Would you like to be shot with a red gun or blue gun, sir? That is the limit of the choice being offered the UK electorate as New Labour announces it will keep the Coalition public spending plans and the Coalition benefit cuts. Given it will also throw away £100 billion on Trident, and New Labour initiated the rampant privatisation of the Health Service, PFI, Tuition Fees etc., my point could not have been more eloquently proven that the UK electorate is no longer offered any meaningful choice by the neo-con parties.
It also of course demolishes completely the Gordon Brown argument that Scots need to stay in the Union to put New Labour in to power. Who carries out Tory policies is not the question; and why a nation should surrender its freedom just to make sure Ed Balls has a ministerial car and salary while he implements Tory policies, is not a question which to me has an obvious answer.
The only meaningful political choice any part of the UK population will have in the foreseeable future is the Scottish Independence Referendum. If Scots do not take their chance, all they have ahead is economic decline and the collapse of public services. The choice could not be more stark.
No desperadoes with the Egyptian sexual-harassment disease. No gun-toting Libyan rebels. No Muslim beards and caps and hijjabs and other symbols. No looting. No sectarian fighting.
Just tens of thousands of beautiful people where Europe meets Asia. T-shirts and jeans and regular street garb. Protestors gathering, singing, dancing, exchanging, marching for the function of Democracy. And then the brutal police.
Admirable, inspiring. One can’t help but support these Turkish protestors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QJvgTG6yTrw
http://www.vice.com/vice-news/istanbul-rising
Binney; NSA whistleblower gives new meaning to the word ‘domain’.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-security-agencys-domestic-spying-program.html?_r=3&
Salma Yaqoob was like a breath of fresh air on QT the other night.
A threat has been made against her and W Midlands Police have a man in custody.
https://twitter.com/WMPolice/status/343387326417870848
” A mathematician, Binney worked for the NSA for almost forty years, where he and analyst Wiebe, who worked at NSA in excess of 30 years, developed a revolutionary information processing system called ThinThread that they believe could have detected and prevented the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But NSA officials ignored ThinThread in favor of Trailblazer – a much more expensive program that not only ended in total failure, but cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
Worried about the nation’s ability to protect itself, they blew the whistle on the clear mismanagement surrounding the Trailblazer fiasco, using appropriate channels to share their concerns with Congress and the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG). Despite their efforts, no one was held accountable at NSA for one of the worst intelligence failures in history. Little did they know at the time, Binney and Wiebe would face harsh retaliation from NSA for their efforts to make the truth known.
After the failure of U.S. intelligence to prevent the events of 9/11, the NSA wrongfully applied a component of the ThinThread system to illegally spy on the private communications of U.S. citizens. Unable to stay at the NSA any longer in good conscience, Binney and Wiebe retired in October 2001. After retiring, Binney and Wiebe continued to blow the whistle from outside the agency. GAP provided Binney and Wiebe with legal advice on whistleblowing matters and assisted them with media and public advocacy.”
http://www.whistleblower.org/program-areas/homeland-security-a-human-rights/surveillance/nsa-whistleblowers-bill-binney-a-j-kirk-wiebe
Kin hell, now the thread has descended into; “Jon do this! and cut that! and Sir, Sir, Sir he is showing his tongue, and spat at me”!!!!!!!
This reminds of Aziz Nessin and his “an experiment in democracy” short story. The pitiful sight of those reverting to type and based on very little reasoning or none at all; proceeding to table assertion, these being based on their assumptions, and concluding by rounding up with their customary denunciations.
================
It is comical to see the talking heads on the telly, waxing lyrical about; they find unfettered snooping; disturbing! This is of course in the light of the off intelligence (everything has an off these days for the consumers) boss one Sir Malcolm Rifkind has flown to Washington to get his story right and have a quiet word with the chaps about their snooping.
Meanwhile back at the coalface he has gone on record:
Although the dog and pony show holds: Ministers to reveal British link to US data spying scandal:
Does this vast reservoir of data relate to a vast number of Brits? If so, how vast is this number exactly? ie 30 million? (no Bruce, higher! higher! I hear)
Passerby; Making the same mistake doesn’t cancel others out. Transcend the acerbic rancor. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the acrimony; there’s a bumper-crop. Go non-GMO organic. It’s healthy.
Daniel
7 Jun, 2013 – 2:40 am
“Sadly, anti-English bigotry and hatred seems to be an ugly by-product of the pro-independence side, and I’ve always felt uneasy about the positions of many of those Scots who espouse overtly nationalist sentiments.”
There are undoubtedly racist Scots.
But, “…anti-English bigotry and hatred…an ugly by-product of the pro-independence side”?
You are a merry Andrew dear chap.
“I think Fred is right to point out that many on the nationalist side are fomenting anti-English hatred. This is a serious issue that has real consequences for English people living in Scotland and cannot, or should not, be brushed under the carpet.”
I speak with a Yorkshire accent and have visited Scotland scores of times over decades, from south to north; east to west. I have never experienced anti-English abuse.
As for the SNP perhaps they should rename as the Scottish Independence Party because many people (like you perhaps) conflate nationalism with racism and exceptionalism which is not what the SNP represents.
Villager
Habbabkuk earlier being rude and personal about Mary:
“Relevance of “the well fed face”?
Do you have to be starving yourself before you’re allowed to talk about the starving?
Would someone looking at Flaming June’s face conclude that she too eats well and enough?”
“Would someone looking at Flaming June’s face conclude that she too eats well and enough?””
Obama must avoid the’ angry black muslim’ persona at any cost. Thank the God of Moses you make up for it.
“Did you notice the latest poll shows more Scots favour Independence than not? That’s that sorted then isn’t it? ”
They have the capability to tap every phone call and every fax in the world, have had for a long time, since the 1980s. They called the joint UK and USA program ECHELON and Menwith Hill is a part of it.
Of course it was illegal for MI5 to be tapping the phones of British citizens without a warrant just as it was illegal for the CIA to tap the phones of Americans. So they just tapped each other’s countries phones then exchanged information.
The country that is spending $2billion on the Utah surveillance centre which will require over 60 megawatts of electrical power to run it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center
has its citizens living on the San Francisco streets with their possessions in black bin bags. And in many other cities too.
See the photographs. http://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.co.uk/
Fred
7 Jun, 2013 – 8:11 am
“The entire Glasgow Council is a bunch of thieves, corrupt to the core, basically an organised crime outfit.”
“The evidence is overwhelming yet for some reason the Scottish Government keeps blocking investigations.”
Fred why don’t you make an official written complaint to the police, if you have the evidence?
If you don’t trust the police try the procurator fiscal.
Also when you say:
“The entire Glasgow Council is a bunch of thieves, corrupt to the core, basically an organised crime outfit.”
That is a very libellous thing to say if you can’t back it up.
Passerby
I wonder how ordinary people would cope with even the smallest engagement with UK intelligence agents, let alone being sexually assaulted in a Kenyan jail at their behest. A Tory M.P. lost his job because a security police officer didn’t instantly recognise him and was a bit shirty about bringing his bicycle into Downing Street. Being spied on and being visited and pressured by dark, powerful forces is deeply offensive. As usual, Sir Malcolm Rifkind is lying when he exonerates MI5/6.
Hiddencam
With the exception of yourself. You get off on being secretly filmed by your employers. Bonusses bonusses bonusses.
I really don’t understand the sketchy interest in these PRISM disclosures. I realize it’s OT and that Craig is indisposed for understandable reasons, but this is quite a disputative subject and needs your input. I believe if Craig were not impaired he would certainly have created a new thread on this subject. Anyhoo….I’ll shut the fuck up.
OOPs the Quote in my last post should have been:
“Does this vast reservoir of data relate to a vast number of Brits? If so, how vast is this number exactly? ie 30 million? (no Bruce, higher! higher! I hear)”
Ben Franklin
In the case of the likes of 9/11 and other false-flag attacks, they clearly did not want a system that could analyse threads.
Good one of Fat Dave here.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2013/06/commons-confidential-david-dave-and-fat-dave
Fat Dave presides over a country where half a million families are using food banks while he forces through cuts in the UK which will see 3.4 million children living below the economic poverty line by the end of the decade.*
Yet he speaks of world hunger today.
* http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jun/05/britain-faces-colossal-child-poverty-bill
The met have had direct access to BT’s computer system since 2002. And they’ve got a secret fleet of military grade surveillance aircraft.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8857517/Met-Police-spends-millions-of-pounds-on-secret-aircraft.html
“That is a very libellous thing to say if you can’t back it up.”
Even if there were such a thing as libel that wouldn’t be.
If I were to say it about an individual council member it would be, if there were such a thing.
If I as to say their leader was a cocaine addict it wouldn’t be because till 2010 he was.
The police already know, everybody knows, they keep trying to do something about it but the government won’t let them.
Read the link I posted, here’s a little snippet.
Phil; Good to see you.
This is what happens when MILSPEC means a toilet costs $1000 and a left-handed monkey-wrench is a bargain at $275.
That budget money isn’t always spent just once.
Fred
7 Jun, 2013 – 12:05 pm
“I don’t ask those supporting Palestine why they hate Jews so much now do I?”
I support Palestine but I do not hate Jews. I am a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and I can tell you that no PSC member is anti-Jewish.
It is interesting though that you don’t support the Palestinians in their struggle against Israeli ethnic cleansing; land theft; extra-judicial executions; use of white phosphorous on civilians and other war crimes.
But I just realised that, if you did support the Palestinians you would be anti-Semitic wouldn’t you?
@Doug Scorgie
Like you, I’m becoming more than a little fed-up with posters who continue to (deliberately?) misunderstand Scotland and those who support its independence. As they appear to conflate ethnic and civic nationalism I’ve decided to post a link of explanation.
@Fred and friends, read carefully … and take note.
https://www.msu.edu/user/hillrr/161lec16.htm?iframe=true
Frazer
7 Jun, 2013 – 10:30 pm
“You lot amaze me. When Craig posts that he is under the weather and he cannot walk for less than 200mtrs, you lot continue to bicker, scream like little kids and hijack an interesting post for your pitiful ‘have a go at each other’ stupid comments. My suggestion is that some of you just piss off and start your open blog where you can all drip your poison to your hearts content. I have posted on this blog for 5 years, now I am sadly disillusioned.”
Frazer, stop moaning and stick to the topic.
@Doug
Yes, you can support Palestine without hating Jews just as I can point out Nationalist myths, like the one about the bank notes, without desperately wanting Scotland to remain in the Union. Which is exactly the point I was making. The Nationalists could not dispute the facts so they were trying to say I was saying them because I was a Unionist. In short, the Nationalists were using the exact same tactics as the Zionists when someone points out the facts about Palestine.
As it happens I do support the Palestinian people’s right to self determination, that is a basic human right. I also condemn all the crimes of Israel. I oppose Zionism because it is a Nationalist doctrine just as I would oppose any Palestinian organisation with the same doctrine.
What is the root cause of all the trouble in Palestine?
@Indigo
Just loved the “The USA preaches its version of civic nationalism around the world” bit.
Is that why they’re giving all them cluster bombs to Israel?
@ The Scourge (22h47) : you wrote
“..and I can tell you that no PSC member is anti-Jewish.”
______________
Given your track record of – let us say – being economical with the truth (posts passim), why should we take your word for it?
Yes Ben I agree transparency is indeed key and only time is gained by ensuring the recipients are mutually connected by trust. Trust is key. Would you trust a crocodile with the scent of your blood?
Therefor we must educate ourselves in the mystic world of codes and what better way to learn than to use.
In a paradigm dominated by commerce we also remember, god willing, the very first code; one dated near 1500 BCE was found to encrypt a craftsman’s recipe for pottery glaze, commercially valuable to ‘zombies’ yet beautifully egonomic and functional to others.
Fred has gone quiet on the survey showing Independence support ahead.
Why would the 32% favouring “Devo Max” vote for the status quo?
Why is Darling getting more desperate by the day?
Fred’s ‘independent’ polls are as unreliable now as they were unrelaible when they were predicting a Labour win at the 2011 Scottish election.
Quoting Fred
7 Jun, 2013 – 8:11 am
“The entire Glasgow Council is a bunch of thieves, corrupt to the core, basically an organised crime outfit.”
How did Labour manage to get re-elected in Glasgow in 2012 then?
I assume you are talking about Labour councillors who are in the majority, because SNP councillors are in the minority and cannot have their way.