Sunday, December 31, 2006

Browsing the Web.

Found this article on 'A Very British Dude' and thought it was appropriate for ending the new year on. A sign of the times.

I'm in babysitting and browsing the Web instead of our being merry.

A typical year.

I see we are ending the year in a typical way with the news being of deaths, shootings, murder and a tragedy.

And this doesn't include the sneaked out news on tax predictions, green taxes, Olympic taxes, .... sod it..... I'm fed up.

Better luck next year.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Saddams gone then.

Saddam has been executed. Read here. At least he will be warm where he is now.

Now we will see what happens in Iraq. Will it go the way the West thinks? Consider that so far they have got everything wrong before you answer.

Fingers crossed it goes OK. Lucky for the West he can't testify and we have already raided the archives. Hope he wrote his memoirs before he was captured.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Have your say with Hazel Blears.

Via Adam Smith Institute I went to Hazel Blears web site and looked at her polls.

Some were straight forward but other not so much as the wording was specific but the intention would be taken the wrong way.

The poll asked 'Should our children be encouraged to eat healthy food at school and at home?' Of course everyone must say 'Yes' we should encourage them. but if you vote Yes it will be interpreted as you responding to this question 'Should we introduce legislation to encourage children to eat healthy food at school and at home?'

I hate these sort of polls. they are used to back up these clowns prejudices.

Lincolnshire Police score much better that the West Midlands.

Read here about a siege in Lincolnshire. They are much better than the West Midlands Police as you read here. At least they have a person in the house.

What is it with sieges lately? there seems to be a lot of them going on.

Actions speak louder than words.

An old saying I like to remind people of when things like this happen. Read here about a MP voting for you to use academies but at the same time thinking they are so crap that she removes her son from one.

Oh dear!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Iraqi justice.

I see that Saddam will be gone in less than a month. I shed no tears for him. Read here.

Just in time to stop him talking about embarrassing things for the US and UK. How lucky for our lot. The whole reason he was tried in Iraq where he was never likely to receive a fair trial. There are already shouts about miscarriage of justice over the trial from independent sources.

Saddam is clearly guilty of crimes against his people. But they were not crimes when he performed them as he was the justice system. Now we have retroactively imposed these new laws and deemed he has broken them to allow us to try him. (If only we did the same in the UK for Blair)

All in all a victory for real justice but a sign that the system in Iraq is not interested in real justice but revenge. I wonder how many other Iraqi's are going through the same justice process now and how many in the future.

What I thought was interesting was the fact they are proceeding with the second trial although he could be executed any day and, if they keep to the 30 day limit, will be dead before the trial ends. Clearly they will dig him up and hang him again if he is found guilty anyway.

Lucky he was not tried for anything that could have led to embarrassment for the West. Saddam didn't have the chance to talk about things in court which I was quite looking forward too.

Is this a new tax coming?

Here is an article on how from 2007, only a couple of days now, car owners will be able to have their cars scrapped for free. Read here.

Now, when I was a lad, you used to take cars down to to scrapyard and it would be scavenged and recycled and people could make some money from it. It was clearly a job where people made a living.

Of course, life must go on, new laws need to be made and now it appears that your car must be disposed of in an approved way. So there were changes made. It's not enough to take your car to a scrap yard now there are forms to fill out and bureaucrats to keep fed. The problem however is that the people who tend to scrap cars are the end of the line users. The ones who bought the car for £50 or so and don't want to spend anything when it is finished. Hell, some of them don't even have tax or insurance. So bit of a problem then.

Then, between them, the manufacturers and the government got together and come up with this system for scrapping your cars. Basically I would imagine the government said to the manufacturers 'Look this is your problem. I want some solutions'. So yippee, environmentally friendly disposal free disposal. Everyone is a winner, the cars are scrapped in an approved manner. All forms filled and the manufacturers make some money from recycling.

However, nothing is free. The costs must be picked up somewhere on the chain and where is the only point where the government or the manufacturers make money. At the first buyer. So I'm guessing that a surcharge will go on each car at initial purchase and this will fund the manufacturers disposal at end of life.

Another couple of bonuses, redistribution of wealth from the new car buyers, with money, to the used car buyers at the bottom of the chain. A charge that should be classed as a tax which won't be. Plus they have left the announcement until it is almost 2007 so that the responsible people will still pay to have their cars scrapped as they won't know. An act of marketing genius. Something our government shouldn't really have or is that the manufacturers?

White goods and computers are next. To be followed by what?

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Who is posting these news items?

Here is another news item about ID cards. Not the KGB style for the general public but instead a KGB style school card. Read here. Latest from SovietSocialist Scotland.

Apparently it will stop bullying. It sounds very similar to the card we will be issued with. It has a built in force field or something which enables it to stop bullying and/or terrorism.

Now in a way it's nice to get straight back into things between Christmas and New Year but I'm finding it difficult believing that there are people releasing this type of news during this period. I can only guess that these items are being released at this point in collaboration with the journalists who have held on to them to suit their sources. I'm starting to see most journalists as a propaganda service. As well as putting emphasis on articles to suit they are also posting articles at times to suit.

Makes me wonder what is being reported that I won't find because I'm only spending half an hour online today after being up all night.

Interesting time to make this announcement.

Seems like everything is coming together slowly.

After all the news released over the last few weeks in the run up to Christmas it now is the turn for the employees to be heard. Not the general public of course. Our voice is irrelevant. It's the voice of the council workers. It seems they are doing such a good job it is time for them to be rewarded. Read here.

Interesting times are ahead.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

I'm worn out.

I've been playing games with the kids today and not had the time to get on the web or anything until now.

I'm off to bed. An early night calls.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas to you all.

Merry Christmas to you all. All three of you. You know who you are. Thanks for visiting.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

We can expect a rise in crime soon.

What a surprise. Who would have guessed it the government is predicting a rise in crime. Read here.

Of course it's all to do with the economy. Nothing to do with the handling of the same economy for the last decade. The rich seem to be getting richer and the poor poorer. Can't work that out either, we have the minimum wage and nothing could have gone wrong there. We have the tax credits and welfare payments what can go wrong there. All this wealth redistribution and yet the gap widens. Makes no sense to me.

That is of course putting aside the fact that crime has been on the rise as far as I am concerned for the last few years. How anyone can create so many new laws without expecting to create criminals or can let people off with hardly any punishment for basic crimes and expect crime to be going down is beyond me. Hell, I believe everyone I know is breaking some law nowadays. Be it from exhaling in a racial manner, possession of some illegal weaponry such as a penknife, not filling their recycling bin correctly or some other 'serious' crime. Burglars, muggers etc. are just so 18th century crimes we can leave them to get on with it.

Maybe with this expected rise in crime, and if it is a government recognised rise then it will be a doosie, will bring back some of the liberties we have lost and perhaps we can also sort out what crimes should lead to a jail sentence and which shouldn't. Get rid of all the knee jerk legislation and get tough on those who break the basic laws.

What is going on in the MoD?

Yet another high ranking ex-MoD person has spoken out against the way we are running the armed forces. Read here.

I can't understand it. All these people working at the coalface and with decades of experience in the military are saying one thing and all the paper pushers in Whitehall with decades of experience pushing papers and balancing spreadsheets are saying another. It's a difficult choice and I'm torn who to believe.

Now they all want to have the latest toys and be involved in developing new technology. We know that but when money is limited they usually ensure it goes the right places first. It's usually the bureaucrats back in Whitehall who allocate the funds for political ends. So I'm slightly, only slightly, leaning towards listening to these people who are raising concerns. So many have come forward lately that it can hardly be written off as a few cranks.

Conclusion then is that everyone thinks we are spending the budgets in the wrong areas. Where is the review for the next 50 years on where we should be? I can see a need for several items but the only ones the MoD seem to be going ahead with are ones which nobody sees the need for but will be of political use. Is that the way to run our defence planning?

As before though it seems that the legacy Blair will leave behind will be with us for decades.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

All ready

Well that's me all ready for Christmas.

I've even done my good deeds by going shopping for someone who was unable too and hadn't told anybody. Lucky she didn't leave it until tomorrow.

So all I've got to do not is prepare the foodstuff and then give myself indigestion.

I've not been on the web all day and I'm feeling like I should be back at work for a rest.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Manipulation worthy of a tin pot dictator.

This is the kind of exercise you would expect to see in a tin pot country run by a tin pot dictator. Read here. Oh wait! It is. It's Britain under Blair.

Now these sorts of changes and investments must be almost impossible to fix without great cost and a significant amount of time. After all once a hospital site is sold to a developer how can you simply replace it. So the repercussions of this will be felt well into the future. Labour areas will have better health care, facilities and employment no matter who is in government for decades to come.

No wonder he is not leaving. He won't leave until all his reforms are past the point of no return.

Blair's legacy will be felt for some time.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Comments in the local paper.

The local paper has just arrived and I've has my usual skim through. One of the articles there is talking about public support for the local police. The guy clearly is looking at the situation here and not liking it, who does? He at least is proposing some changes although his changes actually brought a smile to my face as his proposal was the we, the public, do something about reducing crime. Of course he clearly doesn't understand that we, the public, can't actually do anything besides 'drop a dime' as the TV shows say. Although thinking about it you don't hear that as often nowadays. It however is a common misunderstanding among people they actually think they have more powers than they have.

In the same paper we have an article by our local MP. The one that has sides with Blair all the time. He starts by saying it's not all bad news and, of course, mentions the Iraqi invasion and that, clearly, is bad news and we are winning so it was worth it. The good news however is that there are free bus passes for the over 60s. That clearly evens it out then. It reminded me of the Spitting Image sketch when the news reader was reading out a list of today's job losses. 400 jobs lost here, 300 jobs lost here, 500 jobs lost here but it's not all bad news. A paperboy has been taken on in Ipswich. The last few years could have done with a show like that.

Well, I'll be writing something back to the MP. I'm off so I can spend a bit of time on it. Although where do I start? I could write a page on his comments. Better get started then.

The UK statutes on line.

Found this on my travels this morning via Your Right to Know. A link to the UK Statute DB where all the current statutes have been put on line for us.

The UK Statute Law Database.

Now there must be a few interesting titbit's in there. If only you knew where to start.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

A quiet day shopping.

A nice quiet day today. I went out and did all my remaining Christmas shopping. I've ordered a few things from the Internet already. Also bought the Christmas day food. All except for the veg anyway.

One thing I did notice. The shops I went in were very quiet for this time of year. Last minute shoppers are usually all over the place in the final week. There was even lots of space in our council park park. Food shops were packed though. It looks like people are still buying lots of food and bubbly but not as much other stuff. Either they have it already sorted or they are waiting for last minute bargains. Either way it's quiet.

Wonder what the sales figures are saying?

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Statistics and bias.

I always wonder when people are pulling together statistics how much they actually tell you compared with the bias set out in the article.

This article on 'Bosses warned over road crashes' is a case in point.

It appears that 26.5% of crashes last year involved employees at work. Now that is involved not caused by.

Now as working drivers must spend more time behind the wheel than your average driver you would expect they would have proportionally more accidents. After all four hours driving must be more of a risk than an hours driving. So either there are significantly more commuters than business users, very likely, which then skewed the results and allows 26.5% to be an issue. Of course I don't know that and the article doesn't tell you so you have to assume that the government has the statistics and less than 26.5% of the road users proportionally, taking into account driving hours is an issue.

Could be. I have no idea but one thing is certain I don't trust the government bias. I would like to see accidents per mile for business users and commuters. That would be more telling. But as usual we get propaganda. Probably because they want to increase taxes for business drivers.

Now working with all available statistics I have found that 100% of the accidents mentioned involved drivers. This clearly means that we need to reeducate them to ensure that they are sufficiently scared to stick to 20mph. I call for every driver to be shown horrific videos and compulsory yearly tests. The lowering of all speed limits and speed cameras every five yards until we can put recording devices in every car. In line with latest government policy all driving instructors will need to be government approved and hold a special license. No unlicensed instructors can teach someone to drive.

Monday, December 18, 2006

So much for Democracy.

This call by Abbas for new polls which is being rejected and boycotted by the Hamas winners is a interesting legal case. Read here.

A vote was taken by the Palestinians, Fatas lost and so they call for another go. Well, you can have one in four years or so. Of course they are getting outside support because the US and UK didn't get the answer they were looking for. It's like the EU constitution. let's keep going until we get the right answer. It says a lot that Blair is supporting the call which actually shows his views on Democracy.

To me this is no different to the Tories calling for a new election after the last one they lost. Maybe there is still time for us to call for fresh elections after our ones last year. (Boy, it seems so long ago now) After all I'm sure Blair will support us trying to replace the elected government.

This must be illegal. But I'm sure Blair will get his pet to produce a ruling that says it's OK.

Are we facing future brownouts?

Ordinarily I wouldn't worry about this sort of thing but lately I've been reading about our requirement that we will be supplying for 15% of our energy needs from renewable energy. Couple this with the article in the Times it appears that I should be worrying about this as we seem to have a foreseeable gap in what we can generate and what we can get from foreign suppliers and what we will be expecting to consume.

Now this could actually be a plan of our government. It could actually be joined up for once and it expecting the EU to solve all its problems with a shared power platform or even for us to reduce our usage so much that the intermittent wind generated power will not be an issue.

Nope. I didn't think so either. None of the above.

I'm thinking this is just another low priority task that at the moment will only lose them votes from the greens. So let's put it off. After all they may not even be here in 2010. So not really a problem and when it does become one they can blame it on terrorists who frightened us so much that we were scared of going nuclear in time to fill the gap, by 2010 the UK will be working toward nuclear power. Then we will be relying on oil, coal and gas from the Middle East and Russia. Yippee. those that won't like us by 2010 and those that we were at 'war' with for 40 years and bankrupted as a country. No issues there then.

I had better buy a decent UPS while I can.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

I love Democracy. I think.

I love Democracy. It sounds so good and apparently was good up until about 1999. It was when it all went pear shaped when the two biggest democracies in the world were taken over by people who didn't think they should have to follow the rule of law.

It seems that this is the way democracy is going now.

We have the EU and it's constitution when they keep on trying at our costs till we agree with them.

Then it's quick off the mark for the Palestinians for their introduction to democracy when the losers can keep trying until they win because they have the support of other countries.

Then it's the Lebanon's turn when a terrorist organisation can apparently bring down the government by peaceful protest.

I think I love democracy but clearly I have no idea what it is.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

No ifs, no buts - corporate crime is completely fine!

Go and see this.

Brilliant.

Breaking the Law. Follow the rules first.

Part 1 - Those you don't like.
- Nick Griffin. Not guilty. No laws broken.
'We need to change the law to get these people'
- Saddam Hussein. Deposed. No UK laws broken.
'No international law was broken'

Part 2 - Those you like.
- BAESystems. Not progressed due to political interference. Laws look like they have been broken.
'In the national interest'
- Tony Blair. Illegal invasion of Iraq. No case to answer.
Law rule changed to suit.

Is it in the national interest to prosecute medicinal drug users? People who help the terminally ill die painlessly?

Does national interest simply come down to cold cash or political standing?

Maybe we just need some new rules to go with the rule of law.

1) It does not apply to our lords and masters.
2) Err... that's it really.

NHS costs and obesity.

Reading this article about how much obesity is costing the NHS.

Now I must admit I thought it would be much more than 9%. For one thing if 1 in 5 is obese, 20%, plus being obese is actually bad for you then you would expect, just on average that more than 20% of the costs would be related to obesity. Obesity is supposed to cause diabetes, cancer, heart problems, joint problems, swollen arches, sexual problems, etc. and make your teeth rot and makes you ugly. I would have thought the cost would have been closer to 105% of budget leaving the 15% left for the remaining minor issues such as err.. mmmm Oh yeah. Lung cancer which is caused by smoking and pregnancy which is caused by drink.

You see I've been looking at this with all the statistics and sums n things. I believe that this just hides the fact that besides all the useless bureaucrats, consultants and PFI deals etc. it's ill people that is costing the NHS money. Pure and simple.

All these ill people have something wrong with them that is mainly their fault. They are either too old, too careless or too fat. Now what is worse someone making a life choice or someone who is just careless. I can plan for my life choices but these people don't plan for their accidents. Oh wait! They all do. They all pay into a compulsory health system that is supposed to help them when they are ill. Some even pay extra into an additional system that let's them get treatment quicker.

If they stopped treating the obese, drunk, smokers, old and those that are just plain stupid then they could get the waiting lists down to less than a week. A much better and leaner NHS would be in place. Of course we would still have to pay for it because it is government.

If they didn't waste so much money on bureaucrats, consultants etc. they could just stop worrying about who is to blame and just get on with the treatments regardless of who is at fault.

'Best ever year' 'Envy of the world' - Quotes from the Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf school of PR.

I won't go quietly when I'm told I can't have something because my BMI is outside the norm. You will all read about in in the papers.

Friday, December 15, 2006

How does this redistribute money?

I must be thick. (No comments please) After reading all the blogs with links to Polly Toynbee's article on carbon credits I went and read the article because I thought she may have been misquoted. In particular the bit about '.. it in effect redistributes money from the rich to the poor ..'

Of course she had not been misquoted.

I'm reasonably well paid. I work at home and I would get my share of the 'rations' I would have plenty spare. I don't do that many miles a year at all. Just local stuff mainly. My neighbour has to go to work every day at peak time. It takes him an hour and twenty minutes. He barely makes ends meet as it is with all these other stealth taxes. In addition he also goes away on caravan holidays. That must bump up the CO2 emissions as well.

So if I get a bit tight for CO2 rations I can buy some, get a more efficient car or give up driving and stay at home. I'll save my credit ratings towards a nice flight to a free country for a few weeks. If necessary myself and others will just buy them and treat this as another tax, which it is hidden under a do gooder guise. Let's face it only a fraction of what is extorted will be put towards public transport or sorting out the environment.

What can my neighbour do? He can't really afford to buy any more credits, buying a new car won't do anything for him anyway and he can't stay at home. He will have to take the bus or train. That won't work too well. I understand it is a 3 hour trip by public transport. Each way. Does the use of a bus cost points? It must do to reflect the costs. What happens when you carbon credit card is declined as it is swiped? You can't pay your carbon bill? You just have to walk everywhere? 'Ring, Ring, 'Hello' 'Hi boss can't make it in to work because I've used my carbon quota and can't get any more till next pay day' 'OK. Not a problem see you in a fortnight' In your dreams. Jobs will become local or remote working only.

Of course the option of welfare becomes more attractive. Wait a minute! They will be the beneficiaries. They will be able to sell all their quota. Of course we will reduce their benefits because of the income so they will no better off in reality. So they won't be better off either.

I would imagine that many of the top earners are in a situation where they can work from home or have the flexibility for minimal travel or can arrange it when these costs come in. How does your average person manage that when they have to be pressing buttons or touching things?

So what was that about redistribution again?

It is clearly just another tax and the best bit is it the people are all happy with it. They all see it as being used against SUVs and limos and rich people and they all stupidly think it won't be a problem for them. If it wasn't so unlikely to work I would be waiting for the axe to fall with a stupid grin on my face just watching their faces at it hits home. When will they suddenly realise and storm the castle? Can't be long now. Even the British are not that stupid, are they?

Trust us.

I can't tell you what it is but we can assure you there is a threat.

You can justify anything in modern Britain with those words. Even end investigations into criminal misconduct. Read here.

I must admit I thought they would block or stall this investigation. I just didn't see the terror link though although it does seem to be the favourite weapon at the moment. I wonder if they will try this on the loans for peerages investigation.

Of course it is true there is a threat. The government is terrified the Saudi's would take all their money out of the UK and cancel their UK orders.

However one thing is certain a lot of people in the UK don't seem to trust them any more. The worst bit is they are dragging down the Police and the Security services with them.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Voting in Prisons. Who really cares?

I had no idea that prisoner voting was such an important issue that it violates human rights. Read here. I do remember something about it a few months ago where they though it was going to be defined as a human rights breach.

On one hand we have those saying it is a removal of a right and it does not do anything to deter them from crime.
On the other hand it is part of a punishment that removes from them society.

Unfortunately, my view is that it should be removed as part of their 'civic death' but I'm not all that bothered about it. Let them get their little cards and make their own way to the voting booths like everybody else. As we already allow them to watch TV, pool rooms, sex and free dope what is the issue with voting? I don't really care.

If I had my way the real criminals in prisons would be in Hannibal Lector type cells for 23.5 hours a day and would only have books to read. Many would die in prison with a heavily muscled right arm due to the lack of facilities.

And they say Crime does not Pay.... What a joke.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

An interesting time ahead.

Couple of weeks ago I came to order a few copies of XP, Office, etc. Big problem seems I can't have the 2003 versions of any of them because they only sell Vista and the 2007 versions. So I was forced to buy them and it cost me, sorry, the customer, a extra few K. Then I forgot about them. I don't need them until January.

Just tidying up because I'm on leave soon till after Xmas and lookie what I found while tidying up. Office 2007, Visio 2007 and whoopie doodah Vista. Mmmmm. I'm going to install on the T60 I have here and see what it looks like.

I'm looking forward to it but I know it's going to grind my system to a halt and eat up half my hard drive. The wonders and woes of being at the bleeding edge of technology.

Fingers crossed the T60s can handle it. I've ordered a bunch of them also.

Onwards and upwards.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

That was some court case.

This guy has been convicted after a twelve year trial. Read here.

It appears he may never face Justice as he is currently in exile in Zimbabwe.

So how much did that whole trial cost? How many lawyers made a good living from a show trial for someone that may get off scott free? No wonder they didn't want to put Saddam on trial there. What a waste of time and money.

Finally, How long will the appeal take?

A spoon full of medicine.

My daughters cat was limping a few days ago but was OK the next day so I didn't think anything of it. She started limping again and I couldn't see anything wrong so we took her to the vet. Apparently she has been in a fight and had been bitten on her front leg. It had gone septic or something. She got two injections and then I was sent on my way with instructions. It cost me £35. I did get some small pills though.

However, I hope that the full course is not necessary as I found that she was spitting them out when I tried them in her food. So we then tried to feed her via hand with little joy. Finally we ended up holding her down and force feeding. I've the scratches to prove it. Now she makes a run for it and is nowhere to be found when it comes time for her treatment. So the schedule is all over the place.

Good news she is a lot better now. No swelling and no limp. My scratches are still healing though.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Middle England is waking up.

Seems that a lot of people are getting prepared to look after themselves because our useless government doesn't. Read here.

I remember reading about a year ago about the Government having a problem because so may senior business people and rich people were getting tooled up. Funny that it should be buried. Now obviously it's filtering down to the middle classes now. Good.

One day I hope to get on a jury that is trying someone who shoots a rapist or burglar. I've always envisaged myself as the guy in 12 angry men. A film, btw, Ive never seen. Seen the Simpsons version though.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Why socialism is so popular but clearly doesn't work.

I was reading this article at Samizdata on rickshaw pullers.

In it there is a quote that says 'Such has been the strength of the idea of socialism for a century or more that even those who explicitly reject it often adopt its assumptions' So true.

The problem is that like many things we in the modern world know certain things are true even when they are not. Climate change will be the next on that list. Climate change is causes solely by humans. Ask anybody.

Socialism is one of these things. Ask anybody if it is right for those that can't help themselves are left to die. The answer from the West where we currently always have enough will be 'No'. So it starts. Next we say 'What about the children should they suffer because their parents are lazy and incompetent?'. Again we say 'No' then we slowly slip down the slope to actually finding that everything that Blair and his ilk say actually makes a bit of sense looked at in isolation.

We ignore history has taught us the socialism doesn't work because socialist ideals sound good and are actually the based on what is fair. We all think that this time we can do it slightly differently and so this time it will work. But the whole premise is flawed. Life is not fair.

It's main downfall is that it relies on everyone conforming like ants with the best of us sacrificing their benefits for all but humans are not wired that way. We all want to be better off we aspire to be better. We live in the top 10% of society on this planet yet aspire to be in the top 10% of that. We all want to be the idle rich. Hell, that top 1% all strive to be in the top 10% of that elite bunch. It is what we are. So we all want to be Tony Blair and make the world the way we think it should be. When people start rebelling and refusing to conform it all falls apart because it relies on obedience and dedication to the cause.

When the impact of providing for the lowest common denominator means that there is no point trying to better yourself because it is removed from you by force we all end up at the lowest point. Why do any better? I'm well paid but have a stressful job with long hours. If all my wages are taken in taxes or other costs then I may as well do my quota stacking shelves at the corner shop. Less money but stress free. When everybody does that who is going to drive our society forward? Why spend years learning to be a doctor when you can be unskilled on the same benefits? It sounds OK at the start of the slope but when you start to get to the end of the journey it doesn't work. In the West we don't get near the end because as soon as it hits the masses and they start feeling the pinch they vote it away.

That is why socialism is a brilliant idea and sells so well to the masses. It's like turkeys voting against Xmas and politicians voting for their salary increases. The masses vote to take money from those better off to give to them. Politics of envy. It's in their own interest.

Socialism is a great idea. Just won't work for humans. It will come and go in cycles while our society flourishes. Let us have a 'Mad max' scenario and you will never see it then.

Will this mean compulsory tests?

The BMI is the accepted measure for fat chaps like me. My BMI is err... above 1. To be honest I have no idea. However, to everyone in the UK it is now know as the way t is used as a sign of obesity despite it's anomalies, where people with muscle are recorded as obese while there is little fat in their body.

In addition it now appears that evening having a BMI in the acceptable range could mean that there is fat contained within your body which we need to get rid off. Read more here.

Could it get any worse. instead of using the BMI as a first pointer and then checking a bit more closely we now cannot rely on it at all.

Will this mean a change of tack in the government. Of course not. The best we can hope for is they ignore this and carry on as we were with the BMI as a target. In the worse case all those that fit the BMI need to be scanned.

Bang goes my plan then. I was relying on cutting off an arm or something to fit the BMI if I needed an operation I had already paid for via extortion. Now this new weapon in the governments armoury will detect that.

Government funding. It's a crime.

I read this article yesterday and it hit a chord so I thought I would share.

Read this article in the Last Ditch about the ultimate organised crime in the world.

Palastinians have a bit of difficulty with democracy.

Got to laugh about these Palestinians. They really are stupid but led by calculating well educated men.

First of all they have the aim of taking over Israel. They barely have a government, it is certainly not self funding and relies on aid from abroad. They are in a war with a force that can crush it completely but is held back by a load of western do gooders who interfere in other countries business. These same do gooders force concessions which is still not enough for the Palestinians as they see it is a creeping war and they continue their relentless attack. The do gooders force Israel to adopt restraint in a relentless PR war. The calculating and well educated real leaders are adept at PR.

In the meantime to show their support for peace the Palestinians elect Hamas, an organisation whose sole aim is the destruction of Israel. The only country with the balls to really do anything is the US. By enforcing restrictions on terrorist organisations it forces the world into a standoff. Of course it does nothing for the US's claim about supporting democracy but at the same time nobody can accuse them of sitting on the fence.

In addition the Palestinian people continue to attack Israel with the ultimate 22nd century weapon, individuals with a willingness to die for the cause. Sent to die in an war with a hated enemy by these same calculating leaders. Who know the west get upset about the amount of people who die while they just don't care. These poor Palestinians. Weapons mass produced by unskilled labour.

In the meantime the EU shows what it feels about the situation by finding ways to fund them and support them in their PR war.

The Palestinians must be getting desperate though. They are now proposing that they hold elections. It seems the other political parties, the losers of the last election in fact, are saying that they need to choose between Fatas and Hamas. Read here. I thought they did that in January. Funny that the losers think we should try again. The Palestinians must be finding it difficult to buy arms without a slush fund.

A win for the US, it gets to have another go for the right decision. A win for the last elections losers they as get another go. A lose for real democracy. A lose for Hamas, which is a win for the world.

Now if they pick Hamas again can we just let the Israelis get on with it. I'm fed up of hearing about this situation. The west are causing it and making it go on longer than it needs to. Let the Israelis sort it out. Subjugate the Palestinians and get on with fighting the rest of the middle east. It is clear the Palestinians won't stop until Israel is gone. No concessions are going to work and they will never be able to stand up and feed themselves. The other arab nations could not care less. they could offer homes and help to them but don't. They see this as a propaganda tool for them. I don't see why I should pay to make a few do gooders feel good about themselves and fund a bunch of mindless killers.

It's just a larger version of the welfare state we have here. Gimme more, more.....more. We will spend it on what we want. Guns, bombs and we will teach our children to hate. Oh, and these people are bullying us can you get them to stop.

Pity the people in Darfur don't have so PR savvy leaders. They will just have to get on with it without our interference. Of course we will still supply weapons.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

They never see beyond the next election.

We had a national Mail Delivery service which the government ran and it had set up branches all over, and some in areas with few users, to give a national service. It provided mail and a bank. This is now privatised and expected to make it's way in the world as a private company with no government subsidies. The banking facilities have now been separated out and provided by third parties because it is profitable. There is talk of opening the mail market to even more competition.

Now they have to make their way in the cold harsh world they want to close down the unprofitable areas of their business. MPs want something done. Must be getting near an election. Did they not see this when the privatised the Royal mail and then removed one of it's income streams? Are the new entrants going to enter this uncontested market? Nope. Because there is no money there. It can only be sustainable by subsidy or excessive cost.

If this is really such an issue then a new way has to be looked at for this. Although I would question why we should have to resolve an issue that is not a life or death concern. After all, if I bought a place in the middle of nowhere why should a private company have to provide me a service. I believe power, gas and water companies charge for the service if they have to put in something really special. That is because they are not looking at providing charity just to make a profit. So maybe the people impacted by this could set up their own postal service and go for it by themselves. After all why should I pay? I don't get the advantages of living out in the wilds why should I pay to compensate for the downsides?

Politicians never seem to actually work out the medium to long term impact of anything at all. They would force us to plug our own bums because some do gooder thought it would improve the smell in public toilets. Lucky for us the impact isn't too far away.

Friday, December 08, 2006

An election in 16 months. Why so soon?

It seems that Labour are putting out a statement that there could be a general election in 16 months. Read more here.

You know I'm a cynic and I wondered why? They don't have the funds to run one but neither do the Tories. They must have a motive.

I thought of a few;

1) Blair can extend his leaving as late as possible so he gets into 2008 and makes his record.
2) Nobody actually has any time to see how Brown performs as PM before they have to vote for him.
3) The country is falling apart and it will be clear to all in 2010 but not to the general public in 2008.
4) They want to go before UKIP builds up it's brand and becomes a contender.
5) They want to go while Scotland still has some input.

Added together it makes a few good reasons to go early. I would do the same if I was Blair.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Is it me?

I seem to be reading so many things now that are winding me up that I'm going to end up blowing a blood vessel or something.

More taxes.
Even more taxes under a disguise.
Even more taxes under a banner of fixing something that ain't broke.
Restrictions on what I can do.
Restrictions on what I can buy.
Restrictions on what I can think.
Politicians lying and getting away with it.
Politicians failing in their jobs and getting rewarded for it.
The death of democracy in our country.
The trough we are filling being topped up with extra money.

I'm in a stressful job and I pay my contribution to society, I don't generate much CO2 unless it's after a particular meal and I've never harmed anyone at all. What have I done to deserve this?

Is it just me?

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Politics of envy.

I've known for a long time about the politics of envy and it's one of the main downsides to democracy.

Now it seems that the discussions about individual houses being subject to taxation depending on double glazing, how many toilets you have and all the rest is moving into a new stage. It seems the government are starting work on gathering the data. Read more here.

The more money you have invested in your property the more it is going to cost you in tax. Of course having double glazing means you need to pay more to use the library, get your street cleaned and light up outside your house. Not sure of the logic there but that is the way the equation is set up. You have already paid for new double glazing but now have to pay to keep it. Effectively paying rent to a useless third party for your own property. For no benefit whatsoever.

As the saying goes 'Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner' It's not though. The politics of envy are such that anything that is seen as above a certain standard has to be paid for over, and over, again. The downtrodden masses. Even those that are not downtrodden but merely lazy and inept need to be kept funded.

It's hardly worth having any aspirations in this country. Anything you do to better yourself will result in increased costs and work. No wonder so many can't be bothered.

We're forcing you to pose for naked pictures at gunpoint so we can protect your freedom.

An excellent title for the article on the scanners that see through your clothes. I liked that quote from the article. it actually puts into perspective how our freedoms are being removed for our safety. Without delivering any of the safety bits.

Read the full thing here.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

We need a real war.

I've come to the conclusion that the West needs a war. A real war not like the remote wars we are in with Iraq and Afghanistan. One that forced many of us into a kill or die situation that will sort out the bunch of useless no gooders by showing them reality. WWIII without the nukes. That brings out the best in our society.

We have spent so long protected that do gooders think they can say and do what they want and because the law protects them they never have to face up to reality. The see the invasion of our country and argue that it will be OK even as those they support riot and kill all over the world. These do gooders make us look racist and then use that to stifle discussion. The invite people with dubious intentions into our country in the guise of freedom but never have to put up with the impact. The defend the release of people like Myra Hindley on the view she has been punished enough but would never think of offering her a place at their home with their children. She can live somewhere over there as she can't afford it here. Everything is looked at a short term personal satisfaction and no thought to the future or the public.

These do gooders have no concept of what is going on outside their cosy secure environments. They force us to give up all our defensive capabilities from weapons down to even discussing what is going on all under the belief that everyone at heart is a good guy and if we show the way then they will follow. They believe they can abandon all forms of defence because they feel so safe. Lives are lost but never theirs and usually it's the poor that take the brunt.

The motto 'Peace through superior firepower' has always been one I got behind. It is why I support our nuclear deterrent and our armed forces as well as the ongoing development of weapons. Not necessarily the strategy used by our governments but if push came to shove and they woke up they would have the men and equipment.

The reason for all this rant? A bunch of politicians and protesters in San Fransisco are saying they do not need a military. Listen here on Michelle Malkins site. They are clearly relying on the facts they are fairly well protected and away from foreign invaders. They would get help from the military if it came down to it but it's very much NIMBYism at it's most extreme. But they are clearly insane if they believe that they don't need a military in the world today. Clearly a lifetime in a secure environment blinds you to reality and is the reason behind support for illegal immigrants and even legal immigrants intent on forcing their way of life on us.

We are not going to get a real war. Fortunately. Those who we should we warring against just put their weapons away in a cupboard and state they are peaceful and not intent on doing any harm and our leaders look at us and say we are racist and that we should give concessions to these people. By the time we wake up it will be too late our populations will not be in the position to do anything our culture will be subverted and society will take a nose dive to the lowest common denominator. Why fight when you can subvert? It's the Chinese way. Slowly, slowly catchee monkey.

So I'm still going down the path of leaning towards a nice bit of hemp. Think about it. We have had the French revolution, the American revolution, Iranian revolution, coups in Fiji, Chile, etc. What do we get? Protesters chained to railings and a few riots. Riots where only the public die and the police are injured. That's partly because of the stiff upper lip. Now our culture is being converted by immigrants who don't have this stiff upper lip won't be long before we have our own revolution. Probably be too late for the British though. Probably too late even for the useless bunch that lead us down a path to our doom. We wouldn't even get the satisfaction of knowing that they were ripped limb from limb as we die because they will either be dead before it starts or we won't hear about it.

People have been talking about revolution since the middle of the last century. Nothing happened because the general public didn't really see an issue. It was usually the young objecting to things from their vast experience. Now however it's older people, people with some common sense objecting and the general public seems to be waking up, albeit slowly. The British Empire is dead. We should accept that and set up something similar to the US where we have a constitution and let's make sure we fix all the ambiguities. After we execute all the politicians of course.

I love this country. Hell, the whole West. It's traditions have stood up for everything that is right and moral. With a few hiccups because we are human. What is happening to it over the last decade where we now work to destroy all our country has worked for for generations? It is clearly immoral and against everything the West stands for. We need to fix it. Our politicians won't not when it will stop them getting massive wage rises for failing miserably in their jobs.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Race crime charges up by only 28%. That is a surprise.

Boy that was a bit of a surprise. Race crimes up 28%. Read here. I would have expected it to be over 280% or something.

The logic behind my thoughts was that there is always a hard core of racists who would go round doing this sort of thing. With the fear going on in the UK I would imagine we could add a few more of these in. Probably up 25% on the year and increasing day on day as people see how they are treated, think more about positive discrimination and how only a few percent of the UK are foreign immigrants yet make up a significantly larger percentage of our criminal class. These people then move towards Combat 19 and the BNP So that does make a bit of sense that the crimes they commit are going up.

However, where the calculation goes wrong is that when you can be prosecuted from revving your engine in a racial manner and sending Emails which happen to include a black guy then there must be a lot more of this going on that 28%. Why only last night I was revving my engine is a seductive manner to the girl next door. She didn't seem interested maybe it was because I was revving in a sexual harassment manner1. As there are a lot of people out there who now look suspiciously at all foreign looking people. Some are leaning towards restricting what foreign immigrants can do and the media is stirring everyone up into a frenzy. A lot more are going to take their frustrations and fears out on some poor black guy walking down a street. More than would join some fascist organisation anyway. So I personally doubt the figures that they are only up 28%.

Unfortunately, I now see this sort of thing as the only way we can fight back against this discrimination. It's one of these laws of unintended consequences. I'm not into the violence but at the same time what can we do about this discrimination against us? We just have to sit here and take it or we are branded as racist.

The more people that head towards Combat 19 and the BNP and the more extremists that attack us the more we are going to have this. The worse it is going to get and the more extreme the actions. It can only end two ways. There is going to be a war. Riots again. Why is it that politicians who cause most of these things will be the ones least hurt? or the politicians get something right for once and sort it out.

1) Or it could be because she knows I'm a fat little pervert.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Has Blair destroyed the Labour party?

My dad has been a lifelong Labour supporter. He seen them as for the working people in a way that the other parties were not. They had the interests of the lower paid and those without the capability to do anything about it. He wasn't happy about the welfare state providing for those who had decided their role was merely to reproduce as he had worked all his life to provide but seen that as a unfortunate side effect of providing a safety net.

Now however things are different. Retired and seeing his pension he paid for all his working life being eroded down to almost the same level that someone else who didn't save for a pension and drank their pension money on a weekly basis has. His only real benefit is before he retired he bought a newish car and now travels around on day trips via his car and coach.

Of course the discussions on charging for CO2 emissions and road charging see him losing one of the few pleasures in his life. Coupled with the fact he was very much a 'leave everyone to get on with their lives man' the last ten years have been a downhill slide for him.

I don't talk to him about voting normally but he has said several times now that he will not be voting Labour again as these clowns have supported everything that has gone on. He won't vote for the others either as be sees no difference between any of the parties in as much as they do not have the interests of the ordinary people at heart. He sees Green as a bunch of tree hugging do gooders who would rather people died than animals, UKIP as an anti-Europe party and said he would never vote BNP because of what they stand for. Key of course is no more votes for Labour.

Coupled with the issue of Scotland going it's own way and they make up a good proportion of the Labour core voters it is worth asking if Labour will ever again be a viable party? Key voters leaving, entire areas being removed. God, I hope the entire party is destroyed. If they are destroyed then other politicians, worried about their careers, may think about what they are doing. Although most are too thick to see back beyond the last couple of their own cock ups.

The one area that I believe will be swept under the carpet but is the most pressing issue for the Labour party are these loans and the peerages. Although I pray each night for Blair to be arrested I suspect it will never happen. However, the issue of the repayments may cause the Labour party to go bankrupt. That would cheer me up and would be interesting.

Personally, I think it will take too long for the Labour party to be destroyed or go bankrupt and too much damage will be done while we wait. I'm still going down the path of leaning towards a nice bit of hemp. Of course, for the Home Office browsers I would never do something that was illegal.

Fingers crossed that the loans brings down the party. It seems the most pressing issue at the moment.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Well now we know how much red tape there is in a hostage situation.

It takes six hours for the West Midlands Police to fill in all the H&S forms before they can go and knock on someones door to see if they are holding someone hostage. Read more about the siege here.

Seems a tad slow for professional bureaucrats.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Right Wing Groups seem to be making a comeback.

With the current fiasco that is politics in the UK it can hardly come as a surprise that people are changing their stances on what is acceptable in politics. When people want their own parties to move one way and they all move towards the centre then people who don't vote for what a party was for in the 1960s will vote for other parties that have policies that are in closer alignment with their views.

Clearly certain people in the UK, and some of Europe, are moving to the right. The far right. The surge of interest in the BNP is probably too much for some people but to others the BNP does not go far enough. More and more are moving towards groups like this. Hell, I'm starting to lean towards a revolution and stringing up of all politicians myself. These groups seem a way of coordinating activities. Bit like a club for fascists.

When will the politicians learn that if they stray too far from the path wanted by the general public the general public will want to do something to fix it. Making it illegal just means more and more people will break the law and people like me will start to ignore people breaking the law in this way. Hell, I hate these groups myself but now see them as just another viewpoint which I can understand although I'm not, yet, at the stage where I can be a supporter. It's likely I never will be but the more our current bunch go off at tangents and don't deal with the issues they more the aims of these people make sense and the more people they will get in their clubs.

Bring on the revolution. I've a few names that I would like to see twitching at the end of a piece of hemp.

More grief for the defenceless motorist.

Yet another article out today on the latest government plans to extort more money from the defenceless motorist.

It seems that despite us poor motorists paying significantly more than the cost of the roads for the installation and upkeep of them and us paying exorbitant tax rates on the fuel we use it is recommended that we also pay to use the roads we paid to build and pay to maintain.

It seems that not enough people are using public transport so they need to be subsidised and the motorist is the one going to do that. Although exactly what will happen when people stop being able to afford a car and start moving to public transport or even a life on social security as it will be financially viable and stop subsidising public transport. Boom. The true costs will hit bus and train users as the government won't make up the deficit and then the costs for a car will again become affordable in comparison.

These useless bunch of tossers1 in power have not yet grasped that if public transport was usable and cost effective people would use it. Those same tossers don't use it themselves. Perhaps if they were forced to then they would fix the problems2. To subsidise something like this is a short term fix while something is initially set up to overcome initial costs not running costs. The public transport network can hardly be described as new. The issues with it are one of inefficiency and lack of usability. So to charge defenceless people for not using it because it is unusable, which is what this road charging, is all about is a clear abuse of power.

1) Seems to be acceptable political language now.
2) Based on the theory that if our political betters used it then they would make sure it worked right rather than not caring as they don't have to rely on it like we do.