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Jul
Battlecry – Hollow Man
Purchase Battlecry – “Today Belongs To Us”
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Jul
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Britain has longed for a home-grown Wimbledon men’s singles champion for decades – but what do we know of the last man to have held this title?
If Andy Murray reaches the Wimbledon final on Sunday, he’ll do so wearing the famous logo of his sponsor – one Fred Perry.
Some might say an albatross would be a more appropriate emblem than the laurel leaf logo, such is the level of desperation among British fans for the Scot to emulate the 1930s legend.
Few people who have been following Murray’s progress can fail to know the name Fred Perry, but few would recognise his face. And his colourful and controversial life off the court matched his achievements on it.
According to The Last Champion, the first and recently released biography of the star, Perry dated some of the world’s most beautiful women, including Marlene Dietrich and Jean Harlow.
Author Jon Henderson says: “He was an extremely good looking, red-blooded lad. The girls liked him and he liked the girls, it went from there.
“One US columnist said ‘women fell for him like ninepins and when he went to Hollywood, male film stars went and sulked in Nevada’.”
The pipe-smoking player’s close friends also included Bette Davis and Clark Gable’s former lover Loretta Young, and each of his four wives were part of the “glitterati”.
On one occasion in Boston, Perry and a US tennis player scrambled down the outside of a hotel on sheets they had tied together, in order to drop in on two female players.
The high life he enjoyed in later years seemed a long way from his origins. Born in 1909 in Stockport to a local cotton spinner, Perry moved to Ealing in London aged nine when his politically-minded father became the national secretary of the Co-operative Party.
It was a move that gave Perry his first taste of tennis, on the courts of his family’s housing estate.
But it was a long way from the clipped lawns of Wimbledon’s All England Club and a sport dominated by public school boys – one he struggled to gain acceptance into, despite becoming world table tennis champion at 19.
“The fact he was an outsider helped rather than crushed his spirit, he used it to motivate himself,” says Mr Henderson. “When he was told he couldn’t do something, it made him more determined.”
Sleeveless sweater
He was once barred from entering a tournament because he didn’t go to a public school, so he turned to a fellow player to ask where they went, and when they replied “Repton School”, he turned back and brazenly told the official: “All right, I went to Repton”.
When he beat Australian Jack Crawford in his first Wimbledon final – Perry won three in total – a club official gave his bottle of champagne to the loser. Lying in a bath, Perry overheard the official saying Crawford was a “better man”.
Fred Perry and Bjorn Borg
Later, when he turned professional, an official from the International Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain wrote to him saying he should never wear the club sweater again. Perry sent him a sleeve “as a present” to make his feelings known.
Disillusioned by the establishment, Perry headed to the classless climes of the United States. He took US citizenship not long afterwards and started making money on the tennis circuit in his adopted country. He was called up in 1942 and served in the US air force during the war.
Perry was pushed forward by his own confidence and single-mindedness and usually with a twinkle in his eye, Mr Henderson notes. His mastery of table tennis had come about teaching himself at a local YMCA and practising for hours against a kitchen table up against the wall.
He also trained with Arsenal Football Club during his amateur tennis days to focus on his fitness, a highly unusual move at a time when few players bothered to train in that way.
Perry would go on to become one of the world’s first truly international sportsmen, the first player to win the four major tennis titles. In all, he was an eight-time Grand Slam champion.
Britain’s most successful player was also unafraid to inflict “psychological warfare” on his opponents, something he himself called “surreptitious gamesmanship” later in life.
When playing in his second Wimbledon final against the famously fastidious Gottfried Von Cramm, Perry took the lining of his trouser pocket out because he knew it would drive his German opponent mad.
On another occasion in Australia he had his racket painted bright white to distract his opponent, and he would regularly jump over the net at the end of a match to show he wasn’t tired.
Perry launched his famous polo shirt at Wimbledon in 1952 and it was an immediate success. The laurel logo was based on the old Wimbledon symbol and unlike other logos it was stitched into the shirt. It became fashionable in the 1970s and has been a big seller ever since.
His clothes have ensured Perry’s cultural importance is immeasurably bigger than his sporting importance, says Ellis Cashmore, author of Celebrity/Culture.
“This guy has been rehabilitated over the years and he’s more popular today than he was in his own day. In a sense this is similar to Muhammad Ali, whom we think of as the all-conquering hero of the 20th Century.
“But look more deeply into his background and you’ll see that when he got the world championships and changed his name he was widely despised for affiliating with Nation of Islam, a sectarian group.”
Fred Perry’s name has been revived in a similar way, says Mr Cashmore. Tennis was elitist and not a major sport until television took an interest, which meant that he was never a popular hero in the same way footballers were.
Plus there was the controversy of him turning professional and taking American citizenship, he says. That has now been forgotten, mainly due to the paucity of great male tennis players since, but also thanks to the adoption of the Fred Perry clothing brand in popular culture.
“Over the years the British ineptitude at tennis has really exaggerated his importance. Fred Perry polo shirts were very popular in the 1970s when skinheads took to them. They were even abbreviated to “Freds”.
“But the people that wore these probably never knew Fred Perry the tennis player. And if you showed 20 people a picture of him, just his head and shoulders, none of them would know who he was.”
In recent weeks, bands like Blur, The Specials and Gwen Stefani have ensured that the Fred Perry brand is back in the mainstream.
So whether or not Murray ever consigns Perry to history by emulating his Wimbledon achievement, the laurel leaf will ensure his name lives on.
Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Hitler T-Shirt
Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Hitler T-Shirt
Tired of politics? Have you realized that regardless of what political party you vote for, things stay exactly the same? Whether you vote Republican’t, Democrap, Labour, Conservative, Green or any other self-serving political party, they steal from the working class to give our hard-earned money to the poor and rich. It’s time for you to make a statement and what better statement to make than “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Hitler!” on high quality Jerzees brand t-shirts. Adolf Hitler would be a hands-down guaranteed winner against today’s puppets, such as Barack “Osama” Obama, Hillary “Mister C.” Clinton and John “Bush Jr.” McCain, so wear this with pride! Regardless of where you live or who runs your country, let the world know that you believe Adolf Hitler would make a better leader!
Available in: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large & XXX Large (XXXL are $4 extra)
http://www.micetrap.net/shop/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/2005
Skrewdriver Live In Germany DVD
Available for Micetrap Distribution blog visitors only… purchase Skrewdriver Live In Germany DVDs for only $14! This includes shipping costs within the United States!
This extremely high quality video features excellent video and audio quality, plus it has a very tasteful application of special effects — adding to the enjoyment of viewing an inspirational live show. 23 tracks, 1 hour & 13 minutes, full color graphics on both the video box and the disk!
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Voice Of Britain (Original lyrics)
Chapter 3. Tomorrow Belongs To Me
Chapter 4. Europe Awake
Chapter 5. The Showdown
Chapter 6. Our Pride Is Our Loyalty
Chapter 7. Blood & Honour
Chapter 8. Strike Force
Chapter 9. Hail The New Dawn
Chapter 10. Back With A Bang
Chapter 11. Johnny Joined the Klan
Chapter 12. 46 Years
Chapter 13. Free My Land
Chapter 14. The Snow Fell
Chapter 15. Smash the I.R.A.
Chapter 16. When The Boat Comes In
Chapter 17. White Power
Chapter 18. Hail the New Dawn (reprise)
Chapter 19. White Power (reprise)
Chapter 20. Strike Force (reprise)
Chapter 21. Suddenly
Chapter 22. Free My Land (reprise)
Chapter 23. When the Boat Comes In (reprise)
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Skrewdriver Live In Germany DVD
23
Jun
The rise of Hate 2.0
By Daniel Emery
Technology reporter, BBC News
The number of hate and terrorist websites has increased by a third in the past year, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organisation put the figure at more than 8,000 in its 2008 report Hate 2.0. It said the presence of such sites "demeans and threatens African Americans, Jews, immigrants, gays and virtually every religious denomination".
And the number of so-called hate sites is growing fast, while the use of social networks to push controversial messages is also on the rise.
In May this year, Facebook became embroiled in a row after a number of Holocaust denial groups were set up on the site.
Critics said Facebook was propagating anti-Semitism, others said that free speech was a cornerstone of society and Facebook should keep its hands off.
At the time, Barry Schnitt, a spokesman for Facebook, said it should be "a place where controversial ideas can be discussed".
"The bottom line is that, of course, we abhor Nazi ideals and find Holocaust denial repulsive and ignorant," he said.
"However, we believe people have a right to discuss these ideas."
The Home Office says Don Black’s actions could “lead to inter-community violence in the UK”.
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A few days later, the site had closed two of the groups, Holocaust is a Holohoax and Based on the facts… there was no Holocaust. It said they had breached the firm’s terms of service.
But there are still plenty of other Holocaust denial groups on Facebook: Holocaust is a Myth, 6,000,000 for the TRUTH about the Holocaust, The problem of forged Holocaust photos, and Holocaust Deniers, to name just four.
Denial outlawed
In a visit to the Buchenwald concentration camp in June this year, President Barack Obama criticised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had called the Holocaust a "great deception".
"To this day we know there are those who insist the Holocaust never happened, a denial of a fact or truth that is baseless, ignorant and hateful," Mr Obama said in a brief address.
Holocaust denial is illegal in 13 countries, including France, Germany and Israel. It was also a crime in Slovakia, although this law was repealed in May 2005.
The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, and the United Kingdom have all rejected Holocaust denial legislation.
In Europe, citizens are covered by the European Convention on Human Rights which states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression."
But it adds that governments can restrict free speech, among other reasons, in the interests of national security, to preserve public safety and for the prevention of disorder or crime.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the BBC that it was not a freedom of speech issue.
"Holocaust denial is a perfect example of how a hateful idea was incubated on the internet. It promotes hatred, it promotes violence and it’s a kind of precursor to genocide.
Some groups advocate direct action against Holocaust denial sites
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"It’s not the idea that needs to be scrubbed; it’s fact that the internet elevates crackpot theories to a level it doesn’t deserve.
"These sites aren’t about the discussion of ideas; they are about getting people to subscribe to the ideal of hate."
But speaking to the BBC, Douglas Murray, director of think tank The Centre for Social Cohesion, said that society should be able to accept any point of view, even if that view was proven to be false.
"You have to allow different opinions, even lies, as long as they don’t incite violence. Otherwise what is true becomes dogma and then becomes incapable of being defended," he said.
White power
In 1995 Don Black founded Stormfront – a white supremacist website seen by many as the internet’s first "major hate site", although it had existed as a bulletin board for a number of years prior to that.
In May he was one of 22 individuals excluded from the United Kingdom by the Home Office for "promoting serious criminal activity and fostering hatred that might lead to inter-community violence".
He told the BBC that – in America – people could say and think whatever they liked.
"We believe anyone has the right to discuss the issue [of Holocaust denial] without being censored and, in many cases in Europe, prosecuted and sent to jail.
"It goes beyond censorship on Facebook. We’re moving into a new dark age with an orthodoxy in which individuals hold the wrong opinion are prosecuted and in some cases, sent to jail.
"My getting banned from Britain – even though I haven’t even tried to visit Britain – is an example," he said.
While the views espoused by Mr Black and others may be offensive to many, in most countries they are perfectly legal.
Mr Murray holds a view that they should remain legal because "in a free society it isn’t hard to prove that their point of view is wrong".
Rabbi Cooper disagrees, saying that while you will never keep any idea off the internet, there was no obligation for private companies – such as Facebook, MySpace etc – to carry so-called hate groups; failing that the centre advocates more "direct action".
"We’ve gone from one problem group back in 1995, Stormfront, to over 10,000," he said.
Direct action
One group that does carry out direct action on occasion is the Jewish Internet Defense Force, a group that claims it "leads the fight against anti-Semitism and terrorism on the web". It is said that the JIDF has seized control of and deleted Facebook groups deemed to be anti-Semetic or anti-Israel.
In an e-mail exchange with the group’s spokesman, "David", the BBC asked why they took such issue with Holocaust denial.
"Holocaust denial is hate speech. It is an attempt by anti-Semites to make Jews appear to be liars and manipulators, those who accept the historical truth of the Holocaust to be dupes, absolve Nazis and their active and passive accomplices of guilt, and so rehabilitate anti-Semitic ideologies," he wrote.
Critics say the internet has enabled alleged anti-Semites to reach an audience of millions.
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"Facebook staff themselves seem very torn about these issues and wish to consider a lot of hateful ideologies as ‘legitimate political discourse’.
"However, if they are going to take down KKK (Ku Klux Klan) pages and pages which promote Islamic terrorism, then they should also take down hateful Holocaust denial pages and stop pushing the myth that they are for ‘free speech’."
He added the group would "do everything in our power" to convince Facebook to "do the right thing".
But Mr Murray said that the grounds for freedom of speech were already laid out.
"If someone thinks they are better because of the colour of their skin, their religion or where they were born, well it’s irrational and deeply hateful, but unless they say you should do violence, then I’m afraid we have to accept there are people who have unpleasant opinions."
Ghostbusters Breaks New Ground In… Jewish References?
By Stephen Totilo on June 23, 2009 at 7:00 AM
Video games arguably have not had their Citizen Kane. Less debatable is the absence of a video game Seinfeld or Mel Brooks movie. Enter Ghostbusters, the rare game with a Jewish joke.
A writer from the online magazine of Jewish news and culture, Tablet, reports delight at playing enough of the new Ghostbusters game to unlock an Achievement (or Trophy, it seems) called “Kosher.”
The Achievement is won by having your Ghostbuster use his or her proton pack on a honey-glazed ham that has been set up for a bar mitzvah in the hotel where Slimer is running amuck.
Tablet’s Liel Leibovitz writes: I froze in my tracks. It was time, I realised, to make a major decision about my identity. Was I a Jew first and a Ghostbuster second? Or was it the other way around? Do I catch the ghost? Or do I take care of the treyf? My heart beat fast. Then, suddenly, I knew just what I needed to do.
Leibovitz blasted that Ham and then got the Kosher Achievement.
The official text for that feat reads: “Remedy a dubious food choice to make the bar mitzvah as orthodox as it can be.” Honey-glaze ham, it should be known, is not kosher and therefore doesn’t belong at a bar mitzvah.
A Jewish joke would be unremarkable in other forms of entertainment. But in games, Jewishness is perhaps even more absent than homosexuality or Eskimos. Jewish people are seldom even mentioned in World War II games. Why that is is fodder for another post.
For now, put Ghostbusters in the same category as The Shivah, one of the few games that even mentions Jewish people or culture.
Song: Nationalism
Band: Stormtroop 16
Taken from album: Steel Capped Justice
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Song: Lust In Their Eyes
Band: Stormtroop16
Taken from album: Steel Capped Justice
Purchase compact disc: http://www.micetrap.net/shop/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/1970
Song: Niggers, Niggers, Niggers
Band: Racist Redneck Rebels
Taken from album: Keep The Hate Alive!
Purchase compact disc: http://www.micetrap.net/shop/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/665