Bush and Blair's relationship. Sounds normal to me.
This
article where a senior US official says Blair is routinely ignored by Bush should hardly come as a surprise. If fact it goes towards supporting what we understand.
What people don't see is that when my friend has a dog, a poodle in fact, she was the boss and the poodle's input was only taken when it suited her. It was used to being given instructions and was fed, watered, walked and looked after. If it wanted petted and it asked and if it suited the owner it got petted. The poodle was not the master.
So a normal human and poodle relationship then.
Double standards from the UK public.
The hot topic of conversation today with my father was the murder of Alexander
Litvinenko. He was going on about foreign nationals bumping people off on British streets.
Seems people come here for asylum and as long as they don't go on about changing things back home nobody seems to care. Once they start pushing from within the UK they seems be be considered legitimate targets. Perhaps something to consider?
Anyway, I pointed out that ,
arguably, the number one box office hit at the moment was a film about a UK spy who kills people abroad on government orders.
Not a hint of irony there at all.
Changing times.
OK. I know it's from the US but they seem to be inflicted with this insanity as well.
Read
here about changing times. US style.
Time for a visit from Firearms Licensing.
Well it seems a judge took a shotgun out to confront a
protester on his property. Read
here.
Now I seem to remember other incidents like this. Not from judges though and those people lost their licenses.
Got a feeling about this one though. Somehow I think this will buck the trend.
The IPCC swings into action.
Let's ignore the innocent civilians killed by armed police. Let's ignore the no knock raids that result in injury and destruction to property by armed police. Let's ignore the people beaten by our wonderful police force. Let's ignore the people nicked for trivial crimes while real criminals get ignored.
The IPCC has swung into action and after a five month investigation disciplined 140 staff for what it classes as a racist Email which was passed around showing a man running from police and getting killed. The caption 'Do not run from the police'. Of course as it was a black man it is classed as racist so the full strength of the law has to be brought to bear. Read the story
here.
Is there any part of our police force actually doing anything right due to the culture of PCness and the useless bunch of do gooders? I was interested in the comment from the President of the Black Police Association that it did not go far enough. The President of the White Police Association did not appear to comment as he was not quoted anywhere.
Catch 22 and the advantage of hindsight.
Reading this
article about, more, riots in France. A copper pulled a gun and shot two rioters, killing one and seriously injuring another. The Paris prosecutor has to decide if he will face charges and by leanings in the article he probably won't.
It sounds like he saved this guys life at the expense of one, and a half, of the bad guys. I'll shed no tears. If he hadn't done this then the innocent victim would likely be dead and he would be getting asked why he didn't do more to protect him, if he was still alive himself. From the outline he sounds like a copper to have around. Putting himself as protector against a mob like this shows a bravery that needs to be rewarded.
I've had several discussions with people on the morality and legality of this sort of issue. The French thing is a bit more straightforward but others give people pause. I like putting situations to them and getting there responses which are always different with the benefit of knowing the end result.
Remember Rodney King from the LA riots back in the early 90s. Guy in a truck stops because rioters step in front of him and get the crap kicked out of him. Now all the jokes and questions were all from people who were asking. Why did he stop? Why didn't he just keep going? Now if he did he would probably still be on death row awaiting his execution instead of being the fastest truck driver in the world. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
You are nicked for thinking. You evil scum.
According to this
article we are going to use profiling to identify the top 100 murderers and rapists before they commit the crimes where they can be hauled in for arrest or treatment. Of course the profilers and police will then claim that they were stopped in their tracks. What can be better than that?
Linking this with the ability to predict who will be criminals before birth we should go out an sterilise the parents of those predicted to be criminals. Let's stop these criminals from even being born. We could sterilise all by default and only leave those people who's profiles show they won't be killers or rapists
or libertarians or non socialists to have babies.
Nothing can possibly go wrong there at all and all of them would be totally guilty of thinking about these things at the very least. Of that we will have reams of paper saying so.
This has been going on for a few months now. I need to get armed and fast. Where is my local pirated DVD distributor? This is going well beyond a joke. Anybody who doesn't think there name is on a database of some sort now needs their head examined.
Mixed response is right.
This
article says that there was a mixed response to Blair apology over the slave trade. 'some campaigners have called for a full apology, others have said the PM's statement was enough'.
And
some say it was way over the top and didn't need to be said. Where is my entry in this mixed response? What is going on when people feel the need to give more and more on this subject?
Well, let them say and do what they want. Just don't be paying out any of my money is repatriations, compensation or even to charity based on this load of twaddle.
Jeez, have we nothing more up to date to worry about such as the destruction of our nation and our civil liberties.
Apologising for history. I apologise for my ancestors.
With Blair
apologising about his personal part in the slave trade and the whole guilt trip it seems every man and his dog is falling in behind the Holocaust guilt trip.
Now from Tim Worstall we have what should, if there was any justice on this planet, happen in court. Read
here. Now it was a while ago but I only came across it because Tim linked to it from his blog after Blair's apology.
Just so we are clear. I too look back on those time and think of the misery and moral costs but I look at it slightly differently. I thank the people that looked at this at the time and changed the laws to make what was legal illegal. They were the ones that righted this wrong. They, who lived with this situation, looked at it and corrected what was an anomaly in their society. I applaud them for that. It must have been difficult to face up for injustice at that time. But, even those didn't try to punish the perpetrators for what was legal at the time.
Now our current Government seems to love putting in place legislation which they then backdate to make it illegal years before. In effect making someone that followed the rule of law at the time a criminal and liable for arrest or forfeiture of something. To me that is despicable. To give true justice we should use the same technique to bring Blair, Brown et al, to justice and execution for treason. Does this mean we will now backdate our obligations to pay, from the public purse, for these people that have done little for themselves over the years and yet it's our fault. Does the sin's of the Father really mean the sins of the Great, great, great, great, great, ........, great grand father?
Well, if it does, I'm fed up with it.
We need to take this whole thing into perspective. It may mean that injustice from many generations ago goes unpunished but such is life. Why should I be punished for something that I didn't do? That wasn't a crime when it was done and was even corrected because it was immoral by society back then. These politicians should get some backbone and just say that. Isn't it funny how when they personally do something it needs to be forgotten and put in the past with a line underneath it but when they can appear sympathetic and maybe get a few votes, especially when they personally didn't do anything wrong they play it up for all it is worth.
Although, now I think of this guilt trip, our ancestors have a lot to answer for. 1,000 generations ago when one of my, our, ancestors picked up that first rock and bashed the brains out of one of his mates he wiped out a thousand future generations in a heartbeat. Clearly, that branch of our future society had the decent politicians in it. The ones who selfishly worked for the people and were not useless, corrupt and liars.
I apologise to all that my ancestor did that. And I really am. Don't ask for compensation though.
Shot in the foot.
Although I was born in Scotland I have lived in England so long I don't have solid ties with Scotland itself. Although I still have family ties as most of my, non immediate, relatives still live there. I've always considered myself a child of the UK and referred to myself as British. Perhaps because of my very background.
I've always kept an eye on what goes on in Scotland and wondered what would happen if they went their own way with all this talk of independence.
Well, it seems we could very well find out. According to this
article, where Labour are fighting to keep their core group of supporters voting for them, support for Scottish Independence has reached 52% among Scots and 59% in England. Now I know I'm one of the odd ones out but I do believe that Democracy is the will of the people.
Scottish Independence must be a +ve thing for everyone, except the Labour party. They would lose a big chunk of their base voters. The Scots get independence, would I get dual nationality passports?, and get to forge their own destiny. We get rid of the socialist millstone around our necks and the Labour party. The SNP, or whoever, get to sort Scotland out and make it a player in the world market. Big changes would be afoot there.
Of course things would change here as well as the parties would have to appeal to the electorate for more votes. No more sitting, doing what they want, because the apathy and core voters will get them elected. It would shake up politics all over. Labour with the initial vote purchasing of regional government have shot themselves in the foot. Yet again, they start a ball rolling with no idea where it is going to end up.
Of course Wales and NI would want the same. Who could blame them? They all have their own local government set up anyway. Although I wonder how long it would be before NI joined with Ireland and became one?
Democracy. It's just a word that is really misunderstood.
Isn't it interesting that the two democratic nations exporting democracy at the point of a gun don't make it into the top ten democracies in the world. The UK is at 23 while the US fairs better at 17.
Read
here for the article on the top ten and comments on the US and UK.
One bit of positive move is that for the last two years I've seen people who have never been involved in politics before taking an interest in what is going on around them. Will it be enough? I don't know but it will certainly grow. Pity there is little differences between the parties. So no matter how you vote you will end up with a useless and corrupt politician in a suit. Still time for some to change. After the farce of the last few months Dave Cameron will be gone in time for a new Tory leader to revitalise the party and just in time for the elections. Or was that the plan all along?
Know your place Iraqi President.
It seems that the Iraqi president is grounded by the US curfew which has closed his own airport. Read
here. You would think the US would fly him or let him fly out but clearly not.
So he can't go off for his planned visit to Iran to discuss middle east issues and potential Iranian help.
Cheeky bugger you would think he was is charge wanting to buck the system like that.
Proposed CCTV regulations to make tracking us easier.
It seems that the government is proposing some changes to the rules on CCTV cameras. Read
here.
From the article is explains that the government is looking at expanding the specification for all the CCTV cameras around so that they can be used for crime fighting purposes. They want to come alone tap into your systems and use them for their own uses. This means upgrades to digital so they can perform face recognition and ANPR. Most times they come to look at the CCTV and the images are not good enough to be used. With compulsory upgrades if the systems do not meet law enforcement standards.
Mmmmm. This could be a bit of good news in a way. I'm sure a lot of places won't get that much benefit from CCTV who will then decide that meeting the new regulations will be cost prohibitive. Not being government they don't get their money given to them and have to have a cost benefit for every spend.
It looks like it may be stopped though. As it is recognised a lot of government systems would need upgrading and it will cost a lot. Maybe next year then.
It of course won't stop the spread of the surveillance society that we have. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We are living in the technological surveillance society that the soviets would have loved to have had the capability for even twenty years ago.
What I want is some sort of hand held EMP device that can be used on CCTV, ID cards, speed cameras, etc. Not that I would use one of course.
Giving heroin to curb crime. Mmmm. A lot of thought went into that.
An interesting approach, and one that has been suggested before. A top cop advocates that we give Heroin to addicts in a bid to cut down on the crime they do in order to get it. Read
here. It's already being tried out in a pilot.
Now it could very well be that this is a 'cure' for this sort of person. An addict could very well stop stealing or whatever if he gets his fix without any issues.
But, and it's a big but, it is totally irrelevant. In the same vein we should give a burglar money to stop burglarising houses. We should give a bank robber money to stop raising banks. The crime would disappear but all that we would be really doing is spreading the load across society rather than have it concentrated in a couple of areas. Extrapolate that to more serious crimes we could bump people off, legally, to stop all the murders. No murders that sounds good until you work out deaths are actually up, and quite a bit I would imagine. It's not really workable beyond a certain level.
Therefore, if you go the other way, which I advocate, we would increase the sentences for the crimes and make them not worth the trouble. They would be too scared to do any crimes in our society.
Of course, to make it any semblance of justice it needs to be real crimes not ones made up by politicians and do gooders. In which case heroin could very well be legal anyway.
In the end I suppose it is another way to get the crime figures down without actually doing anything so it will undoubtably get expanded.
Crime statistics and real world numbers.
I was reading this
article on security van raids. It actually was quite a surprise to me. I know we all talk about crime and how it is going up while at the same time we read government
propogandastatistics that say it is going down.
We all talk about percentages and can have differing views with the government on what is real crime such as having a pocket knife or stabbing someone with a ice pick and we all have different views from corporations on copying music for personal use and stealing a CD from a store.
But surely it must hit home when you can read an article that says there was 836 raids on security vans last year. Up year on year since 2003 according to the article. There is a prediction it will break 1000 this year. On average 2.3 per day rising to 2.8 if it hits the 1000 mark.
I would class all of these raids to be serious crimes. Many of these have been armed robberies which even the most dim witted person should class as serious. I felt that the growth in crimes was more people finding it easier to kick the hell out of their neighbours and steal from them but clearly these and armed raids are classed as minor crimes which is the only area that is going up.
What the hell is a serious crime now, Tax evasion, not paying your council tax? Clearly they have decided that this and this, whatever they are, where figures are going down, are classed as serious crimes whereas everything else is classed as minor crimes. Which of course means that it's less of an issue. Nothing to worry about.
Yet at the same time our police now going to fingerprint me in my car if I look funny and detain me for having a pocket knife.
The difference between statistics and real world numbers. What a bunch of incompetents.
Losing four elections in a row. Are they trying for a new record?
I have gone on with the clone since his hatching and first outing where it was apparent that he was just another useless political tosser.
I genuinely thought that the party was going to ditch him nearer the time and put in a clone of Maggie or something. As cloning seems to be getting better now. I understand that there is difficulty with memories but not needing any knowledge or even logic to become a politician then it's not really an issue. Anyway, nearer the election they would announce all these new policies which had been clearly thought out and actually sounded like they were going to work.
So much for my thought. After this
article on how they are going to get policy advice from Polly Toynbee I just don't see how this can be. How the hell can they go down a path like this and expect that it leads them to a different destination than our current government? If this is not violently rejected by the clone then we must believe it is true. I've never commented on Polly because I can't even read her drivel nor would I give it the time that
DK and
Mr E do. But this is too much. I had to say something.
So much for Democracy. It is clearly dead, we are exporting an invalid system, and it has no chance of being replaced while the two main parties are practically indistinguishable. They should save themselves a fortune by merging their parties and getting rid of half of the slackers. Seeing as they are all slackers it gives them a lot of scope about who to get rid of.
In the meantime when is the UKIP going to sort out it's name and deal with the issue that it is seen as a one issue platform? Nigel. Are you working on something? Hello, anyone there? I'm sure that there are more like me. I don't want to vote for BNP but I will.
Why don't they just tattoo us on the forehead and get it over with?
Reading this article about how they will now be taking our fingerprints on the streets to verify our identities. Read
here. At least when they denied they will be asking the classic 'ID cards please' for the first time in their miserable existence they were telling the truth. Or maybe not. This could be a new development. I find it difficult to think of them being truthful. I bet their wives/husbands have to fit then to a lie detector to get the weather from them.
Couple this with the
pub scanners and then it will be rolled out to other 'voluntary' locations like the streets such as buses, trains, airports, doctors, hospitals, restaurants, petrol stations etc. Won't be long before you have to be scanned to get a McDonalds with cash. After all it will make the place safer. Why don't they just tattoo us on the forehead at birth and get it over with. After all it will make us safer. Cut down on identity fraud and would save a fortune on scanner equipment.
Now will someone let me know where I can buy these latex fingertips to give myself false prints. Jeez, It's really hard to believe I'm law abiding
1, I've got no criminal record, yet. Although I do do a few risky things. For example, I blog, I've eaten at McDonalds and I drive. All subversive tendencies so I'm bound to get nicked on day.
1) With all the new laws released by our current totalitarian government over the last ten years can anyone be really sure.
How can we debate serious topics when you can't have an opinion?
I read this article on the statement by Chief Constable Terry Grange that young men who have sex with girls aged 13 or over should not necessarily be classed as paedophiles. Read
here.
I thought at the time he would get slated for it but just ignored it myself at the time. Well it seems he is being roundly slated for having an opinion. As a senior police officer his opinion seems to matter. Sadly, in this society it's only people like him that seems to matter.
I think he is right though. If you read what he says it makes perfect sense but in todays world of 'The children, we must protect the children' you cannot say anything that could impact on them or you deserve to lose your job and be ridiculed.
The main point made by our Chief Constable is that there is not point in labelling a 16 or 17 year old a paedophile and thus labelling him for life with all the associated consequences for having sex with a fifteen year old. Now someone of my slightly advanced years having sex with a twenty year old is probably considered outside the norm never mind a fifteen year old. Someone taking advantage of an immature child should be the only ones that have the label and stigma of being a paedophile. Although to be honest I've seen 14 year olds going out who I would have be convinced were at least 18 if I had not known them. Should a randy 24 year old end up being classed as a paedophile because he is lead astray by a 14 year old who looks a lot older?
Maybe we should tattoo women's dates of birth on their foreheads or somewhere else where a randy guy will see. Alternatively, we can discuss it and maybe, come up with alternatives or even decide to do nothing. If we discuss it.
Now in my humble opinion we should set the age of consent at 17. Having been involved in the growth and immaturity of four girls growing up and seeing their friends do the same I think it's only at 17 when they seem to come into their own and start being mature in an adult sense. At the same time I think that regardless of age we will never stop children playing with things they shouldn't and this is one of those things. So we need to consider that we can't make laws that are absolute in this case and still give us justice. We need a bit of flexibility and that can't even be considered in our current climate. Rules are fixed and absolute. Therefore a 16 year old screwing a 15 year old means a crime has been committed. Even if they were born a few weeks apart. Someone mature at 14 is still classed as a child where as someone can be 17 and still immature. It needs debating and discussion. Not rigid dates and rules. And, there may never be a solution. This is one case where one size does not fit all.
Youngsters watch adults, lie, cheat and kill for a bit of nookie and then we hypocritically tell them to save themselves and how bad it is and not worth it. They hear everyone else talking, it's on the films and TV and they think 'Hold on a minute. It must be worth a try'. We will never stop that all we can do is educate them to minimise them trying it and minimise any issues if they do partake.
Regardless, it seems in this land you can't even have an opinion that goes against people bias. I should be OK with my opinion because it looks like it extends the range of offenders not reduces it. Ignore that, I want to make it moral and right. It may be impossible but it will be if we can't even open it to discussion.
We should make a choice on the EU. Only do it right.
It seems that Ségolène Royal, one of the French Presidency candidates wants Britain to choose between being a vassal of the US or European integration. Read
here.
I don't think it will make much difference to our current useless bunch but perhaps they should actually listen the the words she used. A French led Europe. Mmmm. At least she is being honest.
My view is that we need to really consider the benefits of closer ties to the US and the benefits of closer ties to Europe. Nice simple pro and con lists with values for all the options. I am leaning all over the place as logistically Europe is the way to go but with the EU being the fascist state it is I am leaning to the US. There is no reason why we can't have a half way house. We come out of Europe. Not sure what that means really. Do we fill in the Chunnel or something? Anyway we leave the EU but don't tie up long term with the US. I see the options being; In with Europe, Coming out of Europe and going alone, Coming out of Europe and forging closer ties with the US. There could be more such as Oz or Canada.
I'm sure there are many economists who can give us the pros and cons with estimates for all of these options. Can't see too many cons for the US route providing we break the lead but nothing but cons for sticking with Europe.
I think I'll suggest to Ségolène Royal that she keeps the pressure on until a commitment is made. If no commitment then they kick us out. With Blair being as weak as he is then the chances are that he won't have the support to make a commitment and we will be forced into an embarrassing situation.
Advice to the Homeless. Get nicked.
I know that having a criminal record can be viewed as a stigma. However with the new services being made available at your local nick you can live a life of luxury. Read
here.
Then after spending the freezing winter in a virtual paradise you can use the prison 'find a job' service to get you a nice job which you would have no chance of getting if you were on the outside.
I would suggest the offence is something to do with drugs. Not too much as drug dealers are seen as sleazy while nobody on the outside actually considers drug possession a real offence and yet it's one of the few offences our government will put you in jail for. You can even claim you are a victim of the evil drug. Plus, even very respectable people are being nicked, jailed or cautioned for lots of reasons including drugs. So you will look bohemian. So win win all round.
But, be careful. Not all areas are the same so you may need to relocate before you get nicked. I understand that some prisons actually think they are there as a form of punishment so make sure you are not caught up with one of them. Although won't be long before Cherie gets all lawyered up and fixes it so they are all the same and you can get your feet, and other parts, rubbed all paid for by the taxpayer.
At least it explains why prisons cost so much to build. I used to think brick walls and doors with bars. I never considered the the cost of the infrastructure such as TVs, DVDs, telecoms etc. Shows how stupid I am.
As an aside. I was interested in the phrase "Contact with families can help reduce reoffending.". How does that work? Being locked up does that. When they get out they can phone their family any time they want so why should it make a difference when they are in the nick. Surely it would make them want to keep from going back. I must have a weird sense of judgement. I don't want to be separated from my freedom, which includes speaking to the family, so I don't go to prison. Yet, it seems people that speak to them in prison are less likely to go back which is the implication. I just don't get it. I bet the next time Mirza Tahir Hussain gets an invitation to a wedding in Pakistan he returns a note saying 'Love to come but unfortunately I can't make it at that time.' He won't want to go back. Now there is behavioral modification we could do with in UK prisons.
Surely this is wasting police time.
I was reading this article on Jack the Ripper. Seems he has has an update on his
photofit and profile by our violent crime unit.
They brought together a team of experts, including pathologists, historians and a geographical
profiler, to find out if the case could ever be solved.
Now this must be the biggest waste of time going and how they can justify this when so many crimes are going unsolved is beyond belief.
Police released a
photofit of the suspect as he was 120 years ago. Viewers must imagine him aged an additional 120 years to see what he looks like now. He is described as male, white, 150 years old, with grey hair and is suspected to be rotting in a grave somewhere in central London. He is not to be approached as he was considered dangerous and until his status is confirmed he is to be considered still dangerous. Our armed police have already started the health and safety forms
necessary to arrest him.
Converting the world one at a time.
Bumped into a friend who I have not seen for a while when I went to B&Q for some paint.
He asked me if I was the one writing these anti-government articles in the local paper. I denied it of course, as I don't see it as anti-government but pro information announcements. It just happens the facts show our local government in a bad light because that is how anyone would interpret the facts.
It seems that he knew it was me because of the style of writing. He says I tend to go on a bit. What? I told him that I was always succinct....Oh! OK. That is the way I talk as well as write.
Anyway he says my article on charging for waste seems to have made him think how it will impact on his family. He has three girls and his bins are always overflowing. He has started looking at we sites as well but he is certainly not IT literate. I've given him a few web addresses.
I suppose one at a time is at least progress.
The Passport chip security issue. What is the fuss?
Maybe it is me but I don't see the fuss on being able to clone the passport details.
It's not like they added anything to security anyway so there is no security lost. All the details are available for the bad guys to copy or create old passports anyway. They will still be valid for over nine years. Now they just need to add a new step of copying the chip and they have a few years to do it. Of course, pretty soon they will be able to create one from scratch with a legit photo of yourself and all the other details. In which case why would they want to clone someone at random who very well may be on a watch list.
I got my passport before the chip came out but the way this is going I'll could have an illegal one with all my physical details on but a false name before I have to get a real passport.
In addition there will be many, many people with ID cards before most of us are forced under threat of death or imprisonment to get one. So the backlash from the
sheeple will be well under way before it comes our way.
This is just the current from many, many issues which will come up over the next few years.
Matthew Taylor gets it right.
I was interesting in this
article not because of what he was saying about blogs but what he was saying about politicians.
He said 'blogs which are, generally speaking, hostile and, generally speaking, basically see their job as every day exposing how venal, stupid, mendacious politicians are.'
Note he doesn't say they are lying or the facts are subject to interpretation. He says blogs are exposing how venal, stupid, mendacious politicians
are. (emphasis mine) Pointing out the truth to the
sheeple in the UK is causing trouble. You have no idea how happy that makes me.
At least he is being honest. Of course he is no longer part of the team so he doesn't have to lie for a living.
The EU ban Mercury.
It seems the EU want to ban Mercury. Read
here.
That's the two extremes gone. Soon there will be no planets in our solar system.
What planet do these people live on?
I was reading this article on the EU looking at removing the
UK's veto on Crime. Read
here.
I agree with the comments that we should keep the veto but the laughable reason put forward was 'The committee said such a move could affect the legal principle of a person being innocent until proven guilty.'
Don't make me laugh we are probably further down the
line on that ourselves and the EU is actually going to hold up our current bunch from their removal of all our freedoms.
Welcome to British justice.
Well it looks like our Leeds guy has been freed after his Sharia trial and imprisonment. Read
here. Good luck to him and hope he makes the most of the remainder of his life.
For the family of the taxi driver it will of course be slightly different. They turned down blood money so that they could have their justice. Now they have neither. Welcome to British justice for them. No result as they see it. Although they could consider that the time he spent in prison, 18 years, and the continual fear of being executed was punishment enough for what
happened.
I seem to remember the mother was going to set herself on fire if our guy was not executed. What is it with fire and these people?
Just updated to Blogger in Beta
I hate being at the forefront of technology. Let someone else try it out and fix all the teething problems.
It seems that Blogger is now at the stage where they want to roll it out so I have gone. This is now on the new system. Have not noticed any problems so far. Links are all there.
In the meantime still concerned because it is still labelled as in beta.
What is going on with these people?
I was reading this article about Afghan women setting fire to themselves to escape difficult lives. Read the story
here.
It is basically about forced and/or abusive marriages and to be honest I can sympathise with that. However, the bit that got me was that our main character, a 16 year old girl, had doused herself with benzene, which is carcinogenic and would lead to a slow painful death, and then set fire to herself, Oh! That solves that then. She survived and then divorced her husband and is being treated for her burns. Errr, What? Why didn't she do the divorcing bit first? She wouldn't need any treatment then. What is going on with these people? I understand that they don't have the same rights as in the UK but if she can get divorced she really should be looking for trying the easy option first.
Now maybe I am just plain stupid but to me to kill yourself with fire doesn't seem like the best way to go. For one thing, what about the CO2 that will be fed into the atmosphere. Don't these people care about what they are leaving behind. What with all the burning cars, building and, now, people they must be pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere than we are in the UK.
The Afghans have a long, long way to go before women are superior like in the UK. At least with the impending implementation of Sharia law in the UK that is a step that will be reversed. Interestingly enough all these women calling out for Sharia law in the UK might change their minds a few months after it has been introduced.
The beauty with hindsight is you can successfully predict the outcome.
I was reading this
article in TownHall.com where it was defending Bush's decision to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iraq. It was basing this on a new book out about WWII.
Now the article made a couple of interesting statements.
The first was from the book where it suggested that a pre-emptive strike in 1938 would have stopped the Holocaust and saved millions of lives. With hindsight I think we can agree.
However, as it is with all these things, if we had started WWII, which is what we are talking about, all the deaths would have been placed at our door. We would be the aggressors instead of the good guys. We may even have lost as some of our allies may well have not moved to help. As a final nail, the Holocaust would never have come up as a plus point because it would never have happened and no one would know what had been stopped.
The second statement was that, based on the WWII example, Bush's pre-emptive strike was the right way to go but they could not have foreseen the way the fighting would go and thus were caught out when it went to a civil war. Again, with hindsight is is easy to follow the route to where we are now.
I'm not convinced that the civil war could not have been predicted as many, many people without the lofty titles of Generals, Commander, etc. Successfully predicted this would happen based on experience gained from information on Vietnam, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Cambodia etc. and knowledge of the rivalry's in Iraq.
In reality we will never know if Saddam would have developed a weapon nor that he would have used it against Iran, Israel or whoever. One thing is certain. He did not have the capability when we invaded and thus we are the bad guys.
Because of the fact that nothing you say before or after will justify a pre-emptive strike despite whatever you 'know'. I believe that pre-emptive strikes are not a weapon for the good guys. Massive retaliation is OK, so big that nobody would want to do it again but first we have to ride out the original assault as a reason for our retaliation. Otherwise this is no different to executing people because they could grow up to be a Hitler or Pol Pot. Something a civilised society does not do unless Tony's idea for identifying bad people prior to birth catches on and is enhanced.
Of course the fly in the ointment is that now it is not a country we can retaliate against nor are the perpetrators usually available for punishment unlike our Western equivalents. We selfishly don't want to move to the next stage as easily as these guys. So all in all it requires a new way of thinking. One not found out after our Iraq invasion but one that people have been crying out for a while now. We need to face facts and work out a new strategy. I think with all what has been going on we have squandered the opportunity and goodwill and will have to settle for what we can do now. Also, I don't see anyone queuing up to spend a couple of million on a strategy instead of hundreds of billions on a War and reconstruction. Jeez, if we had just given every Iraqi a cut we could have bought them.
As a final point the article says '...preventing the Holocaust, "without parallel . . . the most wicked act in all history." Is that true, bearing in mind Stalin's 100M+ dead, Bosnia, Darfur and the other dark times in human history?
What is the real issue?
Reading this
article on homelessness.
It seems that 90,000 are currently living in temporary accommodation with 90,000 new cases a year. I wonder about the wisdom of selling off council houses cheaply now while we don't really build entry level, and cost, housing any more.
I was particularly interested that nearly a quarter of these cases, 23%, are due to parents kicking their kids out. The ones that they can't control and are running riot due to government interference in parenting are suddenly discovering, too late, that their parents suddenly do have a say in some things. Of course this leads to the usual call for government interference in the guise of parenting classes. It seemed strange that up until the 80s or so we managed to get on without loads of busy body social workers and GCSE's in nappy changing but if the experts think we need it who am I to go against such distinguished expertise.
A fifth, 20%, is due to relationship break up. I must confess that is less than I thought. I would have thought it would have been more as this immediately splits families into two and doubles the trouble so to speak.
In the meantime 57% of the cases are something unidentified. Mmmm. This must mean something controversial such as immigration and bankruptcies. Can't think of anything else and I wonder what the split is considering the immigration and bankruptcy rates are both up? I know where I'm putting my money.
and the poodle follows.
Well it seems after the US elections there well calls for more dialogue with Iran and Syria. How they must be laughing now.
Well it looks like our leader has got his orders and so we
get.
They promised to fund Hamas a while ago.
I seem to remember a while ago when Hamas was elected and the US and EU stopped funding a proposal was put forward that these rich Arab nations would help out.
That seemed to be stalled by the anti terrorism banking laws. You would think that the Arabs would set up their own bank and ignore our laws but that doesn't seem to have occurred to them.
In the meantime it seems they are now determined to find a way. Read
here. Now where really bright minds such as these turn their hands to something it..., errr. Well, moving on. They will pay for some advice anyway.
In the meantime let us put our money where it will be better spent such as
DarfurBosniaAfrica giving us all a tax rebate or something. Let them take over the funding from now on. It's probably less than they spend on weapons in a couple of days anyway.
Down this path again.
First of all we try to prosecute a guy because we don't like what he is saying. Then when it fails we look to change the law so it would have succeeded. Read
here.
I'm equating this to speeding, one of my favourite analogies.
Guy gets nicked for doing 30.5mph in a 30mph zone. Gets off in court. So instead of saying we were stupid to try this case they appeal for the law to be lowered to 28mph so next time we can get him for the same action. Of course next time he, being aware of this, is nicked at 28.5mph. Let's get to court it's worth a go they say and we are not paying.
Persecution using the legal system as the persecutor. Our useless bunch of do gooders.
If it isn't illegal then what is the problem? Jeez, by the time Labour leaves power there will be another 3000 laws for the Lib-Dems to plan to remove.
Plus soon looking at someone will result in a conviction. Glancing in a racial manner. Glancing in a racial manner with intent.
Pick up the Gun.
Who can forget those lines from one of the most evil baddies of all time? The gunslinger in Shane. A role that immortalised Jack Palance.
Which is handy as Jack Palance has just died. Read
here.
Although he was not one of the most prolific actors he always played evil bad guy roles. Whenever I see him I can't think of any other films he was in. The role I will always remember him for is Shane. Strange really. He even became a part of Bill Hick's routine.
There was someone else in Shane as well but I can't remember him.
Lessons from History.
Invasion by the Grey Squirrel has virtually annihilated the native Red Squirrel in the UK. The Red Squirrel being the UK native.
Grey Squirrels were introduced by humans to the UK for several decades starting from about 1876. Greys can feed more efficiently and can survive at densities of up to 8 per hectare. The density of reds is up to 1 per hectare but can be as low as 0.1 per hectare. The native species cannot compete against the invader in population growth or survivability. The Grey Squirrel has evolved to survive against predators and environmental issues not found in the UK where the Red Squirrel has evolved for the local conditions.
Once the Grey is established the Red Squirrel cannot compete and dies out.
The bad news is nothing has been done about this until it is almost too late. The good news is that it is legal to shoot the Grey Squirrels, they are classed as pests, and the Red Squirrel is making advances in certain areas of the UK. Mainly in the North.
Trying to think of a situation where that analogy fits. It's a tough one.
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
Just something to think about. Why should animal history not be worth learning from?
Interesting discovery on Chip & PIN.
Go and read this
article on Chip & PIN over at DK's blog.
First of all I thought who would be stupid enough to do this? Then I thought what does this really mean?
If your card is stolen it is of no use. - The bank is better off.
If you underpay a business can fix it. - The business is better off.
If you are ripped off by the business. - You have to prove what happened.
No matter what the banks are better off, the businesses are better off and only you now have a new problem.
Mmmm. Now I believe it.
An apology from me.
Despite warnings about the impact of having your own bonfire night I went ahead and had one.
I'm now sorry. I just discovered that the actions of selfish people like myself have resulted in the following climate issue. Read
here. Now after the storms on Mars, Jupiter it's reached the next planet, Saturn. Could our whole Solar System be under threat?
It's not too late though. Thanks to our wonderful scientists we can all move back into caves and be eaten by wild animals.
Or maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick.
Bush gets a kicking.
It look's like just two years after being reelected Bush has reduced his standing so much that the US electorate has given him a resounding kicking. Read
here about how Democrats now have control of Congress and the Senate. Plus, as a fallguy
Rumsfeld has gone.
It makes you wonder how Bush would have done if he hadn't been able to use the fear of terrorism to enable his path. We will never know. All I know is he took the worlds support after 911 and wasted it.
What the new lot will do will certainly be interesting. Not sure it will do anything for America's standing nor it's safety.
Closer to home. I wonder what Mr Blair is thinking now? What about the rest of the Labour party? They must be thinking hard.
Now this is what science is all about.
How to make things right. Bringing sight back. A prize beyond cost.
Read
here about our first steps into a real miracle cure.
No real surprise in the US.
The Democrats have taken Congress. In a titanic battle that saw many brave souls sucked into oblivion and with heroic actions by some..... Oh! It seems that 'taken' actually means they are more popular at the moment than the other bunch. So a bit like the X factor but less popular same as here. Read
here. I wonder why the use the word taken which implies force?
I particularly liked the statement from Ms Pelosi, who could be the first female House speaker that the Democrats would "restore integrity and honesty". Mmmm. From what I've been seeing over the last few years I'll not be holding my breath. I don't see them being any different from our useless bunch.
The Post Office defines it's view on Christmas.
The new range of stamps define what the Post Office see as Christmas. Not everyone is happy with the changes of course as you can read
here.
Although this stamp looks like it defines exactly what is being done to our Christian beliefs.
How appropriate in this day and age.
Bonfire night.
Had a chat with a couple of people today about our dangerous pastime of setting off fireworks on the 5th of November.
Last night seemed to be a perfect example of the sort of situation that can lead to bans on these things. There seemed to be fire engines and police running around all night. To the same unruly youths that cause trouble all the time but this time with them setting fire to things and throwing around potentially dangerous items.
Even with our little setup in the back garden I was concerned about a couple of incidents. One was where a rocket went straight up and then shot off at an angle down the street at just above roof fight and exploded just above a house at the bottom of the street. It was a screecher so they would have heard this scream followed by a load boom about 50 ft up. I'll speak to the guy when I see him next and see if he remembers anything. They were still firing things off long after the granddaughter had gone to bed. The other was a lot more interesting for us. Someone had brought a big, and I mean big, rocker round for a show. He stuck it in the ground, lit the fuse and waited. It went through everything but the motion. It fizzed and failed to take off despite the thrust being applied. A shout and everyone was running for cover before a deafening boom and we were all covered in hot sprapnel.
Anyway, we all had a great time and, as a bonus, no-one was hurt.
UK Justice. Still the best you can afford.
Of course if you can't afford it you have to rely on legal aid.
Oops. Looks like that won't be an option either. Read
here.
Maybe this is why our punishments are so pathetic. Pitiful fines unless you are rich enough to have a big car, few prison sentences unless you are in breach of a Government edict like paying council tax. Which the really poor don't have to pay so if you can afford it but don't pay then the full force of the law is on you. Fiddle to government out of money. Expect jail. Rob a few pensioners. Slap on the wrist.
No juries because we are too thick to understand complex cases. Jail for a month, soon to be three because cases need to be investigated and they are so complicated.
British Justice.
The Borat movie.
Yesterday I caught a glimpse of 'Tonight with Trevor McDonald' where they were going on about if the new Borat movie should be allowed.
The touched on comedians over the last few years and how their jokes were based on some form of discrimination. Someone is always the butt of the joke.
It made me think about the sort of world we would have if these whingey whiney do gooders ever got their way. What a soulless place we would live in.
So, even though I don't like Ali G, Sascha Distell or whatever his name and I think it won't be all that good is I thought I would do my bit and go and see it at the pictures.
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it. Dawn of War - Dark Crusade arrived yesterday and I've played it all day.
Catch 22.
The Israelis are damned if they don't because the terrorists get away with it and damned if they do because 'innocent' life is lost and a new PR disaster is made. Read
here the outcome.
We should get our media out of there and just let them get on with it. These people are playing a PR game with their lives and, because of our media, they are making a good show for the do gooders.
Sexual Discrimination in modern Britain.
It appears that when a woman accuses a guy of rape he gets jailed for a day or so while the investigation takes place. Then when it is decided he has no case to answer he just gets let go.
Of course some women are just to dozy and have to repeat the same claim again. Better luck next time philosophy. Of course it seems the law are now getting wise to the fact. Read
here.
Makes you wonder how many false cases are made each year where the guy is a bit dubious and fails the suspicion test. Then is jailed even though he is innocent.
This guy gets around.
Read about the latest exploits of one of our armed policemen
here. London, Kent. I though these guys were kept in areas. Maybe he was moved to keep him out of the papers.
Better luck next time.
An interesting article on the threats facing us today.
Not the threats that are created by our useless politicians in their frantic struggling to cover up the real threats but the ones facing our very existence.
Read this
article on three threats facing us now.
Picto-Personality test.
Another of these on-line mental tests.
This one is based on choices of pictures.
See my results
here.
