Just when you think there isn’t much more you could write about the erosion of personal freedom in the UK along comes another brick in the wall.
Our freedoms are being removed, adjusted, lessened and blunted a little more with every passing day. Our present government is sleepwalking us to a totalitarian state in which it will become an offense to even question the lessening of your freedoms.
Our government has decided to monitor every trip into and out of our country. It has already started to do its utmost to achieve this by recently logging 70 million of our recent journeys, and they aim to raise this number to over 100 million in the next few months. After this has been achieved they aim to know where you went, who with, when and for what purpose. This is part of their obsessive wish to know everything about you and then will come the control.
Imagine a time when the civil servants will ration the number of trips you can take in order to reduce your carbon footprint?
Think about a future in which an anonymous official decides you mustn’t take your child on holiday during term time and will have the information to make it impossible for you to do so?
How far are we from being monitored for tax purposes using this new information?
The published reason for this governmental need for such information is that it will help them deal with externally linked terrorism threats. This is, of course, the same reason given for huge swathes of new legislation and quite frankly it is not believable or tenable when confronted with forensic examination.
The government is setting up a new centre to monitor and evaluate all this additional information in a part of Manchester, North West England. It will no doubt employ several hundred trained operatives. Their purpose will be much broader than the one admitted.
As with the money transfer tracing it has another purpose than just anti terrorism. This is a function of governmental control and tax gathering. The more information that Big Brother has on us the more it can dictate our lives.
The real danger for our future is that all of these small breaches of our freedom will be abused, misused or simply botched in a future in which we might find ourselves governed by some form of dictatorial government who will only need to use the levers of control now being foolishly put in place. We must do all we can to roll back this tide before it is too late.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
BankingHonor
Honor is an old fashioned and out of date concept. It seems that as we slide into economically troubled times it is every person for themselves, let the devil take the hindmost.
The trouble with this philosophy is that we are rapidly descending into financial anarchy. We have all witnessed many recent instances of the banks’ rules being unilaterally changed on the hoof whilst they operate outside normal rules of self-restraint and decency.
This has allowed the heads of banks to take huge bonuses whilst being bailed out with taxpayers’ money as if this is OK. It is not.
Furthermore banks are still not lending properly to their customers and are charging more for their questionable services, not less. What choice does a bank customer have when the bank squeezes them? There are many that cannot arrange a loan at even inflated rates, and who are, as a consequence facing bankruptcy. Why should this be happening when the government has bailed out the banks with our money?
The answer is bank greed compounded by fear. The banks are terrified of how near they are to the financial abyss and will do almost anything to increase their liquid capital reserves to ensure their long-term futures. In this equation, we the customers are very much at the bottom of the list of those who need to be serviced and looked after.
There are decent exceptions to this rule; old-fashioned bankers who remember that their organizations only exist because of long term, and hitherto hugely profitable relationships with their customers, but faceless people who are plugged into management by computer program have largely replaced these once noble, honorable men and women.
There is irony to be found in this situation. If the banks were to take a more sanguine and far-sighted view, and surely some amongst them must; those banks will surely prosper. Generosity of spirit will equate with their enlightened self-interest.
There was a time, not so long ago, when you shook hands with your banker, lawyer, accountant, in fact any professional and most business people, and you could rely on them to do what they had promised. What a sad reflection on our world today that this is no longer the case.
The trouble with this philosophy is that we are rapidly descending into financial anarchy. We have all witnessed many recent instances of the banks’ rules being unilaterally changed on the hoof whilst they operate outside normal rules of self-restraint and decency.
This has allowed the heads of banks to take huge bonuses whilst being bailed out with taxpayers’ money as if this is OK. It is not.
Furthermore banks are still not lending properly to their customers and are charging more for their questionable services, not less. What choice does a bank customer have when the bank squeezes them? There are many that cannot arrange a loan at even inflated rates, and who are, as a consequence facing bankruptcy. Why should this be happening when the government has bailed out the banks with our money?
The answer is bank greed compounded by fear. The banks are terrified of how near they are to the financial abyss and will do almost anything to increase their liquid capital reserves to ensure their long-term futures. In this equation, we the customers are very much at the bottom of the list of those who need to be serviced and looked after.
There are decent exceptions to this rule; old-fashioned bankers who remember that their organizations only exist because of long term, and hitherto hugely profitable relationships with their customers, but faceless people who are plugged into management by computer program have largely replaced these once noble, honorable men and women.
There is irony to be found in this situation. If the banks were to take a more sanguine and far-sighted view, and surely some amongst them must; those banks will surely prosper. Generosity of spirit will equate with their enlightened self-interest.
There was a time, not so long ago, when you shook hands with your banker, lawyer, accountant, in fact any professional and most business people, and you could rely on them to do what they had promised. What a sad reflection on our world today that this is no longer the case.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
WakeUpBritain
When did we Brits become such wimps?
It has snowed this week; it is still snowing in some parts of the country. That used to be called winter, now it is a “major snow event!”
This has resulted in our traffic infrastructure unraveling several times and huge delays in almost everything.
I didn’t receive any mail between last Saturday and yesterday when I went to the Post Office to collect it. This major trek passed without incident, but apparently was impossible for my post delivery worker. He was clearly concerned about his safety on the treacherous ground. I wanted to say, “Listen Nanook, it wasn’t minus 50, but hovering just under zero. There were no major drifts of snow, just some ice that could easily be walked around, if you wanted to bad enough.” When I spoke with the lady at the Post Office she informed me that the post office workers concerned had to be consulted, “and if they are happy with the conditions then they will deliver.” Clearly they hadn’t been happy for a few days!
Schools in some parts of the UK have been closed down for the week because of the potential danger to our tiny tots. Now sounding like an old fart I compare this to when we were kids; in weather worse than this we walked to the bus or if the buses couldn’t make the journey we walked the whole way, and we loved the adventure. If we didn’t turn up we were in trouble, and it was unthinkable for the teachers not to appear.
Another thing that seems to have disappeared is simple self help. When it used to snow we all got out our shovels and dug a path between the pavement (sidewalk) and our homes. During the recent snow I was only one of two houses in my turning that did this, all the other neighbors simply left the snow and ice where it was. If only to prevent themselves or others from slipping over you would think that they should have more sense than this, but apparently common sense is another thing that goes missing when the temperature hits zero.
When I collected my post I noticed that outside the building it was like an ice rink. I pointed this out to the counter clerk, she looked outside and solemnly nodded her head, “Yes,” she said, “We noticed that and called the council.” It wasn’t worth my while elevating my already considerable blood pressure by suggesting that she grabs a shovel and takes care of the Post Offices own exterior.
I completed my own office work and decided that the safest bet to get my outgoing mail delivered was for me to take it to the nearest sub Post Office in town. Again I walked the few minutes and found that this central post box was full to overflowing. I called the Main Post Office who thanked me for pointing out that the box was full. “The reason is,” they stated in a monotone that you couldn’t fabricate, “that we didn’t collect from there this morning due to the weather, but we will be collecting from there tonight.” I tried to suggest that the weather hadn’t actually changed between the morning and evening but apparently the post office workers concerned had to be consulted, “and if they are happy with the conditions then they will collect.”
As a country we used to have the so called Bulldog spirit, the bloody mindedness that has won us countless battles against seemingly insuperable odds, but now we can’t deal with a little bit of slush, snow and ice. Come on Britain, wake up, this is pathetic!
It has snowed this week; it is still snowing in some parts of the country. That used to be called winter, now it is a “major snow event!”
This has resulted in our traffic infrastructure unraveling several times and huge delays in almost everything.
I didn’t receive any mail between last Saturday and yesterday when I went to the Post Office to collect it. This major trek passed without incident, but apparently was impossible for my post delivery worker. He was clearly concerned about his safety on the treacherous ground. I wanted to say, “Listen Nanook, it wasn’t minus 50, but hovering just under zero. There were no major drifts of snow, just some ice that could easily be walked around, if you wanted to bad enough.” When I spoke with the lady at the Post Office she informed me that the post office workers concerned had to be consulted, “and if they are happy with the conditions then they will deliver.” Clearly they hadn’t been happy for a few days!
Schools in some parts of the UK have been closed down for the week because of the potential danger to our tiny tots. Now sounding like an old fart I compare this to when we were kids; in weather worse than this we walked to the bus or if the buses couldn’t make the journey we walked the whole way, and we loved the adventure. If we didn’t turn up we were in trouble, and it was unthinkable for the teachers not to appear.
Another thing that seems to have disappeared is simple self help. When it used to snow we all got out our shovels and dug a path between the pavement (sidewalk) and our homes. During the recent snow I was only one of two houses in my turning that did this, all the other neighbors simply left the snow and ice where it was. If only to prevent themselves or others from slipping over you would think that they should have more sense than this, but apparently common sense is another thing that goes missing when the temperature hits zero.
When I collected my post I noticed that outside the building it was like an ice rink. I pointed this out to the counter clerk, she looked outside and solemnly nodded her head, “Yes,” she said, “We noticed that and called the council.” It wasn’t worth my while elevating my already considerable blood pressure by suggesting that she grabs a shovel and takes care of the Post Offices own exterior.
I completed my own office work and decided that the safest bet to get my outgoing mail delivered was for me to take it to the nearest sub Post Office in town. Again I walked the few minutes and found that this central post box was full to overflowing. I called the Main Post Office who thanked me for pointing out that the box was full. “The reason is,” they stated in a monotone that you couldn’t fabricate, “that we didn’t collect from there this morning due to the weather, but we will be collecting from there tonight.” I tried to suggest that the weather hadn’t actually changed between the morning and evening but apparently the post office workers concerned had to be consulted, “and if they are happy with the conditions then they will collect.”
As a country we used to have the so called Bulldog spirit, the bloody mindedness that has won us countless battles against seemingly insuperable odds, but now we can’t deal with a little bit of slush, snow and ice. Come on Britain, wake up, this is pathetic!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Lies
There are two different and disturbing stories in the press today. One gets little coverage and the other hardly any. They share a common theme that is not, at first, obvious.
During the Gaza battles it was globally and hysterically reported that Israel had intentionally shelled a United Nations school in which civilians were sheltering. This was vociferously condemned both by the Secretary General of the United Nations and the local head of that organization. It did not happen.
In Europe Pope Benedict XV1 caused controversy by reinstating the excommunicated bishop, Richard Williamson. This is a man of the cloth who does little to hide his anti Semitism. This is most clearly evidenced by his Holocaust denial. Williamson states that the Nazis did not kill 6 million Jewish people, he puts the number at 300,000.
The Vatican, by inviting Williamson back into the fold appears to condone the bishop making a blood libel that we, the Jewish people have taken part in the biggest con trick in the history of mankind.
Just for the record my own family, bishop, lost some 63 of its number to the Nazis. My paternal grandmother’s entire family was wiped out. I am not imagining this, they didn’t all go on holiday and not return, they were shot, gassed, starved and tortured to untimely deaths because they were guilty of being Jewish. There are exhaustive records for millions more who were similarly massacred and these are available to everyone.
In war, the saying goes, "the first victim is the truth." Now there has been an in-depth investigative report about the Gaza UN School shelling conducted by the Canadian Globe and Mail's Middle East correspondent, Patrick Martin and he has proved that the incident at the United Nations school did not take place.
Like the supposed “Jenin Massacre” of a few years back, the last time Israel felt compelled to foray into Gaza to stop terrorist missiles from landing on their civilians, it has proven to be a publicity relations fabrication by Hamas and their fellow travelers.
Martin’s front-page investigation of the Israeli shelling of Hamas terrorists near a UN school that led to the tragic deaths of 43 civilians. His conclusion is that the facts don't support the accepted story that the school was shelled.
According to Martin who witnessed the physical evidence and conducted interviews with several eyewitnesses, including a teacher who was present when the shelling took place: While a few people were injured from shrapnel landing inside the white-and-blue-walled UNRWA compound, not a single person in the compound was killed. The 43 people who died in the incident were all outside, on the street, where three mortar shells did land. No shells landed inside the schoolyard.
Martin corroborates the Israeli accounts that the IDF accurately returned fire to the location from which it was being shelled by Hamas terrorists. The killing of 43 civilians on the street as a result may be a good reason for investigation, but this clearly is not the same as an intentional shooting into a schoolyard crowded with refuge-seekers. Any such investigation must also ask why the Hamas mortar team were embedded with the civilians.
Martin states that the incorrect public pronouncements by the UN helped allow "the misconception to linger" that Israel had committed a war crime.
Palestinian civilians were milling around the area where Hamas was firing rockets at Israel. This cannot be Israel's fault, but points out that Hamas fired from an area frequented by civilians, engaging in what former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls a double war crime: "Attacking [Israeli] civilians and hiding behind [Palestinian] civilians."
However, during the conflict, John Ging, UNRWA's operations director in Gaza, condemned the Israeli attack, as "horrific" and stated Israel knew it was targeting a UN facility.
"We have provided the GPS co-ordinates of every single one of our locations," he told the BBC. "They are clearly marked with UN insignia, flags flying, lights shining on the flags at night. It's very clear that these are United Nations installations."
During the Globe and Mail investigation, Ging totally reversed his previous announcements and acknowledged that all three Israeli mortar shells landed outside the school and that "no one was killed in the school. "I told the Israelis that none of the shells landed in the school," he said.
A European Member of Parliament, Paul van Buitenen submitted a parliamentary question based on the Globe & Mail's investigation. The MEP points out that UNRWA's John Ging admits in the article that Israel didn't attack the school but then blamed the confusion on the Israelis. Van Buitenen says that that the EU, which is UNRWA's single largest donor, wrongly condemned Israel for attacking the UN school.
Will the EU now apologize to Israel for wrongly condemning it without checking the facts?
Will the EU investigate Mr. Ging’s dissemination of misleading information concerning the supposed attack on this UNRWA school and whether this was politically motivated?
We return to the issue of the Pope welcoming bishop Richard Williamson into the Roman Catholic fold. This reeks of the lowest form of self-serving expediency as the church has stated that their action does not mean that the Holy See shares the bishop’s views. Put another way, the Pope doesn’t agree with the anti Semitic stuff but the unity of the church is apparently more important than upsetting a few Jews.
Germany’s Central Council of Jews broke off their ties with the Catholic church to protest the Vatican’s ill considered move to reinstate the bishop and three more of his ultra traditionalist fellow bishops who are all part of the ultra conservative Pius X sect of the infamous French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
The German nation, led by their Chancellor Angela Merkel, has taken the moral high ground by demanding that the Vatican make a public very clear rejection of Holocaust denial. “The Pope and the Vatican should clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial and there must be positive relations with the Jewish community overall. This should not be allowed to pass without consequences, “ she added, “This is not just a matter, in my opinion, for the Christian, Catholic and Jewish communities in Germany.”
Other German bishops have expressed dismay and “a loss of faith in the Pope.” Whilst Cardinal Walter Kesper, who is in charge of Roman Catholic relations with the Jews admitted that the episode had been mishandled by Rome.
Bishop Williamson is on record as stating that Jews are seeking world domination and further has claimed that the Americans planned the 9/11 attacks on their own people and finally that the Freemasons have corrupted the Vatican. He seems like he might make a perfect future candidate for Pope himself, or perhaps the nearest lunatic asylum for some obviously needed treatment.
It appears to be open season for people seemingly in moral authority, such as bishops, cardinals and the Secretary General of the United Nations to either lie about Jewish people, or just as bad, to allow others to lie on their behalf protected by their mantle of power, in some of the most rampant and obvious anti Semitism witnessed since the Nazis.
None of us should allow such lies, distortions or injustices to go unchallenged or we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
During the Gaza battles it was globally and hysterically reported that Israel had intentionally shelled a United Nations school in which civilians were sheltering. This was vociferously condemned both by the Secretary General of the United Nations and the local head of that organization. It did not happen.
In Europe Pope Benedict XV1 caused controversy by reinstating the excommunicated bishop, Richard Williamson. This is a man of the cloth who does little to hide his anti Semitism. This is most clearly evidenced by his Holocaust denial. Williamson states that the Nazis did not kill 6 million Jewish people, he puts the number at 300,000.
The Vatican, by inviting Williamson back into the fold appears to condone the bishop making a blood libel that we, the Jewish people have taken part in the biggest con trick in the history of mankind.
Just for the record my own family, bishop, lost some 63 of its number to the Nazis. My paternal grandmother’s entire family was wiped out. I am not imagining this, they didn’t all go on holiday and not return, they were shot, gassed, starved and tortured to untimely deaths because they were guilty of being Jewish. There are exhaustive records for millions more who were similarly massacred and these are available to everyone.
In war, the saying goes, "the first victim is the truth." Now there has been an in-depth investigative report about the Gaza UN School shelling conducted by the Canadian Globe and Mail's Middle East correspondent, Patrick Martin and he has proved that the incident at the United Nations school did not take place.
Like the supposed “Jenin Massacre” of a few years back, the last time Israel felt compelled to foray into Gaza to stop terrorist missiles from landing on their civilians, it has proven to be a publicity relations fabrication by Hamas and their fellow travelers.
Martin’s front-page investigation of the Israeli shelling of Hamas terrorists near a UN school that led to the tragic deaths of 43 civilians. His conclusion is that the facts don't support the accepted story that the school was shelled.
According to Martin who witnessed the physical evidence and conducted interviews with several eyewitnesses, including a teacher who was present when the shelling took place: While a few people were injured from shrapnel landing inside the white-and-blue-walled UNRWA compound, not a single person in the compound was killed. The 43 people who died in the incident were all outside, on the street, where three mortar shells did land. No shells landed inside the schoolyard.
Martin corroborates the Israeli accounts that the IDF accurately returned fire to the location from which it was being shelled by Hamas terrorists. The killing of 43 civilians on the street as a result may be a good reason for investigation, but this clearly is not the same as an intentional shooting into a schoolyard crowded with refuge-seekers. Any such investigation must also ask why the Hamas mortar team were embedded with the civilians.
Martin states that the incorrect public pronouncements by the UN helped allow "the misconception to linger" that Israel had committed a war crime.
Palestinian civilians were milling around the area where Hamas was firing rockets at Israel. This cannot be Israel's fault, but points out that Hamas fired from an area frequented by civilians, engaging in what former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls a double war crime: "Attacking [Israeli] civilians and hiding behind [Palestinian] civilians."
However, during the conflict, John Ging, UNRWA's operations director in Gaza, condemned the Israeli attack, as "horrific" and stated Israel knew it was targeting a UN facility.
"We have provided the GPS co-ordinates of every single one of our locations," he told the BBC. "They are clearly marked with UN insignia, flags flying, lights shining on the flags at night. It's very clear that these are United Nations installations."
During the Globe and Mail investigation, Ging totally reversed his previous announcements and acknowledged that all three Israeli mortar shells landed outside the school and that "no one was killed in the school. "I told the Israelis that none of the shells landed in the school," he said.
A European Member of Parliament, Paul van Buitenen submitted a parliamentary question based on the Globe & Mail's investigation. The MEP points out that UNRWA's John Ging admits in the article that Israel didn't attack the school but then blamed the confusion on the Israelis. Van Buitenen says that that the EU, which is UNRWA's single largest donor, wrongly condemned Israel for attacking the UN school.
Will the EU now apologize to Israel for wrongly condemning it without checking the facts?
Will the EU investigate Mr. Ging’s dissemination of misleading information concerning the supposed attack on this UNRWA school and whether this was politically motivated?
We return to the issue of the Pope welcoming bishop Richard Williamson into the Roman Catholic fold. This reeks of the lowest form of self-serving expediency as the church has stated that their action does not mean that the Holy See shares the bishop’s views. Put another way, the Pope doesn’t agree with the anti Semitic stuff but the unity of the church is apparently more important than upsetting a few Jews.
Germany’s Central Council of Jews broke off their ties with the Catholic church to protest the Vatican’s ill considered move to reinstate the bishop and three more of his ultra traditionalist fellow bishops who are all part of the ultra conservative Pius X sect of the infamous French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
The German nation, led by their Chancellor Angela Merkel, has taken the moral high ground by demanding that the Vatican make a public very clear rejection of Holocaust denial. “The Pope and the Vatican should clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial and there must be positive relations with the Jewish community overall. This should not be allowed to pass without consequences, “ she added, “This is not just a matter, in my opinion, for the Christian, Catholic and Jewish communities in Germany.”
Other German bishops have expressed dismay and “a loss of faith in the Pope.” Whilst Cardinal Walter Kesper, who is in charge of Roman Catholic relations with the Jews admitted that the episode had been mishandled by Rome.
Bishop Williamson is on record as stating that Jews are seeking world domination and further has claimed that the Americans planned the 9/11 attacks on their own people and finally that the Freemasons have corrupted the Vatican. He seems like he might make a perfect future candidate for Pope himself, or perhaps the nearest lunatic asylum for some obviously needed treatment.
It appears to be open season for people seemingly in moral authority, such as bishops, cardinals and the Secretary General of the United Nations to either lie about Jewish people, or just as bad, to allow others to lie on their behalf protected by their mantle of power, in some of the most rampant and obvious anti Semitism witnessed since the Nazis.
None of us should allow such lies, distortions or injustices to go unchallenged or we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
HealthandSafety
Snow clearing is not something we are wonderful at in the UK. We don't seem built to withstand more than an inch of the white stuff, but that's probably because we don't get much snow, so we don't get to practice.
This week we had between half a foot and one foot of snow in great areas of the country, and for one day our infrastructure was brought to pretty much of a standstill. Personally it doesn't unhinge me that this happens once every twenty years or so, but the way the commentators and pundits are having a hissy fit you would think we had just experienced the Apocalypse!
Ease up everyone, it snowed, we will clear it up in a day or so and we will survive, I promise.
Taking up this theme it seems as though anything that happens which is remotely negative is someone else's fault. We have truly become imbecilic if we expect someone else to take care of our every need. I know how insidious this is by comparison. I went to Spain a year or so back and was walking down a pavement (sidewalk) and noticing it was uneven turned to my companions and said, "pavements like these wouldn't be allowed in England!" I had caught the dreaded disease of "health and safety!"
This ailment is brought about by groups of little civil servants who exist to eliminate all risk from our lives. It resulted yesterday, when it snowed, with their not allowing any buses to run in London. They did this and stopped most of the trains and underground on the basis that it could be dangerous, not that anything bad had happened, but that it could, therefore it must be stopped from happening.
Of course if we were truly to eliminate risk we would never do anything and then nothing bad could happen, but the unfortunate truth is that nothing good could happen either.
If Health and Safety had been in charge of the financial sector of our economy there is no chance that we could have fallen into the abyss in which we presently find ourselves. However it is equally true that we would never have enjoyed any prosperity prior to the problems.
It is not the natural habitat of mankind to live risk free and never can be. There are bad things and bad people out there who mean us harm, and we'd better be a little toughened up or we won't survive the harsh realities that are sure to find us. Otherwise we will be like the Native American tribes who led a life free of our germs and diseases until we arrived and shared ours with them. The result was the decimation and subjugation of entire civilizations.
We need to be responsible members of our society, for our own benefit and that of each other. Government cannot and must not try to legislate or micro manage every aspect of our lives when the way we behave and treat one another is our own responsibility.
This week we had between half a foot and one foot of snow in great areas of the country, and for one day our infrastructure was brought to pretty much of a standstill. Personally it doesn't unhinge me that this happens once every twenty years or so, but the way the commentators and pundits are having a hissy fit you would think we had just experienced the Apocalypse!
Ease up everyone, it snowed, we will clear it up in a day or so and we will survive, I promise.
Taking up this theme it seems as though anything that happens which is remotely negative is someone else's fault. We have truly become imbecilic if we expect someone else to take care of our every need. I know how insidious this is by comparison. I went to Spain a year or so back and was walking down a pavement (sidewalk) and noticing it was uneven turned to my companions and said, "pavements like these wouldn't be allowed in England!" I had caught the dreaded disease of "health and safety!"
This ailment is brought about by groups of little civil servants who exist to eliminate all risk from our lives. It resulted yesterday, when it snowed, with their not allowing any buses to run in London. They did this and stopped most of the trains and underground on the basis that it could be dangerous, not that anything bad had happened, but that it could, therefore it must be stopped from happening.
Of course if we were truly to eliminate risk we would never do anything and then nothing bad could happen, but the unfortunate truth is that nothing good could happen either.
If Health and Safety had been in charge of the financial sector of our economy there is no chance that we could have fallen into the abyss in which we presently find ourselves. However it is equally true that we would never have enjoyed any prosperity prior to the problems.
It is not the natural habitat of mankind to live risk free and never can be. There are bad things and bad people out there who mean us harm, and we'd better be a little toughened up or we won't survive the harsh realities that are sure to find us. Otherwise we will be like the Native American tribes who led a life free of our germs and diseases until we arrived and shared ours with them. The result was the decimation and subjugation of entire civilizations.
We need to be responsible members of our society, for our own benefit and that of each other. Government cannot and must not try to legislate or micro manage every aspect of our lives when the way we behave and treat one another is our own responsibility.
Monday, February 2, 2009
WhateverNext
In England it snowed overnight. In fact it was the heaviest snow we’ve had for nearly two decades, and the weather forecasters are predicting this is just the start of “the biggest snow event in over a decade.” Put another way, it is snowing heavily. These things are relative; here we panic when the depth of the snow reaches 10 inches, whereas in Canada they moan at 10 feet.
It’s interesting to note that even as the ice caps actually increase and whilst the temperature decreases and our snowfall levels are healthily high the global warming doomsayers persist in their politically correct predictions. According to them we are about to all be flooded by the melting polar ice caps. I challenge them to provide proof. I simply don’t believe them. They are either well –intentioned but stupid, or evil extremists who use any lie to make their insupportable arguments appear correct.
I remember the predictions that these same thought police came up with previously, and all of which proved entirely false. This ignoble tradition began in the 18th century when the first such dire predictions of the earth’s demise were widely circulated. It was announced then that the world’s resources would not be able to feed the population, which was then a fraction of what it is today. It has been proven to be a wildly inaccurate prediction as we’ve been eating well for the intervening 200 years.
Of course there are parts of the world where people do not get enough to eat, but that is due to unfair economic systems, corrupt governments and bad, iniquitous distribution. It has never been due to our inability to meet our production needs.
In the mid 1960’s a book entitled “The Population Bomb” by Paul Erlich predicted that hundreds of millions of people would be starving to death in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and that about 65 million of these people dying of starvation would be in the USA. He went on to state that by the year 2000 England would cease to exist. Plainly Paul is a prat. I don’t want to rub it in too much, but what the hell Paul, you were totally wrong in general and in detail, in fact you were talking out of your politically correct anal orifice. The thing that should concern us all is that Mr Erlich is a member of the Optimum Population Trust despite his not having a clue, and being totally incorrect.
Such bodies as the Optimum Population Trust demand the power to curb the amount of children we can have. Remember that they don’t want you to retain the right to reproduce as you want, but demand that they should decide how many children we should all have. They are the true guardians of Nazi and hard line Communist ideology regarding how much we should reproduce. Welcome to the real Green policy leading to a brave new world.
There are doctors who follow such political beliefs who proudly declare that they will refuse to offer fertility treatment to any women who want to have more than 4 children because they believe this will cause an insupportable strain on the earth’s resources.
Our government’s Green adviser, Joanthon Porritt declared last week that it was “irresponsible” for the people of this great land to have more than 2 children per family because it was creating an unbearable burden on the environment. I suppose this follows that other great example of “Green” democracy and tolerance, The Peoples Republic of China, because they have long enjoyed a 1 child per family policy. Nazi Germany had an even more selective reproduction policy.
The UK is doing its best to be a bastion, a shining light of political correctness. After all this is the country that allowed its local government to ban refuse collections more than once every two weeks for environmental reasons. Perhaps they don’t realize that refuse allowed to stand and rot for a couple of weeks might be a bigger health hazard?
Today, due to the heavy snow, the parks in London were closed for “health and safety” reasons. Yes, we are banned from play in our parks with our kids today, in case we might slip over.
Our milk now has a label on the outside of the carton, because it contains milk, and therefore, if you’re allergic to milk, you shouldn’t drink, er, milk!
On our television and cinema screens we see a multitude of advertisements from our big brother government telling us it is unsafe to have unprotected sex, it is bad to drink and drive, it is bad to take drugs and drive, it is dangerous to cross the road without looking first, it is good to study math, it is very good to study science. I’m astonished they haven’t made a commercial instructing me in the correct manner of how to wipe my bum.
Also, in this proud tradition of freedom and tolerance, we allowed the installation of more than 4,000,000 CCTV cameras that gives us the opportunity to be photographed, one way or another, about 2-400 times per day, every day. These cameras are being enhanced all the time and are now linked in an enormously powerful combination. Some of these cameras come complete with such devices as vehicle license recognition, and soon many with behavior recognition, face recognition and listening and broadcast facilities.
Undaunted we have made it possible, through anti terrorism legislation, for our local councils to install tiny cameras into our refuse bins to make certain that we sort our rubbish in the prescribed manner, or we will be fined.
Local government is using the same legislation to check whether people claiming benefits are actually cohabiting with each other. This is achieved by dispatching council employees to spy on the potentially false claimants. When did it become local governments role to pervert the use of supposedly legitimate anti terrorism legislation to see if man A is having consensual sex with woman B?
Our government informs us that we need to eat less and exercise more. In fact it has been paying for huge advertising campaigns to promote a healthy lifestyle on TV and elsewhere. Don’t they understand that it’s our own choice how we live, diet and exercise? It is not the job of the nanny state to instruct or legislate on such matters.
In fact it is no one’s business, as long as we don’t break existing laws, how we choose to live, where and with whom. Even if I want to drink myself to oblivion, or exercise until I drop or jumping up and down naked and yodeling my head off it's my right and no one is going to take that away. It is my business and no one has the right to tell me otherwise.
This is a battle for freedom and we are allowing it to drift away in a fog of baloney loosely called political correctness and it is probably the most insidious and dangerous assault on our liberties and common sense since the English Civil War.
I have a guaranteed method for controlling the population and relieving stress. All of these politically correct fools who tell everyone else how to live, reproduce etc. should commit collective suicide, then we would all have what we want.
It’s interesting to note that even as the ice caps actually increase and whilst the temperature decreases and our snowfall levels are healthily high the global warming doomsayers persist in their politically correct predictions. According to them we are about to all be flooded by the melting polar ice caps. I challenge them to provide proof. I simply don’t believe them. They are either well –intentioned but stupid, or evil extremists who use any lie to make their insupportable arguments appear correct.
I remember the predictions that these same thought police came up with previously, and all of which proved entirely false. This ignoble tradition began in the 18th century when the first such dire predictions of the earth’s demise were widely circulated. It was announced then that the world’s resources would not be able to feed the population, which was then a fraction of what it is today. It has been proven to be a wildly inaccurate prediction as we’ve been eating well for the intervening 200 years.
Of course there are parts of the world where people do not get enough to eat, but that is due to unfair economic systems, corrupt governments and bad, iniquitous distribution. It has never been due to our inability to meet our production needs.
In the mid 1960’s a book entitled “The Population Bomb” by Paul Erlich predicted that hundreds of millions of people would be starving to death in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and that about 65 million of these people dying of starvation would be in the USA. He went on to state that by the year 2000 England would cease to exist. Plainly Paul is a prat. I don’t want to rub it in too much, but what the hell Paul, you were totally wrong in general and in detail, in fact you were talking out of your politically correct anal orifice. The thing that should concern us all is that Mr Erlich is a member of the Optimum Population Trust despite his not having a clue, and being totally incorrect.
Such bodies as the Optimum Population Trust demand the power to curb the amount of children we can have. Remember that they don’t want you to retain the right to reproduce as you want, but demand that they should decide how many children we should all have. They are the true guardians of Nazi and hard line Communist ideology regarding how much we should reproduce. Welcome to the real Green policy leading to a brave new world.
There are doctors who follow such political beliefs who proudly declare that they will refuse to offer fertility treatment to any women who want to have more than 4 children because they believe this will cause an insupportable strain on the earth’s resources.
Our government’s Green adviser, Joanthon Porritt declared last week that it was “irresponsible” for the people of this great land to have more than 2 children per family because it was creating an unbearable burden on the environment. I suppose this follows that other great example of “Green” democracy and tolerance, The Peoples Republic of China, because they have long enjoyed a 1 child per family policy. Nazi Germany had an even more selective reproduction policy.
The UK is doing its best to be a bastion, a shining light of political correctness. After all this is the country that allowed its local government to ban refuse collections more than once every two weeks for environmental reasons. Perhaps they don’t realize that refuse allowed to stand and rot for a couple of weeks might be a bigger health hazard?
Today, due to the heavy snow, the parks in London were closed for “health and safety” reasons. Yes, we are banned from play in our parks with our kids today, in case we might slip over.
Our milk now has a label on the outside of the carton, because it contains milk, and therefore, if you’re allergic to milk, you shouldn’t drink, er, milk!
On our television and cinema screens we see a multitude of advertisements from our big brother government telling us it is unsafe to have unprotected sex, it is bad to drink and drive, it is bad to take drugs and drive, it is dangerous to cross the road without looking first, it is good to study math, it is very good to study science. I’m astonished they haven’t made a commercial instructing me in the correct manner of how to wipe my bum.
Also, in this proud tradition of freedom and tolerance, we allowed the installation of more than 4,000,000 CCTV cameras that gives us the opportunity to be photographed, one way or another, about 2-400 times per day, every day. These cameras are being enhanced all the time and are now linked in an enormously powerful combination. Some of these cameras come complete with such devices as vehicle license recognition, and soon many with behavior recognition, face recognition and listening and broadcast facilities.
Undaunted we have made it possible, through anti terrorism legislation, for our local councils to install tiny cameras into our refuse bins to make certain that we sort our rubbish in the prescribed manner, or we will be fined.
Local government is using the same legislation to check whether people claiming benefits are actually cohabiting with each other. This is achieved by dispatching council employees to spy on the potentially false claimants. When did it become local governments role to pervert the use of supposedly legitimate anti terrorism legislation to see if man A is having consensual sex with woman B?
Our government informs us that we need to eat less and exercise more. In fact it has been paying for huge advertising campaigns to promote a healthy lifestyle on TV and elsewhere. Don’t they understand that it’s our own choice how we live, diet and exercise? It is not the job of the nanny state to instruct or legislate on such matters.
In fact it is no one’s business, as long as we don’t break existing laws, how we choose to live, where and with whom. Even if I want to drink myself to oblivion, or exercise until I drop or jumping up and down naked and yodeling my head off it's my right and no one is going to take that away. It is my business and no one has the right to tell me otherwise.
This is a battle for freedom and we are allowing it to drift away in a fog of baloney loosely called political correctness and it is probably the most insidious and dangerous assault on our liberties and common sense since the English Civil War.
I have a guaranteed method for controlling the population and relieving stress. All of these politically correct fools who tell everyone else how to live, reproduce etc. should commit collective suicide, then we would all have what we want.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Isms
Just when we thought we were safe along comes the recession. Not many saw it coming, and the few of us who did could do nothing about it except warn anyone who would listen. That does not deter me from warning about the next big hazard that is now ready to stalk our streets.
This outcome of economic disaster is much more dangerous and pernicious than the problems that cause it. I am describing xenophobia and race hate, which originates from fear and ignorance.
Yesterday we saw evidence of this in the UK when wildcat strikes broke out in protest at foreign workers being used to fulfill a contract in an oil refinery. The imported workers are from the European Union and can therefore work legally, without restraint in this country. Furthermore the contract was given after a formal tendering process to an American company, and it was they who sub contracted the labor in from mainland Europe.
I have the sinking feeling that the people who follow “ ‘ism’s” instead of employing their own brains are behind this “spontaneous” wave of protests. I mean followers of Communism, Socialism, and Fascism etc. These people wait any length of time to find an opportunity to fulfill their exclusive utopia. Like any fanatics they believe that they are the followers of the only true religion and there can be no other. That’s the trouble with ‘ism’s, they are mean spirited and vicious. They will only be happy when they have control, and the control must be total, no one else can be allowed to exist. The Taliban in Afghanistan are just another form of this type of extremism, as are Al Queada, Hamas and many others. But we must be very wary of letting anyone open the door even an inch to the creeping extremism.
The pickets in support of the British workers who didn’t get the work are technically illegal. But the big point is that they are emotionally right, it doesn’t feel acceptable for British workers to be out of work whilst their European counterparts are bussed in to fill the vacancies.
It would be even easier for us to make that point if there were not British people working in every other country in the world. We can’t use this economic equation only when it suits us.
This outcome of economic disaster is much more dangerous and pernicious than the problems that cause it. I am describing xenophobia and race hate, which originates from fear and ignorance.
Yesterday we saw evidence of this in the UK when wildcat strikes broke out in protest at foreign workers being used to fulfill a contract in an oil refinery. The imported workers are from the European Union and can therefore work legally, without restraint in this country. Furthermore the contract was given after a formal tendering process to an American company, and it was they who sub contracted the labor in from mainland Europe.
I have the sinking feeling that the people who follow “ ‘ism’s” instead of employing their own brains are behind this “spontaneous” wave of protests. I mean followers of Communism, Socialism, and Fascism etc. These people wait any length of time to find an opportunity to fulfill their exclusive utopia. Like any fanatics they believe that they are the followers of the only true religion and there can be no other. That’s the trouble with ‘ism’s, they are mean spirited and vicious. They will only be happy when they have control, and the control must be total, no one else can be allowed to exist. The Taliban in Afghanistan are just another form of this type of extremism, as are Al Queada, Hamas and many others. But we must be very wary of letting anyone open the door even an inch to the creeping extremism.
The pickets in support of the British workers who didn’t get the work are technically illegal. But the big point is that they are emotionally right, it doesn’t feel acceptable for British workers to be out of work whilst their European counterparts are bussed in to fill the vacancies.
It would be even easier for us to make that point if there were not British people working in every other country in the world. We can’t use this economic equation only when it suits us.
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