Breathe

"The US government is to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, having decided that it and five other greenhouse gases may endanger human health and well-being." BBC News 17.4.09

Q What do we breathe in?
A Oxygen plus general other stuff

Q What do we breathe out
A Carbon dioxide

Q How do we regulate CO2?
A Simples - stop breathing!

Not a hopeful sign

'Barack Obama today released four top secret memos that allowed the CIA under the Bush administration to torture al-Qaida and other suspects held at Guantánamo and secret detention centres round the world.
But, in an accompanying statement, Obama ruled out prosecutions against those who had been involved. It is a "time for reflection, not retribution," he said.'
Guardian 17.4.09

So no action against illegal acts of torture by the US government from Obama then. Does this answer my question of 5.11.08? The signs are not good.

The story of an (ex) spy

Tin hatted crazy conspiraloon Annie Machon tells her story.
Or could she be sensible? Make your own mind up.

Do you dare to protest?

April 1st, 9.45pm, Bishopsgate, Chris Abbott, 30, deputy director of Oxford Research Group thinktank, from London:

"After the first police charge on the climate camp at about 7.30pm it had calmed down, and we were all just sitting there.

The next thing you know the riot police just steamed in, without any warning at all. I was still sitting on the ground and a policeman leant over the top of my girlfriend and punched me right in the face, on the nose. I could see him pulling back his fist and was thinking, 'I can't believe he's about to do this.' I was surrounded by a group of police, maybe four or five. They started punching me and hitting me on the temple and cheekbone with the edge of their shields. I had my hands in the air to show I wasn't resisting and my head tucked into my chest for protection.

I was worried about my girlfriend as I couldn't see her but I was also starting to get a bit worried for myself, thinking this was getting out of hand. I realised I was stuck in a bit of a corner. You could see the police looking round, wondering who to go for, and there wasn't really anyone left apart from me. The police were basically a gang. They were looking for people to beat up. I was thinking, 'It could get very, very nasty now.'

Luckily ... a member of the public dragged me away, saying, 'Leave him alone, he's not doing anything.'

The police didn't give us any orders. It wasn't even that we could leave. We were trapped. The whole thing was ludicrous. It was a really well-planned protest, with legal observers and police liaisons. People came to have a peaceful protest and by that time they just wanted to go home, and would have happily done so."

Statement

"A police state is not a state where the police rule. It is a state where there is no distance between the politicians and police.

A police state is a state where a policeman can be caught on camera launching an unprovoked fatal assault from behind, yet not be arrested. A police state is a state where the police raid the parliamentary offices of opposition MPs. A police state is a state where it is the politicians who are making the decisions on who gets arrested and when."

Craig Murray

Craig Murray is a Scottish dissident, human rights activist, writer, and former British Ambassador. He is currently Rector of the University of Dundee and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Lancaster School of Law.

Full article

Police in a state

Steve Bell nails it as usual. The police tactics for the G20 were an indication of the thinking of government and police hierarchy at the moment. The issue is not only the death of Ian Tomlinson, which is appalling enough, but the whole approach to protest, which appears to be designed (with the help of media stirring, and let's face it, desperation for things to "kick off" in a newsworthy fashion beforehand) to intimidate protesters and deter them from any action, despite the "free democracy" in which we live and which is always toted by government as their answer to any accusation of authoritarianism. The fact is things will not get any better unless people do make their feelings known, but the more they do, the more the government will clamp down. It's a win win for the nasty face of Nu Labour. I can't believe I was ever relieved at the end of the years of conservative rule - this lot are infinitely worse. The one plus in all this is that we are able to use the surveillance tactics on the police themselves, and as has been shown by this video (obtained by the Guardian), expose their lies (here are witness testimonies) about what really happened to Tomlinson. I'm not optimistic about where we go from here, politically speaking at any rate.

PS This video is maybe closer to the truth of what went on. The crowd are holding raised hands, standing still, chanting "peace not riot". The police are just laying into them...