Bubblehammerblog

After numerous high-profile government mishaps with its citizen's personal data - a laptop containing 150,000 medical records left in a taxi by an official being just one example - it seems the majority of the British public are still happy to entrust their private details, including fingerprints, to anyone in a suit who asks for them.

A poll cited in today's Guardian reveals that as many as 75% of UK citizens would be willing to provide biometric, ie. fingerprint or iris recognition data, to government agencies, banks & other organisations. Fear of identity theft & credit card fraud was said to be the reason.

The same poll conducted in France showed 59% willing to comply. The figures for Italy were 63%, & Germany 62%. This is a considerable diffence. How can it be explained?

I suggest it's question of political culture & history. The British, unlike the other countries mentioned, have not experienced serious political instability since the Civil War, & are unable to imagine the State as anything other than the remote, rather dull entity they currently perceive it to be. It may ocasionally become an an annoyance, but for most people it could never be a threat.

As well as a lack of awareness of the social implications of new information technologies, there's also a very limited public grasp of the climate, energy, & resources issues that face the planet. A failure of imagination. This helps to explain the British public's lack of interest in the preservation of its Civil Liberties, & by extension other people's.

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Those who have ploughed the deep & rocky furrow that is 9/11 investigations will recognise the name Thierry Meyssan. What we now know as the 9/11 Truth phenomenon began in 2002 in Europe, with Meyssan's articles, films & books. Here's what the New Statesman said about him in 2002:

The most common theories of all, however, derive from Thierry Meyssan's bestselling book L'effroyable imposture (The Frightening Fraud). Meyssan is the director of the Voltaire Network, a prominent left-wing think-tank, and it is hard to overestimate the impact of his book in France. It were as though Matthew Taylor of the IPPR or Mark Leonard of the Foreign Policy Centre had suddenly announced that the US government was involved in the 11 September attacks. Central to Meyssan's thesis is the argument that the Pentagon was not struck by a plane at all, but rather that a carefully planned truck bombing or missile strike was set up by the US government to look like a plane crash. He believes that the government plotted the whole affair, in part to control rogue agents within the security services. (Johann Hari.)

The idea that it was not an airliner, but a missile or some other weapon, that hit the pentagon, became what was called the No Planes Theory, & it caused ane early split in the online 9/11 investigations community, dividing it into two sometimes hostile camps. To promote the No Planes Theory it was necessary to explain the hundreds of people driving along the beltway that passed less than 500 metres from the Pentagon Building who said they saw an airliner.

Supporters of the No Planes Theory are now a tiny but tenacious minority. I've read some very tightly argued pieces from its proponents, involving holograms & mass hypnosis, but for me there are just too many eyewitness accounts that mention airliners.

As you might expect, it was not long before opponents of the No Planes Theory began to openly suspect that the theory itself was part of a disinformation operation run by elements of the Security Services, to make 9/11 investigators look like headbangers.


So, after that bit of background, this is the source of my information concerning Sarkozy's connection with the CIA. Do I think Sarkozy is a CIA plant? Entirely probable, but more evidence needed.

You can see Meyssan's article, in a sometimes muddled English translation, & in the original French, at Axisoflogic

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It's common, particularly among the middle classes I've noted, to hear people say, 'But I'm not a violent person'. Of course you are, fool. Just because you're scared of getting hurt, it doesn't mean that in some circumstances you wouldn't inflict violence on others, either by taking part or consenting to it.

I often feel like punching people who make these smug professions of non-violence, right in the lug hole. Because I try to follow the principle of Ahimsa I'm able to let go of these impulses.

And so, this weekend I took tea & biscuits with two friends of mine; one you might call a gentleman farmer, the other is a scholar of some repute. While discussing the privations that each expected to experience in the coming years, I brought up the Olduvai Theory. Since they weren't aware of it I explained it to them.

Readers can see a 2003 paper, The Olduvai Theory Energy, Population, and Industrial Civilization by Richard C. Duncan Here

Briefly, the Olduvai Theory, originally developed by the historian Henry Adams, grandson, & great grandson of two US Presidents, uses the formula e = Energy/Population to demonstrate that...

' The life expectancy of industrial civilization is approximately 100 years: circa 1930-2030...The exponential growth of world energy production ended in 1970... Average e will show no growth from 1979 through circa 2008. The rate of change of e will go steeply negative circa 2008. World population will decline to about two billion circa 2050'.

A number of independent studies concur.

Olduvai predicts that the end, depicted as a sharp cliff in the diagrams, 2008 clearly visible waving its arms on the headland, will come first through brownouts, followed rapidly by intermittent powercuts, followed by permanent blackout.

Strong stuff. My mate the scholar remarked that he'd always been aware that the current level of population was unsustainable. He'd even dreamed up a few measures aimed at population reduction. Kill anyone convicted of a violent crime, for instance. Top nonces & perverts who mess with children, do away with rapists. The more violent people are done away with, the more peaceful society becomes. The gentleman farmer shrugged in at-a-push agreement, & said he was buying a generator from B&Q.

Of course, my scholar friend quickly withdrew the main articles of his proposal, explaining it was an emotional outburst, or perhaps a thought experiment, like the one his colleague Martin Amis made, when he suggested punishing people for being Muslim. It was obvious, he said, that a Totalitarian state would be needed to carry out mass killings on this scale, & he wasn't keen on that idea.

I only present this to suggest what dangers a deepening economic crisis might bring.

I see in the news that billionaire Damien Hirst, has sacked some of the workers at his Science Ltd., company, where he employs people to produce his 'art'. These people need to be in a union to fight this. I suggest the IWW

Anyone can turn out stuff like Hirst's, which is why he uses gold & precious stones as a kind of copyright. I hear tell of a blacksmith & a butcher in the Yorkshire Dales who've teamed up to produce bisected cows in glass cases, which are loaded onto lorries & taken all over the country.

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I support Muqtada As Sadr's position on the SOFA. Coalition forces need to leave Iraq without delay. The longer they stay the more harm they do.


Reports of demonstrations here

Imperialists have always used the threat that their withdrawal will result in bloodshed. This is what kept British troops in Ulster for decades. No government elected under occupation can claim legitimacy.

Withdrawal can surely be achieved without helicopter rooftop evacuations from the Green Zone.

The Iraqi administration that emerges after the complete withdrawal of occupying forces should promptly begin proceedings to demand reparations from the US & Britain for the loss of life, destruction of physical infrastructure, & economic hardship suffered by the Iraqi population as a result the invasion.

Those primarily responsible for the aggression, G.W Bush, Tony Blair, Cheney, Rumsfeldt, Hoon, & others, should be brought before an international court of justice & charged with war crimes. Charges relating to the deliberate targeting & murder of civilians by occupying Coalition Forces, abuse of Human Rights & the use of torture, could also be pursued.

Since the cost of reparations to Iraq would push the US economy under the ice, a Peace & Reconciliation Conference might be necessary.

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One immediate measure the Government could take to boost the plunging, or perhaps cliff diving, economy would be to drastically raise the level of benefits paid to pensioners, the unemployed, those on incapacity & invalidity benefits & non employed parents.

This would stimulate local economies much quicker than infrastructure projects, since those on benefits are more likely to spend any increase on locally available goods & services they could not previously afford.

I see city centre restaurants filled with booming claimants, bustling markets, a renaissance in local arts, leisure & entertainment. Bands investing in new equipment, new venues opening as the market for live music blossoms. I want someone to tell me what's wrong with this idea.

There are those who would oppose this proposal on the grounds that giving more money to a section of society that might include the feckless, the workshy, the chemically dependant & the sexually incontinent is immoral. This however is not an argument against the purely ecomomic good sense of taking such measures.

A 50% across the board increase in Benefits payments implemented now would give a significant boost to overall consumer spending within less than a fortnight.

Contact your Local MP by email & get them to see the economic sense of turning liabilities into assets by making benefits claimants engines of growth.

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Recall the irritating Budweiser 'Wassup?' ads that were on heavy rotation in the early part of this century? Here's an update. Four million YouTube hits is not enough.

As for those who missed the original ad, a zeitgeist piece, you can find it yourselves. I'll not be party to promoting that most disappointing beer. Aerated joey piss, or maids watter as they say in Yorkshire.

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We hear nothing whatsoever from British Government sources, nor individual New Labour MPs, about the deliberate Geneva Convention busting collective punishment of 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip, described here by Jonathan Cook. If the current devastation in Gaza was the result of a hurricane or earthquake it might merit a few respectful condolences from the floor of the House, or a couple of minutes on primetime news. But the turning of Gaza into a vast concentration camp, without enough food, medical supplies or electricity, is Israeli Government policy, & is supported to the hilt by the US & Europe.

The justification for the West's support for this murderous policy, & the reason why it is willing to turn a blind eye to Article Four of the Geneva Convention, is supposedly to turn Gaza's population against the Hamas government it elected in a free & fair ballot in 2005. The international sanctions aimed at the Saddam Hussein regime, which killed as many as half a million children, were in part justified by the same objective, & continued for over a decade without achieving it.

Obviously, there are Gazans who aren't supporters of the Hamas Islamist program, but many voted for them because they promised an end to Fatah corruption & vacillation & a more honest pursuit of the stuggle for Palestinian national liberation. This is what the whole population of Gaza is being punished for.

Earlier this year a senior Israeli defence official spoke frankly about creating a 'shoah' in Gaza. The incremental tightening of the stranglehold over Gaza is clearly not the result of a few homemade rockets fired at Israeli settlements, but the working out of a long term policy of ethnic cleansing. The Israeli Zionists routinely accuse the Palestinian resistance of wanting to push them into the sea, & it looks as though the Israeli Government, with the connivance of the West, is planning to force the Gazans, if not into the sea then over the border into the Sinai Desert.

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I'm just going to present you with two quotes from an excellent but saddening article from Chris Hedges, at Information Clearinghouse, & urge you strongly to click on the link provided to read the rest of it.

" We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban, believer or nonbeliever, red state or blue state, has split the country into radically distinct, unbridgeable and antagonistic entities....."

" Political campaigns have become an experience. They do not require cognitive or self-critical skills. They are designed to ignite pseudo-religious feelings of euphoria, empowerment and collective salvation. Campaigns that succeed are carefully constructed psychological instruments that manipulate fickle public moods, emotions and impulses, many of which are subliminal. They create a public ecstasy that annuls individuality and fosters a state of mindlessness. They thrust us into an eternal present. They cater to a nation that now lives in a state of permanent amnesia. It is style and story, not content or history or reality, which inform our politics and our lives. We prefer happy illusions." Information Clearinghouse

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Attentive readers might have noticed me banging on about the collective & individual fading of memory, & the need to imagine an alternative language to talk about radical social change, entailing a re-memberance, or putting together of scattered parts strewn over a landscape of fragments.

Into my hands recently came a new book by Dave Lee, Bright from the Well - Northern Tales in the Modern World. Mandrake of Oxford (2008). It's a retelling & reimagining of the creation & social origin myths of the Northern European tradition, including the Völuspá, & Rigsþula (Rig's Tale). Comprising five short stories & five essays, it's an odd but compelling read, combining a reworked & updated phenomenology of the myths with vividly told stories set in the contemporary world of would-be sorcerers & Chaos Magic.

Those with a suspicious turn of mind wrongly might detect a whiff of the Thule Society, & the romantic/reactionary projects dreamed up by the likes of W. B. Yeats & D. H. Lawrence, which often resulted in psychosomatic afflictions of the right arm. But Dave Lee is no New Ager, sharing my view that these are people with too many easily acquired beliefs to spend, who couldn't think their way out of a paper bag. Think rather of the imaginative legacy & radical engagement of William Blake. Great stuff, ideas sparking off in all directions.

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With the leaves falling off the trees the Channel Five signal has begun to reach my satellite dish. You may be one of the millions of people who doesn't watch this channel, so you'll be unaware that it specialises in shows about the police, including American dramas like the CSI franchise, & various 'reality' police action shows. I sat through one last night called Police Interceptor, mainly because I'd shovelled down too much mutton stew, & couldn't get off the setee to switch it off.

Police Interceptor is about a group of overweight Essex scuffers, one of them amusingly called Spongebob, who tear up & down dual carriageways in Subaru Imprezzas chasing motorists & pulling them over to question them.

There's a particularly smarmy commentary in a chirpy Southern accent that constantly reminds us of the 'professionalism' of Spongebob & his pals. Policemen, & I've met lots of them, rarely have much in the way of personality, so the irritating commentary is probably needed to compensate for the dullness of the exchanges between the coppers as they speed from one interception to the next.

In last night's episode the use of the Automatic Numberplate Recognition (APR) system was demonstrated. The APR had flagged a vehicle that was on record as having connections with drug dealing. It was a red Ford Fiesta. Hang on a minute, I thought through the fug of mutton stew, I've known many drug dealers, but I've never come across one who would be caught dead from an overdose in a Ford Fiesta.

The red Ford Fiesta must have been of special interest to the Essex Constabulary, because it immediately becomes a major operation, deploying no less than four cars, with a senior officer co-ordinating, to chase it down. Tension builds as the fleet of police cars speeds through the night, exchanging terse bursts of radio contact. The professionalism of this team is evident. Eventually, the rear lights of Fiesta come into view ahead, & it's 'Go go go, go go go', as the car is simultaneously forced onto the hard shoulder, & its escape is blocked by a second Imprezza. Spongebob & his partner leap briskly from their vehicle & pull open both front doors of the Fiesta.

As I for some reason expected, the Fiesta contains two skinny youths, who blink in confusion as they're roughly dragged from their car & pushed against a wall. Their car smells of cannabis, Spongebob tells them, & it's going to be searched.

Not surprisingly, one of the youths decides to start swearing at Spongebob, calling him a dickhead. But as the commentary helpfully informs us, Spongebob has received special training in dealing with bad language from the public.

Listen children, I've received instruction, (not training, dogs & horses get training), in counter-interrogation techniques from a certain militant organisation which will remain nameless. You must resist the impulse to gob off at the police. Remain cheerfully polite, even appear helpful, but say nothing. Do not attempt to lie. If they try to use your first name, politely insist that they call you either Sir, or Mr O'Donnell, Mr Mohammad, or whatever. Politely refuse any offers of fags, or cups of tea. Try to smile.

After a prefunctory search of their car, revealing nothing, the two lads were handcuffed & taken to the police station. There they were intimately searched, from which the camera mercifully spares us, & we merely see Spongebob pulling on a pair of white plastic gloves. While Spongebob & his partner probe the youth's arseholes, another police detail ransacks their Fiesta. Nothing at all is found. After many hours the miserable skinny youths are released without charge.
The commentary breezily tell us that more than half of all such interceptions are like the one we have witnessed, & result in no suspicious finds or convictions.

So let's recap. Four expensive cars, containing eight stout police officers, including a senior officer on a very handsome salary, are deployed to chase & detain two undernourished youths in a clapped out vehicle. Half a police shift is spent searching & questioning the youths on the basis of the suspicion that the youths might have smoked cannabis in their car. The eight officers, professionals all, express no regrets whatsoever at this total waste of time & resources. After their encounter the youths will understandably conclude, for future reference, that all police are bullies & cunts.

Dear Member of the Public, do you think this is a suitable way to spend taxpayer's money? If you can get Channel Five, see the next episode of Police Interceptor.

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If I hear another politician or businessman use the words hard work, hardworking families, or hardworking Americans, I'll have to go & lie down.

Broon is particularly fond of it. Just listen, he slips in the phrase at every opportunity. What does it mean? It's a current buzzword, a dogwhistle word our rulers use when they want us to wag our tails in appreciation. It signals that, in an aspirational society like ours, wealth & privilage is the typical outcome of energy & effort. The greater the effort, the greater the reward. In societies with gross disparities of income, the notion that wealth & success is achieved simply through hard work helps to assuage discontent caused by resentment of glaring inequalities. Without this idea our grotesque celebrity culture, with its abject worship of conspicuous consumption & prestige, would not be possible.

Blair used the formula to great effect in his efforts to dismantle the Labour Movement & transform the nature of the Labour Party. New Labour, he declared, was less interested in equality of income than equality of opportunity. Under the new dispensation the country would become a meritocracy, leaving behind the outdated ideas of Social Democracy. Typically, it was Mandelson, who worked his fingers to the bone in persuit of the rich & powerful, who said that New Labour was the party of business, relaxed about individuals getting filthy rich. These ideas are characteristic of a period of sustained economic boom, which we've experienced for over two decades now. There are indications that the party might be over, but you'll be hearing the hard work mantra every verse end.

A moment's reflection will reveal the obvious truth that there's no simple link between hard work & financial reward. It depends entirely on the type of work you're doing. Certain kinds of hard work, having your photograph taken for a glossy magazine, or managing a hedge fund, are rewarded much more hansomely than others, caring for the sick & elderly, for instance. None of this needs saying.

And just what is hard work? A personal anecdote: at one time I was running both a pub & a restaurant. I worked from 10 o'clock in the morning until around 1 o'clock the following morning, some 15 hours a day, seven days a week. The rewards were adequate. You might admire my capacity for industry. (If you want to see a businessman smirk with self-satisfaction, call them a workoholic.) But my partner was at home all this time, doing housework & caring for young children. Half a day looking after kids & I'd be shagged out, much as I love them. I'd take 15 hours of pulling pints & cooking fancy food over that anytime. Why? Because making money is enjoyable, & can't be described as drudgery.

In the 60's I had a badge pinned to my jacket that said 'Fuck Work'. I wore it to annoy adults, which is the duty of all young people. But the idea was in the air that we were going to do away with the miserable Protestant Work Ethic. We thought we might see the birth of Homo Ludens, with technology as the midwife. How wrong we were. Know what happens when you put your nose to the grindstone? Your fucking head gets ground off.

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Recently published findings by a group of German researchers has concluded that a propensity to cocaine addiction is genetically determined. Here it is.

Genetic factors, scientists believe, account for 70% of cocaine addiction, making it as heritable as schizophrenia and other mental health conditions. Studies of twins suggest alcoholism is about 50% genetic.

I have problems with this notion, beginning with the difficulty of determining just what is meant 'addiction' - not a straightforward construct when we begin teasing apart the the various cultural, social, medical & political threads from which it's made. But let's leave that aside. What is being said here is that addiction is a disease, & as such it can rightfully take its place alongside other genetically inherited disorders, & be treated accordingly.

The idea that drug addiction is a disease is an old one. It was the basis of what came to be called the British System for dealing with people with problematic opiate habits, begun in the 1920s & largely discredited & dismantled by the 1970s. This was in constrast to the approach broadly taken in the US, where drug users were seen as morally disordered people in need of corrective punishment. Under the British System doctors prescribed users with supplies of opiates. The resulting stablisation would allow the disease to run its course, so the theory went, & eventually the user would voluntarily refrain from drug use. A problem was that at the time there was no clear idea about precisely what kind of disease addiction was, its etiology & pathology. Genetics has now come up with an answer.

What we're witnessing here is another example of the medicalisation of human diversity, (or the pathologisation of deviance, if you want an uglier construct). The process began with the development & eventual ascendancy of biologically reductionist psychiatry, & has gained enormous momentum as a result of certain types of genetic research. There are now influential people who are asserting, with the prestige of science behind them, that whole areas of human experience, from entrenched misery to deviant thought & behavior, are largely the result of defective genes. 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars...'

Being a mere rude mechanical, I'm not in a position to argue the underlying science informing these assertions. What I can do, though, is touch upon some of the implications involved. For now I'll outline just one example, while urging readers to come up with others themselves.

A projected outcome of research into the genetic basis of drug addiction is the development of vaccines able to selectively block the effects of certain substances, the use of which society disapproves - cocaine for example. This is the strategy behind the funding of such research. The drug can be considered as akin to a virus. Through a process of genetic screening, those people identified as being at risk of 'contracting' addiction as a result of exposure to the substance would simply be innoculated, thus saving them from a life of recurring misery & financial ruin. Who could argue with such a sensible & humane proposal?

The companies providing the screening & supplying the vaccines would of course make huge fortunes for investors. When recently an English secondary school proposed the compulsory routine drug testing of its pupils, parents were reported to be widely supportive of the idea. Many parents would no doubt see it as their duty to have their children protected against drugs by paying to have them innoculated. Compulsory vaccination is just a step further. Again, who could object to a measure that could protect children from a scourge that might ruin their young lives?

I could. I want my children to be protected from as many of the random onslaughts of bacteria & viruses as possible. But I certainly don't want them to be given artificial immunity from the necessity of making moral choices.

Whether a person decides for or against the idea of using substances to alter brain chemistry is a moral choice. Here's where I part company with the almost overwhelming majority of medical, legal & political opinion. I think that the matter of chemical substances & states of consciousness properly belongs in the realm of religious belief. The state has no more warrant to determine the composition of the chemical soup in my brain than it has to decide for me whether I should believe in transubstantiation or not.

So long as substances exist, natural or synthetic, that can alter consciousness in some way, pleasurably or otherwise, there will be humans interested in using them. It was ever thus. All attempts to alter this fact are futile. The deranged obsessives currently working at US State research facilities on genetic methods of wiping out the psychoactive components of the coca leaf & the opium poppy are barking at the moon. They might as well attempt to extract the holy stuff from holy water.

A grown up society ought to be able to safely accomodate the basic human impulse to seek altered states though chemicals, instead of screaming blue murder every time a 16 year old lights up a joint. Doing so is is like trying to stop the little buggers shagging. The enculturation of drugs use - there's another awkward mouthful for you to consider.

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The 1918 Armistice rememberance ceremonies bring military matters to mind.

A recent survey indicated that around 60% of the public either oppose or have reservations about the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, while 85% 'support our troops'. What does 'supporting' British soldiers in these wars mean? Does it entail going to their funerals, welcoming them home with flags & bands, like the the recent controvertial parade in Belfast, or hailing them as 'heroes', & 'our brave lads?' Don't you think there's something odd, quaint even, about this? I know you read in the newspapers that the troops appreciate such gestures from the public. 'A slap on the back, or a handshake from a stranger in a pub at home means a lot to us', one said. This is the most personal support they're ever likely to get. But does it help to discourage war-mongering governments from sending our young people into harms way?

I suppose tradition plays a part. Britain has a long history of sending its young men to fight for obscure causes in faraway places about which they know nothing. The modern British Army, though, no longer deploys crude jingoism to maintain its espirit du corps & get new recruits. What's instilled now is the notion of professionalism, & the impression, cultivated in TV adverts, thay they're sort of heavily armed social workers of last resort. Contrast this with the American approach. In 2003 a poll revealed that most US troops in Iraq thought they were there to punish Saddam Hussein for his involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

There are very good reasons for young men & women to join the army. Spirited young people reject the idea of surrendering to the humdrum workaday experience they see around them. The paid employment on offer has become increasingly meaningless & tedious, hence the frenzied determination to spend the proceeds at weekends. Who in their right mind would want to work in a call centre, a bank, an estate agent or insurance office? When I was with extreme reluctance forced to seek paid employment, it was a choice between the steelworks, the coal mines, or a giant bread bakery on the outskirts of town. I chose the steelworks. As a 16 year old I could stand in the vast melting shop at British Steel, taking in the Göttedämmerung of noise, smoke & flame around me, in my flame retardant overalls, hard hat & wooden clogs, & say to myself, 'My god, this is fucking awful. But at least now I'm a man among men. I'm a steelworker.' All this has gone, but the army can offer something similar.

None of my children has entertained the idea of joining up, so I've never been faced with the problem of talking them out of it. Most of them can barely comprehend my politics, words like 'imperialism' mean nothing to them, & they see my suspicion of the State as paranoid & counterproductive. The notion of being killed by a bullet or IED is, of course, barely considered. Just ordinary kids. But I've rehearsed the arguments, just in case.

- Yes, I'd say, join The Professionals. See the world with a great bunch of mates. Learn new skills. Work hard, play hard. As a team. Your mother/grandmother will love the idea.

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I was too young to remember Jack Kennedy being elected. But I recall I was in a fish & chip shop when I heard he'd been killed, overhearing a conversation & feeling something painful. A customer quietly spoke the news to the woman behind the counter. She put her hand up to her face. Her face.

I was a teenager when the Kennedy White House was sometimes called Camelot. I'd begun reading the Arthurian Legends without being aware of this. John Mitchell's book on Ley Lines had started me off. When I came across Lewis Spence's British Mysteries there was no stopping me. So when I heard mention of Camelot in connexion with John F. Kennedy, you can see, I paid attention. Jack Kennedy became associated with that era, when radical change for the better looked not just as though it was inevitable, but there was also the sense that it was going to be a bit of a pushover. I laughed, & hacked on my chillum.

Robert Kennedy. Elect Bobby. Watching him speak, blinking over the microphone, flicking his fringe all the time the way young men did in those days before sensible haircuts.

Robert Kennedy was the best President America never had.

On the day after the election, Ustadh Juan Cole, at his Informed Comment blog http://www.juancole.com/ has pictures of JKF, MLK, & RFK... under the heading 'Wouldn't it be nice if Jack, Martin, Bobby, Cesar and Patsy could have been around to see it?'
I don't think I can add anything to that.

As you know, by the time it got to trying to get George McGovern elected, the cause was already suspected to be hopeless.

I haven't heard many commentators recalling the days when Colin Powell was a prospective Presidential candidate. He wisely turned it down of course. There were murmurs about Condoleeza Rice too. What if it'd been Colin Powell, perhaps with Condoleeza Rice on the ticket, instead of McCain & the disasterous Sarah Palin? The Republicans might well have won with two black candidates.

Here's a quote:

"What else but a controlling emotional 'devil' so blinded American white intelligence that it couldn't forsee that millions of black slaves, 'freed', then permitted even limited education, would one day rise up as a terrifying monster whithin white America's midst." ( Autobiography of Malcolm X)

& for your edification, here's one from Aristotle. I mean the Aristotle.

"Those who live in a cold climate & in Europe are full of spirit, but wanting in intelligence & skill. They keep their freedom but have no political organisation, & are incapable of ruling over others." (The Politics)

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West Yorkshire Police has taken the initiative of sending out patrols around city & town centre pubs accompanied by small, specially trained dogs, to sniff out members of the public who might be in possession of drugs. This means specifically cannabis, since other drugs are much more difficult to detect. Television reports suggest that the move has been popular with the public, especially pub landlords & managers. 'It's a good idea', one landlord said in an interview. 'It puts our minds at rest.' Seems the dogs wear badges that warn dopefiends not to be misled by their cuteness.

What is this country, the most spied-upon on the planet, becoming? Years of sneakily authoritarian governments has softened up the population to the point where most will abandon what's left of their privacy & civil liberties without a whimper. If you're not terrorist or a criminal, the argument goes, you've nothing to fear. No one who has lived through, or paid attention to, what has happened from the 20th century onwards should swallow this. But as I've said before, we're becoming people without memory. The healthy suspicion & wariness of authority that makes real democracy possible is being worn away by small increments. Listen: the State is a misfortune we reluctantly put up with. Your mind will be at rest when you're dead.

The State is going to monitor your phone calls, your emails & what you look at on the Net. For the first time in history the collection & storage of vast volumes of data, along with ways & means of interrogating it, has become technically easy. Your car registration number will be used to monitor your comings & goings. Your credit card will reveal what you buy. From next year the State will open a database, called 'Contact Point', that will detail the lives of your children from birth. The silence of Joe the Plumber on these matters is taken for consent. Klaus Bubblehammer the Disaffected Troublemaker would rather take his chances with terrorists & criminals.

Because Joe the Plumber didn't object to the police sniffing the pockets of harmless dope smokers out on the town for a few beers, ( & yes, because the tokers are too disorganised to deploy the simple tactic of smearing cannabis oil over pub furniture, to fox the dogs), the next step will be for the State to send out the cops with equipment to read the RFID chips embedded in the various devices people carry in their pockets, which will indicate where you where, at what time, & who with - all of which will be added to your database entry. Is that alright for you then?

& now for something completely different.

So far Notts Forest has only managed to win two matches all season, the second just last weekend, & they remain at the bottom of the Championship, or Second Division. What's happening here? Not so long ago Nottingham Forest was the best, & most exciting team in Europe. And they managed to become so without mercenaries or megastars. All the players were Scottish, Irish, or English, though there might've been the odd Dutchman. When Brian Clough signed the forward Gary Birtles he was working as a plasterer on a building site, & Clough warned him that if he didn't shape up he'd be clocking on again on Monday morning.

Which brings me to Blackpool. I have a notion, that could earn me lots of money, to bring back the tangerine Glory Days of Blackpool FC. I want to buy the club from the cretins who currently own it, & invest enough money for the club to reinvent itself. The potential supporters are already there - all the disaffected Man United & City, Liverpool, Everton, Bolton, & all the Lancashire hinterland, would rally to a club playing exciting football. The city of Blackpool has lost its bid to host one of New Labour's sinister & halfbaked 'supercasinos', so the football club is ripe for development. The project could be kicked off by putting together an 'all stars' team, a bit like Fulham attempted in the 80's with Best, Rodney Marsh etc., but with a better plan & more commitment. Interested investors should contact kbubblehammer@yahoo.co.uk

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