, with dates ranging from December 2006 to 15 April 2009.
It should not be assumed that every person with a BNP membership number is a current member of the BNP. For instance, journalists and opponents have sometimes joined the BNP to obtain information about it.
Add comment October 20, 2009
A Clever PUMA? HuffingtonPost Promoting a Hate Site Fanatic
You would think that an administration that passed as its first Act, the Ledbetter Bill, appointed more women to a first pick Cabinet than any other President, would hardly be attacked because the President did not play basketball with them. Unless you read the Onion. This attack is not on the Onion, it is on The Huffington Post, in a thinly disguised article selling hate.
We all remember the stupidity and racism of the PUMA “movement”. Hate, racism and what they considered “revenge” was their agenda. Thankfully, most of them were so idiotic that they could not run a whelk stall.
I remember the scene in Starship Troopers quite well, when a talking head dismisses the idea of a brain bug out of hand. Amy Siskind is a brain PUMA.
Not all PUMAs are as idiotic as Darra$h Murphy. Her extreme racist agenda is out there for all to see. Siskind is different. The most dangerous form of racist is a racist with a brain. They sell their hate and bigotry by manipulation.
Amy Siskind is no laughing matter. She has an old agenda to sell, hate, wrapped up in one shiny happy package.

The Real New Agenda
To Siskind, crimes against women are only committed by members or supporters of the Democratic Party or by ethnic minorities and for her agenda, preferably both. Not once has she mentioned the assassination of Dr Tiller, a crime against all women, Letterman was more important. She has never once mentioned the wife beating dished out by Republican Dave Weller?
The assault by Chris Brown on Rihanna, according to Siskind, should have required a Presidential explanation.
Do women count so little to Siskind that she trades the real issues that impact them for her revenge against what she considers to be Obama campaign sexism against Hillary and Sarah?
When it comes to the achievements of President Obama on womens issues, Siskind is either silent, spreading mistruths or being deliberately manipulative.
The first Cabinet pick by President Obama has more women in it than any other President, he picked Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and Judge Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. She claims women are not supported by this President, because they do not play basketball with him. This was the whole basis of her article on Huffington Post. As a poster there said, it should have been on the Onion.
On the appointment of Valerie Jarrett, Siskind claim she defended her appointment, but she opens using every smear the right put out about her, using a common “some say” method of smearing.
On Ledbetter, it took the New Agenda the best part of six months to say nothing worth saying anyway.
Issues of race are completely irrelevant to The New Agenda. Never mind that minority women are impacted more by racism than men. No, women of colour should just go elsewhere. The New Agenda will not tackle racism.
She declares:
In reading our blog, we seem to hitting against a new issue – the issue of racism. I would make the same request of our viewers. There are many wonderful national organization devoted to speaking out against racism. For those of you that find your life impacted by the color of your skin, you will probably prefer to join organizations which are devoted to that important issue.
As a result of her association with race hate, when she tried to claim credit for the internal election results of a NOW, Diana Castaneda , of the NOW Combatting Racism Task Force, made it clear – The New Agenda can get lost.
Diana Castaneda on June 30th, 2009 6:52 pm
You cannot claim A COUP, when all the work to give NOW new life came directly from NOW Feminist like me, that have never heard of the NEW Agenda. The fact that a very few of you attended does not make a coup! I am a National Board member from Texas. The first I have ever heard of you was from a NOW President,.We are not new agenda/Palin supporters. We support candidates and women that adhere to choice . We also do not condone Letterman or any one that promotes misogyny and abuse of women either in Word or Deed. I for one supported Terry O’Neill because she is the most qualified to take on the Fiscal challenges that NOW is facing. In this country there is room for all concepts of inclusion including the NEW AGENDA, but NOW is NOT RIPE for the picking! YOU, will have to do your own joint collaborations with other Legitimate groups to build a network just as NOW has in over 40 years. No coup was masterminded by the New Agenda, it was the membership that wanted a new direction. NOW is happy to have people that support our AGENDA, and inclusion of All women , and Women of Color. Diana Castaneda, South Central Region, Texas/Combating Racism Task Force Member
Race hate is not welcomed by NOW. NOW fights against it. The New Palin Agenda, considers issues of racism irrelevant. That says a lot about The Real Agenda offered by Siskind.
She has called NoQuarter, good friends of the New Agenda and has them on her blog roll.
Comment by Hadrianus | 2009-10-15 19:06:15
Yes, he has a problem with women. He’s gay! Look at the drag queen he married.
Comment by Mairi | 2009-10-16 23:27:33
Think about it….Meesh is as “manly” as they come! There isn’t a “feminine” bone in her body IMHO. It’s really sad. We have had some tremendously WONDERFUL First Ladies, but I don’t think this one will EVER make that list….not even last. When we DO have a female Prez, she MAY make the list of “First Dudes”, but my guess would be that she would be last on THAT list! Just sayin’…….guess I am no longer “classy” either when it comes to evaluating this sidekick.
Comment by Not suprised | 2009-10-15 22:28:45
Culturally, Obama can’t have a woman around when his wife is not around. If the woman was a friend of Michelle’s she could be around but only if Michelle was present. Ask any woman in a Black community. Standard behavior.
Just some of the classy comments there. Does anyone call them out? Not a chance.
Is this the first time NoQuarter displays such hatred and sexism against women? Nope, of course not.
It is worth remembering even Harriet Christian called Siskind out. Christian was not the right type of woman wanted by the New Palin Agenda.
Huffington Post should not be pretending that Amy Siskind is a Democratic woman upset with the progress on issues that matter to Women. She is not. She is a Republican tool, being used to sell the Republican Party to women. That is The New Agenda. She needs to be called out for it continuously.
This is your chance to object email HuffPo.
community-support@huffingtonpost.com
Add comment October 17, 2009
President Barack Hussein Obama and The Nobel Peace Prize
Remember the so called “Pro American” bigots who were celebrating America not being awarded the Olympics in 2016.
Their reaction to the Nobel Peace Prize is telling. It is laughable. Darra$h Murphy posted “a prowl” (random spam mail) from a hate site contributor (nothing new there – she has defended the Neo Nazi English Defence League in the recent past).
One simple glaringly obvious facts shows why and how, not only President Barack Obama deserved the peace Prize, America did too. Last year, the then Presidential Candidate John McCain had joined with Bush in upping the anté on Russia for their invasion of Georgia.
Obama joined in the condemnation but refused involvement in whipping up Press hate. Even after the election, when he was President Elect. There is only one President.
He worked, not with Putin, but with Mededev and that work has paid off. Russia and the US are near to announcing reductions in the levels of nuclear weapons that exceed the latter years of Reagans’ Presidency.
A new geo political course has been set, with America respected in the World. America grew up, no longer a school yard bully, more a strong, thoughtful ally. Precisely because the Democratic Party selected the nominee who did not speak of annihilating Iran and the wider electorate chose the candidate who saw engagement and diplomacy as just as an effective weapon to ever increasing wars.
In 8 months we have progressed to a nuclear reductions road map. Russia no longer sees the US as an enemy and the US elected a President who understands that. The cold war rhetoric that had been ratcheted up was talked down.
George W Bush stated we are not at war with the Muslim World. It was not a very believable statement you illegally invade a Middle East Country and look set to invade another. President Obama reiterated that we are not at War with Islam in Cairo. His words carried credibility.
The Middle Eastern situation was almost irrevocably damaged by Neo Con expressions of might. For all the messages of friendship that the right love to send to extremist administrations of Israel, the Neo Cons left the Israeli security situation in a much worse place than they had inherited it.
The Iraq War, as well as other Neo Con skirmishes in the Middle East provided fuel to the fire of those against the State of Israel. The Government of Israel has not helped. The moderate Government used an illegal war on Palestinian people to try and win support. It won nothing but International condemnation. That war upped the anté, and Netanyahu was elected as a result.
Now however even Netanyahu sees the need for a two State solution in Israel. Progress will be slow and frustrating, but progress is being made.
President Obama has changed the tone of International politics, especially with respect to America’s relations with the rest of the World. Unlike any of the other contendors for the US Presidency, Obama is popular across the World. That may annoy Republicans but World Leaders, including those who would normally be opposed to a Democratic President like him. David Cameron, Leader of the British Conservatives, committed his Party to support the President in Afghanistan if they win in May 2010, that included a any surge in troops.
On Iraq, President Obama is following through on timelines for pullbacks and withdrawals. America will not be in Iraq for the next 100 years.
His strengthened relations with Russia means that a show of force is no longer needed in Iran. His commitment for diplomatic engagement is getting quiet results. It would have been so easy to lose sight of the goal of a stable Middle East had the President jumped in with two left feet to demand intervention in to their suspicious election results.
The revised Arms deal with Poland has helped that. Securing Europe from a nuclear based Iran, but calming hotter heads in Russia who saw the unworkable Star Wars II programme as a threat.
The metal banging of North Korea was dealt with. Kim got his pic with a US President (Clinton), so he got his attention for the day. The showing off of his toys, ie nukes has calmed down. Again this could not have been done had relations with China not improved.
So the Peace Prize to Obama is a prize given to America., as the President said, “I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women, and all Americans, want to build — a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes..”
Be Proud America and all those who supported Hope over Hate.
Add comment October 11, 2009
Highlighting Reality. Shaming Stupidity.
Patrick McKinnion has a much longer history of exposing the idiocy of PUMAs and Birthers than I have.
It was a shame to see the YestoDemocracy site go down. However there is good news. All of the goodness that was Patrick is back, (well he had not really gone) including comments at Bad Fiction.
It has been going for a while, along with another site he is involved with (Politijab (I need to spend more time there)).
Both great sites and both worth a plug.
Add comment October 9, 2009
Come on Gordon. Why not discuss social mobility.
Labour want a battle on social mobility. Give them one, this goes for the Lib Dems as well. The Liberal Democrats have a real opportunity of beating Labour next year and they need to grab it.
Labour wants the next election to be a battle on social mobility.
Social mobility under Labour has all but gone. If you are in a Labour poverty trap there is no way out. No real right to buy, no chance of a meaningful degree, no chance on the property ladder except through fabricated mortgages which have all but dried up and they helped create the burst bubble we will be paying for for the rest of our lives.
Large ineffective increases in public expenditure that meant services were delivered according to performance measures and not not actual service delivery, funded by a neo con boom in property, that left part of the economy -the housing market, addicted to inflation, while real wage rates were frozen. It was always going to end in catastrophe. Never mind the abolition of boom and bust.
Those Labour Members of Parliament that made it out of poverty need to look back and see what they have done. The yob culture exists because there is no way out for them.
New Labour did not just kick the rungs from under the poor, they set fire to the ladder. So come on Labour, battle on social mobility.
Add comment October 1, 2009

















