Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Iran to be Nuked upon the next ourtrage

What Is the Plan If There's Another 9/11?

According to Philip Giraldi, writing in the new issue (not online) of the American Conservative, it's to nuke Iran:

The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing--that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack--but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.

Umm, could the Emm Ess Emm pick this up? Especially considering that several of the hardened suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites are in the middle of Tehran? So does this mean we are going to nuke the capital of Iran? And in this case would we parachute in exiles to run the place afterward, or attempt a colonial administration? What effect would the radioactive fallout have on our decision?

I mean, surely the NYT and WaPo can find a lede here: "US has plan to nuke Tehran if another 9/11." Can we get at least a bloody story out of this? Sorry to sound breathless, but the prospect of nuking Tehran is over my breathlessness threshold. As if we needed another reason to hope there's not a terrorist attack on the U.S...

The current issue of TAC also includes a sharp article by Christopher Layne, arguing that, while failure is pretty much a fait accompli in Iraq, there's failure and then there's failure. Getting out sooner, as Layne argues, would make failure less detrimental to America.

Say what you will about Pat Buchanan, TAC's a pretty interesting mag, particularly when compared to its intra-right-wing competition. I mean, honestly, how much do we really need another Sufi partisan article by Stephen Schwartz or another "Aha! NOW I've found The Connection!" article by Stephen Hayes? [...]

http://www.justinlogan.com/justinlogancom/2005/07/what_is_the_pla.html

???!!!

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

MI-6 Agents caught trying to bomb the Chicago Subway system

French Intelligence and The U.S. Marshall Service Monday night July 18, 2005 caught eight of Tony Blair's British MI-6 Agents trying to bomb the Chicago Subway system. A shoot out killed 4 British Agents. Four were captured in the act of Terrorism and arrested. The British Agents part of Bush & Blair's Al Quaida network were charged in Federal Court today with explosives. The British MI-6 Terrorist Cell Operated out of Laidlaw Corp in Chicago. Chicago US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald served Tony Blair a subpoena in the CIA Valerie Plame case on July 13, 2005 to answer questions regarding his role in the leaks connected to George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Condi Rice, Andrew Card, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove. Tony Blair has not yet responded to his subpoena. George W. Bush has not responded to his subpoena either. Tony Blair had supplied George W. Bush with falsified British Intelligence stating that Iraq leader Saddam Hussein had obtained "Yellow Cake" Nuclear materials from Niger. This was the reason Bush gave to start the war in Iraq. This has all now been proven to be lies by Bush and Blair. [...] ???!!!

John Burke's Wild Bears

John Burke's Hungry Bear 1 John Burke emailed these to me today, the other three in the sequence....well, honestly....'Bears'!!!!!

Laying the groundwork for vice

If a country is governed with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest. If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed and crafty. When the will to power is in charge, the higher the ideals, the lower the results. Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice. Thus the Master is content to serve as an example and not to impose her will. She is pointed, but doesn't pierce. Straightforward, but supple. Radiant, but easy on the eyes.

Hotel California...Penury!

Peace tax group lose court case
A group of peace campaigners has lost its legal fight for the right to be able to opt out of taxes which are used to fund military action.

The so-called "peace tax seven" wanted a judicial review of their demands for a special fund for their tax payments - so it is not used to fund wars.

Their barrister told the High Court they faced a choice of following their conscience or obeying the law.

But Mr Justice Collins said the group's case was unarguable.

The "peace tax seven" are: Joe Jenkins, of Green Street, Hereford; Birgit Vollm, 40, Oxford Road, Manchester; Simon Heywood, Herries Road, Sheffield; Sian Cwper, 57, Llanfrothen, Gwynedd; Roy Prockter, 55, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex; Robin Brookes, 52, Market Lavington, Wilts; and Brenda Boughton, 80, Plantation Road, Oxford.

They argued the Treasury's refusal to set up a special account for their taxes broke European human rights laws protecting freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Conscience gap

The group's barrister, Michael Fordham, said: "They are forced to make an impossible choice between following their conscience or obeying the law."

In a statement to the court, Ms Boughton said she found contributing to defence spending "impossible to reconcile" with her religious convictions.

She has withheld part of her taxes since 1989 and court orders have been used to take the money directly from her bank account.

Mr Prockter, a chartered management accountant, said he objected to taking any action in a war "including the conscription of my tax to finance martial expenditure".

But Treasury solicitors said the European Convention on Human Rights, and other legal cases, had decided in the 1980s that the UK tax regime did not interfere with the rights of conscience.

Mr Justice Collins rejected the call for a full judicial review hearing.

He said respected the genuine nature of the objectors' convictions and the "important" nature of their grievance - but their challenge was doomed to failure. [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4715619.stm

P£nury!

Monday, July 25, 2005

A Secret Service

(nomen nescio)

A Secret Service

submit your password at

asecretservice.org

A project by Sasker Scheerder and Olaf Matthes. Mediamatic and Sasker Scheerder take SAFETY very SERIOUSLY. The increasingly popular exchange of sensitive digital information demands a revision of security measures. An alternative, designed by Sasker Scheerder, is being offered at Mediamatic. [...]

Hidden in public, A Secret Service offers a valuable service to computer users dealing with the problem of password management; and you reading this are very likely to be one of them.

When you memorize your passwords you're going to forget them at some point: when you write them on a piece of paper you're either going to lose it or someone else will see it, so this is UNSAFE. When you store the in an encrypted file on your computer it is not only unsafe but also you still need another password to open this file, which not only principally FEELS BAD but is philosophically still NOT A SOLUTION.

A Secret Service invites you to submit your passwords and a timestamp for storage on the Secret Service website, asecretservice.org . It is then translated (text-to-speech), automated and broadcasted via webradio and live at Mediamatic Groundfloor every hour on the time of your choice. Because nobody can know that this is your password or what the purpose is, this seemingly paradoxical way of storing something very secret and intimate in public space can be considered completely safe.

To guarantee the absolute safety of your information, Mediamatic has taken advanced security measures to protect the server on which your passwords will be saved. You are invited to place your most sensitive information in our care ( asecretservice.org ) and take a look at Mediamatic's exhibition space where the safety of these measures are on display. [...]

http://www.mediamatic.net/artefact-200.9560.htm

future moments

Collection of transparent computer screens. See this as very early technological adaptations of what will come to be recognized as normal in the future. [Computer screens designed to adapt into their surroundings, remain hidden when not in use.]

You See?!?!?

they should be subject to controlled testing and be grown in controlled environments, Like I said before, they should be grown on a Lunar base, and no where else. and the requirement for each modification should be clearly identified and assessed, for modifications related to increasing or artificially including vitamins, insulin, etc the plants should be harvested and processed and sold as pharmaceuticals not food. Indeed. You do know of course, that when they use the word 'engineering' they do so in the loosest possible way. These plants are 'engineered' by subjecting them to a particle scatter gun that damages the genetic material of the plant in a totally random way. They then try and grow the damaged plant to see first of all if it will grow, and secondly, wether its 'good' for anything. In any case, how they are doing it is irrelevant. These people have now contaminated the environment with their experimental plants, and no one is going to be held accountable for the contamination, not even to the level of charging the violator for all the work that will be needed to manually pull up all these super weeds that cannot be eradicated by herbicides. This is the most annoying thing of all, they run roughshod overf everyones and our children's rights, pay nothing and are not brought to book, and eveyone is meant to just sit around and take it. Anyone who finds these plants in thier garden should be able to sue Monsanto for contaminating their property. The scientists who said its perfectly safe should be pilloried and humiliated so that their word is never used again to sanction a dangerous experiment. And of course, this is the contamination that we know about. God knows what other contamination has spread throughout the country and that has either not been detected or has been covered up. Is there a seed bank holding all the original, untampered with plants that are now being destroyed, so that we can roll back this experiment? I wonder if the people who did this had the foresight to take this precaution. Probably not, since they arrogantly thoght that nothing could go wrong, and that the junk wouldnt escape. Honestly, we can do without these people!

Let Go

If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself. The more prohibitions you have, the less virtuous people will be. The more weapons you have, the less secure people will be. The more subsidies you have, the less self-reliant people will be. Therefore the Master says: I let go of the law, and people become honest. I let go of economics, and people become prosperous. I let go of religion, and people become serene. I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes common as grass.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Friday, July 22, 2005

Transport for London...The Bank

Leading companies line up to partner Transport for London's Oyster e-money project Transport for London (TfL) announced the shortlist of potential partners for the development of e-money today. The successful organisations and consortia are: alphyra Barclays BBVA/Accenture/MTR/Octopus EDS/JPMorgan Nucleus/Dexit/Ericsson/Hutchison 3G/Euroconex PayPal RBS. The shortlisted companies are invited to negotiate with Transport for London this summer. TfL expects to confirm a partner by the end of the year. This marks an important step forward for TfL's aspiration to extend the use of its successful ticketing and payment smart card, Oyster, to low value payments for goods and services at newsagents, parking machines, fast food restaurants, supermarkets and other locations where the importance of transaction speed and the inconvenience of cash are recognised. Jay Walder, Managing Director of Finance and Planning at Transport for London said: "The use of contactless smart cards for low value payments is growing in popularity around the globe. "Such schemes are now well established in Hong Kong and Japan and significant trials are taking place in the United States. "Oyster has the largest customer base of all smart cards in the UK, with 2.2 million users and a significant level of public trust. "Extending Oyster to include low value payments is a natural progression which will make the smart card even more convenient." The plan to extend Oyster from travel to small value purchases demonstrates TfL's commitment to provide greater convenience for passengers and generate additional revenue for the transport network. TfL aims to commence trials for Oyster e-money in late 2005 or early 2006. Ends Notes for editors 1. Timescales for the development of Oyster e-money - * 11 February 2005 - TfL placed a Prior Information Notice (PIN) in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) * 15 April 2005 - TfL presented plans for e-money to nearly 100 interested companies * 22 April 2005 - TfL published a Contract Notice in the OJEU and released the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire and Request for Outline Proposals * 10 June 2005 - Twenty companies submitted pre-qualification questionnaires / outline proposals for TfL's review * July 2005 - Short list announced, Non-Disclosure Agreements issued * August 2005 - Negotiations commence * January 2006 - Proposed timing for development and delivery of e-money on Oyster. 2. Similar schemes such as Octopus in Hong Kong have shown customers appreciate the speed and ease this form of payment brings to the many small purchases people make every day. 3. The PRESTIGE project is a 17-year, private finance initiative (PFI) awarded in 1998. The contracting consortium is TranSys whose members are Cubic Transportation Systems (Cubic), Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Fujitsu and W.S. Atkins. [...] http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-centre/press-releases/press-releases-content.asp?prID=441 Now, TFL when they do this, will have records of all your journeys AND the money you spend in shops. Have you ever asked an Underground staffer to print out the contents of your Oyster card? Try it some time; you will see the cards structure, along with all your journeys. Electronic cash is not evil in itself, it all depends on how it is designed. Chaumian e-cash is actually better than cash. It is anonymous, unlimited, fraud proof and without bulk. Were it to form the basis of TFLs Oyster, I would embrace it. Of course, the idea in all the systems that seem to be favoured is to keep an audit trail and not to preserve people's right to privacy.

eaten already

Meanwhile, the NYPD announces that as of today, July 22, 2005, (the twenty second of July), all bags and all transit commuters are subject to random search.

A Reflection

provide an opportunity for us to reflect on our systems and practices to ensure they are sufficient to counter such unprecedented events Lets do that shall we? After all, that is precisely what these events are meant to do; they are meant to make everyone in the UK reflect on the practices of the UK. What absolutely astonishes me is the way that everyone in HMG insists on saying that what is happening now has nothing to do with foreign policy. What is really frightening is that I think they actually believe this. T. Bliar was on television a few weeks ago, and was challenged about doctors requiring patients to make bookings exactly 48hrs before a requested appointment. He was told that doctors were doing this so that they would appear to be meeting government set targets. He was flabergasted by this, and totally unaware that it was going on. He said that he would look into it, because the regulations were not meant to produce this effect. Now. Its clear from this that none of his advisors knew this was going on, and he obviously had no clue that people were adapting their behaviour (acting 'unreasonably') in order to satisfy government regulations. Transpose this to Iraq. Clearly its possible that Bliar, totally detached from reality as he is, actually doesn't believe or know that people all over the world are fulminating with rage over this affair, and would do literally anything, even self immolation, to get back at the UK. A man like this, and Dumbo, and Blindkid, cannot be left in charge of the shop, because they are out of the loop, incommunicado, not keeping their eye on the ball, out of contact with the world street, blind (blindkid), deaf (dumbo) and dumb (bliar). Immediate cessation of all hostilities is the only solution to this problem. It must be done immediately because there are forces being unleashed now that are hell bent on dismantling this great country, and oce it is done, it might never be put back together again. Anyone with any love for the UK weeps at what is taking place, the language being used, the legislation being rammed onto the statute books. It's just not worth it. It never has been and never will be worth it. who do you trust? No one, and I will not be distracted from what this is all about; the turning of the United Kingdom's back on the insane peoples of the world, leaving them to their own devices, and reaping the benefits of the 21st century, that the UK richly deserves, after centuries of duty.

Numbers Podcast from Hungary

Tizenkilencedik Podcast

banyek

2005. jĂşlius 21., csĂĽtörtök 16:16 — kategĂłria: podcast

Log periodic antenna forrás: http://www.nt.tuwien.ac.at/

Szám-állomások felvételei, zenékkel.

Numbers Stations (60 perc, 82 MB)

a többi podcast

Tracklista: 00. Intro (Szövegforrás: http://www.irdial.com/conet.htm) 01. The Conet Project: The Swedish rhapsody (Irdial discs) 02. Murcof: Uri (Static Discos) 03. The Conet Project: Dfd 21 (Irdial discs) 04. RYDOX: Delta 01 (Phonocake) 05. The Conet Project: NNN English (Irdial discs) 06. Boards of Canada: Gyroscope (Warp) 07. The Conet Project: Counting CIA (Irdial discs) 08. Ten and Tracer: The rivers are furious 09. The Conet Project: Leter NU (Irdial discs) 10. Alva Noto & Yuichiro Sakamoto: Berlin (Raster-Noton) 11. The Conet Project: 5 note Czech lady (Irdial discs) 12. Murcof: Mir (Leaf label) 13. The Conet Project: 5 dashes (Irdial discs) 14. Autechre: Drane (Warp) 15. Frank Bretschneider: The day it rained forever (12k) 16. The Conet Project: M3b (Irdial discs) 17. Federico Monti: Lowered (Subsource) 18. Xrc: July 4 (Diaspóra) 19. The Conet Project: NNN Station Hungarian (Irdial discs)

4 Responses to “Tizenkilencedik Podcast”

  1. The Tornado mondja:

    fél kettő van. véleményem szerint az eddigi legjobb podcastunk.

  2. worthless liar mondja:

    szerintem nem, én spec untam aztán kikapcsoltam inkább, mondjuk nem hozott már a numbers stations sem lázba.

  3. Diagram mondja:

    Nagyon jó podcast lett.!Sejtettem hogy valamikor fel fogod használni a Numbers Stations-okat The Tornado jólbeszélt :)

  4. just4u mondja:

    a feeling kraftwerk. egyébiránt banyek, ismered te gavin bryars zenéjét? Sinking of Titanic elmélete is van a fazonnak a dologról, hogy a titanic elsüllyedése óta a zenekar utolsó számának egy taktusa loop-ként szól. csinált egy zenét belôle. keresd meg, érdemes.

No proof bombers Muslims - Bakri
Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed does not believe the London bombers were Muslims, he has told BBC News.

The UK-based Syrian-born preacher said there was no evidence four young Muslim men filmed at a station prior to the attacks were responsible for the bombs.

He condemned "any killing of innocent people here and abroad" but said he would never co-operate with police.

The cleric is facing demands for his deportation after making comments partly blaming Britain for the bombs.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Hasib Hussain, 18, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, and Germaine Lindsay, 19, carried out the bombings.

The force released a CCTV image of the group entering Luton station on the day of the explosions, in which they, and 52 others died.

Tabloids

In an interview with BBC News 24, Omar Bakri Mohammed said the government, the public and the Muslim community were all to blame for not doing enough to prevent the 7 July attacks.

And he blamed the tabloid press for "distorting" his views and those of other clerics, including Sheikh Abu Hamza, currently on trial for allegedly soliciting people to murder non-Muslims and inciting racial hatred.

But in another interview, with BBC1's 10 O'clock News, he said there was "no way" he would condemn Osama Bin Laden.

He said: "Why I condemn Osama Bin Laden for? I condemn Tony Blair, I condemn George Bush. I would never condemn Osama Bin Laden or any Muslims."

And he blamed the UK government's "evil foreign policy and the war on terror" for pushing Muslims in "the wrong direction".

On Radio 4's Today programme, Omar Bakri Mohammed said Britons should use all political means "to make the British government realise that they create enemy, whether abroad or at home because of their own invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan".

But said he believed Islam forbade Muslims to fight the people they lived side by side with.

"To live among them, and sell with them and deal with them and trade with them and then fight them, that is completely not Islamic."

Word of God

The London-based preacher told BBC News 24 radical Muslims were "part of the solution" not part of the problem, because they were respected by Muslim youths.

By imposing restrictions on radical clerics, the government had reduced their ability to "hold back" young Muslims angry at events in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Palestinian territories and Kashmir, he said.

He distanced himself from "moderate" Muslims, who he said "cannot hold anyone back".

He added that he would not co-operate with the British police, even to alert them if he knew another terror attack was imminent.

"I believe co-operation with the British police would never ever prevent any action like this.

"The youth will leave us. The youth will see us, at that time, the voice, the eyes and the ears of the British government.

"The way to earn the heart of the British youth is by the divine text, to say God say it and ... Mohammed say it, 'Do not attack the people you live among.' Not to tell them, 'Tony Blair say it, the law say it, don't do so.'"

The cleric, who has lived in Britain for 20 years, indicated he would not resist if he were to be deported, saying: "If God destined for me to be deported, or to be imprisoned, nobody can save me." [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4702107.stm

My emphasis.

Pretty extraordinary ay? If he is right, then exactly who are these dimwits running around with bacpacks of explosives?

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

myspace confirmed cancerous

I never liked myspace dot com, it was always ugly, and it always felt like a electronic food court created to market junk to fools who love themselves, but now that the owner of Fox News has purchased the service for millions of dollars I feel more then justified for never having trusted the site or the people who use it to promote their lifestyles.

the china effex

Free speech up against global domination? Let a Thousand Filters Bloom By Anne Applebaum Without question, China's Internet filtering regime is "the most sophisticated effort of its kind in the world," in the words of a recent report by Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The system involves the censorship of Web logs, search engines, chat rooms and e-mail by "thousands of public and private personnel." It also involves Microsoft Inc., as Chinese bloggers discovered last month. Since early June, Chinese bloggers who post messages containing a forbidden word -- "Dalai Lama," for example, or "democracy" -- receive a warning: "This message contains a banned expression, please delete." It seems Microsoft has altered the Chinese version of its blog tool, MSN Spaces, at the behest of Chinese government. Bill Gates, so eloquent on the subject of African poverty, is less worried about Chinese free speech. [...]

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Combat Boy's Lair

Retards.org

stop tagging?

Is the logical continuation of the 'social bookmarking' phenomenon which has become so popular in the networked world, that people are going to have themselves tagged? Former Bush official to get RFID tag By Michael Kanellos URL: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5793685.html Tommy Thompson, the Health and Human Services Secretary in President Bush's first term and a former Governor of Wisconsin, is going to get tagged. Thompson has joined the board of Applied Digital, which owns VeriChip , the company that specializes in subcutaneous RFID tags for humans and pets . To help promote the concepts behind the technology, Thompson himself will get an RFID tag implanted under his skin. Human RFID tags have emerged as one of the more controversial technologies in years. Civil libertarians theorize that the chips will allow governments or corporations to track people's movement and behavior. Some Christians have said the chips are so evil they fulfill a biblical prophesy about satanic influences. Advocates, on the other hand, say the chips will contain personal information that will help medical professionals and others provide emergency treatment. The chip provides a form of identification that's tough to lose. By clicking the number found on the chip into a password-restricted database, paramedics can get an accident victim's medical history in the field. (One of VeriChip's scientists came up with the idea of using the company's pet RFID tags on people after watching rescue workers struggle to find the missing after the Sept. 11 tragedy.) [...]

Pledgebank 'Refuse' breaks 10,000

This Government seems to have forgotten their job is to Govern not to RULE. I want my Government to empty the bins and keep the streets clear, not to tell me where I should and should not be. I.D cards are all about controlling honest citizens. Terrorists and criminals will get around the system, it is part of their job. A terrorist can afford the 150K it might take to get round the system. ID cards are all about the powers that be knowing where to find you if you've not paid a parking ticket, TV licenses or your council tax. When they have a electronic chip in your car as well as in your phone, they'll even know where you are every minute of the day. In my view: Terror: Spain had I.D cards but this did not stop the Madrid Bombers. Spending Billion of pounds on a UK I.D card system just so the government can claim that "they are doing something" is a fraud. Why not use the money for bomb sniffer dogs on the entry point to all underground stations? Once Terrorists have fake I.D cards, they can go and do anything they like. I think I.D cards will encourage lazy police enforcement. "BEEP" and your through the security check, rather than, "I wonder why he's got 30 pounds of Semtex strapped around his waist and headed for Central London!! - Oh well never mind, back to the crossword and my jam donut". I've heard many times that carrying your ID card will not be compulsory but you'll be given 24 hours to produce it …. I think your average terrorist will scarper before then, whilst you and me will have to be down the station 8am sharp with our papers to the ready. In George Orwell's 1984, Big Brother maintains power over it people by being at perpetual war with it neighbors. In this way Big Brother forces the population to sacrifice their civil liberties in order to protect the people from these outside powers. Will the "War on Terror" ever be won? Will this Government ask us to sacrifice further liberties for the sake of "security"? There is a balance between freedom and security, otherwise why not lock us all in our houses, then we'd all be totally safe from harms way. Fraud: I.D card and its associated database will be like honey to be a bear. Every organized criminal gang in the world will be desperately trying to hack their way into the database to get all this info in one fell swoop so they can empty your bank account amongst other things. "All your eggs in one basket" springs to mind. Hackers have never been kept out of any security system. Recently a bloke in the UK was arrested for breaking into the American's most Top Secret security systems. So forgive me for having some skepticism about this government ability to establish a successful and secure computer system with heir record on computer systems!! Once a person has stolen your ID you'll have a devil of a times trying to persuade anyone that in fact it was not you who took out that great big loan. Little Britain's "THE COMPUTER SAY'S NO!" character springs to mind here. A Step-relative of mine (an American) had her ID stolen in the US and she is still on many credit black list 15 years later. People look at the computer and just say no. Asylum: Labour have insisted that I.D cards would prevent bogus asylum seekers and illegal workers entering the country…. What!!!!!! Forgive me but I didn't think "illegals" queued up to get into the country in the first place. Passport: People say biometrics will be part of the passport, so you might as well get the I.D card at the same time. At the moment Passports are not compulsory (which ID cards will be in a few years - otherwise they are pointless). Also the argument that you'll need biometrics to get into USA is not quite true. You won't need biometrics to the level this Government want them to get into the USA. Furthermore biometric identifiers don't work 90% of the time. Privacy: Dirty trick's; the temptation for any Government to resists access to the candy store is just too much for them. I recall Pam Warren, a Paddington crash survivor who was giving the Government a hard time and had her private life looked into, her voting policy, and generally any dirt they could dig up so as to throw at her. With a handy database, all this could be that little bit easier, and they probably wouldn't have been caught doing it either. Also this Government has also been guilty of already looking at selling parts of the database off to interested parties. Now they have a cap on the price of ID cards it this more or less likely? E.g. "Thank you for that huge contribution to the Labor Party's re-electoral Fund" and "Oh yes, and by the way - we've decide to sell you all that data that you were interested in after all" I'm also worried about legitimate legal protest - the foundation of Democracy. E.g. "Please pass your ID cards through this turn style before you can enter the square to protest about University Tuition fees" - and by they way you'll be added to the list of trouble makers on the database while your at it. Cost: Who cares, people seem more worried about a few shillings, then being sold into slavery!! But for those that do care - The Governments record on installing new computer systems is not great - with nearly everyone having costs that spiral out of control (and then not even working) - BEWARE - I sense more steal(th) taxes on the horizon. Nazis Finally the Nazis. We cannot guarantee that each successive Government that succeeds this one will be totally benign. The Nazis came to power through a democratic process, before then hi-jacking democracy for their own ends. Democracy is a fragile system and anything which too greatly tips power towards the people that govern us is dangerous. Imagine what extra atrocities the Nazis could have inflicted on the world if they had ID cards with biometric identifiers "You card indicated that your Great, Great, Great Grandfather was a Jew - get into the truck.". In Short: ID cards do nothing they purport to do (in my view) whilst opening a Pandora's Box of other problems. One a Government has a power, they are very reluctant to let it go again. Like Pandora Box - Once out of the box, it is impossible to put it back in the box. I certainly won't be getting an ID card unless I'm arrested. Then "they" can take my finger prints - as by then I'll actually be a criminal !! Citizen 100010110101 (aka Mike) [...] Just one of the many comments from the Refuse page on Pledgebank. 10,300 people have lined up to pay £10 should the ID legislation become law.

Goose and Gander, Stoli Style

Moscow's property lawlessness
By Christopher Mitchell Producer, Property To Die For

Imagine yourself sitting at home, unable to move because you are nursing a broken leg. Suddenly you hear a roar outside... and realise a bulldozer is attacking your front porch.

Alexei Syomov
Alexei Syomov has lived in Moscow all his life and now he is homeless

This is what happened to Alexei Syomov, who thought he owned his home in Gavrikovo, just outside Moscow.

Speaking in front of the huge apartment block that now stands on the site of his wooden house, he says: "They took all of my furniture out. Then they began destroying the house. After a couple of minutes the place where it stood was flat."

By "they", he refers to bureaucrats who, he claims, stood to profit from developing the valuable land his house was standing on.

This is a side of the Moscow property market virtually unknown to the West.

Multi-billion-dollar housing scams have become big business in Russia.

And despite President Vladimir Putin's promise to institute a dictatorship of the rule of law, these scams are all too often shrugged off by the authorities. [...]

But his method, say Emilia and Rozalia, is quite simple: he is trying to force them out by arguing that a new law has overridden the one under which they bought the property.

"I bought this restaurant legally," says Rozalia. "Today we have a new law cancelling the previous law. Tomorrow there will be yet another law cancelling the present one.

"We don't have laws in this country. It's lawless, it's a complete mess. There'll never be private property here, it's not possible."

The sheer scale of repossession of assets, carried out through seemingly simple mechanisms - and often oiled by the easily corruptible judicial system - raises the question of whether the Russian government is able, or indeed willing, to control this alarming trend.

The new insecurity of property is therefore at the very heart of Putin's much-vaunted reforms. [...]

Myh emphasis.

BBQ spins this like its something terribly wrong, like the Russians have no property rights but look at what the Supreme Court just held in the USA. American property developers can do exactly the same thing that the Russian property developers can; use the government to confiscate property from people - and its all perfectly legal when it comes to the USA but in Russia, its 'lawlessness'.

There is no way that Christopher Mitchell Producer of 'Property To Die For' didn't know about the Supreme Court decision when he wrote this piece, and that he didn't knit it in is really very odd.

Or is it? Russia bashing is a type of the endless finger pointing that comes out of BBQ, whose tone is always different when it talks about any other country other than the UK. Whenever they talk about other countries, the reports and writing have a definiate stance, they take sides. But when it comes to the UK, they almost always back off completely into that false objectivity space that means that they can never tell the truth about anything.

An honest article would have drawn together the threads of the razed illegal Zimbabwe dewllings, the new Supreme Court ruling on eminent domain and private developers and this Russian property boom story. This would not be towing the BBQ line, since it would be equating different countries as peers.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Teh Tao says "OUT"

In pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added. In the practice of the Tao, every day something is dropped. Less and less do you need to force things, until finally you arrive at non-action. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. True mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way. It can't be gained by interfering.

Chime in

beer mat cogger gay bar stool quiz night owl publicando

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Listen to the Tao #2

When a country is in harmony with the Tao, the factories make trucks and tractors. When a country goes counter to the Tao, warheads are stockpiled outside the cities. There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself, no greater misfortune than having an enemy. Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe.

Donuts!

Surely meau, you mean this?!

Up up, down down, left right, left right B, A

Europe speeds up plan to clamp down on suspects 
By Stephen Castle
Independent  Published: 14 July 2005

Europe's interior ministers agreed to speed through a raft of measures to
clamp down on terrorist suspects as France announced a temporary
re-imposition of border controls following the London bombing.   A day of
talks in Brussels brought pledges to meet an accelerated timetable for a
host of data storage and information-sharing initiatives, giving police and
security services new means to monitor individuals.

The reaction to the first home-grown suicide bombing on European soil was
pragmatic, with the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, saying there is "no
one, single, measure I can propose that will stop terrorism".

Instead of proposing new ideas, the UK, which holds the presidency of the
EU, sought to speed up measures already in the pipeline. Most
controversially, yesterday's deal included a promise to agree by October on
rules to retain for at least 12 months all e-mail and phone data.

This would include details of the date, time and duration all phone and
internet messages, the calling and called numbers, the location of mobile
calls at the start and end of a connection and whether the conversation was
"terminated explicably or inexplicably". By December all 25 EU ministers
promised to finalise rules on a European evidence warrant and on the
exchange of information between law enforcement authorities [...]

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article299083.ece

My emphasis. The problem with the Alex Jones analysis of these outrages is that it only works for one attack carried out by 'patsies'. As soon as there is more than one, then the whole idea collapses. No one says that in Israel and Iraq that the suicide bombers are not 'real', that they are patsies or creatures of the government (though they might be the creations of the government). Time will tell if this is the case here or not. The line above that struck me apart from the details of what is to be stored was that this is 'the first home-grown suicide bombing on European soil'. If there are more outrages to come, then you might expect a response where everything and everyone is to be locked down like it is in Isreal. The French closing their borders because some brits blow up their neighbors....not very intelligent. It has to be pointed out of course that all of the Israeli measures (road blocks, ID cards, punishing the families of suicide bombers) do nothing to stop suicide bombers. Better that we do not go down the Israeli route, and instead choose a home-grown solution; complete withdrawal from the affairs of the middle easterners on a permanent basis. Now. Which person out there in the blogosphere understands how the title of this post relates to the body? email me with the answer!

Cornish Patsies

Cornish patsies anyone? For the gamblers.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

The view from a paralell universe

Straight from the paralell universe called 'Upside-Down Circus':
[...] From a smattering of radical websites comes the argument that we are being hypocritical in mourning the dead of London when we allegedly gloried in civilian deaths in Iraq. This utterly misrepresents the BBC's reporting of Iraq, where we have always sought to portray the whole picture of events in that country. The second exception is principally Fox News in the United States. A contributor to Fox said after the London bombings that "the BBC almost operates as a foreign registered agent of Hezbollah and some of the other jihadist groups". On the Fox website today there is an opinion piece, "How Jane Fonda and the BBC put you in danger". I am writing this in a building which was bombed by Irish terrorists. My colleagues and I are living in a city recovering from the wounds inflicted last week. If I may leave our customary impartiality aside for a moment, the comments made on Fox News are beneath contempt. [...]
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1527063,00.html

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Hélène Clerc-Murgier

Clavecin et piano-forte

Après des Ă©tudes Ă  BrĂŞme (Allemagne) et au Sweelinck Conservatorium d’Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) auprès de Gustav Leonhardt, HĂ©lène Clerc-Murgier est laurĂ©ate du concours international de musique de chambre d’Utrecht et obtient le Prix SpĂ©cial de la Radio Hollandaise Arko.

Elle joue ensuite dans de nombreux ensembles et accompagne des solistes tels que Paul Esswood, Jill Feldmann et le violoncelliste Anner Bylsma.

En 1999, elle enregistre avec Nima Bendavid les suites pour viole de gambe de François Couperin, disque qui rencontre un grand succès critique (ffff Télérama, 10 de répertoire...) Dès 1995, elle fait partie de l'Ensemble Matheus, avec lequel elle se produit comme soliste (concertos de Bach et de Mozart) et continuiste en France (Sablé, Ambronay, théâtres du Châtelet et des Champs-Elysées, France-Musiques... ) et à l'étranger (Prague, Amsterdam, Postdam, Djakarta, Chine, Vietnam et Japon... )

En 2004, elle est engagĂ©e par David Stern dans l’orchestre Opera Fuocco, et participera au projet "Mozart 2006", Ă  l’occasion du bicentenaire de la naissance de Mozart (1756-1791). Il s'agira de la production de La Finta Giardiniera de W.A. Mozart.

Fidèles Ă  leur attachement Ă  la dĂ©fense du rĂ©pertoire rĂ©staurĂ©, Pauline Warnier et HĂ©lène Clerc-Murgier ont interprĂ©tĂ© avec l’ensemble Matheus des opĂ©ras tel que la Verita in Cimento , Orlando Furioso de A. Vivaldi (enregistrement NaĂŻve) L’occasione fa il Ladro de G. Rossini.

[...]

21 juin 2005 Ă  18h FĂŞte de la musique "La voie de la musique" : rue de Varenne rendue piĂ©tonne, du musĂ©e Rodin Ă  l’Istituto Italiano di Cultura. MusĂ©e Rodin 77, rue de Varenne 75007 Paris

30 juillet 2005 à 21h Prieuré Saint-Michel 61120 Crouttes Tel : 02 33 39 15 15

20 août 2005 à 21h Prieuré Saint-Michel 61120 Crouttes Tel : 02 33 39 15 15

1er septembre 2005 Port-en-Bessin

Avril 2006 tournée en Malaisie

[...]

here...

Before you die, you must hear this:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Alpha/ALPHA007

http://www.alpha-prod.com/fb/asp/consultation/visu.asp Have I said this before? If I have, then I said it twice.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Charles Clarke Cures Cancer

Email spying 'could have stopped killers'
Sunday July 10, 2005
The Observer

Millions of personal email and mobile phone records could be stored and
shared with police and intelligence officials across Europe to help
thwart terrorist attacks.

The Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, will propose new measures at an
emergency meeting of European Union interior ministers which will
discuss the implications of Thursday's London bombings.

He raised the stakes dramatically by claiming they could 'quite
possibly' have helped prevent such attacks, by identifying in advance
suspicious patterns of behaviour by potential terrorists. [...]

Clarke admitted he cannot claim that ID cards would have prevented the
bombing, although he argues that in Spain, where they are compulsory,
they helped trace the alleged perpetrators, via their mobile phones,
which Spaniards can buy only after producing an ID card. [...]
Whar? ID cards wouldnt have stopped the bombing, but storing peoples emails would have? Of course, this would mean that anyone using PGP to encrypt their email would have to give up their private keys in advance, 'just in case you are a terrorist'. We have already been there years ago, with the whole absurd key escrow nonsense. And services like pookmail.com would need to be either outawed or forced to register and store all emails that went through their systems. You can imagine a future where you are not allowed to send email without your thumb authenticaed NIR being in the header - the future could be as stupid and restrictive as you like... OR The western countries could get out of the middle east debacle and solve the problem overnight. Charles Clarke announces that he has the cure for Cancer, "New Labour has the cure for Cancer, it eliminates all traces of tumors in any corpse we apply the cure to". In other words, all of these measures (ID cards, scanning and storing emails) will not PREVENT dedicated fighters committing outrages in a city, they might help capture the people who did it after many people have been killed. These dedicated fighters whose numbers are automagically replacing are like the legions of brooms in 'The Sorcerers Apprentice' featuring Mickey Mouse. All the cabinet should watch that animation very carefully. And then they should watch the itchy and scratchy lampoon of it, because its more like what is really happening today.

Our Columns

********** wrote: > Fabulous post... exactly what I've been saying to people here, mostly > ex-Londoners, who're reacting as though it's humanity's greatest crime > and directed against their closest family. Thanks for that. I try to get it just right because its important to do so; using your anger to give you focus...make you stronger...without falling into the trap that the 'pearly kings and queens from hell' fall into - baying for revenge and mass expulsions. > Asking about the last time > they cried for Iraqi deaths quickly deflates puffy eyes. Because it's > our country, for some reason the deaths are more worthy, the tragedy > more intense, the actions more despicable, the response more heroic... > but only to the blind, unfeeling, thoughtless masses. You mean the racists. This is central to what racism is all about; our lives are more valuable than theirs. Pictures of an Iraqi girl with her leg blown off should bring you to precisely the same level of outrage wether its your next door neighbors girl or the girl made famous in the photographs. Many people 'suffer' from this subtle and indisious form of racism, and really, its 'ok' as long as your country never interferes with the affairs of another's. As soon as you do however, that subtle flaw tips the balance of judgement so that you can murder other people and feel nothing. That is what is happening right now. If Bliar and murder inc. were going to drop bomps on a hypothetical Bhagdad which was populated by Londoners, (and british cultural artifacts) they would not dream of damaging a single doric column much less accepting 'collateral damage' and 'unfortunate but unavoidable incedences of civilian casualties'. This is the test; if it were your own country you were trying to effect 'regime change' on, would you bomb its capital as Bhagdad was smahed? The answer will always be 'no', and so therefore, you cannot justify raining death on someone else's capital city. Ever. Unless you are a racist that doesnt think thier cultural artifacts and lives are as valuable as yours.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Listen to the Tao

When a superior man hears of the Tao, he immediately begins to embody it. When an average man hears of the Tao, he half believes it, half doubts it. When a foolish man hears of the Tao, he laughs out loud. If he didn't laugh, it wouldn't be the Tao. Thus it is said: The path into the light seems dark. The path forward seems to go back. The direct path seems long. True power seems weak. True purity seems tarnished. True steadfastness seems changeable. True clarity seems obscure. The greatest person seems unsophisticated. The greatest love seems indifferent. The greatest wisdom seems childish. The Tao is nowhere to be found. Yet it nourishes and completes all things. [...]

A Letter To The Terrorists, From Baghdad

A Letter To The Terrorists, From London July 07, 2005
londonskyline.jpg
What the fuck do you think you're doing?

This is London. We've dealt with your sort before. You don't try and pull this on us.

Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you're trying to do, it's not going to work.

All you've done is end some of our lives, and ruin some more. How is that going to help you? You don't get rewarded for this kind of crap.

And if, as your MO indicates, you're an al-Qaeda group, then you're out of your tiny minds.

Because if this is a message to Tony Blair, we've got news for you. We don't much like our government ourselves, or what they do in our name. But, listen very clearly. We'll deal with that ourselves. We're London, and we've got our own way of doing things, and it doesn't involve tossing bombs around where innocent people are going about their lives.

And that's because we're better than you. Everyone is better than you. Our city works. We rather like it. And we're going to go about our lives. We're going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we're going to work. And we're going down the pub.

So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your arseholes, and get the fuck out of our city.

[...]

http://www.lnreview.co.uk/news/005167.php Now. Lets replace the relevant words:
A Letter To The Terrorists, From Baghdad July 07, 2005 What the fuck do you think you're doing? This is Baghdad. We've dealt with your sort before. You don't try and pull this on us. Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you're trying to do, it's not going to work. All you've done is end some of our lives, and ruin some more. How is that going to help you? You don't get rewarded for this kind of crap. And if, as your MO indicates, you're an us-Neocon group, then you're out of your tiny minds. Because if this is a message to Saddam Hussein, we've got news for you. We don't much like our government ourselves, or what they do in our name. But, listen very clearly. We'll deal with that ourselves. We're Baghdad, and we've got our own way of doing things, and it doesn't involve tossing bombs around where innocent people are going about their lives. And that's because we're better than you. Everyone is better than you. Our city works. We rather like it. And we're going to go about our lives. We're going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we're going to work. And we're going down the coffee house. So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your arseholes, and get the fuck out of our city.
Hmmmm. That is precisely what angry people in Baghdad will have been thinking for the last ten years. Horror is horror is horror. No innocent in any city should be bombed for any reason, ever. If we start from there, then reciprocal violence cannot even begin. Do you need the standard disclaimer and testimonial about how much I love London and this great country? If you read this blog regularly, then the answer is 'no', so I wont waste your time with it. Londoners who have their brains switched on were terrified when other people's proud cities were bombed, because they knew that we were going to get it next. Look at how angry and scared everone is because of six bombs and fifty lives needlessly taken. Now imagine the whole city of London blasted to pieces and 100,000 murdered. Imagine the depth of anger that would produce. Imagine how many families are related to 100,000 people, and the consequential suffering they must be enduring. You can get an idea of the reprocussions of such a slaughter by how the British remember the bombing of London in WW2. The bombing changed this country forever, and that was during a true war with clear causes, enemies and goals. Imagine what it must be like for people who are being mass murdered, without provocation, soley for money and oil. If you can imagine that, then you understand the level of emotion that drives people to do what was done here and in other cities. That level of anger is in itself a frightening thing. Bliar says in his doublespeak that:

Ultimately, the government had to protect people but "the underlying issues have to be dealt with too in terms of trying to get rid of this dreadful perversion of the true faith of Islam." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4666311.stm

This has nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. The membership of ETA is Christian. No one in Spain says that their problems with ETA are to do with Christiantiy. This problem is 100% about the interference of the UK/USA in other peoples countries, and the people who are being harrassed in those lands fighting back either personally or through proxies. It is not a clash of cultures. It is not about the system of government that exists in "Middle East' countries. It most certainly not, as some deluded people are saying, the acts of people who 'hate our way of life' and who 'hate freedom'. Those are the most absurd of all the false reasons trotted out to explain these events. You know those reasons are not the case. This problem is soley the result of hurting people on a massive scale without provocation. I will digress for a moment. I am going to describe what having 'a problem with Islam' really looks like. You live in a city. You and half the city do not follow Islam. The local council is controlled by followers of 'Strict' Islam. The council decides to split the bus service into two; one set of busses for males and the other for females. You now have to wait twice as long for any bus because they are segregated. That is having a problem with Islam. That is the very real and practical problem that Nigerians have to face in towns where the Christians and Muslims live where the local council is secular. When Bliar talks about the "dreadful perversion of the true faith of Islam" he is talking about something that in reality has nothing to do with him and the UK at all. Those 'problems' are happening in other countries and not the UK. The people in Riyadh have no desire to tell joe blogs not to go down to the pub and get pissed every night, and anyone who thinks that they do, is utterly confused. The UK government needs to address its own problems, and only its own problems. This means garbage collection, traffic congestion, UK illiteracy and UK poverty. These problems are unglamourous but important. The ructions over veils, females driving, systems of government and everything else the muslims bicker about in their own lands are not the business of the UK government. Get out of the business of other peoples business and all your problems will melt away. Who in their right mind would deliberately engineer decades of future surprise bombings after having settled the IRA problem once and for all? We are looking right at them; Bliar, Straw-Man-Straw, Dumbo, Blindkid - collectively 'The Murder Inc. Franchise'. So desperate to make their personal marks on history that they have plunged the UK into a quagmire of revenge murders and disruption. These men are the direct cause of all of our problems. They are the direct cause of this avoidable and pointless outrage. Finally, nothing is more sickening than the ribbon sporting and date conjuring invented by the americans and now stupidly aped here. Refering to an event after the date on which it happened (you know which ones) implies that the two events are somehow linked in this false 'war on terror'. They are not. This event should not be refered to with numbers, nor should ribbons be flaunted; all focus should be on the root cause, whcih must be stamped out once and for all, and these symbols and words distract from what that root cause is, and how it needs to be finally and fully addressed. The only 'Letter To The Terrorists' that should come from London should come from Number 10 Downing Street, and it should read, "Via con Dios. You will never hear from us again.". We will all then be free to argue about garbage collection, traffic congestion, beer and pubs, and everything else civilized people discuss day in and day out.

Friday, July 08, 2005

churchy

"London is like a pre-historic monster into whose armoured hide showers of arrows may be shot in vain" -- Sir Winston Churchill

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Software Patents in the EU quashed

The EU Parliament has thrown out the software patent bill by 648 votes to 14. That means you can download and work on VLC, MPlayer and all the other cool things you want to without fear of being sued. It also means that if you are writing an IM client, you can safely impliment a 'the other person is typing' feature without fear of being sued by M$. At last some good news!

Can you feel it?

8Evil Can you FEEEEEEEL the t-shirt coming?!

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Pilger bursts the bubble

John Pilger isn't celebrating victory John Pilger Monday 27th June 2005 Tony Blair's "vision for Africa" is about as patronising and exploitative as a stage full of white pop stars (with black tokens now added). By John Pilger The front page of the Observer on 12 June announced, "$55bn Africa debt deal 'a victory for millions'". The "victory for millions" is a quotation of Bob Geldof, who said, "Tomorrow 280 million Africans will wake up for the first time in their lives without owing you or me a penny . . ." The nonsense of this would be breathtaking if the reader's breath had not already been extracted by the unrelenting sophistry of Bob Geldof, Bono, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, the Observer et al. Africa's imperial plunder and tragedy have been turned into a circus for the benefit of the so-called G8 leaders due in Scotland next month and those of us willing to be distracted by the barkers of the circus: the establishment media and their "celebrities". The illusion of an anti-establishment crusade led by pop stars - a cultivated, controlling image of rebellion - serves to dilute a great political movement of anger. In summit after summit, not one significant "promise" of the G8 has been kept, and the "victory for millions" is no different. It is a fraud - actually a setback to reducing poverty in Africa. Entirely conditional on vicious, discredited economic programmes imposed by the World Bank and the IMF, the "package" will ensure that the "chosen" countries slip deeper into poverty. Is it any surprise that this is backed by Blair and Brown, and Bush; even the White House calls it a "milestone"? For them, it is a useful facade, held up by the famous and the naive and the inane. Having effused about Blair, Geldof describes Bush as "passionate and sincere" about ending poverty. Bono has called Blair and Brown "the John and Paul of the global development stage". Behind this front, rapacious power can "reorder" the lives of millions in favour of totalitarian corporations and their control of the world's resources. There is no conspiracy; the goal is no secret. Gordon Brown spells it out in speech after speech, which liberal journalists choose to ignore, preferring the Treasury spun version. The G8 communique announcing the "victory for millions" is unequivocal. Under the section headline "G8 proposals for HIPC debt cancellation", it says that debt relief will be granted to poor countries only if they are shown to be "adjusting their gross assistance flows by the amount given": in other words, their aid will be reduced by the same amount as the debt relief. So they gain nothing. Paragraph two states that "it is essential" that poor countries "boost private sector development" and ensure "the elimination of impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign". The "$55bn" claimed by the Observer comes down, at most, to £1bn spread over 18 countries. This will almost certainly be halved - providing less than six days' worth of debt payments - because Blair and Brown want the IMF to pay its share of the "relief" by revaluing its vast stock of gold, and passionate and sincere Bush has said no. The first unmentionable is that the gold was plundered originally from Africa. The second unmentionable is that debt payments are due to rise sharply from next year, more than doubling by 2015. This will mean not "victory for millions", but death for millions. [...] http://www.newstatesman.com/200506270006

The 13 Devils gathered to unleash their bag of tricks!

July 4th and the end of America, land of the free

Mike Adams | July 4 2005

Happy July 4th. On this, the 229th birthday of our nation, we find the very foundation of our nation in grave danger as our (elected?) leaders continue to destroy many of the rights and freedoms our forefathers worked so hard to put in place. It is no coincidence that, this very week, our President has created a domestic spy service called the National Security Service. That's the NSS, not to be confused with the SS of Nazi Germany, which had much the same function in pre-war Germany.

Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Not to be outdone in the race to a police state, the Supreme Court lobotomized the 4th Amendment last week. There is no longer anything resembling "private property" in this country. There is only the illusion of ownership, as long as it is allowed by your government. At the stroke of a pen, any government (city, state, federal) can seize your land and your home, for any reason.

In other words, the State is now the true owner of all land and all property. The very term "owner" refers to the person or organization that controls the use of that land. If you don't control its use, you are not the owner. The State is. You just pay rent. And if you don't cooperate with government takeover of your land, they can always declare you a terrorist and seize your land under The Patriot Act.

Speaking of The Patriot Act, this misguided act allows the U.S. government to secretly tap your phone lines without a court order. It also allows the feds to rifle through library records in order to spot "terrorist readers" who apparently frequent these institutions of knowledge. Libraries are terrorist training camps, didn't you know?

Amendment VI: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Think the Bill of Rights still applies in this country? The 6th Amendment has been nullified by the practices taking place at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. government simply kidnaps anyone they want, ships them off to Gitmo, then leaves them there to rot, without being charged, without a trial, and without legal representation. By calling them "enemy combatants," the Bush Administration seemingly avoids having to abide by the Geneva Convention as well, which requires certain standards of treatment for prisoners of war

Amendment XIV: ...nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. As the Bush Administration runs rampant over the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, do you feel any safer from terrorists? Do you feel like this administration is protecting your life, liberty and property? Are you any freer or safer today than you were five years ago?

Of course not. We're all in far more danger, and we're all less free. Our Constitution and its Bill of Rights lie in shambles. The very fact that this is happening reckons back to the purpose of the Bill of Rights in the first place: to ensure that no government tramples on its people.

You see, our nation's forefathers understood that the greatest threat to freedom was not an enemy nation, but rather a nation's own government. The Bill of Rights was created for the sole purpose of limiting the power of government over the people. Our forefathers knew that all governments eventually get out of control and become oppressive regimes. So they purposefully created the Bill of Rights in an effort to guarantee that no government could deprive its citizens of free speech, freedom to bear arms, the right to own land, and other rights necessary for the prosperity of a free nation.

That our own government is systematically destroying the Bill of Rights is proof that our forefathers were correct. [...]

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/july2005/040705endofamerica.htm

Monday, July 04, 2005

Gizmo Project

Gizmo is a free phone for your computer: HOME - http://www.gizmoproject.com/index.html Wow; Skype have 150,000,000 downloads, almost 3,000,000 people online at any one time and still there is space for another internet telephone.

Squeezing soft clay to strangle it

Panic in No 10 as ID card support collapses By Toby Helm and Brendan Carlin (Filed: 04/07/2005)

Tony Blair's hopes of bringing in a national system of identity cards were looking increasingly imperilled last night amid signs of collapsing public support and panic within the Government.

A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph shows that backing for ID cards has plummeted from 78 per cent less than two years ago to 45 per cent.

A burning identity card placard
Support is dwindling for Tony Blair's identity card scheme

The figures, released as MPs begin detailed debate of the legislation this week, will dismay ministers who have claimed public support for the project. It will also embolden opponents at Westminster to redouble their fight.

Amid further signs of Labour disarray, it emerged yesterday that the Prime Minister had delivered a furious rebuke to Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, for "going soft" on the fight against crime.

A Downing Street memo, reported in The Sunday Telegraph, revealed that Mr Blair had intervened to order Mr Clarke to cap the cost of identity cards to limit the Labour backbench rebellion in last week's vote in the Commons.

The memo also revealed that he ordered urgent action to prevent a "sense of fatalism" creeping in to Labour's "respect" agenda which includes ID cards, anti-social behaviour and the fight against crime. [...]

John McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, said: "As people become more aware of the cost, the inability of the technology to work and the impact on civil liberties they realise they don't want ID cards. At some stage the Government will have to accept reality and let the whole idea die quietly."

Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for Vauxhall, said: "In another six months support will sink even further. This is the Government's opportunity to recognise reality, stop wasting public money and get out while the going is good."

David Davis, the favourite to succeed Michael Howard as Tory leader, said: "The Government has not just lost the argument on ID cards. It is also losing the plot on this massive project which shows every sign of spiralling out of control."

Last week a report by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) said the cost of cards could be as high £20 billion - three times Government estimates. The LSE put the lowest cost to each individual at £170.

Mr Clarke dismissed the LSE figures saying the total cost of a biometric passport containing fingerprints and an iris scan - and a separate ID card - would be around £100 and hinted that he would cap the bill at that level.

Last week Mr Blair suggested that he does not see ID cards as an issue of confidence. Asked whether he could be persuaded to drop the plan if the opposition became overwhelming, he said: "I did not come into politics to introduce identity cards." [...]

Telegraph

The more they tighten their grip, the more the population slips through their fingers.

The Fruits of The Conet Project

I have been sent or informed about the work of some fine artists who have been inspired by The Conet Project. Bruce Tovsky has produced a quite brilliant five minute video piece 'Ether' which is compelling and full of truth. Noah22 has produced a set of sculptures that I find to be spot on. I can feel a turbine hall installation coming.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience Return to Thoreau Reader

Desobediencia Civil - Spanish translation by Hernando Jiménez


While Walden can be applied to almost anyone's life, "Civil Disobedience" is like a venerated architectural landmark: it is preserved and admired, and sometimes visited, but for most of us there are not many occasions when it can actually be used. Still, although it is seldom mentioned without references to Gandhi and King, "Civil Disobedience" has more history than many suspect. In the 1940's it was read by the Danish resistance, in the 1950's it was cherished by people who opposed McCarthyism, in the 1960's it was influential in the struggle against South African apartheid, and in the 1970's it was discovered by a new generation of anti-war activists. The lesson learned from all this experience is that Thoreau's ideas really do work, just as he imagined they would.

"Civil Disobedience" in three parts: One - Two - Three

(Originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government")

"I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest." - Martin Luther King, Jr, Autobiography, Chapter 2

Did Thoreau change his mind later? Because this essay is often associated with passive civil disobediance, some have assumed that Thoreau's later support of John Brown was a change from his earlier position. But Michael J. Frederick, in "Transcendental Ethos: Thoreau’s Philosophy & Antebellum Reform," explains why this was not the case.

Was Tolstoy influenced by Thoreau? Lawrence Rosenwald, in a footnote for The Theory, Practice, and Influence of Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, points out that "Tolstoy is actually a questionable case ... Passages from Thoreau, like passages from Emerson, turn up in Tolstoy's A Circle of Reading, and Tolstoy sometimes refers to Thoreau, but almost always as part of a formulaic list including Adin Ballou, Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison, and Theodore Parker."

"when, in the mid-1950's, the United States Information Service included as a standard book in all their libraries around the world a textbook of American literature which reprinted Thoreau's 'Civil Disobedience,' the late Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin succeeded in having that book removed from the shelves — specifically because of the Thoreau essay." - Walter Harding, in The Variorum Civil Disobedience

Much more information: Links to other "Civil Disobedience" sites

"Civil Disobedience" originated as a Concord Lyceum lecture delivered by Thoreau on January 26, 1848. It was published as "Resistance to Civil Government," in May of 1849, in Elizabeth Peabody's Aesthetic Papers, a short-lived periodical that never managed a second issue. The modern title comes from Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers, an 1866 collection of Thoreau's work. It's not known if Thoreau ever used the term "civil disobedience."


Copyright © 2005 Richard Lenat, All Rights Reserved

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http://eserver.org/thoreau/civil.html

Viva Italia

fai da te This is the inevitable result of legislation painting out every single aspect of life so that even the most simple things become burdened by the law. The weight of it becomes so great that everything collapses and people simply don't bother to obey anymore. People have the absolute right to transact privately for any purpose that doesnt hurt anyone else. If I want to open my house and charge friends for food and drink and music that is entirely my business and the business of whomever I invite into my private house. Now obviously, if I start to disturb my neighbors with terrible drunken noise every night, I am harming someone else, and that is wrong, but in absentia of any disturbance or harm, this is my right, and no one can tell me that I cannot smoke in my own house, have people in my house and charge them for being there, eatiing food or drinking drink, have them smoke there p;aying music there and doing whatever I and my friends want. It's no one's business, plain and simple. Let the restaurant trade all over the west die a death to be replaced with 18th century style eating in private 'unregulated' dining clubs. To hell with the health and safety regulations; I will only eat with people I trust anyway; they can't possibly police every piece of meat that goes into a dish, and so these people are simply filling an artificial need created by legislation. We can do without them, and the extra cost they incur which is passed on to everyone as a stealth tax as decent people struggle to conform to pointless regulations. Why do you think that the prices in the 'fai da te' are around ten pounds? When you strip away all the nonsense, all the regulatoins and taxes, that is how much you can charge people for a meal and still make money! This gives everyone (with a working imagination) a glimpse into what the world could be like with a stripped back government whose only job is to clean the streets and maintain public utilities that are owned by everyone equally. In that world, you can survive, nay, thrive on a small amount of money, leaving you free to be creative and fulfilled...leaving you free. I adore stories like this and the underground cinema of Paris. People saying (if even obliquely in the Paris case) 'enough is enough' the camels back is broken...go to hell. I'm sure you have all heard that Italy is planning to ditch the Euro and peg a revived Lira to the Dollar. If Europe had been started around the rights of the individual, its momentum would have been unstoppable and its cohesion unbreakable. What we got instead is a union designed by and for the benefit of beaurocrats and industry. In a space where the population is highly educated (unlike the usa) it is impossible to keep up a blantant fraud like Europe forever. This is why it is dissintegrating. Cheese, bananas vitamins and sausages...they all choked the European experiment to death.

Erections Demolished

How completely insulting. "You have hate. You have anger...but you don't use them" Who the fuck do these people think they are? These people, much more than 'the man in the street', know precisely who and what they are. Thats is how they can giggle as they dismantle the west while people actually applaud as it is being done.