Journal Entries
The Police State
Posted Nov 9, 2005
And the good news is;
by a majority of 31 a law seeking to extend the arbitary detention of persons for 90 days has been rejected in the UK.
You know we tend to condemn the practice of detaining political prisoners indefinitely without charge. - When it happens in other countries that is, you know, the ones with the wrong sort of government. As if somehow it is only in corrupt dictatorships that the indefinite detaining of persons without charge could be a bad thing.
(90 days may not be indefinite. But I bet it can feel like it if you know not the cause, reasons or evidence for your detention)
"How, possibly, could such a power be abused in a democracy?" they appear to ask us. How could we possibly suspect anything but the most honourable intentions of the honorable gentlemen and ladies of the government?
Because even if one were to belive in nothing less than the most pure and noble of intentions of all our servants; all those most honorable members; all the noble, tireless persons of the police force; even then one might be aware that even the best of intentions can be subject to corruption.
The road to hell, they say, is paved with exactly this type and hue of intention.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Nov 9, 2005
Hell and Handbaskets
Posted Dec 21, 2004
So the government managed to pass the initial bill that will start the identity cards scheme rolling.
Of course they passed it. The Conservative leadership agreed with the Labour government.
To all those Conservative and Labour MP's who abstained from the vote, rather than vote their convictions and risk party favour:-
What did you originally go into parliement for?
Why do you think that it is the general public's view of politicians is that they are all spineless individuals more interested in their own gain than in the interests of the public whom they are elected to serve?
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Dec 21, 2004
Life, don't talk to me about life
Posted Nov 16, 2004
Eight thirty in the morning and driving into work, and hating it. It isn't that it is a particularly stressful drive, it isn't that it is too early in the morning and other people are also doing silly things, it isn't the persistent gray wetness of the weather, nor is it even the fact that whilst not ill, I'm not bursting with health either. It is that I find myself driving through the centre of town at eight thirty in the morning through the rain, a distance that is a forty-five to fifty minute walk away from where I live with good bus routes.
I have reasons, but I'm not sure they are particularly good ones. Poverty is the one that grinds the most. I don't really need a car, I live in a capital city. I do however really need a van, I can't afford to change really. My car is too old to fetch much at second hand value, and in any case it would be good, I would feel happier to have a more environmentally efficient vehicle, and that will automatically cost more money. Shouldn't, but it will.
The city is cold and dark and wet. It isn't going to get light today, not really light. I need to earn more money. Two degrees later I find that my most saleable asset to employers is my ability to type.
Discuss this Journal entry [4]
Latest reply: Nov 16, 2004
Aung San Suu Ki
Posted Jun 4, 2003
I have not yet seen it on the television, but thanks to the radio I know that barely a year after this inspiring woman was released finally from house arrest (again) she has been taken into 'protective custody' by the military who run the country to which she was democratically elected to rule in 1988.
One day I want to go to Burma, I want to go to Burma without fear of being arrested for asking the wrong questions, and I want to go without being shepherded around the tourist areas by government agents. I would like to meet Aung San Suu Ki for whose safety I am concerned.
www.hillerphoto.com/burma/
I found this site the other day.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jun 4, 2003
fos
Posted May 7, 2003
So I am now alowd to post about the war, right?
So Saddam Hussein was oppressing his people's right to free speech.
And now people taking to the streets to express their right to dislike the military patroling their streets are shot.
We have restored power, water and made hospitals a priority.
It was us who cut off their power, water and made hospitals overflow with injured and sick in the first place.
Finding weapons of mass destruction is not a priority.
The weapons which were the main reason we invaded Iraq in the first place. The weapons which if Saddam Hussein wasn't about to use on us, then he would be selling to the highest terrorist bidder who would.
The same weapons which he singly failed to employ whilst his country was being invaded. The weapons whose whereabouts we still have no idea about, and yet if they are there, there are other people other people do. These other people are most likely part of a routed and deposed beaurocracy, their lives may well be on the infamous 'most wanted list', these people are fugitives and most likely desperate. And these people know where the weapons are.
What exactly is going to make it less likely for these people to sell the weapons of mass destruction on to the highest terrorist bidder?
I still believe the war was the wrong solution to a bad situation. In fact I don't think it was a solution, the can of worms it has opened is too complex to outline in a short entry.
Discuss this Journal entry [2]
Latest reply: May 7, 2003
purple dragon
Researcher U173090
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."