madderbat's site

Interesting times

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:26:55 +0100

Iran has test fired rockets, Condi asserts that America will defend Israel. I

t really doesn'tmatter who fires on Israel, whether US in Iraq, Iranians or even Israelis in Iraq, Iran will get it. The only question now is timing.

Tory ex-MP wins by-election with half the votes he had before, David Icke spreads his message worldwide via Google Videos [url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4799447112501062338&q=4799447112501062338&ei=aqJzSKXlE5SK2wLd6JGoAQ]Big Brother, the Big story[/url] here.

Some of us have woken up, and begin to smell the coffee, but I fear too little, too late.

And the world sleeps on.

Surprise surprise.....

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:58:28 +0100

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7323033.stm

Skills Commission report

[quote]

We are shocked at the sheer depth of dissatisfaction Britons seem to feel for their work and how their skills are underutilised on a massive scale.[quote]

Well, well. Could this have anything to do with the fact that most work is pointless shite, and crap management treat workers like sheep?

I've only once done a job that was satisfying, and then management lied to us.

6 month review - doing fine, we like you, permanent job.

Two weeks later meeting : you've got to reapply for your own job because we're re-structuring!

They didn't admit that they'd not met quota for funding and it was being reduced I knew because I saw papers that were left in the office when \i started and only 1 1/2 people appointed for a 2 1/2 person contract.

LIARS.

Shame because I enjoyed the work and felt it made a difference.

I resigned and will never work for crap management again.

Tony 'does God'

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:28:03 +0000

Report of Blair interview hit the headlines on sunday 25th November (poor love has been out of the loop for a while).

Telegraph ran a comment - Should Religion andpolitics mix?

my comment:

If Tony 'does God', whatever happened to 'Thou shalt not kill'? or is it ok if other people do it for you?
Posted November 25, 2007 8:25 AM

cannabis law under review

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:59:09 +0100

With so many government ministers admitting that thay have indulged in the 'highly dangerous' drug, cannabis, how can we be sure that none of them are psychotic?

Psychotic bullshit

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:54:33 +0100

Comment

For Blair, it's child's play to make us all criminals

From identifying potential miscreants in childhood to fingerprint-activated iPods, Labour's new crime review takes the theft of our liberty to new extremes

Henry Porter
Sunday April 1, 2007
The Observer

Years ago, I asked some well-known people to write their obituaries for publication during their lifetime. The wonderful Lord Longford said that he was cowardly and had failed to serve his country properly in the war. Robert Maxwell claimed the fall of communism as one of more important personal successes. Both men were wide of the mark.

The thing about writing your own obituary, whether accurately or not, is that nobody is going to believe it anyway. Reputation, like political legacy, is not the possession of the individual to fashion how he or she likes. It is public property and each one of us has to live with that. Even Tony Blair.

Last week, an important part of the Prime Minister's Operation Legacy was published in a policy review document called 'Building on progress: security, crime and justice'. It is a dreary work and reading it, I remembered HL Mencken on President Warren Harding's use of English. 'It reminds me of a string of wet sponges,' wrote Mencken. 'It reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup... it is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself up out of a dark abyss of pish and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.'

Perhaps that's a little unfair because the review document does contain an awful lot that establishes the Prime Minister's character, the obsessions with antisocial behaviour and crime that have been responsible for the 53 law and order bills since 1997, the creation of 3,000 new criminal offences and a rise in the prison population to a record 80,299.

Some have been tempted to see the review as a liberal adjustment, but read it closely and you'll find all the old fixations about the control of the British public and 'bottom-up citizen accountability', a gargoyle of a phrase that leers at you demanding proof of your identity, your innocence and your worth to the state. Instead, it is for the government to demonstrate its worth to us and we are all innocent until proven guilty by a normal court of law.

There is something Maoist in the review's exhortation. Think of the lunacy in China when Mao ordered the people into the fields to bang drums and tins so that the birds could never settle and therefore died of exhaustion and you have the tenor of this report. It is both self-congratulatory and demanding. As long as one bird is alive, none of us can rest. We must press on eradicating all crime and ensuring against the slightest possibility of deviancy.

We are told that every child in the country will be assessed to see if they are likely to turn to crime. Those that comply to a profile set by some grim determinist working for the government will be 'actively managed' by youth justice workers and local social services. This is what Blair meant by being tough on the causes of crime.

In the introduction, he says: 'It was never this government's belief that poverty and deprivation were excuses for crime.' Note the use of the word 'excuse' in this context, rather than the expected 'cause'. It lets the government off the hook about poverty being a contributing factor in crime.

What kind of intervention will the state contemplate? Fatherly chats on responsibility and homework, or will children end up being taken from problem families for a period of special attention and re-education? The implications are sinister; it seems clear that the government is taking too much upon itself. That is the common theme. On page 46, the review says: 'Citizens are asked to accept the gathering of greater levels of information and intelligence in the knowledge that this will facilitate improvements in public safety and law.' Which is to say we must all expect to be under total surveillance from the cradle to the grave.

The review mentions ID cards, mobile fingerprint readers, crowd scanners and an expansion of the DNA database of people who have committed no crime. There will be iPods and mobile phones that will work only when they sense one person's fingerprints. So we will be required to give Apple or Nokia fingerprints before buying a piece of equipment.

There will be automatic visual recognition cameras - no better way of controlling the population in times when the government is under pressure - and we read of virtual courts, in which a 'video-link technology could allow for hearings where a defendant is dealt with at the police station'.

This is utterly wrong. Such a court would not have the chance to examine the defendant in person, to assess his circumstances and character, the likelihood of his telling the truth or the treatment he may have received in the police cells. A video link hides much, for you can never tell what is going on off-camera, what threats are made, what prompts are being held up.

We must perhaps accept that the back-room boys in Blair's blue sky lab may be indulging the Prime Minister with these control fantasies at the same time as seeking to throw this part of his legacy forward into the political culture of the future. We must accept also that they may mean well despite the leaden evidence of autocratic mania.

In all this, there is a very large mystery. At the same time as arguing for the necessity of this 21st-century version of the police state, the report also does a pretty good job of telling us about Blair's great success. 'Crime has fallen 35 per cent since 1997', with 'six million fewer offences committed each year'. And: 'Offences brought to justice increased by 37 per cent from March 2002 to September 2006.' It even admits to the perception gap: 'Two-thirds of the public believe that crime has been rising' when there has, in fact, 'been a significant fall in crime levels since 1997'.

Who has kept this state of siege alive in the minds of the public? The Blair government. How else would the Prime Minister have managed to mount the assault on our liberty that he has?

That is certainly part of his legacy. There is another element which is more hidden or, rather, it is one that we have become used to, and that is the widespread confusion in Blair's administration between state and government. Senior civil servants complain how Blair and his ministers refuse to recognise that in order to function properly they must keep the politics of government at arm's length. Blair's administration thinks of itself as the embodiment of the state. Therefore, everyone who works for the state works for the government.

It is the same attitude that allows the Prime Minister's strategy groups to dream up the bossy, intrusive, controlling, presumptuous and downright dangerous practices described in 'Building on progress'. When Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister, we will be able to judge whether the review is Blair's legacy or New Labour's.

As to a proper memorial for the Prime Minister, a man I would dearly love to be praising now, we must look no further than the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square which falls inside the area where spontaneous demonstration of any sort has been banned by Labour. A modest bronze of an ordinary man, gagged and holding a blank placard perhaps? Or a cascade of birds falling from the sky, each one representing a lost right or freedom?

henry.porter@observer.co.uk

Commentssidewaysthinker April 1, 2007 9:33 AM

The King is in the altogether, the altogether, the altogether....

We do not have to put up with this, swallow the carp, or believe what we are being spoonfed. It is all an invention of a psychotic mind. The Bushblair alliance seems determined to shape the world in their image - scared witless.

Be not afraid, it is only fear that allows this to continue. The only thing to be afraid of is fear itself. Control is the weapon of the maniac. Do not allow it. If we stand together we can defeat it.

If thinking people of this country all stood up and stuck two fingers in the air and shouted 'Bollocks' at the same time, the message might get through.

When was the golden age?

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 12:58:51 +0000

Letter today in Guardian cause me to ponder.

"Yes, it's dangerous when society loses all respect, trust, peace, care, understanding, faith and hope, with seemingly no chance of future happiness. But the bad road of capitalism can only run so far before imploding. It is light years from being sustainable, unless we really are intent on a world of constant global terrorism from both sides of the terror coin. Paul Kelleher London"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,2019324,00.html

***************************

When did society consist of respect, trust, peace, care and understanding ? Was there ever a time of faith hope and a promise of future happiness?

Looking back, it seems that the struggles of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century were fuelled by lies, greed and false promises. The development of Trades Unions, the Co-operative movement, democracy, the Labour Party, National Health Service and even Communism kept the masses quiet and led us to believe that we had some means of control, but in reality the capitalist system rolled over all. People had the impression that they had some say in things, but the truth was nothing of the kind. The inexorable roll of Capitalism, which started as soon as surplus occured in prehistory, cannot be overcome by altruistic individuals.

Some the earliest civilisations, Egyptian and Minoan, demonstrate a division of labour and caste system between the haves and have-nots, with differing values placed on different activities. Priestess and Priest oversaw and controlled production and consumption, slave labour was certainly endemic in Egypt, although there is less evidence in Minoan Crete as far as I know. Man's inhumanity to man has always been part of the human condition.

Religions invented methods of control and promise a 'better time' in 'the next world' which helped keep folk quiet. The Industrial Revoution in UK led to religion losing its grip as people moved, family ties loosened, the power of neighbourhood opinion lost sway and fear of eternal damnation became less relevant after the horrors of war in this world increased.

In the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries it seems that people looked back to previous times for expression of hope. The Egyptian revival during the early years of the Nineteenth century lasted well into Victoria's reign, but as more information was discovered, it lost some appeal. During the latter part of that century people looked to the medieval period for inspiration. The gothic revival was quite powerful, but reality of life during the middle ages was conveniently overlooked.

So when was the Golden Age, this magic time of respect, trust, peace, care and understanding, a time of faith hope and a promise of future happiness? If it never existed, is it something to be aspired to?

The nature of man may not necessarily be 'solitary,poor, nasty, brutish and short' (Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan 1651) but it is rarely generous, kind, altruistic and thoughtful. Greed and fear hold sway, and while the world is governed by commercialism I see very little hope of achieving dreams about The Golden Age.

Bird flu hits UK

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:53:31 +0000

This week not only the weather (10cm of snow) but also bird flu arrived in England.

Bernard Matthews apparently imports turkeys from his own farms in Hungary to process in his factories in Norfolk. What has not been said is whether he feeds the residue of the processing to his birds in Norfolk. Apparently the birds are farmed on the same land as the factories that process them.

It has yet to be explained how (if) H5N1 imported in factory goods from Hungary can end up in the food chain of birds bred in Norfolk.

Britain is no Police state

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:26:21 +0000

Official: Obsever leader today

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,2010492,00.html

When a bizarre claim is made often enough, backed up by respectable sources, it enters political debate as a legitimate point of view. For example, the opinion, expressed last week by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, that Britain is becoming a police state, worthy of comparison with Uganda under Idi Amin, reflects a commonplace line of attack on the government. David Davis, the shadow home affairs spokesman, gave qualified support to Dr Sentamu's view. One senior cleric last week compared recent police raids against terror suspects in Birmingham's Muslim community with the actions of Nazi Germany against the Jews.

There are many reasons to criticise the government over civil liberties: for trying to empower police to detain terror suspects without charge for 90 days; for banning incitement to religious hatred and glorification of terror, which blurred the distinction between nasty words and criminal acts; ID cards, which will create a store of private data to be shared in secret by state bodies.

Governments instinctively value the practical convenience of law enforcement over theoretical freedoms. Democratic institutions should instinctively check that process. So far, with mixed success, that is what Parliament and the judiciary have done.

Hyperbole has its place in rhetoric, raising the spectre of an unthinkable future to criticise the present. But to compare modern Britain with Amin's Uganda or the Third Reich is absurd. It panders to the paranoid, nihilistic attitude that sees all government as a cynical conspiracy. There is a case for defending civil liberties in Britain, but it is discredited, not enhanced, by excessive talk of a 'police state'.

******************************

So that's alright then.

COMMENTS

petros

February 11, 2007 1:50 AM

"There is a case for defending civil liberties in Britain, but it is discredited, not enhanced, by excessive talk of a 'police state'."

Spoken very probably by a middle class, middle aged, white man, who never gets racially profiled, or targeted by the police because of his skin colour or religion, or 7 bullets pumped into his head on the London underground because he looks 'Asian'.

What blind complacency from the observer leader writers, they should read Henry Porter.

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frothwrath

February 11, 2007 8:01 AM

http://gizmonaut.net/bits/suspect.html

http://gizmonaut.net/bits/police_state.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/06/accursed_metal_detector/

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frothwrath

February 11, 2007 8:25 AM

When the police can arrest you for anything at all, even for saying 'shit' under your breath, and once they've arrested you can forcibly take dna samples and fingerprints which will be held until you die even though you are not convicted of anything, then people who raise their voices to protest about a 'police state' deserve better than a crappy little editorial like this from Tony's friends at the Observer. One or two people say things like 'Idi Amin' or 'Hitler' and the Observer jumps at the chance to pontificate.

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frothwrath

February 11, 2007 8:42 AM

And when the police can break into someone's home in the early hours, wearing face masks which muffle their voices so no-one can hear them identify themselves, and wearing gloves which prevent them operating their drawn guns with safety-catch off, so they shoot someone (without even meaning to this time) and then, when it turns out that after a week or so they actually have to release the people they've shot and arrested because Tony hasn't given them their three months yet, they feel so resentful that they plant child porn on a computer they confiscated from the innocent guy they shot in order to try to punish him for making them look bad, and yet no police are disciplined and nothing is done, then people who raise their voices to complain deserve better than this sort of patronising 'shut up, it's not Nazi Germany yet' crap.

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pauljaymes

February 11, 2007 8:55 AM

The Guardian is a great paper for publishing what is IMO the widest range of challlenging views of any traditional media outlet. However, sometimes it seems to inexplicably become a wet apologist for New Labour, throwing away all pretense of objectivity and mindlessly pushing the party line.

Nihilistic? That's a good word to describe the Blair government, not it's opponents.

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sidewaysthinker

February 11, 2007 9:15 AM

When people are imprisoned for 'thought crimes' do not dare to say that we are not a police state.

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Sandrovic

February 11, 2007 12:32 PM

QUOTE

Britain is no police state

When a bizarre claim is made often enough, backed up by respectable sources, it enters political debate as a legitimate point of view

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petros

February 11, 2007 2:41 PM

I am sure the non-Jewish ordinary folk, of Nazi Germany also thought they were not living in a Police State. Till it was too late.

It is the powerless ethnic and social minorities who face the abuse of police and state power first. The middle class, middle aged, white man who writes Observer leader articles should be reminded of the famous quote below by Pastor Niemoller:

"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me." _ By Pastor Niemoller_

The day the sky fell in

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 20:41:21 +0000

January 2007

9th Jan: woke up to punctured tyre. fixed at cost of £43; screenwash not working. Fixed at cost of £43.

11th Jan driving car, knocking noise on front offside wheel. Bearings ok but nuts had come loose. Fixed at cost of £46

Decided to sell my car. Mental gymnastics about living without car; sleepsless nights and anxiety. If twere done, twere well done quickly.

Tried to advertise it week ending 26th jan. Paper messed up and didn't print. More anxiety

Week ending 1st Feb, car in paper. Very anxious about a) it going and b)getting rid of it. No-one called.

Saturday 3rd February

8am woke up to large amount of water inside bedroom window., Doubleglazing seal looks like it's gone.

9am son drew attention to his enlarged collar bone. Only information on web = possible quite serious diseases. Can't make doc appt til Monday.

10am external plaster over brickwork under kitchen window showing bulge. Water appears to have got in and rendering crumbled exposing breeze block.

12 am No 2 cat showing signs of bladder problems. Out of hours call to vet to fit catheter and relieve his discomfort.

5pm noticed crack in bath. OH swears it's been there fore months. I've never sen it before. son gets sealant to fix it in morning.

Only good thing that happened : no-one responded to advert for car!

Shit happens,

Sunday 4th February

Collect cat with catheter from vet. Put newspaper all over ground floor. Drips everywhere. Manage to get 1/2 tablet down him. Too stressed to cook.

Monday 5th february 2007

Cat to vet for extraction of catheter. all ok. Bill £89

Son to docs for examination. Doc reassures but sends for x-ray. Radiographer takes it seriously and makes thorough picture. Return to doc in two weeks.

Cook meal.

Cat much better, pierces vein when I try to give him 1/2 tablet.

Wall and windows still in need of attention.

Tonight I will have a bath and sleep for the first time in weeks even though the house is still falling down.

Big Brother controversy

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:40:42 +0000

Not worth wasting much space on so I will put my post here:

Guardian today Article about racism

COMMENT sidewaysthinker

January 19, 2007 09:35 AM

Can someone please explain why this media generated storm in a teacup has occupied major news for the last week?
What is this 'Celebrity' that these people are supposed to demonstrate, and does anybody actually watch the programme?
It really is beyond me that we can be so manipulated by the media.
Shilpa Shetty is an actress I understand. She can act.
Jade Goody has been involved in this programme before and understands what the producers want.
Failing ratings mean that controversy is needed to increase viewing figures.
Do we need to be duped by this?

Yes, racism exists
yes, there are people who do not wish to get to know strangers
yes, people are stupid
yes, people bully others
yes, people are intolerant of difference.
that is life.

Without education and example human nature will continue in its defensive mode.

Media hype generates increased fear in our increasingly fearful society. It's a con. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Blair's leaving date

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:07:34 +0000

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2160076.ece

Blair scuppers Brown's hopes of an early handover By Andrew Grice Published: 17 January 2007

******************************

Rubbish!

*******************************

I will post this now as a record of what I have been saying for ages.

Blair is not planning to leave the leadership of the Labour Party before the next election.

Remember, he is a Barrister. His use of language is explicit. What he said to the last TUC Conference was that he would not be attending another TUC Conference. At no point did he say that he would be resigning before the next conference. He will go on, and on. No matter what Brown thought he had agreed years ago, Blair will not relinquish power.

He will find excuse after excuse, or create situations which make it impossible for him to hand over power. The public will be sooo grateful: "Thank you Tony for offering to save us from the horrors we now perceive"

All hail the eternal leader.

latest cause of fear/alarm: dangerous dogs

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:45:19 +0000

google search today shows 1,487 news stories on this topic

http://news.google.co.uk/nwshp?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wn&q=dangerous%20dogs

Obviously another forgotten fear we should worry about.

NEWSPEAK today

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 09:33:45 +0000

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1977460,00.html

"This indignation deficit shows the reality of the state that Labour is in

They may grumble to pollsters, but financial security and high public spending will keep the public voting Brown "

Polly Toynbee

Lord help us, this article today by Polly Toynbee (mouthpiece for the government) claims that people are 'not all that angry and that Labour has solid foundations' Pass the soma Polly, or are they already putting it in the water?

Those of us who protested in the 60's and 70's felt we were achieving something. After the biggest demonstration in the world failed to stop madness some of us retreated to try and survive. We have not given up, but the growing sense of hopelessness at not being listened to means that fewer now feel they have any part to play in any of this.

Protect and survive may become our motto. Heads down folks, keep breathing and hope for a quick end.

Here we go....be afraid, be very afraid.

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 21:11:55 +0000

For the full article see Food for Thought page

THEY ALL HAVE NUMBER PLATES AND THE OWNERS OF 1.5 MILLION CARS ARE GOING TO BE STOPPED "In the ANPR system we at present have one-and-a-half million car registrations which we'll have to check because we know something is wrong with them." - police director H. Karreman explained. The police explained that for instance also 'suspects' which had not shown up yet for a DNA test were stopped, and people who had tax debts, had not paid parking tickets or were ordered to pay alimony but didn't. They could stop stolen or 'suspected' cars, like all other cars and the people in them, which data are kept on file in the police's database with (legal and illegal) info on all 16.5 million inhabitants of The Netherlands. And even if 99% of them is innocent and has (on paper) constitutional rights which by law forbids this kind of snooping, the European Union's 'managers' and their control system keeps mutating as some form of malignant fungus in all twenty-six countries.

"IF YOU KEEP'M STUPID, I'LL KEEP'M POOR." With 11% suffering poverty in Holland, in one of the 'richest' countries on earth? With children held in jail and fourhundred-and-forty-thousand children growing up in abject poverty? Is that a 'rich' country where more so called middle class people than ever commit suicide for economical reasons, and 61% of the people lies awake because they do not know how to pay the bills...? Also in Holland , the digital TV camera gets the license plate, 'freezes' the picture and 'matches' within a second. And if the authorities, the by you tax paid personal, via the by you tax paid police wants you for whatever reason, even for reading this, two by you tax paid cops on by your taxes paid motorbikes will have stopped you within minutes. If needed, and by remote control of course, all traffic lights can switch to red, and the road signs and markers above and along the highway will show your license plate number, telling you to STOP! That's what also can happen to all and anybody of those people with cell phones and/or new, for the EU compulsory driving licenses with build in signals via the RFID's.

THEY PROMISED FREEDOM AND IMPOSED APARTHEID What's happening in Holland is happening in the rest of the European Union too, and slowly - like cancer mostly - it's silently spreading across the globe. To silence oppositional voices and further brainwash the people, globally more major media have been bought, and under the cover of the US junta's fake 'war of terror' the indecent and abusive control of people keeps metastasizing.

"IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR." IS THE GLOBAL NITWIT MANTRA. Well: after a few people survived the maltreatment in the US concentration camp Guantanamo, survived the years of illegal jailing, the hunger strikes, brutal interrogations with torture and having some poor people commit suicide in desperation, a few got out and could finally tell their horrible stories. Giving evidence that all of them 'had nothing to hide'. But the US mercenaries tortured them anyhow. 50.000 Volt will make you 'confess' anything.*
Why do you think it can't happen to you?

Henk Ruyssenaars
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/gpr4j
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl

More to worry about

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 01:21:35 +0000

Is it better to be a bit fat or very thin? The news about obesity makes me want to eat, drink and be merry

Alexander Chancellor Friday December 15, 2006 The Guardian

sidewaysthinker 08:34 AM

Yippee! one more thing for us all to worry about - 'Internal fat'
Shall we start a book on what the next one will be?