Shaphan

Did you know...?

The Americans, as we know, are worried about North Korea's Taepodong-2 missiles, which, on a good day and with the wind behind, could reach the West coast of the USA.  For example, from yesterday's news,

North Korea is technically capable of building a long-range missile that can hit the United States despite a test failure last year, a senior US military intelligence official said Tuesday.

Lieutenant General Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said North Korea has probably learned from the failure of its Taepodong-2 missile during a test in July, and made changes to its other missiles. [Breitbart]

But did you know that London is closer to Pyongyang than Pyongyang is to Los Angeles? 

Pyongyang to Los Angeles:  9569km (5946 miles, 5167 nautical miles)

Pyongyang to London:  8690KM (5400 miles, 4692 nautical miles)

Other European cities such as Paris, Rome and Berlin are closer still.  Which leaves me wondering why the US is so heavily engaged in trying to disarm the DPRK and we, the Europeans, are not.

p.s.  The DPRK's missile-launch site is, of course, not in Pyongyang but further to the north-east.  The underlying point remains the same.

Astrology: The Star of Windsor

Okay, here's a sequence of unlikely hypotheticals.  Prince Charles worries himself into an early grave; Prince William has a fatal motorbike crash before he sires a legitimate heir; Harry gets killed in Iraq; and, to top it all, the next in line, Andrew, Duke of York, renounces his and his heirs rights to the throne.  So we would be left with King Edward and Queen Sophie (and the inevitable jokes about potatoes and chips off the old block).  Currently the Wessexes have one daughter, Lady Louise Windsor.  If they had no more children, or only other daughters were born, Louise would then be our future monarch.  While I would wish no harm upon Charles, William, Harry, etc., I'm excited by the prospect - though I'll probably not live to see it - of Lady Louise as head of state.

Lady Louise is, astrologically speaking, a very special person.  In fact, anyone born between 09:06 on November 8, and 01:11, November 9, 2003, shares with Louise an extraordinary horoscope.  Astrologers, at the time, and sometimes for some years in advance, had recognized the specialness of the day and had called it the Harmonic Concordance of 2003 (see here; here; here; here; etc.), a riff upon the so-called Harmonic Convergence of 1987. 

Here is Lady Louise's birthchart [click to enlarge]. 

What's special about it is a) in particular, the Grand Sextile, aka a Star of David, and b) that she was born under a full moon that, 106 minutes later, would become a total lunar eclipse.                                  

                                                                                                                                              In order to see the Grand Sextile more clearly, here is her chart [click to enlarge] with the aspects to Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto removed. 

I have well over a thousand charts and hers is the only one with a near-prefect Grand Sextile.  If she were male, some might believe she were a messianic figure; and any males born at roughly the same time would be likely, I'd have thought, to develop messianic complexes. 

How the chart will work out in her life is unknowable.  It could be that her life will be far too easy and she might never feel the need to strive to achieve anything - drugs and laziness might overcome her.  But, with the right opportunities, Lady Louise could have an extraordinarily positive impact upon Britain and the world. 

Worrying about Harry

I wish Prince Harry wasn't going to Iraq.  It's not just that it'll be a bit like having a distant relative out there in harm's way, although it will.  It's that he's the spare, and a rather good one - I thought he came across really well in an admittedly PR-savvy documentary about his AIDS work in Lesotho.  If anything happened to Prince William before he sires an heir - and William does have a thing about high-performance motorbikes, which is a somewhat risky hobby - I'd rather have Harry ascend to the throne than the Yorkies - Andrew, Fergie and the girls - who are next in line. 

If, God forbid, William did have a fatal motorbike accident, and if Harry doesn't get killed in Iraq, then our future monarch would have been implicated in what, some would argue, is an unjust and illegal war, entirely of his own choosing.  Such a monarch might find it difficult to act as a unifying figure for the people he would be supposed to represent. 

If, on the other hand, Harry lost his life in Iraq, it might create a horrible, Blair-associated symmetry with his mother's death.  Diana was killed four months after Tony Blair became PM - in some ways, her death made his premiership.  It would be unfortunate if, as a result of Blair's decision to allow America's invasion of Iraq, Harry were to be killed at the end of his premiership.

I'm not cut out to be a blogger

I'm not cut out to be a blogger.  When young, I tried, every now and then, to write a personal diary but it never lasted more than several weeks before fizzling out; I think diary writers would make good bloggers.  But the medium still fascinates and I intend keeping 'Shaphan' going, even if the postings are sporadic.  I sometimes think that the only value and purpose of this blog, unintended by me, was to host three successive entries on the death of Robin Cook [here; here; here].  Even if I were to write nothing else on this blog, those entries alone, I feel, however poorly written, have justified its existence.

Oh Bummer: Obama

Barack Obama, who today confirmed his candidacy for the '08 presidential election, has seduced Britain's media luvvies but his charms remain lost on me.  The BBC treats him as if he was the coming Messiah, as predicted by Slate's Timothy Noah.  (Note to Noah: how about Obama as the Twelfth Imam?)  I've been wary of Obama since '04 when he advocated bombing Iran to prevent it acquiring nukes.  This was his rationale:

"In light of the fact that we're now in Iraq, with all the problems in terms of perceptions about America that have been created, us launching some missile strikes into Iran is not the optimal position for us to be in," he said.

"On the other hand, having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear weapons is worse.  So I guess my instinct would be to err on not having those weapons in the possession of the ruling clerics of Iran. ...  And I hope it doesn't get to that point.  But realistically, as I watch how this thing has evolved, I'd be surprised if Iran blinked at this point." [Chicago Tribune]

But the concept of 'theocracy' is a total fantasy.  There is no nation, not even the United States nor Iran, whereover God is the ruler.  All governments are anthropocracies. To launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran, not because it possessed nukes but because it was a theocracy that might soon possess nukes, is an irrational policy proposal that would be of disastrous consequence if followed.  (Note to Noah: Obama as the Antichrist?)  (Note to self: nor do democracies exist - once the demos become the government, they aren't the demos anymore.  'Theocracies' and 'democracies' are both illusions.)

But Barry Obama seems to have a thing about 'theocracies', even though they don't exist.  He's been quoted as saying:

"Alongside my own deep personal faith, I am a follower, as well, of our civic religion," he says.  "I am a big believer in the separation of church and state [sic*].  I am a big believer in our constitutional structure.  I mean, I'm a law professor at the University of Chicago teaching constitutional law.

"I am a great admirer of our founding charter and its resolve to prevent theocracies from forming and its resolve to prevent disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root in this country."

Nowhere in America's 'founding charter' is there a reference to theocracies or the like - was Obama referring to tyrannies?  And he taught constitutional law?  He's full of bullshit, like the rest of us.  He's not the Messiah; he's just a naughty boy.

p.s.  Am I the only loon connecting Barack Obama's name with the creepy 'Dr Brian O'Blivion' in Cronenberg's Videodrome?  [Yes - ed.], which also had a baddie called 'Barry Convex'.  President Barry O'Blivion, anyone?  I mean, have you ever seen him the flesh, except via the New Flesh of the video-screen?

*  It's to Obama's credit that he recognizes that America is a religion; but it's to his discredit that he believes in it and in its dogma that religion and politics are separable.  If the founders had managed to separate the two, the American civic religion would not have arisen.

Local Stuff

I live in Islington, and years ago I saw a UFO while sunbathing on Parliament Hill, so I wish I'd seen the spectacular light-show over Archway last Thursday evening.  The Islington Gazette has the story.  What with this and other recent stories from America of similar sightings, the conventional wisdom that UFOs were a late 20th-century phenomenon seems to be proving premature.

---

Genetically I'm a Liverpudlian; footballistically I'm a Gooner; viscerally, I'm anti-Dubai and all it stands for.  I've written before about my unhappiness at Arsenal FC's sponsorship deals with the Israeli government ("ThinkEilat.com"; don't think about Eilat's recent suicide bombing) and with Emirates Airline.  Although more Blue than Red, I have a soft spot for both Liverpool clubs, so was perturbed when the Maktoum family showed an interest in LFC, and was thus relieved when they pulled out of the deal.  But now, according to The People, the al-Maktoums have turned their attention back to Arsenal.  "ARSENAL are the target of a £450million take-over bid from Sheikh Mohammed.  The world's fifth-richest man is said to have earmarked Gunners after being snubbed by Liverpool this week in favour of American investment."  [Via Arseblog]

"The gay hotel boss who doesn't want to go straight"

Some gay hoteliers in Blackpool have just woken up to the predicament their community leaders have led them into.

A hotelier who runs a gays-only guesthouse fears the new anti-discrimination laws could put him out of business.  Mark Hurst, 47, says the legislation will force him to open his doors to heterosexual guests.  He believes this will put off his core customers, who may feel uneasy in a mixed group.

Mr Hurst, who runs Guyz hotel in Blackpool with his partner Steve, said: "We run a gay hotel exclusively for men. We feel if we were forced to a situation where we had to accept heterosexual people into our hotel, our gay clientele will not behave as naturally as they would now...

Mr Hurst’s fears that, by extension, it could force him not to discriminate against heterosexuals are shared by Steve Dobbin, 46, manager of the gay hotel Trades, also in Blackpool.

He said: "Many of our older guests don’t like to show affection to one another in front of a mixed group. I can see what the law is trying to do but I am not certain this is the right way to ensure gay rights."  [Daily Mail]

Without wishing to blow my own cornet, this blog was the only one I know of - though I'm sure there were others - that spoke up for the gay and lesbian B&B owners before they themselves twigged that the sexual orientation regulations of the Equality Act would apply to them as well.  But one of the Act's chief cheerleaders, Peter 'Outrage' Tatchell, is unsympathetic to their plight.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said, however: "I think it’s very unlikely there are going to be hundreds of heterosexuals banging on the doors of gay hotels demanding to be let in.

"I think their fears are misplaced.  Under the new laws they will still be able to make it clear to prospective guests that they primarily serve the gay community."

How can a 'gay rights' campaigner be supporting legislation that erodes the freedoms of gay and lesbian B&B owners to provide a service that both they and their customers can feel comfortable with?  Isn't that against to the interests of the gay-and-lesbian holiday industry?  Whilst the Act may not immediately decimate the UK's gay-and-lesbian B&B scene, surely it will discourage other gays and lesbians from opening new establishments?  Maybe Peter Tatchell goes abroad for his holidays, but I'm sure there are some old queens and dykes who like nothing better than to be beside the British seaside, sucking on sticks of rock or licking their candyfloss, in a B&B tailored exclusively to their needs.  There's no accounting for taste but that's surely no reason to drive the proprietors out of business.

As I've said before, it's an illiberal and indiscriminate law that didn't get proper parliamentary scrutiny.  I'm not suggesting that the gay-and-lesbian holiday industry gets an exemption from the Act, not if adoption agencies don't also.  But I do think the whole Act needs scrapping and redrafting, with greater reference to the real world.

Searchlight on Bartholomew

Any weblog that treats religion seriously gets my vote and Bartholomew's notes on religion is one of the best.  But I was disappointed to read his treatment of the faithful Jewish sect Neturei Karta's appearance at Iran's International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust.  (If I were Jewish, I would ally myself with the Neturei Karta (NK), who believe that G-d's covenant with the Jewish people compels them to remain in Exile until the Messiah returns.  NK views the Israeli state as theologically illegitimate, which it is.)  Bart repeats Zionist propaganda by referring to the event as "Ahmadinejad’s recent Holocaust denial “conference”", which it wasn't:  Zionist ideologues, however, believe, and would have us all believe if we let them, that either you're with us or you're an anti-semitic Holocaust denier, as if there wasn't a whole world of opinion between those two extremes - I fall within them, as did the conference, as does Ahmadinejad.  Bartholomew, seemingly, is an extremist on this crucial issue.

He quotes approvingly, from an AP article, the denunciations of Neturei Karta by "other religious anti-Zionists".  The leader of 'Eida Haredit' is quoted, and his organization is described by AP as both "anti-Zionist" and "based in Israel", terms which would appear to contradict each other.  The group in fact describes itself as 'non-Zionist', whatever that means, and its leaders have received honours from the Zionist state.  Also quoted are the Satmars, a sui generis Jewish cult centred on the Teitelbaum family - although their revered rabbi Joel Teitelbaum preached against Zionism, his inheritors happily visit, live in, retire to and die in Israel, so, again, their anti-Zionist credentials are dubious.  Neither group really deserves the label ultra-Orthodox, unlike Neturei Karta. 

Bart goes on to imply, as the MSM does, that Ahmadinejad is a 'Holocaust denier', which is to do him and the truth a disservice.  Mahmoud's provocative questioning of what people, especially in the West, believe about the Holocaust and how that impacts upon global - especially Middle Eastern - affairs today, deeply discomforts the Zionist zealots, and they respond by demonizing the man.  And now that Neturei Karta's prophetic witness to the Jews is getting more publicity, due to its recent attendance in Tehran, it's NK's turn to be demonized.  And yet, from a religious and theological standpoint, which one might have hoped Bart would have presented, Neturei Karta is, on the big question, right and the Zionists are mistaken.

Bart really loses the plot by quoting the murky, spooky, to-be-avoided-at-all-costs 'anti-fascist' Searchlight magazine.  As Wikipedia reports: 

While Searchlight is, unsurprisingly, subject to great hostility from the far right, its relationship with some left-wing anti-fascists is also extremely poor.  Red Action accused them of secretly entering Anti-Fascist Action in order to "manipulate, destabilise and subvert" the group. [3] 

An anarchist magazine claimed that "[founding editor Gerry] Gable has been passing information to Special Branch, MI5, and foreign [i.e. Israeli, US] security services for 20 years;  acted as a conduit for misinformation and 'black' propaganda between MI5 and the media (aimed in at least one case in affecting the course of criminal proceedings against fellow journalists);  and concealed the existence and activities of at least one Special Branch or MI5 infiltrator inside left-wing groups." [4]

One has to go to unpleasant far-right websites (e.g., here; here) to discover some of Searchlight's, and Gerry Gable's, links to Israeli and Zionist agencies, but they exist deeply.  If Searchlight is now shining its beam on Neturei Karta, that's interesting - Israel is obviously spooked by NK's commitment to speaking theological truth to its secular power, understandably so.  But Searchlight would be the last place I'd go for illumination on anti-Zionist Jewish groups such as the NK.

Suggestion to Bartholomew:  more theology, less ideology. 

[See related entry: Holocaust is the wrong word (2005.01.28)]