h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You could have a Gay Bashers Club here. I would certainly not go anywhere near it and there likely would be civil disturbances due to its existance but it could exist.

we still have the kkk and they're entitled to freedom of speech just like any group.

We have the BNP but they can't ride horses nor wear hoods!
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It is strange how laws vary from country to country. We have a charge of breaching the peace. It is a low level law that is very useful though. If say a bunch of yobs were harrasing an old lady by deliberately kicking a ball aginst a wall they could be arrested for behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace and taken away to give the old lady some peace as it could be said that the yobs behaviour is like to cause an arguement thus a breach of the peace.
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I have seen how good this law can be even though only a low level law. I used to work in a public swimming pool as a swimming teacher and a lifeguarded sometimes. We had an inflatable session for kids and this odd man kept appearing week after week only at inflatable session on his own which was very odd. He kept looking at kids and giving young girls "helpful" lifts onto inflatables. The police were called and took him into changing rooms where he objected to being questioned and he was charged with behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace or breach of the peace, can't remember which. What he was doing was very difficult to prove as a crime but clearly unaceptable so police used that law to get him out of pool away from kids and more importantly it was a way of getting him a criminal record with a note of what he was doing so it was flagged up` if caught doing same thing again. I personally think he was a very dangerous man if prepared to go so far in a public area as thought he could get away with it.
Some countries might think that law is quaint and old fashioned and even scrap it but it has its uses to prevent crime.

> the civil rights era is over.

Er... what? Until we have a black, Hispanic, female, or Asian president, the civil rights era is not over.

> One good reason to become a Quaker -- no sermons

Didn't the Quakers get up and speak, as the spirit moved them? Sounds like a bad staff meeting combined with a church service.

> Some countries might think that law is quaint and old fashioned and even scrap it but it has its uses to prevent crime.

We do have a loophole called 'disturbing the peace.' If you're standing on a street corner, shouting that the world is going to end, you're allowed to do so. If you run up to people and grab them by the collar and start shouting in their face, then they'll take you in for disturbing the peace. The classic definition is that you have the freedom to speak, but not the freedom to shout 'fire' in a crowded theater. Abbie Hoffman turned it around and said we should have the freedom to shout "Theater!" in a crowded fire.

At the Main Street Arts Festival, there was a woman with a big wooden cross, proselytizing in the middle of the street. She'd lay down on the street on top of the cross, hollering about something or the other. So the bagpiper, who was booked to perform on that corner, stood right next to her and played bagpipe tunes. Pretty funny, really.

We do have a Gay Bashers club. Several in fact. Many of them are (mostly white) churches, and one of them is called the "Boy Scouts of America."

Yes, they have freedom of speech and freedom of association. What is not permitted is for a place of public accommodation (a hotel, a restaurant) to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, etc, or for the government to do so. Employment practices are similarly controlled. But private clubs and organizations are free to be as hateful as they want to. I don't like those particular orgs, but I will defend to the death their right to express their opinions.

Freedom of speech and assembly is a cherished right over here, Strangely. You'll find Americans of all political stripes getting very feisty about it.

We had a harmless sole who used to stand in the same place in high street every sunday reading from the Bible. I have to be honest I don't think he was quite all there. Nothing wrong with reading from bible but it was just a feeling I got. He did no harm and just got ignored like a part of street furniture in end. I have to be honest I thought he came across as quite pathetic really so it was quite sad and made me squirm a bit as he was totally ignored.
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I remember standing at a Zebra Crossing once waiting for traffic to stop so I could cross road and there was a man there in what can only be described as 17th C clothes with hair up in a bizzar quif(sp?). I didn't get the feeling he was some sort of actor on a break and had a strange feeling that he was not quite all there too. I can't put my finger on it, maybe it was his body language but he seemed very odd indeed, but more than in a typicaly eccentric Englishman way.

Oh we have freedom of speach here too which is guarded strongly. Actually there was a situation the other day involving what is I think an American organisation. I am not sure of their name but think it is "Church Of Scientology".
Anyway I believe it was outside there headoffice in London and a protest group had a placard saying "Church Of Scientology is a dangerous cult". Anyway a student was arrested as wouldn't take down placard as the headoffice had objected to it. Anyway he wasn't prosecuted and case dropped.
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We have the BNP here, British National Party, and as long as they are careful what they say and don't incite racial hatred in public they are left alone. Unlike the KKK, I should imagine, the BNP hold council seats and indeed one is on the board that works with mayor of London as the BNP member was properly democratically elected!

Is the KKK a political party?
The BNP is now a political party who many might not agree with but many thousands have voted for and BNP members stand as BNP members not polititions who happen to be members of BNP.

Several years ago we did have a (former) member of the kkk in Congress. I still don't believe David Duke actually resigned from that organization.

The kkk is not a political party, they do have some influence in the southern states though.

That is where the BNP were quite clever in moving to a more traditional party position. They haven't changed that much but are actually doing quite well and getting more votes and people elected.
Someone was sacked from their job for being a party member if I remember correctly. Whether you believe in their views or not getting sacked for them is a bit strong.

While I can remember them this is a list of who is around or was in that sort of area to extreme right in UK.
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BNP
National Front (closed)
British Movement (closed)
Combat88--- are still around and a real bunch of crazies both in UK and mainland Europe. They make the BNP look like a playschool.

Of course, you have to remember there are lots of political organizations with hidden agendas. Their stated policies might be to restrict immigration and encourage laissez-faire politics, but what they really want is closed borders and the rich in charge of everything. It's all doublespeak. As I get older, Orwell becomes more and more appropriate.


Here's an article from the NY times about Obama - it's pretty good, and doesn't seem slanted for or against him. This will probably throw our page frames off - sorry!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/us/politics/04obama.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=b56296567e4615fa&ex=1212724800

Yeah, I'm not aware of any current KKK members in Congress, and if they did get elected they would likely list their party as "Republican" or perhaps "Constitutional" or some such right of center party, rather than making the KKK a political party.

The Church of Scientology *is* in fact a dangerous cult, as evidenced by Tom Cruise.

Certainly there are some more central parties with hidden agenders, those I named are very clear of their aims though.
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Combat18 isn't really a party , more a small group of fanatics who if I remember correctly are named after one of Hitlers Nazi party units. They seem to have pockets all over the place and may even be found in America.
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The BNP aren't really very hiding of their aims. In many ways Labour has aided the BNP to be a growing party. The BNP started to grow about the time masses of people who claimed to be asylum seekers, many of whom were not, were openly climbing onto trains in France and entering Britain illegally while Labour did nothing to stop them for around a year. Since then Labour, some say delibertely, lost control of mass imigration into Britain.
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It is fascinating in a way to watch as groups on the extreme edge of society take advantage of the major parties. Sometimes these right wing groups are clumsey and score many own goals in a very foolish way, but the BNP has played a blinder and targeted areas of mass imigration where some English people feel most that their culture is under threat. The irrony is that some Labour MPs are now saying they can understand why ordinary people vote BNP as they feel they are not being listened to! It is irronical as Labour played a big part in creating the situation.
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It is easy to dismiss right wing parties in Britain as an irrelevance and brush them aside, but the BNP is doing really well to what it used to be, a paria in society. It has a seat on the London Assembly working with the mayor already.

Which post was yikesed?

Alright, who said a naughty word?

I don't think it was one of my posts, not 100% sure, but don't think it was mine....I don't swear much anyway.

I think it was your Strangely but, I don't recall there being anything bad in it.