Tuesday 23 December 2008

Bailiffs given the authority to use restraint against debtors.

This is something that has been in the pipeline for a while now but has received scant media attention.
Given the hard economic time ahead for people, with more people's income and livelihoods’ under threat, largely by governments who were either, too incompetent, too complicit, too egomaniacal, (delete or add-to as you see fit), are now passing legislation to allow those whom are owed money to use force to get it or goods back.
In any other culture this would be regarded as gangsters and extortion.
But these are legalised money-lenders.

They are all willing to hand over your taxes and shortly, any money held in bank and building societies which has not been touch, or 'updated' as it is termed in 15 years. This is to be used in 'charitable causes', a phrase usually meaning giving, those who have the most influence in local community or national and international projects, more of your rainy-day cash to keep themselves and/or their cronies in the banking sector or 'influential quango's', with well-paid positions and wielding unaccountable power and influence with the fabric of society.

The expression that springs to mind to describe the positions that such people occupy is 'dogs in mangers.'









Bailiffs get power to use force on debtors - Times Online

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ScribeFire. A light-weight blogging tool or just a light weight?

As my regular visitors will know, I have been trying to get Yoono and The Tao of Blog to talk to each other but, alas, to no positive result. In all other aspects Yoono is becoming more and more indispensable with it's ability to drag and drop URL, text, weblinks and images to a page which is saved off-site, and then to use them as the basis for articles, and its excellent cross-network compatibilities are first-rate and Yoono is only marred with this lack of integration with my blog.

However, every cloud and all that!

This difficulty made me look for other solutions, namely in the form of Windows Live Writer, which I have used for the post few posts on the Tao of Blog, and found it very capable, but sometimes, too much of a resource-hogging heavy-weight for just a simple, quick blog post.
So, to discover ScribeFire, a Firefox add-on, seems to have filled this role, light, quick to load and recognised my blog easily.

It is able to run in a separate window is a boon, rather than the default split-screen view.

You are also able to monetise your blog via ScribeFires Quick Ads program, which I have not looked at as yet, we'll see if ScribeFire prove to be a useful add-on first.

The only fly seems to be no spell checker. It is supposed to intergrate with Firefox's built-in checker but it doesn't seem to want to play.
So I guess it is the same as usual, type in WP, cut and paste or publish. then re-edit in Blogger or Live Writer. So, in reality using ScribeFire without a working spell checker is no quicker than before.
If I am able to either find out what the problem is with the spell checker, or find a replacement for it, ScribeFire may just stay on my PC, if not, well, nice idea.

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Monday 22 December 2008

Definition of Politically Correct

This is for one of my contacts on Twitter, Paul Walsh.

Definition of Politically Correct:
Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

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Saturday 20 December 2008

UK Gov sells remaining third of Trident to foreign interests.

So we no longer have control over our own Nuclear capabilities? Could you imagine the French selling off their WMD's to a foreign power?

Oh wait, aren't the French buying our domestic nuclear fuel production? 

None of this sounds right to me.

(From the BBC)

The government has sold its last remaining shares in the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire to an American company.

Gov sells Trident stake resized

The move means Britain no longer has any stake in the production of its Trident nuclear warheads.

Opposition MPs have criticised the sale, but the Ministry of Defence said Britain's "sovereign interests" had been protected.

The fee paid by California-based Jacobs Engineering has not been disclosed.

The sale of British Nuclear Fuels' stake means Jacobs has control of one third of Aldermaston's operating company, AWE Management.

The other two thirds were already in private hands. They are split equally between American defence giant Lockheed Martin and the British plc Serco.

Would that be AWE of the SHOCK and AWE brothers?

Link to BBC Article

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Netvibes, Yoono with added Twitter, and Monitter, the Perfect Tweeting combination?

As with all things computorish, we find that most of our time is taken up by looking for things we didn't realise we needed, setting up those things which we don't clearly understand, and trying to remember what it was we wanted to do in the first place.

To spare you some of these tribulations I have included a Monitter tab on my Netvibes Universe.

Twitter Monitter on Netvibes resized

Monitter is a great application to use as it is updated within seconds of a posting being made on Twitter.

You could by looking for employment or money making opportunities, checking what is buzzing or just following the Tweets.

Whether Monitter, used in combination with Netvibes and Yoono, could possible provide a viable alternative to a single desktop application such as TweetDeck is not truly a comparison I can make as I have never used TweetDeck, but any feedback from TweetDeck Users would be welcomed.

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Friday 19 December 2008

Home Office to review UK's surveillance powers

Home Office to review UK's surveillance powers | OUT-LAW.COM

HO to review UK SPr

Picked up this article via one of Twitter's most useful of service's Monitter.

(From Out-Law's article)

The UK is not a surveillance society as some have claimed, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said. Smith conceded, though, that surveillance powers needed to be reviewed to cut back on excessive use.

The Information Commissioner and others have claimed that the unusually intensive use of closed circuit television cameras in the UK and the creation of children's, DNA and health databases have turned the UK into a surveillance society.

Speaking this week to a trade association, Smith rejected the charge.

"Are we really a nation under CCTV? Do we, today, live in what critics call a surveillance society?" she said. "I don’t believe so, not for one moment."

On Nation Under CCTV Banksy

Seems to me that ZaNuLabour Government are doing a bit of trick-cycling here by appearing to be conciliatory to the legitimate concerns regarding pervasive use of surveillance equipment and 'back-peddling' whilst ensuring that the the entire circus show, complete with clown's, goes on.

Monitter is so useful that I have created a permanent link to on my Netvibes Universe so it is both handy for myself and for my Universe's Alien Lifeforms.

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Wednesday 17 December 2008

Dipity Timeline Tracking

I signed up for this utility a short while ago, but, as with all of the utilities that I sign up for, it is usually a week or two before I actually start to fiddle with them.

Dipity is one such service.

What Dipity gives you is the ability to watch and monitor websites, blog, newsfeeds, contacts and friends etc, on a timeline.

It integrates well with Twitter and allow you to track follower, friends and topics of interest.

Dipity1 HMGov

Just catching up with the latest from Mr Fry...

Dipity SFry Close up

and checking how the evolution of the 'flying shoe' is progressing....

Shoetimeline

Dipity has a very nice looking interface and several features which I am only beginning to explore.

The downsides are, that, given the idea that it is a timeline, why am I stuck on PT time even though I have set it to GMT, why doesn't it understand my URL for my blog? I had to include it as a RSS feed to get it to appear. It's that Yoono feeling again! and it runs too slow on my meager pc.

Need more RAM see, still running on a 1Gig stick and a puny graphics card.

I have also begun to resize my image uploads as they tend to be quite big files, usually 500k JPG's.

I have been using an online utility called Quick Thumbnail to shrink the size of my files.

Quick Thumbnail

You just upload the shreenshot, it processes, you save the resulting image. Very easy to use and reduced these images from well over 500k to less than 60k. That's a lot of bandwidth saved.

I did try to resize my online images, but it didn't work, a bit more investigation is required as to find out why.

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Monday 15 December 2008

The Tao and Live Space is Yoono no,no a go,go!

Despite the valiant efforts of Reivax I am still unable to post to my blog via Yoono.

2 comments:
Reivax said...

The dash is not responsible for Yoono being unable to send a note to your blog. I've succeeded with no trouble to post notes to such a blog : http://longnomdeblog-avecuntiretdedans.blogspot.com/
Which means I'm still clueless about this problem.

15 December 2008 08:58
Pablothehat said...

Strange. I also am unable to post correctly to my Live Spaces blog. It show as a draft entry which I am unable to edit or delete!
Maybe it is just me. As usual. LOL.

15 December 2008 09:27

Yoono and blogger

Fig 1: All appears to be well....

Yoono and blogger2

Fig 2: But the post fails to appear on the blog!?

Yoono and Live Space

Fig 3: And on Live it created an entry which I am unable to edit or delete?

So it is not the - in the Tao's URL that is causing the problem as Reivax has discovered.

I have tried changing my login info but to no avail.

Any ideas anyone?

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Sunday 14 December 2008

Windows Live Writer and Blogger

Well I finally have had enough of Google's Blogger interface, mainly because it is just so much hard work just to create a blog post, so much so that I just could not be bothered to complete some of them, hence there are quite a few items which are still in draft form.

I tried to compensate for these difficulties by using Yoono which I have found to be an absolute dream in keeping me up-to-date with my Twitter chums and Facebook flunkies, but could I get it to see or post to my blog? No.

Apparently this lack of communication between Yoono and my blogspot blog is due to the fact that I have a - in my blog's URL.

Who would believe that such a little - could cause so many bruises to one's forehead as it yet again collides with the keyboard.

So, in absolute frustration I am force to turn to Microsoft for a solution, a processes which involves much compromise for me as I generally askew all things MS'ee for third party software, must be a hang over from my pre-PC owning Atari days of shareware and freeware which always appealed to me. Partly because the cost or lack of it, partly because I enjoyed discovering and building a software environment, tailored to what I wanted, not what someone else pre-prescribed for me.

But all of this pre-able is just delaying the inevitability of this article being written on Live Writer, the first article and therefore, the test piece to see if it actually works. Been here before remember, with Yoono.

After going through the installation process, which I must say, went surprisingly smoothly, opting out of the MSN chat stuff, email client option and all that, just want the Writer as I like the way my set-up works and I didn't want it messed up, Live Writer appears to have detected and downloaded the necessary files to work with my blog and presented this user interface which doesn't offend my jaded eye as much as I suspected it would.

Live Writer and Blogger1

Also the ability to position and resize an image without all that tedious cutting and pasting the HTML on Blogger is just so much of a relief.

As Live Writer possesses the ability to post to several blogging platforms, including Live Spaces, which I have, but never used as yet I am also looking toward integrating my other blogs which have also fallen into neglect due to the time consuming interface effect of Blogger.

Well I will make this not so much a review, as I don't even know if it is going to work yet, more of an experiment, and end this now.

Just need to spell check, add the links and the tags and publish to see if it co-operate. Fingers crossed..Here we go........

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Friday 12 December 2008

Open Verdict on Jean Charles de Menezes inquest - Whitewash is an inadequate word to use, it is diabolical, worthy of Kafka

It makes you proud to be British doesn't it?

Open Verdict on Jean Charles de Menezes inquest, whitewash is an inadequate word to use, it is diabolical, worthy of Kafka.


Extraordinary scenes end Jean Charles de Menezes inquest | UK news | guardian.co.uk: "t"

Open verdict in Menezes inquest

Jean Charles de Menezes verdict The 12 answers which damned the police


But I cannot believe this pile of shit I read here.

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If Music be the Fuel of Hate, Rock On!

Musicians don’t want tunes used for torture - MUSIC- msnbc.com



Where there is pain, there maybe a claim.

I wonder if this is against the musician's human rights too?

Musicians don’t want tunes used for torture - MUSIC- msnbc.com

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The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry

Came across Stephen Fry's blog creation via Twitter the other day. I never knew he was so knowledgeable on the subject of technology and reading his review on Smartphones written in his NY hotel room was one of the most enjoyable articles I have ever read, and I have read a lot of them!
Mr Fry has now received an honoured position along side David Bryne and Brian Eno in my blogs tab 'A Few of my Favourite Things.'

Well done Mr Fry. - Mentioned in Dispatches. Yours Melchet.

The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry

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Britain faces Zimbabwe immigration influx claims UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith

Bit of a bus mans holiday for them then!


Home Secretary Jacqui Smith claims Britain faces Zimbabwe immigration influx - Telegraph

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Most Britons think UK is turning into police state - politics.co.uk

Most Britons think UK is turning into police state

Politics.Co.UK

Friday, 12, Dec 2008 12:02

Britain is turning into a police state, according to politics.co.uk users in a new poll.



The results come as concerns raised by the arrest of Damian Green refuse to die down.

Sixty-five per cent of users said they believed Britain was turning into a police state, echoing accusations of 'Mugabe-style' tactics levelled against the government by the Conservatives.

Ebony and Ivory


(Nod to Guido)

Only 24 per cent of users disagreed with the statement.

There was strong support for Mr Green, with 83 per cent of users saying he did not deserve to be arrested.

The government came in for criticism over the affair, indicating Labour's response to the controversy has failed to satisfy the public.

The committee set up to assess the causes and impact of the arrest was lambasted by opposition parties for having a limited remit and only being able to convene after the police investigation is over.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are both boycotting the committee.

Seventy-eight per cent of politics.co.uk users said they believed government figures were aware of the police action before it occurred.

Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith, home secretary, have explicitly said they were unaware of the arrest. Yesterday Sir Gus O'Donnel, head of the civil service, assured MPs on the public administration committee he was taken by surprise by the arrest.

He also confirmed the home secretary was not made aware of the arrest before it occurred.

But asked what should happen next, 51 per cent said the government had to prove it did not know of the arrest.

Twenty-three per cent of users said the system whereby police enter parliament had to be reformed. Nine per cent of users said heads should roll in the Metropolitan police.

Some users did disagree with the shadow immigration minister's actions though. Eleven per cent called for a clampdown on people leaking government information, while nine per cent wanted Mr Green to apologise for leaking information.

Labour shrills no doubt!

There are several investigations into the arrest currently ongoing.

The police are investigating themselves through an internal inquiry set for publication next week.

LOL! ROFLMAO!

We all know what the outcome of that will be now don't we!

Two committees of MPs – the home affairs committee and the public administration committee – are looking in to the arrest.

It is not yet clear how the committee set up by speaker Michael Martin will conduct its affairs now it is being boycotted by everyone but Labour.

Most Britons think UK is turning into police state - politics.co.uk

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Thursday 11 December 2008

Benefit reforms 'mean fair deal' - BBC NEWS

Benefit reforms 'mean fair deal'

James Purnell says the government will give support to those looking for work

(From the BBC article)

Plans to force more benefit claimants to prepare for work or face losing payments are a "fair deal", says Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell.


He said private firms would be paid to get people back to work while those unemployed for a year would have to do four weeks' full-time activity.

Most people on incapacity benefit would be expected to attend job interviews.

The Conservatives said they would back the plans in the face of an expected "big rebellion" from Labour MPs.

A welfare reform bill is expected to be published in January and any changes would come in 2010/11.

Treatment allowance

Outlining the welfare white paper, Mr Purnell told MPs it would adopt in full recommendations made by the Freud Review last year, which said private and voluntary organisations should be paid to get people back to work.

It also supported the "vision" of last week's Gregg Review, which said most people on incapacity benefit and lone parents on income support should be looking for work or preparing for it through courses and regular interviews.

Mr Purnell told MPs unemployed people would be expected to do four weeks' full-time activity after a year out of work.

There would also be pilot schemes requiring Jobseekers' Allowance claimants to work for their benefits after two years.

Under the plans drug users would get a treatment allowance instead of unemployment benefits - and would have to show they were addressing their addiction to receive them.

Mr Purnell told MPs: "We want virtually everyone who is claiming benefits to be preparing for work or looking for work. It is a fair deal, more support in return for higher expectations."

Ah! you see, this is what it is really all about, 'private firms would be paid to get people back to work,' This appears to be more of like it's 'jobs for the boys' than actually creating more real jobs and training for the sick or unemployed.

Then get them to attend interviews and training schemes, ran by private companies, not by publicly owned institution, accountable to the tax payer, who are able cream off the profits from the tax payer by delivering, if anything like the training I have attended over the years, training which is generally patronising and shoddy, delivered by tutors on around £25,000 per year.

How many politicians, or their family members or friends and associates will have shares in or run such companies or formulate such companies to provide this training?

They will counter this point by saying, but there will be checks and balances and any poorly performing service provider will lose their contract, and this on the surface would appear to be a solution, but, in the real world, we know for past examples that poor performance is no assurance that they would lose any contracts, and there is nothing stopping such companies from closing down one operation, re- branding themselves and starting up again, like a lot of small businesses do when faced with such difficulties as say, bankruptcy.

He added: "Today, when the national effort is about a global downturn, we can no more afford to waste taxpayers' money on those who play the system than they could then.

"But most of all we cannot afford to waste a single person's talent."

Oh! Please, how patronising!

Successive governments have been doing that for centuries by profiteering for shareholders and by the lack of inward investment in our countries infrastructure, its manufacturing base, and education and health systems.
They have sold off the 'family silver' a long time ago and they, and subsequently, us, are now paying the price for their folly.

Our currency is based only on the liquidity of debt and not on anything of substance such as gold reserves. Who in their right mind would trust such a system?
The valid criticisms levelled at the government's "borrow and spend" strategy by Germany's finance minister Peer Steinbruck on the government's plans to combat the economic downturn has criticised the UK's decision to cut VAT and raise the national debt to record levels as "crass" or "breathtaking".

Germany, a country whose history shows all too well the effects of printing money to repay the punitive reparations to the Allied Powers for WW1.
Look at the processes which happened in that country during the 1920 to 1945, the first casualties of the government's strategies were the weak and the vulnerable groups and those whose physical conditions render them a drain on the system.
They were vilified in society and then driving almost to the point of extinction.
One can see similar attitudes now towards those self same groups in the UK in 2008.

This hollow financial system, which our future wealth and employment creation is balanced upon, is a self devouring monster constantly chasing its tail and gaining rapidly.

Mr Purnell said mistakes had been made in the 1980s and 1990s when hundreds of thousands of people were put on inactive benefits to keep the unemployment count down.

Yes the mistakes made were the decimation of our heavy industries, coal, car and steel production, and our manufacturing base for cheap labour abroad and throwing tens of thousands onto an already overburdened and underfunded welfare system.
The selling off of the council housing stock, causing the have's and the have not's living cheek-by-jowl causing further social division

People's views on benefits reform

He said £1.3bn would be spent helping people find work but there would be "increasing requirements" on people the longer they are out of a job.

"After a year, everyone will be allocated to a private or voluntary provider, and be expected to do four weeks' full-time activity. After two years, we will pilot requiring people to work full-time for their benefit."

But the Lib Dems said proposals in the Gregg Review to encourage single parents with children as young as one to prepare for work were "a step too far".

So here is another problem being stored up for the future. Instead of the natural order of things, the family unit, being supported by a caring, benevolent administration, duty bound to care, support and protect both the care giver, mother, father, and their offspring, we see the systematic undermining of the family, the fragmentation of relationships and this is storing up problems in the form of dysfunctional children growing up into dysfunctional adults who will give rise to more dysfunctional children.
The policies of government were children are influenced by 'professional educators and carers' appear to be more Common Purpose than Common Sense.

If you don't know what Common Purpose is, I suggest you do some research.

'Big rebellion'

The Conservative work and pensions spokesman Chris Grayling also said making lone parents of one-year-olds prepare for work was "just plain wrong".

But he told Mr Purnell the government had adopted Tory policies, adding: "That is why I can assure you today that there is no doubt, we know you are going to face a big rebellion on the Labour backbenches, can I assure you that we will give these proposals our support."

As this demonstrates, there is no substantial difference between the two ‘leading’ parties.
(Though statistically, their memberships are shrinking rapidly as the electorate lose confidence.)

Lib Dem work and pensions spokesman Jenny Willott said: "We need drastic reform of the welfare state, but this should be achieved without isolating vulnerable groups".

The Gregg review recommended that everyone on benefits, apart from the severely ill or disabled, some carers and parents of children under one, should either be actively looking for or preparing themselves for work.

Mr Purnell has stressed that single parents would not be forced to seek work unless there was adequate childcare available to them.

The government faces opposition from Labour backbenchers like John McDonnell who said the government was "dismantling the welfare state".

'Half-baked'

The Parkinson's Disease Society, which said the illness was commonly misunderstood because of its "fluctuating and unpredictable nature", urged ministers to ensure those making decisions to impose sanctions were properly trained to deal with complex conditions like Parkinson's.

Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said many of the proposals seemed to be "inappropriate and unworkable", especially during the economic downturn.

He said fewer than 20,000 job vacancies were advertised in Wales while there were 330,000 working age people on benefit.

"Simply put, there aren't enough jobs for everyone and the situation seems to be worsening," he said.

Simple maths isn't it really.

Where are all these jobs going to come from? Quit simply they are not. What we are likely to see are unemployed undergraduates working along side men reaching retirement age, (hang on, did they recently mention raising the retirement age to 70?) picking up dog turds by the clean end in our parks and gardens for their state handout whilst worrying about how they are going to pay off their student debts.

For the Scottish National Party, John Mason MP said the reforms risked demonising the unemployed.

The demonization of the unemployed is already well rooted within the mind set of a vocal minority of bigots in society and it needs to be asked who does it serve?

"While we will look cautiously and constructively at the wider proposals, half-baked and draconian reforms are not the answer," he said.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Benefit reforms 'mean fair deal'

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Wednesday 10 December 2008

And now for a world government - Article by FT Columnist Gideon Rachman

And now for a world government - Article by FT Columnist Gideon Rachman

(From the article)

I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US. I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible.



A “world government” would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force.

So could the European model go global? There are three reasons for thinking that it might.

First, it is increasingly clear that the most difficult issues facing national governments are international in nature: there is global warming, a global financial crisis and a “global war on terror”.

Second, it could be done. The transport and communications revolutions have shrunk the world so that, as Geoffrey Blainey, an eminent Australian historian, has written: “For the first time in human history, world government of some sort is now possible.” Mr Blainey foresees an attempt to form a world government at some point in the next two centuries, which is an unusually long time horizon for the average newspaper column.

But – the third point – a change in the political atmosphere suggests that “global governance” could come much sooner than that. The financial crisis and climate change are pushing national governments towards global solutions, even in countries such as China and the US that are traditionally fierce guardians of national sovereignty.

FT.com / Columnists / Gideon Rachman - And now for a world government

Well, there you have it, from the Financial Times itself.

For all those who doubt that there is a globalist agenda, that all those conspiracy theorists are 'tin foil hat' wearing 'moonbats' (oh! such cutting insults LOL!), are wrong and the intentions of our 'betters' are purely honourable and benevolent to the 'little people' of the world...

Research, read and educate yourselves because keeping yourselves ignorant only serves those who wish to keep you ignorant.

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Tuesday 9 December 2008

Belgian mother Genevieve Lhermitte on trial for murdering her five children

What is it about Belgium that makes them want to abuse and kill kids?

Nothing like a mothers love and this is certainly nothing like it..BITCH.

Belgian woman Genevieve Lhermitte on trial for murders of five children | The Australian

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Monday 8 December 2008

New Sign Suggested for Arrivals at UK Airports and Ports - "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"

New Sign Suggested for Arrivals at UK Airports and Ports



"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"


Whist all the debacle regarding Damian Green and the short comings of our social services departments, yet again by failing to provide protection of vulnerable young people in the UK has been grabbing all the media headlines, one of the most tragic and loudest events in recent history has been relegated to barely a whisper.

Yet another terrible, but altogether, typical week for decency, freedom of the media, justice and, what passes itself off as democracy, in UKPlc.



BBC NEWS | UK | Menezes family's inquest protest



Telegraph: De Menezes inquest: police officers who shot him dead committed no crime, rules coroner


It is my opinion that Craig Murry's comment sums up just how far our political masters have control over our Judiciary, our supposedly independent, para-military police forces and security services, and how far away they are from any form of accountability.



Craig Murray

December 3, 2008
The Disgraceful Sir Michael Wright, A Grovelling Tool of the Police State

One of the features of a transition to a police state is that those who should defend our liberties transfer their allegiance to the executive of the state. Viz the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Serjeant at Arms. Now we have a senior coroner. Sir Michael Wright, coroner in the Jean Charles de Menezes inquiry, who has told the jury they are not permitted to return a verdict of unlawful killing.

That is of course the obvious verdict from the evidence. Were it not so, the disgraceful Wright would not have needed to serve the police by so instructing.

Wright went on to give a completely one-sided summation of the evidence, restating police evidence and ignoring the evidence of many close eye-witnesses who contradicted it. In perhaps the most extraordinary passage in a summation in recent English legal history, he went on to justify the occasions where the police killers were caught obviously lying:

However, Wright added, even if the jury found the officers had lied, they would not be able to blame them for the death. "Many people tell lies for a variety of reasons … [including] to mitigate the impact of what might be a … tragic mistake," he said.

Read that again.

However, Wright added, even if the jury found the officers had lied, they would not be able to blame them for the death. "Many people tell lies for a variety of reasons … [including] to mitigate the impact of what might be a … tragic mistake," he said.

Incredible, isn't it? So it is fine to shoot a completely innocent man repeatedly in the head, and lie about it in Court, because you are only trying to "mitigate the impact".

What?

Well Craig, as far as I can understand it is like, when a Prime Minister announces that they are going to stands down and they say something like "I ask you to accept one thing. Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right. I may have been wrong. That's your call.... I have been very lucky and very blessed. This country is a blessed nation. The British are special, the world knows it, in our innermost thoughts, we know it. This is the greatest nation on Earth. It has been an honour to serve it."

Oh! they say, you tried your best, alot of people were lied to and got hurt and killed but, hey, you did your best, it's a difficult job you know, being a PM or an armed police officer, but you did what you thought was right. You may have been wrong but that's ok then isn't it?

There is a place reserved for Sir Michael in the deepest, blackest, hottest corner of Hell. He has already had much more time on this Earth than was allowed to poor Jean Charles De Menezes, who Sir Michael wishes us to believe was quite lawfully blown away by the police.

and I may have found the address...
Sir Michael, C/o The Eighth Circle, Bolgia 8, Hell.


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Saturday 6 December 2008

Briton jailed in the Banana Republic of the USA for a 'third of a joint'

There is not enough money in the world that would tempt me to visit the USA, not while they are acting like a banana republic like this..


Briton jailed in US immigration crackdown for 'third of a joint'
A Briton who has lived and worked legally in America for 35 years, married a US citizen and raised three children there, has been locked up in a New Jersey jail after falling victim to a draconian immigration crackdown prompted by the Sept 11 2001 terror attacks.

By Philip Sherwell in New York
Last Updated: 12:57PM GMT 06 Dec 2008

Paul Clements, 58, a permanent US resident and former tour manager for bands such as the Rolling Stones and Dire Straits, is threatened with expulsion from his adopted homeland after his passport and green card were confiscated following a work trip abroad.

He now spends his days in a khaki prison jumpsuit as his case works its way through the US legal system and his wife and teenage daughter were reduced to tears when they saw him chained and in handcuffs in a recent court appearance.

In fact, I will consciously boycott any American goods from now on and I will encourage everyone I know to do the same.

Attila the Hun was more of a humanitarian than the attitude displayed here.
Paul Clements had paid his fine for this 'offence'.

(Oh please! 0.8 of a gram! Get a grip USA!)

Briton jailed in US immigration crackdown for 'third of a joint' - Telegraph

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Friday 5 December 2008

For All Your 'Mole Infestation' Problems Hire Special Advisor Jack Russell !

For All Your 'Mole Infestation' Problems Hire Special Advisor Jack Russell !





Do you hear, do you hear that thunder? ooh yeah! - Men at Work

From the Telegraph

Damian Green affair: Police hunting for Whitehall moles, says Jacqui Smith
Police are hunting for a number of moles across Whitehall following the Damian Green leak affair, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has suggested.

As I previously commented upon, this story has and will rumble on.....





By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:26PM GMT 04 Dec 2008
Damian Green - Damian Green affair: Police hunting for Whitehall moles, says Jacqui Smith
Damian Green's arrest has prompted a hunt for Whitehall moles, says Jacqui Smith

She told MPs that the police leak inquiry which led to the arrest of the shadow immigration minister and a junior civil servant was only one of a number of similar investigations by the police.

Rumours have been circulating about a mole in a senior position at the Treasury, particularly after key sections of last month's pre-Budget report were leaked in advance.

Miss Smith appeared to confirm the reports, telling MPs: "There have been other situations where the police have been invited to investigate."

A Home Office spokesman later added: "There are other police inquiries going on about other moles."

Neither the Cabinet Office, whose role it is to liaise with the police over investigations, or Scotland Yard would comment.

The Home Secretary's revelation came as she attempted to explain to MPs the chain of events which led to the raids on the homes and Commons office of Mr Green, insisting that she did not know of his arrest in advance.

She was embarrassed when her predecessor, John Reid, expressed surprised at her lack of involvement in the dramatic events of last week.

In a rare intervention, he told her: ``I have to say I'm surprised that you weren't informed that your opposite number, effectively, was about to be arrested.

``I can not think that if I had been told that this had been done after the event that I would have remained as placid as you have in these circumstances.

``For my part I would have wanted to have been informed and to have expressed a view on it."

Miss Smith hit back: ``On the subject of placidity, sometimes I think it behoves Home Secretaries to deal calmly with issues that are of significance, such as this one.''

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, described the claim that she did not know the police were planning to swoop on Mr Green as "utterly inexplicable," while Miss Smith's opposite number, Dominic Grieve, accused her of seeking to ``wash her hands'' of her responsibilities.

(and a shout arose from the crowd "Give us Barabbas")

He added: ``This episode has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with political embarrassment.

``It heralds a systematic breakdown in trust between officials and ministers arising from the Home Secretary's willingness to conceal failings in her department on matters of manifest public interest.''

Flippin' heck! Though it chokes me to say this but..Well done John! but IMHO it is more to do with, as the old East end gangster expression, 'putting the frighteners on 'em'

Miss Smith defended the police operation on the grounds that the leaks received by Mr Green had struck "at the heart of Government."

Next time use a bigger stake, you know what the undead are like...

She accused Mr Grieve of being "cavalier" in his response to the scandal, adding that the "sustained" leaking by the Home Office mole Christopher Galley, a junior civil servant, gave cause for concern because he had access to sensitive information, potentially relating to matters of national security.

"Even if I had been informed, I believe it would have been wholly inappropriate for me to seek to intervene in the operational decisions being taken by the police," she said. "I don't do that and I should not do that."

Oh yes! the cry of National Security, a useful tool of the powerful to commit all sorts of High Crimes and misdemeanours.

Damian Green affair: Police hunting for Whitehall moles, says Jacqui Smith - Telegraph

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Tuesday 2 December 2008

The Sun does indeed shine on the righteous and unrighteous alike

The Sun does indeed shine on the righteous and unrighteous alike.


Not a publication I buy or read, even if it was the only reading material in a twenty mile radius of me, but I must say that, given the amount of weight that they used behind the election of Tony Blair's government in the first place, finally reality seems to be dawning on The Sun and it's readers.


We are a police state here & now | Trevor Kavanagh | The Sun |News|Columnists|kavanagh

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Monday 1 December 2008

Victim of “Honour” killing is failed by the police and then by the IPCC

From The Times
December 1, 2008
Promotion for PC Angela Cornes who ignored victim Banaz Mahmod
PC Angela Cornes


A police officer whose blunders were criticised after Britain’s most notorious “honour” killing has escaped punishment after the collapse of disciplinary proceedings against her.

When a bleeding and distressed Banaz Mahmod told PC Angela Cornes that her father had just tried to murder her, the officer dismissed her as a melodramatic drunk. Instead of investigating the young woman’s allegations, she wanted to charge her with criminal damage for breaking a window during her escape.

Three weeks later, Miss Mahmod, 20, was raped, tortured and strangled at her South London home. Her body was put in a suitcase and buried in the garden of a house in Birmingham.




PC Cornes had been due to face a disciplinary hearing last month after a lengthy investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). The Times has discovered that all charges against her have been dropped. Instead of dismissal, she is in line to be promoted to sergeant and given a backdated pay rise. Miss Mahmod’s murder – punishment for falling in love with the wrong man – was orchestrated by her father and an uncle, Iraqi Kurds, now serving life after an Old Bailey trial in June last year.

The IPCC investigated after the trial had ended. The victim had told police four times, between December 2005 and January 2006, that her family wanted her dead and had given them a list naming the men likely to carry out the murder. She even gave evidence to the jury from beyond the grave, in a video recording made from her hospital bed on the day she first met PC Cornes.

Last April, the police watchdog announced that two officers, PC Cornes and her supervising inspector, would be ordered to appear before a disciplinary panel “to explain their actions”.

Both faced the threat of dismissal for conduct which “fell below the required standard”. Officers were said to have displayed “insensitivity and a lack of understanding”.

In April, Nicola Williams, an IPCC commissioner, said that Miss Mahmod “lost her life in terrible circumstances”. She had been “let down by the service she received” from the police and it was “entirely appropriate for two officers to face a disciplinary panel”.


The hearing was scheduled for November 17 but all charges against the pair were withdrawn because of “insufficient evidence”. Parties involved were told on November 14. No public announcement was made.

Would that be the "No Comment" type of lack of evidence by any chance?

This sort of thing goes on all of the time, the toothless IPCC receive a complaint and then a token investigation is conducted which gets nowhere because of various vested interests.

Shoddy and shambolic are the words that spring to mind, quickly followed by typical and expected.

Instead of disciplinary proceedings, The Times can reveal that PC Cornes is to receive “words of advice”, the lowest sanction – less severe than a written warning – that can be given to a serving police officer. She is due for a pay rise after being selected for promotion to sergeant, a rise through the ranks which was delayed pending the findings of the disciplinary panel.


One word of advice which was missing, to both officer and the investigating officers of the IPCC, "tender your resignations."

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