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Prime minister Tony Blair in his valedictory speech to the Labour party conference declared

I don't want to live in a police state, or a Big Brother society or put any of our essential freedoms in jeopardy. But because our idea of liberty is not keeping pace with change in reality, those freedoms are in jeopardy.

Those freedoms are in jeopardy from him and his government that are pushing through legislation that will create a Big Brother society. He went on to say

We can only protect liberty by making it relevant to the modern world.


That is why Identity Cards using biometric technology are not a breach of our basic rights, they are an essential part of responding to the reality of modern migration and protecting us against identity fraud.

I remember when I introduced the DNA database. On it go all those who are arrested. We were told it was a monstrous breach of liberty.

But it is now matching 3,000 offences a month including last year several hundred murders, and thousands of rapes and other violent offences.

The Identity Card system that the government wants to introduce really is the foundation of the Big Brother state that Blair says he doesn't want to live in. I can only surmise that he intends to leave the UK once it has been implemented.

Labels: politics, Terrorism

So we reach the end of season two of Lost and again we have had some revelations and questions answered but new questions are raised by it leaving us eagerly awaiting the new season.

The Skinner Box is not a Skinner Box!

I seem to have been a step ahead of John Locke on this throughout the season. I figured it wasn't real and was just a psychological experiment in the first episode of this season when Locke thought it was real. Then upon the discovery of The Pearl Locke lost his faith but I started to wonder if The Swan was not as I had first surmised a Skinner Box but was in some fashion real.

The Others are not as we were led to believe a bunch of barbaric survivors who had been stranded on the island in some incident many years ago. What are they hiding by pretending to have been reduced to a Lord of the Flies like savagery?

Danielle has been on the island for 16 years now and the Others predate her arrival, have they only recently adopted this false front following the Oceanic 815 crash or have they been doing it for many years? Kelvin tells Desmond about the Hostiles that live on the island, was this a reference to the Others?

Also the Faux Henry Gale tells Michale that they are the good guys when he asks who the hell they are.

They seem quite sophisticated and the fact that they are hiding their true nature would lead me to believe that they are quite possibly scientists working for the Dharma Initiative studying the behaviour of various groups of castaways and who must pose as yet another of these groups in order as to not jeopardise the results.

The way that the Faux Henry Gale was able to manipulate the Oceanic 815 survivors particularly Locke would suggest that he had extensive psychological training. Is he perhaps one of the scientists employed by the Dharma Initiative to study the participants in the Swan/Pearl observation experiment.

What the hell is the four-toed foot of a destroyed statue all about?

Labels: TV

I know Microsoft is striving hard to improve the security of their operating systems but this is ridiculous.

At least 18770 Characters! Fucking hell!

Labels: Computer security, Security

The BBC reports that the Home Secretary John Reid was heckled by a couple of protestors during a speech he was giving to Muslims about combating extremists in their communities.

He was interrupted by Abu Izzadeen, an individual who it is believed is the leader of the banned group al-Ghurabaa, calling Reid an enemy of Islam.

The home secretary said "our fight is not with Muslims generally".

Instead, he said, there was a "struggle against extremism".

And, warning that terrorist fanatics sought to influence youngsters, he said: "There is no nice way of saying this.

"These fanatics are looking to groom and brainwash children, including your children, for suicide bombings, grooming them to kill themselves in order to murder others."

Does anyone still believe this to be true that there are fanatics grooming young people to become suicide bombers?

What we know of the perpertrators of two of the most significant recent terrorist plots, the 7/7 bombers and the plotters of the failed plot of 21st July 2005, would refute that theory.

These men had become radicalized but there was no indication that they had fallen under the sway of a fanatic who had been a radicalizing force. Meetings with members of al Qaeda occured after they had already decided to carry out attacks as a response to what they saw as the murdering of their Muslim brothers in the war in Iraq.

Far from these extremist boogeymen that John Reid would have us believe in the thing that is most radicalizing young Muslim men is the actions of the British and American goverments overseas and at home. That's not to say that the ultimate ends of the government's policies are without worth but the means to those ends were clearly going to have negative consequences.

A free and democratic Iraq is a laudable goal but it is one that was never going to be simple to attain and the incredibly stupid idea of linking it in to the War on Terror gave the Islamic extremists the jihad they were looking for. Furthermore the incompetant manner in which the post-war operations have been carried out have resulted in thousands of innocent Iraqi lives being lost which furthers the extremists propoganda that the West has declared war on Islam.

Regardless of whether you believe that the War in Iraq was right or wrong only a blind fool could truly believe that it hasn't resulted in an increase in acts of terrorism. How much longer can British ministers continue to perpetuate myths and avoid the stark truth that is obvious to the rest of us?

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) wrote that The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.

Recent history may yet prove him right as it is the blood of innocents that is being spilled at the moment and the tree of liberty is far from refreshed.

Labels: politics, Terrorism

lonelygirl15 ponders What is the deal with kissing?

It's really quite weird when you think about it...

I agree. Kissing is weird when you think about it, quite enjoy it though.

But not a vacuum kiss.

Labels: YouTube

BBC News iPod fans 'shunning iTunes store'

Wow what a shock, owners of iPods actually prefer to put music they already own on CD onto it rather than pay for new downloads. I'm the same I hardly ever buy downloaded tracks as I much prefer to buy the CD just so that I have a kind of hard copy backup.

I reckon we have only another month to go before the end of the lonelygirl15 phenomenon, that being the date of October 12th which was seemingly referenced in the cookie bake off vid and which is the birthday of Aleister Crowley.

It will most likely be the date of the ceremony that lonelygirl15 is preparing for.

I know it's fake but I don't care in fact I prefer it now that I know for sure that it ain't real as I'm pretty sure it isn't some evil viral marketing thing and is in fact some kinda pretty cool film art project.

I've been completely sucked in by this thing as I was pretty saddened by the last line in Poor Pluto.

Labels: YouTube

Why is it that this line from the movie Severance is tuck in my forebrain?

Also why the fuck did I buy the game Fight Club for my Xbox? Even if it was only £3.97 it still feels like I overpaid for it.

Labels: humour, movies

Whilst borosing through IMDB I discovered this little movie in production with the most awesome concept since Snakes on a Plane.

Scared Guys

Two guys try to race to the police station to report a murder, but must confront their fear of leaving their apartment.

Not one, but two agoraphobics, now that's genius.

Labels: humour

Leninology has posted on YouTube a number of short videos showing pupils protesting at their school, Quintin Kynaston in St John's Wood, North London on the occasion of a visit by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Blair Protest Footage 1
Blair Protest 2
Blair Protest 3
Blair Protest 4
Blair Protest 5
Blair Protest 6

Labels: politics, YouTube

Newt Gingrich argues in today's Guardian that attacking Iran is not a long-term solution. He does however belive that a regime change in Iran is needed in order to stabilise the Middle East and maintain the security of the US and the rest of the world.

Iran's pursuit of a nuclear program in defiance of the United Nations has led some to call for military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent the terror-sponsoring regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon. While I agree that a military option to replace the regime must be left on the table, I worry that some believe a military strike on Iran's nuclear installations is a viable long-term solution to stopping the Iranian regime's pursuit of greater power in the region.

In truth, until the Iranian regime itself is replaced with one that does not sponsor terrorism and does not seek a nuclear program, then the threat will remain and grow.

I agree with his assessment that military strikes are not the most sensible option. Such strikes would undoubtedly have to come from the US and its allies all of whom are currently overstretched as it is and even at full capacity those military forces would face a massive challenge to neutralise Iran.

But I disagree on his other points. Gingrich states that Iran must be stopped not because of its weapons and its pursuit of nuclear weapons but because of its evil intent. I believe it is the characterisation of Iran as evil by the US that is to some extent to blame for this situation.

It is because of the disengagement from Iran by the US that it suffers from significant gaps' in intelligence, which would undermine any attempts to force Iran to comply with UN directives. I don't believe that I'm an expert on Iran but even I can see that President Ahmadinejad's commitment to seeing Israel "wiped off the map" is empty rhetoric to gain public support in a country where such statements can be heard everyday on the streets of Tehran.

I too believe regime change must occur in Iran but I believe it will come from within in fact I believe that it must come from within for it to hold fast. The population of Iran is a young one and the old guard will fall under the liberalising westernised attitudes of that youth. But as Iran is a country with a long history of being manipulated and oppressed by western powers the regime change must be initiated from within or else it will be rejected as yet another intervention from outside powers for the pursuit of their own ends.

It can be seen from the examples of Iraq and the current crisis within the Labour party that forcing regime change ends badly with unforseen long term repurcussions and no one comes out of it smelling of roses.

Labels: politics, Security, Terrorism

Just watched last night's episode of The Shield, Of Mice and Lem. Holy Jebus that was a fucking brilliant episode, every minute of it was fantastic.

This season of The Shield seems to have gone by so quickly, it has been bloody excellent though. This the fifth season of the series has been one of the best in my opinion. Can't wait to see how it all plays out in next week's finale.

Kenny Johnson who plays Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky was particularly outstanding in this faced with the awful dilemma of how to balance his loyalty to the Strike Team and his own self-preservation. With the Strike Team's deal with Antwon Mitchell having now fallen through Lem's fate is now horribly uncertain.

I forsaw the twist that was Wyms being promoted to Captain after being potentially faced with losing her job having failed to disclose her illness.

Ze Frank recalls what he was doing five years ago on September 11th. Sombre yet still with that Ze Frank tinge of wry humour.

Meanwhile the ABC production The Path to 9/11 which stars Harvey Keitel will screen this Sunday and Monday on BBC Two. Rumour has it that the blame for the attacks that day are laid at the feet of the administration of President Clinton who apparently were so caught up in the Lewinsky affair that dropped the ball and failed to stop Bin Laden when they had the chance.

Wow, have I woken up in some bizarre parallel universe where things are very similar to my own but oh so slightly different. Was it not Bush who was the POTUS at that point and had been for several months and whose administration being informed of the threat that Al Qaeda posed instead chose to focus their attention on giving tax cuts, establishing a New American Century and planning regime change in Iraq.

In any case I expect that it and the many other documentaries and news reports over the next few days will do Bin Laden's job for him by plunging the populations of the US and UK into a state of terror yet again. Who needs to blow up planes and buildings when the public can be forced into a state of terror by a box of flashing lights in the corner of their living rooms?

Labels: Terrorism

BBC News: Human heads dumped in Mexico bar

Armed, masked men have burst into a bar in Mexico and flung five human heads onto a crowded dance floor, in an apparent warning to a rival drug gang.

Bloody hell! Truth really is stranger than fiction.

Labels: movies