Police 'abused power' during demo

Police 'abused power' during demo. Now this can be determined after the event, how about making a giant leap and having a bit of fairness before and during the proceedings?

One of the leading protesters, Jane Laporte, said: "It was just completely surreal being surrounded by motorcycle outriders and Land Rovers and police filming us constantly while we were on the coaches. We couldn't believe it was happening in this country. This is why we were supposed to be going to war in Iraq, because people were being denied their freedom of speech, and it was happening to us."

The irony of it all.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Nice interactive Flash animation on the Nation site outlining the big ten media conglomerates in the world and areas of media ownership.

Mark Crispin Miller's original article is worth a look too and keep your eyes peeled as Disney has unanimously rejected a takeover bid by cable firm Comcast. This really isn't that far off being true.

Attrition Security Rant: Anti-Virus Companies: Tenacious Spammers

If spam is "unsolicited junk e-mail" and anti-virus software alert messages include advertisements for the software that generated them which end up in your mailbox as a result of someone spoofing your email address, are anti-virus companies guilty of spamming?

Morris mom turns tables in music industry lawsuit

Morris mom turns tables in music industry lawsuit

And quite right too! The music industry has for too long been allowed to hold the music-buying public to ransom.

eXile

From eXile: "You Pussies!"

"I just read the new polls. Americans are losing their war hard-ons faster than a fag in a whorehouse. At the start of May 2003, 61% said the war was going "very well." Now only 19% say that. Back in May, only 4% said the war was going "not well." Now 35% think so.

You make me sick.

What the Hell did you think was gonna happen? The Iraqis were gonna fall in love with an occupying army? "Oh thank you for blowing up our power plants and water supply! Allah be praised, now we have democracy!"

White House Admits Bush Lied in 2002 State of The Union Over Al Qaeda Obtaining U.S. Nuke Plant Plans

President Bush claimed in his 2002 State of the Union address that the U.S. discovered in Afghanistan detailed plans of U.S. nuclear plants. The Bush administration was forced to admit this week that the claim was not based on factual evidence after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said there was no evidence any such plans were found in Afghanistan.

More at http://www.democracynow.org and Greenpeace USA.

Yes, kids, governments tell lies.

Greg Palast

If you don't already know the work of this man, here's a couple of RealAudio pointers:

- Theft of the Presidency
- Bush blocked Bin Laden probes

More of the writings of Greg Palast.

I love death

A superb animation for a rather catchy tune from Finnish band, Lodger (album out in the next four weeks).

It's nice when the 24x7 audio-visual and 'broadcast' capabilities that we have at our disposal are used to highlight the elusive obvious rather than to captivate and distract us from what actually is.

Blunkett plans tougher terror law

A blind man in the UK isn't going to be happy until such time as we're all locked up.

Home Secretary David Blunkett wants new anti-terrorism laws to make it easier to convict British terror suspects. He wants to extend this so prosecutors can take action against suspected British extremists even though the evidence may not be strong enough to win a conviction under existing laws.

This may mean lowering the burden of proof in such cases from "beyond reasonable doubt" to what is acceptable in civil cases, "the balance of probabilities".

Words fail me... However, the reactions of those that frequent the BBC web site seem rather more balanced than usual. Given the nature of the democracies that are imposed on us, I'm not entirely certain that the opinions of the general public are going to make much of a difference in the long run, but we can hope.

Benjamin Franklin said it best when he said, "He that gives up a little liberty to gain temporary security will lose both and deserve neither".

How strange?

"It's the oil, stupid!" is a document that was written by Joseph Clifford and submitted to the Media Monitors Network shortly after 911 and the invasion of Afghanistan. I thought the original work was rather smart and that it might be a good idea to try and substantiate the little factoids espoused within through the use of links to relevant articles elsewhere on the marvel that is the Internet; below is the result.

Must get back into doing this sort of thing again... I think Gandhi once said something along the lines of, "Whatever you do will make little or no difference but you must do it anyway".

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The Russians got into their Vietnam right after we got out of ours? Isn't that strange?

We supported Bin Laden and the Taliban for years, and viewed them as freedom fighters against the Russians? Isn't that strange?

As late as 1998 the US was paying the salary of every single Taliban official in Afghanistan? Isn't that strange?

There is more oil and gas in the Caspian Sea area than in Saudi Arabia, but you need a pipeline through Afghanistan to get the oil out. Isn't that strange?

UNOCAL, a giant American Oil conglomerate, wanted to build a 1000 mile long pipeline from the Caspian Sea through Afghanistan to the Arabian Sea. Isn't that strange?

UNOCAL spent $10,000,000,000 on geological surveys for pipeline construction, and very nicely courted the Taliban for their support in allowing the construction to begin. Isn't that strange?

All of the leading Taliban officials were in Texas negotiating with UNOCAL in 1998. Isn't that strange?

1998-1999 the Taliban changed its mind and threw UNOCAL out of the country and awarded the pipeline project to a company from Argentina. Isn't that strange?

John Maresca VP of UNOCAL testified before Congress and said no pipeline until the Taliban was gone and a more friendly government was established. Isn't that strange?

1999-2000 The Taliban became the most evil people in the world. Isn't that strange?

Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October. Isn't that strange?

9/11 WTC disaster. Bush goes to war against Afghanistan even though none of the hijackers came from Afghanistan. Isn't that strange?

Bush blamed Bin Laden but has never offered any proof saying it’s a "secret". Isn't that strange?

Taliban offered to negotiate to turn over Bin Laden if we showed them some proof. We refused; we bombed. Isn't that strange?

Bush said: "This is not about nation building. It's about getting the "terrorists". Isn't that strange?

We have a new government in Afghanistan. Isn't that strange?

The leader of that government formerly worked for UNOCAL. Isn't that strange?

Bush appoints a special envoy to represent the US to deal with that new government, who formerly was the "chief consultant" to UNOCAL. Isn't that strange?

The Bush family acquired their wealth through oil? Isn't that strange?

Bush's Secretary of Interior was the President of an oil company before going to Washington. Isn't that strange?

George Bush Sr. now works with the "Carlysle Group" specializing in huge oil investments around the world. Isn't that strange?

Condoleezza Rice worked for Chevron before gong to Washington. Isn't that strange?

Chevron named one of its newest "supertankers" after Condoleezza. Isn't that strange?

Dick Cheney worked for the giant oil conglomerate Halliburton before becoming VP. Isn't that strange?

Haliburton gave Cheney $34,000,000,000 as a farewell gift when he left Haliburton. Isn't that strange?

Haliburton is in the pipeline construction business. Isn't that strange?

There is $6 Trillion dollars worth of oil in the Caspian Sea area. Isn't that strange?

The US government quietly announces Jan 31, 2002 we will support the construction of the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline. Isn't that strange?

President Musharref (Pakistan), and Karrzai, (Afghanistan -Unocal) announce agreement to build proposed gas pipeline from Central Asia to Pakistan via Afghanistan. (Irish Times 02/10/02) Isn't that strange?

"It’s the Oil, Stupid!"

Rage Cookies

More courtesy of Jessica Zafra (she's very good!):

Rage Cookies

Ingredients:

10 kilos of all the resentment you've ever felt but never expressed towards your parents, grandparents, elder relatives, teachers, government officials, office superiors, role models, and authority figures who have betrayed you, lied to you, or failed to follow their own grand pronouncements, and in doing so destroyed your faith in the human race.

10 kilos of all the bitterness you've ever felt towards the people you were in love with who didn't love you back, who mocked you, toyed with your emotions, abandoned you on the darkest nights of your soul, and never appreciated your willingness to tear your guts at their bidding, and in doing so obliterated your belief in real love.

10 kilos of all the revulsion you feel towards a society that worships mediocrity, that rewards phoniness and cheap sentimentality because it appeals to the lowest common denominator, that eats its young and pukes them out, that condones corruption and greed, and scoffs at honesty and ethical behavior because No one gets rich being honest and ethical, and in doing so destroys itself.

10 liters bile

1 cup vinegar

Directions:

Throw everything into a large vat and mix thoroughly to form a batter. Knead the batter with your bare hands. Beat merciliessly until it is soft. Make dozens of fist-sized lumps, then shape then into the people you despise.

Bake in 2000 degrees of anger.

Excerpted from "Planet of the Twisted" - Jessica Zafra. Published by Anvil Publishing Inc.

Where is Jessica Zafra?

I find it superbly interesting the way in which corporations attempt to transfer the burden of one of their most fundamental business risks to their customers and it appears I'm not the only one. Let me explain...

It was ridiculously early on a Sunday morning when I found myself trawling the web for someone by the name of Jessica Zafra. I had no idea who she was, or what she did, but I found the following excerpt in a Usenet post which came from something she penned entitled, "An Opinion On Piracy". The article rather nicely explains how I feel about the whole piracy deal and is reproduced, in part, below:

"Does anyone else find it funny that people who make
much more money than we do are appealing to us not
to deprive them of their income? You have the nerve
to charge me P450 for a CD that is being sold on the
street for P60 and you expect my sympathy?

The campaign against pirated software, CD's, VCD's,
audio and cassettes, would have us believe that
piracy is our problem. Really? How is shelling out
P100 for a disc that contains P50,000 worth of
software a problem for me? It would seem that the
pirates are doing me, and my shrinking wallet a big
favor. Why should it bother me that a movie which
has not yet opened in theatres is being
peddled on VCD on the streets for P90? I have no
fights with the pirates. They are selling me
information I might otherwise not have access to
because of prohibitive costs. Yes they are thieves
and thieves should be punished, but they are not
stealing from me. Oh sure, you can lecture me about
in the long run I will pay for buying bootleg but by
then I will have used the information for my
benefit.

So let me make a correction. Piracy is the problem
of the manufacturers - the software houses, record
companies, and motion picture companies - whom I
shall refer to from hereon as the corporations. By
telling us not to buy pirated materials "for the
good of everyone", corporations make it appear that
corporate interests and the public interest are the
same thing. This is unlaughably untrue. Corporations
makes noise about working in the public interest -
these noises are called public relations, PR - but
their duty is to their owners."

Everything wants to be free. If this wasn't the case, corporations wouldn't need to go to such extreme lengths to make it not so.

Street Writing

The subliminal dudes are everywhere.

Moodwatch - There are only two constants in this life; chaos and pandemonium.

and you open the door and you step inside - we're inside our hearts. now imagine your pain is a white ball of healing light. that's right, feel your pain, the pain itself, it's a white ball of healing light.

I don't think so.

this is your life. good to the last drop. doesn't get any better than this. this is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. this isn't a seminar and this isn't a weekend retreat. where you are now you can't even imagine what the bottom will be like.

only after disaster can we be resurrected. it's only after you have lost everything that you are free to do anything.

nothing is static, everything is appalling, everything is falling apart.

this is your life. it doesn't get any better than this.
this is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.

you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. you are the same decaying organic matter as everything else. we are all a part of the same compost heap, we are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. you are not your bank account, you are not the clothes you wear. you are not the contents of your wallet. you are not your bowel cancer. you are not your Grande Latte. you are not the car you drive. you are not your fucking khakis.

you have to give up,
you have to give up.

you have to realize that someday you will die. until you know that, you are useless.

I say let me never be complete. I say may I never be content. I say deliver me from Swedish furniture! I say deliver me from clever art. I say deliver me from clear skin and perfect teeth. I say you have to give up. I say evolve, and let the chips fall where they may.

this is your life. it doesn't get any better than this.
this is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.

you have to give up.
you have to give up. (I want you to hit me as hard as you can)

welcome to fight club, if this is your first night, you have to fight.

-- dust brothers (featuring tyler durden), "What is Fight Club?"

Choice

When did I make the choices that I didn't know I'd made?

Black Gold

For those of you that didn't know before the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq that there might be some value in controlling the countries which hold the world's largest oil reserves, CNN reports, "World oil and gas 'running out'".

Basic supply and demand theory states the more scarce a resource, the greater its value - especially in times of increasing consumption. Oil fits this profile very nicely and America happens to be the single largest consumer of oil on the planet.

The countries with the largest oil reserves (measured in billions of barrels) are:

1 Saudi Arabia (265.3)
2 Iraq (115)
3 Kuwait (98.8)
4 Iran (96.4)
5 United Arab Emirates (62.8)
6 Russia (54.3)
7 Venezuela (47.6)
8 China (30.6)
9 Libya (30)
10 Mexico (26.9)

Source: Aneki

The largest oil producer, Saudi Arabia, is already on-side (Osama Bin Laden and the vast majority of the 911 hijackers are/were of Saudi origin but that's neither here, nor there), Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves and Iran the fourth largest. Both Iran and Iraq, coincidentally, feature in George Bush's list of 'axis of evil' countries that he targeted in his State of the Union address in early 2002. The list was later expanded to include Cuba, Libya and Syria. One down...

Iraq had insisted on being paid for oil in Euros rather than dollars. Russia is thinking of switching oil trade from Dollars to Euros and, according to Youssef Ibrahim, managing director of the Strategic Energy Investment Group in Dubai and a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, "a number of countries within OPEC would prefer to trade in euros." Ibrahim maintains that this currency switch was one of the reasons that the US attacked Iraq and goes on to say, "There is a great political dimension to this. Slowly more power and muscle is moving from the United States to the EU, and that's mainly because of what happened in Iraq."

If the US was upset by Iraq's shift to the Euro, they're going to be more than mildly irritated should Russia and bunch of other OPEC countries wish to do the same. Given that it is oil trading in dollars that literally gives the US a license to print money, any further shifts by any of the major players is going to have serious repercussions on both the American economy and the balance of global power.

Chutney Ferrets

"When my boyfriend told me he wanted to take me up the Oxo Tower for my birthday, I was a bit hesitant at first because I didn't really think it was my scene. How wrong I was! I mean, yeah, so it's a bit of a strain on the old back pocket, and I admit I did feel a bit uncomfortable initially. But a couple of cocktails helped me relax and soon I was really getting into it - we carried on well into the night. It was a great experience and I really loved it - so much so that I won't let my boyfriend take me anywhere else now! So if anyone ever wants to take you up the Oxo Tower, just throw caution to the wind and go for it!"

Source: London Eating

All the President's votes?

"A quiet revolution is taking place in US politics. By the time it's over, the integrity of elections will be in the unchallenged, unscrutinised control of a few large - and pro-Republican - corporations."

Private Profit at the Expense of Public Service

Not one, but two tube train derailments in as many days this weekend. The derailments occurred on the Piccadilly Line and the Northern Line, both of which have just been handed over to Tubelines under a 30-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal.

Tubelines is a consortium of three firms, including none other than Jarvis PLC and Bechtel, both of whom were involved in maintenance on the West Coast Main Line. The third party in the consortium is cash-strapped Amey. All three firms are united by powerful political contacts and a poor safety record which they appear to be replicating on the London Underground.

Both Jarvis and Amey have recently pulled out of their day-to-day rail maintenance contracts to avoid the costs and negative publicity of high-profile accidents on track they maintained. Of course, we all know about Bechtel now, don't we?

What's especially concerning about these underground train derailments is the fact that, with the notable exception of Radio 4's Today programme on Monday morning, none of the media seems to be catching on to the fact that it's the same organisations that were behind failing to adequately maintain overground track that are also responsible for not adequately maintaining underground track either! The Today report is here, however, the archived version contains no mention of Jarvis' role in the Tubelines consortium.

Update: London Mayor Ken Livingstone, as quoted in a Guardian article, "You could call them the usual suspects. This is not out of step with their record elsewhere." Well said that man!

Free Press

I stumbled across a rather interesting publication from The International Federation of Journalists entitled, "European Media Ownership: Threats on the Landscape". From the executive summary in that document:

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This report concludes that there are major threats in Europe's media landscape. Some of the threats identified are political and private threats to public service broadcasting, power over global media in the hands of few, more and more media concentration, the threat to emerging markets in Eastern and Central Europe and regulation getting weaker as media power grows.
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Major rant to follow soon, unfortunately this little thing called work keeps getting in the way of me doing anything useful with my time.