innerhippy

My Sunday ritual often includes a trip to the gym. This usually permits me to enjoy the rest of the weekend relatively guilt free. On my way back, I pop into the local shop to pick up a drink and a newspaper. For some inexplicable reason I picked up The Sunday Telegraph – something I haven’t done in ages. The man in the shop I’ve known for many years, but whose name I’ve never bothered to find out. He keeps a very tidy shop and is always happy to exchange a few words with me. He is a good man.

I slap my scandal ridden paper on the counter and offer some trite comment about the latest headline. But I’m greeted with an impassive face, staring at me for just a moment too long.

“I’m sorry”, he offered, “my thoughts are elsewhere. At home, in Sri Lanka”.

His kind face belied his apparent agony and explained, “It’s genocide in my home town. I am so worried – the government are killing my people.”

I stood there not knowing what to say, so said nothing.

“They killed my father in front of me. That is why I am here. Soon they will kill them all and there will be no Tamils left”.

My thoughts turned to the current protests in parliament square and the contemptible apathy shown by the stack of pages in front of me.

“If you asked me many years ago, I would say I was Sri Lankan. But I am not. I am Tamil”. For a moment, so was I.

The queue behind me stirred with impatience, arms laden with trivialities. So I quickly paid, offered my sympathies and left, thoroughly ashamed that I had just contributed to – and help sustain – this media freak-show that was depriving us from important news.

The MP’s scandal has been going on for too long now, the media basking in sanctimonious hypocrisy, and fuelling public anger to sell yet more papers. Yes, they’ve been caught with their snouts in the trough – sack the offenders and lets move on. Quickly. Please.

There’s real news out there, but none I expect to find in the newspaper that lies unread on the kitchen table.

There’s a rather disturbing article on the BBC website here, which details intentions by the US authorities to profile people’s behaviour on the net to try and spot terrorists. They will first be carrying out analysis to establish “baseline normative behaviours” against which they’ll be able to identify abnormal behaviour. Naturally, anyone straying from this normative baseline will be seen as an enemy to the mighty US and deemed a terrorist. What a complete load of bollocks.

Changes on the net are governed equally by technical innovation and social fashions, there’s not a cat in hell’s chance of any ludicrous baselining keeping up with this change. I for one will consider changing my net behaviour just to get as many alarm bells ringing and red flags waving as possible. They can stick their profiling up their paranoid arses.

Why am I so against this? Because of how the US meters out their wonderful justice. Consider the
next story from the BBC.

The key phrase here is “A US official confirmed launching a strike against “suspected terrorists”". Do the US have no judicial process that assumes innocence before guilt? Ah yes, I almost forgot – the aberration to all that believe in democracy – Guantanamo Bay.
So, expect bombs to be raining down in London soon, as the US flexes it’s global muscle and blows everything up.

One day their profiling software will control the warplanes…

Today, 140 police and staff in the UK were reprimanded over an email.

This email showed footage from the US showing a man being decapitated on some railings after a pursuit by the police.

The reason for the reprimand was, as a senior officer said, "the image could be perceived as racist and offensive."

The man being decapitated was, in fact, black.

What?

Has the world gone utterly mad? I don't particularly care what colour the unfortunate person is, but I do have an issue with the fact that he's getting his head chopped off!

Why are the police making this an issue of racism? Does political correctness veto good taste? Would we have 140 slapped wrists if it was only a whitey being lynched?

Something's gone horribly wrong somewhere….

One thing that's really starting to get my goat is Blair's predictable attempts at emotional blackmail and political mileage over his defeat. He keeps stating the ludicrous position that every MP that voted against the government is somehow soft on terrorism. Technically, this is bollocks. The police have absolutely no responsibility towards protecting civil liberties and democracy in this country – that is the job of politicians. The MPs listened to the advice given and made the judgement that 90 days was totally incompatible with our democracy. That's why the bill was defeated and not because of petty party politics or leadership conspiracies. The MPs have done their job and should be applauded for finally standing up to this authoritarian, egotistical, arrogant bafoon that we have as Prime Minister.