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Politics of hate create strange bedfellows

July 31, 2011

The massacre in Norway by Anders Behring Brevik has created a dilemma for many of the extremist parties in Europe whose “ideology” he had adopted. They must now – at least publicly – distance themselves from his actions but without abandoning their politics which he ardently supported and which led to his actions. Many of the islamophobic, anti-immigration, nationalistic parties in Europe today have their roots in fascism or neo-nazism or racial hatred. Upto about 10 years ago their objects of hate were usually blacks, Jews, Asians, Turks, socialists, “big government” and communists. In the last decade or so all of these “hates” have been maintained but have manifested themselves increasingly under the convenient and opportunistic umbrella of islamophobism.

But for these so-called “right-wing, nationalist” parties, I think it is wrong to attribute anything other than “hate” as their ideology. As times change the object of their hate evolves and changes to whatever they consider is currently popular to fear and to hate. Their political strategy seems to be fundamentally based on the marshalling of the fears of the “common man” – by providing the objects of hate which can feed those fears.

Almost every country in Europe now has its version of a “hate” party: the Freedom Party (FPÖ) in Austria, the Vlaams Blok (VB) in Belgium, the Danish Peoples Party (DPP) in Denmark, True Finns (PS) in Finland, the National Front (FN) in France, the Republican party (REP), German People’s Union (DVU) and National Democratic party (NPD) all in Germany, the Hellenic Front (HF) in Greece, Liga Nord (LN) and the Futuro e Libertà (FLI) in Italy, Pim Fortuyn’s List (LPF) in the Netherlands, the Fremskrittspartiet (FrP) in Norway, Partido Popular (CDS-PP) in Portugal, Sweden Democrats (SD) in Sweden, Swiss Peoples Party (SVP) in Switzerland and the British National party (BNP) in the UK.

They are now finding common cause with some strange partners in Israel and India and the US. They include Likud and the settlers in Israel, the fanatics of the RSS and Hindutva nationalists and even the extreme right wing of the Tea Party movement in the US. It is only a short step to move onto the hate parties of Japan (the Uyoku dantai groups), in Australia (United Australia Party) and those that are forming in the Balkans and in eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia). The juxtaposition of ideologies can – on the surface – seem strange (neo-nazis together with Jewish settlers or anti-Asian together with Hindu nationalism) but the common factor is always that there is somebody in common to hate.

Der Spiegel:

The Likud Connection:

Islamophobic parties in Europe have established a tight network, stretching from Italy to Finland. But recently, they have extended their feelers to Israeli conservatives, enjoying a warm reception from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. Some in Israel believe that the populists are Europe’s future.

Anders Breivik’s 1,500-page manifesto is nothing if not thorough. Pages and pages of text outline in excruciating detail the ideological underpinnings of his worldview — one which led him to kill 76 people in two terrible attacks in Norway last week. 

It is a document which has led many to question Breivik’s sanity. But it has also, due to its myriad citations and significant borrowing from several anti-immigration, Islamophobic blogs, highlighted the deeply entwined network of right-wing populist groups and parties across Europe — from the Front National in France to Vlaams Belang in Belgium to the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).

But recently it has become clear that Europe’s populist parties aren’t merely content to establish a network on the Continent. They are also looking further east. And have begun establishing tight relations with several conservative politicians in Israel — first and foremost with Ayoob Kara, a parliamentarian with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party who is also deputy minister for development of the Negev and Galilee districts.

The reason for the growing focus on Israel is not difficult to divine. “On the one hand,” Strache told SPIEGEL ONLINE in a recent interview, “we are seeing great revolutions taking place in the Middle East. But one can’t be totally sure that other interests aren’t behind them and that, in the end, we might see Islamist theocracies surrounding Israel and in Europe’s backyard.”

In other words, in the battle against what right-wing populists see as the creeping Islamization of Europe, Israel is on the front line. ….. 

At first glance, the European populists’ relationship with Israel would hardly appear to be a marriage built on love. Many see the FPÖ as being just one tiny step away from classic neo-Nazi groups and the same holds true for their partners throughout Europe.  …… And Kara was blasted in the Israeli press for a recent meeting in Berlin he held with Patrick Brinkmann, a German right-wing populist. “Deputy Minister Meets Neo-Nazi Millionaire,” read a headline in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth earlier this month, noting that Brinkmann, while now insistent that he is not anti-Semitic, once had close ties with the right-wing extremist National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). ….

Read article:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,777175,00.html

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Posted in Alarmism, Behaviour, Politics | 1 Comment »

Seeking notoriety Paul Ray would now like to have been Breivik’s “Richard”

July 29, 2011

Paul Ray (Lionheart) from his safe haven in Malta is spending a lot of blog energy in insinuating that Alan Lake and not he is the “Richard” referred to in Anders Behring Breivik’s “manifesto”. Ray is or was a member of the English Defence League and was apparently expelled which he disputes.

But probably seeking all the notoriety he can get he has now admitted that he was in contact with the killer and concedes to The Telegraph that he may have been the inspiration for Breivik:

Paul Ray, a British blogger who calls himself “Lionheart” revealed that his opinions could have influenced Breivik’s Islamophobic diatribe, which the killer published online hours before he massacred 76 people.

Speaking from Malta, where he has fled fearing arrest for inciting racial hatred, Mr Ray conceded that he had been in direct contact with the 32-year-old gunman online.

In his manifesto Breivik described a character very similar to Mr Ray as a mentor, claiming to have met him at an event in London in 2002. Mr Ray said on Thursday: “I am being implicated as his mentor. I definitely could have been his inspiration.

“It looks like that. He has given me a platform and a profile. But what he did was pure evil. I could never use what he has done to further my own beliefs.”

The Daily Telegraph can also disclose that Mr Ray played host to Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair, former leader of the Ulster Freedom Fighters in Malta last February. … He is also known to be friends with Nick Greger, a German “known as Nazi Nick,” who describes himself as a “former neo-Nazi-leader, convicted terrorist, militiaman, artist, book writer and preacher”. ….. Mr Greger, who is banned from Britain, has traveled widely in Africa and currently lives in Malta, as does Mr Ray, who is originally from Luton, Bedfordshire. … Mr Ray was arrested in Britain in 2008 over blog postings allegedly inciting racial hatred but said he was never charged. He left the country the same year.

But he would love to be taken for being much more important than he is. He seems to be torn between avoiding any association with Breivik while at the same time he would be immensely gratified to have been the inspiration of anything to anybody. His incoherent ramblings would indicate that he is little more than a two-bit, publicity-seeking hoodlum skulking away in Malta – even if Breivik did take some inspiration from him.

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Posted in Behaviour, Politics, UK | 1 Comment »

The victims of Oslo and Utøya: RIP

July 28, 2011

The torrent of words about Anders Behring Breivik is as nothing compared to the reality of the lives he snuffed out.

I found this montage of some of his victims unbelievably moving and more telling then many million words.

Courtesy and credit Aftonbladet:

The victims of the massacre in Norway : montage from Aftonbladet

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Al Gore’s polar bear scientist suspended, being investigated for scientific misconduct

July 28, 2011
Polar bear under water

Polar bear under water: Image via Wikipedia

UPDATE 2! It seems that the famous dead-bear photograph may have been photo-shopped. 

UPDATE! Extracts from a transcript of the Inspector General’s interview with Charles Monnet is available at WUWT.

Monnet comes across as a blithering idiot. Let alone algebra (and let’s not include statistics), Monnet’s arithmetic leaves a lot to be desired!! And he disbursed 50 million $!!! Fraud may not have been the intention – even if that was the result, but this was not science.

Scientific misconduct together with political opportunism is a heady combination.

No further comment needed.

Fed Polar Bear Defender Placed on Leave

A federal wildlife biologist who sounded the alarm about drowning polar bears in the midst of global warming has been placed on leave pending the outcome of a scientific misconduct probe. Charles Monnett is being investigated for unspecified “integrity issues” apparently linked to his report that polar bears could face an increased threat of death if they’re forced to swim farther as Arctic ice recedes, reports AP. ……

Monnett is in charge of monitoring some $50 million in studies from his Anchorage office of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement. He and fellow researcher Jeffrey Gleason spotted four dead polar bears in the Arctic sea during an aerial survey following a 2004 storm in the first known sighting of bears floating offshore and presumed drowned while apparently swimming long distances. They theorized that bears’ “drowning-related deaths may increase if the observed trend of regression of pack ice and/or longer open water periods continues.” Monnett’s conclusions helped galvanize the movement to stem global warming, and the drowned polar bears were cited by Al Gore in his film An Inconvenient Truth. Gleason was asked by an “integrity” investigator his thoughts on the bear citation in the Gore film, according to transcripts. Gleason responded by saying that none of the polar bear papers he has written or co-authored has said “anything really” about global warming.

According to The Blaze

Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, was told July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into “integrity issues.” 

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Posted in Alarmism, Behaviour, Ethics, Politics, scientific misconduct, Wildlife | 5 Comments »

Where will the next Anders Behring Breivik come from?

July 28, 2011

There are those who say that the ideas and words were correct but the man was a lone lunatic. They are indignant when accused of creating the world in which the murderer lived. They refute the notion that it was their writings and speeches which fed the monster and pushed him over the edge from rhetoric to action. They invoke the dangers of repression of free speech to defend their own speeches or writings. They condemn violence but will not concede that their words and ideas can lead to violent actions.

But I think they need to think again. Forbidding what people may say or write is not the answer. But those who speak and write cannot just disconnect themselves from the consequences of what they speak or write. Words and ideas are not actions but one person’s words cannot be insulated or divorced from the actions of others that they may cause. Using language is not without responsibility. If we want the freedom to speak and write whatever we want then we cannot escape from some of the  responsibility for whatever ensues from what we speak or write.

Anders Behring Breivik was not born a murderer. Somewhere along his 32 years of history he became one. I have no doubt that some part of his early upbringing contributed to this and that his parents bear some – rather diffuse – responsibility. We don’t know enough about human behaviour to be certain what factors in his childhood may have laid the foundation for the choices he later made. But certainly it was at this time that the choices that would become available to him were defined. The possibility that he could become a mass-murderer – the path he could tread – was surely created then. But it was his own choices which took him down this path. He joined the Freemasons and was later seduced by a glorified fantasy of the Knight Templars. His world – by his own choice – for the last decade or so has been in that populated by the anti-left, anti-immigrant, anti-islam, christian fundamentalist bigots and a large part of that world has been on-line. He has devoured the extreme rhetoric that was there to be devoured. That it was readily available and politically acceptable – albeit with a minority – has provided him with a cloak of legitimacy for continuing down his path and eventually making the choices he did. And somewhere along the way, something in this rhetorical environment where hate was not just permitted but was politically legitimised and socially acceptable, pushed him over the edge from compiling manifestos to killing teenagers. In his world his actions were rational and those who helped to create his world cannot just dismiss his actions as those of a lone lunatic. He surely bears the responsibility for the choices he has made and for his actions. But others bear responsibility too.

Another Anders Behring Breivik is developing somewhere right now. And while we may not know where this may be and the environment in which he is developing and what rhetoric is triggering his choices, all politicians and journalists and bloggers and writers who disseminate extravagant rhetoric need to think twice about the consequences of their words. None of them speak or write to be ignored. They all have the intention – or the wish – that their words will be listened to, will form opinion and will lead to actions. And when their words lead to actions – but not perhaps the actions they intended – another Anders Behring Brevik may appear.

Der Spiegel carries a story about the behaviour of one particular group which – to me – sounds like it has the potential for creating another Anders Behring Brevik. It only takes one.

Family Life Among Germany’s Far-Right Extremists

Experts are worried about the children of Germany’s neo-Nazis growing up in isolated extremist communities. The children read Nazi-era books, put together puzzles showing maps with 1937 borders and attend camps with ideological instruction.

….. The more brazen the self-identified “National Socialist Movement” has become in Germany in recent years, the more energy it is devoting to members’ children. Investigators estimate that neo-Nazi households are raising several thousand children to be familiar with weapons, violence, raiding private homes, Nazi cult objects, songs of the Hitler Youth and Waffen-SS, and the worshiping of major figures from the Third Reich. They are unwittingly becoming part of a sworn “fighting community” hidden behind a middle-class façade.

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Right-wing bloggers and the hate-politicians back-pedalling as fast their little legs will carry them

July 27, 2011

The massacre in Norway by the self-confessed muslim-hating, Christian Fundamentalist, Freemason and Templar Knight Anders Behring Breivik has got the right-wing bloggers he identified with, and the hate-politicians he looked up to, running for cover. They are all busy distancing themselves from the killer, protesting their innocence vehemently, issuing new statements about how they have never advocated violence and how this is the work of a lone madman and that Breivik was never “one of them”. They conveniently forget that it is their politics of hate which has implicitly provided legitimacy for and which has fed and nurtured the distorted mind of  Anders Behring Breivik.

The retreat of the Bloggers:

On the Gates of Vienna, Fjordman has retired (exhausted – poor man), and  Baron Bodissey and Carl in Jerusalem are desperately attacking those who attack them for having double standards.  Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff has decided to make a statement which – she says – will be her only one. EU Referendum is hurt by all the unfair and unjustified blame flowing its way. Melanie Phillips takes exception to suggestions that her writings might have influenced Anders Behring Breivik’s actions.  Jennifer Rubin had to backtrack quickly when Al Qaida could no longer be blamed and she decided to blame “evil” instead. Bruce Bawer was deeply concerned that the massacre would – unfairly – hurt the cause. Anti-jihadist Pamela Geller says it’s “outrageous” that she’s been “assigned blame” and by some convoluted reasoning concludes that Breivik was a fascist (which thus absolves her). Robert Spencer denies any connection to Breivik and shrugs off any possible responsibility. Lionheart is getting desperate and has posted a rambling, incoherent and rather stupid statement. Glenn Beck has made a fool of himself again.

Hate-politicians now trying to protect the anti-Islam movement from any fall-out

Geert Wilders is getting as far away from Breivik as he can as being a lone idiot but is most concerned about  protecting the anti-Islam movement  from being associated with Breivik. Possibly the most stupid man in Sweden – let alone the most stupid politician – is the Sweden Democrat Erik HellsBorn (apt name) who said on Sunday that the massacre was the fault of multi-culturism. He was forced by his Party in a damage control exercise to remove the post from his blog and has now suspended all posts. But the Sweden Democrats are flailing about in their own little bog with Kent Ekeroth indulging in a complicated analysis that Breivik did not actually share the SD’s anti-immigration and anti-islamic views!!

Everybody may be running away from having any association with Breivik, but it would be a mistake to think that the massacre in Norway will stop the ranting in the blogosphere or the opportunistic politicians from stoking the fires of hate when it leads to electoral advantage. They will not concede so easily that they have fed and nurtured Breivik’s world in which his actions were made possible. But their line that Breivik was mad but his ideas are good just does not wash.

The shameless politicians of Italy’s Liga Nord (Mario Borghezio and Francesco Speroni), journalists (Oriana Fallaci) and the French National Front politicians (Jacques Coutela) have wasted no time in making statements supporting Breivik’s ranting. As self-proclaimed defenders of Western European civilisation their lack of class is striking and they leave a little to be desired.

Italy MEP backs ideas of Norway killer Breivik (BBC)

Ex-Berlusconi minister defends Anders Behring Breivik (The Guardian)

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The massacre was Breivik’s Plan B

July 27, 2011

I cannot get the kids on Utoya island out of my thoughts. And how their lives have been so dismissively snuffed out by – it seems – one calculating, deliberate, cold-blooded animal. He was a madman, demented, insane, a lunatic — whatever label which allows us to try and rationalise this massacre – because there is no rational explanation that is possible. But I think that to just put a label on to the individual and “move on” cannot be accepted.

The act flouts all or any possible definition of what makes up – we would like to think – a rational human being. But we should not flinch from calling this what it was – an ultimate act of terror. To terrorise a society into acting as he wanted. He may have acted alone and he bears the responsibility alone. But we cannot escape the fact that it was the world of the right-wing blogs and the extremist political parties and the fanatical movements which have nurtured and encouraged his behaviour. They may escape blame but they need to step-up and confront their own behaviour.

Olof Svensson writes in Aftonbladet:

Anders Behring Breivik’s Plan A was to earn or save the 25 million kronor he needed to advertise and publicise his manifesto.

Through share speculation, he built up a large capital, writes Norwegian Finansavisen.  But when he lost money, he became desperate and went on to Plan B: the massacre. 

As a 24-year-old Anders Behring Breivik earned his first million. This he depicts with pride in his manifesto. A few years later he expressed his intention to earn 25 million kronor to create an organization and use it to lawfully produce and distribute the manifesto. He had already decided to move on to plan B – “surgery” – if it failed.

In 2002 he started his own firm, Anders Behring Breivik ENK to outsource programming services to customers in U.S. and Europe in particular. “Over the next few years, I had seven employees in five countries, one in the U.S., two in Russia, one in Romania, one in Indonesia and two in Norway” he writes in his manifesto. After a few year his capital had grown to four million kronor and he entered a new phase. Anders Behring Breivik put the company into bankruptcy in 2008 and then began to speculate in stocks and commodities to speed up the growth of his capital.

Although the stock market was extremely strong in 2005, he began to lose money. Between 2005 and 2008, he lost two million kronor. “Stock speculation was not succesful. I have to cut my losses and go on to plan B. I have very little money to pursue my two goals”, he writes. The two tasks were the distribution of the manifesto and the military operation, writes Finansavisen.

To minimize costs, he moved in with his mother. He paid a rent of 3600 kronor per month and started selling off his possessions to finance the massacre. A Versace Rosenthal dinnerware service went for 16,000 kronor. However, he chose to keep a 56,000-kronor Breitling watch and a valuable wine collection. The final solution to raise money was to obtain multiple credit cards. Last November, in conjunction with his attempt to buy weapons  he had obtained several hundred thousand crowns from his 25 credit cards. Eventually he sold even his Breitling watch for 14 400 SEK.

When the massacre was approaching his bills and debt had piled up. “I am in a severe credit crisis … this problem could sabotage the whole project” he writes in the manifesto. He could not pay the rent for the farm nor pay for the fertilizer he used to manufacture bombs. He took out all the money he could on his credit cards and asked the landlord and fertilizer company for time to pay.

They said yes.

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Could Paul Ray or Alan Lake be Anders Behring Breivik’s UK mentor?

July 26, 2011

Right wing bloggers are busy distancing themselves from Anders Behring Breivik. These include Robert Spencer, Baron Bodissey, Pam Geller, Carl in Jerusalem, EU Referendum, Lionheart and Fjordman among others. Some are mounting a defence of their views while trying to separate their ideologies from the actions in Norway.

The anti-immigration political parties in Scandinavia are busy trying to separate their ideologies and rantings from the “insanity” of Breivik’s actions. It is interesting that they are very quick to blame any terrorist action by any Islamist group onto Islam as a whole but are now desperately denying that their ideologies could have contributed any legitimacy to Breivik or to the massacre in Norway. This morning I listened to a spokesman for the Swedish Democrats on radio but he came across as being defensive, rather plaintive and peevish and suffering under the weight of unjust accusations.

The Freemasons in Norway and worldwide are are also trying to get as far away from Anders Behring Breivik and as quickly as possible.

The English Defence League is the most likely home of Breivik’s UK support. Paul Ray (Lionheart) of the English Defence League may be one of the favourites to be  “Richard” the UK mentor of Anders Behring Breivik.

Paul Ray

Facebook: “Paul Ray even by EDL standards is a ****ing nutter. a hardline Christian fundamentalist obssessed with the crusades and St George. Ray has already been kicked out of the EDL once for insubordination and organising demos and not turning up to them. 

But he is busy pointing the finger at Alan Lake.

It has been implied several places that due to the fact I use the name Lionheart on this blog and my anti-Islamic fundamentalism ideology is similar, not the same, as Anders Breivik that Richard could mean Richard the Lionheart, thus Lionheart could mean me.

I might be a Christian fundamentalist who has a deep dislike for Islamic fundamentalism who looks to Templarism as an example, but anyone who knows me knows that I personally would play no part in such inhumane savagery that has no place in the civilised world.

…….  and now the penny has finally dropped on who the most likely person is, who ‘Richard’ the English mentor of Anders Breivik is. EDL’s financier and political controller Alan Lake.

The Right Perspective:

The “perfect knight” Norwegian terror suspect Anders Behring Breivik said he met at a 2002 London initiation ceremony of the Knights Templar is English Defence League financier and political controller Alan Lake, according to a self-proclaimed “founding father” of the group.

Ray, who calls himself one of “the founding fathers” of the right-wing English Defence League, and was arrested three years ago for “inciting racial hatred” with his blog. He writes under the penname “Lionheart,” named after King Richard I, who earned the name Lionheart for commanding armies as a teenager during the Third Crusade.

Alan Lake addresses a Sweden Democrat conference in September 2009

Alan Lake addresses a Sweden Democrat conference in September 2009

Alan Lake is not an unlikely contender. Lake is a 45 -year-old businessman from Highgate, North London, who claims to have made his money through computers, and runs a series of intranet services for far-right groups around the world. He also has strong links with the anti-immigration parties in Sweden and Norway. He spoke at a seminar organised by Kent Ekeroth of the Sweden Democrats in Malmö on 6 September 2009. In April 2010, Lake admitted to a Norwegian TV channel that he had helped to fund the EDL. Following the Utoya Massacre in Norway on 24 July 2011, Lake commented:  “Apparently, in a long screed Anders Behring Breivik posted on line, he did this attack to protest against the way that Islam is taking over large parts of Europe. By attacking the leftist politicians that are enabling this, the chickens have actually come home to roost – altho I’m sure it won’t be depicted that way”.    

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Posted in Behaviour, Extremism, Norway, Politics, UK | 3 Comments »

Glenn Beck tries to justify the massacre in Norway

July 26, 2011

The monsters in our midst are encouraged and nourished by the rantings of their high profile friends. Anders Behring Breivik has found one such apologist for his demented massacre of innocents in Glenn Beck – the darling of  the loony right.

Glenn Beck in uniform: Credit: http://www.mediaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/GB-Nazi.jpg

Beck’s rantings are indeed “ignorant, incorrect and extremely hurtful” but they are calculated to be extremely lucrative. Beck himself can be compared to Joseph Goebbels

  • “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly – it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”. 
  • “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Goebbels was one of Hitler’s closest associates and  known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism. He played a hand in the Kristallnacht attack on the German Jews. The similarities with Beck are many. 

Norway shooting: Glenn Beck compares dead teenagers to Hitler youth (The Telegraph)

Beck, a multimillionaire darling of the Tea Party movement, said on his nationally-syndicated radio show: “There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler youth. I mean, who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics? Disturbing.”

Torbjørn Eriksen, a former press secretary to Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’sprime minister, described the comment as “a new low” for the broadcaster, who has frequently been forced to apologise for offensive remarks.

“Young political activists have gathered at Utoya for over 60 years to learn about and be part of democracy, the very opposite of what the Hitler Youth was about,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Glenn Beck’s comments are ignorant, incorrect and extremely hurtful.” 

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, a Washington-based campaign group, said the remark by Beck, a free agent after being forced out of the Fox News channel earlier this year, was “absolutely disgusting”. ….. 

Despite Beck expressing surprise that political movements would hold camps for children, followers of his 9/12 Project – which aims to “recapture the spirit of the day after America was attacked” – have this summer been doing just that.

Organisers of the “vacation liberty schools” in several states told the Daily Telegraph how they taught children as young as eight a Tea Party-endorsed curriculum spanning religion, economics and political principles.

But while Beck tries to justify the massacre by denigrating the victims, the media outlets which provide him with a platform for his rants and the advertisers who pour money into such outlets bear their share of the responsibility for the creation of monsters like Anders Behring Breivik.

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Posted in Behaviour, Media, Norway, Politics | 1 Comment »

Murdoch’s News Corp to stop email deletion: A little too little and much too late

July 25, 2011

It has been over 2 weeks since the “s**t hit the fan” at Murdoch’s News International. But it is only now that News Corp has issued a memo to all News International staff to stop deleting their e-mails.

A little too little and much too late.

And why was such an instruction to preserve all potential evidence not issued by the police?

The Independent:

Staff across all of Rupert Murdoch’s News International newspapers have been warned not to delete or destroy documents relating to any of the phone-hacking investigations now under way. In an email sent to employees over the weekend, the company reveals it has suspended all automatic deletion of files and destruction of documents.

The memo shows News Corp’s fears that journalists from its other papers might get sucked into the phone-hacking scandal, given the company’s insistence that it was solely an issue for the News of the World.

The email, sent from News Corp’s new Management and Standards Committee, also raises questions about why such a policy has only just been implemented, given that the company has been aware of the extent of the allegations against it for some time.

“It is very important that all News International employees take immediate steps to preserve and retain all documents that may be relevant to these issues,” it reads. “We apologise that this is necessary but it is an important step the company must take in order to comply with the various investigations.”

The email goes on to warn staff that “all types of electronic and hard copy data or communications, including memoranda, letters, emails, reports, presentations, handwritten notes, tapes and any other recorded information or computer media” are covered by the edict.

It adds: “Please suspend any automatic deletion or discarding of any documents, whether electronic or paper, including emails or drafts of documents… If you are uncertain whether a document is relevant… you should preserve it.”

The company also confirms that its current policy towards the deletion of documents has been suspended. “Given the current circumstances you should be aware that all policies requiring the destruction of such documents or overwriting of any electronic material will be suspended immediately,” it said.

The News of the World newsroom has already been sealed and staff refer to it as a “crime scene”. All News Corp staff will be spoken to in the coming days over the way they deal with emails. News Corp’s Management and Standards Committee is being run on a day-to-day basis by Will Lewis, public-relations man Simon Greenberg and Jeff Palker, general counsel for News Corp Europe and Asia. It is being overseen by Joel Klein, a News Corp director and former legal adviser to the White House.

Yesterday, The New York Times reported concerns about Mr Klein’s role as an independent adjudicator given his close relationship with the Murdochs. He sat behind them when they gave evidence to MPs on Tuesday and was initially hired by the company to push its educational publishing arm.

Lawyers and experts in corporate governance said News Corp should have hired outside legal counsel to oversee the inquiry, rather than use an executive director. “That is not standard practice,” said Charles Elson, an expert on corporate governance at the University of Delaware. “You cannot be seen as objective if you are inside.”

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Posted in Behaviour, Ethics, Media | 2 Comments »

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