Traitors, the lot

Whilst we've all been out having fun (or sleeping if you're a sick bunny like me) Tony Blair has pretended that he's stuck to his Red Lines (I initially thought he said Red Lions which would have been much more exciting) whilst giving the EU a legal personality.

We already know that the ECJ is the highest court in the land but, as DK explains rather well, this new treaty goes even further. Quelle Surprise?

Our researcher friend made it clear that, in his opinion, from a full reading of the text, that the Constitution treaty, for the first time, explicitly says that member states are subservient to the EU Institutions (which become a legal entity). In other words the EU becomes the supreme central authority, and member parliaments merely subsidiary local authorities.

Need I point out that I consider this to be an appalling—if predictable—development?

Even more fun than that is the news that they have paved the way for an EU Common Defence Policy. Yes, boys and girls. Our armed forces will be under the command of not the nice lady in the hats who lives in Buckingham Palace, but the bad man with the orange tan who you never elected and can't get rid of! That's fun, isn't it! That's Democratic and sensible and a jolly nice idea?

Well, it's not, really, is it. I tend to think that the main function of a government should be that it can protect the state as an entity, which means that it has the ability to 'blow shit up' should the need arise. There are very few areas I would like the government to get involved in, but I think that foreign policy and defence are the ones which are important. So now it looks like it won't be long before our armed forces, badly treated and under paid and yet quite simply the best in the world, will be under the command of some Euro-Prick. We shouldn't be surprised. If the Control Key on my lap top was working properly I would put in the link from Lord Pearson of Rannoch about the deal signed at Farnborough Airshow some years ago, and also point to the demise of the historical regiments which have been replaced with ones on a regional level, to nicely fit in with the idea of the EU.

If people don't get up in arms about this, I seriously do wonder what the point of going on is. We have a nation enthralled with a relationship going on in a room in the South of England somewhere between some chap and a girl who is so lacking in ideas she aims to look like someone else, whilst at the same time our entire relationship with out government, our laws and our neighbours is being rearranged and no one seems to care.

ARGH! I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate it! I said, quite profoundly, a few months ago that what it will take for people to actually bother and do something about this is for it to touch them directly. Now I fear that even if it does they won't know it, won't know the real reasons and won't be bothered to do anything about it.

Anyone going to join me in emigrating somewhere lovely? I think Australia looks like a jolly good country to go to. Nice, sensible politics over there. And I could buy a house and get a swimming pool, instead of paying a million pounds a second to rent a room in London. Yes, jolly good idea. Going to start packing right now!

Nothing honourable in killing

Why do we do people who murder their own family members in cold blood the dignity of calling them "honour killings?"

Yet again in the news we have the story of a young woman who was murdered by her father and uncle for doing nothing more than falling in love with someone. My parents haven't always liked my boyfriends (in hindsight, they were probably right but at least my taste has improved with age) but they didn't see it as their business to get involved.

Poor Banaz Mahmod, however, did not have the good fortune to be born to parents who weren't evil, nasty, bigoted arseholes. For her body was found three months after her disappearance, decomposed after she had been murdered by her own family.

There again, my parents aren't very religious, nor are they Muslim, which is the religion where most of these murderers seem to come from. And no, I'm not being an 'Islamophobe' or any other new terms given to people who speak out against things they don't like have been branded. Like Female Genital Mutilation and laws which say that rape must either be proved by the testimony of four men or by a confession from the perpetrator, they are most common in Islamic countries or groups.

Let's expand the last bit further: If a woman has unlawful sexual intercourse, she can be put to death by stoning. If she has been raped and, naturally, her testimony is not sufficient for evidence, then she can be killed by the state for being a victim.

The Hudood Ordinances are a set of laws in Pakistan intended to make the criminal justice system conform with Islamic law. These laws cover offences including Zina crimes (unlawful sexual intercourse including adultery and rape) and Qazf (wrongful accusation of Zina crimes)

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, every two hours a woman is raped in Pakistan and every eight hours a woman is subjected to gang rape. The frequency of rape is thought to be much higher but many rapes remain unreported due to a combination of social taboos, discriminatory laws and victimization by the police. Meanwhile, Pakistani law is punishing victims of rape as though they were criminals while the perpetrators go free.

According to Ms Sood, who specialises in Asian family cases, "honour crimes of some sort" whether or not they resulted in death, were becoming more common in the UK.
"But certainly honour crimes are being perpetrated in the hundreds every year,"

Can anyone tell me what is honourable about them? Why are we calling them that when it's murder? Why are we giving these people any kind of an excuse because of their religious and cultural background? It's illegal in this country to kill people, regardless of whether or not their actions may bring 'shame' on the family, and as these people are living in this country they should abide by those laws. Fine

treachery

DK told me he was away on a stag weekend and yet not only did he confirm to me that he didn't see a single stag, but I found this tucked away in the cover of the latest Sweet Valley High book he is reading...\



Some stag weekend! I feel so betrayed....