Hitchens vs Galloway Debate

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http://www.news.com.au/

also at:

Prensa Latina

• "...if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility." John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859).
• "In a free state, tongues too should be free." Erasmus, The Education of a Christian Prince (1516).
• "The principle of free thought is not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought we hate." US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in United States v. Schwimmer (1929).

Terror Bill targets bookshops and extends detention
By Sam Knight, Times Online, 15/9/05

Terrorism suspects will be held for up to three months without charge
and booksellers who stock publications that encourage extremist violence
could be imprisoned, under proposed legislation published today...

In a document accompanying the proposed legislation, the Home Office
explained that police need to be able to hold terrorism suspects for
longer while investigators examine CCTV footage, encrypted electronic
evidence and international terror networks...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk
~~
3 Dissemination of terrorist publications

(1) A person commits an offence if he—
(a) distributes or circulates a terrorist publication;
(b) gives, sells or lends such a publication;
(c) offers such a publication for sale or loan;
(d) transmits the contents of such a publication electronically;
(e) makes available to others (whether electronically or otherwise) a
facility for enabling them to obtain, read, listen to or look at such a
publication, or to acquire it by means of a gift, sale or loan; or
(f) has such a publication in his possession with a view to its becoming the
subject of conduct falling with any of paragraphs (a) to (e).

(9) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—
(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment

(11) In this section “publication” means an article or record of any
description that
contains any of the following, or any combination of them—
(a) matter to be read;
(b) matter to be listened to;
(c) matter to be looked at or watched;
and references in this section to what is contained in an article or
record include references to anything that is embodied or stored in or on it and to
anything that may be reproduced from it using apparatus designed or adapted for the
purpose.

(12) In this section—
“article” includes anything for storing data;
“lend” includes let on hire, and “loan” is to be construed accordingly;
“record” means a record so far as not comprised in an article, including a
temporary record created electronically and existing solely in the
course of, and for the purposes of, the transmission of the whole or a
part of its contents.

draftbill.pdf

[...]

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The Dutch government plans to open an electronic file on every child at birth as a tool to spot and protect the troubled kids of the future.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, all citizens will be tracked from cradle to grave in a single database — including health, education, family and police records — the health ministry said Tuesday.

As a privacy safeguard, no single person or agency will be able to access all contents of a file. But organizations can raise "red flags" in the dossier to caution other agencies about problems, ministry spokesman Jan Brouwer said.

The intention is to protect troubled children, Brouwer said. Until now, schools and police have been unable to communicate with each other about truancy records and criminality, which are often linked.

"Child protection services will say, 'Hey, there's a warning flag from the police. There's another one from school. There's another one from the doctor," Brouwer said. "Something must be going on and it's time to call the parents in for a meeting."

Every child will get a Citizens Service Number, making it easier to keep track of children with problems even when their families move, said Secretary of Health Clemence Ross.

"Safety, guidance, education and supervision are incredibly important for the development of children," Ross said.

All Dutch births are currently registered with local authorities. [...]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050913/ap_on_re_eu/netherlands_child_files

This makes me sick to my stomach.

As a privacy safeguard, no single person or agency will be able to access all contents of a file.

That is a lie.

The intention is to protect troubled children,

these children need protection, its true. Protection from THE STATE.

"Something must be going on and it's time to call the parents in for a meeting."

This is not a dream, this is REAL. Its actually happening, and these people who promote it and who are creating it think that its perfectly acceptable and reasonable and desireable.

Citizens Service Number

see how they couch it in gentle language, when it is anyting but gentle; this number is a branding number, burned into the child forever, from which he can never escape. No one will ever be allowed a second chance in this system, you will have your every discression recorded for future perusal. It's a horrifying, inhuman and horrible idea, and shame on the Dutch for allowing it to be created. Heh, maybe they HAVE been smoking too much pot, because you would have to be stoned to think this is a good idea, and you would have to be doubly stoned to not protest its creation.

This phrase is reverse doubletalk. This number puts the individual at the service of the state, it is not a number so that the citizen can recieve service from the state, which is how it sounds at first glance. And don't you believe for an instant that this number will not be transformed into your adult number, which will be used for everything else you can imagine and probably things you can't imagine.

"Safety, guidance, education and supervision are incredibly important for the development of children,"

That is the job of a parent, not the state. The states job is to clean the streets and catch criminals AFTER they have done a crime; it is not their job to submit people to eternal surveillance.

SHAME SHAME SHAME on you you dirty BASTARDS.

The Pigs Ear Bar & Dining Room - reviews
bar - modern and european

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Hilary F 01/08

"Finally an authentic, no bullshit place that serves superb food without pretentious dramatics.

"The Brasserie lunch/supper menu in the ground floor pub must rate as the best pub-grub in Chelsea? The gorgeous first floor Dining Room is a real find in SW3.

"Loathed to share this place with you!!."
MM 02/06

"And I say that absolutely, fundamentally," she said. "You go to any other meeting around the world and show me the kind of diversity that you see in America's Cabinet, in America's foreign service, in America's business community, in America's journalistic community.

"Show me that kind of diversity anyplace else in the world, and I'm prepared to be lectured about race."

Rice -- who was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and spent most of her childhood there -- said the confluence of race and poverty is a vestige of American history.

"It's a vestige of particularly the Old South in this case," she said.

"We will be making a mistake if we let people jump to the conclusion that the United States has therefore not dealt with issues of race, particularly if you look at how issues of race are dealt with in most of the world."

Rice also said she believes the Hurricane Katrina disaster provides an opportunity for Americans to launch a comprehensive attack on poverty. [...]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/13/katrina.rice/index.html

Is it me, or is this an example of seamless, flawless and perfect doublespeak?

From the outside, just from say, watching something innofensive like 'Oprah' the usa appears to be one of the most racist countries on earth.

That woman uses the term 'bi-racial' constantly, as if she is describing somehting real. Everywhere has its language and perception problems, but in this case, the us is right up there with South Africa and Brazil in its obsession with describing and categorizing people like animals. What makes it one million times more offensive is when one of their citizens says that this behaviour is right, or when they use these terminologies without caveat, like Oprah constantly does.

That is why you can have the absurd difference between the entries for Europe and Africa at Wikipedia. Its dominated by americans, and so one entry talks about 'race' and the other doesn't. When someone tried to put in a section about the European 'races' (categorizing europeans in the way that animals are sorted) it was cut out for being racist. Why is it offensive tothe people maintaining the Europe page to categorize humans from one continent but not another?

The first thing you ask would be, "well, what do they look like?".

Uh oh....

Police blotter: Cell phone tracking rejected

"Police blotter" is a weekly report on the intersection of technology and the law. This episode: Feds' location-tracking rebuffed.

What: In the first case of its kind, a federal judge chastises the U.S. Department of Justice for trying to constantly track a cell phone user's location without providing any proof of criminal behavior.

When: Decided Aug. 25 by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in Central Islip, N.Y.

Outcome: Justice Department's Patriot Act surveillance request was denied.

What happened: Burton T. Ryan Jr., an assistant U.S. attorney, sought a court order that would permit federal agents to track a suspect though his cell phone--but he couldn't offer any evidence of actual criminal activity.

Ryan asked Orenstein to sign an order requiring the unnamed cellular provider to divulge the information, which would reveal the suspect's location whenever his cell phone was in use. (Cell phones must provide this information because of potential 911 emergencies, the Federal Communications Commission has ruled.)

Such location-tracking was permitted under the 2001 Patriot Act, which amended the definition of a "pen register," Ryan argued. A pen register records phone numbers that are dialed.

Orenstein disagreed. Location information amounts to a wiretap, he said, and therefore requires prosecutors to show "probable cause"--that is, at least some evidence of criminal behavior. Such an order "would effectively allow the installation of a tracking device without the showing of probable cause normally required for a warrant."

Citing congressional testimony by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, Orenstein rejected the request and told the Justice Department to appeal if it wanted further clarification. Freeh had assured Congress that "the authority for pen registers and trap and trace devices cannot be used to obtain tracking or location information."

Excerpt from Orenstein's opinion: "My research on this question has failed to reveal any federal case law directly on point. Moreover, it is my understanding based on anecdotal information that magistrate judges in other jurisdictions are being confronted with the same issue but have not yet achieved consensus on how to resolve it. If the government intends to continue seeking authority to obtain cell site location information in aid of its criminal investigations, I urge it to seek appropriate review of this order so that magistrate judges will have more authoritative guidance in determining whether controlling law permits such relief on the basis of the relaxed standard set forth (under federal law), or instead requires adherence to the more exacting standard of probable cause. [...]

http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-5846037.html

Yes, sounds like a win for the good guys doesn't it? Or is it just the last sparks of the fire of freedom, as it burns out and not one person remains to put new logs on.

I KNOW!

We can throw all the surveillance logs on this fire!!!!!

UK fuel protest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The fuel protest was a series of protests held in the United Kingdom in 2000 over the cost of petrol.

The September 2000 protests

The protests began 5 September 2000 when an upward shift in the price of crude oil prompted major oil companies to announce an increase in the price of petrol to around 81 pence per litre of unleaded (£3.60/$6.50 per Imperial gallon or $5.41 per US gallon). The following day some lorries blockaded the entrance to the British side of the Channel Tunnel, causing heavy delays on the M20 motorway. The following day a further group of protesters, again from the haulage industry, blockaded the Stanlow Shell Oil refinery near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire.

The oil industry were the target of some of the protesters' ire because of their failure to pass reductions in the (highly variable) price of crude oil but speed at passing on prices increases. However the primary target was the Government's fuel tax policy. The British figure of three-quarters of cost of petrol being tax (in the form of fuel duty or value added tax) is somewhat higher than the European average, and dramatically higher than other developed countries such as the United States and Australia. The fuel protesters said that this disparity was making it increasingly difficult for the British haulage industry to remain competitive with their European rivals, especially since the introduction of the European free market on 31 December 1992. The situation led to a difficult position for the oil companies - it was actually perhaps in their long-term interest to support the protesters because if the pressure on the Government succeeded in reducing fuel tax, then consumers would likely buy more petrol, increasing profits for the oil companies. Because of the temporary chaos that ensued it was politically impossible for the companies to come out in support, some commentators suggested that they did not do all they could to get lorries carrying fuel through the assembled protesters. The oil companies responded to this by saying that although they could get lorries through at some depots, they refused to do so on the account of the safety of the drivers.

By Sunday 10 September 2000 six of the eight major oil refineries around the country had been blockaded by protesters. Drivers, realizing that no new petrol would be heading to petrol stations, started "panic buying" petrol while it was still available. This itself had the effect of hastening a petrol shortage because petrol stations operate a tight Just In Time policy to minimize operate costs that does not allow for dramatic upswings in demand. Some economists chastised the Government for calling the phenomenon "panic buying", saying that on the contrary the behaviour was rational in the circumstances. Local radio stations ran phone-ins advising drivers where fuel had not sold out.

By Tuesday 12 September 2000, one-third of all stations in the country were reported to be completely without fuel. Various reports indicated between 75 and 90% of stations were closed at some point during the crisis - many stations closed before they were completely empty in order to lengthen the time they were to supply emergency services. On the morning of the 12th Tony Blair was driven back to London from Newcastle in order to deal with growing chaos. Many commentators were keen to point out the high fuel consumption rate of his Jaguar, though others regarded this as a cheap shot in a time of crisis. Some health authorities cancelled non-essential operations to reduce ambulance movement. Later in the day Blair held meetings with the UK chairmen of the oil companies and on the evening news announced that measures were being taken to clear the blockades and that the "situation would begin to return to normal tomorrow." Blair and John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport, said that the Government would not be bounced into a "rash decision" on fuel tax because of the protestors.

Aftermath

Now that the safety of the lorry drivers was guaranteed by a preponderance of police numbers at the refineries and depots, and noting a shift in public opinion that had earlier been firmly behind the backers, the blockades dissipated rapidly on Wednesday morning. The protestors said that they were giving the Government sixty days to act on the issue or they would protest further.

In November, just prior to the sixty day deadline, there was some further panic-buying reported in East Kilbride and Glasgow. In fact such buying turned out not to be necessary; although truckers mounted slow-moving protests along motorways converging on London over the 13th and 14th of November, the renewed protest did not gather much support. Chancellor Gordon Brown had announced in his pre-Budget report published the week beforehand that fuel duty was to be frozen for two years, perhaps eroding some of the support base for the strikes. By Christmas extra production by OPEC members had brought the price of crude oil down, which in turn led to petrol price reductions.

A report published by the Department for Transport said that at the protest's peak, 14th September, motorway traffic was 40% below normal levels and non-motorway traffic 25% below.

The protests were organised by Richard Haddock, David Handley and Brynle Williams. Williams later became a member of the Welsh Assembly for the Conservative party. In May 2004, with crude oil and petrol prices edging ahead of their September 2000 levels, fuel prices again hit the public agenda, with some suggesting further protests may be imminent.

By August 2005, fuel prices had risen far above those that triggered the 2000 fuel protest without any further disruption, to an average of more than £0.90 GBP per litre (the falling dollar makes this $7.34 USD per Imperial gallon or $6.11 per US gallon).

September 2005 threats

Tempers flare during long queues outside a Birmingham petrol station, 12 September 2005.

The BBC reported on 7 September 2005 that the group responsible for the 2000 protests will again block refineries from 0600 BST on 14 September 2005 unless price cuts are made. This is due to the increase of petrol to over the £1 mark, one British petrol station is currently charging 103.9/litre. (BBC News report)

Newspapers reported on the 10 September 2005 that the government had drawn up contingency plans to maintain the supply of fuel, including using 1000 army drivers to operate tankers and to introduce fuel rationing. (Scotsman news report)

By 1pm on 12 September 2005, Sky news was reporting hour long queues outside petrol stations across Britain.