Beyond The White Cliffs

Londoners have a wonderful opportunity on 1st May to rid themselves of a self-serving socialist and instead bring in someone who isn’t afraid to buck against people of his own party. Boris Johnson may be famous for his gaffs but he’s equally famous for his endearing style and comic abilities. Good luck Boris!

Here are a few clips of the man himself. I think you’d agree that he’s the exact opposite of what you’d usually expect as a future Mayor of London but perhaps that’s precisely the reason why he should be supported!

We have created human-animal embryos already, say British team

In brief, this article confirms that scientists in England have successfully created embryos containing human and animal material. They are made by placing the nucleus from a human cell into an animal egg that has had its nucleus removed. The genetic material in the resulting embryos is 99.9 per cent human.

“The BBC reported that the Newcastle cybrids lived for three days, and that the largest grew to contain 32 cells. The ultimate aim is to grow these for six days, and then to extract embryonic stem cells for use in research.”

The research touched upon here and in recent debates I’ve seen on the gogglebox concerns diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes, and is will also (hopefully) be used in the development of new drugs.

Comment by Michael, Owasso, OK:

When the Nazis carried out experiments on human, it was decried and considered barbaric. These experiments are just as barbaric. There is no more respect for the sanctity of life. An embryo is fully human. Every person on this planet was once an embryo. Would you like to have experiments performed on you or your child?

My comment:

So. Extracting embryonic stem cells from a six day old cybrid is equivalent to the experiments carried out by the Nazi doctors, is it? That is one of the most ridiculous and offensive views I’ve heard so far.

To be clear what it is you’re referring to let’s look at some of the experiments carried out by the Nazis:

• Mengele did a number of medical experiments of unspeakable horror at Auschwitz, using twins. These twins as young as five years of age were usually murdered after the experiment was over and their bodies dissected.

• At Auschwitz Professor Carl Clauberg injected chemical substances into wombs of thousands of Jewish and Gypsy women. They were sterilized by the injections, producing horrible pain, inflamed ovaries, bursting spasms in the stomach, and bleeding. Men and women were positioned repeatedly for several minutes between two x-ray machines aimed at their sexual organs. Most subjects died or were gassed immediately because the radiation burns from which they suffered rendered them unfit for work. Men’s testicles were removed and sent to Breslau for histopathological examination.

• Dr. Herta Oberheuser killed children with oil and evipan injections, then removed their limbs and vital organs. The time from the injection to death was between three and five minutes, with the person being fully conscious until the last moment. During the Holocaust she made some of the most gruesome and painful medical experiments, focused on deliberately inflicting wounds on the subjects. In order to simulate the combat wounds of German soldiers fighting in the war, Herta Oberheuser rubbed foreign objects, such as wood, rusty nails, slivers of glass, dirt or sawdust into the wounds.

• Dr. Karl Brandt, Hitler’s personal physician, participated in the euthanasia program, which involved the systematic execution of the aged, insane, incurably ill, or deformed children by gas or lethal injections in nursing homes, hospitals and asylums. They were regarded as ‘useless eaters’ and a burden to the German war machine.

• High-Altitude Experiments to investigate the limits of human endurance and existence at extremely high altitudes. The victims were placed in the low-pressure chamber and thereafter the simulated altitude therein was raised. Many victims died as a result of these experiments and others suffered grave injury, torture, and ill-treatment.

• Incendiary Bomb Experiments to test the effect of various pharmaceutical preparations on phosphorous burns. These burns were inflicted on the victims with phosphorous matter taken from incendiary bombs, and caused severe pain, suffering, and serious bodily injury.

• Freezing Experiments to investigate the most effective means of treating persons who had been severely chilled or frozen. The victims were forced to remain in a tank of ice water for up to 3 hours. Extreme rigor developed in a short time. Numerous victims died in the course of these experiments. After the survivors were severely chilled, rewarming was attempted by various means. In another series of experiments, the victims were kept naked outdoors for many hours at temperatures below freezing. The victims screamed with pain as their bodies froze.

• Sea-water Experiments to study various methods of making sea water drinkable. The victims were deprived of all food and given only chemically processed sea water. Such experiments caused great pain and suffering and resulted in serious bodily injury to the victims.

• Malaria Experiments to investigate immunization for and treatment of malaria. The victims were infected by mosquitoes or by injections of extracts of the mucous glands of mosquitoes. After having contracted malaria the victims were treated with various drugs to test their relative efficacy. Over 1,000 victims were used in these experiments. Many died and others suffered severe pain and permanent disability.

• Mustard Gas Experiments to investigate the most effective treatment of wounds caused by Mustard gas. Wounds deliberately inflicted on the victims were infected with Mustard gas. Some of the victims died as a result of these experiments and others suffered intense pain and injury.

• Sulfanilamide Experiments to investigate the effectiveness of sulfanilamide. Wounds deliberately inflicted on the victims were infected with bacteria such as streptococcus, gas gangrene, and tetanus. Circulation of blood was interrupted by tying off blood vessels at both ends of the wound to create a condition similar to that of a battlefield wound. Infection was aggravated by forcing wood shavings and ground glass into the wounds. The infection was treated with sulfanilamide and other drugs to determine their effectiveness. Many victims died as a result of these experiments and others suffered serious injury and intense agony.

• Spotted Fever (Typhus) Experiments to investigate the effectiveness of spotted fever and other vaccines. Numerous victims were deliberately infected with spotted fever virus in order to keep the virus alive - over 90 percent of the victims died as a result.

• Experiments with Poison to investigate the effect of various poisons upon human beings. The poisons were secretly administered to the victims in their food. The victims died as a result of the poison or were killed immediately in order to permit autopsies. In or about September 1944 the victims were shot with poison bullets and suffered torture and death.

Source: http://www.auschwitz.dk/doctors.htm

Michael, there is one true statement in what you said, I’ll give you that.

Every person on this planet was once an embryo.

I just can’t see how it relates to your argument that this kind of science is bad. Are you expecting us to think back to how we felt as an embryo, a cluster of cells?

As to your question:

Would you like to have experiments performed on you or your child?

What relevance does this have to the issue? None. You’ve obviously gone for an emotional slant, as your argument is so poorly constructed.

Maybe scientists will be able to enhance intelligence through their research. I think it’s pretty clear that in your case an upgrade is required, as your comments are insulting on a number of levels not least to the memory of those who suffered unimaginably at the hands of the sick Nazi bastards.

Islam overtakes Catholicism as world’s largest religion

Comment by Tariq, Patnq, India

All the Cristian brothers will obviously feel strangely jealous of the stats. Well let me tell them that it was the ‘Christian west’ that made sunni and shia separate to the extent of fighting just to satisfy their motives. So, when you count a religion count Islam as one. As for you people, you yourself divide your religion, not us. When you say Islam doesn’t give freedom, think again. What for do you want women freedom. Do you want women to walk in the streets dressed up in latest fashion and teased by hulligans? We obviously don’t give, and will never give, the women freedom like in America, a country which has the stats of highest no. of rapes per day. And this information is not from any Muslim country, it is from a US govt. dept. So, I would like all of you out there, ready to write against Islam, to think a second time, keeping in mind the new information you have got now.

My comment:

Tariq, this is precisely why Islam is so frightening. Views like yours do nothing to dispell the idea that Islam is misogynistic. Are you really linking the way women dress to the incidents of rape?

Islam won’t give ‘its’ women the right of self-expression and self-determination, we know that. That much is clear from the Morality Police that operate in many Muslim nations making sure women aren’t alone with men who aren’t family memebers.

In addition, if you look at many Muslim communities in western nations, it is not uncommon for women who are the children and sometimes even the grandchildren of immigrants not to speak the language of the country they live in. This, I understand, is not through their choice but rather it is due to the fact that their male relatives do not want them educated and able.

Furthermore, the number of ‘honour’ killings in which young women are murdered, sometimes in the most horrific way, as they refuse to marry someone they haven’t even met before would be beyond the realm of belief were it not so well documented. Another example of some Muslim men putting themselves and their feelings above the lives of women.

So. Are you really telling us that if women in Muslim countries were to dress with the abandon of western women that Muslim men would go round raping them? Are you really telling us that Muslim men have so little self-control and so little respect for women that they would be compelled to rape them because these fallen women wore the latest fashion and didn’t bow their heads to you fine Muslim men?

Well, I suppose you are, aren’t you? I mean, if we take the recently reported case of the rape victim who was lashed and imprisoned because, although she was gang raped (which was so traumatic that it drove her to attempt to take her own life on more than one occassion), she had been alone with a man who was not in her family at the time the car was hijacked (which seems to be far worse in the eyes of many Muslims than the fact that she was gang raped by a group of Muslim men).

Your anti-equality, misogynistic, sexually retarded attitudes offend me, Tariq. The sooner humanity is free from all forms of religion the better. You’ll note that I’m not singling out your hateful religion. Take comfort in the fact that I consider all the Abrahamic religions to be loathsome.

For those of you whose eyes have glazed over from all the religious outpouring of the past few days I offer you this remedy. It’s guaranteed to bring about an instant balancing and might even make you chuckle out loud.

Last year I had the same blog name but hosted over at Blogger. For one reason or another I just couldn’t get comfortable in my blog skin so one confident day in August I deleted it. A whole year of blog posts gone in a couple of quick clicks. Ug. The only thing I really regret is that my post ‘I Met A Girl‘ was lost. I regret it because it was my first published piece and was in the name of charity and charity, as we all know, begins at home although more specifically for me it was on a green sofa with a steaming cup of coffee and a view out of my window of a Polish city in winter. Brrrr.

The piece was published in a book for the charity Red Nose Day entitled Shaggy Blog Stories: A Collection Of Amusing Tales From The Blogosphere and was compiled by Mike Atkinson of Troubled Diva. I really enjoyed the whole experience of being involved and not only because it was for charity but also because it was great to feel that great vibe that was buzzing for a while in the UK blogosphere.

Anyway, according to the book blurb:

Shaggy Blog Stories features hilarious contributions from Richard Herring of Fist of Fun fame, BBC 6Music presenter Andrew Collins, comedian Emma Kennedy, and James Henry, scriptwriter from Channel Four’s The Green Wing.Authors Abby Lee (Girl With A One-Track Mind), David Belbin, Catherine Sanderson (Petite Anglais) and The Guardian’s Anna Pickard have also contributed pieces to the book.

So, I thought, in the name of charity and self-publicity, I would republish the post that featured in the book…here.

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I Met A Girl

Standing there, grubby plastic basket in hand, not so patiently waiting for the incredibly slow queue of work-weary evening shoppers to trickle through the check out I heard a voice behind me.

‘Przepraszam’.

‘That’s most certainly not a Polish accent’. I remember someone in my head thinking as the automated override system deployed at such tired times turned me in the direction of the voice.

Big smile, fantastically white teeth and a healthy complexion. American, of course. There is no other country on the face of this spinning sphere of hilarity, which breeds offspring with teeth whose image flirts so outrageously with horsiness before tugging you back to a picture perfect CNN news reader.

After an equally smiley preamble the conversation trotted steadily forward, as thankfully did the queue (Polish queues seem to move at almost glacial pace and can easily be compared to a heavy-shelled tortoise in brand new high heels who has been reassured that she needn’t put quite so much effort in, as the hare has got bored of proverbs and has gone to the pub).

Purpose of visit – check. Reason for choosing Poland – check. Highlights to date – check. Sharing of carefully selected personal but not too personal information – check.

We quickly established that we both lived in the same stylistic concrete wonderland of an apartment block so we decided to continue our verbal journey of exploration on the grey walk home to the huge and dusty Soviet era breeze block.

Due to my almost offensively sieve-like memory for names I don’t remember the other girl’s name but they were sisters that much I know for sure. Not sisters in the sibling sense, you understand. Not even sisters in the womankind sense but rather ‘Sisters’ in the Holy Trinity sense and Protestant missionaries to boot.

I’ve never met any missionaries before but I would imagine that the natural instinct with such messengers of God is to shift the focus quickly from the trivialities of the moment (never let it be said I don’t love more than a healthy dollop of triviality in any conversation) to the all too important question of one’s eternal soul. Did I believe in…God? I answered warmly and honestly (whilst trying to sound as far from pretentious as was possible – it’s really not possible given what I was about to say) that I had always held value in the old proverb “The nearer the church the further from God”.

Sister Nice Smile mentally chewed over what I had said and voiced at least an outwardly polite appreciation for the idea whilst Sister Something Something seemed more than mildly offended. Well, she’s new to the game by her own admission so no doubt she’ll toughen in time. And in a country, which is deemed to be 90% Catholic she will have to learn quickly if she’s to gain any ground in the ‘your soul’s in my church gang’ stakes.

To be honest, I usually have a very real (but nevertheless irrational) aversion to a certain type of religious person. Perhaps because I’m that special brand of English (Church of England default setting at birth although I never actually got my Cub Scout badge for Baptism). Who knows but to quote Alistair Campbell, the most notorious spin-doctor of the Blair Government, “We don’t do religion”.

All in all, however, they did seem like genuine and pleasant people and I have a curious feeling that I’ll be seeing them again if for no other reason than to bathe in the light from those fantastically white teeth. Must get me some of them - at least for a test drive anyway.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did and would like to read any of the other contributions then they are all available in one beautiful book via the Lulu website. Do with it what you will but many seem to agree that it’s a great bathroom book