Journalist Savaged by Thought Police for Stating Fact

It happened like this. Liddle said something people found offensive. They couldn't actually prove him wrong, to prove it was slanderous, so they condemned him for using a vague term like 'overwhelming'.

The fact is, he was right, given the proportion of young Afro-Caribbean males in the overall population. But he didn't say that, so it wasn't good enough for the PCC.

(Emphases mine)

It's double-plus good!

Rod Liddle's Spectator blog first to be censured by PCC

The PCC said the Spectator had not been able to back up Mr Liddle's claim

Spectator columnist Rod Liddle has become the first blogger to be censured by the Press Complaints Commission.

On the Spectator's website, Mr Liddle wrote that the "overwhelming majority" of London's violent crime was carried out by young, African-Caribbean men.

But the PCC ruled the former BBC Radio 4 Today editor's words breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of its code.

It said the "significant ruling" showed publications' websites would be held to the same standards as print editions.

A reader had complained after the article was published in December 2009.

Mr Liddle had written that "the overwhelming majority of street crime, knife crime, gun crime, robbery and crimes of sexual violence in London is carried out by young men from the African-Caribbean community".

There is plenty of room for robust opinions, views and commentary, but statements of fact must still be substantiated Stephen Abell Director, Press Complaints Commission

PCC director Stephen Abell said the Spectator had provided some evidence to back up Mr Liddle's assertion.

But he added "it had not been able to demonstrate that the 'overwhelming majority' of crime in all the stated categories had been carried out by members of the African-Caribbean community".

Mr Abell said the ruling was significant because it demonstrated that "the PCC expects the same standards in newspaper and magazine blogs that it would expect in comment pieces that appear in print editions".

"There is plenty of room for robust opinions, views and commentary, but statements of fact must still be substantiated if and when they are disputed," he said.

"And if substantiation isn't possible, there should be proper correction by the newspaper or magazine in question."

Mr Abell said that although several readers had taken issue with Mr Liddle's claim in the comments section of the blog, the PCC did not agree that "the magazine could rely on publishing critical reaction as a way of abrogating its responsibilities under the code".

Following the ruling, Mr Liddle said the PCC had "got it wrong".

He said: "It seems to suggest that had I not used the word overwhelming, they wouldn't have come down against me.

"I'll confess and maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'overwhelming' in all the cases I quoted.

"But a blog is different because it has to be a conversation, otherwise there's no point in having a blog."

Leftie Stupid Statement of the Week

This week's award goes to : some commentor at Canadian site Babble.

"Fascism is just a particular brand of capitalism, after all."

It seems that lefties are not only ignorant of Economics, but also History too. What do Canadians learn at school, apart from sociology, gender studies and fisting?

But this one really is a gem, and I understand this is a very typical leftist move: identify every form of non-leftism as "Fascist", denying every historical reality in the process.

Fascism, as an Italian cultural movement, was of course deeply Socialist, and Mussolini was a Leftist to the core. The Fascists hated, hated Capitalism, and sought to destroy it. Corporatism was their response, which in reality is a type of government-controlled industrialism. Lefties like to think that Corporatism was in fact the rule of Industrialists, which could not be further from the truth. Sure, the industrialists tried to ingratiate themselves with their Fascist rulers, but it was the latter who were firmly in control.

When Hitler decided to become a Fascist too, he called it National Socialism, for reasons that made perfect sense to him. And why not? There was International Socialism, which a lot of Europeans (particularly the working classes) didn't like because it left national identity out of the equation, and it's rival, National Socialism. The first had class identity, and the second national identity.

Are they so different? Different enough for most leftists to identify the two as polar opposites, and in theory they have a point. In practice, however, the two merged into one ideology. How?

Well, National Socialism was, in reality, very pro-worker. They introduced lots of laws which nowadays would be considered very "progressive", and the Nazis and Fascists alike (they aren't quite the same thing, remember) hated the "rich" Capitalists with a passion. They often considered the Capitalists stooges of Washington or - worse - Jews. They only good Capitalist was one that toed the Party line. So, in effect, Nazism was about worker solidarity and making the boss do the bidding of the Party.

Communism, or International Socialism, on the other hand, became "Socialism In One Country", in effect becoming national Socialism, as every formerly independent nation retained their own identity, a concession to that feeling of ethnic independence that led to National Socialism in the first place!

The idea that Fascism and Capitalism have anything in common is so bizarre it is laughable, and yet look how pervasive it is. This is actually thanks to that master of propaganda himself -Stalin.

Yep, Jokin' Joe Stalin is responsible for that idea. He interpreted Marx as follows: In the end of days, when the Revolution (blessed be it) is upon us, the forces of Capitalism will rise up for a Last Stand against the workers and be defeated. The only force to endanger Communism, as Stalin saw it, was Nazism (he thought Democracy was a dead duck), and so the Prophecy was fulfilled in Hitler.

And to this day, Lefties perpetuate this fantasy, and we let them. We talk of a "political spectrum" with Left and Right at either end, the former being the Socialist Paradise (Cuba, Venezuela) and the extreme Right being Mussolini, Hitler and Ronald Reagan, with Conservatives and all other Nasty Things on the "Right", while liberals nestle in the "reasonable" lefty-centre.

Bullshit. As Ann Coulter said, "Most people aren't liberal, but they think liberal sounds nice. It's my job to change that".

Mine too. The more someone uses the words Nazi and Fascist a lot, two things can confidently be said about him:
1) he has no idea what those words mean, and
2) he likely agrees with 80% of their ideology but would never admit it, believing himself to be 'of the left'.

In fact, the more he uses the words, the less he knows and the more he agrees!

Response to Ireland's Economic Woes .... More Government!

This is a bad week for Ireland. If bankruptcy wasn't harsh enough, the Irish political freeloaders have simply chosen to bury their snouts deeper in the public trough.

The highlight (lowlight?) of the week was the Green Party Conference in Waterford. The Green Party are actually in Government in Ireland, for those unaware, although they are severely constrained, like a BEE business partner who has to be tolerated, by the ruling Fianna Fail behemoth.

Their success is due to their middle-class nice-ness, but their ideology is leaning lefter by the day, as some of the noises emerging from the Conference demonstrated.

From the Indo:

Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has strongly defended the Government's policy on rescuing Anglo-Irish Bank.
The minister told the Green Party convention in Waterford the banking system must be cleaned up at the lowest cost with the greatest possible protection for the people.
He said allowing Anglo to go under would not be the best solution.
"The Fine Gael position that effectively calls for a default on our debts would carry real risks. I can understand why people ask the simple question: why not just let Anglo go or let the bond-holders take all the pain?" he said.
"The reality is that those subordinated bond-holders who did take a risk by putting money into the bank have and will lose out."
He warned the discount on loans purchased by the National Asset Management Agency is likely to be higher than originally estimated.
"It is also likely we will have to take a further state shareholding in some of our banks, but that again is something that throughout this process the Green Party has been preparing for," he said.
He added: "We are only at the start of changing all that needs to be changed. We need to change our tax system to discourage such property speculation in the future.
"We need to change our banking and business culture to replace short-term speculative thinking with a sustainable development ethos.
"And most importantly we need to change our planning and political system so that the brown envelope and cute rezonings are made forever a thing of the past."

Attacking Fine Gael, who will likely win the next election at the head of a "rainbow" coalition, seems an unwise move, particularly given that Green politics-at least in Ireland- should probably stick to tree-hugging and not become welded to any particular set of economic policies.

Note too the intention - in true nanny-state style - to "discourage" future "property speculation", as thought the current crisis weren't enough to discourage even the greediest of speculators for life.

Party Leader John Gormley made a bit of a gaffe in his speech:

Those who are guilty of causing the banking crisis must be brought to justice, the Environment Minister has said.

John Gormley said "white collar criminality" has to be dealt with, during a wide-ranging speech to the Green Party convention in Waterford.

"Doing the right thing also means bringing to justice those who are guilty of causing the banking crisis," he said. "We want to tackle the problem of white-collar criminality, because there cannot be one law for the rich and one law for the poor.

"Or, to put it another way, one law for those in authority and one law for the less powerful and weaker elements of our society."

Feeling the need to clarify what "rich" and "poor" mean is one thing, but then realising that those who vote Green are from the more affluent areas of Ireland and changing his tune midsentence to accommodate them is quite another! ("er, ... I actually mean, no, you rich are alright- it's the powerful, yes, them, who are the problem.....")

But the best (read:worst) was yet to come. Ireland has a new Ministry! In true nanny-state style, the Irish have created for themselves a "Ministry of Equality, Integration and Human Rights"!

I haven't decided yet whether to refer to it as MiniQual or MiniRights but both seem apt. Here is the text of the speech of Minister for Equality and Integration Mary White to the Green Party conference, courtesy of CLR:

Good morning everyone. It’s wonderful to speak to you for a few minutes on the new Ministry of Equality, Integration and Human Rights, which I have the honour to be looking after.
The reconfiguration of Government departments this week saw the creation of a junior ministry in which equality and human rights policy were transferred from the Department of Justice to the new Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs. I will have responsibility for these areas, as well as integration policy, which was already in that Department. Some aspects of social inclusion policy will also fall within my remit.

For many people in this room, the transfer of equality policy from the Department of Justice to a new home, one where social policy is more central to the agenda, is very welcome. The move will allow equality to be given the kind of focus it deserves within Government.

We are all aware of the inequalities which remain in our society – be they economic or social. We know there are the homeless – short-term and long-term – on our streets, day and night. We know many families are struggling with unbearable financial stress. We know there are many travellers living in appalling conditions, with poor facilities and limited access to basic needs. We know many women in this country flee to refuges seeking protection from violence or abuse. We know people are still insulted, ignored or exploited because of their skin colour. Same-sex couples do not enjoy adequate rights. These inequalities require more action from Government, and I will deliver that action.

In this regard one of my aims is to look at how state structures and institutions active in the fields of equality and social inclusion could be better supported, bodies such as the Equality Authority, the Human Rights Commission and the Office for Social Inclusion. We have an opportunity now to create greater links between these organisations of Government policy.

Underpinning the challenge to create a more equal Ireland is the agenda of advancing human rights. The State, at times, has let its citizens down – dignity denied, protection inadequate, justice delayed. Revelations in report after report have illustrated this. I aim to reinvigorate the human rights agenda.

A reflection of secure human rights and equality in society is the real integration of its minorities. Ireland faces many challenges, both now and in the future, to provide our new Irish with the kind of opportunities – economic, social, cultural – which most of us enjoy. This party prides itself on long-term planning policies, and in my new role I want to ensure Government plans now for the challenges which our new learners will face when their school days are over. I want the employment prospects of children of African or Asian heritage to be the same as those of children of Irish parents. In parallel I will use every opportunity available to communicate to our citizens the importance of integration, the benefits of inclusiveness.

I am still in listening mode. To listen is to learn, and I aim to engage with groups of all backgrounds, learning from voices we’re familiar with, and those less often heard. Time is of the essence – we’re all aware of that in this party – but I share the determination and enthusiasm of all in this room to deliver quickly: sustainable policies for a fairer Ireland.

It's the stuff liberals drool over.

There's nothing like taking advantage of a crisis to create some more government. Surely when Ireland was booming and had the money, they could have considered trying to make society more "fair"?

All the language is suitably fluffy. Lots of "equality", "integration" and "minorities" with of course some "human rights" - whatever that means - thrown in for fun. My favourite part is the fretting that some people are being "insulted" - requiring government intervention of course.

Talk about fiddling while Rome burns!

Now I Have Another Rover...

Yes now I have another one. Being carless in South Africa has been a nightmare. Like the USA, carlessness is a real affliction that can render you friendless and boring.

And I really do just love these.

The SD1 (pictured right, not mine) was known as the last "British" Rover, but that's very unfair to the boys who worked on the 200/400 series and the brilliant, award-winning 600Ti (which was shut down by BMW for being better than anything it produced).

This is by a long shot the best thing on four wheels that can be got in SA for less than R15k, and probably one of the best saloon cars of all time. It was Car Of The Year the year I was born too, so there's a personal connection there.

Mine is an Automatic, which is not my first choice since I took my 5-speed V8 to unmentionable speeds two years ago, but the Auto goes well too. Buying one of these in SA is quite an experience, because there are so many things that go wrong on them. The SD1 made Jeremy Clarkson's Top 100 but he noted the, er, industrial problems that went along with its launch in 1977.

In fact, I can add my voice to the many who have said that the South African cars were better build than the British ones. They just are. They last longer here too, because of the dry weather. But that same dry weather plays havoc with rubber components and induces swift Fall-Apart in the inherently self-destruct interiors.

Electrics too are a minefield. As usual, the two rear windows don't open, but, surprisingly, the fuel gauge does. The clock doesn't and the cruise control I haven't tested yet. As with most mechanical and electrical parts on the Rover, it's not so much a case of them being broken.

It being a Rover, they're on strike.


But this is one of the nicest Series Ones I've seen. A one-owner car, I bought it in Stikland, a place well known for picking up cheap cars, from an Afrikaans fellow who was quite sad to see it go. There are few scratches and the interior is ok. I'm just looking forward to getting it out on the freeway.

Once I've replaced all the power steering fluid that's leaked out....