What The...?

Fuck off:

The whole population and every UK visitor should be added to the national DNA database, a senior judge has said.

The present database in England and Wales holds details of 4m people who are guilty or cleared of a crime.

Lord Justice Sedley said this was indefensible and biased against ethnic minorities, and it would be fairer to include everyone, guilty or innocent.

Ministers said DNA helped tackle crime, but there were no plans for a voluntary national or compulsory UK database.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said to expand the database would create "huge logistical and bureaucratic issues" and civil liberty concerns.

It hardly requires more than half a brain cell to point out the problems inherent in a mass database. For a judge to say this though is disgraceful. An the line I've highlighted in bold says it all. He'd like to see an introduction of Continental style justice that favours the state, where everyone is lumped together and people are assumed guilty till proven innocent. Why should innocent, law abiding citizens be put on a database? They have committed no crime. Further the idea that a database for criminals only is unfair is ludicrous. Might one hypothesise that if an unusually large number of ethnic minorities are on the database its because they have committed a crime? Anyone can commit a crime- white, black, latino. Anyone. And if an ethnci moinority commits more crimes then surely thats a social issue.

The whole thing is so half baked I can barely fucking believe it.

South Korea's Loss

ROK has paid $20 million to get 20 aidworker/missionaries back. By doing so they are directly funding the Taliban to go more people. More than that it shows the worth of hostages in todays media saturated society. Kidnapping hostages is good money- it costs little to do so and makes great profits. Well done ROK.

Are We At War?

If you walk down the street today do you feel like you are at war? Like in the Blitz do you see corpses, ruined houses, men in uniform everywhere? I doubt you do. War has become removed from the civilian population at large, it has no impact. I can't holiday in Iraq but I wouldn't have done that before anyway. I can still travel where I want, do what I want, buy what I want. War impinges on my life only in the time I am willing to spend looking at it or watching the TV. Its a distant thing with little to no basis in my own physical existence.

And that is one of the reasons we have for total apathy in this country. People don't care because the war seems like a foreign affair, removed from us and untouchable. It doesn't really bother us so why care? Both pro and anti war movements are outnumbered by the generally bored, the unopinionated, the drifters. Life has reached a point where you don't have to have opinions because nothing that bad is happening. In the Cold War we might have been nuked or invaded at any moment. A real threat existed. For homosexuals there was the possibility of arrest. Foreigners were abused because so many of them were emigrating (pre 50's racism is often wildly overemphasised). There were issues and causes. Now peoples lives are so comfortable that they don't need to care. And in a life full of easy things it is easier not to care.

This is one of the reasons for such lack of emotion over the war. Whilst we sit comfortably we care not. Even 7/7 had limited casualties, limited impact. Terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan don't appear in our lives every day but rather occasionally, intermittently. They flicker in and out and we don't care.

Someone needs to bring the issues back to politics. We won't know what we'll be losing till we've lost it.

Retreating

Can we please admit it? We are retreating from Basra because we can't control it. That isn't the soldiers fault: they've done their best. But they don't have the men, the infastructure or equipment to do it. And most importantly the Iraqis don't want to knuckle under. Theres nothing that can be done about that. Militias provide localised government and support to the people on a level the MoD can't match. They therefore take control.

That we failed, for it is a failure, is hardly surprising. As mentioned above there was little to no chance the whole mess could be sorted out by 5,000 blokes and a few Land Rovers. Maybe 50,000 blokes but even then I'd be cautious.

Will the Yanks be pissed? Yup. But so what. Our retreat is exactly the kind of thing they will be doing in a few years. The point is that they have more men and money so it will take longer before they need to retreat. We are just preempting them.

A Privatised Military

Much has been said of the collapse of the covenant between the military and the government/people. Not so much has been said about how to solve it. In many ways the Army suffers due to the lack of Unions. This lack is incredibly important because it measn there is nobody to fight for the soldiers rights except to various private individuals. That said having Unions would be lunacy.

Let us be clear: the covenant has been broken. Soldiers use outdated and dangerous equipment, have lamentable pensions, rates of pay, hours and compensation. They have few benefits back in country and are on the job pretty much 24/7. So what can we do. Well simple...

1. Better pay. If the MoD can pay Afghanis to dress up like Taliban for £50 a day and spend £80 million per Eurofighter then they can afford to spend £50 a day on soldiers wages.
2. Better compensation. As the recent Ben Parkinson/RAF Typist scandal has shown compensation is currently wack. Considering what these men and women put on the line I think more could be done. In particular free private health care for life for those in the warzone might be nice.
3. Better contracts for equipment. I mean just look at this list. One can only surmise some tit in the MoD mistook the chaingun for a minigun. The only other reasonable excplanation for buying a chaingun is that the bloke in charge though guns work in real life like they do in DOOM. As mentioned here, it would make a fuck load more sense to buy tried and tested weapons and kit off the peg rather than spending billions and billions on things that don't work. Fuck the SA 80, use the G36 or SLR. Etc.
4. Decent explosives proof kit. Not just more vehicles like the Mastiff but also some nice anti-Mortar barracks at Basra. Because a mattress just isn't really the same.
5. Morale boosters and free shit. Free post, free cinema tickets etc. If the Yanks can have them why can't our soldiers?
6. More helicopters. No explanation even needed.

Now one of the reasons I mention all this is because of the comparison between say Blackwater and our own MoD. Blackwater provides cheap, useable and well suited kit to its men. Its always there on back up. The MoD on the other hand is still buying things based on how shiny they are. Wouldn't it be nice to add more privatisation to the military?

These are just general thoughts, off the top of my head. No plan, no drafts, just writing. And if even I, a man removed from war by two generations, can think of this kind of stuff when the MoD can't then what kind of chance do our soldiers have?

The Sandbashers Speak

From HERE:

Unaha, the above post answers your question. I can testify to the fact that we used the ‘Snatch’ Landrovers (OK for Northern Ireland, iffy elsewhere) in Basra in 2004 while our counterparts from other Coalition contingents (Italians, Danes etc) had patrol vehicles such as the Scarab (MAV 5, above) and the Mowag (below). Both could be fitted with extra armour for added defence against mines and IEDs:

http://kr.img.blog.yahoo.com/ybi/1/24/56/shinecommerce/folder/8/img_8_13384_3?1183781182.jpg
http://www.armyvehicles.dk/apctest_1.htm

At the start of our tour (May 2004) we were driving into Basra - and to Al Amarah - in the standard ‘Wolf’ Landrovers, which had fuck-all protection whatsoever. Eventually the powers that be realised that this was not a good idea, and the Snatches were rushed into theatre as a snap solution. But then the MOD left it at that, and only started to order Mastiff when more blokes started dying in IED attacks.

The reason why the British Army are using WMIKs and Snatches is due to the breach of the military contract which Francis Sedgemore has written about. Whatever your opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan, the fact that soldiers are being expected to operate with outmoded equipment is an absolute disgrace.

Thank God we’ve got Eurofighter, because that really scares the hell out of the Mahdi Army and the Taliban.

Its good to get the view of someone who's out there. And as the last line shows, whatever else the British Army lacks it still has a wicked (if sobering) sense of humour.

The point is well made and reflects what EU Referendum has been saying for a while, namely that the Eurofighter is useless bcause it is designed for the Cold War. Sure it can be used as Close Air Support but its too fast and can't carry enough ordanance. And more than that its incredibly expensive, not only to buy but also to train on and keep running. On the other hand we could use Super Tucanos like Blackwater does which are rugged, require much less equipment, are the right speed for support and cost a measly $9 million (say £4.5 million). A Eurofighter costs £80 million.

But that isn't the point. The reason we buy things like the Eurofighter and the upcoming Future Lynx is simple: small dick syndrome. Eurofighters are shiny and very, very nice. But sadly they are also completely useless for the job in hand, particuarly in comparison to older but more suitable kit. With a Future Lynx we can show off to all the other countries. Unfortunately we just won't be able to show them off anywhere except on the ground because by all accounts the Future Lynx's predeccessor can barely fly in the desert. Gee whiz, how useful.

The other interesting point picked up on by EU Referendum is that Blackwater are the ones buying cheap, suitable kit. This further reinforces John Robb's ideas about the advantages of privatised militaries. Blackwater don't need to show off, they have limited funds and need results for their money. The MoD has little to no incentive (though one wonders if the MoD's top civil servants were sent on fact finding missions to the UK's furthest outposts in Snatch Land Rovers they might change their mind).

Damn Good Point

An excellent point by the Dissident Frogman can be found HERE:

A people, a nation or a civilization's collective wisdom is built out of its popular culture. We may deplore it, but the fact remains: most of us are not political activists, policy experts, media minders, academics or climatologists. Whatever 'sticks' with us, the masses, on any given question is what is diffused through pop culture. Not because we, the masses, are stupid - as snub, common-man hating Lefties often pretend - but mostly because we, the masses, have a day job and little spare time to thoroughly explore all the important issues. You may publish any number of the most accurate reports on guns and citizenry, or all the scientifically exact studies debunking anthropogenic climate change in the world; you will still have less impact than Michael Moore and Al Gore with a single fairy tales flick.

Aw, Shit

P.J. McAuley, one of my favorite authors, has just released a pile o' crap. Well, it will probably be pretty good as a read but as politics we're talking total balls. Just read THIS:

Kick ass and take no prisoners. Bust their chops. Let's Drop the Big One and See What Happens.

Welcome to Cowboy America. You might think you live in some other version of America, and maybe that's the case – at least in Paul McAuley's 'Cowboy Angels' (Victor Gollancz/ Orion Books ; September 2007 ; £18.99 HC / £12.99 RPB). McAuley's taken the good ol' multi-universe concept and used it to send more Americas than you’d care to imagine through the wringer. 'Cowboy Angels' is a fascinating exercise in dueling cowboys. On one side of the equation, you have Adam Stone and the Cowboy Angels, the men who essentially ride herd on the multiverse, protecting alternate versions of America where things don’t look so hot. At least according to the Cowboy Angels and the last three Republican presidents who took a little program involving Turing Gates and used it to spread democracy throughout the alternate Americas.

But as the novel starts, there's a new game in town. The last election brought a very different kind of gool ol' boy into power. Jimmy Carter, and he's not into any of this democracy as peanut butter bullshit. He's spreading peace through the multiverse, and the black ops folks that had their heyday helping foment revolution in an America where the god-damned Commies took over 1929 are finished.

Or are they? Imagine if the CIA had access to the multiverse, and was able to tweak history to its liking. That'll give you a sense of the plot at work here. They're not going to give it up without a fight, and you know, the word "fair" ain't a part of the word "fight". Mysteriously, the word "dirty" is. Who would have thought? Well probably your local spook recruitment outlet. I don’t recommend going there to ask.

Now you know earlier on I mentioned that this novel is cowboy vs cowboy, and I mentioned those on one side – the butt-kickin' bravos bringin' Democracy with a capital "R" to the multiverse. Those are the American characters in the novel. Set up against them is another sort of Cowboy Angel. That would be the all-powerful author, Paul McCauley, who has his own fish to fry, most of them American, most of them deserving the fryolator or something worse. One of the most delightful aspects of this novel is the cowboy sensibility of the writer, who pulls no punches and is not averse to kicking some self-satisfied American asses. The trick here, and McAuley mostly pulls it off, is to create characters who seem real enough to be likable in spite of the fact that they're essentially fascist pigs wearing the stars'n'bars. Well, you know, fascist pigs, they always have the same fashion sense, eh?

McAuley's other strength is of course the crackerjack plot he's devised. He's given himself so many U-turns, secret portals and popup whack-a-moles that the most surprising thing is how effectively and sparsely he uses them. Oh, there's plenty of fun to be had here. This is a thriller with a mirror-maze twist. It's also the kind of book that would be absurdly easy to make into a movie, and it really plays like one in your head. Perhaps somewhere out there in the universe, in the sheaf where Alan Turing nailed quantum computing and emigrated to America, they're watching it now.

I mean, gee. Jimmy Carter? This being Jimmy "I fucking lurve terrorists man. Lets not talk to the moderates, the realists and the nice people but to the fuckwits." Carter. Sure, America did a lot of dodgy stuff during the Cold War- who didn't? Sure they've got a lot of problems as a country- who doesn't? Can't we have criticism of someone else please? I'm bored of America this, America that when in reality there are much, much worse countries out there.

How about China for instance? They have the death penalty and kill hundreds a year. They censor the internet. They abuse the poor in record levels. They are committed to non-stop build of their military. Elections and multiple political parties are unknown. They have sponsored terrorism. They support many of the worst regimes in the world. They are a major arms manufactorer. They use torture. Etc.

Just makes me sad that some people spend so long looking at America they miss all the other nasty shit out there.

Iran's War On Drugs

A little known part of the current tea party in the M.E. is Irans losing fight with...the Taliban. Iran has one of the highest addiction rates in the world, mostly for Heroin which is flooded into the country by the Taliban. This incidentally is one of the big problems their dear old leader has completely ignored whilst he built nuke plants.

Now when we said fight, we goddam meant it. According to orbat.com they've lost 1,500+ border guards (armed with Austrian kit) since the 2001 invasion. Thats a lot of blokes, more than the whole of NATO's casulaties, and the Iranians aren't even operating in a real warzone. We're just talking smugglers and their mates.

Drugs have in general been one of the biggest problems in Afghanistan so far. Not only do they fund the Taliban but they are also exported all round the world. Furthermore they provide fantastic propaganda for the Taliban who can portray NATO as wanting to stop the crops.

But to all this there is a fairly simple solution: Morphine. Opium not only makes the exceedingly dangerous heroin but also the medicinal Morphine. An' right now there is a morphine shortage in the world. Should the MoD or NATO choose they could buy the Opium from the farmers, gaining their support, process it and flog it to medical companies where it would serve a useful purpose. Whilst profits would be less than if they sold it as heroin (which is why there is a morphine shortage) you'd still make money. Furthermore you could offer to buy it up with Iran who would hopefully be glad to help and therefore make money as well as help their own country.

Now even if this could be pulled off, providing black economy demand isn't enough to outprice the MoD, it won't solve the Taliban. But it will go a major way towards helping, not to mention being of enormous social benefit to the world as a whole.

Your Kid Will Grow Up To Be Stupid

You'd think this was ironic:

Initially, I was pleasantly surprised. Together we played Fifa 03, mother and son bonding over a football game lost to his expert childish thumbs jabbing x buttons to pass and o buttons to shoot. But when the new Fifa 07 game was unwrapped – a modern version rated at an unbelievable 3-plus (what mother is going to let a toddler go from Teletubbies to PlayStation?) I was shocked. In a matter of a couple of years, there were new aggressive gestures to the referee, nasty pushing and shoving between footballers after fouls, close-ups of angry grimaces at the ref’s decision. The unacceptable face of football.

New, "agressive" gestures. Oh deary me. How can they peddle that filth.

Future Private Eye Material

Fuckin' stupid:

Senior social workers have given warning of the dangers posed by a new government register that will store the details of every child in England from next year.

They fear that the database, containing the address, medical and school details of all under-18s, could be used to harm the children whom it is intended to protect.

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ACDS) has written to officials outlining its “significant” concerns about the new system, called ContactPoint, The Times has learnt. Confusion over who is responsible for vetting users and policing the system “may allow a situation where an abuser could be able to access ContactPoint for illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions”, Richard Stiff, the chairman of the ADCS Information Systems and Technology Policy Committee, said.

The security fears are fuelled further by the admission that information about the children of celebrities and politicians is likely to be excluded from the system.

Two points to be made here. First is that if politicans and celebrity children are to be shielded then obviously the system is fucked. After all if it worked they wouldn't need the extra protection. The second point is the difference between the political classes. Whilst the politicans children are guarded those of ordinary folk are royally fucked. In other words we are looking at a two class system.

What a bunch of wankers, eh?

Quote of the Day

Der Spiegel, 11/01/07:

"The state is socially responsible, even for alien shamans"

A Cunning Ploy

A rising Jewish film star who plays the son-in-law of Saddam Hussein in a British Broadcasting Corporation drama faces a possible ban on performing in Israel for acting with an Arab in the film.

Actor Yigal Naor, now shooting in Tunisia, ran into trouble when his union learned that Arab actor Amr Waked is playing the role of the ousted and executed dictator in the drama about his life.

Naor, who appeared alongside Hollywood star George Clooney in the 2005 blockbuster Syriana, defended his position, telling several Israeli papers he did not know an Arab was involved until after he signed the contract.

He also said the film was pro-Israeli, and criticizes Iranian foreign policy, according to the Israeli Mail.

"The position of the union is clear in its rejection of normalization [with Arab countries], and requires that members abide by this position," Ashraf Zaki, the head of the union, said.

"Yigal Naor is playing the role of the husband of Saddam's daughter opposite an Arab who plays Saddam ... Yigal will be facing an investigation as soon as he returns [from filming]," Zaki said.

Fucking disgusting eh? Can you imagine it, the Jews discriminating against an Arab. Even refusing to be in the same film? Racist bastard eh? As for his scumsucking Israeli union- how dare it be political.

Do you feel really revolted? Eh?

Well good because every word done in bold there has been changed. If you'd like to see the original look HERE.

Guns Motherfucker

What with poor Rhys gaining new head ventilation gun crime has been in the news a lot. So we've had thousands and thousands of journalists writing the following:

I have no idea. But my uninformed opinion is...

So lets break it down. Why does gun crime happen? The answer is easy: because of people. Guns are essentially a tool, though a dangerous one. Cracking down on guns will never eliminate gun crime for two reasons:
1. Guns are a commodity. If stores won't sell them then the black economy will. They will therefore always be available.
2. Humans sometimes want to kill people. Only total elimination of humanity or radical brainwashing would stop humans wanting to kill each other.
We can see therefore that gun crime occurs because of humanity and that gun crime cannot be eliminated. However there are ways to reduce gun crime. The obvious answer is to ban guns and crack down on them. In reality though this method is flawed. The black economy will always have some guns to sell. This method also promotes illiberal measures (cracking down would involve new police powers) and is of dubious values: Switzerland has a much smaller rate of gun crime than the UK. The reason why? Values.

Guns are an essential part of the bastardised gang culture here in the UK. The reason for the popularity of these gangs can be surmised HERE. The best way to combat guns is to get rid of gangs. To get rid of gangs we need to do what George says.

Simple really? Well writing it might be but turning that into policy- thats a whole different world and not one I'd feel capable in.

Word Switchin'

Read this:

Or how about the sack of shit beginning, filled with waffle about the Cube and the Allspark, without actually explaining what those fucking things actually fucking are to those in the audience who haven’t spent their adult lives shut in darkened bedrooms, reading Transformer comics over and over again?

Now replace "Cube" and "Allspark" with "Graphics Card" and "Hard drive". Then replace "Transformer comics" with Apple Macs.* Seems awful close to all those geek-wank posts of the Devil aout Macs don't it, is The Nameless One sure he wanted to post that...

Oh yeah and Steve Jobs is a dick. With a messiah complex.

*Not that I'm so fucking stupid I don't know what a graphics card is. Problem is as I don't know computer geekery I don't have the words to use. Similarly one should not imagine I know shit about Transformers. I mean who the fuck watches Transformers? Cowboy Bebop beats it to death and shits in its neck.