Institutionally Corrupt
And so we find ourselves listening to the drip, drip of revelations about New Labour's inability to refuse dodgy donations. It should be obvious that the party is institutionally corrupt.
There is the promised 'review' of party funding, the inquiry into changing the rules, but the important thing to remember is that the rules aren't the problem.
The problem is that so many of Labour's top echelon simply don't give a damn about the rules. Arrogance? Yes, but after the 'Cash for Honours' scandal, it is sheer hubris - and hubris has been the underlying tone of the party since that nice Mr. Blair took over.
The self pitying claims of 'I didn't know', 'I was unaware' and so on are just a smokescreen. What they're really saying is 'I didn't care'.
As this descends into farce, the venality of New Labour comes blinking into the light.
Gordon Brown’s election chief, Douglas Alexander, ordered his sister not to resign as Scottish Labour Party leader for fear of causing fallout throughout the Cabinet...
...If Ms Alexander had resigned over an illegal £950 donation, pressure on Harriet Harman to step down as Mr Brown’s deputy over an illegal donation of £5,500 could have proved irresistible. Ms Harman is further being investigated over a failure to declare a £40,000 mortgage to finance her leadership campaign....
... It also emerged that Ms Harman’s husband, Jack Dromey, was at the top of a secret list of approved candidates to be given safe seats in the event of a snap election.
The problem with New Labour isn't Blair, it's the entire dysfunctional leadership of the party.
You also might like the final paragraph of the story linked to above
Beyond satire. Beyond a joke.
Yes, it's shaping up to be
Yes, it's shaping up to be another bad week.
Shame that not a single one of them is honourable enough to own up to their misdeeds and resign their posts.
"The Corporation" "Winner of
"Winner of 24 International Awards"...
http://tinyurl.com/2u8ng6
"Videos"
"•• The Corporation"
"•• Subprime Explained - The Last Laugh"
"•• America's "Long War" From the Truman Doctrine to the NeoConservatives"
"•• Most Astonishing Health Disaster of the 20th Century"
"•• Maxed Out"
"•• Second Amendment - Ted Nugent"
"•• Pilot who flew 2 planes used on 9/11 doesn't believe official story"
"•• Don't Mind the Men Behind the Curtain"
"•• A Conservative Wakes Up to 911 Lies"
"•• The Truth Behind the Income Tax"
"•• The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis"
"•• Empire of Oil; Hidden History of 9/11"
"•• How Private Property is Being Abolished in America"
"•• The Government Has Sold Us Out"
"•• Money as Debt"
"•• Lou Dobbs on North American Union"
"•• Aaron Russo on Microchipped Population"
"•• Why (Really) is Our Planet Warming?•"
"•• Where have all the Leaders gone?"
"•• Harrison Bergeron - Vonnegut"
http://tinyurl.com/dlfmd
I wonder if Labour's pledge
I wonder if Labour's pledge to 'reform' funding, as a way to shift the focus of blame, will backfire?
Any review of campaign funding will force the public to look at campaign expenditure.
Some well-wishers at
http://www.national-service.co.uk/
are busy putting Labour's 2005 campaign expenditure on a searchable database.
Cherie's £7,700 hairdressing bill looks quite modest compared to some of the items.
Peter Hain's recent expenditure looks suspect too. Guido has it here
http://www.order-order.com/2007/12/hain-cheated-labour-party-as-well.html
Noticeable is an accounting practice of rounding up figures to the nearest £1000. This differs from Scottish Labour practice, where amounts are rounded to the nearest £950.
I wonder if the review of
I wonder if the review of funding will result in the questioning of the purpose of Parties and why they are necessary. It is just 'an understood thing' that we have political parties and they need to be funded, but this is total nonsense. Their raison d'etre is to bulldoze through legislation that is favourable to their backers. The Labour party were no different to the Whigs and Tories in their philosophy about power and "end point".
The "funders" require payback, it is as simple as that, and modern ethics inside and outside the Westminster Asylum are such that this is what is happening. Much of it is disguised. Some of goes on through "lobbying", and some people are making huge sums of money through being channels. Some of it is the distribution of "Honours" and Titles. Some of it is ""Favours". The whole damned lot is iniquitous and should never be considered as Government of any sort.
This whole sham of "democratic government" can never work properly until the Aegean Stable (or Trough) is thoroughly cleansed, and a review of funding will not do that on its own.
I never thought I'd think
I never thought I'd think (or say) it, but I'm beginning to wish that Blair had stayed in office. If GB hadn't been quite so keen to fill his shoes, he could have quit while he was ahead, and before the wheels fell off NL completely. Just as in comedy, timing is everything...
Genesis of state corruption,
Genesis of state corruption, The Mayfair Set. Won't surprise you but will remind you, a damn good little flick by Adam Curtis, only has a thousand hits go on and make its day :)
"Earlier this year the Times
"Earlier this year the Times ran a story about a National Audit Office report that showed that the cost of administering the claims of miners with disabling chest diseases far outstripped the amount of money that was paid out in compensation"
"There appears to be a financial relationship between Browell Smith & Co and the Labour Party"...
http://tinyurl.com/2vnzx3
"For those interested in
"For those interested in this sort of thing the firm of Thompsons, Solictors who were the major company dealing with these miners claims nationwide record at Electoral Commision is here ...... they donated £ 121,990.00 in 55 items since March 2001"...
http://tinyurl.com/yrt3yg
"Record inequality in the
"Goldman Sachs, the most profitable US investment bank, will distribute a staggering $12.1 billion in bonuses this month, up from $9.9 billion last year. The company will pay $20.2 billion in all forms of compensation, up from $16.5 billion last year"...
http://tinyurl.com/22zxe9
"Inflation surge hits consumers, compounds global banking crisis"
“What we are witnessing is essentially the breakdown of our modern-day banking system, a complex of leveraged lending [that is] so hard to understand. Colleagues call it the ‘shadow banking system’ because it has lain hidden for years, untouched by regulation yet free to magically and mystically create and then package subprime loans in [ways] that only Wall Street wizards could explain.”
"It is this vast edifice of speculation, swindling and greed—driven by the contradictions and crisis of modern global capitalism—that is now imploding"...
http://tinyurl.com/2gyaks
"Emails 'bring cover-up
"14.12.07"
"The chief executive of the London Development Agency expressed "the deepest possible concern" over a six-figure grant paid to a friend of Lee Jasper, Mayor Ken Livingstone's senior aide"...
http://tinyurl.com/39ysaq
"Mayor's statement on the false allegations made by Andrew Gilligan"
"18 December 2007"
"The Evening Standard from 5 December to 15 December published a series of grave allegations that were either presented without proof, or investigation of which has now proved to be false. In the light of this the Greater London Authority has now demanded"...
http://tinyurl.com/2zfxmk
"Ken confronted over grant scandal"
"18.12.07"
"Ken Livingstone was involved in a dramatic confrontation with a former employee who was sacked after questioning the apparent misuse of huge amounts of public funds"...
http://tinyurl.com/yryvmr
Postman Patel...
http://tinyurl.com/yt7mqo
Mike Whitney "Staring into
Mike Whitney "Staring into the Abyss: The Collapse of the Modern Day Banking System".
It's day is made, wondering
It's day is made, wondering what the music is as usual