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1321 [lbo-talk] London Bombers -- rank: 1000

Carl Remick, in a characteristic non-sequiteur: "Yes, any nutjob with a mandate of one and a bomb in his backpack *can* seek to hold fellow nutjobs like Tony Blair accountable by blowing up innocent bystanders, no matter how unfair this may be. Rather than wailing about the injustice of it all, Brits should just take practical steps to reduce the chances of this happening -- by withdrawing all their troops from Iraq and binding over Blair for trial as a war criminal." First, Carl's ad ...

Document Size:	6121
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Jul 13 14:23:39 PDT 2005

1322 [lbo-talk] London Bombers -- rank: 1000

Jim Devine writes: "it's a mistake to seek a single cause of an empirical event in human history. ...There's the psychological dimension of some individuals being pushed over the edge. There's the sociological dimension of the relationship between "Asians" and the rest of British society ...There's the political dimension of the US/UK war against Iraq. There's an ideological dimension... Etc." But despite the exhaustive list, Jim forgets the most important of all, the will of ...

Document Size:	8477
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Jul 13 11:35:01 PDT 2005

1323 [lbo-talk] London's "Blitz Spirit" rubbished -- rank: 1000

I took Gary?'s advice and wrote a critique of London's Blitz Spirit: Revisiting the Blitz Spirit Myths about the Second World War won't help us understand what is happening today. by James Heartfield http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAC66.htm

Document Size:	4943
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Jul 13 07:38:35 PDT 2005

1324 [lbo-talk] They lived in the next street from me -- rank: 1000

It seems that the London bombers did not come from Iraq seeking vengeance, but grew up in the next street from where I was raised. We lived at Alexandra Crescent in Leeds when I was born, the bombers, now all named by the press, lived in Alexandra Grove and Alexandra Park, parallel and adjacent to me. It was a mixed Pakistani-English area then. In the eighties when Shehzad Tanweer (22) was growing up my mother was still teaching Junior school in nearby Huddersfield. Her students were mostly Paki ...

Document Size:	9005
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Jul 13 02:29:04 PDT 2005

1325 [lbo-talk] Fartback, or fightback? -- rank: 1000

Wojtek is kind enough to agree with me, but I am sorry that I cannot agree with him when he approvingly quotes President Clinton (as reported by George Stephanopolous): "'We're not inflicting pain on these fuckers,' Clinton said, softly at first. 'When people kill us, they should be killed in greater numbers.' Then, with his face reddening, his voice rising, and his fist pounding his thigh, he leaned into Tony [Lake], as if it was his fault. 'I believe in killing people who try to hurt you. ...

Document Size:	6347
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Jul 12 11:54:42 PDT 2005

1326 [lbo-talk] Fartback -- rank: 1000

CG Estabrook: " I think that it's far easier to imagine the bombers thinking (like the 9/11 terrorists) "I'm doing this because of what these people are doing to my people," that to imagine them thinking "I'm doing this because I'm politically isolated." " Did they say that? This is what Mohammed Bouyeri, who killed Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh said yesterday in court: "I pray that God protect me that I should ever think differently than I do now." &quo ...

Document Size:	7273
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Jul 12 08:23:37 PDT 2005

1327 [lbo-talk] London bombings -- rank: 1000

Apologies for overposting. Breaking stories: four houses in Yorkshire are being searched in relation to the bombings. On Radio 4's Today programme this morning: * 'The Labour Party is to blame for starting an illegal war in Iraq' said ... Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party. He went on to say that they had also 'lost control of Britain's borders' and argued that the Koran is a terrorist manual. (Which just goes to show that the 'blowback' argument is entirely compatible ...

Document Size:	5629
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Jul 12 01:52:29 PDT 2005

1328 [lbo-talk] Sensible violence? -- rank: 1000

I don't agree with C.G. Estabrook/George Galloway's argument that the killings are inexcusable but not inexplicable. That is to say that this was somehow a spontaneous response to attacks on the Middle East. But the relationship is not so direct. Someone else posted up Gary Younge's similar argument from the Guardian newspaper. I posted them this reply (which turned out to be surplus to their requirements): "I opposed the Iraq war, but I still think it is daft to blame Tony Blair for the Lo ...

Document Size:	6774
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Jul 12 00:07:39 PDT 2005

1329 [lbo-talk] The linguistic bubble! -- rank: 1000

Carrol: "It may or may not have been an outrageous act, but (on the model of Spain) it was obviously neither random nor senseless. It was certainly, for example, less random and less senseless than the u.s. 1000- plane raid on Hamburg during WW2 -- not to mention the Tokyo firebombing, Dresden, or, more recently, Fallujah." I think I must be missing something here. How is planting a bomb on buses and trains any less random or senseless than bombing Hamburg or Tokyo? Do you mean it kill ...

Document Size:	6299
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Jul 11 16:29:11 PDT 2005

1330 [lbo-talk] "Brits" (as seen by Yanks) -- rank: 1000

Willy Greenfields writes: "I gotta go back and study my Daniel Pipes. I keep forgetting that death-seeking Arabs/Muslims' sole grievance against Western power is the humiliation of the Crusades." Missing the point that the avowed aim of Al-Qaeda is to restore the C.14th Caliphate. The bombers do not represent any substantial section of Arab or Muslim opinion, and have been roundly condemned across the Arab world.

Document Size:	5041
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Jul 11 15:29:59 PDT 2005

1331 [lbo-talk] "Brits" (as seen by Yanks) -- rank: 1000

Gary? scoffs about the 'Brits' (yuck) 'stiff upper lip': "and Nero fiddled while Rome burned, impressive isn't it.. That stiff upper lip is similar to American's patriotism, a diversion, no-one is asking why, no-one is taking Blair to task, they're too busy 'carrying on regardless' and being admired for it.. Bloody fools." Peculiar metaphor. Nero was Emperor of Rome, the British people are only subjects. Of course people are interested in why: eveeryone is talking about it, the comment ...

Document Size:	6107
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Jul 11 10:07:55 PDT 2005

1332 [lbo-talk] London bombings -- rank: 1000

The difference between Spain and Britain has already been described. I would just add that the Spanish PM was extremely defensive, and was seen to attempt to shift the blame onto the Basque separatist group, ETA, at a time when public hysteria and suspicion were at their height, which meant that he became the target of popular distrust. Maybe if the London bombing had taken place during the election campaign here the results would have been different. But it would be wrong to hope that the bombe ...

Document Size:	7432
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Thu Jul 7 23:15:38 PDT 2005

1333 [lbo-talk] London bombings -- rank: 1000

"So will this increase or decrease the pressure on Blair to pull out of Iraq? Or neither?" He's riding pretty high at the moment. It is a strange turnaround from the election that was well underway even before the bomb. The spat at the European Union made him popular over here, as his critics (principally Chirac) seemed to be trying to divert attention from their own failings. Anti-EC sentiment is often quite popular, but at the moment it strikes a chord with those disenchanted from th ...

Document Size:	7097
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Thu Jul 7 12:50:58 PDT 2005

1334 [lbo-talk] Champion Jack Dupree -- rank: 1000

When I was a boy, growing up in Halifax, West Yorkshire, the presence among us of the blues singer Champion Jack Dupree was part of the folklore. I think he was living in nearby Ovenden. My recollection is that he had a little van, with his name on the side. It was an exotic contribution to the otherwise mundane Calder Valley.

Document Size:	4897
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Jul 4 13:11:25 PDT 2005

1335 [lbo-talk] Review of Mao biography -- rank: 1000

Mao: The end of the affair A new biography by former Maoists Jung Chang and Jon Halliday blames Mao for everything that has gone wrong in China. What are they trying to hide? review by James Heartfield http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CAC41.htm

Document Size:	4905
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Mon Jul 4 12:07:06 PDT 2005