MLP doesn't need a leader...

...it needs a


Aren't you tired of reading about the MLP leadership race? By now, we have all heard the majority of Labour delegates are backing Joseph Muscat, so let's just give him the tiara and call it a day.

Some people are making a big deal about letting the tesserati vote as well, namely a candidate who has no chance in hell of getting elected if this doesn't happen. As always, how the tesserati feel has no bearing on who the delegates will vote for. I agree this is the way it should be.

You see, the person the tesserati like best isn't the one who'll take MLP to power in 2013. Staunch Labour supporters will vote for MLP regardless of who the leader is. They voted for Sant in 1998, 2003, and 2008 - did Labour win? Labourites alone aren't enough to get Labour into government. The person who might win the elections for MLP in 5 years time is the one who goes down best with floating voters and people who usually vote for PN. If anything, let those choose the MLP leadership (LOL).


Side note: Visit the x.com.mt forum and the timesofmalta.com comment sections. You'll be amazed at how quickly the staunch Labour supporters who would have gone to hell and back for Alfred Sant last month, now dismiss him as a loser, as the worst thing ever to happen to MLP. In other words, they're saying the same things everybody else has been saying about Sant for the last 10 years. Does a leader have to lose three times in a row and resign for his supporters to see him as he really is?

Alleged fatal police beating

Man alleges brutal police beating before dying

Fatal fall at police depot gives rise to questions

The victim's father says, "Lil ibni qatluh".

Video of the victim on his deathbed telling a journalist what happened.


According to the police:

A man with a clean police conduct was called to the police HQ over "familial issues".

Once there, he decides to take it on the lam...
[Does this make any sense?]

...by jumping off the bastions.
[And this?]

After being taken to hospital and coming to, he concocted a ridiculous tale about being beaten up and thrown out the window, just to entertain his loved ones on his death bed.
[AND THIS?]

24 years of rape and incest

Excerpts from CNN.


A 73-year-old man has confessed to holding his daughter captive in his home cellar for nearly 24 years and fathering seven children by her, Austrian police say.

Josef Fritzl (an electrician), has admitted holding his daughter hostage for more than two decades and raping her repeatedly.

...She went missing in 1984, when she was 18 years old.

...Mr. Fritzl may have fathered at least six children with his daughter, forcing her and three of the surviving children to live in the cellar of his house.



...the hidden rooms where Josef Fritzl admitted he kept his daughter and their children, Polzer told ORF. The rooms included sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a bathroom, which Mr. Fritzl told police he built, Polzer said. Conditions in the 50-60 square metres cellar were described as "very dark, narrow and damp, " reports Pleitgen. Elisabeth Fritzl has told officers conditions were "dire" and she and her other three children had little food and clothing. Kerstin, 19; Stefan, 18; and Felix, 5, remained locked in the basement with their mother, according to police. None had seen the light of day during their entire time in captivity.



...Josef Fritzl lived upstairs with his wife, Rosemarie, who police said had no idea about her husband's other family living in the cellar.

...She said her father began sexually abusing her at age 11. On August 8, 1984 -- weeks before she was reported missing -- her father enticed her into the basement, where he drugged her, put her in handcuffs and locked her in a room, she told police. For the next 24 years, she was constantly raped by her father, resulting in the six surviving children.

...she gave birth to twins in 1996, but one of the babies died a few days later as a result of neglect, and Josef Fritzl removed the infant's body and burned it.

______________________________________________________________________


What a horrifying tale of rape and incest.

Sicker than a Jack Ketchum novel.

MLP and the EU freeze

Excerpts from Alfred Mifsud's article on the Malta Independent.

...Sant told the media that George Vella is correct in stating that “there were no internal discussions neither at cabinet level nor on leadership, administration, executive and parliamentary group level in order to get Malta’s EU application from the freeze”...

...an interview by Dr George Abela where he reported as follows: “The Labour government had set the wheels in motion to re-route Malta towards EU membership back in 1997. Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant had personally drawn up a paper to start discussions with the Nationalist opposition, in a bid to lead to “convergence” about EU membership. Internal and informal discussions involving Dr Abela, Lino Spiteri, John Attard Montalto and Dr Sant were held to plot the way forward on the EU issue.”

Evarist Bartolo had also written an article in a newspaper entitled ‘Convergence’ precisely on this issue, which seems to have gone unnoticed: “We held internal discussions as we believed it was high time to remove the EU freeze.”

...How can Dr Vella deny something in which he was not involved?

I personally have had many informal discussions with Dr Sant on similar matters. On 18 January 2003, Dr Sant held a consultative meeting with the whole executive, which delivered to him a very strong message that the party should change its policy and accept the concept of a binding referendum on EU membership. This message was subsequently ignored by the leadership...

___________________________________________________


Why do politicians deny they consider U-turns? Just like Gonzi did with charges on healthcare. Isn't it their job to consider various options and decide against implementing some?

Robert Kennedy on Martin Luther King

April 4th 2008 marked the 40th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.


Amid the tragedy of the assassination of King, an extraordinary moment in U.S. political history occurred as Robert F. Kennedy, younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, broke the news of King's death to a large gathering of African Americans in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The gathering was actually a planned campaign rally for Robert Kennedy in his bid to get the 1968 Democratic nomination for President. Just after he arrived by plane at Indianapolis, Kennedy was told of King's death. He was advised by police against making the campaign stop which was in a part of the city considered to be a dangerous ghetto. But Kennedy insisted on going.

He arrived to find the people in an upbeat mood, anticipating the excitement of a Kennedy appearance. He climbed onto the platform, and realizing they did not know, broke the news:

Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because... I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.

For those of you who are black - considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times. My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

[Interrupted by applause]

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

[Interrupted by applause]

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Thank you very much.

Just two months later, Robert Kennedy was gunned down during a celebration following his victory in the California primary.

Sexual / Physical Abuse by Clergy

A week after our Gozitan bishop apologized to the men and women who were physically abused by Dominican Sisters in Lourdes home when they were kids, the Pope called sexual and physical abuse by members of the clergy "a deep shame". All well and good...

Well, that's if you've forgotten that:

Pope 'obstructed' sex abuse inquiry: Confidential letter reveals Ratzinger ordered bishops to keep allegations secret.


Does the Pope think we forgot about that letter he sent to all bishops when he was still a Cardinal in May 2001? In the letter he referred to a 1962 Church law which describes a mandatory condition of secrecy for both the perpetrators and victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The Pope had reminded bishops that, according to that law, clergymen who speak out will be excommunicated, and victims who make a complaint to Church officials must take an oath of secrecy.

Pope Benedict's letter clearly shows the 46-year-old instruction was in force in 2001. It might still be in full force today while the Pope is busy apologizing to victims of sexual abuse by clergymen in the US.

UPDATE: those infamous Maltese nuns seem to be following the 1962 instructions alla lettera.

Buffalos vs Lions vs Crocs

An all-out melee...

Lions capture a very young buffalo from its parents.
A crocodile tries to steal it, a tug of war between the lions and the croc ensues.
Then the buffalo's parents bring their whole freakin' herd into the mix.

A must see.



Watch the badass buffalos at 5:12 and 5:48: the spearheads, leading by example.

This is by far the youtube vid I return to most. Thought I'd share it with you.

I know, yet another post that's got nothing to do with Maltese politics. Well... the buffalos could represent MLPN, the little buffalo is a parliamentary seat, the lions represent AD and the crocodile is AN. There you have it, another political blog post.

Clarkson on Electricity

Thirty years ago in South Africa, there was white power. Then there was black power. And now there is no power.

No really. There isn't. The electricity-generating company over there has just announced that the power stations are not capable of meeting demand and that there will be outages for two, three or six hours a day for at least the next seven years.

So far as I can see, no one is asking why this has happened. Everyone suspects it's because the power company, since it took over the reins from De Boer Pik Racist, has been operating a policy of only employing black people. So the whites, the ones who know how to run a power station, have left the job of generating electricity to a bunch of guys who don't know how to.

No one's actually saying that of course. It's a political potato so hot that you're going to get your fingers burned if you even whisper such a thing. And anyway, working out why the country's run out of juice is nowhere near as important as working out what the bloody hell you can do about it.

I'm old enough to remember the power cuts we had in Britain when Ted Heath went to war with Johnny Miner. They were great. You had newspaper clippings on the wall telling you when the lights would go out so you could plan your supper accordingly. And when they did go out, all you really lost was the television, which only ever showed grown-up crap like Panorama anyway.

This meant your parents were forced to play Monopoly with you by candlelight, and as a child, that was epic. Sitting huddled round a coal fire, warm and comfortable, with the undivided attention of your Mum and Dad. I get a warm, melted-toffee tummy just thinking about the joy of it all. And I still remember the sadness I felt when Heath gave in and the lights came on again.

Today, however, things are extremely different, and not just because I'm an adult. Because when you lose power today, you don't just lose a 40-watt bulb and Robin Day in a black-and-white beehive. You lose absolutely everything.

I was in South Africa last month when the lights in my hotel room flickered and died. So did the TV and so did the aircon. And so did the phones. And so did the wall sockets that were being used to charge my laptop. And so did my mobile. If I'd had an iron lung, that would have gone too...

Continue reading here.

Teletubi fined

TV programme fined over strong language

The Broadcasting Authority has fined the One TV programme Teletubi €1,164 after finding that strong language had been used on the February 11 edition – which should have started after 9 p.m. but actually started at 8.25 p.m.
___________________________________________________

Then, isn't One TV to blame for airing the show earlier?

Abuse of power

Excerpts from Kullhadd.

TESPROPRIJA ART TA' FAMILJI BIEX THARES IL-VEDUTA TAX-XUFIER TAGHHA

F’manuvra b’xamma qawwija ta’ abbuz ta’ poter, il-Ministru ghal Ghawdex Giovanna Debono approvat b’mod xokkanti l-esproprjazzjoni ta’ bicca art fin-Nadar, Ghawdex, li tinsab ezatt quddiem id-djar tax-xufier u qraba taghha. Dan meta l-Hamis li ghadda hija assummiet id-dmirijiet ta’ Prim Ministru, meta Lawrence Gonzi u l-vici tieghu kienu barra minn xtutna.

...Il-kaz imur lura ghall-2004 meta minn lejl ghal nhar beda jinbena belvedere fuq l-art ta’ dawn il-familji ghal ragunijiet li s’issa ghadhom qatt ma gew iddikkjarati. Dan il-belvedere spicca waqqaf l-izvilupp li setghu jaghmlu bi dritt dawn is-seba’ familji, li inzertaw li ghandhom l-art taghhom quddiem id-dar tax-xufier ta’ Giovanna Debona u qraba taghha.

Fl-2004, sentenza moghtija mill-Qorti t’Ghawdex dwar kawza miftuha mis-sidien ta’ l-art, iddecidiet li l-belvedere mibni kien irregolari ghax inbena fuq proprjetà privata.

Izda f’manuvra mill-aktar inkredibbli jekk mhux oxxena li saret fl-ahhar minuta, litteralment sighat qabel ma kienet se tigi attwata l-esekuzzjoni tas-sentenza moghtija mill-Qorti l-bierah is-Sibt 5 ta’ April, avviz fil-gazzetta tal-gvern tal-Hamis 3 ta’ April li ghadda ddikjara l-akkwist ta’ bicca art ghal skop pubbliku, liema art kienet taghmel parti minn dan il-belvedere mibni skond il-Qorti b’mod irregolari.

...Din id-decizjoni, mehuda kif gieb u lahaq minn Agent Prim Ministru, u li ghandha interess fil-kwistjoni kollha, tfisser li b’mod vergonjuz l-istat iddecieda li jikkalpesta/igieb fix-xejn decizjoni tal-qorti.

Bis-setghat ta’ Prim Ministru, Giovanna Debono hadet il-proprjetà ta’ ghadd ta’ familji biex tipprotegi il-veduti tal-hbieb u l-qraba taghha.

...dawn il-familji li bid-decizjoni ta’ Giovanna Debono li tesprorijalhom arthom, ma jistghux jibnu darhom. Dan minkejja li s-sentenza tal-Qorti ddikjarat iswed fuq l-abjad il-kuntrarju.

...mill-2004, f’kull istanza, il-qorti dejjem iddecidiet favur il-familji li ghandhom l-art u kontra l-gvern...

___________________________________________________

Update: Giovanna files libel suit against maltastar.com and Kulhadd

Xarabank and the Internet

I posted this on their forum under the "Tista tghix minghajr Internet?" thread:

Il-programm tal-bierah ma kienx dwar l-internet, kien dwar il-hsara li tista ssir minhabba l-internet. Programm one-sided ghall-ahhar. Gibtu 500 persuna titkellem kontra l-internet u ma kienx hemm persuna imgiddma fil-panel favur. Forsi kien hemm 10 minuti f'programm shih fejn xi affarijiet fejn l-internet jghinna (ahna li nafu nuzawh) kuljum gew imfahhrin.

+Tparla ma nies imsiefrin minghajr ma ttellgha kont tat-telefon enormi.
+Chatting ma hbieb u ma nies li ssir taf ghax ghandhom l-istess interessi tieghek. (Misskom gibtu heart-breaking story ta' wiehed misthi li rabba kuragg isir iktar socjevoli minhabba l-esperjenza li gab meta tkellem ma nies online. Kif tista ma ccempilx?)
+Enciklopediji infiniti dwar kull suggett available at the click of a mouse, flok tmur il-libererija pubblika u ma ssib xejn dwar is-suggett li ghazilt.
+Miljuni ta' nies f'forums fejn tista titkellem u titghallem minn ghandhom dwar id-delizji tieghek, li forsi f'Malta m'humiex komuni.
+Blogging, fejn wiehed jista jesprimi ruhu pubblikament.
+Internet shopping, fejn tixtri l-affarijiet b'nofs il-prezz li jiguk fil-hwienet Maltin.
+Internet banking
etc etc etc etc lista infinita...

Intkom ta' Xarabank flok taghmlu programm dwar Paceville taghmlu programm fuq tfajliet ta' 14 il-sena jsiru hara u jmorru ma dak u mal-iehor. Flok taghmlu programm dwar l-internet, taghmlu programm ta' saghtejn dwar pornografija, pedofili, u scams. Gibtu jesus-freak tghid li hadet skandlu ghax fil-google telghulha 4 links ghall-porn sites - mara patetika. Programmi ta' dan it-tip waqfu jsiru l-Amerka fin-1998. Il-media qeghda 10 snin lura biss hawn Malta.

LE, ma nghix minghajr internet jien. Thank you talli pruvajtu tghaddu l-internet bhala one, big playboy website.

Addendum: Malta ranks last in internet usage.

Dig on swine?

Imagine buying a plot of land in the little countryside we have left to build a cute little farmhouse, albeit in Maghtab.

Flash forward a couple of years. You're told a pig farm will be built 20 metres away from your residence. It will house 80 pigs.

MEPA gave the go-ahead because there aren't enough inhabitants in that area to make it a "residential area".

Can't blame these people for being pissed off. Let's not forget what our expert told us about pigs...



Jules: I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got enough sense enough to disregard its own faeces.

Jules would choose the reek of Mt. Maghtab over the reek of pigshit any day of the week. What would you do?

Benigni in Malta

...to receive an Honorary degree.


from di-ve.com:

The ceremony of the conferment of the degree will take place at the Jesuit's Church in Valletta on Tuesday 22nd April as will the inauguration of the exhibition while on Wednesday 23rd April there will be the "Serata Dantesca" at the Sir Temi Zammit Hall at the University of Malta, during which Benigni will recite part of the "Divina Commedia".

Seats at the Sir Temi Zammit hall have been reserved mainly for students and the academic staff of the University of Malta, however the "Serata Dantesca" will be shown live on a maxi screen in the main quadrangle of the university campus. "Even though one would be watching the event on a screen it is an occasion not to be missed since the rights of the event belong solely to the agents of the actor and therefore it is up to them to decide whether to transmit it or not" said Dr. Lauri Lucente.
___________________________________________________

Am I the only one who'd have paid to be in the audience?

Illegal Mexican immigrants

According to CNN, 58% of Mexicans believe they have every right to enter South-west USA illegally as the territory belonged to Mexico centuries ago.


Nothing like a controversial advert of Absolut Vodka to expose this fact.

Foreign News this week

Dictator Mugabe on the way out after 28 years
Let's hope Zuma will treat South Africa better than Mugabe treated Zimbabwe.

Soldier jumps on grenade to protect brothers in arms.
A heroic death in a futile war.

German woman in jail for killing her 8 babies
She can't remember killing them and hiding them in flower pots. After all she only did it 8 times in 6 years.

Two-year-old girl beaten to death with a video game controller
Never get between a gamer and Gran Turismo.

Formula 1 boss caught in Nazi, sado-masochistic, five-hooker orgy
He can't see why they expect him to resign.

Ryanair investigated for misleading advertising
Their advertised prices don't include taxes and charges, just like every advert for a cruise I've seen in Malta.

Minchia Signor Clemente (Mastella)

While reading Giorgio Faletti's bestseller Io Uccido, I remembered his excellent song about cops and the mafia bombings of 1992. I looked it up on Youtube and came across this hilarious parody:

Racial Hatred

As soon as I heard Norman Lowell got a suspended jail term for inciting racial hatred and calling our President "Lumumba", I thought to myself: that's what happens when you step beyond the boundary of freedom of speech and into uncharted territory.

You see, Josie Muscat and his pals at Azzjoni Nazzjonali spoke many a time about the problem of illegal immigration. Nobody was ever arrested - they didn't cross the line. When Paul Salomone was with Alleanza Nazzjonali Repubblikana, he got arrested because of a couple of phrases he uttered at the 2006 protest. Other people spoke at that protest, including Philip Beattie (now with Azzjoni Nazzjonali like Salomone), but they didn't get arrested. I don't know what Salomone said (the link in the ANR website is broken) but I heard it was pretty tame.

In 2002, Simone Zammit Endrich was taken to court for an article she wrote on the Malta Independent about Malta's political leaders attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration. She wrote, "As a matter of fact, the typical Jew is clever, quick, perceptive, industrious, able in all economic and financial affairs, in short – successful. On the flipside, the typical Arab is lazy and confined to religious idiosyncrasies, with violence and intolerance at the hub of his culture. Arabs loathe the Israelis in very much the same manner they harbour anti-American sentiments. They are the embodiment of all they would have liked to be." She was found guilty of incitement to racial hatred, but she appealed and was later cleared of all charges.

Now that a week has passed something dawned on me: How do you decide when someone crossed the line?

Does it happen when politically correct people take offense to what you say? Some people took offense last week when I blogged about testing illegal immigrants not only for Tubercolosis, but for AIDS as well. Should I get arrested? There are always a few out there who'll deem what you're saying controversial. The first word that springs to these people's minds when you mention illegal immigration in a negative manner (as if it could ever be something positive) is a buzz-word: racist. You can barely call it a "problem" nowadays. How can one know when his "racist" talk will get him in trouble with the law?

So I ask, what measures did the police utilize to decide that Endrich, Lowell and Salomone were inciting people to hate some races? Also, how did the judge deem that Endrich and Lowell actually did incite people to hate? Furthermore, how did another judge decide Endrich wasn't guilty?

Moreover, was Charles Mangion inciting Labourites to hate Nationalists when he said there is something wrong with their DNA? If yes, should he be arrested, or is inciting hatred a crime only when it involves different races?