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COMMENT ARCHIVE
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archived on Sunday, 27 July, 2008
The Cold of the Desert
Those who sat through the movie The Day After Tomorrow know that it has all been said before and will be said again. That we are heading towards major catastrophe through global climate change is a matter of no doubt except to fools. History, where we care to look with dispassion, teaches us that global climate change is a natural phenomenon that peaks every 20,000 years or so. We are now overdue such natural shift in our planetary ecosystem.
To continue to apportion blame on industry and on individual users of fuels and energy sources that add to global warming is a ridiculous stance adopted by the ignorant. Human contributions towards climate change are certainly present but in such a fractional percentage that it may do little more, in the long run, than advance the coming catastrophe by just a short period of years. Global warming and its effect on the earth’s oceanic convection streams will lead to the dawn of a sudden and devastating new ice age.
Little is being done to prepare for that eventuality. Instead we see the continued senseless apportioning of blame that has its roots in ignorance.
Those who would speak of preserving our habitable world for future generations would be better asking themselves just how those future generations are going to cope with a frozen planet. They would also do well to ask themselves just what they are doing to ensure that future generations have at least a thread of hope of a survivable future through the efforts of their forebearers.r
Europe & Lisbon
With much of global public attention focused by media and government sources on terrorism and all its consequences, on armed conflicts and other politically dominated issues, the European Union’s moves towards ratifying the Lisbon Treaty passed through its stages almost like a thief in the night.
It is an unsatisfactory and thoroughly undemocratic process. Many EU member state governments have simply voted to accept the treaty regardless of public opinion and in many cases have done so without allowing their electorates any effective say in the matter.
A press statement by the EU presidency on the Lisbon Treaty spoke of the ‘benefits’ of the treaty and named states that had ‘ratified’ it but failed to provide any public detail of their processes of ratification nor did the press statement afford any mention to EU states that have not ratified the treaty and the public opinion in those states.
Ireland held a referendum on the acceptance of the treaty and voters roundly rejected to accept its ratification. Within hours, argument had split between the pro-treaty camps as to why Ireland had rejected the treaty and the blame was placed on both the anti-treaty brigades and the gullibility and ignorance of the voters.
The EU’s information web site says nothing of the real content and impact of the treaty but paints it as the only way forward for Europe. It is up to ignorant parties to read and try to make sense of the politically jargonised treaty text if they wish to understand what the treaty will mean. However, the full text version of the Lisbon Treaty was as incomprehensible to the majority of readers as it is such a mish mash of deletions, additions and alterations that it is impossible to determine the actual content in a meaningful way.
Among the treaty’s effects will be the creation of a centrally controlled European military machine known as the European Defence Agency, controlled by the European Parliament and beyond the controlling powers of governments of individual member states. It will also devolve many decision making processes away from the governments of member states and place much greater powers under the control of the European Parliament. In short, it is a major step towards the creation of a European superstate, as envisaged by France and Germany prior to the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), which evolved into the European Community (EC) and then became the current European Union (EU).
But the reality should lie in the fact that despite Irish voters rejecting the treaty, its proponents roundly failed to accept their vote. That should by itself speak volumes.
archived on Friday, 9 May, 2008
The Diana Verdict
The verdict reached by the jury in the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul is just one more page in a chapter that concludes that nobody will ever really know just what the true circumstances were that led to the fatal crash in which the three died.
Just one person really had that knowledge and driver Henri Paul took it to the grave with him. Since then the world has been privy to one of the most publicised inquiries next to that of 9/11 and certainly what must be the most publicised inquest in history.
The results of the inquiry and inquest alike are no less than the expression of opinion based and formed on and by the presentation of detail. In the case of the inquest, that opinion and therefore a decision on a verdict was reached by nine members of a jury of 11 men and women who sat through the 91 days of presented evidence and detail.
Yet regardless of what anyone thinks or believes happened on that Sunday morning in the Paris Alma tunnel, no-one has so far heard anything from anyone who actually knows. Because of that, those who seek the truth are left only with contemplations.r
How Long Will The Clock Tick?
Unlike other life forms on earth, the human race is in charge of its own survival or destruction and ultimately that of all life as we know it on our planet. Given that we remain a frightened, paranoid species capable of waging war on our fellow kind as a direct result of greed, the future is something less than rosy.
The money that has been wasted on wars throughout the world since Word War 2—supposedly the war to end all wars—could itself have been used to eradicate the very reasons for those wars. But it seems that such action would not satisfy the ambitions of our political leaders and the reality must be seen for what it is. Doublespeak may have been coined long ago, but in our world today those we look to for leadership have honed doublespeak to perfection.
We have so-called scholars around the world who are looking to find some sort of divine revelations in the work of the likes of Nostradamus whilst the reality of our existence stares us straight in the face.
It is our so-called ‘civilised’ world that has brought forth the euphemism“collateral damage” as a convenient excuse for the wanton killings of unarmed, non-combatant civilians in the many regions of the world where leaders have declared military conflict. To ignore the reality of our own stupidity is to ignore the fate of our own kind and that of others.r
Where Reality is Censored
Fitna the movie. Have you seen it? Have I? Who cares. There are thousands of movies depicting thousands of events, not all of them pleasant but real nonetheless. The real issue here is the self-trial of those who claim to uphold the values of freedom of thought and expression.
No-one in the so-called democratically ‘free’ world has either denounced or censored any movie that equates or portrays Aryans as nazis, for that would be denying the truth. The truth is also that not all Aryans were nazis.
Fitna has produced an abuse of authority wherein the movie has been made taboo by those who consider themselves endowed with the authority and right to tell other people how or what they should think.
The movie has also brought out the extremist elements within the west that are beginning to rot democratic freedoms from within. Such circumstances have been known to topple civilizations.
The European Union, presided over by Slovenia, issued a statement backing an earlier statement by the Dutch government on the Internet release of the film. Following the release of the film, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said: “The film equates Islam with violence. We reject this interpretation. The vast majority of Muslims reject extremism and violence. In fact, the victims are often also Muslims.
“We therefore regret that Mr Wilders has released this film. We believe it serves no purpose other than to cause offence. But feeling offended must never be used as an excuse for aggression and threats. The government is heartened by the initial restrained reactions of Dutch Muslim organisations.
“Muslims, Christians and people of other convictions can easily live together in peace. The problem is not religion, but misuse of religion to sow hatred and intolerance. That is why we are calling for respect for everyone's deepest convictions.”
The hosting company of the film’s website then closed the site down and included in a statement of its reasons: “You understand that we reserve the right to conclude that your conduct is in violation of the standards set forth in this Acceptable Use Policy, and we may arrive at such a conclusion even if it is based upon our opinion or mere suspicion or belief, without any duty to prove that our opinion or suspicion is well founded, and even if (i) our opinion or suspicion is proven not to be well founded or (ii) we provide other customers services that have similar characteristics or are being used in a similar manner as your services."
Since when has it been an offence to offend someone by expressing your mind? Self-expression is the very bedrock of freedom.
Such a view is a malaise born of human ignorance, fear and appeasement all boiling together in the same pot. Without freedom we are doomed to self-destruct as a species.
Finally, its is worth remembering that there are religious and political fanatics on all sides and that similar circumstances were ignored earlier last century with devastating consequence.
We must all remember that liberality must not be selectively applied. The Muslim/Islamic Jihad against the west has been in effect for many years.
To watch the movie and reach your own conclusions, go here.
If the above link fails to work go here.
This website has posted the video links not in support of the content but in support of the freedom of the individual to make his or her own decisions regarding what they see.China And The Marathon Olympic Decision
Calls for the boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games are reminiscent of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which became known as the Nazi Olympics. Despite calls from many western nations to boycott the 1936 Games, the Berlin Olympics went on much as usual and Germany’s nazi leadership went on to present foreign spectators and journalists with a false image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany ready to rejoin Europe in the wake of World War 1. As has been documented elsewhere, “Only a few reporters, such as William Shirer, understood that the Berlin glitter was merely a facade hiding a racist and oppressively violent regime”.
In 1980, the United States under President Carter announced it would boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Sixty-two countries joined in the boycott while others attended but deployed milder forms of protest. Countries that called for or participated in the boycotts in both 1936 and 1980 have stated that they will not implement a boycott of the Beijing games, despite China’s appalling record in human rights.
The Chinese government reneged on its announcement that if it was granted world consent to host the Olympics it would improve its human rights record. In fact the opposite has taken place, with violent repression of freedom of speech and expression and the internment of those who have been outspoken against the Chinese authorities, in much the same way as nazi Germany rounded up gypsies (Roma's) and Jews in Berlin.
There are those who maintain that sports events should not become a target for politically motivated issues. Yet those who support such a view are from countries who have strong economic ties and trade with China. Countries that were most active in supporting calls to boycott the1936 and 1980 games today have a concealed yet equally blemished record of human rights, including the United States.
Meanwhile the International Olympics Committee is silent on the issue of calls to boycott the Beijing games.
To continue to support the Beijing games on the pretext that it might ‘harm’ China and also ‘harm’ possible improvements to China’s record of human rights is dangerous, immoral and hypocritical.
To support the games without protest is to send a clear signal to Peking that despite the worldwide calls to boycott the games, it is quite OK and acceptable for China to continue its regime of violent repression.
Individual athletes have the option of choosing to go to the Beijing games or not. Their combined action could be the strongest non-violent action possible against tyrannical Chinese rule.archived on Thursday, 20 March, 2008
Through a mirror darkly
Modern societies are more connected within themselves and with other societies than at any time in recorded history. Throughout the world there are more telephones, televisions, radios, Internet connections and other means of instant communication and transfer of knowledge than ever before.
Yet despite such an abundance, our world is still racked by the cruelty, repression and violent oppression of man by fellow man.
This week, the US military attacked a so-called terrorist target in an intrusion into yet another country – Somalia.
Also this week, Israel launched a military strike on a refugee camp, claiming it was a base for insurgents against Israel.
No state of war has even been declared by the US against Afghanistan or Iraq. The decision to go to war was, primarilly, a presidential one. Congress took a very back seat. Under America’s Constitution, only an Act of Congress can declare America to be at an official state of war. Under such terms, the present US and coalition forces’ entry into military combat can be nothing more nor less than illegal.
In the latest bizarre twist of reality, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “I condemn absolutely any members of the public who show abuse or discrimination to our armed forces.
“They should be thanked for the great job that they're doing, they should be encouraged to wear their uniform in public, they should be free to do so and the public will want to show their respect and gratitude.”
His comment was made after air force personnel at a Cambridgeshire base were advised by their camp commander to war civilian uniforms during off-duty trips into town due to concerns that local people who were opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan might ‘abuse’ them. His comments reflect a belief that he is authorised to tell people how they should think and behave.
In many countries around the world, people are being punished and jailed and sometimes killed for using freedom of speech or expression. Dark days indeed.
When battle lines are drawn
The battle lines have been drawn. Freedom of the individual is being strangled.
Freedom of thought, freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of belief are all under relentless attack throughout the world by those who are entrenched in self-idolatry and greed.
Those who are being corralled by such repression are being nurtured to believe that it is for their own benefit and overall good. The reality has become more grotesque than that portrayed in George Orwell’s fictionalised bleak world of 1984.
People have been arrested, sentenced to jail in countries around the world and stigmatised as ‘dissidents’ for speaking their mind on certain issues on Internet websites. Many websites have been shut down by those who fear truthful observations. Increasingly the term dissident has been used to imply that those who disagree with government are committing some sort of crime.
A dissident is no more than a person who disagrees with the actions of a government or with those who wear the mantle of ‘authority’. The right to free expression is universal. There is a very wide but forgotten difference between dissidents who voice opposition or engage in peaceful protest and the dissident who turns to violence as a demonstration of protest.
There are those who would resort to belittle those with clarity of vision by the use of ridicule and semantics. Yet the real criminals are those who oppress the right to peaceful protest or free expression. Anyone who attempts to oppress freedom of expression is an enemy of the people and, in the long run, an enemy to themselves.
Such situations and circumstance might be expected within dictatorship-ruled societies or former communist states wherein former rulers still seek to cling to old established powers.
Where such oppression and repression is allowed to flourish unchecked in states ruled by democratically elected governments, then you have the clearest signs of the expansion of fascist behaviour and dictatorship obfuscated by sweet talk.
The battle lines have been drawn. It is up to each individual to decide how to live with them and learn if they are part of the solution or part of the problem.archived on Friday, 4 January, 2008
For Auld Lang Syne
Christmas has come and gone for those who celebrate it on 25 December but little has changed. We have the continuing man-made atrocities in Darfur. Turkey has continued to bomb Kurdish villages once again on the pretext of defence against terrorism and it has amassed 100,000 troops on the Iraq border. The violence in Pakistan continues unabated following the assassination of former President Bhutto.
And almost exactly three years since the day of the Indian Ocean tsunami, Indonesia is suffering from a fresh wave of naturally occuring disasters in the form of severe floods.
It is perhaps too much to hope that the dawn of a new year might bring better times to our world. A little too much to hope for because too many in positions of being able to really improve our world are too entrenched in their own desires and aspirations of personal gain and well-being.
And yet we must continue to remain firm in the hopes of a better world and better lives for those whose days are filled with little else other than pain and suffering.
Auld lang syne is literally ‘old long since’. We cannot go backwards in time to days when the world was a nicer, safer and freer place, if in fact such time existed at all in our dark history as a species.
But as we go forward to 2008 and those of us whose lives are not filled with the daily horror of unrelenting violence prepare to dance and clink in the changes, we should think of those whose lives are so inflicted with such man-made suffering. Only by standing firm against the madnesses being rained upon our fellow human beings by those in power can we hope to bring about any changes.archived on Sunday, 30 December, 2007
Civilisation & What Future…?
As Christmas again approaches it is customary to reflect on the past year and to think of friends and loved ones and those less fortunate than ourselves. As John Lennon penned: And so this is Christmas, And what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun.
The reality is that friends and loved ones are dying in wars across the globe—wars that have been orchestrated not by the people but by politicians and despots who remain further removed than anyone from the scenes of conflict, suffering and death. And the less fortunate are often left to die by the roadside as thought their ill-fortune is their own fault.
There are those who continue to plan for the future as if everything is dandy and rosy and Father Time is standing waiting with open arms for their progress.
But where and what is that future? Regardless of the pussyfooting vocal appeasements currently being practiced between armed nations around our planet while those very nations are in states of active war, we are probably closer to the onset of global war and the very real threat of the wide scale use of nuclear weaponry than at any time in our modern history, including the Cuba missile crisis of 1962.
And then there is global warming and climate change. Over the past decade we have witnessed its growing dramatic effects and these effects will increase in both frequency and severity, much like an avalanche that begins from a relatively small impetus but which develops calamitous side effects in its passing.
The question of whether civilisation and humanity—or life as we know it—has a future is not an idle nor a scare mongering one. It is about our very survival.
Perhaps this should be the overall focus of our Christmas reflections.
Perhaps too we should give thought to the wars being waged by empirical powers in countries beyond their borders and waged under the pretext of combating ‘terrorism’. Empirical powers throughout history have enjoyed but one end result alike—the destruction of their empires.
If someone forced their way into your home and started telling you what you should and should not do, with the underlying threat of violence against you if you did not comply, would you sit back and welcome them with open arms? Or would you mount a defence against your own liberty?
It is easy to visit the colourful Christmas shops and forget about the realities around us in the world of today.
But unless we do so, Christmas may one day be a thing of the past for us all and not just for those forced to live in oppression and denial of freedom.archived on Sunday, 16 December, 2007
Iraq—What Possible Answer?
Occupation service personnel, armed opposition personnel and civilians continue to be maimed and killed in the ongoing war against ‘terrorism’, publicised by the main coalition administrations as a war to bring ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Service personnel within the occupation coalition believe they are part of a liberation crusade bringing the west’s defined ‘freedoms’ to the countries they serve in.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have now continued longer than Word War II and there is still no clearer vision of such freedom to those living or deployed in either country, although the administrations of the western coalition broadcast a different story. Meanwhile the roadside bombs and suicide bombings and armed hostilities continue on all sides.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have one aim in common—control of the region to safeguard access to its resources. One can only wonder what might happen should a foreign army invade the United States with a view to removing its administration and replacing it with its own set of values. Would those who took up arms in defence of their way of life be considered ‘insurgents’, ‘rebels’ or ‘terrorists’?
Short of total annihilation of the indigenous populations of the occupied countries, both wars are unwinnable. Lives will continue to be lost to no avail other than the continuation of the unattainable materialistic dreams of those responsible for pursuing them.
It appears that the bulk of world leaders today are doing nothing more than inexorably pushing the world to the brink of World War III.3,485 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED
and 6,273 SERIOUSLY INJURED As of July 2004Figures vary from 76,662 to 785,957 IRAQI CIVILIANS KILLED
and 1,414,723 SERIOUSLY INJURED June 2007As of October 1 2007, there were 30,294 military victims of accidents and diseases so serious they had to be medically sent out of Iraq.
r
Nannie’s gonna keep you healthy & clean
The latest UK nannie state laws making it ‘illegal’ to smoke whilst driving beggars belief beyond all description. How long will it be before people are told that drivers cannot speak to passengers and vice versa for fear of ‘distraction’? Or cannot play music, or cannot use the GPS system to navigate on the roads.
This is not just an affront to anything that hangs onto any remote resemblance to civil liberties in the UK, it is a direct and blatant attack on the freedom of the individual. Do the fat slobs who sit in Government really know anything?archived on Monday, 12 November, 2007
What PM left out of Queen’s Speech
Gordon Brown has delivered the draft of his first Queen’s Speech setting out his Government’s schedule for ‘reform’.
Among other things in the speech Mr Brown referes to:
Regarding Europe, Mr Brown’s moves to make it compulsory for all travellers to and out of the UK to show their passports contradicts the EU’s policy of free movement of people throughout the EU. Britain, it seems, still believes in its defunct Empire days and wants to have its cake and eat it too. It has constantly evaded EU policy that it considers ‘awkward’ while embracing anything that it considers it can benefit by. It will be interesting to see if Portugal’s Minister for Home Affairs, Rui Pereira makes any reference to this when he presidea at the JHA Council's area of Internal Affairs, and is due to address, with his counterparts, the free movement of people in Europe.archived on Sunday, 11 November, 2007
Freedom’s just another word…
No longer should there be any doubts in anyone’s mind that individual freedoms in the so-called free world are under greater attack and erosion than ever since the end of World War II. Laws have been passed in the US giving US security services powers to intercept all telephone calls, internet traffic and emails made by foreign citizens across US-based networks. There have been no objections raised by foreign authorities, including the EU.
In the UK, where the world’s largest collection of individual’s DNA data is already on record, a judge has called for the entire UK population including foreign visitors to be put on the database. The suggestion has been supported by members of Government.
In the majority of democratic countries citizens must ask local or national authorities for permission to stage demonstrations or protests for even the simplest of complaints or objections. It all makes George Orwell’s 1984 appear almost juvenile in scope.
And as we remember another anniversary of the World Trade Centre attacks, this is now all being promulgated in the name of post 9/11 security. It is an insult to and nullifies the brave actions of the many men and women who in earlier times gave their service and often their lives in the belief that they were safeguarding the freedoms of their own and future generations.
Yet perhaps the most obnoxious attack on free speech is the closing down of former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray’s website by UK hosting company Fasthosts after the company was threatened with legal action by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov in a bid to silence any negative portrayal of his person.archived on Saturday, 15 September, 2007
Right Winge Liberalism
There should not really be any accusation of discrimination or even any issue over whether a practicing Sikh should be entitled to wear a turban as part of the uniform of any national state body such as the military, police, fire or medical services.
If someone wished to wear a purple fez as part of his or her police uniform that person would be surely and politely informed as to the realities. A designated uniform is just that.
Those whose inherited customs contravene the customs of the country of their residence should either accept the customs they live within or relocate to a country where those customs serve as the norm.
To make an issue of this is to draw liberalism to a ridiculous level.archived on Tuesday, 21 August, 2007
Granny’s Monster Mash
The British nanny state is well on track, it appears. The fact that a 16-year-old schoolgirl should be banned by her school from wearing a purity ring symbolising her commitment to her own religious beliefs is itself stupid enough. The fact that a High Court ruling then upheld the ban on appeal drives an already inane ruling to an even higher level of absurdity. Those behind such stupidity should be walking the streets with heads bowed in abject shame.
But then, George Orwel’s ominous predictions of the future were glorified as imaginitive writing and little more, with no real attention to the realities enshrined in the thinking.r
Shell & Profit v ?
The on-going fiasco of the Shell pipeline development in County Mayo, Ireland is a stark reminder of just how ruthless the impact of greedy profit-motivated conglomerates can be.
It has become increasingly difficult for the ordinary citizen to learn how the oil and subsequently pipeline and refinery companies were granted access by government to residential, farm and EU designated protective land without any financial profits from the process earmarked for the benefit of the local community or the citizens of the country itself.
A report by an international fact-finding delegation documents serious misdoing in how civil protests were handled by the authorities and makes a number of recommendations. However, it is difficult to see how any recommendations may be implemented without the intervention of an independent, external agency empowered to enforce its deliberations on the issues.
Aside from the environmental issues arising from the proposals, people will be forced from their homes by the project and others will lose their livelihood with no recompense being offered by the companies or others set to profit or benefit by the scheme.
Where is any offer of fair financial settlement to those whose lives will be inescapably interfered with should the proposals go through to completion?r
The Rules Of The Road
Over one third of all European motor accident deaths are aged between 18 and 25, according to figures released by the European Union during the past month. Ireland—with one of the lowest populations of EU states—has the highest number of annual road accident deaths throughout the EU.
Ireland's Green Party has said that it wants to introduce driver safety lessons in schools. This is all well and good for introducing basic theoretical knowledge but alone is insufficient to increase driver safety with noticeable effect.
Cars are now much speedier and many young drivers are attracted to the dreamlike thrill of owning such a vehicle and speeding around cities, towns and villages as well as countryside roads. Add the growing popularity of turbo boosted cars and the recipe is ripe for disaster. Young drivers lack the necessary on-road experience to handle such cars, despite their belief and confidence that they can.
The only way to make drivers and the roads safer is to restructure the whole approach to the driving licence.
Any driver must become familiar with a particular vehicle's operational qualities before he or she can be said to be capable of safely driving that vehicle. Making it compulsory for new drivers to spend a significant number of hours behind the wheel of different cars, at a suitable location such as an abandoned airfield where they might come to understand the operational qualities of vehicles before ever being allowed onto the public road system would vastly improve driver quality.
And this alone is also not enough. What must also be tackled is the attitude of young drivers. No amount of schooling will change a hotheads desire to race behind the wheel or to think that they are ‘good drivers’.
The only sure way towards nurturing safer new drivers is to limit the type of vehicle they are permitted to legally drive until they can demonstrate their ability to safely handle their vehicle and remain within legal driving boundaries.
Like maximim engine cc limits are placed on learner motorcyclists in some countries, similar restrictions should be enforced on all new car drivers, with the relaxation of such restrictions dependant on a set number of driving hours reached and a demonstrable level of safe driver ability.
There must also be a much greater importance given to ensuring that drivers’ knowledge and application of the enforceable legalities of the Highway Code is of sufficient standard.
To attempt to tackle driver safety in any other way would be half-hearted and foolhardy.archived on Tuesday, 3 July, 2007 1:07 AM
Where the system fails
Nothing is a given right in life except our right to freedom providing that our actions do not cause intentional or unintentional harm to another or others.
The murders of two young girls in Wexford and the deaths of their mother and father, Ciara and Adrian Dunne in what appears to have been a suicide pact demands the question why no-one acted on things said to police or social services.
The fact that the young father and mother both went to a funeral parlour and made arrangements for a family funeral—facts also know to his own mother—should spark the questions as to why neither police or social services took action over this, particularly since Mr Dunne’s brother James had committed suicide in recent weeks and so the family would have been known to social services. It is reported that the undertaker had contacted police after the mother and father made their visit to make the funeral arrangements.
Mrs Dunne was found strangled and Mr Dunne was found hanging in the hall of the family home. The two daughters Shania and Leanne, had been suffocated.
It is reported that members of the mother's family had earlier travelled from Donegal to Wexford because of their concerns for the safety of the family and had reported their concerns to police and “others in authority”.
Any investigation into the tragedy will be meaningless unless full attention is given to address these questions.archived on Thursday, 15 March, 2007 10:51 PM
Star Wars = Rats Wars
Anyone with a basic level of intelligence might reasonably conclude that the human race is still entrenched in a dark age of its own creation.
Money spent throughout the centuries by nations to arm themselves either for hostilities or for defence against the hostility of other nations could have transformed this world into a paradise for all who live upon it.
Wishful thinking, yes. Reality, yes.
It is recognised that any important scientific invention has been used in war before in the majority of instances it has been used to benefit the population through peaceful deployment—although there is the argument that use through war has been for the progress of peace.
With the move towards the European deployment of the US anti-ballistic missile defence system—Star Wars 2—the lunacy moves another step onwards.
Nations are now beginning to dramatically wake up to the reality of global warming and its awful consequences. Be it caused by human activity or natural events—one scientists theorised that the world is moving out of a mini-ice age—global warming is real, rising sea levels are happening and the world terrain is altering.
Severe water shortages are forecast for the middle east regions and despite the wealth of some of those countries no desalination plants have been, or are planned, along the coasts. Water will become a scarce commodity.
Perhaps we will never pass out of our infancy as a species.r
Of Crime and Punishment
There is something starkly unpalatable in the announcement by UK home secretary John Reid that two new prisons are to be built to cope with the worst ever overcrowding of UK jails. Britain now has the highest per capita prison population in Europe.
We would expect more from a developed nation than knee-jerk reactions built upon unsubstantial comments such as the “public wanted more people in prison for their own safety”.
More and more we are seeing the use by government of innacurate use of ‘fact’ to justify an end. A perfect example of this is the forthcoming smoking ban—built upon the unproven yet postulated possibility that passive smoke is harmful. The truth is far from this distorted version of reality.
The end can never justify the means if those means are deployed purely to accomplish a given end that is built on uncertain foundations.
There are thousands of people in prison in the UK who should not have been sent to jail in the first place. Unless and until such issues are dealt with the associated problems will continue to grow.
And this does not tackle the fact that in a growingly unequal society more people will be pushed into situations whereby they will be categorised as criminals and dealt with as such.
To help straighten out such distorted circumstances we require a mainstream media that is once more capable of impartially examining issues of the day and not kow-towing to and redistributing propaganda.r
When Freedom turns Sour
Forty-five years ago in the UK of the mid-60s puzzled conversations revolved around the erosion of civil liberties in the UK and that talk was interspersed with worry that Britain was sliding into a police state.
Since those days of blossoming flower power and hippies, the drift towards nanny-state indoctrination and control has inexorably outpaced the development of real civil freedoms.
The erosion of those freedoms has multiplied many dozen-fold in the last decade and has been explained away through reasons that attempt to extol upon us that such things are being done for our own benefit.
In the last six years, many observers had drawn attention to the overseas military action of the UK—and other nations—and how the motive for that action has been designated as in the cause of peace, despite the loss of countless lives through war.
It remains unequivocal that neither Afghanistan nor Iraq declared war against the rest of the world and yet dozens of nations are now continuing to commit troops to an armed invasion of those countries.
When Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait, other countries, including the UK, reacted by fighting a war of freedom and pushing the invaders from Kuwait. The motives for that reaction might be oilier than clear cut.
Oil is needed because as a species we simply have not devoted adequate resources to providing an alternative. Enough cash has now been committed by western nations to wars in the middle east over the past 20 years to provide luxury homes for every living person in the world.
Those who are fearful of looking this fact in the face will often blindly immerse themselves in their own sense of security, not realising how false its foundations have become.
Where such people are part of an administrative system, that sense of security rests on the control of those whom they fear might be a threat to their security. And so we have the growth in the erosion of civil liberties and freedoms.
It really is a matter of cutting off your nose to spite your face.archived on Friday, 16 February, 2007 12:43 PM
Firmly on the Road to Hell
"It has enabled China to create a cadre of experts that will be building ever more advanced aircraft over the next 50 years."
The above statement was made by Rick Fisher, an ‘expert on the Chinese military’ and vice president of the International Strategy and Assessment Centre, a research institute based in Alexandria, Virginia, US. His comment related to China’s unveiling of its new fighter jet, the J-10.
But wait. With the way things are developing in our world today, does anyone seriously believe that we will still be around as a cohesive species in a further 50 years? And perchance that we miraculously are, that we will be at all interested or even able to make more advanced aircraft?
We are continuing to hear people throughout our world glibly talk each day of nations that are building up their military to be on a par with their financial status in the world.
In the same breath and on the adjoining columns of our newspapers war is spoken of as if it is just an inconsequential aspect of our days.
The individual has in reality become less important to the blasé beasts of materialism than a piece of dirt picked up on a shoe. Such beasts even fail to recognise that they too are, just like all of us, one of us.
Can there seriously be a positive future for such an ill-inclined species?
Unless we are as a whole species prepared to heed the words of wisdom that yet remain available to us, we will irrevocably lock the door to our own prison cell in Armageddon.archived on Monday, 5 February, 2007 0:02 AM
Just who is the EU?
The EU has recently issued a statement condemning China for launching an anti-satellite missile that destroyed a Chinese satellite in space.
It may be pertinent for the conscientiously minded to question just who the EU is and what, or rather whom, it represents. The EU cannot be voted in, neither can it be voted out. Individual politicians, or MEPs as they have become known, can be put into or out of office through their national constituency votes. However, should they be voted out, their vacancy will immediately be filled with another EU political representative. In essence, the EU has become an autonomous body certainly beyond the reproaches and possibly the influences of the national origins of its elected members.
While condemning China for its actions the EU is progressing daily towards a multi-national European military defence in addition to a unilateral European police force.
Nobody can or should expect to be able to retain their cake intact and eat it too, or to burn the midnight candle at both ends without something going amiss.
Hypocrisy is a widespread denominator in our world today and the word hypocrisy means stating a belief in one thing whilst practicing the opposite.
Such actions will not reap rewards. They will only broaden the minds of those who remain committed to true development in our world.
Perhaps the EU could learn something from an old English saying.
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
We all live in a glass house. It is more commonly known by the term planet earth.r
America’s cosmeticized Auschwitz
The free world should no longer tolerate the existence of Guantanamo Bay. It should no longer tolerate the lies of the current US administration with regard to the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In February 2001 General Powell assured America—and the watching world—that Iraq had not developed weapons of mass destruction, nor was Iraq in a position to use long range missiles.
In July of the same year Condoleezza Rice made the same comments on national US television.
Yet following the events of 11 September 2001—events themselves made possible by the previous support of Saddam Hussein’s regime by the US and Britain—the earlier statements of both Powell and Rice were buried in obfuscation.
We are being led to believe that the bombing of nations by a coalition acting in the name of ‘peace and democracy’ and the resulting horror though violence is acceptable while similar acts by ‘terrorists’ is unacceptable. We are being led up the garden path, but instead of a homely garden shed at the end there is an asylum housing the sane and staffed by the insane.
We are indeed witnessing a march to madness by those who lack the courage to admit to wrong and to acknowledge the damage being done as a result.
Politicians who nonchalantly speak of and sanitize war to support their own goals and who send their citizens to fight in them are the enemies of the world. Until we learn to differentiate between peace and war we will be on a continuing downward spiralarchived on Friday, 12 January, 2007 9:25 PM
When Lies Face Reality
So Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has now issed as statement warning countries which have criticised the hanging of Saddam Hussein that his government could review relations with them. Well, let him. Let him also remember that he is there in his country’s parliament by the grace of God—something his country forgot in the execution of its former leader, as misguided as that man may have been.
The Iraqi Prime Minister today said Saddam Hussein's execution was a "domestic affair" and warned countries which have criticised the hanging that his government could review relations with them.
In a speech marking Army Day, Nouri Maliki said that Saddam Hussein had received a fair trial and that his execution on 30 December was for the benefit of Iraq's unity. Leaked footage showing images of Shia officials taunting Saddam on the gallows has angered his fellow Sunni Arabs and increased sectarian tension.
This website disputes the realities of official versions of the news. If Iraq’s Prime Minister fails to heed that message, then so be it. There is nothing more telling than the Truth.r
Ring out the old...
As we move into 2007, we can only hope that the coming 12 months bring greater measures of peace, security and happiness into the world than we have witnessed during the closing year.
However, until humanity as a whole accepts that we are all of one origin and all born to the one God;, that violence, greed, indifference and inequality are the enemies of us all, we cannot hope to see real progress.
Until we are somehow able to tackle these fundamental issues that divide humanity, our troubles will continue unabated, exacerbated by the realities of global disintegration brought about by devastating issues such as global warming and AIDS.r
Britain’s Paranoia Culture
Britain’s Hazel Blears, the Labour Party chair, has said that she does not believe that loosening the licensing laws would “halt Britain's drinking culture”. She has suggested Britons “enjoy getting drunk because they enjoy risk-taking”.
Britons have been drinking beer for centuries. It is a national tradition on a par with Norway and the other Scandinavian countries, with whom Britons have ties going back to the Viking invasions of the eighth century AD and later the Norman invasion and conquest of 1066—the Normans themselves descendants of the Vikings who had settled in the northern reaches of France, hence Normandy.
To suggest that Britons enjoy getting drunk because they enjoy risk taking is sheer balderdash and an insult to every ordinary citizen who enjoys spending time at a pub—which remains the most common form of socialising in the UK.
Blears’ comments reflect the Nanny state mentality of the current government of the UK, which appears hell bent on dictating how people should, according to the government’s preconception, live their lives with scant regard for individual freedom.
But then this vision of Britain’s so called “drinking culture”, together with the witch hunt against smokers, both have their roots in common territory—the perceived loss of GNP and the detraction to the economy and well being of the nation as a result.
However, the well being of the nation no longer provides well being to its mass population, rather it succours the rich and has long done so.
What this, and future governments should wake up and realise is that the normally placid and somewhat malleable Briton will only stand up to so much dictatorial nonsense before revolting. And when that happens, ruling politicians will have but two choices—to call in and instruct the military to turn and bear arms against their own people, or to kiss their manipulative control goodbye.r
The clock stops for ousted Iraqi President
The death sentence imposed against former Iraq President Saddam Hussein at his trial for gross violation of human rights was carried out within hours of the former dictator being handed over to the Iraqi authorities by the US. He was executed by hanging shortly after 6am (0300 GMT).
“In a final moment of defiance, he refused a hood to cover his eyes”, said an Associated Press report. Yet surely “defiance” should read “bravery” for a human being standing facing the gallows with a rope around his neck.
His trial however cannot be said in all honesty to have been conducted by an Iraqi court where that country is currently a state occupied by foreign forces.
Hussein was convicted of human rights abuses in relation to the killings of 148 Shias in Dujail, north of Baghdad, after a failed assassination attempt against him as former Iraqi leader in 1982.
In the Ohio Kent State killings on 4 May 1970 of four anti-Vietnam war students who were taking part in a protest against the bombing of Cambodia, no-one was ever charged or brought to book, from the State Governor James Rhodes who called in the National Guard to the then President Nixon who would have had to give his authorisation for the presence of the troops. There is clearly a contradiction here in terms of morality. And it matters not if the State murders one or 1,000 citizens—murder is murder.
In a sane world, someone as globally influential as President Bush would acknowledge that in ousting Saddam Hussein, he acted out of what he believed was correct at the time. He should have then rejected the execution of Hussein out of humanitarian principle and urged his imprisonment. To do otherwise is to act the same as those accused and sentenced.
This comment will not explore the background to who put Saddam Hussein into such a position whereby he could wield such barbarism against his fellow men. Instead it calls upon readers to exercise their thoughtful analysis of the realities of what is taking place in our world today.
“The charge of which Hussein has been convicted—a reprisal for an attempt on his life—is standard operating procedure for the US military in Iraq, which has mercilessly bombed and strafed buildings and villages suspected of harbouring anti-occupation insurgents”.
In an ironic twist given the circumstances and reason for the court; the trial and its outcome have both been criticised and condemned by human rights watchdogs. Before the sentencing session began, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who was a member of Hussein‘s defence team, was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a note in which he called the trial a "travesty".
The White House declaration of the sentence as “a milestone in Iraq's transition to a democracy” displays a travesty of thinking within the current American administration.
In a comprehensive report last month, the New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the verdict as unsound, saying the court had been guilty of so many shortcomings that a fair trial had been impossible.
The EU had urged the Iraq government not to carry out the execution and issued a carefully worded statement through the Finnish news agency on Saturday.r
The criminal as the scapegoat
Speaking this week of a leaked government report, UK shadow home secretary David Davis said: “This secret report demonstrates what the government has been denying for years, that there is a massive shortage of prison places. That will mean more short prison sentences, more early releases and more dangerous criminals on our streets — and as a result more crime caused by the government’s inaction.”
Mr Davis’s reference to “more dangerous criminals on our streets” displays the lack of grasp that politicians have towards the realities of our society. Rather that focus on searching for a victim to blame, energy might be better spent on questioning why in our society we have people who in the first place are driven to commit crime.
In a world of equality, the motive factors behind by far the majority of crime would be absent. There will always be those who are greedy for more and will pursue the avenues of criminal activity to achieve their goals. It is such people who could be described as criminals.
Mr Davis should himself spend a few weeks in prison and get to meet and properly understand some of the people who are locked behind bars in the UK.
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