Big Brother Britain? Try Big Brother Europe!
The Government faces criticism over the erosion of civil liberties on a series of fronts.
Now - what was the second world war fought over - I forget.
I must admit it wasn’t because of computers - it was because of the over-powering attack on people by the Nazi’s and their forceful expansion across Europe - but with a war machine never seen in human history.
Now, we see that the erosion of civil rights across Europe are under threat because of the internet and the lumbering inefficiency that is government. What the EU is now doing is allowing police forces to hack into peoples home computers - this and the tyrant-woman, Jacqui Smith’s ID and storage of all data in the UK, are not seen as an attack on the rights of the person, but a help to stop terrorism and organised crime.
Police have been given the power to hack into personal computers without a court warrant. The Home Office is facing anger and the threat of a legal challenge after granting permission. Ministers are also drawing up plans to allow police across the EU to collect information from computers in Britain.
The moves will fuel claims that the Government is presiding over a steady extension of the “surveillance society” threatening personal privacy.
Why can’t these elected officials see that this is wrong? That is my over riding question - I can see why some actions like this can be enacted by the police and, indeed, the secret services, but this isn’t a matter of going to a judge and getting a warrent to perform such acts - it is that governments across the EU simply extend the powers and hope that they won’t be abused - which we all know they they will.
You can see the Headline in the near future where one political party will have proof that the other party(s) have utilised this for political gain. Whether that will be a party that is and wants laws for the common good or others with a more solicitous intent we won’t know until it happens - and happen it will.
I have no problem with the use of technology helping to fight crime - what I do have a problem with is a ruling elite just handing over so much power! It is a matter that they just are not thinking ahead - and they are utilising the apparent fear within the populace to get it through parliaments quickly and without any real consultation.
Remote searching can be achieved by sending an email containing a virus to a suspect’s computer which then transmits information about email contents and web-browsing habits to a distant surveillance team.
Alternatively, “key-logging” devices can be inserted into a computer that relay details of each key hit by its owner. Detectives can also monitor the contents of a suspect’s computer hard-drive via a wireless network.
Computer hacking has to be approved by a chief constable, who must be satisfied the action is proportionate to the crime being investigated.
Last month European ministers agreed in principle to allow police to carry out remote searches of suspects’ computers across the EU.
Details of the proposal are still being developed by the Home Office and other EU ministries, but critics last night warned it would usher in a vast expansion of police hacking operations.
Once the abyss has been crossed - as once was, don’t these idiots realise that you cannot put the genie back in the bottle!
The oversight needed is there - but governments must allow judges to over see these things within the bounds of the law of both the UK and the EU. This in itself shouts loud that the EU constitution means nothing, it has no powers whatsoever - so why enact it Europe wide?
Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights campaign group Liberty, said such a vast expansion of police powers should be regulated by a new Act of Parliament and that police should be forced to apply to a court for a warrant to hack into computers.
She said: “This is no different from breaking down someone’s door, rifling through their paperwork and seizing their computer hard drive.”
I 100% agree - this is tantamount to the police being given the powers to walk into your home and ask what you are doing and then rifling though your cabinets and draws ‘just in case’. Even though we do need the police we do need laws that they cannot break - and this action just gives way too much away from the private citizen.
It is simply wrong!
Richardson out of commerce job
(CNN) — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is withdrawing his nomination to be commerce secretary
Obama accepts that Bill Richardson will not be able to go forward as the nominee for the secretary of Commerce. This is due to investigation into one companies dealings with his New Mexico’s government administration.
“I do so with great sorrow. But a pending investigation of a company that has done business with New Mexico state government promises to extend for several weeks or, perhaps, even months,” the statement reads. “Let me say unequivocally that I and my Administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact. But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process.”
What was obvious was that one of the crazy neocon blogs would pick up and it and it was no other than Michelle Malkin - she reports (loose term):
So much for all that “best person for the job” blather. Looks like Barack Obama’s vetters haven’t gotten any better since the campaign.
Hmmm odd she should say they, eh?
Is this the real face of American democracy?
2000 was bad enough, but will it be courts and not votes that really count?
The US congressional elections have been over for some time - but still Coleman and Franken are still fighting it out.
One of the last remaining steps in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race recount was temporarily halted Saturday morning when attorneys with Republican incumbent Norm Coleman’s campaign attempted to stop the counting of about 950 improperly rejected absentee ballots.
Why? If these ballots were improperly rejected - then they should be counted. It is as simple as that. That is as applicable in the US as it is in Zimbabwe - surely!
If Coleman wins, which is seemingly less likely - then it will be down to those votes being counted - the xact same can be said for Franken. It is up to the people to decide not a judge.
At the start of a meeting Saturday as the secretary of state’s office counted the 950 rejected ballots, Coleman attorney Tony Trimble asked Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann to cease any counting.
After about an hour recess to consult the state attorney general’s office, Gelbmann returned, saying the decision was to “not slow down this process today, get the counting under way. … We are relying on the oral advice of the attorney general.”
He cut Trimble off when he attempted to respond, but Trimble said, “This is a public meeting, and I’m going to have my say.” Gelbmann gave him two minutes, and Trimble said that he objects but that the Coleman camp will reluctantly abide by the decision.
This on top of the fact that some in Congress will filibuster if Franken is seated - I dunno about you but that isn’t democracy - it is people who will do anything to get their own way - and not those who voted for who they elected.
All madness to me - especially on the back of what some saw as vote rigging by ACORN and others. If Franken won by one vote, that is enough, no?
Hmmm, ah - but - who is the government now?
This is why I love the blogosphere!
Tom Watson is an MP, I think - well I am pretty sure he is an MP, a somewhat overpaid one but that is by the by - what this post is about is irony.
Tom made this post in his blog:
Six out of eight of the highest paid local council officials are in Conservative administrations
Dear Tom is having a dig at these councils because he is a part of the current government - which claims, spuriously, that it is a Labour government - we know that isn’t the case, but that is by the by, too. The irony lays in the fact that Tom is making a blog post about the conservatives who are the official opposition in the UK parliament - which means they can do precisely nothing about this situation until they get into power - which looks all the more likely it will be the next general election - what joy.
Now, even though dear Tom has his facts right about conservative execs ripping the shit from everyone’s back bum as they pay their council tax - why doesn’t the current government do something about it?
I mean:
£240,000* Joe Duckworth, chief executive, Newham (appointed 2008)
£220,000* Andrea Hill, chief executive, Suffolk County Council (appointed 2008)
£213,162 Kim Ryley, chief executive, Kingston upon Hull
£205,000 Derek Myers, town clerk and chief executive, Kensington & Chelsea
£203,000 Nick Johnson, chief executive, Bexley (since retired)
£201,485 Caroline Tapster, chief executive, Hertfordshire
£195,456 Darra Singh, chief executive, Ealing
£195,330 Richard Shaw, chief executive, Surrey
Figures represent complete remuneration figure, including all benefits except figures marked *, which represent basic salary. Most recent figures avaliable for 2006-07, compiled by the TaxPayers’ Alliance annual report, released in March
OK - Tom is probably having a go at local authorities because he, like all the other robber barons that are MPs want a bit more of the public purse but dare not ask for it, just yet!
What pisses me off is that for some strange reason both Labour and Conservative governments do nothing to stop local taxes lining the pockets of people who run councils - but are not elected officials, eh?
Or do I have it wrong, Tom?
Shouldn’t councils be run by those who are elected with the staff to aid them? If not - then why the hell do we have elections?
What I would think would be a better post from Tom - or any other leech that there is in parliament would be a Bill to stop those robbing local councils and a reduction of the pay that MPs get - vote winner written all over that one.
You do, as always, get this argument:
The Local Government Association argues that its chief executives are paid modestly compared with private and public organisations with comparable turnovers and staffing levels. Paul Coen, the head of the association, has pointed out that a chief executive at a big council could earn on average more than twice as much in a public or private organisation of a similar size.
Then I have some advice for them - fuck off and get a job that pays this in the private sector! If you can, that is. That money could be used for a ‘For the sake of the children’ fund! Or getting the bins emptied on time and at regular intervals - or something far better than paying for a new Mercedes!
This irony is all the rage in the UK - one overpaid branch of government stating that another is overpaid, why, as I will insist on asking, doesn’t this government do something about rather than thinking up new draconian laws that deflate civil liberties - but is that too much to ask?
Blears comes out middle of the road? Or is she just a propagandist?
If you’re white and don’t think immigration is a good thing - you listen to the BNP too much!
The reason there is racial discourse in the UK is because of white people, who are poor, and live in very poor areas. That’s it - the reason immigrants are not welcomed in the UK (although they are) is because those immigrants are not understood by white people, who are poor, and live in poor areas.
There we go - the end to all ills in the UK brought to you by Hazel Blears! Hurrah!
But of course - if it was that simple then the problem wouldn’t be a problem! Look at the sampling matter and see if you can see any anomaly:
The study involved interviews of 43 people in Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Norfolk and Cheshire.
The interviews took place on four, predominantly white, housing estates and found people felt a sense of resentment, unfairness and betrayal.
Forty three frigging people!? And some of those in Norfolk! WTF is she on?
This, my dear readers, is why the Labour government is so out of touch with Britain today it is beyond a joke! Though - I must add to that, the conservatives wouldn’t have given those numbers - they would have just changed them into percentages.
But back to Mrs Blears:
Ms Blears told the BBC the research showed it was important to get the debate out in the open, to stop the far right from “peddling myths” such as suggestions that immigrants got priority in social housing.
“The vast majority of people who come to this country have to go into the private rented sector, they don’t get council housing” she said.
“There are an awful lot of myths about that people can come into this country, they can get a council house, they get grants for thousands of pounds - a lot of that is simply not true.”
This is, as she says, peddled by the far-right, fascists like the BNP - the BNP are, to put it bluntly, a load of non-entities who will be used by New Labour as another scare tactic to keep power - their numbers are pathetic and all have been just about named and shamed..
But to Mrs Blears - they are something of essence - but Mrs Blears, like so many in the UK parliament read The Guardian, or Telegraph - maybe even The Times! They don’t read The Sun.
What I would do if I were Mrs Blears advisor is this: Firstly tell her to shut up, secondly I would tell her to read the daily tabloids in the UK, just to see who is ‘peddling’ the information that immigrants get all thouse thousands of pounds in hand-outs, preferential treatment in getting council housing…etc.
It really isn’t hard - what it is; is showing those pedestal residing, back-slapping politicians the real world. But is the real world anything like The Sun depicts? It must be as much as real as those worlds of The guardian and Times/Telegraph. It is the readers perception, this is why Blears has such a hard time with reading a blog - well one that criticises her and this pathetic government.
I thought that 42 was the meaning of life - but to Blears it is the perfect sampling for a survey to go on the attack against something that isn’t a threat, unlike the draconian measures brought about by her and Gordon Brown’s Conservative government.
I wonder what the responses would have been if the 42 had been a mix of Asian, black people, and Chinese - I don’t suppose we will ever know.
And this is the man who espouses ‘Small-town American Values’?
Maybe somewhat hypocritical, no?
A few days, or was it a week, ago I wrote a blog post asking what were small town American values - because I was confused by them - and that CNN story was written by Ruben Navarette - he espoused that Sarah Palin was right about everything because she utilised that term to say something about herself that was appealing to Americans who were left out of the win of Barack Obama.
Now Ruben comes out and says that he has a new appreciation of the rouge Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Huh!?
That is metro-politics if ever I saw! Certainly not the small-town, lovey-dovey politics of electing the Sheriff of your town, country or whatever it is. Or am I wrong?
Do small town American politics mean that you get into a good ol’ fight and the winner comes out on top - especially if the winner is a person who has cocked a snook at the bigger players in the political garden?
Seems so - Ruben likes to see a good fight, especially if it involves Democrat Vs Democrat. How would Ruben have felt if all this was happening in his beloved Alaska and Palin was up against the wall? Probably not the same - then it would have been an attack on a small-town girl was was defenceless.
My associates in the chattering class are missing the big picture. Blagojevich has done us all a favor with his mischievously brilliant and cynical maneuver.
Thanks, firstly, for admitting you are a part of the chattering class Ruben - but what does surprise me is how you can admire a man who brought in, if indeed he did, a racial aspect to the whole matter? Did you once denounce racism in politics as something you could never countenance?
By choosing Burris — the first African-American to be elected statewide in Illinois — and forcing a confrontation with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin and the other white males in the Senate Democratic leadership, Blagojevich has set up another teachable moment in race relations and the often one-sided dynamic between African-Americans and the Democratic Party.
The first lesson came during the Democratic primaries when supporters of Hillary Clinton made a series of racially insensitive remarks. That was curious given that these are the sort of folks who like to think of themselves as “progressive” because, for instance, they would never send out, as a Christmas gift, a CD that included a parody called “Barack The Magic Negro,” as did one boneheaded Republican official.
But look at what liberals will do. Remember when Billy Shaheen, co-chairman of Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign, suggested that Obama would founder as the nominee because Republicans would claim that he sold drugs?
And some Republicans did - the vast majority of Republicans didn’t denounce that either!
I do see where you are coming from though - it is a place where division is the norm and elitism is only held for the opposition, never for your own ideas, which, to me, are rather odd - but you are an advocate for Republicanism in its current form - so why would anyone take you seriously?
Use the back door, please.
Why is the first black president of the United States moving his wife and daughters into a hotel two weeks before he is inaugurated? When I first heard about this story, I tried and tried to understand that it was a conflict of calendars, and that it would be resolved in an acceptable manner. But the closer we get to inauguration day, the more it incenses me that President Bush couldn’t or wouldn’t move other things around to accommodate the next leader of the free world.
President-elect Obama is being called on by journalists, politicians, this blog and all the people who supported his candidacy and participated in his election to step up and lead our country, since our current leadership is morally bankrupt (Vice President Cheney) and intellectually challenged (President Bush) or intellectually bankrupt and morally challenged (Secretary of State Rice), and hence unable to meet their respective responsibilities both at home and around the world.
While I do believe that the appointment of Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama’s Senate seat was racially calculated by an alleged corrupt politician, I don’t think it was racist (though I did make that assessment initially). And while I don’t think that forcing the President-elect to conduct world affairs around the scheduled continental breakfast at the Hay-Adams, or to have the doorman get him a cab over to see House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I do have to ask: if he were visibly Caucasian (because we all know he’s white, too) would he be moving into Blair House this weekend?
Lawsuit seeks to take ’so help me God’ out of inaugural
On a really slow news week - you can always do a story on intimate farting
I take it that British stereotypes are STILL acceptable to the Americans! Grrrr!
“This is something we’ve had to come to terms with,” says the British-born Sam Lueder, 37, a marketing executive who describes herself as “quite prim and proper”
But she was only British born so it’s OK.
But when you start a story about an old couple who will do anything in front of each other - including a shave on the bikini undercarriage - who knew? Personally that idea almost put me off my beer - but I forgot it pretty quick - and, what is it that women hate most about men, the farting?
Of course, the best kind is one where you can rattle the windows, and why women are not impressed by that I will never know! I can’t speak for my wife - but I think that she loves me enough to understand that an odd smelly one will get past the gate-keeper every now and again.
“I think these types of things — burping, [passing gas], blowing your nose — show comfort and intimacy in front of your partner,” Alpert says, “though I’m not suggesting you should do these things to build intimacy.”
‘ell oh ‘ell!!
If you want to find a sharp instroment very close to the crown jewels - try getting romantic and intimate by dropping one under the bed clothes and pulling them over your loved ones head - or better still, pushing their head under the sheets while you laugh hysterically - it maybe funny at first - but…
And while certain gender stereotypes hold — women tend to keep certain habits private while men veer toward openness — some behaviors are purely personality-driven. Take bachelor David Seaman, who won’t clip his toenails or even shave in front of his new girlfriend, Lindsay.
“I’m probably not the typical male,” says the New York author and blogger, 23. “I personally don’t mind when someone likes a little privacy. I’m probably like this because it’s still early on in our relationship, but I tend to be somewhat guarded.”
Metrosexual!
Oh…dear…Lord - Yes, I do mean the biblical one
Sometimes in your life, you HAVE to believe their is is a heaven…
I think it is a bit obvious that I read a few websites from back home in the UK - and I do wonder what on earth is going on there.
Adults should be able to challenge young people acting in an anti-social way without fear of prosecution, the shadow home secretary has said.
This is about policing in the UK - one of the little darlings can get away with stabbing you because you have reprimanded him/her during the process of them mugging someone. No, seriously!
This is the political correctness bullshit that has taken over the UK, I would have thought that it would have been rejected - but then Tony Blair made things worse - by being elected, why I celebrated that night I have no idea - but it does prove the old “Beware what you wish for”.
For a member of the opposition to ask that police have more discretion, to me, is like - WTF!?
Dominic Grieve has called for a return to “common sense” policing, where officers would stop investigating minor crimes and back up civic-minded people.
He said the Tories would re-write the rules to give officers more discretion when dealing with people who intervene.
In an interview in the Independent, he added he was not promoting vigilantism.
Now, call me old if you so wish - that I don’t have a problem with, but there was a day when I was young and being young I was rather daft/stupid at times. But I can tell you this, I was in the fear of God if my father found out that I had been in ‘trouble’ with the police. He would have gone ballistic!
So what is it today, in the UK - and I would bet a hellofa lot of other countries as well - that makes young people feel they can act like little shits?
We see people like Andy Burnham want to censor the internet so the little tykes can get their rocks of playing Barbie and reading the New Labour manifesto - just about all he would like online, and of course, you cannot chastise a child because they will hurt their feelings. And it is now a matter that the probable next UK government are thinking of re-writing what the police should do when some moron comes into the police station to say Johnny Briggs has burned his shed down. OK - that is arson but you get my meaning.
At the moment, police across the UK advise people not to put themselves at risk if they come across young people acting in an anti-social way or committing a crime.
Instead they are told they should report it to the police.
Well yeah - that is what police are for, no? This is fine until you realise that the police are dealing with some distraught mother who is having an argument with said Mr Briggs for pulling her son out of the burning shed because he thought it would be a bit of fun to see what it is like to be on fire - or in a building that is on fire. Not only that Mr Briggs has actually touched her child and left a red mark on his shoulder. The mother is going to sue by the way.
“There is no doubt - the police say their discretion has been eroded,” he told the paper.
“If somebody comes in to a police station and makes an allegation clearly of the most trivial character they nevertheless have to go through a process of dealing with it which may involve going round and confronting the person against whom the trivial allegation has been made.”
Pea-shooters at dawn!
Yep - political correctness is the way forward - but in my eyes, the way forward to total anarchy!
Will Rhodes
alisonrhodes
Julie P
ReyMac
Am I the only Liberal blogger who supports Israel?
with 7 comments
I may not be - but from what I read it seems so.
This report on CNN says: Hamas won’t stop rocket attacks on Israel.
OK - if that is the case - do they think that Israel will comply with any political pressure to stop the incursion into Gaza?
This question is asked on the BBC’s World Have Your Say blog: On- air: Does there come a point when Israel loses it’s right to defend itself ?
I said there as I do here:
If Hamas insists on firing rockets into Israel and killing Israeli citizens then what the hell do they expect?
If Hamas insist on bringing in rockets instead of food and water plus medicine - what the hell do they expect Israel to do - just allow them to keep firing them off and ignore it?
Hamas must now make the first move to stop this carnage - and that is by stopping the rocket firing - get around a negotiating table and come to an agreement where all can live in peace.
Written by Will Rhodes
January 5, 2009 at 3:08 PM
Posted in Blah!, Blogroll, Blogs, Comment, Personal philosophy, Politics, Technology
Tagged with CNN, Evangelicals, Hamas, Islam, Israel, Just Stupid, Palestine, Religion, war