RamRage

Hit on the Ed

2010-09-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

I feel somewhat like a school bully, picking on the new guy but following a reading of Ed Miliband, new leader of the Labour party saying that the Iraq was wrong wrong and illegal I wanted to find out if he had always thought that.

A quick perusual of Ed Miliband's voting history will show you that Ed, the new leader of the Labour party has voted conistently against any sort of inquiry into the Iraq war and its legality. Of course, that was when the party was in power and didn't want any investigation into their illegal war.

Sometimes, the stories just write themselves.

Eight Principles of Uncivilisation

2010-06-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

1. We live in a time of social, economic and ecological unravelling. All around us are signs that our whole way of living is already passing into history. We will face this reality honestly and learn how to live with it.

2. We reject the faith which holds that the converging crises of our times can be reduced to a set of ‘problems’ in need of technological or political ‘solutions’.

3. We believe that the roots of these crises lie in the stories we have been telling ourselves. We intend to challenge the stories which underpin our civilisation: the myth of progress, the myth of human centrality, and the myth of our separation from ‘nature’. These myths are more dangerous for the fact that we have forgotten they are myths.

4. We will reassert the role of story-telling as more than mere entertainment.

5. Humans are not the point and purpose of the planet. Our art will begin with the attempt to step outside the human bubble. By careful attention, we will reengage with the non-human world.

6. We will celebrate writing and art which is grounded in a sense of place and of time.

7. We will not lose ourselves in the elaboration of theories or ideologies. Our words will be elemental. We write with dirt under our ﬁngernails.

8. The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop. Together, we will ﬁnd the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.

http://www.dark-mountain.net/

There are many things I thought of when I read the manifesto of the Dark Mountain Project. Firstly that in 2010, man should not be shackled by the cycles of the past. It seems too easy to smile smugly and see the familiar patterns played out on politics and society as if we have all seen it before and nothing changes. It is all too easy nowadays to dismiss alternative theories on social change such as Communism as the failed ideas of the past.

Then the Hung Parliament happened and I realised that we should not think in such terms anymore. If we are to develop we must realise that we are not trapped by the past. I am tired of feeling that everything

Humanaity has made tremendous advances in science and technology, but not in mind. Einstein was correct when he said that "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind."

The Dark Mountain Project wishes to change that. The Manifesto hits you in the head and heart with a feeling you have been unable to express. 'The Event' by writer/director John Clancy cries out at the audience that something has gone terribly wrong with the western world (and thus affected much of the rest of the world) and we are all the victims. Distant from one another in an age when no one is beyond reach of telephones, computers or even telephone-computers. I am sure many people seem to feel that something along the way has gone wrong.

But like any major work that has hit me in the head and chest with massive, weighting spikes made of frozen truth it offers little in the way of solution. How can it? It has only just begun! It has only just crawled from the primoridal goo of the mind.

The project wishes to explore ideas of the coming probable ecopocalypse.

Lockdown

2010-05-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

How to Lock Down Your FaceBook Profile from Off The Broiler on Vimeo.

Vote

2010-05-06T14:17:00.001-07:00

2010-04-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

Q.E.D

2010-02-12T03:30:00.001-08:00

The day after my rant it seems the news breaks that Goldman Sachs are accused of rigging an online poll on Robin Hood tax

R.

"We live in a culture characterized by what Benjamin DeMott called 'junk politics'...

2010-02-11T02:55:00.000-08:00

"Junk politics does not demand justice or the reparation of rights. It always personalizes issues rather than clarifying them. It eschews real debate for manufactured scandals, celebrity gossip and spectacles. It trumpets eternal optimism, endlessly praises our moral strength and character, and communicates in a feel-your-pain language. The result of junk politics is that nothing changes, “meaning zero interruption in the processes and practices that strengthen existing, interlocking systems of socioeconomic advantage.”

Chris Hedge, 'Zero Point of System Collapse'; Adbuster Magazine 11.2.2010

When I read this, my immediate thought was of David Cameron, particularly the 'personalisation of politics' part. I will give you an example to explain what I mean.

Recently, following an immense grass-roots campaign by people like '38 Degrees' and 'Vote for Change' proposed introducing a reform on the voting system. In the future, it now looks likely that candidates will be voted for in order of preference rather than simply voting for one candidate. Sure, it isn't the proportional representation system Democracy sorely needs but it is a step forward.

David Cameron opposed this idea, calling it 'crazy'. He accused the Prime Minister of not fixing what was wrong in Westminster and of hypocricy. He then stated he would outline his proposals in a speech this monday. I then listened to his speech and it FAILED to offer any alternative to electoral reform, but it SUCCEEDED in personalising the issue with lots of flowery rhetoric implying that he could change these things and making it about him versus Brown.

So what do I propose, well if the current Power2010 votes are to be believed the thing people want most are Proportional Representation and to scrap the ID card scheme (but more on these another time). If I do not advoce Cameron to get rid of Brown and the failure of Labour government, who do I? I would advise voting Liberal Democrat. Nick Clegg, perhaps like many others beside him really seeks change for the better and would enact that change.

However, I am forced to immediately spin on my heel and point something out to the democratic neophytes that think it is all about voting the right person in. It isn't on the larger scale and hasn't been for some time. If the first year of the Obama administration has taught you anything, it should be that even electing someone as great as him changes nothing.*

As Adam Curtis pointed out on Charlie Brooker's Newswipe this week, even if someone who wanted to enact great change for the better was brought in, they would be so savaged by the media and therefore the public that they would never succeed. This, coupled with the fact that the Corporatists have now gathered so much power to themselves that they are able to refuse government calls to regulate themselves mean that a wider policy of reform is needed. But that reform goes beyond simply a Political one, but requires an Economic one. Take for example how quickly the banks were able to secure money to shore themselves up compared to how much money in aid is given to those dying of curable diseases throughout the world, how Boris Johnson barks back at his OWN PARTY on the banks of London's behalf compared to how he lets the public transport fall to ruin (because I might add seems to have no power over the Privatised companies that run the tube).

I seem to have strayed away from my point a bit. Politicians need to be
a) Accountable - Another rant for another day on expenses
b) Able to be recalled - The recall bill is on the cards
c) Strong enough to enact the changes that are needed for the better and not powerless against Economic giants that put money about people.

The public then need to be
a) Informed - It is all very well being able to recall MPs, but if they are recalled based on the biased media opinion then this only reduces the amount of power Government has
b) Proportionally represented - People will be less dissillusioned with politics if they believe their vote matters
c) Not spied on by their government to the point of living in a vaccinated orwellian state of terror.

Honestly I fear it. But don't believe me, don't believe anyone just because they sound convincing, find out for yourself.

Rant over.

R.

*That might seem bleak and I am not sure how MUCH I believe that but there is a grain of truth in it. I am favouring a Spider Jerusalem approach with my rant today, that of kicking you in the balls with a steel-tipped boot and vomiting truth into your earhole. Deal with it.

2010-01-26T14:18:00.001-08:00

Grade Gordon Brown

Your apathy is SO 2005...

2010-01-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

The new decade is upon us. Your apathy is outdated. In the new decade it is remarkably easy to get involved in democracy. Politics is not played out in westminster halls by the MPs, it is on every street corner, in every discussion in the pub, car, tube, office, EVERYWHERE. With the formation of many grass roots campaigns and publisized by this wonderful interblag we can all influence the world and prevent totalitarian governments, capitalism and the destruction of the planet.

Get with the scene man, your apathy is not only outdated, but impossible to sustain as the world falls apart and The Man takes every right your ancestors fought for.

The degree avalanches occur

2009-12-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

Since 38 Degrees launched in early June it has achieved a huge amount. From demanding new laws to make MPs answer to us and flooding Parliament with emails about climate change to defending valued public services and calling for the Iraq inquiry be held in public, it has made the peoples' voices heard.

I joined 38 Degrees when it first launched and have been part of it's many campaigns. It is all part of the desktop activism that I seem to be doing more of rather than the marching (though I was at The Wave in december). Here are some of them:

Climate, Copenhagen 10:10, Quizzing the Minister:
Our campaigning on climate change got the government's attention. In October over 10,000 of us contacted our MPs in just 48 hours to ask Parliament to reduce its own emissions by 10% next year. This month, 38 Degrees members quizzed Ed Miliband (Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change) in the first-ever public conference call with a Cabinet minister.

Cleaning up Parliament:
The expenses scandal showed us the urgent need to make sure MPs really answer to us. Together, we've pushed for a recall law to give voters who have lost trust in their MPs the right to call a fresh vote. Even the Prime Minister has slowly come around to a recall law - but we've got a long way to go. Cleaning up Parliament is a big task and we'll need to continue working hard both to make recall a reality and to force politicians to reveal their links to lobbyists.

Bankers:
We were outraged to see bankers awarding themselves massive bonuses just after the government had to bail them out with our money. When plans to put a 50% tax on bankers bonuses leaked out, bankers went into overdrive trying to force government to back down. We stepped up to outweigh the banks' pressure - in just 48 hours, thousands of us pressed the Chancellor to stand up to the banks' lobbyists. People power worked: Alistair Darling stood up to the bankers and imposed the tax.

Tackling poverty, sticking up for public services:
We've worked together to make sure the recession doesn't hit poor families hardest. Together we helped convince the government to extend free school meals to protect an extra 50,000 children from poverty - in the words of the End Child Poverty Coalition this was "a major achievement....and could not have been done without 38 Degrees".

We also took action to protect public services, defend the NHS from unfair criticism from a Conservative MEP and stand up for the BBC against attacks from James Murdoch. Our campaign against top-slicing the licence fee ended with a big success, with the government shelving the idea until at least 2012.

Speaking up for Human Rights and Civil Liberties:
We helped to convince Peter Mandelson to scale back his plans to disconnect millions of suspected internet file-sharers. We also worked with Tripping up Trump in Aberdeenshire, to oppose Donald Trump's plans to evict families to make way for his golf course. We'll continue to work with Tripping Up Trump in 2010. In the meantime, an 85 year old woman named Molly Forbes has begun legal proceedings to defend her home from the threat of compulsory purchase. You can show your support by sending her a Christmas card, addressed to - Molly Forbes, Paradise, Mill of Menie, Menie, Aberdeenshire, AB23 8YE.

A growing team:
It's been a busy few months for our small staff team - David, Hannah, Johnny and Nina. None of our campaigning would have been possible without the help of our volunteers who have worked tirelessly to build and support our campaigns. Thank you Alex, Ashley, Katy, Laura, Louise, Ross, Toby, Tom, and Tosin.

What's next?
In 2010, it will be more important than ever to keep taking action together. The general election is looming, we're still in recession, unemployment is climbing and politicians are talking of drastic public service cuts. We'll be working hard to make sure Blair gets a grilling at the Iraq inquiry, we'll turn up the pressure for tough action on climate change and will be running local campaigns, like our campaign to make sure Boris Johnson keeps his promise on delivering four rape crisis centres in London.

In the New Year we'll need to decide together what 38 Degrees should do in the run up to the election. Be part of the ongoing campaigns in the new year.
www.38degrees.org.uk

What I find interesting is that 38 Degrees is not the only grass-roots group that mobilises an apathetic public. The disillusionment with the Government from the expenses scandal and the distrust of capitalism from the recession means that people are getting motivated to do something themselves which is very exciting. I think this attitude is reflected in the Christmas number 1.

I wish you all the best in 2010. Love and hugs, P.

DN-hey hey!

2009-11-24T04:32:00.000-08:00

Last week the Daily mail reported on how a high-flying city lawyer was fired from her £150,000-a-year job after a ‘routine security check’ revealed her DNA was held on the Police database despite never having been charged with an offence. Her bosses spotted her file during ‘background clearance’ checks as she was just about to start work on a new project.

What was that new job she was up for?

Working on the government’s own national identity card scheme which required the routine checks to be made before she was ‘cleared’ for the role.

Now no one can say that the fears about the Database state are unfounded, when we have proof like this.

AH ha ha ha ha HA hah hah ah HAHAHAHA

2009-10-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

ah ha ha ha ha ha ha hah hah hah ah hahahahahah ah oh...Trafigura.

Unless you have been too busy wondering where your post has gone, you will have by now noticed the other story last week. Trafigura, having been caught by the Guardian for contracting to a company that dumped toxic waste on the Ivory Coast, got their lawyers, Carter Ruck to issue a Super-injunction on the Guardian meaning not only could they not publish the article, but they couldn't mention that there WAS an article.

When an MP raised this in the Commons, Carter Ruck then tried to prevent them from reporting that as well! As thusly, Twitter went into meltdown and Private Eye publishes, finally FREE SPEECH prevails and everything is out in the open. Had I been at a computer last week I would have mentioned it before now, however please see my other blog for reasons why.

Ram.

Intercept Modernisation

2009-09-16T06:56:00.000-07:00

Back in May, I wrote to my MP concerning the Intercept Modernisation Programme. Essentially this is a plan to collect internet traffic data from everyone and store it within one giant Governmental database.

"Dear MP,

I am writing to express my concern at the proposed Intercept
Modernisation Programme. I understand this may contain plans to collect
details of who I send emails to and the people I contact via Facebook
and other social networking sites.

I understand that there are also discussions around centralising all
internet traffic data in one government database, or gaining permanent
easy access to the data being held by Internet Service Providers.

I believe this is likely to be an expensive waste of time, and a gross
invasion of citizens’ privacy. There will be serious risks if a large
number of civil servants can access extremely personal information,
such as who someone contacts by email or Facebook message. Although I
presume there would continue to be legal barriers, in practice we all
know that it is possible, once information is made accessible, for
information to be wrongly accessed, distributed or lost.

I am also convinced that any serious criminal or terrorist will not use
normal email or social networking sites to plan and communicate about
their activities. Collection of information will, however, make it much
more routine to use anonymisation and encryption technologies to hide
their activities. This will mean the proposals will make it harder, not
easier, to get evidence.

At the same time, It is possible that legitimate protesters and
campaigners will use normal electronic communications, which puts these
people carrying out legal activities at risk of abuse.

I am also concerned about the possibility that such information will be
analysed for suspicious patterns, in processes called ‘data mining’.
This would put many innocent people under scrutiny. As Bruce Schneier,
the renowned security expert says:

“Terrorist plots are different … attacks are very rare. This means that
even very accurate systems will be so flooded with false alarms that
they will be useless: millions of false alarms for every one real
attack, even assuming unrealistically accurate systems.”

http://www.schneier.com/essay-163.html

Fundamentally, ‘traffic data’ is an integral and private part of any
communication, as the European Court of Human Rights has already
agreed. Collecting it, storing it and analysing it must be done only to
address very serious concerns of public safety, targeted at
individuals, not in order to carry out mass surveillance.

I urge you to bring these concerns to the light of Jacqui Smith, the
Home Secretary

Yours sincerely,

Ram"

On the 3rd of September I recieved a letter back from my MP, along with a letter from David Hanson, Minister of State for Policing, Crime and Counter Terrorism. It reads as follows:

"As you may be aware the police and other public authorities specified under Part I Chapter II of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 can already get critical communications data from communications service providers, such as telephone companies, to help them solve crimes. This 'communications data' covers information such as when calls are made, by expressly does not include the content of those calls.

Communications data is used in order to prevent and detect crime on a day-to-day basis - including serious crimes and terrorism. A recent example of the use of communications data is that of Levi Bellfield who was tied to the murder of Amelie Delagrange through information about when and where he was using his mobile phone. He was later tried and convicted for her murder.

However, the way we communicate with one another is changing rapidly. The development of the potential of the internet ad internet technology by the communications industry has led to an explosion in the number of communications, and the different ways people communicate. These developments, which are driven by technological change, will increasingly undermine our current capability to obtain communications data and use it to protect the public.

The Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) is a cross-government programme led by the Home Office. It was established in response to the then Prime Minister's National Security Remit in 2006, to maintain the Government's interception and communications data capabilities during this time of rapid technological change.

The IMP is about maintaining our existing communications data and interception capabilities - whilst balancing the right to privacy with protecting public safety. It is working closely with the UK's law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies and with industry stakeholders to research and identity and strategic solution to maintain the UK's Interception and communications data capabilities, in the face of widespread changes in technology.

It is clearly important to safeguard these important capabilities to protect the public in the changing technological environment, but also to ensure that the balance between privacy and security is struck correctly. Any proposals that the government brings forward will of course address the very important issues relating to the privacy and security of personal data and will be fully compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998.

On 27 April 2009 the then Home Secretary launched the consultation 'Protecting the Public in a Changing Communications Environment'. This consultation sought to help the public understand how valuable communications data is to protecting them. It also looked at what changes are taking place in the industry that threaten our capabilities in this area, and sought views on the options that are available - and the safeguards that will naturally be needed to apply to any proposals that we bring forward. The Government's intention was that we take this opportunity to listen to the public and understand their concerns and views on this.

The consultation closed on 20 July and we will consider the responses before deciding how best to proceed.

David Hanson".

How lucky it was that I was able to read the consultation before I received the letter, because despite writing in May, I didn't get the reply until September. I shall post my reply, should I write again here. Have no doubt about that.

Petition

2009-09-14T04:18:00.001-07:00

Off the back of the last post, I found the petition to the Prime Minister to scrap ID Cards.

Please sign it here.

Ram.

You are fired from the internet!

2009-09-14T03:52:00.000-07:00

Mandelson proposes that anyone downloading music illegally will be banned from using the internet. This may take the form of their internet connections being cut off (Evening Standard 25.8.09).

Now, I am not saying that internet piracy is a good thing, I for one always pay for music (if possible purchasing the CD at a gig) because I want to support the artists that I like, but surely such a 'ban' is not only extremely difficult to enforce, but also draconian in it's thinking.

Take for example, someone downloads music from the wifi within a cafe, library or the ENTIRETY of Brighton Beach. Does the Cafe get the ban? Will the Thought-Police have to hunt down the IP address of each computer and ban them individually? Will all this paperwork have to go through the 'Elders of the Internet'?

It looks extremely suspicious that Lord Mandelson came up with this ideal shortly after meeting with the Media Mogul David Geffen.

I await to see if a petition emerges on the Number 10 Petitions website. If you haven't visited the site, please do. After all it was one of these petitions that got the Prime Minister to apologise for the treatment of Alan Turing during the 1930s. They do work, if aimed in the right directions.

Mmmm, democracy :)

2009-09-09T06:37:00.001-07:00

Identity Criminal Register Record

2009-09-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

The Government intends to solve the massive amount of errors that come from the Criminal Records Bureau (1,570 mistakes in a year) by marrying the Identity Card Scheme to the Criminal Records Bureau. Apparently the Home Office wishes to make this compulsory.

Now, aside from adding the further layer of expense and complication to a process, isn't this incident stunningly familiar to the clause in the Justice and Coroners bill discussed in this blog a while ago?

Imagine this scenario, someone is arrested but released without charge, the Police keep their data despite this, this data is matched up with a standard CRB check for a job and causes them to be turned down. So even though the person hasn't been CHARGED with anything this affects their future.

While that might seem an exaggeration, it is a known fact that new laws come into effect in regards to a compulsory ID card. How many of us will have this added to our Criminal Record AS A RESULT of the ID Card scheme. The whole thing then becomes one giant feedback loop!

Seriously now, stop this nightmare, I want to get off.

Evasion

2009-09-07T04:42:00.001-07:00

Tony Blair's children have Irish passports through their grandmother's side of the family. This means they will not have to have ID Cards and be part of the National Identity Register.

Half a million people spied on a year

2009-08-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

"An average of about 1,500 surveillance requests were made every day in Britain last year, according to figures which have emerged from an annual report by commissioner Sir Paul Kennedy.

That is the annual equivalent to one in every 78 adults being targeted." However these requests for surveillance are mostly being used by Local Councils to combat littering, fly-tipping and dog fouling (From BBC News). This is not the first time local councils have been accused of abusing the power they have. These powers were brought in to combat serious crime and terrorism after all, but instead people pursue these things.

In other abuses of power, the Police have been advised to ignore the Human Rights Commitee ruling that they should not keep DNA samples if the person is wrongfully arrested or released without charge. They are currently digging in their heels and getting the Government to prepare legislation to get around this.

As Chris Huhne, Home Affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats states "It is not up to police forces to ignore court judgments because they or their masters do not like them." (Guardian).

UNDERMINED

2009-08-04T03:22:00.000-07:00

Do you remember earlier this month it was discovered that in 34 offices of Local government, people had used the CIS database to snoop on local celebrities and their aquaintances?

I think I must have been blinded by yet another instance of a database state failure to mention it at the time (it happened about a week ago). But regardless, it happened and shows the flaws of such a database.

Now it seems that none of the people involved will face prosecution for having breached the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act. Now, I am not the kind to call for blood, some of these people have lost their jobs as a result and some will have this hanging over them for some time. What I will do is post this on my blog as yet another example of the flaws of the database state (albeit a human one) that would only be exacerbated by the National Identity Scheme.

2009-07-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

A YouGov plc poll of 1,765 adults in the UK discovered the following based on the question.

"The Government is proposing identity cards costing around £5billion. What do you think the money should be spent on?"

ID cards as planned 15%
Cutting the basic rate of income tax by 1p for one year 19%
Increasing the state pension by £8 a week for one year 36%
None of these 24%
Don’t know 5%

How long before the Government realises that no one but them wants this scheme?

Ram.

2009-07-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow recieving a light from Harold Wilson. This was taken during the 1964 General election where he stood in Harold Wilson's Huyton constituency. He recieved 518 votes on behalf of the National Teenage Party. The voting age in the UK was 21 until the Representation of the People Act of 1969 lowered the age to 18.

It was in 1983 that Screaming Lord Sutch founded the Monster Raving Loony party, mainly on the grounds that 'there is nothing more monstrous than politicians'. The Monster Raving Loony party may never be taken seriously as a party but that is their point. They satirise democracy and all the failings of Government, they rattle off many hilarious pledges in their 'manicfestos', including some ideas actually taken up (lowering voting age and 24 hour pubs).

They say that the jester is the only person at court who can speak the truth without having their heads cut off. Long may this jester continue with their important work.

Problems in mathematics

2009-07-15T02:38:00.000-07:00

Today the Government launches The Low Carbon Transition Plan White Paper, which should detail how the UK is going to meet their targets agreed by the Kyoto Protocol, The Climate Change Act and the agreements of the G8.

Now, as we all know from the recent G8 meeting, it was agreed that developed countries should reduce their greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050 to prevent more than two degrees of global warming.

George Monbiot does some helpful mathematics on this subject which I shall paraphrase here.

Total global C02 emissions = 29196 million tonnes

Total Developed Countries C02 emissions = 14982 million tonnes (51% of global emissions). It is this figure that is proposed to be reduced by 80%, shaving 11986 million tonnes (41% of total) from the total global output and reducing their emissions to 2996 million tonnes.

The G8 has also called for a GLOBAL cut of 50% (14598 million tonnes) by 2050, meaning the Developing Countries will have to cut the other 2612 million tonnes of the 50% to reach that target. This is only roughly 9% of the total global carbon emissions.

However, there is the problem of Carbon trading and offsetting, something I forsaw would be a problem as soon as I learned about it. The way the UK proposes achieving the cut of 80% is to offset at least half of it, meaning they would in reality only be reducing their emissions to 5993 million tonnes. Developing countries would then have to reduce their emissions by 5993 million tonnes as well. If you add that to the amount they already have to reduce by:

50% (14598 million tonnes) of GLOBAL emissions need to be cut:
5993 by Developed Countries
5993 Offset by Developed Countries to Developing Countries
2612 by Developing Countries

= 5993 (roughly 40%) for Developed Countries
= 8605 (roughly 60%) for Developing Countries

So those who produce the 51% of all emissions, have to reduce less than those who produce 49%. Perhaps there is a bigger picture I am missing here.

1181984

2009-07-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

By next week 118800 will have a directory of all mobile phone numbers in the UK. Anyone may search for your number and it will be texted to them. This means you may be subjected to cold calling to your mobile or worse.

The BBC discuss this and as lawyers point out, this kind of service should require people's consent rather than automatically doing it and giving people a small window to opt out. Had I not heard of this I would be on that directory.

Go now to 118800 website and opt out of this directory. Select 'ex-directory' on the tabs at the top and follow the instructions. Do it before the end of the week.

Honestly this is the kind of thing that really annoys me, I do not care how secure they tell me it is I DO NOT WANT MY NUMBER ON THE DIRECTORY AND YOU NEVER ASKED MY PERMISSION FOR IT TO BE.

Grrrr.

Ram.

Problems in Rhetoric

2009-06-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Gordon Brown tells us he isn't going to call a General election because he says that would cause 'chaos' and that the people want the Government to sort out the economy rather than electing in a new government in a snap election.

But Lord Mandelson said today that there would be no review of spending until after an election.

So...which is it?

Who watches the watchmen?

2009-06-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Arrested for asking for a Policemen's badge number

In some ways makes me glad I didn't ask for badge numbers when I was stopped, as it seems my rights are more likely to get me smacked to the floor and taken away.

R.

"You people don't know what the truth is!"

2009-06-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

"It's there, just under their bullsh*t, but you never look! That's what I hate most about this f*cking city -- lies are news and the truth is obsolete!"

Spider Jerusalem, Transmetropolitan Issue #5

'If your name, D.O.B, address and biometric data isn't on the database, you cannot come in

2009-05-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

We have all been asked if we have identification on us at the door of a pub, or a club, sometimes we get asked at the bar for it. It raises fear in the underage drinker of course, but now there is a new fear for me.

It is the CLUBSCAN system. The 2003 Licensing Act means that venues have to ensure they are not selling alcohol to those under the legal drinking age. However, what CLUBSCAN does is subtly different.

When you are asked for your ID at the door, your ID is scanned into a machine, which records the data on it. If your ID shows you are underage you will be denied entry, if the database flags that you have been barred from the venue you will be denied entry. Your data will then be held by the club for up to 3 years after your night out and this data can obviously be used for highly invasive publicity but more importantly be requested by the Police to aid them in fighting crime.

All this information is all on the FAQ for the system.

The only saving grace is that allowing your ID to be scanned into the database is VOLUNTARY, but seriously how many people will be turned away from a club because of this and how many more will be too scared of THE MAN to refuse? The Clubscan system boasts the ability to:

* Read 223 different ID formats in under 2 seconds
* Immediately alerts to under-age and banned customers
* Share your banned customers with other venues automatically
* Complete police and local authority co-operation
* Builds an accurate and precise database
* Creates SIA doorman nightly report
* Photo gallery of customers
* Graphic demographic reports
* Average age
* Male female ratios
* 700 + scans per hour will not hold up your queue
* Amazing marketing tool
* Automatically produces Avery address labels
* Saves money and your license
* Customer frequency report

(from www.firetop.co.uk)

There are several nightmarish scenarios I and others can conjur up from this system. Firstly you go out for a drink end up going to a club, your ID is scanned and an incident occurs which you weren't involved in, however your name is transferred to the Police as being present, this could result in being barred from the venue, charges gbeing filed and so on, all on a case of mistaken identity. Even simpler than that is that a file is built up on the venues you frequent in the central database the Government so badly wants with only the tiniest, drunken consent from yourself. So while the clubscan system is impartial, those who use it are not. Having scanned your ID, the bouncer could call his mates who go and rob your home, knowing it to be empty. I admit these examples are extreme, but why should a Club be allowed to hold information on me for up to 3 years and invade my privacy with marketing? If I have signed up to this I wouldn't mind because then I have a genuine interest but all the bullet points above say to me is a totalitarian state.

Now, I am sure some of you are thinking, 'this is old news, this system came over to the UK from the US in 2005 and although it is not widespread why are you bringing it up now?'. I bring it up because a venue I frequent has emailed me to say they now REQUIRE photo ID for entrance and it is not mentioned ANYWHERE in the email that one can opt out. It is however mentioned that a photocopy of ID is accepted as long as the machine can scan it, making ID fraud even easier! Thus making the entire thing a waste of time! It's an ID-THEFT-A-GO-GO!

I can see how this is supposed to aid in security and help venues keep their licenses but like everything in the database state, it is so widely open to abuse and when put into practice falls on its photocopied face, just like ID cards will should they ever come into practice.

2009-04-24T03:30:00.000-07:00

Rubbish Art

Illustrating the amount of consumption that occurs every day.

RECYCLE

Another one bites the dust...

2009-04-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

Innocent sell out to Coca-cola

Mark Thomas sent a letter to them (having recently published a book about Coke) pointing out all the innacuracies of their statement and how he could fill them in if they were unaware.

*sigh* I guess I am just disappointed that something that was considered an ethical company, who strived to protect the environment, who fought for fair trade are now accepting money from a Coca-cola.

Also, the innocent smoothies and juices are now the last I can drink by them.

Ram

Unjustified

2009-04-09T02:34:00.001-07:00

And justice for all...

2009-03-10T04:02:00.000-07:00

"Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is to shelve proposals which critics said would have led to patients' confidential medical records being passed to third parties.

A spokesman for Mr Straw said the "strength of feeling" against the plans had persuaded him to rethink."

(David Barrett, Telegraph 7/3/09)

Sanity triumphs over the totalitarian madness that is the emerging ID State.

"The proposals will be dropped entirely from the Coroners and Justice Bill, and a new attempt will be made to reach a consensus on introducing a scaled-back version at an unspecified stage in the future.

"He has looked at it and he now wants to withdraw the clauses. We have asked Cabinet colleagues to agree to this," said Mr Straw's spokesman.

"Jack recognised the strength of feeling and he recognised that the clause was drafted in a way that was too wide, and so needed to be looked at again.

"He understood that this issue had touched a nerve for a lot of people, and he understood why.""

(David Barrett, Telegraph 7/3/09)

More than 30 groups wrote to the Minister for (in)justice to voice their concerns that the Government could now release 'almost limitless' amounts of information. Of course, we must remain vigilant.

Phil Booth, Director of the No2ID campaign, said: "This is a huge victory for the massive public backlash there has been over this. This one spot of rot has been scooped out, but we need a wholesale clearance of the Government's approach to personal data." (David Barrett, Telegraph 7/3/09)

Elsewhere in the news, Jaqui Smith was ambushed at the high-profile launch of her perpetrators of domestic violence register. Of course, I (and others) feel that violence in any form is unacceptable (unlike the 1 in 5 the Mori Poll suggested think it acceptable for a Boyfriend/husband to strike their girlfriend/wife for wearing revealing clothes or nagging them (London Paper 9/3/09)) but I have to agree with the protester when they say that the register is a gimmick and doesn't solve the problem. It may have some benefits but they are so minimal and negligable on their own.

Justice requires vigilance, not surveilance.

"They aren't revolutionaries, they're PAGANS!"

2009-03-06T04:47:00.000-08:00

This is how I feel when I think long and hard about the state of politics today. Notice that Straw uses these helpful clauses he has placed in the Freedom of Information Act to justify his blatant power-mongering. Read this article and tell me he isn't just trying to protect his government from embarressment. His terrible stumbling to justify it only confirms it.

How can we prevail? How can we have justice from this 'Minister for Injustice'? Do I have to resort to throwinggreen custard at them? This only seems to propell their self-righteous arrogance to not wanting "to "go back" to the 24-hour protection he (Lord Mandelson) had when Northern Ireland Secretary."

Then of course I read again for the umpteenth time how the ID card scheme is fatally flawed. What more can be done to halt this terrifying Orwellian (a term used MORE and MORE these days) scheme?

Why, are we now fighting to preserve all those rights generations before us have already fought for?

Coke day

2009-03-04T05:02:00.000-08:00

1998:

"Coca-cola ran an competition asking several schools to come up with a strategy for distributing Coke coupons for Students. The school that devised the best promotional strategy would win $500. Greenbriar High School in Evans, Georgia, took the contest extremely seriously, calling an official Coke day in late March during which students came to school in Coca-cola t-shirts, posed for a photograph in a formation spelling Coke, attended lectures given by Coca-cola executives and learned about all things black and bubbly in their classes. It was a little piece of branding heaven until it came to the Principal's attention that in an act of hideous defiance, one Mike Cameron, a nineteen-year-old senior, had come to school wearing a T-shirt with a Pepsi logo. He was promptly suspended for the offence. "I know it sounds bad - 'child suspended for wearing pepsi shirt on Coke day'" said Principal Gloria Hamilton, "It really would have been acceptable...if it had just been in-house, but we had the regional President here and people flew in from Atlanta to do us the honour of being resource speakers. The students knew we had guests." "

From 'No Logo' by Naomi Klein (2001)

STOP AND SEARCH: Part 2

2009-03-02T03:30:00.000-08:00

While travelling back from a LARP event I walked through Uxbridge station and got stopped by the Community support officers and Police because (my own stupid fault) I had a LARP sword sticking out of the top of my backpack.

Cue lots of questioning and discussion about how I should carry it (they suggested a tube and I should cover the LARP weapons up when I travel). The Policeman also commented that he did consider the sword an offensive weapon and would be justified in arresting me for it. As it stood I think they figured I was just some kind of geek and allowed me to go on my way.

However, of course they have their reports to fill out and they asked me my name. I said I would rather not say. This caused their eyes to narrow and asked me why, I replied that I would just prefer not to. They asked me if I got in trouble with the Police a lot. I laughed at that, but then shut up and replied in the negative because having three Police officers around you is very intimidating. I wasn't trying to be annoying, I just didn't want to give my name. I was obviously shook up because I had never been stopped and questioned by the Police before.

I was going to ask why they stopped me (but that was obvious), then their names and my copy of the report of the search but frankly they were pretty intimidating and I didn't want to annoy them any more than I had, so when they let me go I jumped on the tube and went home.

Lessons learned:
1) Stop and search can be intimidating but ultimately know your rights on them
2) Don't carry LARP weapons in such a way as they could be considered to be REAL weapons
3) Be glad you do not live in a police state

Econopolypse

2009-02-26T02:24:00.000-08:00

This current economic crisis has seen the governments of Iceland and Latvia already fall to pressure from their people and the Left and many more stand on the brink. In general I feel inclined to agree with Naomi Klein in that there is a sense of injustice about the whole thing.

1) Kyshera once sang, "Economies are not forces of nature, they're man made and when they f*ck up, it's man's doing". Hence the feeling I get and see in protests is that it was the frivolous attitude of the City boys that made this mess in the first place.

2)The reason for a great deal of the outrage in Latvia and Iceland was the conservative governments giving aid to the Banks but not others who were consequently hit harder by this.

3)UK and US governments in particular were able to access and distribute VAST amounts of money almost instantly to attempt to shore up their economies. Yet, these kinds of bailouts cannot be used to help MAKE POVERTY HISTORY or get rid of all those diseases we have a cure for.

4)The global financial crisis is (like many global events) being used to smokescreen new initiatives and policies that are dangerous to civil liberties. I could write a whole book on these so I shan't discuss them all here.

Latest news however shows Lord Mandelson unveil his plan to sell off 30% of Royal Mail, an unpopular move both with the Unions and with his own party. Lord Mandelson justifies this in the strangest way, he says that the postal "network is under threat as people increasingly switch to digital technology as their preferred way of communicating" (www.news.bbc.co.uk).

I would have expected him to have justified it through the economic crisis, not the dangers of the internet and email destroying our beloved heritage.

"But in a letter to the Guardian, the leaders of Labour's eight largest affiliated unions attacked the plans as "electorally unpopular, politically unwise and damaging to the concept of universal service provision". Unions also claim this breaks an agreement made in 2008 to keep the service in public ownership (www.news.bbc.co.uk).

So we find that, like in 'Network' 'no one seems to know what to do about it!' I suppose that is why it is an econopolypse and not simply a recession like the numerous other ones this country has weathered.

STOP AND SEARCH

2009-02-20T08:52:00.000-08:00

Before you are searched the Police must inform you of the following:
- Their name and the Police Station they work at
-The purpose of the proposed search
-The grounds for making a search
-Your right to a record of the search

They can search you if they suspect you may be carrying the following:
-Drugs
-Weapons
-stolen property
-items which could be used to commit a crime

They can also search you without suspicion if a senior officer has authorised it for a specific area under Section 60 if the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (CJA) or Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. These are sometimes called 'blanket searches'.

Apart from these blanket searches they MUST have reasonable suspicion to search you. ASK THEM WHAT IT IS. It CANNOT be because of your age, ethnic background, the way you look or because you have committed a crime in the past. If you are in a public place you only have to remove your coat or jacket and gloves (but also headgear and shoes under the Terrorism Act).

Unless you are a driver of a vehicle you DO NOT have to give your name and address when asked.

(From Totally Indypendant - Harringay Solidarity Group).

Halliburton's army

2009-02-05T02:50:00.000-08:00

On September 10, 2001, precisely one day before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told senior staff that the Pentagon was wasting $3 billion a year by not outsourcing many non-combat duties to the private sector. “At bases around the world, why do we pick up our own garbage and mop our own floors?” he asked. Soon after, this fortuitously-timed shift in the way the military wages war would bring immense profits to Texas-based military contractor Halliburton, an oil industry service company whose former CEO was Vice President Dick Cheney. Armed with lucrative no-bid contracts, Halliburton/KBR, its affiliates, and sub-contractors would soon provide most of the infrastructure that supports the war in Iraq. Ultimately, the company would face allegations of corruption, negligence, fraud, and corporate crime.

HALLIBURTON’S ARMY
: HOW A WELL-CONNECTED TEXAS OIL COMPANY REVOLUTIONIZED THE WAY AMERICA MAKES WAR (from corpwatch)

The Database State:

2009-01-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

"Hidden in the new Coroners and Justice Bill is one clause (cl.152) amending the Data Protection Act. It would allow ministers to make 'Information Sharing Orders', that can alter any Act of Parliament and cancel all rules of confidentiality in order to use information obtained for one purpose to be used for another.

This single clause is as grave a threat to privacy as the entire ID Scheme. Combine it with the index to your life formed by the planned National Identity Register and everything recorded about you anywhere could be accessible to any official body."

(from www.no2ID.net)

Today I read in the paper how 'ContactPoint, a £224 million directory, containing the name, address, date of birth, GP and school of all under 18s - as well as the name and contact details of any professional working with a child, is being rolled out.'

(from www.metro.co.uk)

"Parents will not have the option of requesting that their child is removed from the list", Children's Minister Baroness Delyth Morgan said. The idea behind this is to ensure that no child falls through the cracks of the support they may need. Now, before anyone starts wagging their finger at me and mentioned 'Baby P', the plans for this database began in 2000 (albeit from the Laming Inquiry over the death of another child).

"In total around 390,000 people will have access to the database, Baroness Morgan said. This includes local authorities, Government agencies, the police, the NHS and some children's charities."

(www.metro.co.uk)

Do all those people REALLY need to know all that information? I for one think not. Then consider that this database is COMPULSORY. THEN consider that the Government seems incapable of holding onto important information.

This has GOT to stop. While the database has now been rolled out, the ID cards for us all have not. The No2ID campaign informs us that:

"The Home Office's stated position is currently that every Government Department, Local Authority and public sector body will have to do a "business case" and decide whether or not to 'buy in' to the ID scheme, i.e. all the costs will come out of their existing budgets, but there are NO PENALTIES (yet) for those that decide not to join up."

I suggest we join this campaign.

Ram.

2009-01-16T08:01:00.001-08:00

Dragging (unknown how they paid for) heels

"Last year the Commons lost a Freedom of Information battle - brought by Ms Brooke and two journalists - and was ordered to publish claims and receipts of 14 MPs, which it did in May.

It had been expected that a detailed breakdown of the expenses of all MPs, dating back to 2004, would be released last autumn.

Ms Brooke said the Commons authorities had refused several of her FOI requests on the basis that all information would be published in October.

But the deadline passed without publication and officials complained that the process of scanning and redaction, estimated to cost £950,000, was proving more complex than anticipated.

Commons leader Harriet Harman told MPs of plans to break down claims into 26 headings without mentioning receipts."

(from the bbc)

The MP whose constituency has Heathrow and the proposed Heathrow expansion grabbed the mace in parliament as a protest against the fact there won't be a vote to decide if the plans are approved.

The MP, John McConnel said; "This is about asserting the right of MPs to decide the policies of this country and not having them bulldozed through without a vote in the House of Commons."

In a future rant I plan to tackle in depth the Tories energy plan.

Ram

News

2009-01-15T02:34:00.000-08:00

Milliband in talking sense shocker

(from the BBC).

The plans for the new runway at Heathrow are likely to be approved today.

Jack Straw, the 'Justice Minister' is bringing back plans for 'closed door hearings' without family, public or indeed jurors all in the name of National Security. However, this was defeated in the House of Lords only months ago. Of course they have all sorts of ways to justify it, none of which stand the test of the rule we have here at Ramrage.

'If we surrender our liberty in the name of security, we shall have neither'

Ben Franklin
(story from the BBC)

In other news I voted in the local elections this morning which felt good. It was nice to see all the candidates crowded around the polling booth, Labour, Conservative, Lib dem and Green. I have thought for some time that we have little right to complain about democracy if we do not at least attempt to take part in it.

I feel I have only ranted here and taken less action over the last few months, this is going to change in 2009 I hope.

Climate Change Package

2008-12-22T02:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Ram,

Following your previous e-mail on this issue, I am writing to update you on Labour MEPs work on climate change in the European Parliament.

On the 17th December 2008 MEPs and national ministers reached a final agreement on a package of six new climate change laws. These laws will deliver the EU’s target of reducing CO2 emissions by 20% (or 30% if there is an international agreement) by 2020 and increasing the share of renewable energy to 20%. There is no other country in the world which has such an ambitious and comprehensive plan to reduce emissions in the period 2013-20.

Following nearly a year of discussion, votes and negotiations, the final agreement was approved by a huge majority of MEPs and welcomed by both industry and environmental NGOs as a balanced and effective set of new climate change laws. Some of the key demands of the European Parliament which are taken on board in the final package include the following:

o An expanded and strengthened Emission Trading System (ETS) which will require every industrial company to make major cuts in their emissions. The majority of the ‘allowances to pollute’ will now have to bought, rather than be given for free. In addition, at least half of the revenue that will be created should be earmarked for climate change measures in the EU and developing countries.

o An individual target for each Member State for sectors not covered by the ETS. MEPs made sure that strict limits were placed on the amount of emissions that national governments could offset using project credits in developing countries. A new quality assurance mechanism was also introduced to ensure that the projects represent real, verifiable and sustainable emission reductions. MEPs also insisted that a penalty mechanism was included in the final agreement which means that if a Member State misses its annual target, it gets an even tougher target the next year.

o A huge expansion of renewable energy, including a binding target of 20% of energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. This target is expected to produce up to 160,000 new ‘green’ jobs in the UK over the next 12 years. Following concerns about the impact if increased biofuel production, the final agreement includes strict environmental and social sustainability criteria. These criteria are the first of their kind in the world and we hope they will be quickly taken on board by other countries.

o A tough binding target for reducing CO2 emissions from cars which is expected to deliver a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. MEPs made sure that car manufacturers will make these emission reductions through a “stick” of a tough penalty system and a “carrot” of super credits for very low emission cars.
o A new funding mechanism, worth around 9bn Euros, for demonstration projects of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) which will help not only the EU tackle emissions from coal-fired power stations, but also other countries such as China. In addition, a new law will make it mandatory for all new coal-fired power stations to be built “capture ready” so it can be retrofitted with CCS once the technology becomes commercially available.

These are the highlights of a package of new laws which will prove to the rest of the world that the EU has stopped just talking about climate change, but is now acting. In the run up to the Copenhagen international climate change talks next year, this package will be closely scrutinised by other countries. Labour MEPs hope that it will prove to rest of the developed world that it is possible to reduce emissions without reducing prosperity and that we have a responsibility to lead the way in terms of tackling climate change.

I hope this information is helpful and you can follow Labour MEPs future work on the environment and other issues on the website www.eurolabour.org.uk.

Merry Christmas and best wishes!

Linda McAvan MEP
Labour’s Spokesperson for Climate Change in Europe

I told you so...

2008-12-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

David Ross, The Carphone Warehouse co-founder, who was brought in to manage the budget of the 2012 Olympics in London was forced to resign because he was misusing his stake in his Mobile phone company to secure personal loans.

This was the man Mayor Boris Johnson brought in to manage the accounts on the Olympics. Still, at least we found out before he mis-managed the Olympic funds. I did SAY, remember that Boris wanted President George W Bush in power and questioned his judgement?

But still, it is very easy for me to pounce on his mistakes, I mean

And let us make note that he backed David Cameron for leadership of the Tory party out of "pure, cynical self-interest" (The Independent, 5 October 2005).

However, let it not be said that I only bash the Tories (although I do a lot), Gordon Brown was quoted at the Labour Party conference in 1997 saying

"We have learned from the mistakes of the past, you cannot spend your way out of a recession," and yet that is EXACTLY his plan for the current economic crisis!

But, I can't be too hard on him, after all, he is giving us the chance to ask him
DIRECT, via video our questions on the economy. I look forward to his responses.

Ram.

Rebel without a cause

2008-12-04T08:53:00.001-08:00

"Ever since the Allies bombed the Axis into submission, Western civilization has had a succession of counter-culture movements that have energetically challenged the status quo. Each successive decade of the post-war era has seen it smash social standards, riot and fight to revolutionize every aspect of music, art, government and civil society.

But after punk was plasticized and hip hop lost its impetus for social change, all of the formerly dominant streams of “counter-culture” have merged together. Now, one mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior has come to define the generally indefinable idea of the “Hipster.”

An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the “hipster” – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society."

From www.adbuster.org

'Not a fare rise'

2008-12-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

Ken Livingstone's monthly checkup on the new Mayor:

"What has become really striking over the past month is the gap between what Mayor Boris's administration says and what is actually being done.

Boris delivered a keynote speech on his conversion to green issues - but in virtually the same breath announced that the congestion charge zone will be chopped in half. Some residents of Kensington and Chelsea may benefit, where incomes are among the highest in the country, but it will be paid for with fare increases for ordinary Londoners in the future.

Likewise, warm words about improving public transport contrasted with work on new transport links being binned, including the extension to the Croydon tram and taking the DLR route out to Dagenham.

The image is of the cycling Mayor, but the London Cycling Campaign has been despairing of what it says is a 'triple whammy' against pedal power: not just the abolition of the western half of the congestion zone, but news that motorbikes will compete with cycles in bus lanes, plus the announcement of cuts to spending on cycling improvements.

Plenty of press releases have been issued about the need to help London meet the recession. The truth was shown when Boris opposed the higher top up rate on tax for those earning the highest saleries.

In a month's time, our fares will be going up above the current rate of inflation - up 6 per cent overall. Some will rise much more, such as the price of a single bus journey on Oyster, up by a whopping 11 percent.

This may be the honeymoon period but, looking beyond the spin, the Mayor's policy is now a lot clearer.

Protecting the drivers of the most polluting cars, opposing the wealthiest paying more tax and dismantleing measures to improve the environment and reduce traffic - while pushing up fares for ordinary Londoners in January."

(From The London Paper 1-12-2008).

In addition, I read an article today which pointed out how fast the capitalist governments moved to preserve their economies, pumping phenomenal amounts of money into them. If only they could pump money that fast into say, combatting climate change or making poverty history then the world would be much better.

Ram.

Government's response to Burma Petition

2008-11-10T04:32:00.000-08:00

The political situation in Burma has continued to be a priority for the Government and the Prime Minister personally over the last twelve months. The UK helped to secure unprecedented Security Council action on Burma in response to the violent crackdown on peaceful protests last autumn. The Council unanimously endorsed a strongly worded Presidential Statement on 11 October 2007 setting out clear expectations for progress, including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners, and the start of a genuine dialogue between the regime, opposition and ethnic groups. These demands were reaffirmed by the Security Council on 2 May 2008.

At the same time the UK supported the introduction of further EU sanctions targeting economic sectors that provide revenue to the military regime - timber, precious metals and gems. The EU has made clear its readiness to introduce further sanctions in the continued absence of progress.

Burma’s neighbours have a key role to play in encouraging political reform in the country, and the Prime Minister has raised the issue repeatedly in his discussions with Prime Minister Wen of China, PM Singh of India and other leaders in the region. He has also discussed the situation on many occasions with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose good offices mission remains the focus of international efforts to end the appalling human rights abuses perpetrated by the regime, and start the long-overdue transition to democracy. The Government will continue to do all it can to help the people of Burma achieve the peaceful, prosperous and democratic future they deserve.

Of course, in the last 12 months the people of Burma have not only had to endure continued oppression at the hands of the military regime, but also the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis, which hit the country in May, killing over a hundred thousand people, and leaving hundreds of thousands more homeless and destitute. The UK remains the single largest donor to the relief effort, having committed £45 million to helping those affected by the disaster.

(Official 10 Downing Street response)

The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America.

2008-10-22T02:51:00.000-07:00

AMY GOODMAN: Jim Bamford, can you talk about how the NSA picked up the very first clues about the 9/11 attacks well before the 9/11 attacks?

JAMES BAMFORD: Well, the very first clue to the 9/11 attack occurred in late December 1999, when the NSA picked up a message from a house in Yemen. The house was being used by bin Laden as his operations center. He didn’t have much capability to operate out of Afghanistan, so all the phone calls, all the messages, email and all that would go to this house in the city of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. NSA had been eavesdropping on that house for a number of years, and in late December 1999, it picked up a particular intercept, picked up a particular phone conversation.
And the phone conversation said that—send Khalid and Nawaf to Kuala Lumpur for a meeting. So, NSA picked that up, and they—first of all, they figured that Nawaf and Khalid had to be very important potential terrorists, because they were being assigned by bin Laden out in Afghanistan to go to a meeting in Kuala Lumpur. That seemed like a terrorist summit meeting. NSA gave that information to the other intelligence agencies, and the CIA set up a surveillance in Kuala Lumpur, and then they lost them in Kuala Lumpur.
After they lost them, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi went to California. They got in without any problem. NSA, even though they had the last name of Nawaf al-Hazmi in their computers, they never bothered to check, so they both got in without any problem into the United States. They went down, and they lived in San Diego. And they began calling back and forth to that house in Yemen, the house that NSA was eavesdropping on. So NSA is picking up their conversations to the house in Yemen, translating them and then sending out the conversations to—or summaries of the conversations to the CIA without ever telling anybody that they were in the United States. And they were in the United States for almost two years. Al-Hazmi was there from January 2000 to September 2001. And again, they’re communicating back and forth; NSA is picking up but not telling anybody that they’re in the US.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain, Jim Bamford—

JAMES BAMFORD: And it got so bad—

AMY GOODMAN: You say that they set up their final base of operations almost next door to the NSA headquarters in Laurel, Maryland?

JAMES BAMFORD: Well, that’s the ultimate irony, was they eventually travel across country from San Diego, and they set up their final base of operations—these are the—this is the crew that was about to attack the Pentagon—about a month before, they set up their base of operations in Laurel, Maryland, of all places, that happens to be the same city that NSA is headquartered. So they set up their base of operations in this Valencia Motel, and almost across the Baltimore-Washington Parkway is NSA headquarters. The director’s office is on the eighth floor, and, except for some trees, he could almost see the motel where they’re staying. So, NSA is over there trying to find terrorists, and here is the 9/11 terrorists sitting right opposite the NSA on the other side of the parkway making their final plans.
Mohamed Atta flew there for summit meetings. And they had to take three hotels at one point to put all the people there. So, as NSA is looking for them, they’re having their final summit meetings there, and they’re walking around the Safeway, they’re exercising in Gold’s Gym, they’re eating in the restaurants there, they’re mingling with NSA employees. That’s NSA’s company town. It’s just the ultimate irony that here you have the terrorists and the eavesdroppers living side by side in the month before the final attack.

AMY GOODMAN: You then say, after the attacks, the White House expanded massively surveillance, turning it inward on Americans right here. Can you talk about how they did it?

JAMES BAMFORD: Well, first of all, looking back on the pre-attack, it was clear right after the attack that General Hayden, the Director of NSA, realized the big mistake he had made, that these guys not only were in the US, and he never told anybody they were communicating from the other side of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, and he never let anybody know. So, obviously, he was very chagrined at the fact that, you know, his actions were contributing factors to the whole 9/11 attack by not being more aggressive in going after their communications and telling people where they were.

So, after 9/11, to some degree to make up for it, he decided to not protest when the Bush administration, particularly Dick Cheney, began putting pressure on him to begin doing warrantless domestic eavesdropping or warrantless eavesdropping of Americans. And that was a big mistake. It would have been much better if he stood up like Jim Comey at the Justice Department did. He stood up, as well as the director of the FBI. And even Attorney General John Ashcroft stood up and threatened to resign over parts of this warrantless eavesdropping. But General Hayden decided to go along with it, and as a result, the NSA began this very intrusive program of warrantless eavesdropping on US citizens, both intrusive and largely useless.

James Bamford investigative journalist, author of three books, his latest on the National Security Agency, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America.

Full article at http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15216

42

2008-10-14T04:35:00.000-07:00

The House of Lords rejected the proposal to introduce a 42 day without trial clause for the Counter Terrorism bill.

However, Home Secretary Jaqui Smith has written it into a one-page bill which she will push through using the Parliament Act in case of a 'National Emergency'. What WOULD that emergency be I wonder?

She told Today she hoped the government could still "count on people's support" if such a measure had to be introduced.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "My priority is we need to find a way through this, even if other political parties won't engage with it."

Ms Smith said: "The thing about opposition is you don't have to cover off those risks but government, quite rightly, does and that's why I brought forward the proposals I did."

However, former Labour attorney general Lord Goldsmith said the detentions of up to 42 days were "not only unnecessary but also dangerous".

(from BBC.co.uk)

Other parties suggest that the Home Secretaries words are merely trying to scrabble some respect from this defeat.

MPs passed the proposal by a majority of just nine votes in June, with 39 Labour backbenchers rebelling.

Plans to extend the pre-charge terror detention limit to 90 days were rejected by MPs in 2006.

(from bbc.co.uk)

I recall that majority of 9 was extremely shaky at the time, with all sorts of talk of backroom deals being made. Still it was rejected and rightly so.

In this case, not only do we not know the question to which 42 is the answer, 42 is not the answer to the question.

From the Office of Chris Davies MEP

2008-10-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

I wrote to an MEP concerning the Climate Change Package being voted on in the European Parliament last week. I recieved a response today. It went;

"Thank you very much for your e-mail regarding last weeks vote in the environment committee of the European Parliament on the EU energy and climate change policy.

As you will be aware, on Tuesday 7 October the environment committee of the European Parliament voted on a series of measures which aim to form part of the EU’s climate and energy policy.

I’m pleased to say that MEPs backed the revision of the EU's Emission Trading System (ETS) which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from most industrial sectors by 21% from 2005 levels by 2020.

The vote also supported the phase out of free emission permits, leading to full auctioning, from 2013 onwards. This will mean that the free allocation of allowances to the manufacturing sector will be cut from 85% in 2013 to 0% in 2020.

The only exceptions to this will be sectors that are at serious risk of “carbon leakage,” where industries that would simply relocate to countries with weak climate change policies and continue to pollute. Such sectors will receive free allowances but only until 2020, by which time international agreements should ensure that there is no hiding place for industries that would continue to pollute.

MEPs also voted in support the revenues being raised from the auctioning of permits to be used to pay for climate change protection measures. I have pushed for one of these measures to be carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) and I’m pleased to say that my proposals that a €10 billion EU fund to support the development of CCS to slow global warming gained the support of MEPs.

CCS development has the potential to make an enormous contribution to the fight against climate change. We can afford no delay and no more construction of conventional coal-fired power stations. I’m pleased therefore that MEPs supported my proposals that the building of new coal-fired power stations after 2015 that do not have CCS technology be banned.

It is time now for EU national government Ministers to back their fine words of last year with some practical action. MEPs will now commence direct negotiations with the EU’s French Presidency with a view to securing a deal between the Parliament and the Council of Ministers that would see this legislation on the statute book before the end of the year.

Yours sincerely

Chris Davies MEP

Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson

& MEP for the North West of England"

If Barack Obama met President Bartlett...

2008-10-02T05:47:00.001-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

So you voted in Boris Johnson...

2008-05-19T07:59:00.001-07:00

...
...
...
...
Why?

I can only assume that Ken Livingstone was right when he said that celebrity is as important as ideology these days. People do not sit around and discuss ideology but watch television. Therefore policy and publicity are equal.

Why can't we look beyond the facade? Why can't we investigate?

For example:
The facade: The hip, young David Cameron says 'Boris is the man for Mayor of London'.
The reality: David Cameron thinks 'Boris has a chance of winning because of his celebrity, therefore, EVEN THOUGH I DO NOT WANT HIM IN MY SHADOW CABINET I will promote him for Mayor, including throwing such a PR weight behind him it will reel in his sometimes idiotic behaviour and make him seem more like the man for the job'.

Now, should I mention that Boris Johnson wanted George Bush to become President and continue to be President? Can that man's judge of character be trusted with running the capital?

As i failed to convince you that Boris shouldn't be mayor I will try harder to convince you that David 'The Smiler' Cameron should not be allowed to become Prime Minister.

Todays classic David Cameron Quote is when asked about the Hybrid Embryo bill being discussed at the moment he would vote "against some of the things that won't be necessary". Classic Cameron.

Ram.

Using my liberty to promote theirs...

2008-01-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

I sent the following email to Rememberance Travel, a tour company that work with the Royal British Legion to provide battlefield tours and the like. I discovered that they operated a tour to Burma, thus funding the regime, so I wrote to them...

"Dear Sir or Madam,

I am sure you are aware of the protests in Burma during september of last year and the numerous human rights abuses commited by the Military Junta in Burma since it came to power.

After watching various news programs concerning the situation in Burma such as Newsnight I became aware that Aung Sang Suu Kyi, discourages tourism into Burma as it "funds the oppressive regime and gives it legitimacy" (www.burmacampaign.org.uk).

I then investigated into British tourism companies that operate tours to Burma. Silverbird Travel operates tours to Burma and according to their website there is a tour endorsed by Rememberance Travel to the sites of the Burma Campaign:

http://www.silverbird.co.uk/country.asp?CID=9&MenuOpen=0

I see on your website that this is also the case:

http://www.remembrancetravel.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=tour.view&id=93

Obviously you wish to preserve the memories of those who fought the Japanese during the Burma campaign and having volunteered at the War Memorials Trust for 6 months I know how important it is to preserve our heritage. My Mother also cycled to Paris to raise money for the Royal British Legion so we are a family who wish to preserve our heritage.

However, I am concerned that the tour would support a regime that stands currently for all the things our ancestors fought against. I am confident you feel the same and so I am asking for one or more of the following:

1) Your guarantee that the military junta can IN NO WAY benefit from the tour you provide or
2) That you do NOT operate the tour until the Burmese people are free from their oppression.
3) You remove your endorsement of the Silverbird travel company as I am concerned that they fund the oppressive regime in Burma and sully the name of the Royal British Legion in doing so.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,

(Ramalam's real name)"

I have yet to hear a response.

There are other tour companies that run holidays to Burma. These tours fund the junta. They both have explainations as to why they do this.

Andrew Brock:

http://www.coromandelabt.com/

Audley Travel:

www.audleytravel.com

You can learn more, help join the struggle for Burma's democracy and find links to other companies that fund the junta with trade here:

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/

I went on a Peacemarch through London last weekend and the compassion for all those in Burma, even the soldiers was amazing. These people deserve their freedom.

I love you all.

Ram

The Smiler

2007-11-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to do this for a while and I haven't really done so now, but this is my first look at David Cameron. I call him 'The Smiler' because he reminds me of the Presidential candidate in Warren Ellis's 'Transmetropolitan'. I am told that the character in the comic is based upon Nixon and to a lesser extent, Tony Blair.

Nixon was the first to use television to appeal directly to the public during his campaign to be vice president. The context was that he was accused of embezzling his campaign donations. But regardless of that, I am too young to remember Nixon and was also too young to vote when 'New Labour' first got into power in 1997. Blair seemed to represent a new era, that things were going to change for the better.

Now, we are seeing almost a repeat of that struggle, only with a new, 'new hope' in the form of David Cameron. I admit I have been biased against Cameron from the start, he seemed to speak politlely and gesticulate that he really cared but he never really SAID anything.

If you look at the videos on 'Webcameron' you can see his spin, in the same way as Nixon coming to the fore. I took his speech about Council tax and tried to look at it from all angles, give the guy a chance.

Cameron proposes that he gives more power to local government. This will manifest itself in allowing local governments to alter the rate of council tax in their area. However, if they want to change it, a local referendum must take place and they must produce a shadow budget to show how the money would be spent.

On the surface, this seems reasonable.

But look closer and you see that Communities Secretary Hazel Blears retorts with the fact that local communities can have a local vote NOW about the level of council tax and many already do. The bureaucracy Cameron claims he wants to get rid off is in fact, more bureaucracy.

Look even closer and the fact remains that the Tories created the Council tax and have you noticed how it bears no realtion to whether people can pay it or not?

Surely what will happen is what happened with the top-up fees? Universities introduced the maximum they could and now they are fighting for the removal of the 'cap'.

This is not the definitive word on Cameron, but let us all watch him very closely. I hope he doesn't get into power.

Ram

FREE BURMA

2007-10-04T05:22:00.000-07:00

2007-03-27T03:48:00.000-07:00

In regard to my previous post about having a choice. I remembered I already posted something about this ages ago. If you want a choice of search engine, 'Click for a cause' is much better as it donates to Oxfam every time you use it.

I have added it to the sidebar.

Ram

Information-Revolution

2007-03-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

Like many many people, I take the tube around London. Upon several of these journeys I have seen what I assumed were rebellious posters on the tube trains stating that 98% of the information on the web goes through 1 company and that company. Who is to say that this company does not alter the truth?

These posters had no identifying marks other than a website:

www.information-revolution.org

Don't go there, you'll only be disappointed. For you see, on the surface this website promotes an underground revolution against the holders of all information, the mighty search engine giant GOOGLE. The website advocates a choice and reminds all visitors that there are many search engines on the internet, why are we slave to one who may be sinister in their motives.

On a slightly more sinister level, this website (while seeming to advocate choice) only provides three alternative search engines and a heady emphasis is made upon Ask.com. This has lead many people to post there with great anger at being suckered by a advertising campaign by Ask.com to gain people using their engine. Which is frankly, disgusting. But I suppose it is natural in this day and age that people seek the truth, seek to be free of spin and allowed to decide for themselves that such an advertising campaign would surface. In short, don't go there, it would probably make you angry. But perhaps the sentiment is right, that we should all think about our choice of information and take everything the media tells us with a pinch of salt.

This is not to say that Google themselves are without fault.

Examine this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zKXCQpUnMg

Some of these things are hard to believe, but I have no doubt that Google gathers information about the accounts that go through it, it is no different from using a points card at the supermarket. You do the market research for the company! But let us remember that this haven of independent journalism is itself, not signed in through Gmail.

Looking further into the matter, I investigated Robert David Steele, a former CIA agent who claims Google work with the CIA and others to gather information about people through the internet. Steele's papers from when he was in the CIA and after are concerned with an 'Open source intelligence'. Having read a little, Steele seems to advocate a policy in which information is more widely available to more levels of the military. He implies that this will make counter-intelligence and intelligence gathering in general more coherent and threats easier to spot. I can see this as a potential nightmare, with more threats appearing than ever before, but Steele wanted to put the power of information in Tactical Officers hands. Open source intelligence would keep a stronger and up to date view of regional trends and capabilities.

The concern for me is that, Steele felt the private sector could aid with this as their intelligence gathering about local trends and the like was more up to date. Not to mention the fact that this could save the Government money. But if this were true, would this not put us in more danger of Google or whomever giving information to the Government of enemies of the state who also happened to be business rivals? Could anybody be that evil?

But read for yourself:
http://www.oss.net/extra/document/?module_instance=3&action=show_category&id=116&language_selection=0

Google writes upon it's website:

"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

As a first step to fulfilling that mission, Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a new approach to online search that took root in a Stanford University dorm room and quickly spread to information seekers around the globe. Google is now widely recognised as the world's largest search engine -- an easy-to-use free service that usually returns relevant results in a fraction of a second.

When you visit www.google.com or one of the dozens of other Google domains, you'll be able to find information in many different languages; check stock quotes, maps, and news headlines; lookup phonebook listings for every city in the United States; search more than two billion images and peruse the world's largest archive of Usenet messages -- more than 1 billion posts dating back to 1981.

We also provide ways to access all this information without making a special trip to the Google homepage. The Google Toolbar enables you to conduct a Google search from anywhere on the web, while the Google Deskbar (beta) puts a Google search box in the Windows taskbar so you can search from any application you're using, without opening a browser. And for those times when you're away from your PC altogether, Google can be used from a number of wireless platforms including WAP and i-mode phones.

Google's utility and ease of use have made it one of the world's best known brands almost entirely through word of mouth from satisfied users. As a business, Google generates revenue by providing advertisers with the opportunity to deliver measurable, cost-effective online advertising that is relevant to the information displayed on any given page. This makes the advertising useful to you as well as to the advertiser placing it. We believe you should know when someone has paid to put a message in front of you, so we always distinguish ads from the search results or other content on a page. We don't sell placement in the search results themselves, or allow people to pay for a higher ranking there.

Thousands of advertisers use our Google AdWords programme to promote their products and services on the web with targeted advertising, and we believe AdWords is the largest programme of its kind. In addition, thousands of web site managers take advantage of our Google AdSense programme to deliver ads relevant to the content on their sites, improving their ability to generate revenue and enhancing the experience for their users.

To learn more about Google, click on the link at the left for the area that most interests you. Or type what you want to find into our search box and hit enter. Once you do, you'll be on your way to understanding why others say, "Google is the closest thing the Web has to an ultimate answer machine."

What's a Google?

"Googol" is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The term was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, "Mathematics and the Imagination" by Kasner and James Newman. Google's play on the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web."

In conversation one evening a friend brought up the fact that over a month or so everything seemed to switch to Google. Do you remember this? I used to use Yahoo, but then (largly due to peer pressure and advertising factors I switched to Google). That was an amazing turn of events. So google goes from being one of many search engines to THE search engine. It is even a verb now.

As I understand it, Google got help from a marketing genius who made this change take place and got a lot of money for it.

My point here is this, Google may be the gateway to a lot of information and has the power to filter that information. If Google, or any other media giant can alter our freedom of information then who knows what the result may be. This is clearly a deep and complex subject. Perhaps some answers will become clear in 'Google The Masterplan'.

Until then be vigilant, but trust no one that says they have found the truth, trust those who are searching. Examine the links at the side, though remember these are my favourites, not a comprehensive list. Check out:

www.infowars.com

As they say in the X-Files:

All lies lead to the truth.

Ram.

A friend...

2006-12-12T05:13:00.000-08:00

A Park Ranger from Virginia left a comment on this blog a while ago, so I have added their blog to the sidebar. Sorry it took so long to do this, but I only just noticed!

Congratulations on getting engaged :D

Save the planet!

Ram.

"Land of hope and glory...

2006-12-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

Mother of the free,
How shall we extole thee,
Who are born of thee,
Wider and still wider,
Shall thy bounds be set,
God who made the mighty,
Make thee mightier yet!!,
God who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet!"

Vera Lynn-Land of Hope and Glory

There was a time when people fought a war so that we could live in a country that was free of tyranny. Men fought and died so that we would live free. People fought for a better world, that after the war we would have a better world to live in.

Now, when I find myself facing the apathy of the masses and the tyranny of Corporations I find myself despairing.

According to the BBC, 53% of teenagers wouldn't change their lifestyle to stop climate change. I despair of the human race sometimes, I really do.

Fight Club said that we had no great war and no great depression to define us as people, to give us something to strive for. Now we find ourselves comfortable in our western armchairs, getting fat from the cathode ray known as television (or 'Opium of the masses').

So I find myself once again realising that apathy is a dangerous thing and it is something I might struggle against (I swear if one more person tries to persuade me NOT to recycle I might explode).

So I must fight for the better world, I must make my stand against apathy and do all the things that need to be done. Our great war IS a spiritual war, our goal is to

SAVE THE PLANET

That is one of our generations goals, along with making trade fair and making poverty history.

For crying out load lets do it!

Rant over.

2006-11-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

Discovered a new site through the Ringleader:

www.exxonsecrets.org

Where you can investigate the links between Exxonmobil and their lobbying that climate change is normal and not worth doing anything about. It also brings you interesting facts like this:

Dick Cheney was a former CEO of Halliburton and still gains a deferred salary of $1,000,000 a year from them. He is now the VICE PRESIDENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Now, I'm not saying he's influenced by them but they must be paying him for SOMETHING.

A term that comes out of this site is 'Wise Use'. This is a movement that claims that environmentalist movements are dangerous. Now, if you examine
this essay then you start to see some of their reasoning. To quote:

"Environmentalism is radical: "in the sense of demanding fundamental change. It calls for changes in present political systems, in the reach of the law, in the methods of agriculture and industry, in the structure of capitalism (the profit system), in international dealings, and in education."

But much like Creationism trying to get around evolution by semantics and clever marketing, Wise Use seems to be trying to devalue environmentalists by saying that they want change in the system. The Wise Use movement portray the Environmentalists as the shadowy ones who influence the government for their own ends, controlling the establishment for nefarious purposes. The goal of environmentalists, they say is to destroy peoples' way of life.

The flip side is of course that environmentalists COULD become the 'watchmen' of the world, forcing people to go along with their beliefs.

Now, no one should be forced to go along with someone elses beliefs, the issues and facts should be argument enough. On one side you have those who want economic growth, the advance of science and technology and the right to keep their way of life. On the other side you have those who want to save the environment and believe that to do so they must get the government to introduce legislation to make everyone go along with that.

But it seems to me, that saving the planet (surely the goal of both sides (or is it?)) is to do everything to help save it, including recycling, buying less stuff, reusing stuff, all the little things that need to be done, as well as the big things.

I don't have the space to go into every facet of this argument and I would be accused of bias anyway as I clearly think saving the planet is preferable to saving Dick Cheney's defered salary. What I suggest is that instead of listening to the people who point fingers and say the other side is evil, look at the FACTS.

Those who want to help save the planet meet at Trafalgar Square at 12 tommorrow for the demonstration.

There are many opportunities to help save the planet, they take place at almost every choice you make today.

Ramrant over.

Judge for yourself

2006-10-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

On behalf of ActionAid I sent the following email:

"Dear Minister,

Last year the UK Government pledged to make poverty history and helped
deliver promises of more aid and debt cancellation. But now your department
is supporting new trade deals which threaten to undermine these promises and
make poverty in developing countries worse.

Economic Partnership Agreements being negotiated between the European Union
and 77 of its former colonies will force poor countries' farmers and
industries into unfair competition with rich countries.

Millions of livelihoods are at risk and entire industries are under threat.

I urge you to ensure the UK Government stands by its promises on trade and
poverty. Please listen to the repeated concerns of poor countries and use
your influence to:

- stop these agreements going ahead in their current form

- work with poor countries to develop alternative deals that will help bring
about trade justice

I look forward to your reply."

To which I recieved the reply:

"Thank you for your email to the Department of Trade and Industry, on the
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) currently being negotiated between the
European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. I have
been asked to reply.

The UK believes that EPAs can promote long-term development, economic growth and
poverty reduction in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. We
recognise the importance of these agreements and have taken a strong, proactive
approach in discussions within the European Union, drawing on the principles set
out in our Position Paper of March 2005. That Position Paper made clear our
belief that the development potential of EPAs will only be realised if the ACP
can make their own decisions on how and when they open their markets in line
with their poverty reduction strategies. To this end the UK continues to
support the ACP to make an informed choice through supporting practical research
and with financial technical assistance.

The UK recognises that both the negotiation and the implementation of the EPAs
will present challenges to the ACP. This is recognised by all participants and
the 2006 Review of EPAs presents a golden opportunity to assess these challenges
and develop methods for overcoming them. It is for this reason that the UK
worked hard to achieve the recent Council Conclusions on EPAs signed by all EU
Member States on 10 April. These conclusions provide the first real signal that
all 25 EU Member States are determined to see an outcome to these agreements
which genuinely work towards developing the countries concerned. The Commission
are obliged to adhere to these conclusions which endorse some of the key
elements of the UK Position Paper; notably the support of flexibility of trade
liberalisation in EPAs and acknowledging the right of the ACP to decide the
content of their EPA. The conclusions also outline EU Member States' priorities
for the 2006 Review, highlighting the need for a comprehensive review conducted
with ACP participation and which addresses both the trade and development
challenges of the agreements. It is worth noting that this goes over and above
what is required by the current Cotonou Agreement, which stipulates the Review
is to simply ensure that no further time is needed for preparations before the
end of 2007 deadline.

The UK continues to work hard to press the objectives outlined in our Position
Paper, and to deliver the best deal for the developing countries concerned,
namely that the ACP should have the right to choose the content of their EPA,
that the EU should offer duty and quota free access upfront and that the ACP
should have maximum flexibility over their own market opening. This position
paper can be found at www.dti.gov.uk/files/file9845.pdf

We also consistently use opportunities to highlight the need for a full and
thorough Review of EPAs to help identify the specific concerns of the ACP. We
welcome the Commission's commitment to development in these agreements and we
will hold them to account to deliver this. We are aware that some of the ACP
have concerns about how the negotiations are progressing. We continue to
discuss these concerns with them to ensure we understand them fully and we
continue to raise these concerns with the European Commission.

Regards

John
DTI Response Centre"

Now, the response is very civil and it deserves a civil retort. That is why I shall keep up a dialogue between myself and the DTI upon this matter. I shall also be following the Paper trail on this and bring you the results.

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY

Ram

There is always hope...

2006-08-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

(This is from Corpwatch and the Guardian)

A major investor in Exxonmobil is opposing the leadership of the current Chief Executive based on 'ethical grounds'.

"We are taking this unprecedented action of opposing the election of a chief executive as we have serious concerns on their management of climate change and the leadership provided on this issue," said Ian Jones" who is head of 'Responsible investment' at the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) that owns 25 million dollars of Exxonmobil stock.

They say that they were best placed to see that environmental damage was causing more insurance claims from them and thus Climate Change (that Exxonmobil have refused to do anything about) was a threat to the planet. "Environmental flooding alone has led to a 500% increase in claims over the past decade which now total more than £1.5m a year", the CIS says.

But there are still major dangers in this country. I speak of course of ID cards and the Orwellian horror that will follow. Honestly this terrifies me. If they can force us to have a card, and a black box in our car that tracks our movement they can do all sorts of things.

Or maybe, like I've always thought the whole thing is out of control.

Ram.

2006-04-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Everyone should make this their search engine.

www.clickscount.co.uk

Everytime you use it, it gives money to the NSPCC. As the Ringleader over on the Circus says, this is one of the "easiest charity donations you can make" and it helps you find stuff!

The conflict continues...

2005-11-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

Not ranted on here for a while, so I thought I'd take a leaf out of 'The Circus's book and update on news stories which are important. For further information on such things if you want to find them out yourself, follow the links on the sidebar :)

At the time Tilley wrote it (1989) it was estimated that the amount the world spends on armaments was roughly a Billion dollars a day. Not that the statistic means much but 1 week's worth could give everyone in the whole world clean drinking water and cure diseases to which we have a cure.

The Military industry is booming. From Corpwatch:

"The most controversial group in the industry are those personnel who are
armed or provide more front-line services. They usually, but not always,
work for private companies hired by governments, non-government agencies or
corporations, to protect either people or installations.

The critics of the industry see these troops as mercenaries, with the
definition of that word being a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare
primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological,
national or political considerations.

The corporate troops are indeed well-paid. But they argue since they are
working for legitimate governments and lawful companies and in support of
primarily western nations, such as the U.S., then they can't be classified
as mercenaries. As well, they argue that in places like Iraq they don't
conduct offensive operations. Once known as private military companies,
those in the business have been pushing a new term: "private security
company."

"I have called these security companies a process of legalizing
mercenaries," says retired general Senator Romeo Dallaire. "Unless they can
be held accountable to the ethos of a liberal democracy military force they
are nothing more than contracted hired guns."

So wait, corporations employ basically mercenaries to guard their interests. These are not militarily trained people, nor are their actions governed by any code of conduct. Do you see how I now find it even harder NOT to believe that Coca-Cola finance paramilitary action against union leaders.

But as always, there is hope in other sectors. From UCL:

"The UK’s upland lakes and streams are beginning to show signs of significant recovery from the effects of acid rain, claims a report published by DEFRA today. The new research from the UK Acid Waters Monitoring Network (AWMN) led by a team from UCL, shows that the amount of acidic sulphur in UK waters has generally halved in the last 15 years, resulting in the return of many species of flora and fauna.

The ongoing project was commissioned by the Department of Environment in 1987 after the government agreed that sulphur emissions were responsible for ecological damage in the Upland regions of the UK. New environmental controls were then introduced and 22 UK lake and stream sites were identified and have been monitored ever since for their chemistry and biology, but it is only since 1995 that the scientists have begun to see a reduction in acidity and the start of an ecological recovery.

“Our results show a massive reduction in sulphur in the water. The concentrations have more or less halved since we first started monitoring. Very little happened in the first few years, but after 1995 levels started dropping rapidly. This change coincided with the introduction of new sulphur scrubbing technology fitted to two major English power stations, and it is likely that the two are linked”, explains lead scientist Don Monteith (ECRC)."

I hope it's not too little, too late.

Ram.

2005-10-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

I saw 'Serenity' last night and something occured to me on the way home. I'll try not to spoil it for you but be warned I might mention things which are related to the film.

The heroes discover something which is, well it's pretty bad and if revealed will throw the Alliance (read, evil empire) into turmoil with the people rising up etc.

I thought, if I ever discovered something like that with my mates, hell yeah I'd tell the whole world so we can all live free. The truth will set you free.

But of course, such things are already out there, things which are perhaps worse than the thing in the film are out there. Governments and Corporations roll over people every day, a child dies in Africa every THREE SECONDS from PREVENTABLE diseases (diseases to which we already have a cure). Do I see uprising? Do I see mass movement? In places yeah, but is it enough?

The MAKE POVERTY HISTORY movement has momentum yes, but there are other things which concern me. Mainly the fact that every year we see more extreme weather conditions and we muddle through not connecting it to Climate Change from greenhouse gases.

But it's never as simple as in the movies is it? It's never a case of one easy solution. That is what is hard to break through. There are many problems in this beautiful world. Each one of them requires a solution and that solution often has to run through a lot of the things you do. Recycling, donations to registered charities, lobbying the Government, etc.

THERE IS HOPE:
I found out the other day that the University of London Union replaced ALL coffee and tea in the entire building with Fair Trade stuff. Oh, and didn't tell anybody. So when the fat cats say that it will take too much effort to convert we can say. 'We already have'. It's not too much of a push to make the University of London a Fair Trade university. Imagine that.

One last thing I've got to say, 'Fight Club' defined a generation by saying:

"We are the middle children of History, no purpose or place, no great war, no great depression. Our Great war is a spiritual war, our great depression is our lives."

Now, I think that sums up Generation X pretty damn well. But it's time to come out of our adolecence and realise that our 'Great war' is to save the Planet. The number of people who must think, 'I want to change the world', well you can. Better yet, you can save it from itself.

SAVE THE WORLD.

The Juggernaut...

2005-07-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

Nestle, I am told is the second largest corporation on the planet. With their influence reaching far beyond the cereal and chocolate bar markets. I'm sure that those who read this are aware of their evils. To summarise simply how far this company stretches there is a list below of their products. Boycott or not, educate yourself.

Coffees:

Nescafé, Gold Blend, Blend 37, Alta Rica, Cap Colombie, Cappuccino, Decaff, Fine Blend

Dairy Products:

Carnation, Chambourcy, Coffee-Mate, Fussells, Ideal, Milkmaid, Tip-Top, Bonjour, Chamby, Creme Vienna, Darlky, Flanby, Fulcreem Custard Hippopota, Jacky, Dremly, Le Grande, Nouvelle, Robot

Confectionary and Snacks:

Kit Kat, Rowntree, Aero, After Eights, Polo, Smarties, Animal Bar, Baci Chocolate, Black Magic, Blue Riband, Breakaway, Cabana, Caramac, Caramel Wafer, Cello, Creamola, Dairy Crunch, Drifter, Eclipse, Good News, Festival, Fruit Pastilles, Fox's Glacier Mints, Gray & Dunn biscuits, Henri Nestlé collection, Jellytots, Karima, Lion bar, Matchmakers, Milky Bar, Montego, Muchies, Novo, Quality Street, Rolo, RPC, Savana, Secret, Toffee Crisp, Toffo, Tooty Frooties, Walnut Whip, Weekend, Yorkie

Contact Lens:

Care, Alcon

Seasonings:

British Shoyu, British vinegars, Cook-in-the-Pot, Dufrais, Sarsons

Mineral Water:

Nestle PURE LIFE, Perrier, Evian, Ashbourne, Contrexèville, Buxton, Vittel, Bittelloise, Pow Wow.

Other Drinks:

Milo, Build-up, Caro, Elevenses, Flo-Mix, Libby's C Drinks, Mix- O-Choc, Moonshine, Nescoré, Nesfit, Nesquik, Slender, Superquik, Um Bongo

Processed Meals:

Findus, Buitoni pasta and Canned foods, Crosse & Blackwell, Maggi, Alphabetti, Bonne Cuisine, Dish of the Day, Eskimo, Four Seasons, Healthy Balance, Lean Cuisine, Pasta choice, Rice & Things, Scrunchies, Waistline

Spreads and Pickles:

Branston Pickle, Gales honey, Holgates honey, Pan Yan, Sun-Pat, Tartex, Vessen paté

Cereals:

Shredded Wheat, Shreddies, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Crisp Rice, Energen low calorie wheatflakes, Force, Golden Grahams, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Team, Robertson's cornflakes, Sunny Jim, Wheatflakes

Ice Cream:

Lyons Maid, Nestlé, Frisco, Motta, Camy, Savory, Peters, Haagen Dasz, Movenpick.

Cosmetics:

L'Oreal, Laboratoires Innéov, Maybelline, Garnier, Lancome, Biotherm, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Guy Laroche, Matrix, Redken, Claudel.

Pet foods:

Friskies, Go-Cat, Go-Dog

2005-06-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

I got an email from Claudia Schiffer (always gratifying when her name appears in my inbox) explaining how the MAKE POVERTY HISTORY Campaign is going.

The answer it seems is very well. With the G8 summit beginning, the 8 most powerful leaders are meeting in one place to decide upon the goals they set for themselves for 2015.

The email read;

"2 weeks ago - at the talks themselves, those politicians promised to cancel 100% of debt owed by 18 of the world's very poorest countries, with 20 more that may qualify later.

That means that around 280 million people will soon wake up not owing debts to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the very first time."

This is a great step forward, but it is by no means the end. What it does show is that we are making an impact, that this movement has influence and that will help millions of people.

As Gordon Brown said recently 'The eyes of the public are upon us'. Yes, that's right Gordon, we're watching, we like this step, but it is only one step and we won't stop watching until we've walked that extra mile.

This weekend I shall be in Scotland (possibly only the second time I've been there in my life), in Edinburgh campaigning to MAKE POVERTY HISTORY.

As a lazy guy, it does feel good to actually be doing something important.

Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great....

2005-06-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

We can be that generation.

First off, I haven't posted for a while because I've been busy with other things in my life (see my other blog) and haven't really had the chance to rant again.

The first weekend of July is shaping up to be an event to remember. With the protest in Edinburgh and the Live 8 concert there will be a heck of a lot of people protesting for:

Trade Justice
Dropping the debt
More and better aid

With the UK having the Presidency for the G8 and with us all showing that these are the results we want from it the 8 leaders will see how much we want to MAKE POVERY HISTORY.

I know I stress it a lot, and I don't know how many of you read this anyway but this campaign is making a difference. While you might feel that you individually can't make a difference look at it the way Bob Geldof puts it:

"This is without doubt a moment in history where ordinary people can grasp the chance to achieve something truly monumental and demand from the 8 world leaders at G8 an end to poverty.

The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They will only have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show them that enough is enough.

By doubling aid, fully cancelling debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa, the G8 could change the future for millions of men, women and children."

Please, please please join the campaign, even if it's just to watch Live* on television. Every act towards this goal is a good one. Let's walk together to justice.

In other news, in Brazil (as a result of many allegations of corruption) no new logging permits are being issued. The Brazilian police have made 90 arrests of Government officials and businessmen connected to logging. Gov. Blairo Maggi of Mato Grosso also ousted his environmental chief, who was arrested and accused of involvement in the corruption ring. Apparently the environmental chief had turned a blind eye to 119,000 acres of Amazon rainforest being logged. All logging permits are being re-evaluated (From Corpwatch.org).

It is moves like this which give me hope.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"
Mahatma Gandhi

MAY 5th-General Election

2005-05-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

I hope you're all voting today! If you're reading this on the day I wrote it and you haven't...

GO VOTE!

If you are reading this afterwards and you haven't voted...

SHAME ON YOU!

This is your democratic right! Not only is this YOUR say in the way this country is run but (and I'm not going to overstress this point) but this is one of the reasons people have died in wars for our country.

Now, I'm not an imperialist as you know but there is something to be said for pride in one's country. I for one wouldn't live anywhere else in the world (except maybe Egypt, but read my other blog for that :) ). Now, there is a sense of pride in my chest when I think of the British Empire (largest empire on the planet, the sun never set on it and so on). Men fought in both world wars 'For King and Country'.

Yet many people cannot be bothered to take part in democratic process which (despite past imperial tendancies) we have kept. Why? I can only assume because we're British!

I'm no qualified social theorist as you know but I like to think that today, we show Tony Blair that things are going to change around here. The swing to left politics will no doubt be prominent in this election.

Tony Blair-Has attempted to walk over the Britsih public in his last term as Prime Minister. Despite mass public protest, protest in the house of commons, from the attorney General and his OWN party he went to war. Now, at the time, having done all that I was still prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

My exact words were

"He must know something we don't."

I assumed he had some secret dossier which (for reasons of nationals security he couldn't reveal but) meant we had to go to war. Of course, I, like Tony Blair and George W Bush was proved wrong.

Michael Howard-His own press is bad enough without me. Let's just remind people that when he was Home Secretary the Poll Tax was introduced. Now he claims he can lower taxes. Pah.

Now, I can appreciate that people may be dissolusioned by politics as the candidates may seem power-hungry liars and I would respect anyone stance on that. But do something! You have to do something and the election IS that something!

Apathy is like being dead.

Why not to vote Conservative

2005-04-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

Glenatron put this up on his Livejournal and I thought it was so good that I had to spread it to here.

"Do you think that you have a right to life and that it should be against the law for the state to have you killed?

Michael Howard doesn't.

Do you think that the state should be allowed to torture you or subject you to inhumane punishment?

Michael Howard does.

Do you feel that slavery is wrong?

Michael Howard doesn't.

Do you think the police should be allowed to arrest and imprison you indefinitely without trial or explanation?

Michael Howard does.

Do you feel you should be allowed a fair and public hearing if you are accused of a crime?

Michael Howard doesn't.

How do you feel about your private life and that of your family- do you think everyone should be allowed to know every detail of it?

Michael Howard does.

Do freedom of thought, conscience and religion sound like a good thing?

Michael Howard holds them in contempt. They are an anathema to him.

What about freedom of expression, what the Americans are talking about when they start going on about the first amendment?

Michael Howard believes you don't deserve this.

If you had lost all the rights above, you might want to protest, in a peaceful and lawful way.

Michael Howard wouldn't let you. He doesn't believe you should have the right to peaceful assembly.

If you were old enough, and so inclined, should you have a right to marry and have a family?

Michael Howard seeks to deny you any such right. He hates you so much he never wants you to be happy. He is like Superman.

Is it alright to discriminate against someone because of how they look, who they are related to or what they believe?

Michael Howard thinks it is more than alright. He thinks everyone should do it.

If you own something do you think it is alright if anyone can come and take it off you?

Michael Howard does.

Do you think children should be given a chance to go to school?

Michael Howard doesn't.

Do you believe that we as a nation should be allowed free and democratic elections?

Michael Howard believes exactly the contrary."

What Glenatron has done is take the rights we all have under the Human Rights act of 1998. If Michael Howard got into power he would likely rescind this act. Depriving us all of our civil liberties. It would be like asking for 'Thought crime' and 'Doublethink' to come into the world. Heck, Michael Howard probably thinks those things are a good idea.

I walk past 'Unison' everyday and there is a huge poster outside in mockery of the Conservative 'are you thinking what we're thinking?' campaign. It reads

"How will the conservatives improve public services by spending £3 billion less on them?" "What are the conservatives thinking?"

USE YOUR VOTE TO KEEP THEM OUT

Or, if you want to show your support for more left-wing politics, vote for the REAL alternative to Labour.

VOTE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT

VOTE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT

2005-04-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

Some dates for your diary:

5 MAY- General election. This is important because we live in a democracy and for the Government to do anything on your behalf you have to have your say and vote for who you want to represent you! As a clause, reading over the official documents from the Government, (Check them out) your MP (whomever they are and whichever party they represent) have a number of powers to represent you in Government. I won't list them here, you can check them out for yourself.

Now, if you don't like reading too much, check out the 10 reasons why you should vote liberal democrat this election.

http://www.libdems.org.uk/tenreasons.html

For the full manifesto, just head to their website:

Greenpeace had to say this about the Liberal democrats:
“When it comes to precipitating a public debate, only the Liberal Democrats of the main parties have been prepared to take climate change to the polls.” Simon Reddy, Policy and solutions director, Greenpeace UK (Independent 18/4/05)

In fact, they have even joined the blogging set with a campaign blog. Check out:
www.kennedaycampaign.org

1 JULY-White Band day. With a (hopefully) new government in power, or even an older one (whom we have put pressure on already (see last post). This is the day (aside from last friday's march) when we can show our solidarity for fair trade, trade justice and making poverty history.

Last fridays march was very cool I must say. The speeches at the beginning were quite moving, the beginning of the vigil outside Downing Street was also very cool, especially the minute silence at midnight.

I also got to see 'The Take' by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis which was VERY, VERY cool. Another film I recommend to you all. The free screenings were so popular, after we talked to the cinema manager he chose to show them again and then a third time so everyone who had queued could see them.

So we showed our solidarity with the rest of the world and (due to the fact most of the events were WAY more popular than anyone had expected. There were over double the number of people expected. The biggest trade march EVER! I call that a sucess :)

So there we go, a day when I stood up to be counted. Just like on May 5th and July 1st. I hope to see you all standing with me :)

Ram. Not just ranting on the net anymore :)

Trade Justice

2005-04-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight I shall be going to the gathering in Parliament Square to help with the campaign for fair trade. This all night vigil will be the people of the UK showing their solidarity with 80 other countries in the world demanding fair trade.

There are many things happening on the night, speeches, live music, 24 hour cafes, ballot boxes voting for trade justice, the dawn procession and free screenings of various films which support this event and other events around the world such as 'The Take' by Naomi Klein.

This vigil is also to promote the 'Make Poverty History' campaign.

A fact for you:
Every three seconds a child dies in the developing world as a result of extreme poverty.

That's why I've added a link to the 'make poverty history' campaign. on the links section. Please at least look at it. Thank you.

I've decided that it doesn't matter if nobody reads this page. If the messages I seek to get across here don't reach anyone. I write this page. I read this page because it reaffirms my commitment to the world. I won't give up.

Ram.

2005-03-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

Soon I shall write up a manifesto of the goals I intend to achieve within the next year or so.

This will include things like making my home town, Fleet a Fair trade town, making UCL a fair trade university (although that may require more work ;)). Also I shall endeavour not merely to simply update you on what you could find on the sites I have links to, but also to seek out my own news, send letters to various corporations and generally become more involved.

Some more quotes for you:

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King

And something not directly related but I thought it was so awesome.

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."
Martin Luther King

Anti-terror bill

2005-03-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

A little background for you.

A law has been passed, following terrorist actions which allowed the Government to hold foreign terror suspects indefinately without trial. 10 people are currently held under this law. But these 'emergency powers' run out on monday.

Tony Blair and Home Secretary Charles Clarke now want to pass the 'Anti-terror bill' which will continue these powers without any further concessions.

Now, as is always the case in politics at the moment, Michael Howard tries to say something meaningful to appeal to the masses but not actually disagree, saying Tony Blair is trying to make it seem he is the only one 'tough on terror' and Charles Kennedy accuses Tony Blair of putting his political pride over civil liberties (Who would you vote for?).

Anyway, regardless of me starting my campaign for the Liberal Democrats (support, I'm not running, though maybe I should...:) ) this debate I think will raise many issues to come.

For example, this bill has been (if not opposed, then concessions made of it) by the Law Lords, the House of Commons and now suffers further defeats in the House of Lords. But this thing keeps on going. I wonder where the point is when they would say to one another:
"You know, if this many people, over this amount of time think this is a bad idea, maybe we should take t back to scratch and try again with these ideas."

But of course, bureaucracy and democracy being what they are, it takes a long time to agree on anything so people are unwilling to go back to the drawing board.

I am of course thankful that (unlike the Patriot Act in the US) this thing isn't passed late a night with nobody reading it.

"So what is your point Ram?" I hear you ask. Well, it was partly to bring your attention to a bill which allows the Government to detain you without telling you why for an indefinate period of time because they have 'reasonable suspicion' you may be involved in terrorism.

It was also to draw your attention to the REAL opposition in the House of Commons, the Liberal democrats. With Labour becoming more right wing every moment, the Tories cannot mount opposition so they try to be MORE right wing and appeal to the everyman. The Liberal Democrats are the ones fighting for civil liberties, democracy, etc.

VOTE LIBERAL DEMOCRAT!

(Thanks to BBC news for reporting the news properly, in non-rant form)

Cigarette or see your Grandchildren grow up?

2005-03-02T05:48:00.000-08:00

So you puff that last cigarette down right to the stub and then chuck it in the bin. The last one you'll ever smoke. You are now a 'non-smoker.'

But what happens next?
After:
20 minutes-Your blood pressure lowers and returns to normal. Your pulse rate slows back to normal.

2 hours- You begin to crave nicotine

8 hours- The levels of nicotine and CO in your bloodstream are halved. Oxygen levels increase and return to normal.

24 hours- Your lungs start to work more efficiently and clear mucus and other gunk out of your system.

48 hours- The nicotine is gone. Your sense of taste and sense sharpen.

One week-Nicotine withdrawl symptoms should be gone.

2-12 weeks-Your circulation improves and your overall energy increases.
Within three months-The cilia in your lungs which were paralysed by tar (yuck) begin to clean your lungs so you can cough it up (Coughing at this stage is therefore a good thing)

3-9 Months-Your lung function has increased by 10%. You have less breathing problems, less coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and sinus congestion.

5 years-Your risk of having a heart attack or cancer of the mouth or throat is halved.

10 years- Your risk of getting lung cancer is half that of a smoker.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
You take a puff and blow it right in my face.

You cause me:
Eye irritation
Headache
Sneezing, coughing, sore throat
Nausea and dizziness
Increased heart rate and blood pressure

And in the longer term:
A reduced ability to take in oxygen
Higher probability of Lung cancer, heart disease or a stroke
Longer term breathing problems.

Now, I know I've felt all the short term things. What will you do if one of the long term things happen to me?

DON'T GIVE UP GIVING UP
Make a clean start of day one.
Destroy those cigarettes, throw out your ashtrays, clean the car and buy yourself a present. You are now a 'non-smoker'. :)

I recommend 'www.whyquit.com' for more helpful hints.

BE PROUD-ACT LIKE TO HAVE EVEN ONE MORE CIGARETTE WOULD GET YOU HOOKED

(And I don't even smoke).

Stick to the man...

2005-02-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

"The man ruined the ozone, is burning down the amazon and he kidnapped Shamu and put her in a chlorine tank!"

Jack Black, School of Rock.

I have to admit I'm pretty new to this fight and I've been ranting for some time to people about the evils of corporations but at least they don't have to read about it on any of my other blogs.

But today let us think what we are up against. Back from the late 19th century it was the government who kept people down, who beat them into the floor with everything from riot squads, firemen and their hoses to the army.

But now the man is money. The huge multinationals with more money than God (not that I necessaily believe in God or not. I do not believe religion is the 'opium of the masses' either. Television probably is.).

These corporations are nasty things. They are capable of totally evil acts because they have only one principle:

"Make as much money as possible."

Now, if it was JUST about that I could maybe understand, we all like money, corporations act for this interests of their stockholders. But at some point the principle changed to this...

"Make as much money as possible, whatever it takes."

Coca-Cola fund paramilitary action in Columbia to beat up union workers. Meaning they can charge less wages, remove the rights of their workers through corporate terrorism. Now you might be like me and think such actions are evil and how can anyone possibly give the green light to such a diabolical scheme?

But did anyone?

Are these things so maniacally out of control that such things occur merely as 'accidents'?

I think this is a question we should be asking ourselves as well as the CEO's of corporations. Who is really in control of these things? Or are they so big and unwieldy that they are out of control and nobody really knows what is going on?

I find that thought even more terrifying than 'The Man' behind his desk plotting evil. That something man has created, something which is essentially artificial and doesn't exist in one place or time can tramble over people in another country.

It's time to take the Power back...

--------------------------------------------------
How I got started:
www.thecorporation.com
www.corpwatch.org
www.seen.org

More when I have it.

Ram.

A long time ago in a Glaxosmithcline group far, far away...

2005-02-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

"If we give up our liberty, in the name of security, we shall have neither,"
Benjamin Franklin

So it begins, the first of my postings against the evils of capitalism. I wonder if I will make any difference at all...