Yearly Archives: 2006

bushco Must Be Very Envious

This entry was posted in Anarchism Privacy on by

Where will all the freedom loving Brits move to?

Big Brother-style surveillance is growing on Britain’s roads, where police will have the greatest ability in the world to scrutinise, control and record the movements of drivers by the end of the year.
Thousands of cameras reading vehicle number plates and comparing data with a central data base will analyse some 35 million pieces of information per day.
The data will be transmitted to the police and also MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, to help in the hunt for suspected criminals or terrorists. It will be kept for two years, but the period may be extended to five years.
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s centre-left government has invested some 15 million pounds (27 million dollars, 22 million euros) in the project this year.
“The plan is to deny criminals the use of the road,” said retired police officer John Dean, who is coordinating the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) programme.
“We will combine our efforts in a national network which, we hope, will be active from May,” Dean told AFP.
The entire country will be hooked up to the ANPR system between now and the end of 2006.
The network of cameras will automatically alert the authorities when it finds a car listed as stolen, with an out-of-date tax disk or a vehicle that is not insured.
The system also raises the alarm if it recognises there is an arrest warrant out for the driver of a vehicle. And it can be used simply to track the movement of a certain person who is of police interest.

You shouldn’t feel all that secure in the US either. Surely you’ve noticed the increasing numbers of cams at intersections in your community…well, maybe only in larger cities. Once installed it is a relatively simple step to interface the imagery to a system similar to what the British are using.

Via Lew Rockwell.

Smoking Outdoors

This entry was posted in Anarchism Drug Laws Law Libertarianism Regulation on by

In the midst of a fine hammering of the use of false information  to support efforts to ban all outdoor smoking Michael Siegel says the following:

There is, in my opinion, simply no justification for invoking the state’s police powers to regulate smoking on streets and sidewalks, places where people are free to move about and where, in most situations, people can simply avoid substantial exposure to secondhand smoke. And I am aware of no scientific evidence that secondhand smoke exposure on streets and sidewalks is a significant public health problem.

Well, yes, it is not a public health problem but it can be damned obnoxious and offensive to a nonsmoker. I can choose whether or not to enter a smoking establishment but why should I have to delay or hasten my walk down a sidewalk because some jerk (being polite) decides to light up right in front of me (other examples are myriad).
Outdoor smoking should be allowed but the smoker should be subject to charges of simple assault and/or battery if the smoke touches another person or forces them to change their position or path in order to avoid the smoke.
Via Hit & Run via To the People

Brewin’ A Pot

This entry was posted in Culture on by

I’ve lost track of the times i’ve given up coffee (and just switching to decaf does not count). Sometimes it has lasted just a few weeks and other times a year or more.
Currently I’m drinking coffee and am headed to the kitchen to brew a pot of Tully’s Dutchman’s Blend…I haven’t been all that happy with the flavor or punch of the Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend that also sits in the freezer.
Once I have a cup ready I’ll slide over and spend a few minutes checking out Smelling the Coffee which is a new blog About coffee, coffee shops, wireless & atmosphere, and blogging. Oh, and dogs.

Dave, do let me know when you post pics of the dogs so they can board the Friday Ark.

bush: Bribery and Obstruction of Justice?

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Has Garbus been asleep for the lest five years?

At some point, it all becomes unbelievable. President George W. Bush has not made many moves more unethical than offering Noel L. Hillman, the Abramoff prosecutor, a federal judgeship. Hillman has apparently been talking with Bush’s representatives since last year, and on last Thursday, he publicly announced he was accepting the appointment. Let me make this perfectly clear. At the same time that Mr. Hillman was conducting a grand jury and submitting evidence aimed at Bush’s allies and perhaps Bush himself, he was meeting with Bush, who was, in effect, offering him a bribe.

Hey, you’ve got three more years of this crap.

Even if he gets impeached.

It Could Be Worse

This entry was posted in Constitution Domestic Terrorism Government Libertarianism on by

I’ve done my share of griping about king george and the erosion of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness driven by the bushies, congress, state legislatures, your nearest city council and, yes, your fellow voters.
It could be worse!
In the US, even though you don’t get to see the caskets coming home, you can still see these images.
As Clara points out: if you live in China you will see these pictures instead of these.

Via Jonathon Wilde.

Update (1/30): Via Brad DeLong is this post which finds that spelling can make a big difference at google.cn. So, anyone care to speculate as to how long it will take the chinese masters to get this fixed?