A Link to the Future

Pentagon Strike Revisited

2005-04-24T13:50:00.000Z

In my post about the Pentagon Stike and the Popular Mechanics "Debunking" article I noted the curious vectored "attacks" aimed squarely at the Pentagon Strike evidence, ever since the Flash had gone global. Some more infromation on this has surfaced in a post over at Catalytic Converter, where they apparently received an email from Mark Robinowitz of oilempire.us who is of the opinion that the Pentagon evidence is the weak link in the 9/11 case. Another one. Is he Cointelpro? Looks like it.
As well as citing an interesting report about the "U.S. government planting propaganda and misleading stories in the international media" the post also references another blogger with some rather interesting revelations as to what may have really hit the Pentagon.

Curiouser and curiouser.

More Lies, Death and Destruction Please

2005-04-19T09:00:00.000Z

Labour heading for victory - polls

Yahoo News
April 16

Labour is heading for a third General Election victory, according to a clutch of recently-published polls.

But the projected margin of Tony Blair's victory varied as pollsters put his lead over the Tories at anywhere between one and 10%.

According to a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times, Michael Howard has narrowed the gap to just a single point, with Labour on 36%, the Tories on 35% and the Liberal Democrats on 23%.

If repeated on May 5, this would give Tony Blair a majority of nearly 60 seats.

An ICM poll for The Sunday Telegraph found Mr Blair was heading for another landslide victory and a majority of 158. That survey puts Labour on 40%, the Conservatives on 30% and the Lib Dems on 22%.

If these polls are a true indication of voting intentions it appears the UK population wants more of the same and will vote for five more years of the Blair dictatorship on 5th May.
And this, despite recent publicity of vote rigging by Labour councillors.
Perhaps the Labour government will take a leaf out of the Bush Reich's book. If you can't win an election against the "straw man" opposition, rig the voting.

The Da Vinci Code

2005-03-17T23:06:00.000Z

This article by Laura Knight-Jadczyk extracted from The Secret History of the World cuts to the Truth about the "Da Vinci Code", showing Dan Brown's book to be very much the fictional work it is.

Controlled Rage

2005-03-16T22:40:00.000Z

Attacker hacks man to death in the street with an axe
Telegraph 15/03/2005
An attacker wielding an axe chased a man into the street and hacked him to death yesterday as residents, including mothers on the school run, watched in -horror.

The smartly-dressed axeman rained blows on his screaming victim, thought to be in his 60s, as "if he was chopping wood".

The victim's body is removed from the crime scene

Builders working on a nearby home and householders ran into street, worried that the axeman, in his 30s, would try to run away before the police arrived.

But he put down the axe, knelt on the road and waited calmly until he was arrested.

[...]
Avelina Rodrigues, 48, a cleaner, said: "The axeman saw me but he just ignored me.

"He hacked his victim's head as if it was a block of wood for a fire.

"I begged him to stop and he just looked at me with no emotion. There was no anger in his face, he did not seem crazy."

These types of horrific attacks are being reported more and more often. What's unusual about this particular case is the eyewitness reports of the attacker's apparent calmness and lack of emotion throughout the attack, and willingness to surrender afterwards. Almost like a switch had been thrown beforehand and he'd gone into autopilot.

Aliens Don't Like to Eat People That Smoke

2005-03-08T18:23:00.000Z

Aliens Don't Like to Eat People That Smoke
SOTT
From recent news reports, it has come to our attention that smoking is a vice that "leaders" around the world are determined to stamp out. But why? The official story is that our ever benevolent governments wish to prevent "we the people" from damaging our health, and that of others (if you believe the "second hand smoke" fable. Those of a more cynical disposition claim that the truth has more to do government aims of cutting back on public health expenditure for preventable diseases like lung cancer.

Yet this explanation is relevant only for those few countries where public health care is free and is also contingent on the, as yet, missing evidence that smoking really is the number one cause of cancer, rather than the many other pollutants that we all inhale every day.

Given what we know of the contempt in which The Powers That Be hold most of humanity, and the lack of convincing evidence that even moderate smoking really is a risk to public health, we are forced to look for another reason for the increasingly world-wide witch hunt on smoking and smokers.
Read more

The Pentagon Strike, Popular Mechanics and the 9/11 Truth Movement

2005-02-15T13:46:00.000Z

The March Issue of Popular Mechanics Magazine is running an article that it claims "refutes the most persistent conspiracy theories of September 11". It covers everything from the WTC attacks, to the crash of Flight 93, or as Donald Rumsfeld more accurately put it, the shooting down of the plane over Pennsylvania.
All this might lead the reader of these claims to conclude that they've now dug up an American Airlines Boeing 757 at the Pentagon and have the photographs to prove it.

Not exactly.

Instead, they've quoted structural engineer Allyn E. Kilsheimer, an eyewitness who states,

"It was absolutely a plane, and I'll tell you why," [...]
"I saw the marks of the plane wing on the face of the building. I picked up parts of the plane with the airline markings on them. I held in my hand the tail section of the plane, and I found the black box."

Really, and what sort of plane would that be exactly?
He doesn't say.

The online article supplies just one photograph that's been in circulation on the web for more than three years. It shows a small, mangled piece of painted metal, with neatly serrated edges, that is amazingly untarnished despite surviving a 530mph (NTSC) impact and being hurled some distance from the Pentagon by the explosion.
Not only that, but it appears to be painted a light blue colour. American Airlines doesn't paint it's aircraft, besides the logo. They're HIGHLY REFLECTIVE aluminium.
Nethertheless, the magazine states, it is "proof that a passenger plane, not a missile, hit the building."
Actually, it's "proof" there was a piece of metal sitting on the lawn outside the Pentagon. What this piece really belongs to is anybody's guess; a helicopter, a drone, or planted evidence are a few of the other possibilities.

The magazine does acknowledge that photographs clearly show intact windows near the plane's point of impact. And then, just to shoot itself in the foot again, it quotes Ken Hays, Executive Vice President of the company that manufactured the windows, who says of them:

"They were not designed to receive wracking seismic force," Hays notes.

No kidding. And a high speed impact of an 80 ton commercial airliner will certainly create a "wracking seismic force". Enough to drill a hole through several layers of steel-reinforced concrete if we are to believe the ASCE.
However, according to a report that analysed data from nearby siesmic recording stations, whatever hit the Pentagon didn't create the seismic force that the planes that hit the towers did,

We analyzed seismic records from five stations in the northeastern United States, ranging from 63 to 350 km from the Pentagon. Despite detailed analysis of the data, we could not find a clear seismic signal. Even the closest station ( = 62.8 km) at Soldier's Delight, Baltimore County, Maryland (SDMD) did not record the impact. We concluded that the plane impact to the Pentagon generated relatively weak seismic signals. However, we positively identified seismic signals associated with United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The time of the plane crash was 10:06:05 5 (EDT).
- Seismic Observations During September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attack
Full Report (PDF)

Now, how would they explain that one?

There are so many obvious flaws in the Popular Mechanics article, it's hard to know where to turn next, and I'm not going to continue since the article does a good job of exposing it's real intentions itself.
The publication of this article has come not long after some members of the 9/11 "Truth" Movement have done a simultaneous U-turn on the Pentagon evidence. For three years some of the most popular 9/11 websites have been citing the lack of evidence for a 757 crash at the Pentagon as an important and revealing piece of the puzzle for understanding the truth of 9/11. Which it is. As of September 2004, the "interpretation" of the evidence, or lack thereof, has changed and now a 757 DID crash at the Pentagon, or so they say.
Has more evidence come to light that requires we alter our hypothesis of "no Flight 77 at the Pentagon"?

Nope.

So, what are the odds that several unaffiliated 9/11 websites would all suddenly decide to change their mind on one of the strongest pieces of evidence that 9/11 was an inside job.
What seems to have happened is a coordinated response to the popularity of the Pentagon Flash which appeared in late August, and has been subsequently downloaded and watched by millions of people worldwide.
Surely this is precisely what the 9/11 Truth Movement has been wanting all along, right? Not so, it seems.
Instead, they've decided to "attack" the evidence cited in the video in true COINTELPRO style.
Perhaps the Powers That Be have decided that its creators are digging a little too deep in their search for Truth. Of course, the U-turn also serves to show the public that corruption is found even in so-called "truth movements".
And now, with the "flawed" Popular Mechanics article giving the population another reason to distrust authority, one would be forgiven for wondering what's really going on.

Fortunately then, here is an article that gives a well researched insight into the players and motives behind the 9/11 Truth Movement:

Looking at the current infighting going on at present, it would appear that CoIntelPro agents have done a fine job. No one knows who is who anymore, everyone suspects everyone else, and those members of the public whose minds are not, as yet, welded shut will be the ones to suffer most from the lack of coherent information about what really happened on 911, who really is to blame, or what the real issue is.

For any 9-11 investigator to come out and say that a 757 plane definitely hit the Pentagon is to rob the public of the singularly most important aspect of 9-11 and the one that has the chance to blow the whole dastardly plot wide open.
Full Article.

Signs of the Times

2005-02-05T12:23:00.000Z

I spent some time staying at a friend's house recently which has given me some insight into his life that I didn't have before. During my stay we had a number of conversations relating to the state of the world and the direction it's heading.

During one discussion, I pointed out that the Signs seem to indicate this world may well be heading for some catastrophes. Things don't look good for the future of the planet.

Based on what he asked?

I gave a few examples, such as the increase in Earth-bound objects in recent years.

The idea of the "End Times" isn't new to my friend. He's read the books that describe the times of turmoil in the final days, as passed on in "stories" and "myths" from ancient times.
What he isn't aware of, and what most of these books omit, is the evidence showing periods of destruction in the past, and based on the cyclical nature of the universe, the likelihood of it happening again. Neither it seems, was my friend interested in looking.
In the past he appeared to enjoy these conversations, but things were different this time around.

Common sense, he said, tells him the world will continue as it always has. The human race has had its ups and downs in the past but we're still here.

Forgetting the Earth Changes for a moment, what about the actions of the current Bush Administration, the slaughtering of innocent civilians in Iraq, the questions surrounding the official story of 9/11, the remarkable similarity in the rise the Bush Reich with that of Hitler's Nazi party, I ask. Why did he think this was happening now and what did he think the the potential implications would be?

His answer was simple. Even if it's all true he said, Hitler was defeated and everything was okay in end.

Well, he seemed to have overlooked a not-so-small detail. That 65 million people died in the Second World War, and the lives of millions of others were thrown into turmoil by the actions of a tyrannical government which chose to impose its "ideals" on the rest of the world. The lives of these people was certainly not "alright".
The logical flaws in his thinking are fundamental.
Common sense is only useful, if based on knowledge. If it is based on incomplete data, or "false knowledge", which really isn't knowledge at all, it is useless.

Anyhow, the reason for my friend's continued ignorance is now clear. He stated it himself. He isn't comfortable discussing these subjects in any depth, and just wants to have a "good time". He loves food. He loves women. He likes working out. He likes talking about "conspiracy", all the while the unpleasant details are left out. Fortunately for him then, the Devil is in the details.
It's easy to jump to erroneous conclusions by skipping the "little" details, only for these seemingly trivial pieces of information to turn out to be critical to the understanding of a problem.
As someone recently pointed out to me. If you don't know something, you shouldn't be afraid to say so.

What is interesting in my friend's case is, despite making the choice to put his head in the sand, rather than saying "I don't want to know" and leaving his mind open to other possibilities, he chose to "disagree" with me.

"You have your opinions, I have mine. We'll have to agree to disagree", he said.
Now, I didn't respond to this since he has clearly stated his choice, and this is his right of freewill. But what has he really chosen to disagree with? Me or reality?

The following excerpt taken from Laura Knight-Jadczyk's, The High Strangeness of Dimensions, Densities and the Process of Alien Abduction sums up my friends position concisely, as it does a large proportion of the worlds population, it seems:

We see here what we Cohen has called "implicatory denial" where there is no attempt to deny either the facts or their conventional interpretation; what is ultimately denied are the psychological, political and moral implications that follow from deep acknowledgement. We can casually admit things in states of implicatory denial,which then leads us directly into "interpretive denial" where the raw facts that something may actually be happening - such as conspiracy- are not really denied - they are just "interpreted" or rationalized away. We are then more easily able to slip into literal denial, that there is no "conspiracy", and then the painful truth of our true condition is ameliorated and we can return to our sitcoms, ballgames and weekend barbeques.

We all have a choice to make. We can pay attention to the Signs of the Times, or we can continue with "Everyday Life". The decision we make as individuals will determine what, if any, future we have. And here we are not talking about our "physical vehicle", we are talking about the battle for our very soul.

A Stab in the Dark or Something More?

2005-01-31T22:16:00.000Z

Today, whilst out shopping, I overheard an interesting conversation between a shop assistant on the checkout counter and a customer. The customer was explaining that despite recently having a Flu jab it hadn't prevented her from getting the Flu again.

"They're just taking a stab in the dark", she said, whilst explaining how the Flu jab couldn't protect against all the potential Flu strains, and only protected against a few know types, strains that the pharmicutical companies chose to protect against. And of course, she was right, in theory.

The question is, do the flu vaccinations offer any protection at all, and regardless of whether they do or not, what effect do the vaccines themselves have on the individual?

I was an on-the-spot observer of the 1918 influenza epidemic
All the doctors and people who were living at the time of the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic say it was the most terrible disease the world has ever had. Strong men, hale and hearty, one day would be dead the next. The disease had the characteristics of the black death added to typhoid, diphtheria, pneumonia, smallpox, paralysis and all the diseases the people had been vaccinated with immediately following World War 1. Practically the entire population had been injected "seeded" with a dozen or more diseases — or toxic serums. When all those doctor-made diseases started breaking out all at once it was tragic.

That pandemic dragged on for two years, kept alive with the addition of more poison drugs administered by the doctors who tried to suppress the symptoms. As far as I could find out, the flu hit only the vaccinated. Those who had refused the shots escaped the flu. My family had refused all the vaccinations so we remained well all the time. We knew from the health teachings of Graham, Trail, Tilden and others, that people cannot contaminate the body with poisons without causing disease.

When the flu was at its peak, all the stores were closed as well as the schools, businesses — even the hospital, as the doctors and nurses had been vaccinated too and were down with the flu. No one was on the streets. It was like a ghost town. We seemed to be the only family which didn’t get the flu; so my parents went from house to house doing what they could to look after the sick, as it was impossible to get a doctor then. If it were possible for germs, bacteria, virus, or bacilli to cause disease, they had plenty of opportunity to attack my parents when they were spending many hours a day in the sick rooms. But they didn’t get the flu and they didn’t bring any germs home to attack us children and cause anything. None of our family had the flu — not even a sniffle— and it was in the winter with deep snow on the ground.

When I see people cringe when someone near them sneezes or coughs, I wonder how long it will take them to find out that they can’t catch it — whatever it is. The only way they can get a disease is to develop it themselves by wrong eating, drinking, smoking or doing some other things which cause internal poisoning and lowered vitality. All diseases are preventable and most of them are cureable with the right methods, not known to medical doctors, and not all drugless doctors know them either.

It has been said that the 1918 flu epidemic killed 20,000,000 people throughout the world. But, actually, the doctors killed them with their crude and deadly treatments and drugs. This is a harsh accusation but it is nevertheless true, judging by the success of the drugless doctors in comparison with that of the medical doctors.

While the medical men and medical hospitals were losing 33% of their flu cases, the non-medical hospitals such as BATTLE CREEK, KELLOGG and MACFADDEN’S HEALTH-RESTORIUM were getting almost 100% healings with their water cure, baths, enemas, etc., fasting and certain other simple healing methods, followed by carefully worked out diets of natural foods. One health doctor didn’t lose a patient in eight years. The very successful health treatment of one of those drugless doctors who didn’t lose any patients will be given in the other part of this book, titled VACCINATION CONDEMNED, to be published a little later.

If the medical doctors had been as advanced as the drugless doctors, there would not have been those 20 million deaths from the medical flu treatment.

There was seven times more disease among the vaccinated soldiers than among the unvaccinated civilians, and the diseases were those they had been vaccinated against. One soldier who had returned from overseas in 1912 told me that the army hospitals were filled with cases of infantile paralysis and he wondered why grown men should have an infant disease. Now, we know that paralysis is a common after-effect of vaccine poisoning. Those at home didn’t get the paralysis until after the world-wide vaccination campaign in 1918.

Should you get the Flu shot?

News reports have been flooding us with articles warning that the impending flu season may be the worst in years.Even though it is difficult to separate the facts from the hype, a close evaluation of the flu vaccine will reveal that serious questions must be raised about the recommendations that are routinely touted, namely high efficacy with little risk. Anyone considering a flu shot should become informed about the substances coming through that needle, and should be determined to investigate the safety and efficacy issues that are still unresolved.

What's in a flu shot?

The influenza virus is grown in "specific pathogen-free" (SPF) eggs. Eggs are tested for a variety of agents usually between 23 and 31-to confirm the absence of those specific pathogens. Laboratories limit the number of agents that are screened due to the shear abundance of potential viruses and/or bacteria to choose from. In addition, screening for every potential agent would be cost prohibitive. If none of the tested agents are detected, the vaccine is reported as "pathogen free.

However, it should be understood that there is a distinct difference between "pathogen free and "specific pathogen-free. In its July 1996 report, the Institute of Medicine acknowledged that "although it is not possible to produce a completely uncontaminated animal, it is possible to produce an animal [or egg] certified to be free of specific pathogens. Viruses that are harmless to their animal host, however, may be potentially harmful to humans.

During the manufacturing process, antibiotics (neomycin, polymyxin B and gentamicin) are added to eliminate stray bacteria found in the mixture. The final solution can contain the following additives in any combination: Triton X-100 (a detergent); polysorbate 80 (a potential carcinogen); gelatin; formaldehyde; and residual egg proteins. In addition, many of the influenza vaccines still contain thimerosal as a preservative. Thimerosal (mercury) is being investigated for its link to brain injury and autoimmune disease.

Does the flu shot protect?

There are no guarantees that the influenza viruses selected for the vaccine will be the identical strains circulating during a given flu season. In fact, it has recently been announced that this year's flu vaccine does not include the strain that is being reported by doctors in the community called the "A Fujian strain. Outbreaks have been reported in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere that involve strains that do not match the current flu vaccine. CDC tests have confirmed that more than 80 per cent of the 55 strains of influenza virus isolated thus far are the A Fujian strain. Even so, the CDC still maintains that the current vaccine could provide cross-protection against the new variant, but the fact is, no one knows for sure.

Moreover, the majority of illnesses characterized by fever, fatigue, cough and aching muscles are not caused by the influenza virus. Non-influenza viruses (e.g., rhinoviruses respiratory syncytial virus [RSV], adenoviruses, and parainfluenza viruses) can cause symptoms referred to as influenza-like illnesses. Certain bacteria, such as Legionella spp., Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, have been documented as the causes of ILI.

Notably, these microbes are not part of the flu vaccine. Unless an organism's antigen is contained within the vaccine, there is no protection conferred by the vaccine.

Unusual and frightening complications with Flu outbreak

At left: Kim Collins talks to her son, Nick Collins, 9, both of Texarkana, Texas, as he opens his eyes briefly in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark., Monday, Dec. 8, 2003. Nick, who arrived at the hospital on Nov.10, needs four chest tubes to drain air and fluid from three holes in his lungs caused by bacterial pneumonia.

Doctors are trying to prevent a blood clot from killing him. He's also developed a drug-resistant bacteria infection, a worrisome find that doctors are starting to see in other flu cases. Doctors are reporting unusual and frightening complications with this year's flu outbreak, particularly among young patients.

This last comment should raise some red flags and make one wonder about the following.

US Army scientists create "Spanish Flu" virus in laboratory

- medical benefit questionable [...]

Biosafety Irregularity in Spanish Flu Experiments

Highlights the Need to Strengthen Biodefense Transparency

The Sunshine Project
News Release
21 October 2003

(Austin and Hamburg) - Genetic experiments to recreate one of the most devastating viruses of the past century were not reviewed or approved by a biosafety committee. The University of Georgia claims that it was too troublesome to convene its Institutional Biosafety Committee to review research to genetically reconstruct the Spanish flu. Instead, the University signed off on the experiments based on ad hoc talks between only four members of its biosafety committee. As a result, no minutes were taken to describe safety review of the experiments. In fact, by not convening its committee, Georgia's actions ensured that there was no timely opportunity to raise concerns at all.

The case demonstrates a severe weakness in the public disclosure provisions of federal research rules (the NIH Guidelines) and underscores the need for mandatory committee-level (or higher) review of research projects with disease agents. By approving the experiments with an ad hoc subcommittee, requirements for public disclosure were avoided. The existence of the experiments only came to light through journal articles. According to Edward Hammond of the Sunshine Project, "Genetic engineering of bioweapons agents has national and international implications for health, biosafety, and security. But Georgia shied away from these and simply rubber-stamped the Pentagon-led project to recreate the Spanish flu."

In 1918-19, the Spanish flu killed 20-40 million people worldwide. In the US, deaths from the flu strain resulted in a 10 year drop in life expectancy. Recreating the deadly flu may create international unease, in particular because of the leadership of the US military in the project.

The Spanish flu reconstruction began at a University of Georgia biosafety level three (BSL-3) facility in 1999. Researchers from US universities, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) are involved. The lab specializes in diseases of poultry, including avian influenza. The Sunshine Project has confirmed - and reconfirmed - under the Freedom of Information Act that USDA has no biosafety committee minutes related to the experiments. The Project also directly contacted the University of Georgia and requested Institutional Biosafety Committee meeting minutes that are required by the NIH Guidelines for Recombinant DNA Research. Georgia's Biosafety Officer stated that no minutes exist.

Scientists have recently begun to accept the need to reinforce the Institutional Biosafety Committee system established under the NIH Guidelines for Recombinant DNA Research. But the discussion, including that in a recent report on biosafety by the National Academies of Science, is out of balance because it is taking place almostly exclusively between scientists, government regulators, and the Pentagon. "There is a need to make more room at the table. The public has a right to help determine if, and under what conditions, risky research proceeds." says Hammond, "Biosafety review must be a matter of law, and public access provisions of federal research rules must be strengthened. Otherwise, risky experiments such as this one will take place with little or no transparency, and that will decrease international security and create environmental and health risks."

Spanish Flu - Why is the US government interested?

A recent commentary in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (Madjid et al. 2003) noted that influenza is readily transmissible by aerosol and that a small number of viruses can cause a full-blown infection. The authors continued:"the possibility for genetic engineering and aerosol transmission [of influenza] suggests an enormous potential for bioterrorism" The possible hostile abuse of influenza virus is seen as a very real threat by public health officials in the USA. Just two weeks ago, $15 million was granted by the US National Institutes of Health to Stanford University to study how to guard against the flu virus "if it were to be unleashed as an agent of bioterrorism".

US scientists led by a Pentagon pathologist recently began to genetically reconstruct this specifically dangerous 1918 influenza strain. In one experiment a partially reconstructed 1918 virus killed mice, while virus constructs with genes from a contemporary flu virus had hardly any effect.

Attempts to recover the Spanish flu virus date to the 1950s, when scientists unsuccessfully tried to revive the virus from victims buried in the permafrost of Alaska. In the mid 1990s, Dr Jeffrey Taubenberger from the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology started to screen preserved tissue samples from 1918 influenza victims. It appears that this work was not triggered by a search for flu treatments, or the search for a new biowarfare agent, but by a rather simple motivation: Taubenberger and his team were just able to do it. In previous experiments they had developed a new technique to analyse DNA in old, preserved tissues and for now looking for new applications: "The 1918 flu was by far and away the most interesting thing we could think of" explained Taubenberger the reason why he started to unravel the secrets of one of most deadliest viruses known to humankind.

No Limits

2005-01-29T21:54:00.000Z

"In a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit, and you touch this limit[...] something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high."
- Ayrton Senna

Blair's Enabling Act

2005-01-27T23:07:00.000Z

Today I've been reading details of the UK equivalent of the US Patriot Act, the new addition to the UK constitution, the Civil Contingencies Act. Passed on the 18th November 2004, the Act is legislation that allows for the implementation of a Police State under a State of Emergency.
While the mainstream media was making a front page flap over the Hunting Ban last year, just a few column inches on the same day were given to the new legislation that has far reaching consequences for everybody living the UK. Blair's Enabling Act.
This is law that we are told is going to "protect" the population from the so-called terror threat. What does it actually do?
Concerns were expressed back in 2003 when the draft bill was produced.

Dr Lewis Moonie MP, Chairman of "an all-party Committee of MP’s and Peers, set up to examine and report on the draft Civil Contingencies Bill" said:

"In defining emergency powers, the Government has come up with a one-size-fits-all Bill for every possible scenario.

We are concerned that as a result the draft Bill does not provide adequate safeguards to protect against the misuse of emergency powers. In the wrong hands, it could be used to undermine or even remove legislation underpinning the British Constitution and infringe human rights.

[...] The draft Bill defines an emergency as an event which presents a "serious" threat to: human welfare, the environment, political, administrative, or economic stability; and the security of the UK or part of it. We believe that the definition is too subjective and loose, especially in Part 2 where it could trigger substantial emergency powers. We suggest that key terms, such as "serious", "essential" and "stability" must be defined within the Bill and that robust safeguards appear on the face of the Bill."

Take a look at the following definition of emergency as it appears in the Act:

1 Meaning of "emergency"

(1) In this Part "emergency" means-

(a) an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the United Kingdom,

(b) an event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment of a place in the United Kingdom, or

(c) war, or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the United Kingdom.

So, from the definition of Emergency above, taken from Chapter 36 , it's stated that a State of Emergency can be declared on threat of serious damage to human welfare, among other things.
The term "serious" isn't defined. What is the definition of "human welfare"?

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a) an event or situation threatens damage to human welfare only if it involves, causes or may cause-

(a) loss of human life,

(b) human illness or injury,

(c) homelessness,

(d) damage to property,

(e) disruption of a supply of money, food, water, energy or fuel,

(f) disruption of a system of communication,

(g) disruption of facilities for transport, or

(h) disruption of services relating to health.

I can think of endless examples of natural and manmade events, many that have happened or have threatened to recently, that would fit the above catagorisations.
So, how long would a lock-down under a State of Emergency last once it is declared?

26 Duration

(1) Emergency regulations shall lapse-

(a) at the end of the period of 30 days beginning with the date on which they are made, or

(b) at such earlier time as may be specified in the regulations.

Okay, emergency regulations will lapse after 30 days, but wait...

(2) Subsection (1)-

(a) shall not prevent the making of new regulations, and

(b) shall not affect anything done by virtue of the regulations before they lapse.

And new regulations can be created by a senior Minister of the Crown, which includes the Prime Minister, based on a subjective assessment of conditions, as outlined in Section 21.
So there you have it. I've examined just one potential conditon and followed it through to show that the definitions of emergency and response are open to a subjective interpretation that cannot be challenged. The rest of the Act is no different. Check it out for yourself. On threat of distruption or damage to something or someone somewhere, Blair can declare a State of Emergency which may last 30 days, but can be extended indefinitely, or instituted permanently by legally amending the constitution before this period is over. Feel any safer now?

Virtual Fighter

2005-01-24T15:59:00.000Z

This report actually ties in with my first post.

'Robot soldiers' bound for Iraq
BBC News
Sunday, 23 January 2005

The US military is planning to deploy robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq.

Eighteen of the 1m-high robots, equipped with cameras and operated by remote control, are going to Iraq this spring, the Associated Press reports.

The machine is based on a robot already used by the military to disable bombs.

Officials say the robot warrior is fast, accurate and will track and attack the enemy with relatively little risk to the lives of US soldiers.

Unlike its human counterparts, the armed robot does not require food, clothing, training, motivation or a pension.

When not needed in war, it can be mothballed in a warehouse.[...]

A US officer who helped test the robot said it was a more accurate shot than the average soldier because it is mounted on a stable platform and takes aim electronically.

"It eliminates the majority of shooting errors you have," said Staff Sgt Santiago Tordillos.

Mr Quinn says there are plans to replace the computer screen, joysticks and keypad in the remote-control unit with a Gameboy-style controller and virtual-reality goggles.

Remove the reality of war from the mind and make the experience a little more "virtual". This will make slaughtering another 100,000 Iraqi civilians less painful for the soldiers controlling these robots, if indeed they are capable of feeling pain for another human being. Perhaps the reasons for the obsession with war and violence in videogames will become a little clearer after reading this report.

Final Reality Ad Infinitum

2005-01-19T21:54:00.000Z

Videogames. What's the deal?

I've been playing computer and video games since the Sinclair ZX81 was launched back in 1981. I was nine when I first began playing games and programming computers, and more than 22 years later I'm still programming, and on rare occasion, playing the odd game. Things have changed though.

Games made during the early days of the industry were innovative, they had to be. Having only 16k or 48k of memory to store an entire game, as was the case with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, seems almost incomprehensible today, let alone the 1k of RAM the ZX81 shipped with. Since then, so-called progress has given more power to the machine but smothered the creative potential. Gone are the days when a creative teenager coded a gaming hit from his bedroom after school. Nowadays, multi-million-dollar budgets and large teams of coders, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, spend their days and nights (complete with beds under desks) working to produce some technically excellent games. But where is the creativity? Sure, the Art Direction is full of creation, but where are the inspired gaming experiences that knock you for six. They're rare, and not through lack of technology or resources to realise them. The obvious answer would probably go something like this:

People are easily captivated by impressive graphics and audio and certain types of games sell well, so it's logical to create graphically impressive games of a particular genre that follow a tried and tested formula with just enough "innovation" and enhancement with each new iteration of the series to keep people interested... to make as much money as possible. The video gaming industry is big business now. Bigger than the music industry. It has been for a while.
But is this the only reason the market is now flooded with violent shooters and gritty fighting experiences?

First person shooters sell in massive quantities, the more blood and gore, it seems, the better. Fighting games are still huge sellers, and of course there are the ubiquitous driving games. Unfortunately, these have quickly become the only choices available to the general gaming public. There seems to be little wonder or fascination generated by most titles on the shelves. I've never seen the appeal of the FPS (first person shooter) or fighting games. They are essentially, "mechanical" games, requiring only a minimal amount of intellectual input that typically focuses on the gamer's ability to be as scheming and devious as possible. They have no content capable of evoking a real emotional reaction, other than perhaps shock in those people that quite naturally, find the graphic depiction of violence in today's visually realistic games disturbing. These games are, quite literally, "psychopathic" games.
If they were human, they'd be "button pushing", reactionary beings.

Although I've tried hard to over the years, I simply can't "get into" these types of games and nowadays the violence has reached such a level that, as in the case of the Grand Theft Auto games, the player is rewarded for their immorality, such as gaining Health Points for "using" a prostitute and then being given the opportunity to kill her and steal your money back. Is this still gaming?
Many people do "get into" this, and derive great pleasure from doing so. But it's okay, it's only a game, right?

Final Fantasy VII

Some of the great videogames of history, games that had an enormous impact on many millions of people, including myself, are the Final Fantasy RPGs and The Legend of Zelda adventure series. Interestingly, they contain very little blood and gore, and in the case of the Zelda series, about the most damage you can do to an unfortunate foe is cause him to disappear in puff of smoke with a swipe of your trusty sword.

One of the biggest videogames of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, created by Shigeru Miyamoto, was released in 1998 on the Nintendo 64 console and sold 2.5 million copies worldwide in the first month of release, earning it's publisher, Nintendo, $150 million in revenue. It became the fastest selling game of all time. In the last six weeks of 1998, it grossed more revenue than Hollywood's best movie efforts could manage during the same period.
A year earlier, Square Soft released Final Fantasy VII on the Sony Playstation which also sold in huge numbers and to this day it remains by far the most memorable title of the Final Fantasy series, which has now reached its 11th incarnation.

So, one might ask, what was it about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that appealed to videogamers worldwide, who still rate it the best game of all time?

The story. Although certainly, the groundbreaking virtual world in which it was told played a large part in the appeal.

Now, I don't mind admitting that whilst I sat in front of my TV playing Final Fantasy VII alone, late into the night, my girlfriend asleep in another room, I cried. It was whilst I watched Aeris being released into the water by Cloud, following her death at the hands of Sephiroth. I was 24 at the time, and as I found out when I went to work the following week, the work colleague whom I sat next to had also purchased the game and been similarly effected watching the same scene.
Here, again, it was the story that has a seemingly indefinable "something" that touches the soul, as many of the reviews of the title clearly recognised at the time:

All in all it sounds like the perfect ingredients for an awful Hollywood blockbuster. However it runs amazingly and it's the story that keeps you going rather than the game play.

Yet for all its top-notch graphics and sound, truly the best aspect of Final Fantasy VII is the plot that these peerless aesthetics help weave...

And what was the story that kept so many people playing for the 50+ hours it took to complete the game?

A giant energy manufacturing company known as Shinra Inc. is harvesting the sheer life energy of the Planet as a simple fossil fuel. Processed and made into products known as Mako and Materia, these materials can work miracles, granting the wisdom of the Ancients to the user. However, this substance, like all other fuels, is finite in supply, and the Planet's lifeforce is being malevolently drained by the constant exploitation of Mako by Shinra. Though aware of the harmful effects, they function without remorse.

However, the real battle lies not with a corporation, but a force much more competent from the distant past. A long-thought dead warrior bent on becoming more and more powerful, coupled with the Planet's drained energy, threatens the very existence of everything sacred.

Now a small rebel group emanating from the slums must quell the various dangers toward the innocent, and one mercenary for hire must look amidst the lies and deception and find the man he is within.

Must look amidst the lies and deception and find the man he is within.
Interesting enough, but is there more to this story than meets the eye?

Let's take a look at the story behind the sequel to Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, another big hitter, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask:

Thrown into a parallel world by the mischievous actions of a possessed Skull Kid, Link found a land that was in grave danger. The dark power of a relic called Majora's Mask had wreaked havoc on the citizens of Termina, but their most urgent problem was a suicidal moon crashing toward the world. Link had only 72 hours to find a way to stop its descent, so he traveled through time and worked ceaselessly until he reached his goal.

I played this game to the very end and watched the final scene in which the moon attempted to assimilate Termina on the eve of the New Year.
What is it about these familiar archetypal themes that touch so many people and leave an impression above and beyond all the technical wizardry?
The story of a Hero's quest to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to banish Dark Forces from the world and return to a place of peace from whence he came, isn't a new one. Neither is the idea of an "evil", controlling moon, or a group that "feeds" on its population...

More on this later.