Internet coming under concerted attack in UK

Intelligence?

As far as we're concerned there's only one thing worse than having one's own intelligence insulted : having it insulted by (stupid) liars.

Plan to monitor all internet use

Communications firms are being asked to record all internet contacts between people as part of a modernisation in UK police surveillance tactics.

The home secretary scrapped plans for a database but wants details to be held and organised for security services.

The new system would track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use, including visits to social network sites.

Ministers say police need new tools to fight crime but opposition MPs and campaigners have raised privacy fears.

(snip)

Bloody brilliant, eh? That'll teach the bad guys, eh? That'll stop 'em, eh? That'll certainly make us all a lot safer, eh?

Since the baddies won't be reading & hearing what everyone else now is, eh? So they won't increasingly simply start switching back to using all sorts of 'good old fashioned' low-tech stuff for their secretive plotting & planning, eh?

Nawh! Never!

Not!

They'd never dream of using internet cafes, public phone boxes, cheap second hand, throw away, unregistered pay as you go mobile phones would they? Nor would they think of writing & posting letters : particularly of the coded kind. Nor would we ever see them returning to the use of micro dots, dead letter drops and so on & so forth.

Eh?

Nawh! Never!

Since all the baddies are simply brain dead dumbos. And the smarter, more serious, slyer and more successful type they are, the god damned dumber they're bound to be, eh?

Jeeze. Many millions of minds must already be bloomin' boggling.

Unless .......... unless ........

...... unless, of course, all this nonsense is actually all some sort of dastardly, damned, whizz bang, underhand, unique double bluff ploy, eh?



You know, something that gives "them" yet another way to get the likes of "us" to timidly toe "their" lines. To keep tabs on "us" ~ for possible "future reference".

Reference you, me and us ~ the genuine good guys & gals, that is. Unbelieving "us". The all too often perceived subversive, rebellious (albeit entirely erroneously) smart arse, revolutionary, rabble rousing, riff-raff eh?

Nawh! Never!

"They"'re not as naughty, nasty and/or damned dictatorial as that, are "they"? After all, "they"'re on "our" side aren't they? You know, the genuinely good guys & gals' side.

Well, aren't they?

(Regard that question as rhetorical and don't answer it btw, at least not until you've seen a solicitor or someone similar.)

So, read the rest of said shockingly sad report.

Then for Pete's sake, swallow it ... fast.

Better quickly choked, than 'cuffed, chained and summarily incarcerated in some stinking cell in a sleazy, secretive clink somewhere - sez we.

What say ye?

About the death of Mr Ian Tomlinson and Britain's 21st century Big-Brother-Bully-Boy-Bobbies

The unfortunate London newspaper seller shown above is Ian Tomlinson

Shortly after this picture was taken, Ian Tomlinson was dead ... thanks entirely to a big brave British bobby's cowardly assault/attack.

(The term 'big brave' is obviously sarcasm, of course.)

The innocent victim's family are urgently appealing for witnesses.

Well, anyone who sees, has seen or will see the film footage that can be found at our link below below can witness first hand exactly what happened.

Including seeing the sadistic, helmeted and uniformed little shit who shoved and battoned this poor man ~ from behind. That's right, from behind. And so self evidently without any just cause.

See for yourself then you be the judge.

We say (along with many, many more) that any outcome other than a manslaughter charge being brought against the police officer concerned, will be a crime in itself.

NO perpetrator is above the law of this land simply because they wear a f*cking uniform ~ ANY uniform.

Justice must be done. Moreover, justice must be seen to be done.

If, in present day Britain, innocent working men & women simply going about their peaceful business and living their everyday perfectly legal lives, are not safe from those who are supposed to be duty bound to protect them, then God help us all.

What a crying sodding shame that this once great country should ever have come to this.

We wonder whether there will be a 'whitewash'. We fear that there may be. We hope that there wont be.

There's much more on this right here.

And before anyone else says it, yeah, we know that all police officers are not the same. However, as we see it, an increasing number of them are certainly, to say the least, "not fit for purpose".

Canada, Jason Kenney and George Galloway : the ongoing 'banning' saga...

Seen and/or heard much about brave British MP, George Galloway being "banned" by Canada?

Courtesy a sweaty, stinking lying, self serving, duplicitous, piece of political slime, christened Jason Kenney?



Interested at all in telling the truth? The type of truth that so often hurts certain so-called 'elected representatives' of 'we the people'?

Interested in integrity? Democracy? Honesty? Free speech? Freedom of movement? Freedom from harassment and/or hindrance?

If so, you absolutely MUST go to Gert's place ...

... then, to see the unarguably unmissable, second 'installment' of this sad & sorry saga, slip straight across here.

Incidentally, if you're a British Passport holder yourself, we strongly suggest seeing precisely what it says inside its front cover.

On second thoughts, being the big hearted old Brits that we are, we'll save you some of your precious time.

Her Britannic Majesty's
Secretary of State
Requests and requires in the
Name of Her Majesty
all those whom it may concern to allow
the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance,
and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.

Incidentally, don't just take our word for it ; check it out yourself when you next get the chance to.

Britain's 'Big Brother' grows bigger and uglier, by the bloody day

Question:

What's the difference between Brown, Blair, Obama, Bush and Orwell's Big (1984) Brother?

Answer:

Not a lot.

(snip)

Phone companies are already required to store details of all calls, such as the time and date, location and who made them, for 12 months for possible use in criminal investigations or court cases.

An EU directive ordering data on internet traffic to be stored in a similar way is due to come into effect in the UK on Monday, 6 April.

The government is also considering proposals to store all communications data on a single database, which may be run by a private company.

(snip)

So what else is new?

The fascist face of US policing : Kings County Seattle-style

*

Watch this and weep.

Then ruddy rage!



The young girl is 15 years old.

The 'so called' policeman is a 'so called' sheriff's deputy.

So, now you've seen the film, read this whole sorry story ~ and much more of the same sort of shocking shit.

Home of the brave? Land of the free?

Oh, yeah. Sure

And we're a pair of Protestant Popes.

*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

America's Phony War on Terror : Ex Irish President Mary Robinson states the obvious

While we readily admit that today we're taking a sarcastic sort of swipe at the pretty dumb practice of stating the sodding obvious, we ourselves wish to make it perfectly obvious that we are in no way "having a go" at Ireland's excellent ex President, Mary Robinson.

Since the sad truth is that there are still millions of westerners convinced that bums like George Bush and Tony Blair, to mention just a pair, always told us all the truth.

Just take a look at this.

GENEVA (Reuters)

Washington's "war on terror" after the September 11 attacks has eroded human rights worldwide, creating lingering cynicism that the United Nations must now combat, international law experts said on Monday.

Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded.

"Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies," the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit.

While new U.S. President Barack Obama has announced he will close Guantanamo to break from the practices of his predecessor George W. Bush, Robinson said sweeping changes needed to take place to ensure Washington abandons its "war paradigm."

"There has been severe damage and it needs to be addressed," she told a news conference in Geneva. "We are not more secure. We are more divided, and people are more cynical about the operation of laws."

Arthur Chaskalson, former chief justice of South Africa, said that the United States should launch an inquiry into its counter-terrorism practices, including acts of torture by individual security and intelligence agents.

Although counter-terrorism issues have faded from the front pages since the change of government in Washington, Chaskalson said such practices have shifted around the world and could keep restricting liberties if they are not confronted head-on.

"We all have less rights today than we had five or 10 years ago, and if nothing happens, we will have even less,"

So here's to you, Mrs Robinson, we have to say that we like your style. Like it a lot, in fact. Truth be told, maybe we even love it.

Now read the rest of this Reuters'report.

Big-Bad-Brother Britain : Poxy Plots and Ploys Proliferate

Yes, we know, mister (unarguably) unelected UK leader, (and super-smarmy sidekick, Ms 'smart arse' Jacqui Smith).



You know where we live.

Right?

But what about how you'd have us live, if you had your way?

Police may get more data powers

[British Home Secretary] Jacqui Smith said intercepting communications was 'vital'

Jacqui Smith has set out plans to give the police and security services more powers to gather phone and e-mail data.

The home secretary said police risked losing the ability to fight crime and terrorism without new laws.

The government is considering creating a giant database to store details of every UK phone call and e-mail sent.

Ms Smith stressed the "content" of conversations would not be stored but she wanted a national debate on what new powers should be introduced.

And she warned that without increasing their capacity to store data, the police and security services would have to consider a "massive expansion of surveillance".

Plans to collect more data on people's phone, e-mail and web-browsing habits are expected to be included in the Communications Data Bill, due to be introduced in the Queen's Speech in November.

'Vital capability'

In a speech to the Institute of Public Policy Research, Ms Smith said:

See for yourself what this wicked witch has said.

Update:

Whilst we were still typing this, some equally concerned soul, stateside, sent us this.

Time alone will tell, eh?

*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

US Judge Ricardo Urbina Upsets Bombastic BushCo's Applecart

Judge orders Chinese Muslims freed from Gitmo

Chinese, Muslim, Islamofascist terrorists?

Well, well, well. We do declare.

Hands up who knew.

Did you?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal judge has ordered the immediate release into the United States of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held for several years in the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

A U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina on Tuesday ordered the 17 detainees to appear in his Washington courtroom at 10 a.m. Friday and said he would hold a hearing next week to determine under what conditions they will be settled in the United States.

The government late Tuesday afternoon announced it would file papers shortly with an appeals court seeking an emergency stay to stop the judge's order in its tracks.

The detainees are ethnic Uighurs, from a mostly Muslim autonomous region in western China.

They have been in government custody for seven years and have been cleared for release for the past four years to any country willing to take them. No countries have volunteered.

The judge, visibly impatient, told government lawyers he wants no delays.

"There is a pressing need for them to be released," Urbina declared.

And, good old Judge Ricardo flatly refused to let the matter rest, even at that.

"I have issued an order. I do not want these people interfered with in any way," the judge said.

Read the rest of this (sorta semi-refreshing), report right here.

*(Cross posted across at 'appletree')

Minneapolis, St Paul, Minnesota : Resistance Seems Futile ...

This is ruddy outrageous!

And no, we don't mean the damned poxy picture.

*