Well, now you know...

This man used to be our Home Secretary

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1924226,00.html

Its not verified, of course, but would you really put it past this government? The government who has already worked viciously to squash dissent within and without its own party, who cannot stand the idea of the people using their right to protest (outside of the offices we give them, no less), that uses anti-terror legislation on peaceful protestors and declares legitimate civil disobedience a "disgrace".

Before you think "well, at least he's not in power anymore", just remember - Dr John Reid, ex-Communist party enforcer, is. So think happy thoughts, loyal subjects.

Under the Eye of Sauron....

Home Office to finally regulate CCTV

So now, our Russian-esque police state will have to update all its cameras. Never mind the impact on crime is negligible, or that the police actually have to waste precious time sifting through all the crap which is captured on said cameras, WE MUST HAVE EYES ON EVERYONE!

Is it just me who thinks someone in NuLabour is hiding a very dark, deep secret, whose repression is feeding their paranoia? Or should I just stop trying to be an internet psychoanalyst and do something useful, like taping up camera lenses (not that I would ever do that, its patently illegal, it was just a suggestion)?

Looks like the time to grab the V for Vendetta masks and speak with intensely annoying alliteration may be just one step closer....

What Would Jesus Do?

Christians in America particularly seem to ask this alot. Let us examine the evidence, based on the Bible, of what Jesus would do. Jesus has shown himself prone to talk in riddles, to perform miracles, to act aggressively and bizarrely and to get himself killed. This is generally considered a bad move, especially if your cleric has not memorized resurrection for the day.

As a Discordian, I should probably ask, What Would Eris Do? Lets see if this is any more helpful. Hmmm, history suggests destroying a city (by proxy) for minor slights. Or inciting people to invade India. Again, not helpful, especially as India has nukes nowadays and faith is not immune to being melted.

Maybe I should ask, What Would Emperor Norton do? Ah, I think we hit a winner here. What would the Emperor do? What he always did - be himself and nothing more.

Today's lesson teaches us one thing - crazy men from San Francisco are likely better role models than imaginary superheroes who live in the sky.

Dice stacking

Stage magic has always interested me, but I was always better at minor sleight of hand object transference and card tricks. Something as flashy as this, done once or twice would have been such a great addition....

Thanks to Malaul for passing the link on!

Crime Prevention Message

Illuminati taunts in Bosnia

Bosnia Town to build Cabbage Monument

"BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Authorities in a Bosnian town plan to build a giant monument to the cabbage to honour their most important produce.

Cabbage is a favourite winter staple in the Balkans, cooked or pickled in a variety of ways to deliver precious vitamin C through the dark months.

"Our region is famous for cabbage. We very much appreciate this vegetable," said Goran Peric, the director of the tourist association in the northeastern town of Bijeljina.

Peric said the monument to the humble plant would be erected in time for the next Cabbage-Fest, traditionally held in November. "We shall all support this idea," he told Reuters.

Bijeljina cabbage used to sell across the former Yugoslav federation but lost its market after Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia declared independence and war broke out."

A likely story. I know what you're up to, you can't fool me!

Bow down before your new deity!

I of course mean the latest internet age pseudo irreligion, Googlism and its representatives upon earth, the Church of Google . It makes more sense than 90% of traditional religions and at least as much as any modern cargo cult, so its worth a go.

Interesting news....

It seems I now have a job. I have accepted an internship with the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. I am working under Dr Lehr, which will hopefully give me a better insight into South East Asia and movements there. I did mention more than a passing interest in that area, which is only to be expected by someone originally from that part of the world, so I expect that, and not any familiarity I may or may not have with critical infrastructure was the reason for my placement.

In other news, the town is still dead. Went to a boring talk last night, drinks were good but not much else. I'll see if I can rouse some people to hit a few bars with tonight and celebrate my new job.

Holidays

The town is dead. I went out yesterday afternoon to grab some things before the shops shut and it was like a bizzare cross of the early chapters of Day of the Triffids, or the start of 28 Days Later . I swear I didn't see or hear another living thing until I made it to the high street. Very strange, especially in the pre-twilight murk this town is enveloped with by 3pm.

So its another normal Reading Week, basically. No lectures, no tutorials and no long waits at the bar to get drinks. Sounds like how University should be, to be honest.

Oh, and since I haven't done a music review in ages, I will do a mini one right here: buy Pia Fraus - In Solarium. Incredibly melodic and easy to listen to, yet almost as if Sonic Youth took up doing pop music. Well worth having and very good stuff for a second album.

The hooligans are loose, the hooligans are loose!

Thus spaketh the immortal St. Bill Hicks after spending a few nights in the town of Shaftesbury, not far from where I live while not studying.

It seems the BBC have been making the same mistakes Bill's friends did, when talking about UK crime levels. According to the BBC robbery is up and making poor citizens lives a misery. In fact, while the article makes certain concessions in places, the whole thing reads like a Daily Mail editorial, only with slightly less frothing and ranting (and no mention of immigrants, which the Mail is utterly obsessed with). The little facts box comes up with impressive and frightening statistics of crime over the last year.

However, if we look at the link to the actual Home Office crime report, it shows that total crime is down 2%, firearms offences are down 8%, vehicle crime is down by 6% and there has been no change in antisocial behaviour and violent robberies statistics. Also, the 5% increase in robbery is mostly teen on teen street crime - nasty, to be certain, but easily rectifiable if police are taken away from paperwork that any civil servant can do and, oh I don't know, put on patrol maybe? I know, a revolutionary idea in policing (coming from a Discordian no less), but it may just be crazy enough to work.

Of course, ever since the Hutton Report, the BBC has essentially been gutted of any people who may try and critically examine government claims or policy, to the point they indulge in bullshit like this to keep people calling out for a more effective police state. Thanks to Anxiety Culture for the story.

In the rest of the world news roundup, US trained deathsquads continue to do the dirty work in Iraq (thats what happens when you concentrate on training numbers and not loyalty among the troops), the Janjaweed are killing little children because no-one cares about Africa enough to send troops, Felix Kulov has taken a leaf out of Ann Coulter's book and Russia continues its quest for hegemony.

I do wonder when everyone is going to start to take notice of Russia again. They've paid off the Soviet era debt and have started to loan money to other countries, they've gained a hell of alot of leverage with the gas issue, Chechnya has become very quiet of late (as genocided people are wont to do), the military is nearly totally professionalized, the Colour Coded revoltions backed by the CIA have been mostly reversed and everyone is still looking at China. With NATO bottled up in Iraq, who is going to stop the Russians rolling into East Ukraine and possibly Belarus? Because they will, with the Ukraine at least (Belarus is basically Russian anyway, its like the Australia of East Europe, so compliance is assured). But nooooooo, China and the Middle East are the problem.

Good grief, just let Iraq collapse into chaos and pull out. It'll fuck the Chinese over by pulling the plug on whatever little oil is making its way out of the country (meaning their economy will suffer and the PLA wont get its shiney weapons) and free up US forces for real threats - Russia, North Korea and anything else that goes horribly wrong between now and whenever.

Urgh, time to stop ranting, I can tell.

Apparently there is some election or something....

Going on in the USA. Not that I would know or anything, its not like the BBC website has made every other article from the American section about it.

In other news, the Dingo has an apparently vital role in the ecosystem. Who knew eating babies was part of the great cycle of nature?

Well, enough of that news roundup. I'm tired as hell, despite getting a near perfect 7 hours of sleep last night. Its one of those days where the inside of your head feels just a little too raw...its not hard to stay awake or think, just everything is slightly more unpleasant than normal. Whats worse is that I expected an excellent lecture from Dr Horgan on a little known terrorist group called Al-Qaeda. While interesting, it was nothing I didn't know from reading The Next Attack: The Globalization of Jihad which, while being a very interesting and good book, was written over a year ago. I had at least expected some fascinating revelation or novel thought, but it seemed not to be forthcoming, this time round.

Oh, and some police were hanging around the place today, in case any Iranian exiles got the date wrong for blowing up ex-President Khatami and everyone else in the new Arts Building. OK, to be fair, I can kind of see they wouldn't like a man who presided over a strict theocracy which exiled and tortured people. Apparently his speech on interfaith dialogue was good, so I'm told. So maybe he has redeeming features. Like Idi Amin had his sense of humour.