Moving on

We have moved!

2006-10-30T11:21:00.000-08:00

We have moved to Spain, yay!

However, we have no internet access yet so I am unable to post often.

Will update with more cynical thoughts when I can!

Guardian Unlimited _ UK Latest _ Minister forced into climbdown

2006-06-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

Vera Baird QC withdrew comments she made last week about the Recorder of Cardiff, Judge John Griffith Williams, getting "wrong" the sentence of paedophile Craig Sweeney.

Her outspoken attack deepened the crisis over "lenient" sentencing and led a senior judge to publicly condemn her actions. In an apologetic letter to her boss, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Mrs Baird said: "I should not have made those comments on the case following your statement outlining the position of the government...."

Vera Baird's attack on Judge John Griffith Williams was orchestrated deliberately as part of the Blair Government's campaign to discredit the judiciary. But she appears to have lost her 'supporters' along the way ...

This type of attack is reminiscent of historic attacks on the legal system by those who wish to instigate a totalitarian regime. Hopefully this time the plan has become transparent...

Read the full story via CommonTimes

The Sacred Moment: ON TORTURE

2006-06-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

In the week when Torture should be paramount in our minds, here is a post from 'The Sacred Moment' with links to essays on Torture.
Compelling but disturbing reading.

Read the full story via CommonTimes

Have we become desensitized to the horrors of torture?

2006-06-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

"It is not true, as many in the Arab world believe, that the United States has embarked on a reckless campaign of torture and abuse of its Arab prisoners of war. But what has happened—a slow slide from coherent, consistent standards for interrogation and treatment of prisoners to a sometimes ad-hoc, occasionally brutal search for information at all costs—should warrant public outcry. That it has not suggests either that this shift doesn't interest us because it affects outsiders, or that we no longer consider torture or near-torture to be beyond the bounds of civil conduct."

The statement above is the conclusion to an in-depth 'interactive primer on American interrogation'. The whole article, plus an audio link, can be found at Slate Magazine.

It makes for disturbing reading and must surely question the belief that some of us still hold that 'we' in the West uphold the values of a 'civilsed World'.

Amazing Amnesty International Ad Campaign

2006-06-13T03:12:00.000-07:00

Found at adland:

"Amnesty International in Switzerland broke a new outdoor campaign May 29th that was created by Walker Werbeagentur Zuerich. The campaign uses the tagline "It's not happening here but it's happening now", in various languages, from French to German. Using the transparent billboards, the campaign aims to show people what is going on in the world, even if it's not happening in front of them at the bus stop. The ads portray issues in countries like Iraq, China, and Sudan."

Below are a couple of the billboards:

I think this is a brilliant campaign. It's a pity that more countries do not use it. Maybe in time?

Surely it will be impossible to stand at a bus stop next to one of these images and not feel compassion and the need to change things in some way?

One can hope.

No Surprises...

2006-06-10T05:36:00.000-07:00

Chemical bomb raid men released

LONDON (Reuters) - Police have freed without charge two men arrested during a raid on a London house that police suspected of being used for making a chemical bomb......

...... Police found no bomb in a search of the house in the ethnically mixed area of Forest Gate in east London.

The men, aged 20 and 23 and reported to be brothers, were released on Friday evening. Police had a warrant allowing them to question them until Saturday.

Lawyers for the men have said they deny any involvement in terrorism.

"The intelligence received by police continues to be developed and the Metropolitan Police will continue to exhaust all lines of inquiry," a police statement said.

Police thanked local residents for their "tolerance and understanding" during the operation......

...... London police Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman apologised for the disruption caused by the raid on Thursday but said the police had "no choice" but to act on "very specific intelligence".

The whole article is here: newsbox.msn

My Comments

Thank goodness the police and intelligence services have done the correct thing (well ... after doing a very incorrect thing in the first place ...).

And as to their "specific intelligence", one could argue, "specific to whom?"

This whole charade has deepened resentment in Muslim communities and this is totally understandable.

It has left many of us in the UK even more sceptical of the stated intentions of the police and intelligence services.

It has also made us even more aware that 'if your face doesn't fit' (for whatever reason; be it race, ethnicity, culture, or political affiliations), you had better be on your guard.

The battering down of your door by heavy-handed, gun-wielding 'terrorist seekers' could happen to you next.

David Cameron - 'man of the people' - well .... maybe ...

2006-06-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

Cameron outlines new 'equality'

David Cameron has outlined his desire for equality and redistributive taxation to show how he plans to shake up the Tory party.

.... Mr Cameron ... said that while he wanted greater equality and redistribution, that did not mean penalising the super-rich.

"My view is that the greatest concern we should have is not the gap between David Beckham's wages on the one hand, and someone on benefits on the other," he said.

"I don't think making the top 1% richest poorer makes the 10% poorest richer."

[try saying that quickly without stumbling!]

".... Cameron also confessed to liking the music of socialist protest singer Billy Bragg.

He also revealed that Kirsty MacColl's version of Bragg's A New England almost made it on to his list of eight favourite records for his recent appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

Defending his choice, he added: "The idea that you can't like the music of people who don't agree with you politically would kind of limit your musical choices a bit." ....

[ It sure would!]

The whole article can be found at news.bbc.co.uk

Cameron sure is a 'man of the people' ..... isn't he ......?

I could say that it is easy to listen to Billy Bragg and enjoy his music while you are lounging in your expensive student 'digs' without a care in your enclosed little World. However, it's a bit different when Bragg's lyrics actually validate your own experiences.

But that would be too cynical .... wouldn't it ....?

Blair begins covering his tracks .... again ....

2006-06-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

Blair defends police terror raid

Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is not afraid of a Muslim "backlash" in the wake of an anti-terror raid on a house in Forest Gate, east London.

He said he backed the police and security services 101% and he refused to be drawn on suggestions that the armed operation had been a failure....

.... Mr Blair said it was essential the police took action if they received "reasonable" intelligence suggesting a terror attack.

But asked if he feared a Muslim backlash following the raid, Mr Blair said: "I'm really not.

"I think it's a real mistake to think that the average person from the Muslim community is any different from anyone else.

"They know perfectly well there is a problem with terrorism." ....

.... But he refused to comment on suggestions that the raid had been a failure.

"I think we should be very, very wary of drawing conclusions," he said.

"Let's just wait and see. There may be a whole series of things they need to look into in relation to that." ....

--------

I'm sure there will be ....

Quotation Day!

2006-06-06T03:13:00.000-07:00

The World is crazy and sometimes I just feel like chilling out and forgetting all the crap that modern life spews up.

So today, I'm having a break from the political comments and posting a few quotes that I picked up at BigCite:

Never stop learning; knowledge doubles every fourteen months.
-- Unknown

An excess of courage, in the wrong circumstances, in the wrong place, and at the wrong time, can have far worse consequences than cowardice.
-- Takashi Matsuoka

History is rarely made by reasonable men.
-- Terry Goodkind

History is written by the victorious, the liars, the strongest, the most determined. Truth is found most often in the silence, in the quiet places.
-- Kate Mosse

The best way to make money is to start your own religion.
-- Ron Hubbard

You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named Bush, Dick, and Colon. Need I say more?
-- Chris Rock

Okay - I suppose most of these quotes were political in some way. I can't escape it, can I?

Never mind, here's a nice quote to finish:

It's practically impossible to look at a penguin and feel angry.
-- Joe Moore

I think I'll go find a penguin right now ...

Another Fine Mess?

2006-06-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

Chemical bomb suspects deny attack plot

LONDON (Reuters) - Two brothers suspected of plotting to make a chemical bomb for an attack in Britain have denied all accusations, their lawyers said on Sunday, as police continued to search their home.

The men, aged 23 and 20, were held during a dawn raid on Friday when more than 250 police officers, some in chemical protection suits, stormed their house in east London.

The 23-year-old brother was shot in the shoulder during the raid, one of the biggest operations since last July's suicide attacks in London, although police said it was not related.

Specific intelligence had suggested the house might have been used to make a toxic bomb for an attack in Britain, police sources said.

"He says there's absolutely not a word of truth in any of it," the wounded brother's lawyer Kate Roxburgh told reporters. "He says the police are not going to find anything because there is nothing to find".

His brother's lawyer, Julian Young, said earlier his client had also denied he was involved in any terrorism plot, adding: "To date I have seen no evidence showing that he has been".

Both men are being questioned at London's top security Paddington Green police station after the wounded brother was moved there from hospital on Sunday.

Police said they were still concentrating their search on the suspects' house in Forest Gate, an ethnically mixed area with a sizeable Muslim population. They searched the men's work places on Saturday.

Officers are looking for "some form of viable chemical device" that could kill -- a conventional bomb laced with toxic material, a police source told Reuters.

Both men's lawyers rejected newspaper reports that the 23-year-old suspect had been shot by his brother in a scuffle with police.

"When he was shot he was standing on the stairs, his brother was a couple of stairs up and behind him," Roxburgh said, describing the report as "absolute nonsense".

British firearms police have been under the spotlight since they shot dead an innocent Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, in the weeks following last year's suicide attacks. They wrongly identified him as a suicide bomber.

Young said the case struck him as similar to the Menezes shooting.

Asan Rehman, a spokesman for a family arrested from a neighbouring house but then freed, told Reuters the two brothers, were Muslims and of Bangladeshi origin.

Police have said nothing suspicious was found in an initial search of the house and that neighbours are not in danger.

My Comments

First, I hope that if something incriminating is found ... eventually .... that it will have been found in a fair and honest way ......

That what is 'found' is actual evidence which can truly be seen to justify raiding people's homes ready to shoot to kill.

That, if and when it is agreed that no evidence of bomb making equipment can be found, the brothers are not held on other charges which appear to have been produced purely as 'justification' for the raid and the shooting.

That this wasn't simply another dreadful case of 'act first and think later' or that the brothers didn't come under suspicion purely because they were young, muslim men.

Because that would be totally unacceptable.

Female Circumcision Can Never Be Right!

2006-06-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Female mutilation is 'birth risk'

Female genital mutilation increases the risk of complications during childbirth and infant mortality, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

Women who have had the procedure are more likely to need Caesareans and the death rate among their babies is up to 50% higher, it said in a report.

The study, reported in the Lancet, involved 30,000 African women.

The practice is common in parts of Africa, where some believe it will maintain a girl's honour.

'Torture'

The report is the first of its kind to look into the long-term health consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The WHO described FGM as a form of "torture" that must be stamped out, even if performed by trained medical personnel.

"By medicalising it, we will be endorsing this practice, this violation of a child's body and a basic human right of an individual and I think that's the worst thing we can possibly do," Joy Phumaphi, WHO assistant director-general for family and community health, told the BBC.

Women were studied in six countries in Africa - Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.

However, Egyptian doctor Professor Munir Falsi denies that type 1 or type 2 FGM, which he calls "female circumcision" is cruel, or dangerous.

"With type 1 and type 2, there is no problem whatsoever with pregnancy or childbirth," he told the BBC's World Today programme, pointing out that 90% of Egyptian women are circumcised.

"Most of the complications are with type 3, which is understandable," he said.

See the rest of this article here: News.BBC.UK

My Comments:

This is the 21st Century. Yet some men are still differentiating between different 'types' of female mutilation - as if any of them should be considered okay!

I am a great believer in respecting cultural differences, BUT, when women are still tortured, mutilated and even killed in the name of culture or religion, this cannot be ignored.

What is it about women that many men fear so much? Our sexuality? Do they think this gives us power over them?

If so, then they have only themselves to blame ... not us!

Purity, Bigotry and Misogyny

2006-05-30T03:50:00.000-07:00

I often browse the bookmarking sites to pick up odd snippets of information. Today I found a link to an article called Personal Purity in Thought, Speech, and Appearance, by Marc D carpenter. I hope the person who bookmarked this was being ironic - but I fear that he wasn't.

The article is from the site called Outside the Camp, which says: "This is the web version of a newsletter put out by Sovereign Redeemer Assembly. The purpose of this newsletter is to proclaim the true gospel of sovereign grace, expose counterfeit gospels, and stimulate true believers to love and good works."

If it hadn’t been for the sincerity of the site (total bigotry, but sincere nevertheless... ), I would have considered the article to be a scam.

The opening lines said:

"I'm going to be speaking today about personal purity, specifically as it relates to our thoughts, our speech, and our appearance ...... I hope to touch on some areas in which Christians have become slack, and I hope to spur us on to continually strive for obedience to God in every area of our lives ......”

Well, fair enough I thought, the ’purity’ bit sounds ominous, but perhaps the writer thinks that Christians need to care more for others, to do good works etc ....

And he seemed to be pushing this message with this:

"keep in mind that true Christians do not strive to obey God's commandments out of any notion that our pursuit of godliness in any way saves us, keeps us saved, or recommends us to God. This would be legalism ......"

So Christians were not to do good works purely out of a desire to be saved. Sounded reasonable enough.

But then we got onto the specifics about how Christians should obey God ....

The writer almost immediately makes it clear that he thinks homosexual relationships are a sin, so we get the gist of the bigotry that is going to feed this piece, but that is not enough for him:

"Matthew 5:27-28 says, "You have heard that it was said to the ancients: 'Do not commit adultery.' But I say to you, Everyone looking at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Here Jesus plainly puts forth the truth that just looking on someone in a sexual way is the same thing as raping that person in your thoughts ......

"......Are heterosexual attractions sin? It's not me who said it; it's Christ who said it. Of course, he was not talking about such attraction within the bonds of a man and a woman who are committed to each other for life, for we find in other places that the marriage bed is not sinful, and thus those thoughts are not sinful in that context. But everything outside of this commitment is wickedness.

"Does the dating scene encourage such wickedness? Definitely. Do church formals and dances encourage such wickedness? Definitely. Do singles ministries encourage such wickedness? Definitely. These are things of the world that have no place in Christian circles ....

" ...... How are we to have our mind dwell on pure things when we're sitting in front of a television show or movie that shows lust or sex? Or violence, for that matter. A mark of a maturing Christian is an increased distaste for such things ......

Later Carpenter explains that even:

" .... the so-called "children's movies" such as the Disney animated movies in which the leading female characters are inevitably dressed like whores and in which wicked "romance" is promoted ...." Are sinful and should be shunned by Christians.

I’m not a great follower of Disney movies anyway ...... But in any case, Carpenter has other things on his mind ....

" ......Secondly, we come to purity in our speech .... What is a lie? What is falsehood? Well, it's the opposite of truth, right? When someone tells a lie, he is saying something that is not true ...... So whenever someone intentionally says something that is not true, he is speaking falsehood ......"

After telling Christians they should never lie to a child, even in fun, Carpenter really gets into his stride:

"I'm sure you've heard of a group of people planning a surprise party, and in order for the secret to be kept, many of the people have to lie to the person who's going to be surprised. But the ends don't justify the means. Just because it's a surprise doesn't give anyone the license to sin, and it is definitely sin to speak something to that person that is not true. Many practical jokes fit into this category, too ......"

Is this man for real?

But it is the next few paragraphs that really stirred me to yell abuse at my PC screen:

"And lastly, a bit about purity of appearance ....."

You can guess what’s coming ....

"A passage in the New Testament that deals most directly with this issue is 1 Timothy 2:9-10: "So also the women to adorn themselves in proper clothing, with modesty and sensibleness, not with plaiting, or gold, or pearls, or expensive garments, but what becomes women professing fear of God, through good works." Since this passage is to women, I will be dealing with this issue mainly as it relates to women. This does not excuse men for dressing immodestly, but it is obvious that immodesty in women has been a great problem down through history, and we'll go over some Old Testament passages to that effect a little later ......"

And out comes the misogyny that all women have suffered and which just won’t go away.

".... The modesty and sobriety, or shamefacedness and discreetness, are to be characteristics of what women wear ......

"......Keep in mind that the Bible commands women to wear clothing that is in keeping with being shamefaced ......

After quoting passages from Jeremiah and Proverbs, Carpenter insists:

"It is common knowledge that the women who painted their faces and ornamented themselves were the prostitutes. They did this to attract men ......

"......what is makeup for? Why do women wear makeup? - I think you'll find that it has its origins in prostitution and that it is used by females today for the same reason that it was and is used by prostitutes ......

"...... what is jewelry for? Some jewelry, like a wedding band, is a symbol of commitment to a spouse. But what of other decorative jewelry? Well, it's just that. It decorates. Much of the time, it is used to call attention to the face or other part of the body.

"......what do most fashion designers have in mind when they design clothes for females? .... It is purposefully sexual. I cannot emphasize this enough. Almost all the clothes in the women's clothing stores are to make the woman sexually attractive ......"

Apart from admonishing men who go shirtless in public, the male sex gets off very lightly from Carpenter’s calls for 'Christian morality'. It is women who he really wants to change their appearance:

"......Cover yourselves! Be shamefaced!...."

And there speaks a man who appears to be very scared of women, especially confident women.

It could of course be argued that women are encouraged to dress and act in certain ways to make themselves attractive to men and that it is a male dominated society that has promoted this.

And there lies the contradiction.

Men want women to 'look good' in ways which suit them (men) and women through the centuries have used this knowledge to their own advantage. After all, in a society dominated by one group, the ‘sub’ group has to use all means available to get what they need. Therefore you can hardly blame women for using male weaknesses to get what they want.

But the minds of Christian bigots like Carpenter cannot comprehend this. All they see are strong women. And this scares them. It is not in line with their personal reading of the Bible.

The same can be said for male-dominated religions all over the World. All appear to have teachings based upon an almost innate fear of women.

We are supposed to live in an educated society, but men like Carpenter prove that education means different things to different people. His writing shows that he has received an education, but his words show the single-minded bigotry of the uninformed.

This is worrying when we see the rise of the religious right in what should be one of the most modern-minded countries in the World – the USA - and we see that in some US States they have already been behind the passing of laws which disempower women.

These people need to be challenged and ridiculed so that everyone can see the errors in their discourse.

And then they need to be ignored and put back on the cultural scrap heap with all the other misogynists and bigots of this World.

There should be no other place for them.

Be Sure to Cancel Your Credit Cards Before You Die

2006-05-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

A woman died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and then added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00, now is somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank. see the link below for the call.....

(say's it all really - credit card and finance companies employ people from another planet .....)

read more | digg story

The World is so much bigger than me .....

2006-05-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

I found the link to this map on Zee's blog.

He said that he felt like an ant after seeing how vast the world was compared to the places he had actually visited.

Well that makes me feel as small as a microbe!

Must get out more!

A Leak Too Far ......

2006-05-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday,Wanadoo, one of the biggest internet service providers in the UK, announced that they had discovered a security leak in their system.

In fact, the leak, which led to full names and passwords of some 20,000 people being published online, had been discovered by Wanadoo technicians a week ago, but the company waited several days to admit their discovery.

What is worse is that it appears that no-one knows how long the leak had existed before it was discovered:

"Internet postings from some customers speculated that the loophole, which seems to have emanated from Portugal, may have lain undiscovered for as long as two years."

Wanadoo's statement reads as follows:

"Wanadoo would like to reassure customers that this was an isolated incident and as soon as we were made aware of the problem, the information was removed from the public domain," the company said in a statement. "An investigation is currently taking place to uncover how this happened."

Well, forgive me if I show scepticism for Wanadoo's assurances.

How can a company assure its customers that they are able to provide good security and investigate adequately when things go wrong when, not only have they failed so outrageously in the past, but their technicians failed to spot a massive 'loophole' like this for years....?

I think it's time Wanadoo's 2 million customers took their custom elsewhere ....

Are we being deliberately pointed in the wrong direction?

2006-05-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

Much has been made of the Video released by the Pentagon last Wednesday which ostensibly shows footage of the Boeing 757 hitting the Pentagon:

I have made a Google Notebook collection of just a few comments made in response to an article called Plane Spotting posted at Guardian Unlimited.

Obviously there are mixed reactions to the video, ranging from my own "So where's the plane?", to those who think that anyone who thinks there was a conspiracy here 'must be a nut'.

But what several commentators pointed out seems to me to be much more important than 'spot the plane', and that is "Why has this video been released at this precise time? And, what are they trying to distract our attention from?"

I would guess that:

a) They want to increase the general public's fear at a time when it may be wavering a little ....

b) Iran .......?

But this Administration (and ours in the UK) is so devious, it the answer could be almost anything....

New Enquiry begins into the death of Dr David Kelly

2006-05-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

MP to investigate Dr Kelly's death

Hélène Mulholland for The Guardian Unlimited
Friday May 19, 2006

A backbench MP is to investigate the "unanswered questions" from the official inquiry into the death of weapons scientist Dr David Kelly.

The former Liberal Democrat environmental spokesman Norman Baker today revealed his decision to stand down from the shadow cabinet two months ago was based on a quest to establish the "truth" behind Dr Kelly's death.

Mr Baker said he wanted to return to the issue because the 2003 Hutton inquiry had "blatantly failed to get to the bottom of matters".

He vowed to question ministers and to unearth new facts in a bid to establish the "truth" of the case.

Dr Kelly was found dead on July 18 2003 after being named as the possible source of a BBC story on the government's Iraq dossier.

Later that month Lord Hutton was appointed head of an independent inquiry into the events surrounding Dr Kelly's death. After a two-month inquiry, Lord Hutton concluded the scientist had taken his own life.

Oxford coroner Nicholas Gardiner subsequently looked into the possibility of reopening the inquest into Dr Kelly's death, but after reviewing the evidence with the lord chancellor, decided that there was no case for doing so.

Mr Baker explained that he had decided to wait until he relinquished his environmental role before embarking on an investigation to find out the "truth" that the Hutton inquiry had failed to deliver.

"It did not answer questions," he told Guardian Unlimited today.......

...... Mr Baker admitted he already holds a "number of theories" about the scientist's death, but declined to speculate so early into his investigation, which began two months ago just after he stood down from his shadow post.....

...... "I have long been unhappy about the sequence of events and I was unhappy at the time about the way the Hutton inquiry was conducted and I wanted to free up some time to look into this," he said.......

The rest of this article can be found at The Guardian Unlimited

My Comments:

All I can say is that I wish Mr Baker a successful outcome to his enquiry ..... and a long and happy life ......

A case of mistaken identity.

2006-05-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

The man in the video below - Mr Guy Goma - appeared on the BBC News 24 program after a mix-up led his being mistaken for an expert on internet music downloads.

Mr Goma was an applicant for a job at the BBC who accidentally found himself on live television when he was ushered into the studio, instead of Guy Kewney, the editor of Newswireless.net.

Earlier this month, Britain's High Court awarded a victory to Apple Computer in a lawsuit against Apple Corps, The Beatles' commercial arm and the BBC had intended to interview Mr Kewney fo rhis reaction to this. However, after a mistake at a reception desk, employees brought Mr Goma to the studio instead. He had been waiting in a reception area for his job interview.

After BBC News 24 consumer affairs correspondent Karen Bowerman ostensibly welcomed the apparent expert, there was a Kafkaesque moment in which Mr Goma winced and tried to open his mouth as if to explain.

When the presenter asked if he was surprised by the verdict, a befuddled Mr Goma managed to offer that he was "very surprised."

Meanwhile, the real Mr Kewney watched the exchange in shock from outside the studio.

But Mr Goma's performance later swept the Internet in part because he simply pressed on, offering the best answers he could and growing more confident in his punditry as the interview progressed.

Now, the network is putting Mr Goma back on the air after he became a news story unto himself and Mr Goma has agreed to return and discuss his bizarre experience.

And he doesn't have to worry whether or not he got the job he was actually applying for, because Britain's tabloids have already put him to work. The Sun newspaper offered Mr Goma a punditry platform beneath a story headlined the "Big Bluffer."

Mr Goma has offered to speak on a variety of subjects, offered snap assessments on Saddam Hussein's trial ("He deserves to face justice"); Prince Harry ("It is difficult for him as everything he does is watched") and Britain's Human Rights Act ("We should treat each other as we wish to be treated.")

parts taken from: MailOnSunday

Here is the video of the original interview and note Mr Goma's shocked expression.

The video is now one of the highest-viewed by 'Brits' on the internet. Not surprising really. We have a good sense of irony after all.

I wish Mr Goma lots of luck in his new career. I reckon he deserves it!

Wired News Publishes Damning Docs From EFF vs AT&T

2006-05-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

Wired News has published documents from EFF's lawsuit against AT&T for the company's role in helping the NSA perform indiscriminate, illegal warrantless wiretaps against millions of American citizens. AT&T has asked a court to take these documents out of the public record and suppress their publication -- so grab your copy now while you can.

Update: The judge has rejected AT&T's motion to remove the documents from the public record.
But they are certainly still worth reading

read more | digg story

Do we really need classes on 'Core British Values'?

2006-05-15T02:59:00.000-07:00

British values classes considered

The government is to review whether "core British values" should become a compulsory part of the curriculum for all 11 to 16-year-olds in England.

In response to last year's London bombings, ministers want to adapt the current citizenship classes in an attempt to make society more unified.

But critics say the definition of British values is too vague and education cannot prevent extremism.

A second review, of the teaching of Islam in universities, is also planned.

The six month-long schools review will ask how all children can develop a strong sense of British identity by learning about Britain's culture and traditions, including the contributions from different communities.

Education minister Bill Rammell says both reviews are part of the response to last July's bomb attacks.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There is a need for a debate and the essential values already taught in citizenship classes, like freedom, fairness, civil responsibilities, democracy are there.

"But they are not developed and understood in the way they developed in terms of Britain's cultural and social history."

........

See the rest of this article here: BBC News

My Thoughts:

Whenever I see attempts like this to define 'British Values' my heart sinks, as I know that it will come back to the age-old thing – by attempting to define 'British Values', what will really be defined is a bigotted idea of what 'British Values' are not.

In other words, those who do not share the 'values' of the body of (mainly) upper-middle-class men defining them will be classed as 'outsiders'. And I really do not think this is exactly helpful to the vast number of ordinary members of society, especially those classified as belonging to 'minority groups'.

Further more, I think it will stir up what is already a tense situation in many parts of the country.

I was curious to see what members of the 'forum fraternity' thought of this, so I looked at the BBC website 'Have your say' where people were asked "What do you think are the core British values?"

Along with the usual bigoted cries of "if we didn’t have so many foreigners here it wouldn’t be an issue ..."

And:

"Why British values? Why not English values...?"

Came some more cynical remarks.

I particularly liked these:

"Cynicism
Humour
Irony
Indomitability
Greed"

"Bigotry
Binge drinking
Ignorance
Selfishness
Stupidity
Hysteria
Xenophobia
Obesity"

And from someone who was really hacked-off:

"Celebrity obsession
House price obsession
Casual violence

That's all I see in this country anyway. I for one, cannot wait to leave. For good."

This one was nicely cutting:

"Who is going to actually define the values taught? If it's Blair, they would be hypocrisy, arrogance, do as I say not as I do, sleaze and dogma......"

And one commentator made a point that I very much agree with:

"Why should foreigners have to learn core British values when they reside here?

You British never learnt the core values of our culture when you occupied our countries.

Had you done so, then it would not have been a problem now a days."

Exactly!

Laura needs to get out more.....

2006-05-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Laura Bush doesn't believe bad polls on husband

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. First lady Laura Bush said on Sunday she does not believe opinion polls showing her husband's approval ratings at record low levels.

Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Laura Bush said she did not think people were losing confidence in President George W. Bush, despite a series of polls showing support for him at its lowest point in his five-year presidency and among the lowest for any president in the past 50 years.

"I don't really believe those polls. I travel around the country. I see people, I see their responses to my husband. I see their response to me," she said.

"As I travel around the United States, I see a lot of appreciation for him. A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Stay the course'.......

see the rest of this article here: MSNNewsUK

Laura, you really need to talk to more intelligent people.

The Care Crisis

2006-05-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

Pieces from an excellent article by Ruth Rosen

The Care Crisis
What women talk about when men are not listening. (Hint: it's not sex.)

If you think its about sexual prowess, you'd be wrong. If you think it's about size, forget it. And if you imagine we follow the various pissing contests going on among male liberals, you're too self-absorbed. It's about what I call the Care Crisis.

During the last week, I've had a series of conversations with intellectual, liberal women who, like most of our male friends, companions and husbands, want to restore American democracy, end the war and free up our nation's wealth to support the health and well being of our nation's citizens.

We care about the common good. We believe in a public good. We agree with those liberal men who are writing about how Democrats will have to be more than a "collection of aggrieved out-groups," to quote David Brooks (New York Times, April 27). We agree with Brooks that "the message voters respond to best is notions of shared sacrifice for the common good...people are ready for an appeal to citizenship."

Multiculturalism and identity politics, gloats Brooks, are dead. Fine by me. Gleefully, Brooks announces that "Democrats are purging the last vestiges of the New Left and returning to the older civic liberalism of the 1950s and early 1960s."

But here's the rub: Notice the years Brooks chooses as the historical moment to which we should return--before American women began demanding the equality that is essential to their citizenship.

In these conversations you men never hear, this is what we discuss: For four decades, working women have poured into the paid labor force. Yet American society has done precious little to restructure the workplace or family life. The result? Working mothers are burdened and exhausted, families are fractured and children are often neglected. The dirty little secret, we repeatedly tell each other, is that it is both profitable and convenient to our government, business and many men, for women to wear themselves out trying to do the unpaid work of caring for children, caring for the elderly and caring about the social networks of our communities.

It's as though Americans are trapped in a time warp, certain that women will still do all this caring, even though they can't, because more than half are outside their homes working in the paid workplace. And so, we have the mounting Care Crisis.

But somehow male progressives and liberals continue to view these problems as those of a special interest group and part of identity politics. Yet it is the core dilemma faced by most middle class and working class American families, all along the political spectrum........

Read the rest of this excellent article here

My Comments:

What can I say? Other than I agree with every word Ruth Rosen has written here.

I come from the UK, and the situation here is very similar. In a society where the cost of housing and general living has risen out of all proportion, average families cannot survive without wages from both parents. The Government is also 'encouraging' women to go back into the workplace as soon as possible after having their children, because they know that UK society would not survive financially without the millions of women in their, mainly-low-paid, 'service industry' jobs.

But the 'care facilities' offered to working mothers is appalling: tax credits that go nowhere near covering the cost of childcare; a severe lack of good, reasonably-priced nursery places; and employers who still get around employment laws and take advantage of working mothers by paying them low wages.

And many women are exhausted by having to care for children, elderly parents, the home, (often lazy partners too) and anything else this still-male-dominated society assumes it is 'their duty' to care for.

So it's time for women to make their frustrations known in voting booths everywhere. Before it's too late.

And I'll let Rosen sign off:

"True, it's boring to discuss the vital needs of working mothers and families, when nothing ever changes. But while you're talking about the common good, consider this: There is nothing more vital to the common good of our nation than the well-being of our working mothers and their families. And that, dear gentlemen, is where the votes are."

Chuck Pennacchio Tells it like it is

2006-05-11T04:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, sure is weird ......

2006-05-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

Iran’s Weird. Pretty, but Weird. - Wonkette: "Iran’s Weird. Pretty, but Weird."

From Wonkette: "Ok, terrifying Iran nuclear apocalypse no-turning-back everything’s-fucked article, same old same old (boy, we cared about this a lot more back before the SHAKE-UP, which has haunted all of our waking hours), but before we send the Air Force over to topple their government, we should ask ourselves, what the hell is going on in this picture???"

Take a look......

These People are Dangerous

2006-05-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

Maybe Americans have come across this website before: National reform Association

I hadn't and I was not amused!

This is their Statement of Purpose:

The mission of the National Reform Association is to maintain and promote in our national life the Christian principles of civil government, which include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Jesus Christ is Lord in all aspects of life, including civil government. Jesus Christ is, therefore, the Ruler of Nations, and should be explicitly confessed as such in any constitutional documents.

2. The civil ruler is to be a servant of God, he derives his authority from God and he is duty-bound to govern according to the expressed will of God.

3. The civil government of our nation, its laws, institutions, and practices must therefore be conformed to the principles of Biblical law as revealed in the Old and New Testaments.

A quote from one of the Articles by Jay Rogers:

"We can be successful with even a few thousand churches and ministries in strategic regional zones of influence committed to long term battle to restore the Christian republic. It will happen sooner once the lines of battle are drawn....."

The above quote was taken from his Declaration of Dependence: A Strategy to Reclaim America

A few years ago, I would have dismissed writings like this as the thoughts of a few misguided individuals and relatively harmless.

Now, I'm not so sure ....

Colbert Roasts Bush - the video

2006-05-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Oh for Heavens Sake!

2006-04-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

US says Iran top terror sponsor

"Iran is "the most active state sponsor of terrorism", according to the US state department's annual report on world terrorism........."

Why can't they just stop and think ....?

Or is thinking beyond their comprehension?

"The US report says other state sponsors of terrorism include Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Syria and Cuba........."

We all know Bush's future plans then, don't we....?

Will nothing stop them?

Good News on Herceptin

2006-04-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

Herceptin given European backing

From: BBCNews.UK

The breast cancer drug Herceptin has been backed for use in early stages of the disease by European regulators.

The drug, the subject of legal battles, won the recommendation from a European Medicines Agency (EMEA) committee in a record 27 days.

A licence for the drug, useful in about a fifth of cases, is expected to be issued by the EMEA within 90 days.

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence will then rule on whether to recommend it for NHS use.

NICE has already started looking at whether Herceptin, which costs around £20,000 a year, is a cost-effective use of taxpayers' money and is fast-tracking its appraisal process.

This began in February when manufacturers Roche submitted its application to the European authorities.

Andrew Dillon, NICE chief executive, said: "We will be able to issue national guidance to the NHS on the use of Herceptin within weeks of the drug being licensed for safety by the EMEA."

Herceptin is already licensed for use in advanced breast cancer cases.

But its use in early stage disease has been the subject of high profile battles by women seeking access to the drug by legal disputes, and concerns that its effectiveness is over-hyped.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt intervened in the debate last October to say NHS bodies should not withhold the drug on cost grounds from patients whose doctors had recommended it.

But some trusts still continued to refuse patients the drug pointing to research which suggested its benefits were not as great has had been thought.

Earlier this month Ann Marie Rogers of Swindon, Wiltshire, won an Appeal Court ruling forcing her local primary care trust to find the disease.

Although the ruling does not force all trusts to fund the drug, it did say it would be irrational to treat one patient with it and not another.

But lawyers argued the judgment still left the door open for primary care trusts to refuse to find it if they provided a rational argument. ......

My Comments

The primary health care trusts who have refused women the drug have based their refusals purely on 'cost effectiveness', although their arguments have attempted to be scientific.

Let's hope this is one more step towards the time when all women who would benefit from Herceptin can get the drug without having to go through the lengthy and stressful business of fighting through the courts for what could be their right to life.

'Cost effectiveness' should never be the deciding factor in healthcare. I am a realist and I know that there is only so much money to go around in the NHS, but when Trust directors still take large cuts from what should be a service that benefits all, maybe their 'cost effectiveness' should be considered long before it is applied to the welfare of patients.

Assault on the 'free' Web

2006-04-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

From an email (verified as 'true')posted at: Urban Legends:

"Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon.com doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T's CEO, who openly says, "The internet can't be free."

The free and open Internet is under seige — can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

Save the Internet

Check out the rest of the post for more details...

Remembering Chernobyl

2006-04-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today has been the 20th anniversary of the terrible accident which took place at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on 26th April 1986.

Many papers and websites have posted articles in remembrance of Chernobyl, covering the accident, the after-effects, the environment, and effects today.

On the BBC.News website I found a story of one woman and her daughter. This is it:

Chernobyl voices:Lena and Anya Kostuchenko

Lena Kostuchenko, 39, and her daughter Anya, 19
Chernobyl zone evacuees in Kiev

"I was five months' pregnant when the accident occurred. My husband and I were spending the weekend at my mother's house in Kopachi (a village just south of the power station). We woke up on Saturday morning and decided to go to Chernihiv, the nearest big town, to buy maternity clothes.

At the bus stop we saw lots of fire engines and troop carriers on the main road. We waited and waited, but no bus came. Eventually a policeman told us there would be no buses, because there had been an accident.

There had been small accidents before, so we did not worry. We worked in the garden all day.

On the Sunday I had to go to work in Pripyat. Again there were no buses, so we set off on foot. But I began to feel very ill, before I had got half way. My husband helped me home, then walked to Pripyat alone.

When he got back, he said the town had been evacuated. By then I had got out of bed and wandered outside. Another policeman finally told me the truth - he said there was high radiation and pregnant women should get out at all costs. At that time I did not know what radiation was.

Abortions

Police were blocking the main road, but we drove to Ivankiv via back roads. Two days later I ended up in hospital. Doctors threw away my clothes, and "decontaminated" me with a cold shower.

There were lots of other pregnant women there. The doctors said all would have abortions, or induced births. They did some of the abortions quickly, then changed their mind and said we would all give birth, after all.

We went to Chop (on the Hungarian border) then to Mykolayiv (near the Black Sea). In each new town, I had to throw away the clothes I had bought in the last one. They must have been contaminated by my own radioactive body.

I gave birth to Anya two months early. She was big - 2.5kg (5.5lbs) and 49cm tall - but her nails had not formed and she was a yellowish colour, so she was put in an incubator. I was not allowed to see her for eight days.

Blood disease

Later, when we moved to Kiev, specialists hospitalised her on sight. Her haemoglobin count was about a quarter or a third of the normal level. At that time you could not say it was because of Chernobyl - it could be anything except Chernobyl. Much later a haematology professor told me I had been very unlucky: I was in the wrong place at the wrong time of my pregnancy.

Anya is like a house plant. She has a very rare blood disease and almost no immunity. In 2004 she caught meningitis and was in a coma for three days. A doctor told me it was all over, but she pulled through.

In the 1990s a law was passed, which promised benefits to Chernobyl invalids, but it said nothing about child invalids. Together with some other parents I formed an organisation, Flowers in the Wormwood, which successfully lobbied for the law to be changed.

There is a tendency now to play down the problem of Chernobyl, and, if possible, to forget it. Once the 20th anniversary has passed, I think the state will begin to withdraw support."

My Comments:

The lack of information and help given to the people of the Ukraine was inexcusable. And it was not only the leaders of the USSR who were living in a state of "it'll never happen to us"; a nuclear accident on this scale was, despite the Three Mile Island accident in the US, still deemed impossible (at least, by those who made the important decisions).

But a great deal of the blame for the 'shut down' of information by the USSR Government following the disaster was a direct result of the Cold War. Information and keeping it from one's enemy was deemed more important than millions of people's lives.

Today we live in an environment of growing mistrust.

This mustn't be used as an 'excuse' to allow a tragedy like this to occur again.

Please Don't Attack Iran

2006-04-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

As a citizen of the UK, I cannot take part in any US action to try to prevent Bush and his henchmen attacking Iran (although I'm sure that Tony will stand behind Bush all the way ....). But I am passing on the link below:

Tell Congress: Don't Attack Iran

As the post says: "Now is the time to tell Congress enough is enough - don't attack Iran!"

Please take this democratic action.

Before it is too late.

Poster

2006-04-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

You can get this poster:

in downloadable form, and others like it here: AnotherPosterForPeace

Well worth a look.

Good News

2006-04-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a few days, staying with and acting as a birthing partner for a very good friend who has had a lovely baby daughter. I would love to post some pictures here, but the privacy of my friend and her daughter is obviously an issue.

So I will just say that I am very proud of both of them.

.................

And the normal cynical service will shortly be resumed .......

On a lighter note ......

2006-04-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

Late Grateful Dead leader's toilet stolen:
Associated Press

"SONOMA, California - The long, strange trip continues for Jerry Garcia's toilet. Police say the Grateful Dead leader's commode was stolen recently from a driveway along with three other toilets and a bidet, The Press Democrat newspaper reported Saturday.

Garcia's salmon-colored toilet was the subject of a legal battle before it was finally moved to Sonoma, to await shipment to a Canadian casino.

It's unclear if the toilet was swiped by a wayward Deadhead or a thief remodeling a bathroom. Police have no suspects or leads......."

Here We Go ......

2006-04-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Government in secret talks about strike against Iran
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 02/04/2006)

The Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.

Tomorrow's meeting will be attended by Gen Sir Michael Walker, the chief of the defence staff, Lt Gen Andrew Ridgway, the chief of defence intelligence and Maj Gen Bill Rollo, the assistant chief of the general staff, together with officials from the Foreign Office and Downing Street.

The International Atomic Energy Authority, the nuclear watchdog, believes that much of Iran's programme is now devoted to uranium enrichment and plutonium separation, technologies that could provide material for nuclear bombs to be developed in the next three years.

The United States government is hopeful that the military operation will be a multinational mission, but defence chiefs believe that the Bush administration is prepared to launch the attack on its own or with the assistance of Israel, if there is little international support. British military chiefs believe an attack would be limited to a series of air strikes against nuclear plants - a land assault is not being considered at the moment.

But confirmation that Britain has started contingency planning will undermine the claim last month by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, that a military attack against Iran was "inconceivable".......

The rest of this article can be found here: Telegraph.co.uk

My Comments:

What is there to say ...... apart from, why the hell doesn't someone stop this madness before it is too late?

Rhodian Attic: "The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll"

2006-04-02T04:08:00.000-07:00

Rhodian Attic: "The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll"

Please check this out.

A Fight the French People Must Win

2006-04-02T01:54:00.000-08:00

French left-wing vows more protests

PARIS (Reuters) - French left-wing parties rejected on Saturday a decision by President Jacques Chirac to modify a youth job law that has sparked a national crisis and said they would march to press for the measure to be scrapped.

Opposition groups said they would join students and unions in more mass protests set for April 4 despite Chirac's speech on Friday, which aimed to defuse a confrontation over the law that has put pressure on Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

Under the law employers can fire workers under 26 without reason during a two-year trial period. Chirac said he would sign it and then introduce a new one to create a one-year trial period and make employers justify any firing.

Chirac missed the point of the student protests, former Socialist finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

"They don't want just a trial period shortened from two to one year. They want their work contract to be the same as other workers," he said after the left-wing meeting.......

This is what the new French Employment Laws plan to do: French labour law row

"...... The CPE is a new work contract for under-26s with a two-year trial period. In that period, employers can terminate the contract without having to offer an explanation.

...... The government argues the measure will boost opportunities for young workers, many of whom can only find short-term contract work at best.

Some employers say they are reluctant to take on new staff because of the difficulties of firing them if they prove unsuitable or are no longer needed.

However, critics warn the new legislation could make it even harder for young people to find a permanent job, and it could be misused by larger employers.

A CSA poll in Le Parisien newspaper on Thursday suggested that 68% of French people wanted the government to withdraw the measure.

Trades unionists and student leaders say they fear it will lead to exploitation. They are calling for measures to stimulate job creation instead.......

Protests:

"Protesters, who numbered more than one million last Tuesday, say the First Job Contract (CPE) creates "Kleenex jobs" that make it easier for firms to dispose of young workers.....

Articles and debates on the controversial new employment laws can be found here: MSN-news; BBC-news ; BBC-31st March; and in many other reports from The BBC.

My Comments:

I know where I stand on this issue.

France, for many years, has had a strong labour movement. French workers have enjoyed job security while many of us in Europe have seen our job security and our livelehoods eroded by harsh, capitalist laws passed by successive governments. The French workers and their strong trade unions have offered us hope that governments can be made to listen to workers.

Yes, it could be argued that, in today's world of harsh competition, constant change and the need for workers to be 'flexible', the old French employment guarantees are old-fashioned and self-defeating.

But I do not agree.

A World that is ruled by the power of the market is not a World worth living in, unless, of course, you are one of the few who control that market.

I hope the French people (the majority of whom do not want to see the new laws come into power) have the strength to win their protests.

Because, if they lose, what hope is there for the rest of us?

MSN helps Brits exercise their democratic rights ...... yeah, sure ....

2006-03-31T15:31:00.000-08:00

Prime Minister's Questions Moves Online With MSN Messenger

"Prime Minister Tony Blair and MSN Messenger have teamed up to take Prime Minister’s Question Time online in a unique competition that will give ten members of the public the chance to put questions live to the PM.

The competition is now closed and on Tuesday 4th April, the winners will hold live video conversations over MSN Messenger with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street, the first time he has taken questions via live video over the internet.......

...... Following last summer’s G8 Summit in Gleneagles questions were invited on two major issues, the issue of Africa, and the issue of climate change.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Our G8 Presidency last year made big strides, doubling aid for Africa, cancelling debts and agreeing new measures on peacekeeping, corruption HIV/ AIDS, health and education to benefit people in Africa. We also built the international consensus on the need to address climate change.

“The Prime Minister is committed to turning these promises into action in 2006, and wants to hear views from the public on these two vital issues.”

“It’s an honour for everyone at MSN to work with the Prime Minister on this unique competition. With one in six people in the UK using MSN Messenger, events like these will become commonplace as the internet plays an increasingly important role in political debate,” said Chris Ward, Commercial Director, MSN UK......."

My Comments:

Just a cynical sigh really ......

This is true Democracy ..... isn't it? ...... After all, our PM and MSN are both known for their respect of freedom and democratic rights ...... Well .... aren't they ....?

Sigh ......

Tags:

messenger

scam

30 days to go ........

2006-03-30T10:24:00.000-08:00

World powers warn Iran

BERLIN (Reuters) - The world's big powers told Iran on Thursday it must heed a U.N. order to curb its nuclear programme or face isolation, but Tehran refused to budge.

Britain said Iran could eventually face U.N. sanctions if it failed to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can produce fuel for nuclear power stations or for bombs.

Iran, which says it wants only civilian nuclear power, rejected a U.N. Security Council presidential statement adopted on Wednesday that called for an enrichment freeze and a report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Iranian compliance in 30 days.

"Iran must decide between a self-imposed isolation through its continuation of enrichment ...or a return to the negotiating table," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

"We all hope Iran will take the opportunity to opt for a restart of negotiations," he told reporters after a meeting in Berlin of the council's five permanent members and Germany.

Steinmeier added that the international community still aimed to find a diplomatic solution to the stand-off.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the top world body might pass a legally binding resolution if Iran did not comply with the non-binding presidential statement, opening the way to future measures against the Islamic Republic.

Asked if such action could include sanctions, Straw told reporters: "It could do.

But he also said Iran could gain unspecified benefits if it backed down. "If they bring themselves into compliance then all sorts of good things, not bad things, will follow.......

...... Russia and China firmly oppose any sanctions, let alone force, against Tehran and insisted on removing language in the U.N. statement that they feared could lead down that path.

Iran said its decision to pursue enrichment was irreversible and suggested the West was manipulating the Security Council.......

...... Oil climbed further above $66 a barrel towards its $70 record after Iran rejected the U.N. admonition.

"There's got to be a crunch point over Iran," said oil analyst Geoff Pyne. "At the end of the day Iran is intent on uranium enrichment and the West won't allow it.......

...... U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters en route to Berlin that the world must keep up pressure on Iran to suspend enrichment and return to negotiations.

She urged the other permanent council members and Germany to take into account Iran's calls for Israel to be "wiped off the map", as well as its support for Syria and Hizbollah in Lebanon......

The whole article can be found at: MSN-newsbox

My Comments:

Let's face it, if Rice has her way 'diplomatic negotiations' will simply be about what suits the US-led West.

And, ridiculous (and terrifying) as it seems, the Bush regime is out for a new 'conquest'. It doesn't seem to have weighed up the odds of 'success' (which are almost non-existent); it doesn't seem to care. It certainly doesn't seem to have any morals about the issue that it wishes to consider.

And it seems that all we can do is sit back and wait for the inevitable war to happen. It doesn't matter whether their propoganda persuades enough of us or not, they will go ahead anyway.

And that is the most terrifying thing about the whole situation.

Testing

2006-03-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

Just testing this new publishing tool from Performancing

Life - but only at the right price?

2006-03-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

Woman appeals in Herceptin case

LONDON (Reuters) - A woman with early-stage breast cancer went to the Court of Appeal in London on Monday in a bid to force her health authority to pay for the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin.

Ann Marie Rogers, 54, is appealing against a High Court ruling last month that Swindon Primary Care Trust in Wiltshire need not pay for the costly medication, made by Switzerland's Roche.

At an earlier hearing, the judge was told that Rogers felt as though she had been given "a death sentence" as a result of having been initially refused the drug, which costs about 20,000 pounds ($35,000) a year.

Rogers' lawyer David Pannick told the court on Monday that refusing the drug was "unlawful and unreasonable" and breached his client's rights under the Human Rights Convention.

Herceptin is one of a new generation of targeted therapies which attack only cancer cells and are tolerated much better than traditional chemotherapy.

The drug is only licensed for use in women with advanced breast cancer, although doctors can use their discretion to prescribe it in other cases.

Research has shown Herceptin can help patients in the early stages of breast cancer but many health authorities say they will only fund treatment in exceptional cases.

"The case for Miss Rogers is that refusal of the respondent trust to provide her with the drug Herceptin was unlawful, it was unreasonable, it was the result of a failure to give proper consideration to relevant factors and it breaches her right to life," Pannick said.

Rogers met all the necessary criteria for a patient to receive the drug and her doctor had said she should be given it as it represented her best chance of survival.

"The stark facts are she has a 25 percent chance of remaining free of the disease after 10 years and a 57 percent prospect of breast cancer killing her in 10 years," he added.......

The rest of this article can be found here: MSN.UK

My Comments:

Like most women, the prospect of getting Breast Cancer is a real fear. In fact, the prospect of getting any kind of cancer is something I dread. It is still, so often, a death sentence.

So, when a drug is developed that has been proved to give more hope for women with breast cancer, I can see no moral reason to withhold it from them.

Okay, one argument is that it is still unlicenced in this country and has, thus, not completed all trials. The argument goes that it is offered to some women with late stage breast cancer because, weighing up the benefits of the drug against the risk of using it when trials are incomplete, it can be seen that the hope it offers these women is worth the risk of, as yet undiscovered, side effects.

A compelling argument.

There is also the argument that Herceptin will not help in all cases of breast cancer, so it would be pointless to give it to all women without assessing whether they were suitable candidates for the drug. Fair enough.

But when an NHS Trust decides whether or not a woman can have Herceptin, and their case is based, primarily, on the cost of the drug - ie. whether it is 'cost effective' - to offer it to her, and when, as in the case of Ann Marie Rogers, a breast cancer specialist has recommended that she receive Herceptin, and has assessed her illness as one which would benefit from the drug, but those in charge of the Trust (ie. managers, not health specialists) say that she shouldn't receive it (at least, not from their fundings) then there is something vitally wrong with the the UK system of NHS funding.

But I'm only a woman who pays her taxes and National Insurance (part of which should go to the NHS).

And I'm only a human being who believes in human rights.

What do I know?

Why So Long?

2006-03-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

"Unwitting racism" by police in soldier's death

By Michael Holden

From: newsbox.msn.co.uk

LONDON (Reuters) - Police officers were guilty of serious failings and unwitting racism over the death of a black ex-soldier in their custody eight years ago, an independent watchdog ruled on Monday.

Christopher Alder, 37, a former paratrooper and Falklands War veteran, died on the floor of the custody suite at Hull's Queens Gardens police headquarters in April, 1998 after being arrested following a fight outside a nightclub.

His last moments were caught on closed circuit TV as he choked to death on blood and vomit resulting from injuries he had sustained in the earlier fracas while officers ignored him and carried on chatting.

In a damning report, Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), described the pictures as "shocking and distressing".

"The most serious failings were by the four police officers who dealt with Mr Alder throughout his time in the custody suite," Hardwick said.

"I believe they were guilty of the most serious neglect of duty. Their behaviour has disgraced police officers and the police service as a whole. Their failures were personal and individual.

Humberside's Chief Constable apologised for the police's behaviour on the night and said he accepted all the IPCC's findings.

"I completely agree that the desired standard of compassion and care was not met on the night in question," Tim Hollis said, adding he too was appalled by CCTV footage of the death.

"The time is right for me publicly to apologise to Christopher Alder's family for our failure to treat Christopher with sufficient compassion and to the desired standard.

Five police officers were charged with manslaughter over the death in 2002 but later acquitted. They were also cleared of any wrongdoing by police disciplinary hearings, although these were also heavily criticised by the IPCC.

Hardwick said he did not believe the officers had assaulted Alder nor that their neglect had directly caused his death.

UNWITTING RACISM

But he said the men -- who had refused to cooperate with the IPCC's investigation -- had been guilty of unwitting racism.

"I believe the failure of the police officers concerned to assist Mr Alder effectively on the night he died were largely due to assumptions they made about him based on negative racial stereotypes," Hardwick said.

"I cannot say for certain that Mr Alder would have been treated more appropriately had he been white -- but I do believe the fact he was black stacked the odds more heavily against him.

Alder's sister Janet said the report was strong but there would have been even greater criticism had there been a public inquiry as the family had wanted.

She said the officers should be prosecuted, adding that she could clearly hear "monkey and chimpanzee noises" on the CCTV recordings as her brother lay dying.

"What I want to know is why this investigation is not going further and finding out who made those monkey noises," she told Sky News, saying she believed her brother would still be alive if he was white.

Hollis said police had now made "significant" improvements in how they dealt with people in custody since the incident.

My Comments:

As Christopher Alder's sister said, why isn't this investigation going any further? There are new grounds to do this, surely?

An apology, 8 years later, is just not good enough.

Global Warming - the issues behind catastrophe

2006-03-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

Be worried, be very worried
The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame

Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.

From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us.

The problem -- as scientists suspected but few others appreciated -- is that global climate systems are booby-trapped with tipping points and feedback loops, thresholds past which the slow creep of environmental decay gives way to sudden and self-perpetuating collapse. That's just what's happening now.......

...... As fast as global warming is changing the oceans and ice caps, it's having an even more immediate effect on land. Droughts are increasingly common as higher temperatures also bake moisture out of soil faster, causing dry regions that live at the margins to tip into full-blown crisis.

Wildfires in such sensitive regions as Indonesia, the western U.S. and even inland Alaska have been occurring with increased frequency as timberlands grow more parched. Those forests that don't succumb to fire can simply die from thirst.

With habitats crashing, the animals that call them home are succumbing too. In Alaska, salmon populations are faltering as melting permafrost pours mud into rivers, burying the gravel the fish need for spawning. Small animals such as bushy tailed rats, chipmunks and pinion mice are being chased upslope by rising temperatures, until they at last have no place to run. ......

The full article can be found here: TIME.com

My Comments:

The threat of Global Warming and the disasters which may follow are very real. However, it may be that the cause is not the burning of fossil fuels alone (which would, of course, provide a let-out clause for the US, still trying to dodge KYOTO).

There is compelling scientific evidence coming from Russian scientists that other factors may be to blame, including impacts suffered by the Earth's surface over recent years. This article: Greenhouse Theory Smashed by biggest stone, for example, makes a great deal of sense.

Worth checking out .....

A man who cares

2006-03-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

Kember returns home

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Freed Christian peace campaigner Norman Kember flew home on Saturday following his rescue by special forces soldiers after being held hostage in Iraq for four months.

Kember, 74, a retired professor of medical ethics, arrived at London's Heathrow Airport at 1225 GMT on a scheduled British Airways flight from Kuwait, where he had been flown in a British military transport plane from Baghdad on Friday afternoon.

Looking tired and frail, but speaking in a firm voice, he thanked the soldiers who had rescued him and two Canadian colleagues from kidnappers on Thursday.

"I do not believe that a lasting peace is achieved by armed force, but I pay tribute to their courage and thank those who played a part in my release," he said in a prepared statement shortly after arrival.

British Army chief Michael Jackson had criticised Kember for apparently failing to thank the soldiers who freed him and his colleagues.

Sitting next to his wife Pat, 72, in an airport hospitality lounge, Kember said he was not ready to talk about his time in captivity.

He said the world should spare a thought for Iraqi citizens who had to live through the daily violence plaguing the country.

"There is a real sense in which you are interviewing the wrong person," he said.

"It is the ordinary people of Iraq that you should be talking to -- the people who have suffered so much over many years and still await the stable and just society that they deserve......."

The rest of this article can be found here: msnnewsbox-uk

A very apt comment from a man who cares about humanity.

It's a shame that our politicians do not have the same concerns.

The Freethought Philosophy

2006-03-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

Sections from: The Freethought Philosophy

John Patrick Michael Murphy
copyright 1998

"Freethinkers, employ reason when they are beseeched to join a religion. Religionists seem to employ reason in all areas of their lives except religion, and even here they use it to disregard all religions, but their own. So we have a continent of common ground. Religionists reject all but one, freethinkers, one more. Religionist are not critical of us for examining the doctrines of Islam, Wicca, Buddhism, or Hinduism and rejecting them as fallacious, but when our attention turns to Judeo-Christianity a bar is placed in our path. We are called evil and un-American for sharing our honest thoughts. We are told we are naught but kindling for the hell their god has fired up for us, and they look hurt when we complain about it. At least now they wait for their god to do it. Servitus, Bruno and millions of others weren't so lucky.

Thinking about their god was a capital crime called blasphemy. All philosophy was heresy in their theocracy. The echo of all that holy gore is still with us. From the airwaves, and even in print media we freethinkers are demonized still. If we speak of their bigotrous history and the crimes committed in the name of god, we are called Christian bashers. We do not bash Christians, ( popes, shamans, TV and radio wailers, religiopoliticals, and other high clergy excepted), but rather, Christianity. And think of the terrible weapons we employ like logic, reason, thought, the searing simile, the fearsome metaphor and on rare occasions we are so nasty as to bring out the ominous onomatopoeia, all found in arsenals called libraries. We set forth lucid reasons why we reject it, and assert that we can be good and decent people in spite of our "failing." "The very idea !!!" they exclaim. That's why I'm here, asking for understanding.....

...... My problem with Christianity is not the impossibility of the mud man, Adam, or the rib lady, Eve, or the snakes from sticks tricks of the Pentateuch, Balaam's talking jackass, or even the God ordained wars of conquest, genocide, polygamy, slavery, and other nauseations found in the "good book," but rather its fundamental flaw - there is no love in the Christian hereafter.........

...... That's my biggest problem with Christianity-salvation depends upon belief. My beliefs come from thought and reflection. I can't control them. I don't choose to believe-it just happens. In the case of religion in general and Christianity in particular it never happened. Call me a stillborn christian......."

My Comments:

That last comment, in particular, sums up my feelings about Christianity - all that I have learned; all my experience; all my understanding; causes me to doubt the basic tenets of Christianity.

But I am not a 'bad person'. I believe in freedom, equality, basic human rights. I hate all forms of prejudice and bigotry and I care about humanity.

Yet according to the 'rules' of Christianity, my 'lack of belief' is not only wrong, it will also cast me to some awful version of 'hell'.

Of course, some would say that we are there already, or at least, if our 'leaders' have their way, we soon will be ..... but that's another story.

Iran - What are the Real Issues?

2006-03-22T11:10:00.000-08:00

AN UNNECESSARY CRISIS
By David MacMichael, Ph.D

(Author’s note: As a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, an organization of former US intellligence officers from the CIA, DIA, Department of State and Department of Defense, I took part in 2002 in the preparation of a series of public statements countering the Bush administration’s alleged intelligence behind its rationale for the invasion of Iraq.

These statements were based not only on our past experience with presidential manipulation of intelligence in Vietnam and the Iran-Contra era but with information we received from alarmed former colleagues still within the intelligence services. We warned that not only was the information about supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, particularly nuclear weapons, suspect and more than likely false, but that the overall strategy behind the invasion plan overrated prospects of success and vastly underestimated the probable cost to the United States in lives and money.

Our misgivings, we now know, were all too correct. That is why we look with growing alarm at the manner in which the administration has approached the problem—if, in fact, it is a problem—posed by Iran’s long-established program of developing a nuclear energy system, a program which could eventually give the country the ability to produce a nuclear weapon........

...... In my belief, as the writer of the following analysis, the Bush administration representation of Iran, unarguably a conservative Shiite Islamic state supportive of Shiite minorities in Iraq and Lebanon, among other countries, as a reckless and aggressive nation, a danger to the region or even to the United States, has no grounding in history. My analysis demonstrates that Iran, on the contrary, has over the past half century been the victim of both covert and overt aggression—in much of which the US has been involved.

It is difficult for me to understand not only why the Bush administration is pursuing its aggressive policy against Iran, especially at a time when its position in Iraq is crumbling toward utter failure, but how it has been able to enlist much of the European Union countries in its support. The analysis explores the issue.)....

Dr David MacMichael's full analysis can be found here: The_Iranian_Nuclear_Showdown.

It makes disturbing reading ....

More on Jericho

2006-03-21T06:03:00.000-08:00

Jerico and beyond

By Yossi Schwartz in Israel
Monday, 20 March 2006

On Tuesday March 14, the Israeli Army shelled and occupied a prison in Jericho and after it had demolished parts of the prison walls “victoriously” kidnapped a group of prisoners, including Ahmed Saadat, the accused mastermind of the killing of a far right Israeli Cabinet minister, by the name of Rehabam Zeevi.

Ahamd Saadat is the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) a left wing guerrilla group. Zeevi was known for his close relations with the Israeli Mafia and he was the leader of Moledet (Country) party calling for the “transfer” of the Arabs citizens of Israel, i.e. their expulsion, adding them to the millions of Palestinian refugees who have languished in camps ever since the partition of Palestine and the subsequent occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Among other things Rehbam Zeevi was one of the masterminds who transferred 120,000 Arabs from the Golan Heights after the occupation in 1967.

We Marxists oppose the methods of individual terror as they only help the most reactionary wing of the ruling class. Instead of weakening the Zionist right they strengthen it. Instead of raising class consciousness among the Israeli workers they lower it.......

......

......it is true that Israel is not a Nazi regime and the year is not 1942 (the “final solution”) but Rehabam Zeevi was a fascist and his actions were no better than that of the Nazi transfer of 17,000 Jews in 1938. We have to be able to distinguish between the desperate act of the oppressed and the terrible repression carried out by the oppressor, even though we do not agree with the method of individual assassinations.

In Jericho what we saw was the action of the oppressor, a powerful army far better equipped than the people of Palestine. According to Al Jazeera, reporting the words of Akram Rajoub, the local security commander, the "Israeli army entered Jericho on Tuesday morning [of last week] and surrounded the prison, calling over loudspeakers for the prisoners to give themselves up. The troops then broke in through the front gate of the jail with a bulldozer, drove inside in armored personnel carriers, and engaged in a shootout with the Palestinian police."

US and British observers who had been monitoring the jail for the past four years withdrew early on Tuesday morning – just before the raid – because of “security concerns”. The Israeli government ordered the raid because the monitors were withdrawn, the army said. The truth, however, is evidently the opposite: the British and American monitors withdrew to allow the Israeli army to raid the prison. ......

This is a known pattern.......

...... We, the Marxists in Israel who work in the Labour Party struggling for the socialist transformation of the rotten capitalist order, demand the immediate release of Ahmad Saadat. The Israeli ruling class is the last one to have any moral authority to bring to trial the PFLP for killing an Israeli war criminal, an enemy of the working class.

At the same time we oppose individual terrorism, as it is a method that only serves reaction in Israel. The only way forward is through the revolutionary struggle of the working class.

March 20, 2006

The whole of this article can be read here: InDefenceofMarxism

My Comments:

Whatever you may think about Marxism itself, the arguments made in this very full article are powerful.

Something rotten occurred in Jericho last week and it cannot be brushed aside by half-hearted attempts by our Foreign Secretary to convince us that there was no collusion involved.

Marketing 'Freedom'

2006-03-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Bush's Passion for Freedom
by Robert Scheer

By now many commentators, including "realist" conservatives, seem to agree that President Bush's inaugural speech was radical, if not downright bizarre, in its insistence that the United States can and will deliver freedom to Earth's more than 6 billion human residents. "If Bush means it literally, then it means we have an extremist in the White House," said Dimitri Simes, president of the Nixon Center.

What critics here and abroad are glossing over, however, is that as a political marketing device, Bush's address was absolutely brilliant. It takes a true demagogue to remorselessly cheapen the lovely word "freedom" by deploying it 27 times in a 21-minute speech, while never admitting that its real-life creation is more complicated than cranking out a batch of Pepsi-Cola and selling it to the natives with a catchy "Feeling Free!" jingle.

In Bush's neocon lexicon, the fight for freedom has been transmogrified from a noble, but complex and often elusive, historical struggle for human emancipation into a simplistic slogan draped over the stark contradictions and tragic failures of this administration's foreign policy.......

......

...... The fact is, however, that when totalitarian nations like China and Saudi Arabia play ball with U.S. business interests, we like them just fine. But when Venezuela's freely elected president threatens powerful corporate interests, the Bush administration treats him as an enemy.......

........

...... Many questions remain. Because Bush said we would stand against all bullies, for example, it would follow that we should actively support the rebels in Chechnya against Bush's friend, autocrat Vladimir V. Putin. Before we do, however, we might want to recall the last time the United States overtly aided a rebellion in the Muslim world: the "freedom fighters" of Afghanistan, which included Osama bin Laden and other Islamic fanatics.........

The whole article is here: TheFreePress

Well worth a read.

It Could Easily Happen Here .....

2006-03-19T23:13:00.000-08:00

Chinese jaywalkers beware, your boss might punish you

BEIJING (AFP) - Jaywalkers in China beware. Crossing the street against the lights could lead to punishments at work, including being deliberately overlooked for a promotion and a loss of salary bonuses.

A draft traffic regulation in the eastern city of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, proposes that people repeatedly caught jaywalking or riding bikes through red traffic lights be reported to their employers, state media said Friday.

"Under the new rules, work promotions and bonuses could be denied for employees who are repeatedly reported for jaywalking," the China Daily reported.

China's law on road safety states that every work unit or company has the responsibility to educate their staff on traffic regulations, an official at Nanjing's traffic administration bureau told the paper.

"We are seeking cooperation with each (work) unit for a more efficient way of combating jaywalking," the official surnamed Zhang said........

The rest of this article is here: YahooNews

Now that's something Tony Blair hasn't thought of yet ......
.... but give him time ......

The only possible outcome

2006-03-19T04:25:00.000-08:00

Iraq in civil war, says former PM

From: msn-newsbox

LONDON (Reuters) - Iraq is in a state of civil war and is nearing the point of no return when the country's sectarian violence will spill over throughout the Middle East, former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Sunday.

Three years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, Iraq is in turmoil with a raging insurgency and a surge in sectarian bloodletting between Sunni Arabs and majority Shi'ite Muslims.

"It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is," he told BBC television.

There are 133,000 U.S. troops and 8,000 British soldiers in Iraq trying to maintain security and train local security forces to keep a lid on the violence. Both countries reject claims Iraq has already slid into civil war.

"Iraq is in the middle of a crisis. Maybe we have not reached the point of no return yet. But we are moving towards this point. We are in a terrible civil conflict now," Allawi said.

He said that if Iraq were to crumble, sectarian violence would spread throughout the Middle East with Europe and the United States also feeling the impact.

My Comments:

This is awful. Sadly, it was to be expected from the moment the US-led forces went into Iraq.

In fact, one could argue that this was exactly what certain Western figures planned from the outset.

What a dreadful, totally wasteful loss of life all around.

And the tactics used to promote this outcome have been completely insupportable and totally immoral.

Oh Dear!

2006-03-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Russia: Creationism Finds Support Among Young

MOSCOW, March 10, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Maria, a schoolgirl from St. Petersburg, is demanding that the Russian Education Ministry rewrite biology textbooks to include the view of creationism -- the belief that God created the universe and all living beings as described in the Bible.

Teaching only the theory of evolution, she says, violates freedom of conscience and religious rights, and therefore runs counter to the constitution.......

My Comments:

First the West gave Russia Capitalism. Now this.

Is this what 'freedom and democracy' is all about?

Seems that in today's World it probably is ......

More 'disclosures' ......

2006-03-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

British airports handled 73 CIA flights

Aircraft suspected of being used by the CIA for "extraordinary rendition" - the practice of sending detainees to camps, including Guantánamo Bay, where they were at risk of being tortured - passed through British airports on 73 occasions since 2001, the government disclosed yesterday. They included an aircraft which left the Afghan capital Kabul and landed in Edinburgh in November 2002 before continuing its journey to Washington.

The aircraft, registered N85VM, landed at Guantánamo Bay on a number of occasions in 2002 and 2003, sometimes via the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean, a British overseas territory, according to flight records seen by the Guardian.

Aircraft suspected of being used by the CIA for "extraordinary rendition" - the practice of sending detainees to camps, including Guantánamo Bay, where they were at risk of being tortured - passed through British airports on 73 occasions since 2001, the government disclosed yesterday. They included an aircraft which left the Afghan capital Kabul and landed in Edinburgh in November 2002 before continuing its journey to Washington.

The aircraft, registered N85VM, landed at Guantánamo Bay on a number of occasions in 2002 and 2003, sometimes via the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean, a British overseas territory, according to flight records seen by the Guardian.

New details of aircraft known to be used by the CIA were disclosed by Alistair Darling, the transport secretary, in answer to a parliamentary question from Michael Moore, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman. Some of the aircrafts landed here on their way to the Middle East.

Mr Darling said none of the information held by his officials "provides evidence that these flights were involved in rendition". He said that Britain had made clear to the US, "including in recent months", that the government expected it to seek permission before rendering detainees via British territory and airspace.

Mr Moore said last night that the disclosures raised serious questions about the number and purpose of CIA flights through the UK. He added: "A fundamental question remains unanswered: has the UK government actually asked the US how many individuals have been rendered through Britain? If this hasn't been asked, then why on earth not?"

Why indeed .......

The Playground

2006-03-16T12:31:00.000-08:00

A close friend of mine lives on a council estate in one of the many poorer parts of the city.

Within this sprawling concrete jungle there is a children’s playground.

Unlike some areas, the playground here has never, to my knowledge, been vandalised.  The parents have cleared up sweet wrappers and coke cans after their children and the children themselves have seemed to appreciate having somewhere nice to play.  The playground was small and only just adequately equipped, but the people of the community kept it nice and it remained, for years, a friendly, welcoming place to bring children.

At least it was, until recently.

First, council workers turned up one day and erected a high fence all around the playground.  They also put a padlock on the gate.  The playground was locked and unlocked by a council worker, at times according to his whims, and access to the playground became extremely limited.

Some of the parents asked the council why they had done this.

The council replied, “to cut down on vandalism”.

The parents argued that there had been no vandalism and that they, as a community, could ensure that this would be the case in the future.

The council’s response?  They installed a ‘card entry’ lock on the playground gate and told the tenants that, if they wanted their children to use the playground, they would have to buy a pass, with the entry code on it, as well as their ID, “to prove that they lived in the area”.  The pass would cost £5, which would go towards “the upkeep of this facility”.

The parents were, quite rightly, outraged.  Not only had the council ignored their case that they themselves could manage the playground, but they were now to be charged for entering a place that they themselves had always maintained.  There was also the thorny issue of ID, which the parents saw as a slap in the face for their integrity as responsible members of the community, and many of them thought that this demonstrated the council’s views that their tenants could not be trusted to do anything without being monitored.

So this was really a ridiculous case of ‘Big Brother’ getting out of hand and the tenants being charged for the whole fiasco.

Many parents, including my friend, refused to purchase the ‘pass’.  The playground became little used and tenants who had previously kept an eye on the playground lost interest.

Within a few weeks youths from another area climbed the fence and vandalised the playground.  It now stands in ruins: the ‘safety’ tarmac has been pockmarked; the swings have no seats; the roundabout is broken; and the slide is covered in dog excrement.

This was just one small playground, but its fate tells a story typical of life today in urban Britain – grim, ugly, and totally frustrating.

A sad tale, but true.

The walls of Jericho

2006-03-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

What happened today in Jericho cannot be justified.

And if any Britons believed Jack Straw as he said in Parliament today: "We did not tell the Israelis that we were going to pull our troops out [of the prison holding Palestinian militants]", then they are gullible (or blinded by hypocrisy) beyond belief.

Ordinary British citizens do not condone the continual subterfuge which our Government is carrying out on behalf of those behind the Bush regime, and neither do they deserve the backlash which will probably be the result.

But why should Palestinians believe this, when it must appear to them that support from the West has completely deserted them?

No 'flexibility' here

2006-03-14T03:19:00.000-08:00

There is an advert doing the rounds of the bus shelters in our area. It says "The World's not so rigid anymore" and it shows an androgenous mobile phone user stood on a balcony facing an horizon full of 'bendy buildings', curving away to allow more space for the mobile user's vision (at least, I suppose this is what the advertisers want us to 'see').

The advert is for 'a more flexible' mobile phone network.

As far as getting the message across that this particular mobile phone network is 'less rigid' in its charges and communication systems than others, it works quite well.

But as a metaphor for the World as it is today, it sorely misses the point.

We are losing more and more 'flexibility' every day. We are constantly bombarded with new rules and regulations, mainly telling us what not to do. We are spied upon 'legally' and illegally by our own Governments (and they want us to know that we are being watched - make no mistake).

Our options in life are becoming more fixed day by day. "From the cradle to the grave" used to be a saying to describe hopes for the way the National Health System would make like better for citizens of the UK, but now that term seems to be more in line with our path in life under present regimes - guided, cajoled and forced along the way chosen for us.

The World's not so rigid anymore?

They've got to be joking.

The True 'Reality'

2006-03-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

From the article: Externalizing the Cost of War :

"It must seem odd to the world that while our nation is coming apart at the seams, and every last shred of decency is being severed from the cloth of conscience, all we can do is watch American Idol and Survivor. According to author Mike Green (The Whole Truth about the U.S. War on Terror), there are one hundred and ninety-two recognized nations on earth, and the U.S. has troops stationed in one hundred and thirty-five of them. In total, we have in excess of four hundred thousand troops occupying a substantial majority of the world. The nation with the second largest number of troops deployed is Great Britain with thirty-five thousand, followed by France with twenty-three thousand. Apparently, bringing democracy to the world requires an extensive presence and lots of weapons. If only that were what this is about. It is really about hegemony, domination, global empire.

Perhaps America’s insatiable demand for entertainment is in fact a form of self medication whose delivery mechanism is television, rather than the hypodermic needle. Mind-numbing, irrelevant, sensory-depriving entertainment is a method to kill the pain of a truth that laves ceaselessly upon the shores of our eroded conscience—a truth so painful that we must suppress it at all cost...."

The writer, Charles Sullivan, goes on to talk of Reality Television, saying:

"Reality television does many things. But one thing I am quite certain that it does not do is portray reality. Cheap and shallow entertainment only dulls the senses, like imbibing alcohol in excess to keep us comfortably numb, safely insulated from the reality that our nation is foisting upon the world. For many of the world’s people, America has reduced their reality to piles of broken rubble; lonely hours of endless terror called Shock and Awe.... The cries of anguish can barely be heard above the din of our own personal struggles in a society that values profits above people. Better turn up the volume on the television to drown out the screams of The New World Order’s democracy. We wouldn’t want to feel uncomfortable about what the president is doing in our name...."

He speaks to citizens of the US, but his words bear relevance to those of us in the UK also, I'm sorry to say.

When are we going to wake up?

Fundamentalism - the World View

2006-02-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

The Enlightenment Under Threat
By Richard Layton

"....... The world ... is witnessing an explosion of movements that reject rational inquiry as the best way to explain the world and empirical evidence as the best way to formulate policy. Islamic and Christian fundamentalisms are often portrayed as being on opposite sides in a "cosmic struggle" of good against evil. "But they are the same," says New Scientist.

Fundamentalist religions are driven by a desire to get "back to basics," to turn the clock back to a supposed golden age when their religion was untainted by secular influences. They fervently believe they alone have the truth--usually an overtly literal interpretation of a sacred text--and an equally fervent desire to impose that truth on others. Unlike mainstream religion, they cannot tolerate dissent.

...... George W. Bush has talked openly of running a "faith-based presidency;" and a member of his inner circle has been quoted referring disdainfully to the "reality-based community--that is, people who believe policy should be based on empirical evidence rather than faith. "George Bush was not elected by a majority of voters in the United States. He was appointed by God," according to one senior U.S. politician. Commentator Thomas Frank has argued that by allying itself with evangelical beliefs, the U.S. Republican Party has managed to dupe poor people into voting for economic policies that damage their interests, such as tax cuts for the rich...... "

The whole of this important discussion article can be found here: Humanists of Utah

Considering today's political climate, it's well worth a read.

This puts religious intolerance into perspective

2006-02-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

Why Can't I Own A Canadian?

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The link takes you to an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative.

An interesting comparison

2006-02-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

When They Make a Film About Iraq What will It Say?

Joan Chittister is talking about the German film 'Downfall'. This is what she says about the film:

"It is a demonstration of what happens to a nation that substitutes idolatry of the leader for responsible citizenship. Little by little, the film unravels before our eyes the downfall of the military system and its loss of integrity and truth."

She then talks Iraq and compares the situation there and its repercussions to the last days of Nazi Germany. These are her closing lines:

".... Maybe we all ought to see the film before it's too late, before our own downfall as a nation in the minds of people across the world is complete. Don't worry that it's in German with English subtitles. The problem is that you may understand this one all too well."

An article well worth a read.

Bird Flu News with a difference

2006-02-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a refreshing approach to NEWS ABOUT BIRD FLU:

BIRD FLU reached new heights, reminiscent in their rampancy of the likes of Casanova at his peak, today. Following a case in a suspected duck in Szechuan, the world's supply of small chickens has been removed, and all geese are no more. Iran's use of tactical nuclear weapons on a series of eggs on islands in the Persian Gulf has brought praise from the international community. Talk of their welcome back into the international fold is now widely regarded as all right.

In related news, British and American forces have been diverted from Iraq in pursuit of suspected Owl Qaeda operatives.

In unrelated news, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-1 Forfar (aet). The ball was sent off just before half-time.

* * *

BIRD FLU INTO a window aha ha ha DELETE BEFORE PUBLICATION thanks - Ed.

* * *

copied from: runandmonkey the ‘News Roundup: February 2006’

Pioneers or hopeless cases?

2006-02-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

Are all of us bloggers pioneers in a ‘new revolution’, challenging the traditional news media? Or are we just rather sad journalist wanabees, existing within a world of isolation and fragmentation?

Trevor Butterworth thinks the latter:

Conclusion from:

Time for the last post
By Trevor Butterworth: -

“..... yoked, as bloggers are, to the unending cycle of news and the need to post four or five times a day, five days a week, 50 weeks of the year, blogging is the closest literary culture has come to instant obsolescence. No Modern Library edition of the great polemicists of the blogosphere to yellow on the shelf; nothing but a virtual tomb for a billion posts - a choric song of the word-weary bloggers, forlorn mariners forever posting on the slumberless seas of news.”

See the whole article here: ft.com

And if you agree or do not agree with Trevor Butterworth’s analysis of the importance of ‘the blogosphere’ and want to add your thoughts to the debate, he has a blog here: FTMAGBLOG where you can add your comments (71 already at the time of writing this….)

Thoughts on Blair's 'Natural Successor'

2006-02-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

I have always had my doubts about Gordon Brown. Anyone who has worked so unceasingly as a part of Blair's dictatorship cannot be a welcome alternative to Blair. So I was pleased to find the article below, which sums up some of my misgivings about the man:

Gordon Brown’s tyranny of security
What life, liberty and politics would be like if he were to become prime minister by Brendan O’Neill
(first posted on 14th February 2006)

All those commentators who bang on about how much more open, honest and real British politics would be under Prime Minister Gordon Brown than it has been under Prime Minister Tony Blair must have got a rude awakening listening to Brown’s speech yesterday.

The chancellor talked about terrorism to the Royal United Services Institute in London, in what some referred to as a ‘seminal [moment] in the Gordon Brown for Prime Minister stakes’ (1). If that is true, then we can expect public life and debate to become even more shallow and staid if he ever gets the top job. Brown wants to go a step further than Blair in ratcheting up fear of an overblown terror threat and reorganising British politics and society around suspicion and security. In short, he plans to apply the accountant’s instinctive caution to life, liberty and politics in the twenty-first century, which is likely to make even the Blair era look like a hotbed of political principle.

..........

.... The only discernible value in Brown’s speech was security. He said the word 61 times. Indeed, he outlined his vision for reorganising the whole of British politics and society around the security agenda......

...... Even Blair has not gone this far in extending the war on terror into every facet of British political life. In Brown’s view, everything from the organisation of the economy to the distribution of social security to the provision of health must be geared around protecting the nation from terrorists; he talks about the role of social security officials in keeping an eye out for individuals using dodgy identities and the role of health officials in being constantly on alert for some terrible act of terror. Under Brown the war on terror would be more than bloody military interventions abroad and clampdowns on liberty at home, as it has been under Blair’s tenure; it would become the organising principle of British society.....

The whole article can be found here: williambowles.info

My Comments:

My main concern is about the way it is being assumed that Brown will simply 'become' Blair's successor, without much thought being given to the democratic process .... of course that process (as far as it ever existed) has been eroded under Blair, so I suppose we should not be unduly surprised if our thoughts on who we would like to be the next Prime Minister are given scant attention.

Or are we all past caring ......?

Nice future?

2006-02-18T02:10:00.000-08:00

Retirement age 'will rise to 85'
By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter, St Louis

The age of retirement should be raised to 85 by 2050 because of trends in life expectancy, a US biologist has said.

Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University says anti-ageing advances could raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades.

That will put a strain on economies around the world if current retirement ages are maintained, he warned.

He also told a science meeting in St Louis that 50-year or 75-year mortgages may not be unusual in the future……

……"People are going to do things they didn't get round to in their working lives. Current institutions are really not equipped at the moment to deal with such long lives," Dr Tuljapurkar said.

"We are going to have to plan a lot more carefully, which people are not very good at."

The rest of this article is here: bbc.co.uk

My Comments:

Bloody typical! We get a promise of longevity and in the same breath we get the threat that we will have to work for and pay the money-grabbers for even longer!

Nice future ……

Justice turned on its head

2006-02-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

Hospital discharges Cheney victim

Harry Whittington, the lawyer who was shot by US Vice-President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident, has been discharged from hospital.

He told reporters he bore no ill will and felt "deeply sorry" for the trouble Mr Cheney and his family had faced.

The rest of this article is here: bbc.co.uk

- as said on a BBC TV satire program tonight - "this will be the first ever case of its kind where a lawyer will fail to prosecute"

- but for the victim to apologise to Cheney ..... the mind boggles!

Invasion of Privacy???

2006-02-17T01:57:00.000-08:00

New inquiry urged over Abu Ghraib

Full article can be found at: bbc.co.uk

US civil liberties groups have called for an inquiry into treatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib after new images of apparent abuse were shown.

Campaigners say they hope publishing the new images will spur government action against senior officials responsible for policy at the jail.

……..

Australian TV on Wednesday aired previously unseen images of apparent prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in 2003.

The images on SBS TV are thought to be from the same source as those that caused an outcry around the world.

The new images show "homicide, torture and sexual humiliation", SBS said.

……

The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says it seems there is little political or indeed public appetite for a painful wound to be reopened, and the images are getting less prominence in the US media than elsewhere.

A US state department legal adviser said the government felt it was better for the photos not to be released.

John Bellinger said this was "not because there was anything to hide" - but rather "because we felt it was an invasion of the privacy of the people in the pictures"……

……..

My Comments:

I just cannot believe that John Bellinger thinks this is an acceptable explanation!

Tracking Our Cash

2006-02-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

RFID Tags Already in Euro Notes
By Steve Watson
For: prisonplanet

They told us they were going to do it by 2005 and now they have. Euro bank notes have RFID radio tags in them.If you were listening to the Alex Jones show on Monday 1st March you will have heard Paul Watson report the story that RFID tags have been found in the new US $20 bills. A letter sent to Henry Makow Ph.D. described how two citizens found alarms in shops being triggered by their wallets, curious and wise to the RFID proposals they chose to 'microwave' over $1000 in twenties in a stack. The right eye of Andrew Jackson on the new twenty was uniform in it's burning.

I remembered I had a couple of Euros in my wallet from my last visit to France and decided what the heck, I'll microwave them. After just three seconds the first note exploded into flame and fearing for my microwave's safety I quickly pressed the stop button. A fluke? Maybe, I tried with the second note, a five, again after precisely three seconds the same bright flash of flame.

It was obvious to see where the tags had been as two perfectly round holes could be seen in my notes. I noticed that the holes lay precisely over the metal strip within the notes......

The fact is that my bank notes were tagged. Should I be suprised, well no, they said they were going to do this by_2005

Of course, the official line is that these tags are there "to protect us", they stop counterfeiting and enable security agencies to track illegal money. Why would illegal money come in five or ten Euro notes? Surely your classic suitcase with wads of cash consists of 200s or 500s not fives and tens, you would need a whole truck to transport large amounts.

The truth is where ever we go are being tracked by our governments. RFID is the latest technology to be used in the ever-growing control grid that dictates the way we live our lives. Walmart has recently carried out RFID trials, even though they claim it is only to monitor possible theft of razors! ......

The rest of this article and details of “RFID Tags in New US Notes Explode When You Try to Microwave Them” can be found here: prisonplanet

1984 had nothing on this!

A few facts from the World Processor

2006-02-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

Since 1985, due to agricultural engineering advances, the earth has yielded more food than we can possibly consume; yet geopolitical structures continue to leave millions of people dying of starvation.

More than 90% of all nations choose to maintain political prisons for some of their citizens.

The U.S. has recently usurped from Russia the dubious honor of highest rate of incarceration - almost 700…. The number of inmates per 100,000 of the national population

As the capacity for nuclear devastation has increased in range and precision, nuclear missile submarines have been able to patrol their targets from greater and greater distances, leaving only a remote area of the South Pacific free of nuclear submarine traffic.

If all the cars in the world were placed end to end they would circle the globe 72 times.

From: The WorldProcessor

For Euro Sceptics Everywhere

2006-02-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

Please check this out:
whathaseuropedone

The Truth Behind the UK 'Work Ethic'

2006-02-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Work is no cure for poverty

• The number of people in work is at "record levels" according to the UK government. Meanwhile, official UK figures show 22% of people living in poverty, compared to 13% in 1979.

• 47% of employees have wages that, on their own, are insufficient to avoid poverty. 42% of employees rely on means other than their own wages to avoid poverty.

• In the 1970s and 1980s, around 4% of low-paid employees lived in poverty. Currently, 14% of low-paid employees live in poverty. (5% of all employees now live in poverty).

• Since the early 1970s GDP (national income) has doubled, but in real terms (ie allowing for inflation) the bottom 10% of jobs pay less now than in 1970. The minimum wage would have to be around £6.50 per hour to bring low-pay up to the 1970 level.

(Sources: Government DWP press release, Nov 2004; poverty.org.uk; Joseph Rowntree Foundation study, Nov 2004; Guardian, 14 Jun 2002)

Published at: anxietyculture.com

Problems with Gmail

2006-02-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

In case you were thinking that the massive space offered by Gmail is a good thing:

Gmail-is-too-creepy

With friends like that ....

2006-02-12T15:05:00.000-08:00

Cheney accidentally shoots fellow hunter

Reported on: CNN at 22.58 GMT

“WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

……

Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman." ……. “

And if that’s what he does to friends ……….

Talking of 'them' watching 'us' ......

2006-02-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

WORKPLACE SURVEILLANCE
On the job, you're never alone
Many companies monitor their workers' online activities, along with their phone conversations

By ALISON GRANT For: chron.com

“Whether they know it or not, employees are rarely alone on the job.

“Businesses are deploying a battery of high-tech gadgets to keep track of employees in office cubicles, factories and hospitals and on the road.

“Nine out of 10 companies engage in workplace surveillance — above all, monitoring computer use — according to a 2005 survey.

"Employees should go to work assuming that Big Brother is going to read over their electronic shoulder when they're sitting at the computer," said Nancy Flynn, executive director of the ePolicy Institute in Columbus, Ohio….

......

…According to the survey, one aspect of workers' online lives is still relatively private: Only a fraction of the businesses said they scrutinized workers' personal blogs.

But workplace specialists say companies ignore blogs at their peril.

They can be a source of leaks about products or sensitive merger talks and of unfounded rumors that damage a company's reputation and bottom line.
And there are indications blogs are getting a look. A former Delta flight attendant, Ellen Simonetti, has sued the airline, saying she was fired after posting pictures of herself in a Delta uniform on her blog.

There's even slang now to describe being booted from a job for blogging about an employer — dooced. The term comes from a Salt Lake City woman who was fired from her Web design job for writing about her work and colleagues on her blog, Dooce.com ........

The rest of the article is here: WorkplaceSurveillance

My Comments:

I think most of us realise by now that our internet activities are being monitored at work, but we all seem more and more inclined to just put up with it. Why?

Are we all that dummed down?

Watched from all angles

2006-02-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

US plans massive data sweep

From: ChristianScienceMonitor February 09, 2006

By Mark Clayton

“ The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.

“The system - parts of which are operational, parts of which are still under development - is already credited with helping to foil some plots. It is the federal government's latest attempt to use broad data-collection and powerful analysis in the fight against terrorism. But by delving deeply into the digital minutiae of American life, the program is also raising concerns that the government is intruding too deeply into citizens' privacy.

"We don't realize that, as we live our lives and make little choices, like buying groceries, buying on Amazon, Googling, we're leaving traces everywhere," says Lee Tien, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "We have an attitude that no one will connect all those dots. But these programs are about connecting those dots - analyzing and aggregating them - in a way that we haven't thought about. It's one of the underlying fundamental issues we have yet to come to grips with."

“The core of this effort is a little-known system called Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE). Only a few public documents mention it. ADVISE is a research and development program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), part of its three-year-old "Threat and Vulnerability, Testing and Assessment" portfolio. The TVTA received nearly $50 million in federal funding this year.
……

“What sets ADVISE apart is its scope. It would collect a vast array of corporate and public online information - from financial records to CNN news stories - and cross-reference it against US intelligence and law-enforcement records. The system would then store it as "entities" - linked data about people, places, things, organizations, and events, according to a report summarizing a 2004 DHS conference in Alexandria, Va.

…… But ADVISE and related DHS technologies aim to do much more, according to Joseph Kielman, manager of the TVTA portfolio. The key is not merely to identify terrorists, or sift for key words, but to identify critical patterns in data that illumine their motives and intentions, he wrote in a presentation at a November conference in Richland, Wash…….

…. the scope of ADVISE - its stage of development, cost, and most other details - is so obscure that critics say it poses a major privacy challenge…..

For the rest of this article see: csmonitor

As the headline says: “Will it go too far?”

Of course it will …..

More evidence of deceit

2006-02-09T04:32:00.000-08:00

I am a couple of days late posting this, but I feel it is not too late to give a mention to:

New set of minutes exposes the deceit of Bush and Blair
From: DowningStreetMemos-blog Tuesday, February 07, 2006

“The parade of embarrassing leaks from Britain continues with revelations about another set of minutes. This time, however, the leaked document strikes unusually close to home. The minutes come from the meeting in the White House on January 31, 2003 between George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Six close aides also attended the meeting. I will call these the 'White House Minutes'.

……..

“The Guardian newspaper also published a report ……... In these minutes, "Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second UN resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme." In response, Blair said that he was "solidly" behind the plan to invade.

“In other words, while the U.S. and U.K. continued to ask the U.N. to pass a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq, and before countries such as France put their foot down, Bush and Blair had decided the will of the U.N. was irrelevant. While weapons inspections (which they'd pressed urgently for) were on-going, Bush and Blair had decided that the facts the inspections turned up were irrelevant. Before Blair asked Parliament to authorize the invasion of Iraq, Blair had decided that the will of Parliament was irrelevant. While they were stating in public that they were seeking a peaceful resolution to their confrontation with Iraq, and that Hussein could avoid war by making concessions, Bush and Blair had already decided upon an invasion………”

The full article and links are at: http://downingstreetmemo.com/blog.html

No surprises, but these facts still need publishing just to show the extent of the deceit carried out by ‘our leaders’.

It was only a matter of time ....

2006-02-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

The End of the Internet

"The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.

......

"Under the plans they are considering, all of us -- from content providers to individual users -- would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received ........."

From: Alternet

All I can say is that I am surprised it has taken this long ..... doesn't make it right though ....

What 'Free Speech' really means

2006-02-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

…….. It would seem that the West’s beloved freedom of speech, the ideal that many would like to believe separates them from the rest of the world, is used by the mainstream media as a justification to promote the ruling ideology of the West and little else. They are ‘free’ to publish whatever they like, so long as it espouses the ascendancy of the West and its corporate agenda.

……..

My Comments:

The statement above comes from an excellent article : “Why ‘freedom of expression’ defence is questionable in the Muslim dispute with a Danish publication”. Published at global-research .

It reminds us that rhetoric on ‘democracy’ and ‘free speech’ is often just that – rhetoric. In a World where ‘freedom’ and ‘free speech’ is decided by money and power it is naïve in the extreme to argue that “everyone has the right to express their opinion” without considering the consequences.

50 most loathsome.....

2006-01-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

I have just found the link to TheBeast and its 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005
I particularly like these:

26. Spammers
Charges: Wasting billions of minutes of time and millions of dollars in bandwidth on the thin hope that a few poor saps will be stupid enough to believe that a Nigerian banker actually wants to give them millions of dollars, or that responding to an unsolicited e-mail is the smart way to refinance their mortgage or enlarge their penis. Every day, we must perform the tedious task of combing through our e-mail and deleting the nine tenths of it which consist of the most retarded marketing in history, along with mean-spirited swindles and ads for the vilest pornography imaginable. All because these jack-offs can think of no better way to support themselves than by pestering the entire fucking planet.
Exhibit A: Your inbox.
Sentence: Faces repeatedly smashed into keyboards until dead; bodies made into actual Spam; greedily devoured by Nigerian bankers.

13. God
Charges: If your answer to the age-old question of God’s existence is "yes," your next question should be, "Why is he such a dick?" After three major natural disasters, not to mention the eternal constants of famine, war and disease, to believe in God is to believe either that He enjoys fucking with us, or at best has totally lost interest in the whole "people" thing. Never calls anymore.
Exhibit A: Mosquitoes, Ralph Reed.
Sentence: Forever listening to an unending stream of idiotic, mundane prayers uttered by the dumbest, most inarticulate people in His creation.

But, of course, we can never forget:

3. George W. Bush
Charges: Simply put, the stupidest man ever to lead this country. Bush’s lobotomized Will Rogers routine is a satirist’s dream, a European intellectual’s caricature of the dipshit cowboy American, all balls and no brains.

________

I think most Europeans would put Bush at no 1. But there again, I can quite understand why he was beaten by Cheyney and Robertson.

Well worth a look.

Intelligent Design?

2006-01-21T04:10:00.000-08:00

The concept of ‘Intelligent Design’ seems to me to lack the very basis of the concept – Intelligence. Therefore I was very interested to read the article below, published in TheDailyEnlightenment . To me, it sums up very accurately the mass of contradictions inherent in ‘Intelligent Design’. Part of the article is produced here, the rest can be found at the TheDailyEnlightenmentWebsite:

Realisation: Why "Intelligent Design" Lacks Intelligence

…….. Recently, there was much outrage in the academic world when "intelligent design" was proposed by some to be scientific. The theory of "intelligent design" argues that the universe, being so intricately structured, must surely be the design of a super-intelligent being. This belief is creationism, which is based on mere faith. It is the opposite of evolution, which is the largely observable fact that life and the universe evolves over time, adapting to changes of natural conditions. While creationism simplistically believes in a first cause of everything, evolution says what continually reshapes the world is the complex network of fluxing yet interconnected natural and human-made factors which make up the world itself. This is similar to the Buddha's teaching of dependent origination. The belief that nature was created begs the question of "Who created the creator?" If the creator was uncreated, we might as well say nature was uncreated in the first place, that nature naturally sustains itself, while allowing evolution to occur. ……

………..

Creationists usually attribute the suffering and evil present in the world to be the creation of humans; not created by the "supreme creator"... probably to defend the idealised perfection of the creator. Yet logically, this creator cannot be perfect, since imperfect humans were designed by him/her. It is then argued that humans were created perfect, that we "fell from grace". This idea doesn't help either - since it was the creator, not humans, who designed the glaring flaw of "the possibility of evil". If the creator had his/her design constraints, surely s/he is not supreme. Intriguingly, even to creationists, the major onus is on us to relieve our own suffering - since it is us who can choose good over evil, both of which originate from us. Does this not displace the importance of the creator, since it is fundamentally us who can better the world?

…………

Ironically, if it is a rule that "there must be a creator", it means this uncreated rule precedes the "creator". This rule, being a law of nature, implies that nature precedes the "creator", that no "creator" can precede nature. Since nature precedes the "creator", of course the "creator" is not the "creator" of nature. This simple proof shows that no one can create nature, and that there can be no "creator". One cannot affirm that an intelligent designer exists simply by observing the universe; one can only say there is some intelligent observation - which is that much "unintelligent" when the observer concludes there is an intelligent designer simply because the scheme of things seems intelligent. A truly intelligent observer would realise that a truly intelligent designer, if s/he exists, would surely not design unintelligent elements such as pain and "the lack of intelligence"! Interestingly, the Buddha did tell us about how, in the course of the beginningless evolutional cycles of the world, a god would naturally mistaken himself to be the creator. Instead of focusing on the vague and unfair concept of all beings being originally born with sin, the Buddha taught that we innately have "original sinlessness" - Buddha-nature - the primordial potential to become fully free of suffering, to attain True Happiness. Incidentally, the Buddha is the only religious founder who taught that all his followers can fully evolve into perfection like himself. Thus is the Buddha truly compassionate and wise, who thoroughly deserves his renowned title - "The Teacher of Humans and Gods."
- Shen Shi'an

Example of non-creationism : WhereDoesWaterComeFrom

Read preface with open mind first : MoreThoughtsOnCreationism

No 'tolerance' here

2006-01-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

Government rejects European-style prostitution zones

By Kate Holton 17th January 2006 msn-news-uk

LONDON (Reuters) - The government has rejected plans to set up so-called "tolerance zones" for prostitution, saying a worldwide study had shown there was no evidence they offered greater protection for women.

Instead, the government announced plans on Tuesday to relax laws on brothels so that prostitutes could work together in the same premises.

But an international campaigning group for prostitutes said the new laws did not go far enough to prevent sex workers suffering rape and violence.

………..

The International Collective of Prostitutes (ICP) had urged the government to decriminalise the world's oldest profession and a former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, published plans in 2004 to change the law.

Instead, the Home Office said on Tuesday it would work to protect women in the sex industry and help them find alternative work.

It will also target the men who traffic women from abroad into the sex industry.

The Home Office said the London market was "saturated" with migrants working in brothels.

"Prostitution blights communities and the lives of those who participate," MacTaggart said. "Women involved in prostitution often have very limited choices in life. They come from difficult backgrounds, might have drug problems or nowhere safe to live.

Germany and the Netherlands have legalised some brothels and set up zones where prostitutes can work. Prostitution is not illegal in Italy or France.

…………

Citing the example of New Zealand, which decriminalised prostitution in 2003, the ICP had argued a similar policy in Britain would destigmatise sex work and make prostitutes safer by keeping them off the street.

"In New Zealand women are now much more able to report violence," IPC spokeswoman Niki Adams told Reuters.

"The numbers of reports of rape and violence have increased from prostitute women because previously they were deterred by the thought they might face prosecution themselves.

"Also a lot of women have been able to get off the streets and work in premises. It is much safer to work inside rather than out.”

See the rest of this article here: newsbox-msn-uk

My Comments:

The UK Government had a real chance to help prostitutes by deciminalizing prostitution and thus giving sex workers real access to the law and the ability to work in safer conditions as a result.  But instead they let their prejudices get the better of them.

It is obvious from the comments made by MacTaggart and the Home Office that they still see prostitution as  something ‘shameful’ and undertaken in all cases by women from a type of  ‘underclass’ who should really be doing something else as a profession.

Yes, many young women who come here to live are tricked into prostitution by unscrupulous men and women who exploit the women’s needs to provide a better life for themselves and their families, but these new laws will not help them at all.  And for all women who work as prostitutes, the new laws still leave them prey to police harassment and the whole ‘protection industry’, because their  work will still be classed as ‘criminal’.

This Government claims to be ‘forward thinking’ and non-discriminatory, but these weak new laws show their true thoughts on this issue - and these are as old as misogyny itself.

Doesn't anyone care?

2006-01-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

New Body Screeners in use in London:
We are living in a dystopian nightmare

Steve Watson - January 12 2006

A high-tech body scanner for detecting would-be terrorists has been unveiled at London's Paddington station ahead of a four-week trial, the BBC reports.

Passengers will be randomly selected to pass through the seven-metre box at the Heathrow Express platforms, while baggage is also screened.

Other technology being tested includes advanced closed circuit television systems programmed to sound an alarm when they spot suspicious behaviour.

The implementation of such technology represents a giant leap into a total surveillance Big Brother society. People are faced with walking into booths raising their hands above their heads like they're a criminal and being electronically scanned by a machine that produces a naked image of their body.

………………….

"It's one of those things we have to endure these days" comments one man. "Anything to make us feel safer" whimpers an elderly lady whilst giving the most naive bootlicking smile you can imagine. And this is precisely the point, the general public will accept any level of intrusiveness so long as it gives the IMPRESSION that they are safer, in reality it doesn't make anyone safer it just eliminates your liberty.

Rest assured there are more loving schemes in preparation, as Transport minister Alistair Darling comments "We want to test various types of screening equipment, we want to see whether or not they work in a large railway station. In future we'll be testing other things on the London Underground".

To me this is remarkable because at my local tube station the escalator has been out of order for around a year. So They cannot work a set of moving stairs yet they can quite easily implement electronic state of the art naked body screening equipment.

The reporter announces that the same technology is being used in Jerusalem to prevent suicide bombers getting on buses. Since when did the UK become Israel? We've had one small scale attack on the transport network and suddenly London is being compared with Jerusalem where bombs have been going off on busses almost daily for the last two decades.

………….

See the rest of this article here: info-wars

My Comments:

It truly amazes me how little the majority of people seem to care about losing their civil liberties nowadays.  And their privacy come to that – up till now the nearest most of us got to having our bodies scanned was in the privacy of a hospital consulting room.  Now it seems that our bodies are to be on show for all to see in the name of ‘anti-terrorism’.  Has the elderly lady mentioned in the article not thought of that?

When I first read Orwell, I was a pre-teen and treated his book rather like a science fiction tale.  As I grew older, I realised that Orwell’s vision was produced by his genuine fears for society.  But I thought, unwisely I know now, that people would have more sense than to be fooled into letting the state take over their lives without putting up a fight.

How wrong I was.

Are people ever going to wake up and notice what is happening?  How their human rights are being eroded before their unblinking eyes?  That all it has taken to do this are the combined efforts of a cowboy (albeit a very rich cowboy), his obsequious British deputy and their backers, with their ‘fear campaigns’ and their blatant lies?

I truly despair of the cynicism I thought existed in the hearts of the British people.

If only!

2006-01-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

More on BB and Galloway

2006-01-11T05:43:00.000-08:00

This has been copied without comment because it sums up how I feel pretty well:

Big Brother's muzzling of George Galloway encapsulates the reasons for our political malaise

  Zoe Williams
  Tuesday January 10, 2006
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/

  It's rare to come across a TV programme, indeed a cultural experience of any sort, that manages to bring together two points of view you absolutely hate, and pit them against each other. Rarer still for that programme to be Celebrity Big Brother, which normally contains no ideas at all, even by accident. These notions have alighted like ugly sparrows upon the head of George Galloway.

  The first is this: that young people, in order to be "engaged" with politics, need to be spoken to in language they understand, via media they have a track record of taking an interest in. Post-internet, post-PlayStation, post-reality telly, traditional campaigning simply won't reach them. This has become orthodoxy. More young people vote in Big Brother than in elections, ergo, politicians must appear on Big Brother. It's daft. I've been to Sainsbury's more often than I've been on a protest march; it doesn't follow that I will only turn up to a march if someone along the route will sell me tomatoes on a two-for-one offer.

  The second argument is very rarely openly framed, yet is visible in all kinds of political discourse. It is that anyone with passion, with a judgmental moral code, with an idea in his or her head beyond "let's all stay calm, and make more money", is inherently foolish; and that such an individual's arguments are only valid if they are totally blameless from every conceivable angle, and in the unlikely event that they prove impossible to decimate with flimsy personal attack, can be laughed at for having anything so old-fashioned as a set of beliefs.

  As soon as Celebrity Big Brother started, the Guardian tried to get hold of the Bethnal Green MP through constituency channels. A bit mischievous, this. A surgery had been held on Friday, and of course no MP returns a call in a day - I'm still waiting for Diana Johnson to email me back from November.

  In any case, the idea was reinforced that "Gorgeous George" is all style and no substance and is in love with his firebrand image, and that any cause he associates himself with is just an excuse for his attention-seeking. But if this were an MP with a reputation for being jolly - Boris Johnson for instance - no such inquiry would have been made.

  This makes it a mug's game to be the person with the trenchant beliefs, since by modern standards you will never be worthy of them. Channel 4, while it denies having any agenda, manifestly intends to excise Galloway's political views. Since day one, when it cut several of the contestants agreeing with the MP about the Iraq war, the Big Brother edited highlights have yet to show him saying anything about politics. And in E4's round-the-clock version, the MP is repeatedly bleeped.

  Is he going on about sex and using coarse language? Or is he being censored in a more serious way? Precisely because he claims to have principles, they are deemed worthy of less respect than those of someone who slept with Sven Goran Eriksson. And here is the real reason for the disenchantment with politics among 16- to 24-year-olds: idealists, who might inspire passion or loyalty, or even interest, are cut down for something totally trivial.

  Galloway, though, is guilty of falling in with that standard line of "I want to connect with the millions of people - most of them young - who are turned off by conventional approaches. It's the Gen X factor". Not so - it doesn't take blathering populism to hook them, but the very opposite: it takes conviction.

  Galloway has conviction as well as Big Brother membership; he emerges from this business more sinned against than sinning. His detractors should be held accountable for political inertia in this country. Yes, the Big Brother machine does get a lot of votes. But let's not become so confused by the word "vote" that we seriously believe 16-year-olds want to run the country this way.

Stirring up the 'news'

2006-01-10T06:08:00.000-08:00

Blair criticises BB's Galloway

From: msn-entertainment-news

Tony Blair has joined the growing criticism of George Galloway over his decision to take part in Celebrity Big Brother.

The Prime Minister indicated he would not be happy if a Labour MP had taken a similar decision to join the series.

Asked on GMTV "Would you fancy one of your MPs doing that?", Mr Blair replied: "No." He said he had not watched the anti-war MP on Celebrity Big Brother as he had been too busy.

His remarks came as a row grew over the Respect Party MP's appearance in the show.

Mr Galloway said his participation would be "good for politics" and he believed that politicians should use "every opportunity" to communicate with people.

But local residents in his Bethnal Green and Bow constituency have staged a protest outside his office in east London accusing him of abandoning his responsibilities and demanding he give back his MP's pay for the time he is in the house.

An internet protest campaign – get-back-to-work-george - is calculating how much it costs taxpayers each day Mr Galloway stays inside the house.

Labour Minister for London Jim Fitzpatrick has also joined in the attacks, accusing the anti-war MP of being a "C-list politician with an A-list ego".

The first eviction will take place on Friday.

My Comments:

Blair said one word – “No”.  Wow!  Such insight those guys in the media have to say that this means Blair has joined ‘the growing criticism’ of Galloway!
Now if only they had such insight when it comes to issues that really matter …..

And as for the Cergis campaign (claiming to be on behalf of “The United Residents of Bethnal Green and Bow”) – I wonder who is really responsible for that?

Whether Galloway was correct in choosing to join Celebrity Big Brother is open to debate.  I can see both sides of the argument.  Yes, maybe MPs should spend their time at their ‘MP work’ rather than appearing on a game show, especially for a length of time (unlike Charles Kennedy [another ‘news item’, of course] who just spent days, rather than a couple of weeks, on programs like ‘Have I Got News For You’). Of course, the rest of them concentrate only on their real work …… don’t they?

But on the other hand, when the mediocre lives of many UK citizens are often spent glued to programs like ‘Big Brother’, then maybe this is the best way to reach them?

Either way, I think this is a case of the right wing media trying to stir up reactions where very few exist.  And thus conversely trying to ‘demonstrate’ how important the media is.

Playing right into Galloway’s hands, one could argue ……

The Glass Ceiling is Firmly in Place

2006-01-05T04:01:00.000-08:00

Women could wait 200 years for equality with men
By Astrid Zweynert

From: newsbox-msn-uk 5th January 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - New Year - same old glass ceiling?

In Britain it could take another 200 years for women to be as powerful as men even though sex discrimination legislation has been in force for three decades, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) said on Thursday.

Its annual "Sex and Power - Who runs Britain?" survey showed that the number of women in top positions in politics, business, the judiciary and other areas of public life has inched up only marginally from the previous year.

Nearly 30 years after Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minister, only 20 percent of members of parliament are women and only 11 percent of top company directors are female, the report said.

At the current rate it would take up to 200 years, or some 40 elections, to achieve sex equality in parliament, the report said. It would take another 40 years to reach an even gender split among top company directors and the judiciary.

"Thirty years on from the Sex Discrimination Act, it is time for us to face some stark facts," EOC chief Jenny Watson said.

"Women will not make it to the top in significant numbers unless action is taken to remove the barriers that stand in their way and Britain will continue to miss out on women's skills and talents for another generation.

Even though a third of middle managers and senior officials are now women, Britain's long-hours culture still makes it hard to balance work and home, meaning women are still missing out on the most senior posts, the report said.

The lack of women at the top is all the more striking given that girls now outperform boys at school, women account for nearly half the workforce and more women than men are entering higher education.

Yet, women make up only nine percent of the senior judiciary, 10 percent of senior police officers and 13 percent of national newspaper editors.

While women are reaching critical mass in some areas, such as heads of professional bodies (33 percent) and national arts organisations (33 percent), in most fields there has been little change since the EOC first published its survey two years ago.

More high-quality, highly paid, flexible and part-time work at all levels, including for senior staff, should be brought in, Watson said.

She also called on political parties to use "positive action" to bring in more women.

Watson said new Conservative leader David Cameron had to follow through on his promises to increase the number of female candidates.

My Comments:

This information is depressing, but not at all surprising. Attitudes towards women in top jobs are still prejudicial in many ways, and our culture does little to help matters.

One only has to spend a little time watching commercial TV to see that gender stereotypes still exist within TV commercials, with adverts for products for ‘the home’ still geared very much towards women. The same applies to the programs themselves. Sure, there are ‘token men’ doing what would once have been termed ‘women’s’ work’ and ‘token women’ doing ‘traditional’ ‘male roles’, but it is very much about tokenism (the same still applies to ‘racial roles’ as depicted in the media). And even in these so-called ‘enlightened times’, the stereotypical ‘woman who makes it’ is usually always inordinately clever, blindingly attractive, and (of course) extremely cunning. If this ‘superwoman’ has a home life it is always disrupted by her work, thus sending us all the message of how hard it is for women to achieve success and happiness.

No wonder so many women don’t even bother to try to ‘make it’.

The problem is that, alongside the covert (and not-so-covert) messages about ‘woman’s place’, is a realisation that it is hard to make it in our society, damned hard – for both women and men and staying ‘there’ is even harder, because, as the article says, Britain has a long-hours work culture which is slowly killing us all, from the top of the career ladder right down to the bottom.

Who in their right mind wants to increase the stress this brings by ‘going for it’ against the odds?

Not too many women, obviously.

Benefits About to be Hit

2006-01-03T07:07:00.000-08:00

Government starts offensive on benefit reform
From: yahoonews-uk

LONDON (Reuters) - Tony Blair's government launched a drive on Tuesday to convince Labour backbenchers to support its plans to reform welfare benefits as it braces for a series of potentially damaging revolts in parliament.

Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton has appealed to 100 Members of Parliament in a letter highlighting the failings of the current system which, he argues, perpetuates hardship.

He told BBC radio he had drawn attention to the link between high levels of deprivation and claimants on incapacity benefit.

"I haven't come into politics to make poor people poorer," Hutton said.
"I've come into politics to make poorer people have the same opportunities to get on with their lives as other people have and I think that will be the underlying principle (of the reforms)."

The changes to incapacity benefit, to be published later this month, will test Blair's authority after his first parliamentary defeat last year. That was on anti-terrorism legislation.

Many Labour backbenchers fear Hutton's reforms are designed to save money and will simply result in a big cut in benefits.

Analysts say Blair faces a choice of either watering down his plans or losing a vote. He also faces a battle to get through planned reforms in areas including education and pensions.

But Hutton said he knew of no Labour, or other MPs, who supported the current system.
"The truth is, on average people on incapacity benefit for one year stay on it for eight years. And after two years they are more likely to die or retire than come off benefits," he said.

"I think there is a very strong groundswell of opinion saying we need to tackle the problem," he said, adding that he would deal with the reforms "sensitively and carefully."

My Comments:

As someone who was forced to rely on Incapacity Benefit for a while, I am extremely worried about these proposals.  Hutton’s exclamations that benefit changes are not designed to make people poorer sound insincere when reading between the lines of the rest of his rhetoric, which is pure ‘Blairite’ spin.

Sutton’s notions to “tackle the problem … sensitively and carefully” demonstrate his real aim – to get as many people as he can out to work …. and thus paying taxes and insurance.  These people are a ‘problem’ unless they can ‘pay their way’. Then, and only then, can New Labour even begin to ‘tackle’ its growing ‘problem’ with finding funding pensions in the years to come.

I understand the finances, but why hit those who are obviously sick?  You have to be off work for a considerable time to claim long-term Incapacity Benefit, and you will have had to have endured at least one (probably more) searching questionnaires and interviews in order to ‘qualify’.  Forcing people on Incapacity Benefit back to work before they are able to cope is not ‘sensitive’ and I bet it will not be carried out ‘carefully’ either, considering that those workers in the benefits offices who will have to carry out these measures are already overworked with having to carry out the latest ‘bureaucracy measure’.  Those who are forced back to work will be faced with a future containing nothing but low-paid stressful work as a result of these proposals.

Surely a better, and much more lucrative, policy would be to consider cutting down on ‘defence’ costs?

But that would mean pulling out of Iraq, wouldn’t it?

For our own good?

2006-01-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

Police gain greater arrest powers

From: msn-newsbox-uk

LONDON (Reuters) - Police will be able to arrest anyone for any criminal offence, including minor misdemeanours such as dropping litter, under new laws which come into force on Sunday.

Until now police have had the power to arrest only those suspected of committing an offence carrying a sentence of at least five years in prison.

The new law requires only that the police have reasonable grounds for believing that a person's arrest is necessary. This can include a suspect's refusal to give their name and address.

The changes are part of the Serious and Organised Crime Act 2005, which removes the distinction between "arrestable" and "non-arrestable" offences.

Offences that have until now been non-arrestable include impersonating a police officer, not stopping a vehicle when ordered to do so and making or selling an offensive weapon.

Police will in future be allowed to photograph suspects on the street where they have been arrested or issued with a fixed penalty notice, rather than back at a police station.

"The introduction of a single rationalised power of arrest simplifies arrest powers," said Home Office minister Hazel Blears.

"These tough new powers make a significant contribution to creating a modern, efficient police service equipping frontline officers with the tools they need to fight modern crime effectively and keep our neighbourhoods safe.”

My Comments:

And, of course, “keeping our neighbourhoods safe” is exactly what this new legislation is about ……….. isn’t it?

Well, isn’t it ………..?

How will 2006 go for Blair?

2005-12-31T05:47:00.000-08:00

Blair says 2006 is year of critical decisions

By Katherine Baldwin
31st December 2005

From: Msn-newsbox-uk

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair, who faces a rebellious party and a revitalised opposition in the New Year, said on Saturday 2006 would bring tough, critical decisions that would shape Britain's future for generations.

In his New Year's message, Blair vowed to press on with controversial reforms to education, pensions and energy policy that could test his authority and define his legacy.

"2006 is a year in which critical decisions have to be got right if we are to sustain prosperity and fast-improving public services for the long-term," he said in a televised address.

"We face big choices which will decide how prepared we are for the challenges of the future," he added, mentioning education, health and energy reforms.

He also said Britain would not let its "resolve slip" in fighting terrorists -- like those who attacked London on July 7 -- and bringing stability to Afghanistan and Iraq.

……………………

OPPOSITION TO REFORMS

Defeat for Blair on key legislation or narrow victory with the help of Conservative votes could damage him.

Blair has said he will serve a full third term but most analysts expect him to stand down within two years. Chancellor Gordon Brown is tipped as his most likely successor.

Scores of Labour lawmakers have already registered opposition to education reforms, to be published early in 2006.

………………..

For the full article see: Msn-newsbox-uk

My Comments:

So, let’s sum up:

In the UK, this last year has seen:

The murder of innocent civilians in the London Tube/Bus bombings, either as a direct response to UK involvement in the War on Iraq, or under even more suspicious circumstances.  And (coincidentally?) overshadowing the very much ‘less than perfect’ ‘achievements’ at the G8 Summit.

The killing of an innocent civilian, Jean Charles de Menezes, during a ‘counter terrorism’ campaign and Police reactions that demonstrated their true disregard for the rights of civilians.

Increased public surveillance (and more on the way Surveillance-UK-The_Independant  and Britain_to_be_first_country_to_monitor_every_car_journey )

An overt attempt to scare the public with the ‘threat of Avian Flu’.

And other, regular, ‘suggestions’ made by the Blair Administration and its cronies in the media that we should be constantly on the alert in this ‘climate of terror’.

The deaths of Robin Cook and Mo Mowlam, two of Blair’s sharpest critics.  Both untimely deaths and, although Mo Molam had suffered from a serious illness for some time, Robin Cook’s death was completely unexpected.

But then:

The unprecedented defeat, suffered by Blair this November over proposed new ‘Terror Laws’ .

And:

David Cameron becoming the New Tory leader, offering the failing Conservative party hope for the future, especially in a time when Blair’s popularity is at its lowest.  But would Cameron be just a younger version of the older ‘pretender’?  And, in any case, by the time the next Election comes around, it will most likely be Brown, not Blair, who Cameron has to oppose.

On the News this morning I heard the announcement that teachers may strike in the New Year, over plans to change financial recognition of their administrative duties.  Not a great start for Blair’s planned ‘assault’ on the UK State Education System.

But will Blair carry on regardless with his plans to contravene our civil liberties even more in 2006, or will he be stopped in his tracks or even forced to resign as Prime Minister?

And, if he is, will his successor be any less objectionable when he takes office?

We just have to wait and see……. and hope.

Is enough ever going to be enough?

2005-12-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

US probes leak of domestic eavesdropping programme

By Deborah Charles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is investigating who disclosed a secret domestic eavesdropping operation approved by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks, officials said on Friday.

"We are opening an investigation into the unauthorised disclosure of classified materials related to the NSA," an official said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier this month, Bush acknowledged the programme and called its disclosure to The New York Times "a shameful act." He said he presumed the Justice Department would investigate who leaked the National Security Agency eavesdropping operation to the newspaper.

……………..

It is the second recent high-level probe into the leak of classified information to the media.

After a two-year investigation into the disclosure of a covert CIA operative's identity, a special prosecutor in October indicted Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby on perjury and obstructing justice charges.

That investigation is still continuing.

……………….

A 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, makes it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without the approval of a special, secret court. Bush secretly gave the NSA authority to intercept communications without such approval.

The White House has sought to play down the impact on civil liberties, saying the programme was narrow in scope and that key congressional leaders were briefed about it.

For all of this article see: msn-newsbox-uk

My Comments:

So the bald-faced fight back by the Bush administration has begun.

Let’s just hope this is a desperate measure by a regime that has been well and truly caught out of line.

But with the covertly-engineered hold over a vast number of American citizens that this administration has, all we can do is hope …. and watch while the game plays on……

A Christmas Story to warm the Heart

2005-12-24T00:26:00.000-08:00

Workers See Jesus Image In Nacho Pan

Pan Used To Heat Nachos

From: ObscureStore

Workers claim a holy image has appeared in one of their cooking pans.

At the Stadium Club in Jacksonville workers have found what they believe is an image of Jesus in a nacho warming tray.

The pan is used to heat water which then heats the food.

The image was created from mineral deposits in the water.

One of the cooks says he went to empty the pan last night and saw Jesus looking back at him.

A spokesman for the Stadium Club says they will not continue to use the pan.

My Comments:

Doesn't that just fill you with Christmas Joy?

Drunken Santas?

2005-12-20T05:53:00.000-08:00

Drunken Santas run amok in NZ
From: yahoonewsUK

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Forty drunken Santas rampaged through central Auckland, stealing from stores and assaulting security guards, the New Zealand Herald reported on Sunday, in a protest against the commercialisation of Christmas.
Police said some of the Santas threw beer bottles, one tried to climb the mooring rope of a cruise ship and a security guard was punched during the fracas.
"They came in, said 'Merry Christmas' and then helped themselves," convenience store staff member
Changa Manakynda told the Herald, which reported the Santas also attacked a Christmas tree.
The event organiser, Alex Dyer, had warned the antics would only stop when someone was arrested, said the Herald, which linked the incident to "Santarchy".
Santarchy (www.santarchy.com) and online encyclopaedia wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) record protests going back around 10 years in the United States, with participants marking Christmas in anti-commercial manner involving street theatre, pranks and public drunkenness.
Police said identification was a key issue as they tried to sort out which of the 40 men and women had done what.
"With a number of people dressed in the same outfit, it was difficult for any witnesses to confirm the identity of who was doing what," Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers told Reuters.

My Comments:

I was intrigued by this, if only to attempt to check out whether the reporting on these ‘drunken santas’ was accurate. So I looked at the Santarchy! (Santacon) website.

This was what they had to say about Santacon:

“Every December, for the last 12 years, Cacophonous Santas have been visiting cities around the world and generating a bit of naughty Christmas fun as part of the annual Santacon events. It all started back in 1994 when several dozen Cheap Suit Santas paid a visit to downtown San Francisco for a night of Kringle Kaos. Things have reached Critical Xmas and Santarchy is now a global phenomenon.”

They emphasise that:
“We do not condone or encourage any kind of vandalism or violence at a Santacon event. Our santas do not destroy property, steal merchandise or do harm to others.”

As regards the NewsRex Reports On Auckland Santarchy, this is what they had to say:
“It turns out that the controversial New Zealand Santarchy event, was organized by the online skateboard magazine Muckmouth in their forums.
This comment was left on our previous NZ blog post by one of that event’s organizers:
“Hello from Auckland, New Zealand, the international home of Santarchy!!!
Despite the moodiness on national radio over here, I assume you lot are stoked at the free publicity!
Santarchy in Auckland has been going for 6 years over here, and rather than being clueness idiots, we are hunky and sensible and it was more a case of a few bad eggs poisoning the eggnog…
There was some major misreporting and chinese whispers. Breaking bottles and urinating under a bridge, became throwing rocks at buses and urinating on cars from an overpass.
The ‘organisers’ as they were, saw little in the way of crime other than one santa attempting to board a foreign vessel by scaling 20 metres along a rope 60 feet in the air. The difficulty and motor skills involved in this task alone should be a defense in itself of being “drunk” and “disorderly”.
We expect to be fully vindicated by a documentary screening on Sky One in New Zealand on Christmas Eve.
We would certainly appreciate a little more unity and understanding between Santas and ask not to be judged on the behaviour of a few.
Lots of love,Santa… “

Another case of press over-reaction?
Most probably.
Either way, checking out links to ‘Santarchy’ provided a welcome change to checking out all the other info we are being fed in this pre-Christmas season.

Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

2005-12-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:
cookie stuff
1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup or brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila

Directions:
Sample the Cuervo to check quality.
Take a large bowl,
check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality,
pour one level cup and drink.
Turn on the electric mixer*.
Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
Add one teaspoon of sugar*
Beat again.
At this point it's best to make Sure the Cuervo is still OK,
try another cup..just in case.
Turn off the mixerer thingy.
Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit,
Pick the frigging fruit off the floor*.
Mix on the turner.
If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver.
Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.
Next, sift two cups of salt, or something.
Who giveshz a sheet.
Check the Jose Cuervo.
Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
Add one table.
Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink.
Whatever you can find.
Greash the oven.
Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.
Don't forget to beat off the turner.
Finally, throw the bowl through the window,
finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

Cherry Mistmas

Xmas Cards From Famous People

2005-12-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

Xmas Cards From Famous People In which Ashlee, Dubya, Tom Cruise and more wish you very happy holidays. Sort of

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

May the Lord bless you and keep you this wonderful holiday -- unless, of course, you are gay or thinking about becoming gay or unless you have at one time during the past three years considered in any way supporting the "gay lifestyle." You are all in my thoughts always, unless you are a woman or pagan or a liberal or Tom Cruise. By the way, materialism is evil and has robbed Christmas of its true meaning -- which is, of course, guilt and death and sin. Dig my gold-encrusted robes. Oh, and please buy my book. Available on Amazon for only 13 bucks! You save 32 percent! Joy to the world.-- Pope Benedict XVI

See the rest here: SFGate

Something to Hide?

2005-12-14T14:12:00.000-08:00

No inquiry into 7 July bombings

There will be no public inquiry into the 7 July London bombings which killed 52 people, the Home Office has said.

Ministers will instead publish a definitive account of what happened in a written narrative.

The account will include material gathered from intelligence and security agencies and the police.

But some Muslim groups and victims' relatives have expressed anger, saying a wider public inquiry is essential for understanding what happened.

See the rest of this article here: bbc-uk

My Comments:

Statements that “The most important thing is to concentrate on further terrorist threats” rather then hold a public enquiry (as issued by Charles Clarke in response to questioning as to why this decision had been taken), are simply not good enough. Not only do relatives of the victims need to know what happened, but the Muslim Community needs answers too (and answers they can trust), otherwise the victimisation they are suffering at the hands of some members of the public may increase and will certainly not abate.

But, of course, this also raises the question what do the Government not want us to know? And it could well be that many more people will be asking this question now.

Hemel Fire

2005-12-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning to find a thick, dark sky outside. As the sun rose, it was partially obscured by a dense, dirty, blue/grey cloud. The cloud of pollution from the fire at Buncefield Fuel Depot was upon us.

There is no doubt that is what it was. Instead of the usual bulky, white or grey clouds which herald rain (as promised), but which still let through the occasional glimpse of clearer sky, this ‘cloud’ covered most of the sky, and it was thicker, bulkier and dingier, and the only glimpse we had of anything peeping through was of a mucky grey colour. We could actually see the edge of the cloud running slightly diagonally across the horizon. There was a distinct break between the long line of lumpy blue/greyness and a lighter, much clearer sky, with the part of the Sun which wasn’t obscured by the pollution cloud shining through.

For me, the freakiest thing was that, even though there was supposed to have been a frost last night, every part of the land under the pollution cloud was unaffected and, I would say, a few degrees warmer than the rest of the countryside. I think that brought home to me how much we were at the mercy of this large lump of man-made murkiness.

We had watched the news last night and seen the trajectory of the smoke from Hemel Hempstead and the prediction as to which way it was moving. It should have missed us by a few miles at least, but obviously the wind changed during the night.

When I first began to write this, the cloud was actually running the same course as aircraft travel when they fly South-West from Heathrow or Gatwick. So I would imagine that changes had been made to flight paths – not that we could tell in any case, as the cloud obscured any sky on which we would usually see aircraft trails. Tonight the ‘cloud’ has dispersed a little, but we can still see that ‘break’ across the horizon, now showing the lights of the nearby city in stark contrast to the murk covering us.

We are told that this cloud is not dangerous to our health (unless we are asthmatic, or suffer from respiratory disease), but I am not a great believer in what ‘they’ tell us.

So all our windows have remained closed and the dogs have not been out for their usual run. Not that closing windows will help us in the long term. ‘They’ have been careful so far not to discuss possible long term effects of the pollution cloud.

As to the explosion. First of all, it is a great relief to know that no one was killed and I hope that this remains to be the case, considering the danger the fire crews are under fighting the blaze. I understand that it is very close to being extinguished completely by now. I hope so.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Blair and his cronies didn’t try to blame the explosion on Al Qaeda or another ‘terror group’, but I understand they did consider this. They may still find a way to apportion the blame in terror’s direction. We’ll just have to wait and see.

It seems that, at the moment anyway, the main question being asked is “Why have a fuel depot so near to people’s homes?” But in actual fact, the depot was there first.

The question that they should be asking (among others) is “Why build homes so near to potentially lethal sites?” But in a country as crowded as England (especially the South East) we know the answer to that one – money.

Throughout England (and possibly Wales and Scotland also; I don’t know) planners have paid scant regard to people’s health and well-being when setting up new housing developments. If a site is declared as potentially lethal and ‘unfit for building on’, it seems that the planners wait until all the ‘hassle’ has died down …. And then go ahead and build homes anyway. This has happened again and again in the area around us and appears to be country-wide.

So the question has to be “Do they really care about putting people’s lives at risk?” And the answer seems to be “No”. Not when they can get away with it, anyway.

14 Points of Fascism

2005-12-12T06:26:00.000-08:00

14 Points of Fascism

A ‘must read’ copied from jackdaltons excellent blog:

14pointsoffascism

Bird Flu hype

2005-12-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

Bird flu hype infecting biotech industry

By PAUL ELIAS, AP Biotechnology Writer, Monday, December 5, 2005: San Francisco (AP) -- Two years ago, as fears of a SARS pandemic spread, a San Diego biotech company aided by federal dollars speeded a promising vaccine out of the lab and into human testing. But when Vical Inc. and the government wrap up the 15-person test next year, the drug is expected to end up on the shelf because the dreaded global epidemic never panned out. Bird flu has now overtaken SARS as the No. 1 feared global death threat. As biotechnology companies suddenly refocus their profit mission to the new threat — and investors drive stock prices to new highs — some analysts wonder if these endeavors could face the same fate Vical met with its rapid response to severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. "There are so many unknowables and a lot of hype," said AG Edwards analyst Al Goldman. "The avian flu potential is something that you can't get your arms around because no one knows if — or when — a pandemic is going to happen." The particular bird flu strain that now worries health officials has been around since 1997 and has killed 62 people worldwide since 2003, yet it hasn't acquired the genetic changes it needs to start spreading easily from person to person. What's more, leading scientists now discount the notion that flu pandemics happen in regular intervals and that the world is overdue for a new one.

See the rest of this article here: SFGate

My Comments:

As the man says, “There are so many unknowables and a lot of hype,"
So why all the hype now?
Greed?
Hopes of spreading/maintaining the climate of fear?
Genuine concern? I really don’t think it’s the latter.

New STD

2005-12-03T20:21:00.000-08:00

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior.

Gonorrhea Lectim is pronounced "gonna re-elect him."

Many victims contracted it in 2004, after having been screwed for the past four years. Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected include: anti-social personality disorders, delusions of grandeur with messianic overtones, extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia, inability to accept responsibility for own actions, cowardice masked by misplaced bravado, uncontrolled facial smirking, ignorance of geography and history, tendencies towards evangelical theocracy, and categorical all-or-nothing behavior.

Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how this destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas.

Met chief faces probe on killing of Jean Charles de Menezes

2005-11-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

Met chief faces Menezes probe
Reuters: Monday November 28, 04:43 PM

LONDON (Reuters) - An independent watchdog said on Monday it would investigate claims that London's police chief lied to the public after the fatal shooting of an innocent Brazilian man suspected of being a would-be suicide bomber.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair, who is Britain's most senior officer, is to be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) after an official complaint from the family of Jean Charles de Menezes.
See the rest of this article here: yahoonewsuk
Comments:
Lest we forget:

No Surprises

2005-11-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Most Britons unhappy with Blair and govt -poll
Reuters: Saturday November 26, 11:27 PM

From: yahoouknews

LONDON (Reuters) - Most Britons are dissatisfied with the way the government is running the country and with Tony Blair's own performance as prime minister, an opinion poll published on Sunday showed.

Fifty-seven percent of those polled were unhappy with the government's performance while only 33 percent were satisfied, according to the poll conducted by Ipsos-MORI and published in The Observer newspaper.

Blair's own performance was little better, with 55 percent saying they were dissatisfied with him against only 37 percent who were satisfied.

In contrast, nearly half of those polled said they were happy with the performance of Chancellor Gordon Brown, widely tipped to replace Blair in the run-up to the next general election.

Forty-nine percent said they were satisfied with the way Brown was doing his job against 35 percent who were not.

Despite Blair's poor showing, Labour still enjoyed a healthy lead over the Conservatives, according to the poll of nearly 2,000 people conducted between November 17-22.

Labour were on 42 percent -- up from the 36 percent of the vote it took in the last election in May -- while the Tories were barely changed from the 33 percent they polled then.

Blair has said he will not stand for a fourth term in office after leading Labour as prime minister since 1997, while the Tories are locked in a leadership battle between David Cameron and David Davies to see who will replace Michael Howard.

My Comments:

All I can say abut these figures is that I am surprised that they show Blair still has 37% of those poled who are actually satisfied with his performance.

And as to Gordon Brown having more favourable results – well 49% is not even half.  Not really good enough for the man who expects to take over from Blair.  And even then, the questions asked were to do with the job Brown is doing now – Chancellor – nothing to show that people would be happy with him becoming our next Prime Minister.

As to the Tories, well, as they are in the middle of a leadership fight at the moment, it is obvious that they cannot achieve much public confidence until their new leader has settled into place.  They obviously have a long way to go though.

Of course as (I think it was Henry Ford ?) said, “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

The British people are left very much in limbo from both main parties at the moment, with a Prime Minister who has covered his back by saying he will not stand for a fourth term and the main opposition party in disarray. And what about Charles Kennedy?  Have the pollsters forgotten him completely?

No surprises there then either.

Human Rights and Opposition to the War in Iraq

2005-11-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

It seems to be a bit of a slow day for news today. There is the upcoming summit in Malta for Commonwealth leaders, at which there will be discussions on a possible make-or-break deal at world trade negotiations to be held in Hong Kong next month. But we just know that Tony Blair’s original call to end World poverty will be cast aside (probably by Blair too) in the light of whatever happens to be a good excuse for a ‘detour’ on that occasion. I could be wrong, but I won’t be holding my breath to see if I am.

No, there is nothing which has captured my imagination today, apart from the comment to my previous post – on Doug Ireland’s ‘outing’ of George Galloway’s ‘Respect’ party as being homophobic, and my suspicions as to Ireland’s ulterior motives behind his article.

The comment was made by Brett Lock. He said:

Why would Tatchell be using gay rights as an excuse for attacking Galloway's opposition the the Iraq war when tatchell himself is an opponent of the Iraq war?It seems to me that there is a low-level homophobia that holds that gay rights concerns can never be the central issue in and of itself and when expressed must always be a part of another "agenda".
I was going to answer in the comments section, but I thought this deserved a longer reply.

Well, first of all, my point was not to that Tatchell was attacking Galloway’s opposition to the Iraq war and I don’t think that anything I said could have been taken this way. I know that Tatchell is opposed to the Iraq war, just as most other thinking people are.

I actually have a great deal of respect for Peter Tatchell. He has strong views. He is committed to the cause of gay rights and he lets nothing or no one stand in the way of his arguments. I do not agree with everything Tatchell says or does, and I particularly did not agree with his aggressive ideas on ‘outing’ ‘closet homosexuals’, because this made no allowance for individual reasons for people to hide their sexuality, and of course there are many reasons for this. But I admire anyone who sticks by their political guns, so to speak.

No, my point was that Ireland, not Tatchell, had a hidden agenda for his post and also to attack his use of what he considered to be ‘evidence’ for his arguments. I am always suspicious when someone says “I am opposed to ….. but…”, because one knows that the person is then going to provide (what they think to be) a strong case in opposition to that first statement. But Ireland never even got that far. His argument was based upon hearsay and un-researched ‘facts’. It also provoked my suspicions that it was a ‘set-up’ post, designed to invalidate the arguments of those opposed to the Iraq war and particularly those from what Ireland saw as ‘the political left’.

My comments on gaynews and their concentration on the homophobia and anti-feminism within Islamic teachings, when other religions, including Christianity, also hold these views within their religious texts, were about my thoughts that this concentration on Islam as ‘the bad guy’ was too singular and, I think, discriminatory in its own right. And this is from a group that has my respect for their campaigns on behalf of human rights. In this time when Muslims in the Western World are being stereotyped and stigmatized as ‘fanatics’, I find it disappointing that gaynews finds it necessary to outline these very singular views.

However, I can understand how Brett Lock feels that homophobia is being sidelined yet again by a party that was supposed to be on the side of those suffering oppression. I can understand his anger. As a feminist I have felt anger many times when women’s rights have been cast aside on behalf of ‘the greater good’. I also share concerns about the oppressive nature of some interpretations of Islam. But I see these as being interpreted by those living in a world dominated by straight men (as were early writings on Christianity) and blame the interpreters, not the religion, and certainly not its followers.

As to homophobia (or women’s rights) being sidelined, well, yes, it seems that this is exactly what is happening here. But that doesn’t make me like Ireland’s argument any better for that fact. It is still a poor, suspiciously slanted piece of work. But I take the point that in sidelining certain human rights issues, we run the risk that further attacks on human rights can, and will, be made. The worst example of this was probably when the plights of Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Communists, Socialists and the so-called ‘feeble-minded’ in Nazi Germany were largely ignored until after the war against German was won. Because the biggest threat to the World was seen as Nazi Germany as a country and a power. Its human rights crimes, which were almost endless, were punished (in some, but not in all cases) after the war had been won.

Some would say that this simply was not good enough and, considering the millions tortured and murdered, this argument rings true. But what was the alternative until German was beaten? This does not make it right, but it does consider the wider implications.

The same could be said to be true today. In the USA there is a cowboy holding power, aided and abetted by those who are (most probably) much cleverer than him, and whose agenda is World domination for the USA, nothing more, nothing less. Whatever the cost. The war in Iraq, and the threat that moves will soon be made on Iran and Syria are symptoms of this. These men and their plans are putting the freedom and safety of the whole World at stake. They have to be stopped before it’s too late. And the way to do this is to make people aware of what these men are about and hope that they can take political action to stop them.

And if some human rights issues take a back seat while this is happening, it is regrettable. I hope it doesn’t have to come to that. But I have a suspicion that it will.