IDENTITY CARDS Within five years ministers want compulsory “biometric” ID cards and passports, with fingerprints and iris scans, which would be held on a national database accessible to the police and border authorities. Charles Clarke, the home secretary, has said ID cards would not have prevented the London attacks but that they would make it considerably more difficult for terrorists to operate in Britain. Critics say ID card technology is open to forgery and error and that the cost could be as high as £6 billion. Libertarians lament the arrival of Big Brother. The scheme’s defenders argue that, as closed-circuit television has demonstrated, knowing where people are is crucial to the fight against terrorism. Denham: “There were people who were sceptical about the scale of any serious terrorist threat to Britain before, but who will now be in no doubt. I think what the past few weeks means is that the government has to get this bill right in all aspects and make sure the scheme is the right one in terms of cost and how it works.” Verdict: Despite the loss of some liberties, we will have to learn to live with ID cards.This breathtakingly simple minded piece was written by one "David Cracknell". I want the same crack that Cracknell smokes when he writes. I have said it before; a medicine that cures your illness after you are dead is of no use to anyone, and this is precisely what ID cards are. They would not have prevented suicide bombing (even Dumbo admits this), can not prevent it (as we see in Israel, where everyone has ID cards) and should not be introduced here. They are only useful to control the honest ordinary citizen; that is their true, ultimate utility. See this article in the observer of how ID cards will be used in the future, should they be itroduced here. You have the intelligence to be able to fill in the blanks. The 'verdict' section is just about as simple minded as you can get. Why should anyone have to 'learn to live with ID cards' if ID cards will not 'stop this from happening again'?. The fact of the matter is that no one should put up with any loss of civil liberties whatsoever unless any such loss can be proved to be an effective measure against suicide bombers, and it of course should be a temporary measure to be revoked at the end of the crisis. ID cards, the new laws and everything that the government is proposing fails this measure, and so all of it should be thrown out immediately. CCTV only helps you catch a criminal after he has done the crime, and in the case of suicide bombers, they are dead, and there is no one to arrest and punish, let alone question. It is only by luck that the second set of bombers failed, providing the police with some bad guys to track down. Had they succeeded, CCTV would not have prevented them from blowing themselves up, and CCTV will not stop the next set from doing so either. CCTV has actually shown that it is useless as a crime prevention tool, and is only of use in solving a crime after the fact. This article is about how we can stop this from happening again. CCTV and ID cards will not do it. More CCVT will not help. Introducing ID cards will not help. There is a dreadful section on 'Multiculturalism' which again, completely ignores the true nature of what is going on. Everyone now accepts that the world is interdependent and interlocked. Imagine the world as if it were a single human body. If the right hand of the world takes a lit match and holds it under the big toe of its left foot, the whole body suffers the pain. This is blantantly obvious, but for some reason it is not obvious to the Cracknells of this world that bombing the crap out of Bhagdad is exactly the same thing. Bombing another persons country is no longer a matter of bad karma; it is now the case that when you bomb another persons country, the people who came from that country who live amongst you and who have done so for decades are hurt. Terribly hurt. This is directly analogous to shooting yourself in the foot. Now that everyone from everywhere lives everywhere, governments cannot wage the plutocratic or philosophically driven wars in the way that they used to without directly, immediately and personally feeling the reaction of pain. This is a good thing, because eventually, this means they will have to stop what they are doing. When the population of the UK is 35% muslim, it will be literally impossible for the UK to bomb a muslim country without reason. Multiculturalism, and immigration are the carbon rods that cool down the runaway racist chain reaction which drops bombs on other peoples countries. Wether or not people choose to speak English or watch East Enders has nothing to do with the wrongness of the current foreign policy, and to think that forcing people to speak English and be 'more British' will stop them wanting to pay back the foul crimes against humanity that will inevitably go unpunished is to underestimate the level of disgust and all consuming hatred these people feel. The article is wrong in this regard also. All of these people speak fluent English (and one speaks English AND Italian). They are angry about the murder of innocents for money. The difference between them and the millions who marched in London is that they have been pushed to the limit, to a point where they have nothing to gain by staying alive in a world where there is no justice, where 'they' are to be the slaves of the west ad infinitum. That is how they see it. That is what is motivating them. No amount of East Enders can counter it. No pledge given in a citizen ceremony, no brainwashing in a school can dent it. When some people see horror perpetrated on people who are 'just like them' it drives them to the point of near madness. Look how army recruitment shot up after '911'; those young americans wanted payback, and they joined the army to get it. These people, who have no army, no power to join with, take their payback in a different way. Had there been no British participation, none of these emotions would have been directed here. This is not just a selfish wish in a bid to stop the possibility of being destroyed on a bus while you are out getting ice cream with your children. Staying out of those people's problems in the case of the criminal Iraq invasion was actually the right thing to do. It is now of paramount importance that the UK does the right thing all the time. If it does not, then it will be burning its own toe by its own hand, and we will all have to live with he pain and the limping. You will notice that I have not included the standard disclaimer, pouring scorn on the people who blew themselves up, though I do call them names, which you might take as a sneaky disclaimer. I don't like disclaimers of that sort. Every time someone wants to say something out of step with the current group think, they always prefix or suffix their statement with a disclaimer, so that they are not cut off from the group. Anyone who reads this blog knows what I think about violence, and so, I choose not to put a disclaimer into everything that I write about this nonsense. Everyone should already understand that 100% of people are against violence. Air and keystrokes shouldn't be wasted on these tiresome and false sounding disclaimers. And now, it's time for tea, it being four o'clock.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
The Enemy Within is The times
Focus: How can we stop this happening again?
The London bombings and their aftermath have sparked unprecedented calls for government action to prevent future attacks. In overwhelming numbers, people say they are willing to accept seeing civil liberties curtailed to secure long-term security. A YouGov poll in the aftermath of the July 7 bombings found that seven out of 10 people believed it was sometimes necessary to restrict civil liberties in order to combat terrorism. [...]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1715169_1,00.htm
No, no, no and no.
The Enemy Within is The Times, and all people who think like them.
Not once in this scandalous, evil, un British, reactionary and rather stupid piece was there any mention of the UK staying out of the affairs of the middle east, despite the fact that one of the failed suicide bombing simpletons has now admitted to the Carabinieri that they were inspired by the USUK atrocities in Iraq to try and do what they did.
The fact of this matter, and it is the whole fact, is, that if the UK were not meddling in other peoples affairs, none of this would have happened. We would all still be living very quietly and without any fear.
If people like those at The Times succeed, the future of this country will be the wrong one, and it will all come to pass thanks to a small number of very bad people who will not to this day take 'no' for an answer.
The Section on ID cards is worth pulling apart, since we are perpetually interested in it here. I quoth:
"For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"
"For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"
The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...
Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop.
SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.
Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor.
SPIEGEL: Do you have an explanation for this paradox?
Shikwati: Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.
SPIEGEL: Even in a country like Kenya, people are starving to death each year. Someone has got to help them.
Shikwati: But it has to be the Kenyans themselves who help these people. When there's a drought in a region of Kenya, our corrupt politicians reflexively cry out for more help. This call then reaches the United Nations World Food Program -- which is a massive agency of apparatchiks who are in the absurd situation of, on the one hand, being dedicated to the fight against hunger while, on the other hand, being faced with unemployment were hunger actually eliminated. It's only natural that they willingly accept the plea for more help. And it's not uncommon that they demand a little more money than the respective African government originally requested. They then forward that request to their headquarters, and before long, several thousands tons of corn are shipped to Africa ...
SPIEGEL: ... corn that predominantly comes from highly-subsidized European and American farmers ...
Shikwati: ... and at some point, this corn ends up in the harbor of Mombasa. A portion of the corn often goes directly into the hands of unsrupulous politicians who then pass it on to their own tribe to boost their next election campaign. Another portion of the shipment ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program. And because the farmers go under in the face of this pressure, Kenya would have no reserves to draw on if there actually were a famine next year. It's a simple but fatal cycle.
SPIEGEL: If the World Food Program didn't do anything, the people would starve.
Shikwati: I don't think so. In such a case, the Kenyans, for a change, would be forced to initiate trade relations with Uganda or Tanzania, and buy their food there. This type of trade is vital for Africa. It would force us to improve our own infrastructure, while making national borders -- drawn by the Europeans by the way -- more permeable. It would also force us to establish laws favoring market economy.
SPIEGEL: Would Africa actually be able to solve these problems on its own?
Shikwati: Of course. Hunger should not be a problem in most of the countries south of the Sahara. In addition, there are vast natural resources: oil, gold, diamonds. Africa is always only portrayed as a continent of suffering, but most figures are vastly exaggerated. In the industrial nations, there's a sense that Africa would go under without development aid. But believe me, Africa existed before you Europeans came along. And we didn't do all that poorly either.
SPIEGEL: But AIDS didn't exist at that time.
Shikwati: If one were to believe all the horrorifying reports, then all Kenyans should actually be dead by now. But now, tests are being carried out everywhere, and it turns out that the figures were vastly exaggerated. It's not three million Kenyans that are infected. All of the sudden, it's only about one million. Malaria is just as much of a problem, but people rarely talk about that.
SPIEGEL: And why's that?
Shikwati: AIDS is big business, maybe Africa's biggest business. There's nothing else that can generate as much aid money as shocking figures on AIDS. AIDS is a political disease here, and we should be very skeptical.
SPIEGEL: The Americans and Europeans have frozen funds previously pledged to Kenya. The country is too corrupt, they say.
Shikwati: I am afraid, though, that the money will still be transfered before long. After all, it has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason. It makes no sense whatsoever that directly after the new Kenyan government was elected -- a leadership change that ended the dictatorship of Daniel arap Mois -- the faucets were suddenly opened and streams of money poured into the country.
SPIEGEL: Such aid is usually earmarked for a specific objective, though.
Shikwati: That doesn't change anything. Millions of dollars earmarked for the fight against AIDS are still stashed away in Kenyan bank accounts and have not been spent. Our politicians were overwhelmed with money, and they try to siphon off as much as possible. The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynically summed it up by saying: "The French government pays for everything in our country. We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."
SPIEGEL: In the West, there are many compassionate citizens wanting to help Africa. Each year, they donate money and pack their old clothes into collection bags ...
Shikwati: ... and they flood our markets with that stuff. We can buy these donated clothes cheaply at our so-called Mitumba markets. There are Germans who spend a few dollars to get used Bayern Munich or Werder Bremen jerseys, in other words, clothes that that some German kids sent to Africa for a good cause. After buying these jerseys, they auction them off at Ebay and send them back to Germany -- for three times the price. That's insanity ...
SPIEGEL: ... and hopefully an exception.
Shikwati: Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livlihoods. They're in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products. In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria's textile industry. By 2003, the figure had dropped to 57,000. The results are the same in all other areas where overwhelming helpfulness and fragile African markets collide.
SPIEGEL: Following World War II, Germany only managed to get back on its feet because the Americans poured money into the country through the Marshall Plan. Wouldn't that qualify as successful development aid?
Shikwati: In Germany's case, only the destroyed infrastructure had to be repaired. Despite the economic crisis of the Weimar Republic, Germany was a highly- industrialized country before the war. The damages created by the tsunami in Thailand can also be fixed with a little money and some reconstruction aid. Africa, however, must take the first steps into modernity on its own. There must be a change in mentality. We have to stop perceiving ourselves as beggars. These days, Africans only perceive themselves as victims. On the other hand, no one can really picture an African as a businessman. In order to change the current situation, it would be helpful if the aid organizations were to pull out.
SPIEGEL: If they did that, many jobs would be immediately lost ...
Shikwati: ... jobs that were created artificially in the first place and that distort reality. Jobs with foreign aid organizations are, of course, quite popular, and they can be very selective in choosing the best people. When an aid organization needs a driver, dozens apply for the job. And because it's unacceptable that the aid worker's chauffeur only speaks his own tribal language, an applicant is needed who also speaks English fluently -- and, ideally, one who is also well mannered. So you end up with some African biochemist driving an aid worker around, distributing European food, and forcing local farmers out of their jobs. That's just crazy!
SPIEGEL: The German government takes pride in precisely monitoring the recipients of its funds.
Shikwati: And what's the result? A disaster. The German government threw money right at Rwanda's president Paul Kagame. This is a man who has the deaths of a million people on his conscience -- people that his army killed in the neighboring country of Congo.
SPIEGEL: What are the Germans supposed to do?
Shikwati: If they really want to fight poverty, they should completely halt development aid and give Africa the opportunity to ensure its own survival. Currently, Africa is like a child that immediately cries for its babysitter when something goes wrong. Africa should stand on its own two feet.
[...]
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html
 |
 Horst Friedrichs Economist James Shikwati: "Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor." |
 |
AFP Ruandan President Kagame has over a million deaths on his conscience, says Shikwati. |
 |
DPA Former Central African Republic leader Jean-Bedel Bokassa: "We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it." |
|
 |
AFP Congolese line up for a United Nations food delivery in 2002. |
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Skype almost bought for THREE BILLION
Skyped
The Likely Sale of Skype Will Be Another Kick in the Head to Old-Line Phone Companies Worldwide
By Robert X. Cringely
In high tech, the theory goes, advantage lies with the pioneers -- the first company to introduce a product in a new category. And that's true except when it is not, which is typically when the pioneers were too early, too expensive, or too difficult to use. In those cases, a second model generally holds, and in that one, the dominant company is a later entrant who simply does the task far better than it had been done before. For Internet searching, Google is a perfect example of this latter effect, entering the market years after Alta Vista and Excite. And the Google of VoIP looks like it might be Skype, which was almost sold last week to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for $3 billion.
It may seem odd for me to be writing a story about a company ALMOST being sold, but there is still plenty to be learned from this story that never really happened, especially if Skype ends up being sold next week or the week after, which is a very real possibility.
Skype, for those who've never heard of or used the service, is a Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) company based in Luxembourg. Remember when all the hot Internet startups were in the U.S.? No more. That started to change years ago when Mirabilis, an Israeli company, invented the ICQ messaging system, later sold to AOL.
[...]
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050728.html
My emphasis.
Quick Thorough and Complete
The suspect's constant use of cell phones betrayed his attempt to find refuge. As well as calling his brother in Rome, he talked to his father who lives in Brescia, in northern Italy.
The suspect, who speaks good Italian, told investigators that he was brought up in Italy after his family sought asylum from Somalia when he was a child. [...]
A phone centre and internet cafe run by his brother near Rome's Termini railway station is also being searched by Italian police. [...]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4730265.stm
My Emphasis.
This is amazing work. They tracked all of the suspects down, and took all of them in without any injuries. Thats the way it should happen; clean, quick and professional. No one gets hurt, only the bad guys get rounded up. No mass arrests and herding/processing of people in 'holding areas'. Sadly, its all been tainted by the Brazilian incedent...but given the way other countries deal with their problems, the way this has been handled here is an example to every country where they simply round up eveyone that looks like an enemy 'just in case'. Britain is the best, no doubt about it. At least, on this occasion.... They caught one of the suspects in ITALY, because he used his cellular telephone. This means several things. It means that co-operation between the states in the EU is working perfectly. It mean that the police, when they want to, can catch any criminal. Most importantly it means the police have enough powers today, to catch any criminal that they need to catch, in very short order, and with a high level of efficiency and accuracy. There is no need for any more legislation for mandatory retention of telephone and email records and certainly the completely absurd proposals about 'hate speech' will not solve a single thing. There is no need for ID cards; the police simply do not need them to get the job done. This is very clear. The police need only one thing; higher wages and more staff. Gtreater police numbers would be far more effective in solving and preventing crime than any legislation - the problem is, passing a law forbidding a kind of speech doesn't cost any money over time, but doing something real like doubling the number of police will cost 'a fortune', and this government doesn't want to spend money on the British public. The billions that they want to waste on rolling out a very bad ID card should be spent on more police, and better pay for police. But you know this!
Group Think Violation, Class 1
Calls for Leading Muslim Cleric to resign and be prosecuted for saying "Al Qaeda does not exist"
London Telegraph | July 28 2005
Comment: Mohammad Naseem today also appeared on BBC radio and asserted that there is no evidence Al Qaeda exists, no evidence it carried out the London Bombings and that it is a construction of Intelligence agencies falling in line with the CIA. These are all provable facts as we regularly point out on this website by refering to official sources. Are we to be prosecuted as well? The MAJORITY of the callers on the show also rightly pointed out that Bin Laden was a CIA asset and Al Qaeda, if it exists at all is a loose knit group of Mujahideen trained and funded by the CIA to do battle with Russian forces in Afghanistan in the late 70s and 1980s.
For the soundbites click here and fast forward to 1 hour 22 mins into the show, and then later on 2 hours 45 mins into the show.
The most senior Islamic cleric in Birmingham claimed yesterday that Muslims were being unjustly blamed in the war on terrorism and that the eight suspects in the two bombing attacks on London "could have been innocent passengers".
Mohammad Naseem, the chairman of the city's central mosque, called Tony Blair a "liar" and "unreliable witness" and questioned whether CCTV footage issued of the suspected bombers was of the perpetrators.
He said that Muslims "all over the world have never heard of an organisation called al-Qa'eda".
Mr Naseem, who was speaking after police seized Yasin Hassan Omar in Birmingham, delivered his unprompted outburst when he was invited to a press conference with West Midlands police and Birmingham city council to help calm fears of racial or religious tension after the arrest.
It was held near the police cordon in Heybarnes Road, where Omar was arrested.
His comments shocked senior police officers.
Sources said that attempts to encourage Muslims to pass them information on the bombers' activities would be hindered. One said: "We are trying to gain the trust of the Muslim community and these kinds of comments have the opposite effect. All they do is encourage communities to close ranks against us."
To the obvious embarrassment of council officials and police standing next to him, Mr Naseem said the Government and security services "were not to be relied upon".
He said: "Tony Blair has told lies on going to Iraq and in a court of law if a witness has proved to be a liar he ceases to be a reliable witness. So we cannot give our blind trust to the Government.
"To have that trust it is important that the process of law should be independent, open and transparent. I am also sad that unfortunately the impression has been given that Muslims are to be targeted in this war against terror. There seems to be a directive to target Muslims. Why do we not have an open mind about this?
"Muslim bashing seems to be more earnest than the need for national unity and harmony. Terrorists can be anybody - we will have to see [whether the bombers are Muslims]. The process is not open; the process is not transparent; the process is not independent. I do not have faith in the system as it stands."
Mr Naseem is one of the most respected Muslims in the city and is considered a moderate. He has regular meetings with the chief constable to discuss religious harmony.
Mr Naseem said that while it was vital that terrorism was stamped out and that there was never any justification for it, the Government had not helped by going to war in Iraq.
Dismissing the Prime Minister's insistence that the war had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks, he said: "Tony Blair … is not going to be perceived as a reliable witness. His comments could motivate someone to take the law into his own hands.
"Some people have been caught but I have not seen any evidence. The process of law is not open."
Asked about the suspects' DNA being found at the scene of the first attacks, he said: "DNA can match you, but that does not mean you are going to commit a crime. Thousands of youths are passing by and caught on CCTV, so how do you know it is them?"
He added: "We must rely upon trust that we have between communities.
"We must remain united in the fight against terrorism but the process should be independent and open, not like the Hutton inquiry, not like the Lord Butler inquiry." And, in an editorial in The Dawn, the central mosque's newsletter, Mr Naseem writes: "Where is the evidence that four youths whose pictures were caught on CCTV cameras…were the perpetrators? How did we reject the possibility they were just innocent victims of this terrible happening? They had bought return train tickets."
From Prison Planet
[...]
Al Qaeda does not exist. It is the sick, racist fantasy of religious bigots, created by 'power' which it (power) is using in a blantant attempt to corall the masses of humanity into the New World Order of ID cards, Soviet style law and total control.
Alan Curtis says so. I say so. Everyone I know thinks and says so.
Anyone who calls for the prosecution of a man for speaking an opinion is part of the problem, too dangerous to be kept alive, first against the wall when the revolution comes, bang out of order, up for the chop, a bad sort, and my personal enemy.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Data Retention...Bad
Data retention is no solution!
The European ministers of Justice and the European Commission want to keep all telephone and internet traffic data of all 450 million Europeans. If you are concerned about this plan, please sign the petition. What's wrong with data retention? The proposal to retain traffic data will reveal who has been calling and e-mailing whom, what websites people have visited and even where they were with their mobile phones. Telephone companies and internet services providers would be ordered to store all traffic data of their customers. Police and intelligence agencies in Europe would be granted access the traffic data. Various, competing proposals in Brussels mention retention periods from 6 months up to four years. Data retention is an invasive tool that interferes with the private lives of all 450 million people in the European Union. Data retention is a policy that expands powers of surveillance in an unprecedented manner. It simultaneously revokes many of the safeguards in European human rights instruments, such as the Data Protection Directives and the European Convention on Human Rights. Data retention means that governments may interfere with your private life and private communications regardless if you are suspected of a crime or not. Data retention is not a solution to terrorism and crime! In July 2005 the European Parliament adopted a report by Parliament member Alexander Alvaro on the mandatory data retention plan. The report concludes that the proposal is disproportionate. The report also questions the necessity, effectiveness and high costs for industry and telecommunication users. No research has been conducted anywhere in Europe that supports the need and necessity of creating such a large-scale database containing such sensitive data for the purpose of fighting crime and terrorism. The attacks on London are an attack on human rights. The protection of those human rights matters most when governments and societies face times of crisis. The worst possible response would be to jeopardise those carefully wrought rights by a panic-inspired response. A mass surveillance response to terror would result in a resounding success for the perpetrators of these attacks: a fundamental undermining of our most fundamental values. What can you do to stop this plan? If you are concerned about the European plans for data retention, please sign the petition and alert as many people as you can to support this campaign. The signatures will be sent to the European Commission and the European Parliament. [...] http://www.dataretentionisnosolution.com/index.php?lang=eng Hmmm the patent directive was thrown out comprehensively, perhaps the EU can be controlled with democratic pressure...let us see. Imagine, after years of being run badly, the EU becomes the protector of everyone's rights in a consistent and sensible way....stranger things have (and are probably about to) happened.
Sell Sell Sell!
I'd say the anyone in the area chance it and start a protest before the 1st of August
Even better, turn up and establish your pre-Augustan protest, and then hand it over to another person when you get tired of it so that it may continue ad nauseum, or...sell/rent your 'pitch' to the highest bidder who wants to enter that space!
Meanwhile....
My italic emphasis. Bliar and Murder Inc must drool at the UNNNNLLIMITED POWWWEERRRRRR of Mr Pervez, who can not only kick out foreign nationals at the drop of a hat, but also his own citizens should that be his pleasure.Madrassa foreigners 'must leave'
Madrassas must not be misused for extremism, says Musharraf Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says all foreign students at madrassas, or religious schools, some 1,400 pupils, must leave the country. "Any [foreigners] in the madrassas - even dual nationality holders - will leave Pakistan," Gen Musharraf said. This is the latest in a series of measures the president has announced in a renewed clampdown on extremism. Madrassas have been in the spotlight after one of the London bombers was reported to have studied at one. Invalid Gen Musharraf told foreign journalists in Islamabad: "They must leave. We will not issue visas to such people. "We will not allow madrassas to be misused for extremism, hatred being projected in our society." He also told journalists that action would be taken against any of the madrassas that did not register with the authorities. Pakistani forces have detained hundreds of clerics and suspected militants since President Musharraf announced a new crackdown on 15 July. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4728643.stm
Countries that have great power
When a country obtains great power,
it becomes like the sea:
all streams run downward into it.
The more powerful it grows,
the greater the need for humility.
Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.
A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy as the shadow that he himself casts.
If a nation is centered in the Tao,
if it nourishes its own people
and doesn't meddle in the affairs of others,
it will be a light to all nations in the world.
"Lets go to the video tape!"
It'd be interesting to know how many witnesses remember what they saw
???!!!
Why don't they just show us the video tape from the pervasive CCTV to prove that what they are saying is the truth?
What is the betting that they will now never release this tape, because it contradicts the police version of the story?
What is the point of all the CCTV everywhere if it will not be used to corroborate the facts in a desperately important case? OK, so during an investigation that might go to court, any evidince like CCTV footage that is released now might not be admissible in court due to the rules of evidence (?!?!?) but in these 'times of extreme crisis' when people can be gunned down in the street without cause, SURELY the tape is more valuable as a tool to re-assure everyone in the UK that martial law has not been secretly declared and everyone's rights suspended for the duration; to re-assure everyone that the police, even under pressure like this, can be trusted to give a true account of what they are doing on behalf of and in the public's name.
That tape would go a long way to making things right. What goes a long way to making things wrong are the blantant and repulsive leaks to do with the Brazilian's immigration status, as if for some reason, being here on an expired visa has ANYTHING WHATSOEVER to do with him being executed in the street!!! And the newspapers all repeat this scandalous, shameless, dastardly and evil information with glee!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Shrooms!
Soon they'll have to lay off the mushrooms so things may become clearer, yeah.
Thats why shrooms are now illegal!!
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
So they have Tasers?!
Police were tonight questioning one of the four main suspects in the failed bomb attacks in London on July 21, security sources said.My emphasis. Wow. Let me be not the first to ask how it is that they can TASER someone who was alledgedly seen carrying a bomb, but they pump eight bullets into someone who was completely innocent? They had been following the Brazilian, watched him get onto a bus, and then cornered him like a dog and murdered him, but a man who they 'know for sure' was planning a bombing run, they TASER him instead of executing him. The only reason they would not have Tasered the Brazilian is because they did not want him to talk. This Omar 'suspect' was Tasered because....they want him to talk? It doesnt make any sense. They could have Tasered and held the brazilian, or stunned him with rubber bullets while he was walking down the street, but to hold him down and execute him....this is rather odd, and it is even more odd now that the police have Tasered someone who they suspect is a suicide bomber, and who they want to interrogate. Is this a case of Keystone Cops running wild, or are they obeying commands perfectly? Are they now going to Taser every suspect, or are they going to execute only the patsies and Taser the sacrificial lambs for the inevitable show trials? This sort of discrepancy feeds into the runaway rumor mill, this illogical, inconsistent behaviour, the other universe proclamations of Bliar and the Murder Inc franchise cabal. Really, what else would you expect in the absence of any honesty and real accountability?Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, a Somali connected to the attempted suicide bombing at Warren Street tube station, was arrested when anti-terrorist officers swooped on a home in the Hay Mills area of Birmingham at 4.30am, Guardian Unlimited understands.
He was felled with a Taser stun gun, which fires an electric charge, after a scuffle with police officers who raided a house in Heybarnes Road.
[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1536957,00.html
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 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
A Secret Service
submit your password at
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. [...]
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
Saturday, July 23, 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. július 21., csütörtök 16:16 — kategória: podcast
Szám-állomások felvételei, zenékkel.
Numbers Stations (60 perc, 82 MB)
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”
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
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 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.
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.
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.eceMy 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!
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fél kettő van. véleményem szerint az eddigi legjobb podcastunk.
szerintem nem, én spec untam aztán kikapcsoltam inkább, mondjuk nem hozott már a numbers stations sem lázba.
Nagyon jó podcast lett.!Sejtettem hogy valamikor fel fogod használni a Numbers Stations-okat The Tornado jólbeszélt :)
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.