CBI deputy director-general John Cridland said it shared government concern that having no way to prove identity made the UK more vulnerable to criminals and terrorists.

He said: "ID cards could improve security and make access to public services more efficient.

"Companies want ID cards to be a universal identity-authentication system.

"But they are concerned the government has not appreciated the dangers of driving through a vague and insufficiently thought-out plan."

CBI says advantages include:
Citizens would have a single, certain, means of identification. That would improve security and give greater confidence that we know who is in our country, on our planes or teaching our children.
A single source of identity data would be the best protection against fraud, making criminal activities more obvious so reducing the cost of fraud and of detecting it.
A system where all identity data is stored in one secure place means citizens would have less need to call and write to lots of different government bodies and businesses to update personal details.

Genuine 'social responsibility' means not imposing your will on others by force, such as using violence to rob someone or using interventionist laws (i.e. the threat of violence) that weaken and preempt the non-political social interactions of peaceable civil society. That is real social responsibility, not the crap held up as such by statists of both left and right.

Just because this blog is 'open to the public' that does not mean it is no longer private property...

We are not overly concerned about the rain forest and think in order to protect it just turn it all into private property...

Homosexuals are humans so we do not believe in 'gay' rights, just human rights...

We think whales are yummy...

We think racism is moronic, especially when it calls itself 'race realism', but free association, and disassociation, is a right for everyone, even racist idiots...

We think smart businessmen, and bloggers, should see disabled people as valued customers and cater for their needs, but no one, no matter what unfair cards fate dealt them, has the right to use the proxy violence of the state to force their needs on others...

The only fair trade is free trade...

We do not recycle, unless you count buying antiques and quoting Hayek and Popper...

Oh, and this blog does not have wheelchair ramps for the 'intellectually challenged'. [...]

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras can tell police officers within seconds whether a vehicle has been stolen, is known to be involved in a crime, or is untaxed.

Cameras scan and record the vehicle registration marks of every passing car. The numbers are then cross-checked against a number of databases, including the Police National Computer, the DVLA databases and police intelligence records, both locally and regionally, to identify vehicles of interest to officers.

If a registration plate is flagged up on a database, the system alerts the operator with both a visual and audible signal, providing details of which database has triggered a hit. The ANPR operator can then call for officers to intercept the vehicle and question the driver.

The cameras can check up to 3,600 number plates an hour on cars travelling in excess of 100mph. There are a number of different systems available. These can be categorised into four types:

• In-car devices
• Transportable (e.g. mobile units that can be set up at the roadside, e.g. Spectrum ? see below)
• CCTV (that ?piggy-back? on existing systems)
• Fixed gantry systems that continuously monitor a stretch of road (e.g. in ports, City of London)
  

It is the Association of Chief Police Officers? vision to have a dedicated ANPR capability in every Basic Command Unit. The aim is to ?deny criminals the use of the roads?.

The joint ACPO/Police Standard Unit initial pilot with nine forces exceeded expectations by producing arrest rates of ten times the national average. Forces involved in Project Laser included North Wales, Northamptonshire, Kent, West Midlands, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Metropolitan Police and Avon & Somerset.

Project Laser 2 - an extension of the pilot - began in June 2003 with 23 forces to:

• Validate the findings of Project Laser 1 with regard to arrest rates
• Establish whether ANPR activity can be part-funded by using fines money generated by intercept teams
• Assess if policing priorities would be affected by introducing this hypothecation of Fixed Penalty Notices issued.

Results from Project Laser 2 will be evaluated to inform a national rollout of ANPR, which is expected to begin in autumn 2005.

The Home Office laid the foundations for the trials by funding a mobile ANPR and back office facility for each force in England and Wales through Project Spectrum. The procurement of these vans was co-ordinated by PITO.

PITO is also involved in key developments with ANPR. Project Lantern is being developed to deliver roadside fingerprint devices to ANPR teams to assist with the identification process. Work is also ongoing to develop links to the Motor Insurance Database. In addition, PITO?s Central Customer is identifying future ANPR requirements, such as the development of a national database to store all ANPR ?reads? and analytical tools to mine this.

Biometric tech puts ID at your fingertips

Thursday, August 12, 2004 Posted: 0042 GMT (0842 HKT)

	No keys: Public lockers at the newly-reopened Statue of Liberty use fingerprints to identify users.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stuffing something in a public locker usually isn't a memorable experience. You drop a coin, take the key and move on.

But at the Statue of Liberty, recently reopened after a two-year closure, stashing a package offers a glimpse into the future. To rent, close and reopen lockers, visitors touch an electronic reader that scans fingerprints.

"It's easy," Taiwanese visitor Yu-Sheng Lee, 26, said after stowing a bag. "I think it's good. I don't have to worry about a key or something like that."

Like nearly every other tourist at the statue that day, this was Lee's first experience with biometrics -- the identification of an individual based on personal characteristics like fingerprints, facial features or iris patterns.

While the technology is not new, having seen use for years to restrict access in corporate and military settings, it is only now creeping into everyday life. Over the next few years, people currently unfamiliar with the technology will be asked to use it in everything from travel settings to financial transactions.

The Nine Zero, an upscale hotel in Boston, recently began letting guests in its $3,000-a-night Cloud Nine suite enter and exit by looking into a camera that analyzes their iris patterns. Piggly Wiggly Co. grocery stores in the South just launched a pay-by-fingerprint system, though pilot tests elsewhere have had lukewarm results.

"All these customer-facing applications, they're emerging," said Joseph Kim, a consultant with the International Biometric Group, which follows the industry. "We'll be seeing a lot more very, very soon. Whether that sticks or not depends on how customers feel about it."

Feelings seemed mixed about the lockers at the Statue of Liberty on a muggy New York afternoon last week.

Some people were befuddled by the system and had to put their fingers on the reader several times before a scan was properly made. Others forgot their locker number upon their return, or didn't remember which finger they had used to check it out. One young woman accidentally put her ticket to the statue in the locker, requiring her to open it and then re-register it all over again with another finger scan.

With all the confusion, lines at the three touchscreen kiosks that control the bank of 170 lockers frequently stretched six or seven people deep, requiring a five-minute wait.

"I think it's overly complicated. It takes too much time," said Stephen Chemsak, 26, who lives in Japan. To him the old-fashioned key system would have been much better. [...]

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/08/11/biometrics.ap/index.html

That this is being done at the Statue of Liberty....priceless.

Culled from an AC Slashdot post, that says it all:

Jazz in 2500?

iTunes versus Preservation

Wayne Bremser

Jazz has remained a very accessible art form partly because fans are educated by their own music collections. Albums employed text, photographs and graphic design to illustrate how a network of artists created a musical language together.

Without the physical album, online music stores will play a much larger role in teaching new listeners about jazz. While institutions, educators and preservationists will soon face the same challenges, music stores will be the first to use digital interfaces to educate the listening public about jazz.

Compare information offered by iTunes versus a record label from 1956.

The digital music era should offer listeners more information about jazz, not less. The stakes are high. If jazz fragments into millions of digital files, future generations could be left with a maddening cultural jigsaw puzzle. This music could quickly become one of the mysterious art forms that is translated to the public by a small group of experts. [...]

http://www.harlem.org/itunes/index.html

Like Egyptian culture, only with sound.

Bone marrow stem cells find a path to the pancreas

Andreas Lechner & Joel F Habener


Andreas Lechner and Joel Habener are at the Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street - WEL 320, Boston, MA 02114. J.H. is also at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. e-mail: jhabener@partners.org


Bone marrow stem cells promote the regeneration of pancreatic -cells in a mouse model of diabetes mellitus.

The incidence of diabetes mellitus, a disease of insulin deficiency and elevated blood sugar levels, is increasing rapidly throughout the world. The number of diabetics worldwide was 151 million in 2000 and is projected to reach 221 million by 2010. Even with modern medical therapies, diabetes is a leading cause of early mortality, and new treatments are urgently needed. In this issue, Hess et al.1 show that bone marrow transplantation supports the regeneration of pancreatic -cells in a mouse model of diabetes mellitus in which the insulin-producing -cells have been destroyed.

The Vatican is concerned that this belief is eroding what it regards as women's maternal vocation. But a paper on the subject which is due to be published today - the Vatican's third major pronouncement on women's role in the quarter century of John Paul's papacy - has drawn scornful criticism from feminists and academics.

According to a leaked extract, the document accuses feminists of "blurring the biological difference between man and woman".

But it is also understood to break new ground by appealing to governmentsto give help to women so they can cope with their broader modern responsibilities.

It emerged yesterday that the Vatican itself had taken a further step towards incorporating women into the previously all-male leadership of the Roman Catholic church. A nun, who was not named in Italian media reports, was said to be working as a high-level aide to the Pope's "foreign minister", Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo. [...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1273140,00.html

New York City has once again rejected a request by protest group United For Peace and Justice to hold rally in Central Park before the opening of the Convention.

The group submitted another permit request yesterday but the city rejected it within hours. Now, protest organizer Leslie Cagan, said the group may take their case to federal court.

Cagan held a press conference yesterday in New York to announce the group's decision to hold the rally in Central Park.

Pseudo-variety in the beer market

One technique retail oligopolies use is flood the shelves with a pseudo variety of similar products made in almost exactly the same way, so that minor vendors that offer real variety can be elbowed out. The beer industry is a great example of this trend.

There is a great episode of the Simpsons where Homer Simpson takes a tour of the ?Duff? brewery. What we see (and Homer doesn?t) is one master pipe which divides in three to supply three enormous vats, one labeled Duff Regular, a second Duff Light, and a third Duff Dry. The point: these three varieties (and we might add Duff Ice and Old Duff) are essentially exactly the same. They represent not variety, but the illusion of variety, what we call ?pseudo-variety.?

But while no supermarket or other retailer is likely to fill more than a few yards of its shelf space with regular Budweiser, it is more than happy to include Bud Light, Bud Dry, Bud Ice, Bud Ice Light, Michelob, Michelob Light, Michelob Dry, Michelob Ultra, Busch, Busch Light, Busch Ice, Natural Light, and Natural Ice, all from the same company, Anheuser-Busch, which owns 46% of the US beer market. These seemingly distinct beers fill up many yards of shelf space.

We?d contend that any European beer drinker (and plenty of Americans) would find little difference in taste between any of these brands. These are all products from the same Anheuser-Busch vats, and they are all in same style, American lager.

If this shelf coverage isn?t enough, look at the brands of the other oligopoly competitors:

• Miller (over 29% of the domestic beer market) sells Miller High Life, Miller High Life Lite, Miller High Life Ice, Miller Lite, Miller Lite Ice, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Genuine Draft Light, Miller Ice House, Milwaukee Best, Milwaukee Best Light, and Milwaukee Best Ice.
• Coors (10% of the market), in the same way offers Coors Light, Original Coors, Coors Artic Ice, Coors Artic Ice Light, Coors Extra Gold, and Coors Dry.
• The fourth major American beer manufacturer, Pabst (which has taken over Stroh?s recently) offers similar beers: Pabst Blue Ribbon, Stroh?s, Stroh?s Light, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Old Milwaukee Ice, Old Milwaukee Light, Schmidt's, Schaffer, Schaeffer Light.

These all represent two basic categories of the all the beers available ? namely American-style lager and American-style light beer, a watered-down version of the same. While there are variations in taste, they are small. In contrast, The Great American Beer Festival, an annual contest, offers 56 categories of beer, among which are varieties of porter, stout, wheat beers, bitter, brown ale, pale ale, bock, pilsner, and fruit beers. Granted none of these are popular drinks in the US, but they hardly have a chance, elbowed off the shelves by a mass of close variations on the same theme.

Once all these American lagers and lites are on the shelves, they are can complemented with a few real (though mild) variations are Anheuser-Busch brands as well: Michelob Golden Draft, Michelob Golden Draft Light, Michelob Classic Dark, Michelob Black & Tan Lager, Michelob Amber Bock, Michelob Pale Ale, Michelob Honey Lager, and Michelob Hefe-Weizen. The others offer a few similar products.

You scored 37
Good God. There's nothing you wouldn't allow, is there? If people like you had your way, criminals would be roaming the streets unchallenged. Have you thought of moving to Europe on a permanent basis? You really are the kind of troublemaker Michael Howard would like to move to a sink estate.

Scientists there believe this is the first time such a licence has been granted in Europe, as well as in the UK.

But they warn it will be at least five years - if not many more - before patients could receive stem cell treatments based on their work. [...]

Carte de séjour no longer required

EU citizens are entitled but it?s no longer a legal requirement

The French government passed the ?loi Zarkozy? on 26 November 2003. It deals with immigration and amongst other things introduces important changes to the carte de séjour (otherwise becoming known as titre de séjour) system for French residents ID.

If you are an EU, EEE or Swiss citizen you no longer legally require a carte de séjour to reside in France, provided you have alternative ID (including proof of address) from your home country. For former UK residents this is your passport plus a document such as an electricity bill showing your address.

This is quite a dramatic change for France, given it?s history of strict control and administration of non-French residents. In fact, the new law does tighten up a number of immigration regulations for non-EU citizens but for EU citizens it can be seen as another step towards European federalism.

So, what happens if you have recently applied for a CDS? You should be informed by your Mairie, or Préfecture that you no longer need to obtain a CDS but you are entitled to one if you want one (and your application meets the unchanged criteria). Recently applicants have been receiving letters like this:

"Je vous informe que la Loi no 2003-1119 du 26 november 2003, publiee au J.O. due 27 november 2003, relative a la maitrise de l'immigration, au sejour des estrangers en France et a la nationalite a modifie l'ordonnance no. 45-2658 due 02 november 1945, relative aux conditions d'entrée et de sejour des ressortissants etrangers en France, en introduisant un article 9-1, qui stipule que ?les ressortissants des Etats members de l'Union Europeene, d'un autre Etat partie a l'accord sur l'Espace econonique europeen ou de la Confederation helvetique qui souhaitent etablir en France leur residence habituelle ne sont pas tenus de detenir un titre de sejour. S'ils en font la demande, il leur est deliver, dans les conditions precisees par decret en Conseil d'Estat, un titre de sejour, sous reserve d'absence de menace pour l'ordre public? " (Our italics)

However, these things take time to permeate down through the layers of the French administrative system so don?t be surprised if local officials are not yet fully briefed on the new law and how it is to be applied.

humbling

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Japan Airlines and DoCoMo plot to abolish the plane ticket

Posted Aug 9, 2004, 8:20 AM ET by Gareth Edwards
Related entries: Cellphones, Transportation

Among the uses touted for Japan cellphone colossus NTT DoCoMo?s FeliCa smartcard phones is ticketless check-in and boarding at airports. It seems that Japan Airlines has gotten giddy at the possibilities this offers and has decided to scrap tickets altogether; not only will you shortly be able to swipe ?n? bleep your way through the entire process for domestic flights with a FeliCa cellphone, if you?re in JAL?s mileage scheme you can get a new card with an IC tag embedded, so either way the days of the paper ticket are numbered?though not quite. They?ll still be handing out boarding cards at the check-in counter ?to prevent trouble on board?, by which we assume they mean fights over who gets the seats near the exit with the extra legroom.

From the essential Engadget

Everyone that thought paperlessness was cool, take a bow.

• the hyperlink button jumps from under the mouse and into a post, or its own window.
• if you make a hyperlink without adding a space at the end of a line of text, when you type new lines they are also hyperlinked instead of beiing vanilla.
• the remove formatting button doesnt always work.
• viewing in "edit HTML" mode sometimes re-wraps the text of a post.
• you cannot double and triple block quote using the blockquote button.
• all the tools do not appear in Safari.
• if you start a post at 03:02 and finish typing it a 03:56 the time of the post will be 03:02 and not 03:56
• sometimes, Blogger doesnt tell you that it is posting, and you press P&P again and again to find that you have six posts to delete.
• Blogger seems to have slowed down recently.

'Be truthful - and funny will come'

To mark this year's inaugural Richard Pryor award for comedy, we asked a group of comics to put a question to the great stand-up. Brian Logan introduces the results

Monday August 9, 2004
The Guardian

You'd call him the grandfather of stand-up comedy, if grandfather didn't seem altogether too cosy. He's Richard Pryor: writer, entertainer, film star and the man whose incendiary comic interventions into 1970s America moulded stand-up into the artform we know today. Before Pryor, stand-up in the US was Bob Hope and Bob Newhart: mild one-liners delivered by cheerful men in shirts and ties. Pryor, by stark contrast, was scabrous and confessional, sexy, vernacular, and totally unpredictable.

Born in 1940, his background is itself the stuff of jet-black comedy. The son of a prostitute and a pimp, he grew up in his grandmother's brothel in poverty-stricken Peoria, Illinois. As a youth, he worked as a shoe-shine, meat-packer, truck-driver and billiard-hall attendant. In 1963, he moved to New York, to practise stand-up in the Bill Cosby vein, and was soon a regular on US TV variety shows. But his legend really began some years later when, frustrated at having to suppress his own identity in the name of light entertainment, he quit New York for counter-cultural California.

Oh baby!: New infant vaccine has doctors weighing risks and benefits
By Jon Brodkin / News Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 The state childhood immunization program has begun offering a combination vaccine that reduces the number of shots given to infants, but it's not yet clear how many doctors will use it, given concern about the vaccine's tendency to cause fever.
The new vaccine, Pediarix, offers protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B and polio. Infants are typically given 19 vaccine injections in their first 18 months of life, doctors say, but could receive five fewer shots if they are administered Pediarix.
The downside is that 27.9 percent of babies 2 months of age who are given the combination vaccine develop fevers within four days, compared to 19.8 percent of those inoculated with individual vaccines, according to information provided by the state Department of Public Health.

Dr. Andrew Baumel, of Framingham Pediatrics, said his group has not yet decided whether to use Pediarix because of concern about the extra fevers.
"This would definitely cause more fevers and more anxiety," he said. "It's really a balance between fever and less vaccines."
Pediarix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in December 2002. It is used in nearly every state, but is only now available in Massachusetts because it will cost the state an extra $1.4 million per year if every provider chooses to use it, said Dr. Susan Lett, medical director for the DPH immunization program. [...]
In the 1960s, infants were only given two or three shots in the first 18 months of life, Marcus said. With the number now approaching 20, many people are concerned about the frequency of injections for infants, she said.
"It's a major concern for the patients. It's a major concern for us," Marcus said. "We don't like sticking the kids multiple times any more than the kids enjoy getting stuck multiple times."
Baumel, the Framingham pediatrician, warned that the use of a vaccine that causes more fevers could ultimately cause more medical work, even if the number of shots is reduced. If an infant comes down with a fever, a doctor's visit, blood tests and even a spinal tap could be necessary to determine what is wrong, he said. [...]
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/health/view.bg?articleid=74072

Doctors consider compulsory meningitis jab

BABIES across Britain could face mandatory inoculation against bacterial meningitis, the Department of Health said last night.
The news came ahead of the official announcement today of a new five-in-one injection to protect babies from whooping cough, diphtheria, haemo-philus influenza type b (Hib), tetanus and polio. [...]
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/21566.html

The First 5-in-1 Vaccine 5-disease protection* For the primary series, one injection at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, in infants born of HBsAg-negative mothers,? [1] to protect against: Diphtheria Tetanus Pertussis Hepatitis B Polio Up to 6 Fewer Injections May reduce infant pain and discomfort associated with multiple injections May reduce parent anxiety Saves time, space, and effort Proven Immunogenicity Antibody responses similar to separately administered vaccines [1] Proven Safety Proven safe in 12 clinical trials worldwide, in which 20,739 doses of PEDIARIX were administered to 7,028 infants *PEDIARIX is indicated only for primary series. It is not indicated for use as a booster dose. ? Combination vaccines containing hepatitis B antigen may be used to complete the hepatitis B vaccination series following a birth dose of monovalent hepatitis B vaccine in infants born of HBsAg-negative mothers beginning as early as 6 weeks of age.[1] In clinical studies, adverse events in infants receiving PEDIARIX included injection-site reactions (pain, redness, or swelling), fever and fussiness. Administration of PEDIARIX was associated with higher rates of fever relative to separately administered vaccines (see Adverse Reactions section of the package insert). PEDIARIX is contraindicated in infants with known hypersensitivity to any component of the vaccine including yeast, neomycin, and polymyxin B. As with any vaccine, vaccination with PEDIARIX may not protect 100% of susceptible individuals. PEDIARIX and Safety Tip-Lok are trademarks and Engerix-B, Havrix, Infanrix, MALARONE and Tip-Lok are registered trademarks of GlaxoSmithKline. BD, BD Logo and SafetyGlide are trademarks of Becton, Dickinson and Company.
Important Safety information ENGERIX-B, HAVRIX and TWINRIX are generally well tolerated. In ENGERIX-B clinical trials, the most commonly reported adverse events included injection-site soreness, fatigue, fever, and erythema and swelling at the injection site. In HAVRIX clinical trials, the most commonly reported adverse events were injection-site soreness and headache. In TWINRIX clinical trials, the most common adverse events included soreness at the injection site, headache and fatigue. As with all vaccines, rare adverse events may occur and expanded commercial use could reveal rare adverse events not observed in clinical trials. ENGERIX-B, HAVRIX and TWINRIX are contraindicated in people with known hypersensitivity to any component of the vaccine. HAVRIX and TWINRIX are contraindicated in people with known hypersensitivity to neomycin. ENGERIX-B and TWINRIX are contraindicated in people with known hypersensitivity to yeast. In clinical studies, adverse events included injection-site reactions (pain, redness, or swelling), fever and fussiness for PEDIARIX and INFANRIX, and drowsiness for INFANRIX. As with other vaccines, rare adverse events may occur. Administration with PEDIARIX was associated with higher rates of fever relative to separately administered vaccines (see Adverse Reactions section of the package insert). PEDIARIX and INFANRIX are contraindicated in people with known hypersensitivity to any component of the vaccine, including yeast, neomycin, and polymyxin B in PEDIARIX. As with any vaccine, vaccination may not protect 100% of susceptible individuals.

Saves time, space, and effort

How common are these diseases?

Among people of all ages in England and Wales in 2002 there were 21 reported cases of diphtheria, four of tetanus, four deaths from and 883 cases of whooping cough, 269 cases of Hib and no cases of polio.

"Making consumers aware of the true nature of intellectual property crime is vital," he said, "there is very little distinction between piracy and the actions of a burglar who steals property from a house."

The survey suggests that education can do more to stem the popularity of pirated goods.

Some 85% of those questioned said they would be less likely to buy pirated goods if they knew the range of crimes, such as drug smuggling and human trafficking, they were used to potentially fund.

Almost half of those questioned, 45%, said fines equal to double the value of the pirated goods they bought were needed to stop them buying them. [...]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3541758.stm

Guardian

This is exactly the kind of politically motivated in fighting the transitional government was 'supposed' to avoid was it not? It would seem that Iraqi politics is goingto end up as stable as Afghani politics
Whatever the solution to all this is it isn't going to be pretty, and it certainly won't follow the urges of the US coalition invaders. Al-jazeera has also been barred from reporting in Iraq, just as the BBQ has been barred from Zimbabwe another hotbed of democracy and stability or is it a corrupt dictatorial governement that allows/encourages civilian militia to create a state of fear i can't remember.

-

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Nelson Mandela's ANC was outlawed by the NP during apartheid

The party that legalised apartheid in South Africa has paved the way for its extinction by joining the party that battled the racist system.

The New National Party plans to fight future elections under the banner of the ruling African National Congress.

As the National Party, it introduced apartheid after it came to power in 1948, denying black South Africans the right to vote.

The NNP will shut down in September next year.

The party's leader, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, said he planned to join the ANC in the coming weeks and urged fellow party members to do the same.

South African President Thabo Mbeki welcomed the decision of the NNP to join his party.

He said he could not think of another instance where a party of oppression had admitted defeat and joined those whom it had oppressed.

Representatives of both parties are reported to be planning a joint national tour to help convince NNP members to make the change.

When it was in government, the National Party had a policy of reserving the best land for whites and entrenched a host of regulations designed to protect white privilege.

This included preserving white only beaches, benches and restaurants.

It lost power to the ANC in the country's first truly democratic election in 1994. [...]

As if anyone needed further proof, anything at all is possible.

Those who are old enough to know what an immovable object Aparthied seemed to be can testify that no one believed they would see a new South Africa in their lifetime and yet, Nelson Mandela was not only released from jail, he became president of South Africa - a chain of events that everyone dreamed about but never expected to actually see come to pass, all of this no thanks to the likes of Dick Cheney.

Which neatly brings us to the present day. Anyone who thinks that this false "war on terror" and the emerging police state cannot be turned around 180° is simply wrong. Everything that is happening now that we hate, just as we hated Apartheid, can be reversed; and not just to a point that is better than nothing, but to a dream-like optimum outcome, where we get everything that we want, and some amazing good things that we never counted on, like the subsuming of the NNP into the ANC, by choice.

We have to work on getting what we want. We have to do revolutionary things. We have to think, and then act.

Look at Google's IPO, and the effect it is having on Wall Street. This is an example of two people thinking, and acting and causing waves of disruptive change, instead of simply taking the money and running. This is a profound thing that they are doing - many people are thinking about how to set up and maintain stock markets that are less volatile and centered on long term investment for the good of people. Google are thinking about this, and are fulfilling the promise that they made in their SEC filing.

Everyone has the power, indivudually, to destroy any bad government or bad government decision. If you think ID Cards/biometrics are bad, refuse to accept them; organize groups or join existing groups to educate people about why they should refuse to accept them. If a racist government can be brought down without a shot being fired in a country that is as close to paradise as you can get on earth, then comparatively smaller things like these can be wiped out in a matter of months. The Australian ID card defeat is a perfect example.

The UK and the USA can be changed into places of peace and real freedom. You dont even have to have a good imagination to be able to see it happening. It is going to take the ability to say "No" in unison. Can you do that?

You remember Dr. Alexandre Manette in 'A Tale of Two Cities.'

He had been imprisoned for many years in the Bastille, and to save himself from going mad had obtained permission to make shoes. When he was released, he disliked it. He had to be approached with the utmost precaution; he fell into an agony of fear if his door was left unlocked; he cobbled away in a frenzy of anxiety lest the shoes should not be finished in time-the shoes that nobody wanted. Charles Dickens lived at a time and in a country such that this state of mind appeared abnormal and even deplorable, but today it is a characteristic of 95 per cent of the people of England. Subjects that were freely discussed under Queen Victoria are now absolutely taboo; because everyone knows subconsciously that to touch them, however gently, is to risk precipitating the catastrophe of their dry-rot.

Aleister Crowley