Wednesday - February 06, 2008

Story starts in ‘05 and ends here in ‘08 with apology.  From the one harassed!

Story starts in ‘05 and ends here in ‘08 with apology.  From the one harassed!

Teacher fired airgun in gang row

By Nigel Bunyan

Last Updated: 1:32am GMT 04/02/2005

A teacher who fired an air pistol during an altercation with a gang of youths told police she had “had enough” of the law being on the side of criminals.Linda Walker, 47, claims she suffered weeks of abuse and vandalism at the hands of youngsters near her home in Urmston, Manchester.She finally snapped when she suspected they had vandalised her son’s car. Following an initial row, she ran back into the house and returned with a Walther air pistol and an air rifle.

She fired up to six shots into the pavement as she stood “nose to nose” with the convicted burglar she saw as her chief protagonist. She put both weapons down as armed police raced to the scene.

A jury at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, heard that Walker later told officers: “I know you do your best, but the law is on their side. That’s why I rang 999 and ran out like a mad woman possessed, because I’d had it up to here. Everybody gets to that point where they’ve had enough. I’ve got to that point.”
http://tinyurl.com/62276

Air gun teacher told she can work againLast Updated: 1:13am GMT 06/02/2008

A teacher who was jailed for confronting a group of youths with a pellet gun was told Tuesday that she could carry on teaching.
Linda Walker, 50, broke down in tears at a disciplinary hearing as she described how “ashamed” she was of her behaviour.

I’m a slow fellow. Someone will have to explain to me just why the victims should express remorse.

She said that she fired the weapon into the ground to deter the gang, which she believed had subjected her family to months of harassment.Following the incident in August 2004, Mrs Walker was jailed for six months for possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and affray.

She spent a total of 38 days in custody but the appeal court later quashed her jail sentence, replacing it with a 12-month conditional discharge.

http://tinyurl.com/2epbg7

Posted by Drew458     on 02/06/2008 at 03:10 PM   
Filed Under: • Oppression • Self-Defense •  
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   Tuesday - June 19, 2007

Uncle Ted Is On Fire

The Nuge layes it out for the wild-eyed vegans who want to control everyone else’s eating habits. 

‘Live and let live’ foreign idea to left

By Ted Nugent, Texas Wildman

I like sizzling meat on the grill. Wild, huh? Anybody? Now, we all know ol’ Nuge isn’t by any stretch of the imagination a weirdo when it comes to an omnivorous diet

Especially here in the great Republic of Texas, a smiling, drooling preference for succulent, protein-rich, nutritious backstrap over aromatic mesquite coals is as American and natural and right as Mom, apple pie and the flag. It’s beautiful, really.

But a culture war rages against such universal, self-evident truths. It would be laughable if it were not so deranged. Some weirdos actually are on a crusade to outlaw the consumption of flesh.

I have musical touring associates who have been fired from their jobs with ex-Beatle Paul McCartney for sneaking a hamburger.

You heard that right. Fired for eating meat by an animal-rights maniac, hard-core vegan bass player

As they say, go read the rest.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/19/2007 at 05:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Oppression • Outrageous •  
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   Sunday - April 29, 2007

Paranoia Alert

Don’t look now but ... somebody is watching you at this very moment. No matter where you go in Britain, you’re under surveillance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But before the rest of us here in America and in quite a few countries around the world get all smug and start chuckling about our Brit friends’ loss of privacy, you better look over your shoulder. There is probably a camera close by even if you’re in Washington, New York, Los Angeles or even Bumphuk, Iowa.

Face it, in an era where terrorists are all around us we have surrendered any pretense of privacy in order to be safe. Then again, this started long before Osama got uppity and started blowing up buildings. No, dear friends, our government started installing cameras ages ago to catch speeding violators, Wal-mart started installing cameras to catch shoplifters, toll booths were equipped with cameras to catch people trying to sneak through, banks, liquor stores and every convenience store on the planet installed cameras to record robbery attempts and employee theft.

Heck, even libraries have cameras nowadays to catch book thieves. You can’t make a phone call any more without hearing the message “This call may be recorded for quality purposes la-dee-da-dee-dah”. Turn on your computer and connect to the internet and Microsoft wants to know what you’re doing. Your internet service provider is keeping track of where you surf. At work, your phone calls are subject to being monitored and your e-mails are kept on backup tapes forever in the event you decide to flirt with that secretary on the 2nd floor and she wants to sue for harassment ... ten years from now.

Do you have a cell phone? If so, Sprint and Verizon know exactly where you are at all times. The FBI, CIA, KGB and MI6 can’t keep track of all the ways they now have at their disposal in order to monitor your every move. Stakeouts are a thing of the past. Who needs ‘em with cameras everywhere? We’re only one step away from “1984” ... and that is a two-way television that watches you while you watch it, as Orwell predicted. He was only off by about 20-30 years.

No, I’m not kidding. Do you see that little cable TV box next to your TV? I bet you think it’s just passing signals through to your TV for your entertainment? You may even have convinced yourself that it’s not capturing viewing information that can be used to manage programming in your area and/or sold to advertising agencies for targeted marketing campaigns. If so, you are incredibly stupid.

Cell phones with cameras are all over the place. It’s not just government or merchants spying on us ... we’re spying on each other 24/7. Everybody knows what everybody is doing and it’s all being recorded somewhere to be used against you when the opportunity arises. So go on about your business today and pay no attention to those camera lenses, GPS devices and microphones all around you. They’re just looking out for you.

Now adjust your tinfoil hat and try to have a nice day ... and welcome to a brave new world.

Britain Becoming A Big Brother Society, Says Data Watchdog
(THE INDEPENDENT-UK) - 29 April 2007

Britain is in danger of “committing slow social suicide” as such Big Brother techniques as surveillance cameras and recording equipment spread into every aspect of our lives, the nation’s information watchdog will warn this week.

A new report from Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, will say that the public needs to be made more aware of the “creeping encroachment” on civil liberties created by email monitoring, CCTV and computer tracking of our buying habits.

It is understood that one of the concerns in Mr Thomas’s report is the use of special listening devices which can be placed in lamp posts, street furniture and offices. These are already widely used in the Netherlands to combat crime and anti-social behaviour.

More than 300 of the cameras with built-in microphones have been fitted in benefit offices and city centres. The equipment can pick up aggressive tones on the basis of decibel level, pitch and speed at which words are spoken.

Westminster council has already started piloting the listening devices, but experts say the use of these microphones raises questions about how surveillance can be used to intrude into the private lives of citizens.

He will also call for greater regulation of companies that supply surveillance technology which provides “convenience or safety for the more affluent majority”, but not for the vulnerable such as children, immigrants and the elderly.

His warning comes as MPs launch their first inquiry into the impact of surveillance in Britain. The Home Affairs Select Committee will investigate the use of video cameras to monitor high streets and residential areas as well as the holding of personal information on both government and commercial databases.

On Tuesday, Mr Thomas, who last year warned that Britain was “sleepwalking into a surveillance society”, will tell the committee at its first hearing that new safeguards must be introduced to protect the public from the increasing intrusion of surveillance into their daily lives.

Civil liberty campaigners have already warned that Britain is becoming a Big Brother society where its citizens are increasingly being watched. There are more than four million CCTV cameras in this country, one for every 14 people, and the national DNA database which was set up by police to combat crime now holds 3.5 million profiles.

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/29/2007 at 01:30 AM   
Filed Under: • Oppression • Science-Technology •  
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   Tuesday - December 05, 2006

Food Nazis Strike In New York

Forget the cigarette Nazis. Now we have to contend with the food Nazis. Your government is going to make sure you stay healthy whether you like it or not. Perhaps the good politicians in New York will have a heart and allow restaurants to have a “fat area” outside the back door (next to the smoking area) where customers can go stand in the rain with other similar addicts and enjoy a fried chicken leg or a basket of greasy french fies. These will be the next group of bad people alienated from society and forced to indulge their greasy habit in dark alleys and secret deep-fry hideaways on the edge of town.

What will the nanny-state come for next? How long will it be before somebody realizes that over 45,000 people die in automobile accidents every year and it’s time to ban autos. Besides, they will argue, walking is healthy. It’s coming. Pretty soon our behavior will be monitored for politically correct actions 24/7 and we all will have transmitters which will send data on our food consumption and daily exercise habits to a central computer for assignment of punishment if we deviate from government-mandated rules. Sieg heil!

Experts Say New York Trans Fat Ban a Healthy Move
_{NEW YORK (ABC NEWS) - December 5, 2006}

Following the New York City Board of Health’s unanimous decision to phase trans fats off the city’s restaurant menus, experts say the move could be an important step in saving many people from heart disease.

The measure, first proposed on Sept. 26, will take effect July 1. By this date, restaurants will be barred from using most frying oils that contain artificial trans fats. And by July 1, 2008, they will have to eliminate artificial trans fats from all their foods.

Experts believe trans fats cause harm because they raise “bad” LDL cholesterol and lower “good” HDL cholesterol. This combination has been found to contribute to heart disease — perhaps even more so than saturated fats.

“This is one of the most important actions taken by a city or state health department in many years,” says Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C. “The trans-fat ban will save thousands of lives over the next decade.” Jacobson says that other cities and states should adopt the measure, “as long as the FDA and Congress sit on the sidelines.”

“This is a good idea,” says Keith-Thomas Ayoob, associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “Trans fat is not a necessity, and there are suitable substitutes.”

“Some opponents of this ban have characterized this as ‘big brother in the kitchen,’” says Meir Stampfer, professor and chairman of the Harvard School of Health’s department of epidemiology.

“To those I would ask, ‘Do you oppose the regulations requiring employees to wash their hands? Do you oppose regulations limiting pesticide residue in food?’” Stampfer adds that consumers probably will not even notice the absence of trans fats.

“This ban does not ban any food item, and its implementation will likely be virtually invisible to consumers,” Stampfer says. “It bans an industrially produced artificial ingredient in the food supply that responsible manufacturers should have taken out themselves long ago.”

- More ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/05/2006 at 03:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining • Oppression •  
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   Friday - October 27, 2006

Quote Of The Day

“We’ve got a nation of people who have one eye looking out for the next speed camera, another looking for a speed limit sign and another looking at the speedometer - which is a bit of a shame, when you only have two eyes.”

-- PAUL SMITH, head of a British group that opposes the use of cameras to catch speeders.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/27/2006 at 07:55 AM   
Filed Under: • Oppression •  
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   Wednesday - August 16, 2006

Dhimmitude

This is how the takeover begins. Muslims infiltrate a Western country, refuse to assimilate and then start demanding the people and government of their new home comply with their rules and laws. You can probably guess what comes next. If not, consider the word ... dhimmi ... and the fact that the word “Islam” translates as “submission”. Our Brit friends better wake up before it’s too late ...

Dhimmi (also zimmi, Arabic ذمي, often translated as “protected") is the legal status of a free non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia — Islamic law. The word dhimmi is an adjective (but used like a noun in English). It is derived from the noun dhimma, which means “pact of liability”, and denotes the legal relationship between non-Muslim subjects and the Islamic state. Dhimmitude is the “specific social condition that results from jihad,” and as the “state of fear and insecurity” of “infidels” who are required to “accept a condition of humiliation.”

-- Wikipedia

Give Us Shari’a, UK Muslim Leaders Tell Gov’t
_{LONDON (CNSNews.com) - August 16, 2006}

British Muslim leaders meeting with government representatives to discuss ways of combating extremism are calling for the establishment of Islamic law (shari’a) to govern Muslims’ family life.

“We told her if you give us religious rights, we will be in a better position to convince [Muslim] young people that they are being treated equally along with other citizens,” said Syed Aziz Pasha, secretary general of the Union of Muslim Organizations of the U.K. and Ireland.

Pasha was among some 30 Muslim leaders, described as moderates, who met with Ruth Kelly, the minister responsible for communities, amid raging debate in the country over what to do about the terror threat.

The government is appealing to Muslim figures to work harder to prevent extremist views from taking root in their communities, particularly among young people.

The campaign was accelerated after the July 2005 London bombings, and given new urgency in recent days after police discovered what they said was a conspiracy to blow up U.S.-bound aircraft, killing thousands of air passengers and crew.

As of Tuesday, police were holding 24 suspects, all reported to be Muslims. Pasha stressed that he was calling for the introduction of shari’a codes covering marriage and family life, and not for criminal offenses.

Shari’a is controversial because it provides for punishments including limb amputation for theft and death for apostasy. The legal code is applied in varying degrees in countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Shari’a in family affairs deals with issues such as dowry, inheritance and sharing of assets. In some traditions it also allows men to beat wives who refuse to obey them and won’t submit to non-physical admonition, and to end a marriage by declaring “I divorce you” three times.

Pasha said Muslim leaders were ready to cooperate with the government, but wanted a partnership."They should understand our problems then we will understand their problems.”

Other Muslim leaders, however, disagreed. Khalid Mahmood, one of four Muslim lawmakers in the House of Commons, said shari’a could not apply in Britain because it was not an Islamic state.

An ICM poll of British Muslims earlier this year found 40 percent of respondents supported the introduction of shari’a in predominantly Muslim areas of Britain, while 41 percent were opposed to the idea.

About 2.7 percent of Britain’s 60 million people are Muslims. In another opinion survey of Muslims this year, by polling company NOP, 22 percent of respondents agreed that the London bombings, which killed 52 people, were justified because of Britain’s foreign policies. Among Muslims aged under 45, the figure rose to 31 percent.

- More on Muslim demands in Britain here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/16/2006 at 08:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Oppression • RoPMA •  
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   Wednesday - June 07, 2006

Exploitation Of Illegal Aliens?

Mayor Nagin’s “chocolate city” is starting to smell more like burritos than chocolate with 100,000 illegal aliens flooding into the city to work for dirt-cheap wages ($10 per hour). Of course you know the big bad Haliburton and others are exploiting these poor hard-working criminals by paying them twice the minimum wage and only four out of five workers are given protective gear. Dick Cheney should be ashamed of how his company is trampling the civil rights of these poor, downtrodden workers - at least that’s what AP thinks.

Than again, they could always go to California or Florida and pick fruit for $7,500 per year (about $3.25 per hour). I haven’t heard anyone complain about those wages or the mega-rich companies like Dole or Archer Daniels Midland that have been paying those wages for decades. Why all the sympathy now - unless it’s just one more way to attack the Bush administration.

Face it though, if you criminally invade someone else’s country and are in hiding all the time, you are going to get screwed on wages and job conditions. Perhaps the Mexicans need to re-think their whole strategy. If they’d only come here legally, then they could bitch and complain all they want - just like the rest of us. Until then, they’re hosed ...

Illegal Workers Face Hardship in Big Easy
_{June 7, 2006, 6:49 AM EDT}

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - They are the backbone of post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction: Workers who converge at dawn and wait to be picked up for 14-hour shifts of hauling debris, ripping out drywall and nailing walls.

But because many are in the country illegally, immigrant workers rebuilding New Orleans are especially vulnerable to exploitation, according to a study released Tuesday by professors at Tulane University and the University of California at Berkeley.

The illegal immigrants often work in hazardous conditions without protective gear and earn far less than their legal counterparts, the study said. Nearly one-third of the illegal immigrants interviewed by researchers reported working with harmful substances and in dangerous conditions, while 19 percent said they were not given any protective equipment.

Illegal immigrants also were paid significantly less—if at all—earning on average $10 per hour, compared with $16.50 for documented workers, the study said. “What is fundamentally unfair is these are workers who have responded to a national priority to rebuild this city and yet whose rights are being violated,” said Laurel Fletcher, director of Berkeley’s International Human Rights Law Clinic and one of the study’s co-authors.

Under federal labor law, illegal immigrants are afforded the same health and safety protections as documented workers. Regardless of their legal status, laborers can sue most employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act for violation of the minimum wage law and overtime regulations, the researchers said.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it has conducted more than 7,000 on-site inspections in the New Orleans area. The U.S. Department of Labor said it was concerned about wage and safety violations and had hurried to establish a Gulf Coast office.

“I’m not surprised that there are wage violations in the whole Gulf Coast rebuilding area—all of the conditions are there for that to occur,” said Victoria Lipnic, assistant secretary of labor for employment standards.

“But we’ve tried to be very proactive in our enforcement effort.” Before last year’s hurricane, Louisiana had one of the smallest Hispanic populations in the country—2.5 percent of residents compared with 12.5 percent nationally.

Census data indicates nearly 100,000 Hispanics moved to the Gulf Coast region after Katrina, lured by promises of high wages and plentiful work. It is unclear how many have come to New Orleans, though the study estimates one-quarter of the construction workers in the city are illegal immigrants.

While 83 percent of documented workers interviewed by the researchers said had access to medicine when needed, only 38 percent of illegal immigrants did. Around one-third of illegal immigrants said they understood the hazards of removing asbestos or mold, compared with more than 65 percent of documented laborers. Thirty-three percent of legal workers received medical attention when needed for a reported problem, compared to 10 percent of undocumented workers.

Some of those waiting for work said they are afraid of complaining. “It’s too dangerous for my body,” said 29-year-old Saul Linan, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. “But I don’t say anything. If I do, the boss says, `Hey, if you don’t work hard, I’ll take you to immigration.’”

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/07/2006 at 01:19 PM   
Filed Under: • Illegal-Aliens and Immigration • Oppression •  
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   Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Kelo Eviction!

Well, it has finally come down to this in New London, Connecticut. The madness that SCOTUS wrought last year is in its final phases. The city has moved everyone out of the area that was appropriated stolen for “development” - except for two citizens of these United States who are having their right to own property literally ignored and over-ridden ... by the Supreme Court Of The United States.

Do you want to talk about giving up your rights in time of war? Sure, go ahead. There may be good reasons for that - but what satanic reason can you give me for a local government literally stealing a citizen’s land? I’ve been screaming about this for over a year in various posts and now we’re in the end game and the slimey, sleazy, dastardly bullies at New London City Hall are about to tear down two houses around their owner’s ears - and fine them for not moving.

Conn. City Leaders OK Riverfront Evictions
_{June 6, 2006, 8:48 AM EDT}

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) - City officials voted to evict two residents whose refusal to give up their riverfront houses helped lead to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that governments may seize property for private development projects. The City Council voted 5-2 in favor of eviction Monday. An attorney for the residents said they are considering continuing to fight.

“You are a disgrace to the city, the state and the nation,” one of the residents, Michael Cristofaro, told council members who voted to evict. The city has been trying for a decade to redevelop the once-vibrant neighborhood at the point where the Thames River joins the sea. Seven homeowners challenged the city’s plans to seize the property and build a hotel, convention center and upscale condominiums, saying eminent domain can’t be used to make way for private development.

But the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last year to uphold the city’s right to take the homes, saying municipalities have broad power to do so in favor of private development to generate tax revenue. Since then, five of the homeowners have settled with the city and agreed to leave. Two holdouts, Cristofaro and Susette Kelo, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, still refuse to sell.

The vote came five days after a settlement deadline. One resident agreed to a settlement just minutes before Monday’s meeting began, The Day of New London reported. The city attorney plans go to court to seek removal of the remaining two families and obtain the properties in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, a process that could take three months. Scott Bullock, a lawyer for the residents, said they will consider asking the state to pull funding for the development.

City councilman Robert Pero, who supported the effort to remove the families, noted that the issue has been through state agencies and three courts. “This was a plan that was well thought out,” he said. “The development of this peninsula needs to move forward.” But Charles Frink, one of the two council members who voted against the plan, said supporters should admit their mistake. “I can’t accept a possible reduction in taxes by having neighbors thrown out of their property,” he said. “This is morally abhorrent to me. I refuse to profit from my neighbor’s pain.”

- BizzyBlog has the full timeline of this heinous act ...

- CoyoteBlog has the story on the follow-up to Kelo ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/06/2006 at 11:46 AM   
Filed Under: • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • Oppression • Outrageous •  
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   Sunday - June 04, 2006

On This Day In History

June 4, 1989 - Tiananmen Square Massacre

Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States.

In May 1989, nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and call for the resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders deemed too repressive. For nearly three weeks, the protesters kept up daily vigils, and marched and chanted. Western reporters captured much of the drama for television and newspaper audiences in the United States and Europe.

On June 4, 1989, however, Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds of protesters. Turmoil ensued, as tens of thousands of the young students tried to escape the rampaging Chinese forces. Other protesters fought back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to military vehicles. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested.

The savagery of the Chinese government’s attack shocked both its allies and Cold War enemies. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that he was saddened by the events in China. He said he hoped that the government would adopt his own domestic reform program and begin to democratize the Chinese political system.

In the United States, editorialists and members of Congress denounced the Tiananmen Square massacre and pressed for President George Bush to punish the Chinese government. A little more than three weeks later, the U.S. Congress voted to impose economic sanctions against the People’s Republic of China in response to the brutal violation of human rights.

_{Source: The History Channel}

Tank Man

I was watching it from the Beijing Hotel, where we had rented a room that looked onto the north side of the square. That morning, I remember, my husband said to me, “You’d better get out here.” I rushed out onto the balcony, and I saw this lone person standing in front of this long column of tanks. … The young man—… I couldn’t see his face but I think he was young because of the way he moved, he was very fluid, he didn’t move like an older person. … He tried to step in front of the tank. … The tank turned to go around him; the tank did not try to just run him over. I thought, “Wow!” So the tank is turning and then the young man jumps in front of the tank, and then the tank turns the other way, and the young man jumps down this side. And I thought, “What’s going on?”

They did this a couple of times, and then the tank turned off its motor. … And then it seemed to me that all the tanks turned off their motors. It was really quiet; there was just no noise. And then the young man climbed up onto the tank and seemed to be talking to the person inside the tank. … After a while the young man jumps down and the tank turns on the motor and the young man blocks him again. … I started to cry because I had seen so much shooting and so many people dying that I was sure this man would get crushed. [And] I remember thinking, “I can’t cry because I can’t see; I want to watch this, but I’m getting really upset because I think he’s going to die.”

But he didn’t. … I think it was two people from the sidelines ran to him and grabbed him—not in a harsh way, almost in a protective way. … Then he seemed to melt into the crowd. Then the tanks, after a moment, just started up the engines again, and then they kept going down the Boulevard of Eternal Peace. That was the end. It was amazing. …

… I think that the people who took the Tank Man away—I call him the “Tank Man”—were concerned people. I’ve thought about this, and given the timing, I don’t think the security forces had kicked in that fast. … I think that was still too early. That’s one reason … the timing. The second reason is the body language. If you’ve ever seen security people manhandle a Chinese citizen, they’re really brutal. … They twist your arm, they make you bend over, they punch you a few times, they kick you. … So to me, I think he was helped to the side of the road. He wasn’t being arrested.

I think that he is [still alive] … I think the chances are pretty good … that he’s in China because if he had left—and many people have left China—he might have felt free to talk. The fact that we have not heard from him since that amazing incident tells me he’s still alive, he’s still there. He has not been caught, and he’s certainly not telling anybody.

Jan Wong - Author and former Toronto Globe and Mail Beijing correspondent.

Security Tight for Tiananmen Anniversary
_{June 4, 2006, 11:56 AM EDT}

BEIJING (AP)—Chinese police tore up a protester’s poster and detained at least two people on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Sunday as the country marked 17 years since local troops crushed a pro-democracy demonstration in the public space. An elderly woman tried to pull out a poster with apparently political material written on it, but police ripped it up and then took her away in a van.

A farmer tried to stage a protest apparently unrelated to the 1989 crackdown, but he also was taken away in a van. After dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them to put the nonpolitical material away. They were not detained. Discussion of the crackdown is still taboo in China outside of the semiautonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese television news and major newspapers did not mention the anniversary.

In Hong Kong, several hundred people holding candles gathered at Victoria Park, creating a sea of lights covering four soccer fields. They observed a brief silence and organizers laid wreaths at a makeshift shrine dedicated to “martyrs of democracy.” China’s authoritarian government has stood by the suppression of what it has called “counterrevolutionary” riots, saying it preserved social stability and paved the way for economic growth.

Chinese police monitored Tiananmen Square closely Sunday. About 2,000 police were on guard in and around Beijing’s “petitioner’s village,” a cluster of cheap hostels popular with people from the provinces who have come to the capital to complain to the central government.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/04/2006 at 02:46 AM   
Filed Under: • History • Oppression •  
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   Wednesday - May 03, 2006

Censor This!

Imagine if you will, a United States where bad news is never reported, every TV show has George Bush’s picture locked in one corner of the screen, newscasters referred to Dubya as a “god”, no criticism of Bush is allowed and Bush remained in power forever.

I apologize to any Liberal or Leftist readers out there who just went into shock at that picture. Don’t worry my little pinheaded friends. It won’t happen here in the USA, thanks to all of us “gun nuts” that you seem to hate so much. A well armed populace keeps government honest. Remember that.

The really painful part of this story below is that several of these countries serve in the UN on committees for Human Rights and other “watchdog” groups whose mission is to stop their kind of behavior. Yep, that would be the very same UN that your tax dollars help to support. Feel better now ... ?

North Korea Tops Most Censored Countries List
_{May 3, 2006, 4:37 AM EDT}

UNITED NATIONS (AP)—North Korea’s media praises “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il every day but never reported the country’s famine in the 1990s. Myanmar bans anti-government sentiment in the media. Turkmenistan’s dictator approves the front pages of major newspapers—and they always include a photo of him.

The three nations topped the list of “10 Most Censored Countries” issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists on the eve of World Press Freedom Day. The other countries were Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Eritrea, Cuba, Uzbekistan, Syria and Belarus.

“People in these countries are virtually isolated from the rest of the world,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said Tuesday. “They’re kept uninformed by authoritarian rulers who muzzle the media and keep a chokehold on information through restrictive laws, fear and intimidation.”

“We call on the leaders of these most censored countries to join the free world by abandoning their restrictive actions and allowing journalists to independently report the news and inform their citizens,” she said.

The list is the first on censorship issued by the committee. Its regional staff, which researches press freedom abuses around the world, rated the degree of censorship according to 17 different benchmarks, including censorship regulations, jamming of foreign news broadcasts, imprisonment and harassment of journalists and the degree of state control of media.

The report noted that Equatorial Guinea’s state-run radio has described the president as “the country’s God,” and its only private broadcaster is owned by his son.

In Libya, which has the most tightly controlled media in the Arab world, no news or views critical of Moammar Gadhafi are allowed, and one critic who wrote for a London-based opposition Web site was killed last year, it said.

Most countries on the list are ruled by one man who has remained in power by manipulating the media and rigging elections, the report said. Cooper said the media fosters personality cults in Equatorial Guinea, North Korea and Turkmenistan, where President Saparmurat Niyazov’s image is constantly displayed in profile at the bottom of television screens.

- More censorship news here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 05/03/2006 at 07:19 AM   
Filed Under: • International • Oppression •  
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   Monday - April 17, 2006

The Taxman Cometh

For those of you who waited until the last minute, time is running out. Your government needs a large chunk of your hard-earned money to continue operating at its normal level of efficiency for another year. As you sit there and laboriously fill out those forms that only an accountant, a lawyer or “Rain Man” could figure out, keep this in mind: About 250 years ago, our ancestors were screaming “NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION”. You can thank them for the really first-class “representation” we’re all getting in Washington these days. Especially those of you being represented by the likes of Cynthia McKinney and Ted Kennedy ...

At Long Last, Tax Day Is Here
_{April 17, 2006: 10:48 AM EDT}

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Papa John’s is offering pizzas for $10.40. Staples has copy machines located on street corners. Activists are picketing at the post office. Tax day is here and although e-filing has cut down on the number of people lining up at post offices across the country, the deadline has lost none of its impact for citizens of a nation where tax protesting has a longer history than public education (remember the Boston Tea Party?).

Some 74 million taxpayers out of 135 million—or nearly 55%—are expected to e-file this year, according to the IRS. That’s up from 51% last year. This year, however, there are some exceptions to the traditional April 15th Deadline, which fell on a Saturday this year. Filers in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and the District of Columbia have until April 18th because the IRS processing center serving those states is located in Massachusetts, which will be observing the state holiday, Patriot’s Day, on Monday.

Along the Gulf Coast, taxpayers in Louisiana and Mississippi’s hardest hit areas have had their deadline automatically extended by the IRS until Aug. 28th. The agency has made similar provisions for evacuees filing from the places they’ve relocated to across the country. A group called Harlem Grandmothers Against the War will be picketing the IRS building in that storied neighborhood in New York City Monday before joining with the New York Chapter of Grandmothers Against the War to protest in front of New York’s central post office in midtown. The group has plans for similar events across the country.

Vinie Burrows of Harlem Grandmothers Against the War said the group is protesting because it’s “unconscionable that our tax dollars are going to the invasion and destruction of Iraq while we have so many needs here in Harlem and all the Harlems of the country.” Even corporate marketing specials are adapting to the times. Papa John’s is offering online customers large pizzas at the “less taxing” price of $10.40. And Staples said it has copiers and attendants stationed outside post offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Well aware of the growing popularity of e-filing, the office supply retailer “stresses the importance of keeping hard copies of important documents.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/17/2006 at 10:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Oppression •  
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   Tuesday - March 07, 2006

NJ Sinks Even Lower

Found this on Drudge this morning.  Apparenty, Assemblyman PETER J. BIONDI (from my former home district) has introduced a bill to stop people from getting their feelings hurt.  This bill is summerized thus:

Makes certain operators of interactive computer services and Internet service providers liable to persons injured by false or defamatory messages posted on public forum websites.

So the ISP would be liable if someone was injured by false or defamatory statements made on a public website.  What a crock.  How deeply do these people want to get in our lives?

Here’s the key paragraph:

This bill would require an operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish, maintain and enforce a policy requiring an information content provider who posts messages on a public forum website either to be identified by legal name and address or to register a legal name and address with the operator or provider prior to posting messages on a public forum website.

The bill requires an operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

In addition, the bill makes any operator or Internet service provider liable for compensatory and punitive damages as well as costs of a law suit filed by a person damaged by the posting of such messages if the operator or Internet service provider fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required by section 2 of the bill. [Emphasis mine -FC]

So now, ISP (and blog operators, presumably) would have to maintain a database of users, complete with real name and address so that the state of NJ can easily find them if someone gets harmed.  Good grief.  I’m out of words.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/07/2006 at 09:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Insanity • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • Oppression • Outrageous •  
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   Monday - February 20, 2006

The Last Wall

The ChiComs are fighting a losing battle. They are doomed. Remember, you heard it here first. For a generation after WWII, this nation slept, tightly wrapped in the tentacles of Mao and his successors, going through one “cultural revolution” after another. Now, the sleeping giant is awakening but not thanks to Karl Marx. China is emerging as a world power thanks to its embracing capitolism, free markets and free thought - albeit in a limited way so far.

That is all about to change over the next five to ten years and the Communist Party in China has to be aware of it. The old leaders of the ChiCom Party seem intent on plugging the leaks of democracy into their country only until they die, thus preserving their power only a short time longer. It is too late even to withdraw into a shell as the Chinese have done in the past. No Great Wall will keep out the barbarian invaders this time ... for there are no barbarian invaders. 

The enemy of the ChiComs is an idea. An idea of freedom. Freedom to think and say what one wishes. Freedom to live without fear of one’s own government. Freedom to be as real (or as unreal) as one wants to be. The ChiComs’ problem is that ideas don’t tear down walls, defeat armies or sack governments - at least not directly. Indirectly though, ideas are more powerful than any invading army and freedom is the most powerful idea of them all. More powerful than kryptonite even ... which is why I say to the Chinese President ... Mister Jintao, TEAR DOWN THAT WALL ...

Reference Tool On Web Finds Fans, Censors
After Flowering as Forum, Wikipedia Is Blocked Again
Monday, February 20, 2006

BEIJING (WASHINGTON POST)

When access to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, was disrupted across China last October, a lanky chemical engineer named Shi Zhao called his Internet service provider to complain. A technician confirmed what Shi already suspected: Someone in the government had ordered the site blocked again. Who and why were mysteries, Shi recalled, but the technician promised to pass his complaint on to higher authorities if he put it in writing.

“Wikipedia isn’t a Web site for spreading reactionary speech or a pure political commentary site,” Shi, 33, wrote a few days later. Yes, it contained entries on sensitive subjects such as Taiwan and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, but users made sure its articles were objective, he said, and blocking it would only make it harder for people in China to delete “harmful” content.

Shi was hopeful the government would agree. When the site was blocked in 2004, he had submitted a similar letter, and access had been quickly restored. Since then, the Chinese-language edition of Wikipedia had grown, broadening its appeal not only as a reference tool but also as a forum where people across China and the Chinese diaspora could gather, share knowledge and discuss even the most divisive subjects.

But today, four months after Shi submitted his letter, Wikipedia remains blocked. The government has declined to explain its actions. But its on-again, off-again attempts to disrupt access to the site highlight the Communist Party’s deep ambivalence toward the Internet: The party appears at once determined not to be left behind by the global information revolution and fearful of being swept away by it.

Officials tolerated Wikipedia at first, perhaps because it seemed to be exactly what the party had in mind when it began promoting Internet use 11 years ago—an educational resource that could help China close its technological gap with the West, encourage innovation and boost economic growth.

But as the Chinese Wikipedia flourished, the authorities apparently came to see it as another threat to the party’s control of information, and an example of an even more worrying development. The Internet has emerged as a venue for people with shared interests—or grievances—to meet, exchange ideas and plan activities without the party’s knowledge or approval.

With 111 million people online and 20,000 more joining them every day, the landscape of Chinese cyberspace resembles a vast collection of new and overlapping communities. Although Chinese write less e-mail than Americans, they embrace the Internet’s other communication tools—bulletin boards and chat rooms, instant-messaging groups and blogs, photo-sharing and social networking sites. A popular feature of the Chinese search engine Baidu lets users chat with others who have entered the same keywords.

Studies suggest this digital interaction is changing the traditional structure of Chinese society, strengthening relations among friends, colleagues and others outside family networks. In a multinational survey, a much larger percentage of Internet users in China than anywhere else said online communication had increased their contact with people who shared their hobbies, professions and political views.

The Communist Party polices these emerging Internet communities with censors and undercover agents, and manages a Web site that it said received nearly a quarter-million anonymous tips about “harmful information” online last year. But the methods the party uses to control speech and behavior in the real world have proved less effective in cyberspace, where people get away with more, and where the government is often a step behind.

- More on Commie futility here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/20/2006 at 11:39 AM   
Filed Under: • Oppression •  
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   Wednesday - January 25, 2006

Of Dogs And Men

Ancient Chinese Proverb: “If you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas.” Start scratching, Google ...

Google Agrees to Censor Results in China
January 25, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)

Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country’s free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet’s fastest growing market. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to roll out a new version of its search engine bearing China’s Web suffix “.cn,” on Wednesday. A Chinese-language version of Google’s search engine has previously been available through the company’s dot-com address in the United States.

By creating a unique address for China, Google hopes to make its search engine more widely available and easier to use in the world’s most populous country. Because of government barriers set up to suppress information, Google’s China users previously have been blocked from using the search engine or encountered lengthy delays in response time.

The service troubles have frustrated many Chinese users, hobbling Google’s efforts to expand its market share in a country that expected to emerge as an Internet gold mine over the next decade. China already has more than 100 million Web surfers and the audience is expected to swell substantially _ an alluring prospect for Google as it tries to boost its already rapidly rising profits.

Baidu.com Inc., a Beijing-based company in which Google owns a 2.6 percent stake, currently runs China’s most popular search engine. But a recent Keynote Systems survey of China’s Internet preferences concluded that Baidu remains vulnerable to challenges from Google and Yahoo Inc. To obtain the Chinese license, Google agreed to omit Web content that the country’s government finds objectionable. Google will base its censorship decisons on guidance provided by Chinese government officials.

Although China has loosened some of its controls in recent years, some topics, such as Taiwan’s independence and 1989’s Tiananmen Square massacre, remain forbidden subjects. Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted “don’t be evil” as a motto. But management believes it’s a worthwhile sacrifice. “We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace of development in China,” said Andrew McLaughlin, Google’s senior policy counsel.

- More ChiCom Sucking-Up By Google Here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/25/2006 at 06:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Corruption and Greed • Oppression •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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