Dissident Vox

Midinight Garden of the Mind...

John B — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:26:19 +0000

Like a garden overgrown, I have allowed this site to atrophy for a long while now. The weeds of inactivity have taken root here and I'm still unsure of when I will begin replanting it. Pulling up the deadwood of old ideas and reversing the informational entropy that has overtaken this place is a big task. One I'm not sure that I'm ready or even willing to begin.

Yet, the weeds grow, the world turns and the task must either be attempted or abandoned soon...

Of my own education I have not been idle. In my reverie I have piled the thoughts higher, attempted to expand the boundaries of what I know and can speak of with at least a modicum less ignorance than I had the day before. Yet, the task of sharing my conclusions with the wider world as I once did so enthusiastically here has eluded me.

There are many things I could say, some that perhaps still need to be said. But I cannot escape the sense that many of them already have been, by others more equal to the task and far more courageous and steadfast in the effort than I.

It looks, increasingly, as if those forces seeking to subjugate and ensnare, to enslave, corrupt, suffocate and subdue are in the ascendancy. The people of my nation slumber, like flowers in a field, in ignorance or denial of the machinery of harvest that approaches them. I sleep also. Yet, my sleep is not rest, nor is it blissful, for I hear the ominous rumble in the distance...

Where are the voices that will speak out at this late hour? Sounding the last warning, shaking the sleeping shrubs and flowers suddenly awake in their beds! Can they be awakened, can a flower that does not desire to bloom be awoken from dormancy? Is it worth the struggle, effort and risk required to attempt the task?

I don't know and because I can find neither the courage nor the certain will to decide, I oscillate, hesitate, drift...

An answer will not come, until I decide to move myself. I either bend my back to the task and raise myself from dormancy, accepting the work of the day as it comes, or I slip away quietly from this ground and cede it forever to the weeds.

Your'e ALL under arrest!

John B — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:17:00 +0100

Press Release that came with the above video.

BURIED TAPE REVEALS USE OF FORCE AND AN UNWARRANTED MASS ARREST OF BYSTANDERS DURING THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION ST. PAUL, Minnesota (September 18, 2008)

Video released today shows the indiscriminate arrest of a crowd of two hundred at the waterfront across from a concert on Harriet Island Regional Park during this month's Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The video includes multiple angles of the event as well as an interview with the cameraman who buried his footage and was one of almost two hundred people arrested for rioting without probable cause.More than eight hundred people were arrested in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. This video shows that at least twenty percent of the eight hundred plus arrested were seized without due cause.

Source here.

The 'Pain Ray'

John B — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:00:09 +0100

On the Way Back...

John B — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:31:44 +0000

Apologies to any regular visitors to this site for the lack of content in recent weeks. After the death of my Mum at the end of July, I decided to take a break from regular blogging and podcasting for a while. I will be back with new content in the very near future. In the meantime, I'd like to thank you for your continued interest in this website and inform you that I'll be back with some new and exciting content very soon.

The Tide of Time

John B — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 01:12:23 +0100

My Mum died at the start of this month from a combination of Clostridium difficile and cancer. Although she entered hospital some 3 months before because of the cancer, it was Clostridium difficile the "scourge of the health service" that was listed as the primary cause of her death.

You shouldn't die of something you contracted in a hospital. And its recognised as an "infectious diarrhea occurring in hospitalized patients in developed countries."

So much for "the best health system in the world" - Much is changing in our world, not all of it for the better.

Sorry that's all I have for right now. It's not much I know. Still I wanted to say hello again...

I was getting 100,000 hits a month here a little while back. Apparently that's quite a lot, especially for a little site like mine. I have no idea what it is now.

Thanks for showing up, if you did. :)

I'll be back soon, maybe... Sorry I can't be more definite folks, the tide of time and circumstance being what it is.

"God Bless each and every one of you" - and that's a quote. ;-)

DV

Rise of the Eurocracy

John B — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:20:35 +0100

The Telegraph is running a piece calling for an EU referendum and quoting a statement by Jean-Claude Juncker, premier of Luxembourg. In it Mr Juncker appears to imply that British people should only be consulted about matters which fundamentally affect they way they are governed, if they can be relied upon to support the constitutional position pre-selected for them by their leaders.

Speaking to Belgian newspaper Le Soir Mr Juncker he said,

"I am astonished at those who are afraid of the people: one can always explain that what is in the interest of Europe is in the interests of our countries. Britain is different. Of course there will be transfers of sovereignty. But would I be intelligent to draw the attention of public opinion to this fact?"

Mr Juncker went on to outline the considerable constitutional changes which have taken already place; all without any real input from the British people when he said,

"There is a single legal personality for the EU, the primacy of European law, a new architecture for foreign and security policy, there is an enormous extension in the fields of the EU's powers, there is Charter of Fundamental Rights."

The EU Constitution in printer friendly PDF format is here.

Comment

Certainly, framing the debate in such a way that the British people are kept ignorant of vital facts on significant issues has been a well trodden path taken by this current British government. Regardless of political ideology, undertaking a fundamental restructuring of the way in which nations are governed, without genuine public consultation or approval, cannot but bode ill for the future of participatory democracy.

Fearbomb!?

John B — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:10:42 +0100

An interesting viewpoint on the latest London car bombings from Larry Johnson; interviewed here by MSNBC journalist Keith Olbermann. He is introduced as "an ex-CIA agent. It's impossible to verify if Larry is or isn't an ex-CIA agent, since its merely a statement made by the journalist and no proof is offered. Nonethless his comments seem insightful. Judge for yourselves...

The Sacrificed King?

John B — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:38:53 +0100

Tests supervised by the Italian Army on a Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle, similar to the one said to have been used by Lee Harvey Oswald to kill President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), on November 22, 1963, claim that it would have taken at least 19 seconds to get off the three shots allegedly fired by Oswald.The Warren Commission, (responsible for the investigation into the murder), concluded that the shots which killed JFK, were fired by Oswald in only 7 seconds.

The report, was published by the Italian news agency ANSA and has since been picked up by United Press International (UPI) and reported briefly on Sky News. It is sketchy on details, claiming only that "The tests were done in a former Carcano factory in Terni." and that "In one test, a bullet was fired through two large pieces of meat to simulate the assumed path of a shot that the Warren Commission concluded struck Texas Gov. John Connally after passing through Kennedy's body. In the test, the bullet ended deformed, while the bullet in the Kennedy assassination remained intact."

Comment

It is strange that this report should appear in the same week that Time Magazine is running a piece on its website claiming that JFK's brother, Robert Francis Kennedy, (RFK) assassinated in June 1968, was "America's first J.F.K. assassination-conspiracy theorist." In the case of RFK, the man said to have been responsible for the murder, Palestinian Christian Sirhan Sirhan, has since retracted his admission of guilt and demanded a retrial, claiming that he was framed and that crucial evidence was destroyed.

75% of the American people believe that John Kennedy was killed by an organized conspiracy. A conspiracy which did not involve Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone. These days that belief is simply used as proof of the American peoples delusional desire to believe ill of their own government.

Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the murder of JFK, but was himself murdered two days later by Jack Ruby before he could stand trial. Oswald famously claimed that he was not responsible for the murder and was in fact "a patsy". The Warren Commission concluded Oswald had acted alone. The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979 that there may have been a conspiracy. Nothing was ever done to follow up on this conclusion.

In the murder of JFK and its subsequent controversial aftermath, America became the victim of it's very own killing of the king ritual. An act, replete with tortured symbolism, which traumatized an era and enacted a profound shift in the psychic topography of American political life.

America was never the same after the death of JFK. The murder of his brother Robert; when he himself was campaigning to inherit the symbolic crown of the presidency, simply reinforced the terrible sense of helplessness that many Americans were beginning to feel. During an era of international war and internal strife, many desired a real change in the political and social culture of the Republic. It had looked (for a time), as if the Kennedy's; a newly crowned virile family dynasty would help to bring this change about.

After the assassinations, much of that idealism and hope was lost beneath the bodies of dead leaders and the endless carnage of a conflict in Vietnam. If there was a conspiracy to kill the Kennedy's and its end was to prevent the flowering of idealism into a genuine force for cultural and political transformation, then these two vile acts of sorcerous symbolism, could not have met with a greater degree of success.

All Hail President Blair?

John B — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:48:47 +0100

With just 10 days left on the clock of his Prime Ministerial reign, Anthony Charles Blair is preparing to attend his final EU summit. It is expected that whilst in Germany on Thursday, Blair will give assent to plans for Britain to sign up to the "treaty on the functioning of the union" a document that many claim, is simply a repurposed version of the failed European Constitution. The original constitution was signed by EU leaders including Tony Blair in October 2004 - its ratification failed, when it was rejected by both the French and Dutch people in referendums in 2005.

Todays Sunday Times, quotes Monsieur Valerie Giscard d’Estaing, former French President and one of the amended treaties principal architects as saying. "The name is not important". Speaking to the French newspaper LeMonde, he said the public would "adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly”. The same Monsieur Giscard, revealed his true feelings about the European public's rejection of the previous version of the constitution in a lecture at the London School of Economics in 2006, when he said. "The rejection of the Constitution was a mistake which will have to be corrected."

This remodeled version, ratifies the European Union as a single legal entity with a "legal personality" allowing it to negotiate and sign binding international contracts and agreements. It confers upon this legal entity "exclusive competence" and determines that Member States may "exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence." It also creates a position of European President within the European Council and a single foreign policy representative. Many constitutional experts feel this will erode the principle of national sovereignty and deal a significant blow to the power of nation states to govern themselves. The document states emphatically. "This Constitution shall have primacy over the laws of member states".

According to the Sunday Times, EU leaders have already discussed the idea of offering the new position of European President to Blair; a role which will undoubtedly carry significant prestige and no small measure of power. Given the legal primacy that the European Parliament assumes over all national governments this could effectively elevate Blair to an even higher level within the European elite.

UPDATE: Blair has sidestepped the European Presidential role, instead opting to take up a position as a special envoy for the Middle East Quartet with a portfolio focused on Palestinian economic reform.

Comment

It is plain that when the democratically expressed will of the people is not to pursue a path towards deeper European integration, those who consider themselves the only ones fit to decide, will consider such decisions "mistakes" to be ignored, corrected later, or treated as a temporary setbacks.

Of the 16 countries that have completed ratification, only 2 have done so via referendum; Luxembourg and Spain. Spain managed only a 42% turnout in its vote. France and Holland both rejected it. In all other cases, the Constitution was ratified by parliamentary vote and the people were not consulted.

The European Constitution has been rejected by half of the people who have actually had a chance to vote upon it; the fact that this means nothing to those pushing ahead with a mildly revised version, perfectly demonstrates the contempt the European political elite feel for the desires of those in whose name they pretend to govern.

Read a PDF reader friendly version of the Constitution here.

Ten Years of Blair

John B — Sat, 26 May 2007 18:52:02 +0100

The 51st British Prime Minister Anthony Charles Blair is preparing to resign after a decade in power on June 27th. During his term in office, he has presided over a series of sweeping legislative and social changes. Many of these fundamentally alter our relationship to the state. They will have dramatic consequences upon our freedom to speak, think and act, far beyond the length of his tenure.

The 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act gave the Home Secretary the power to detain any foreign national indefinitely - without charge, or trial. Ironically in 1993, Anthony Charles Blair said - "deprivation of liberty should be through the courts and not through politicians."

The right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty has been severely weakened. The right, not to be punished for a crime, unless a court of your peers has proven your guilt beyond reasonable doubt has also been compromised. Law Lord, Lord Nicholls, said - "indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law."

Over 3000 new criminal offenses have been created. The country has staggered under a welter of ASBO's, prevention orders, pre-crime proposals and Summary justice initiatives. Fixed penalty notices have been introduced; some Britons have already fallen foul of them, merely for wearing the wrong t-shirts, or using relatively mild and passive forms of profanity. It doesn't matter if you're guilty of an actual crime anymore, such things are determined on the spot by a police officer.

Personal privacy has been eroded - Britons are now the most surveilled people on earth. There are upwards of 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain and the government is continuing to trial more. Behavioral analysis systems, X-ray surveillance software, CCTV that listens to your conversations and shouts orders at you - all are being tested and implemented...

A massive database state is growing up, populated by tracking systems, RFID chips, GPS satellite and thermal imaging technologies, DNA profiling and identity databases. Richard Thomas, the UK's 'Information Commissioner said - "The pervasive use of surveillance undermines or destroys the inter-related trust relationships that are fundamental to the operation of the state."

The 2003 Extradition Act, allows British citizens to be extradited (kidnapped) to face criminal charges, torture and indefinite imprisonment in United States prisons, such as Guantanamo Bay. This despite a lack of hard evidence needed to support a case against them here in the UK. Amnesty International referred to Guantanamo Bay as - "A Gulag for our times."

Strangely, it seems that the majority of British people have failed to grasp the magnitude of the changes taking place, they are prepared to passively support them because they believe them necessary in combatting the threat of terrorism.

We have lost the freedom to demonstrate peacefully outside Downing Street or The Houses of Parliament; unless our demonstration first has the written approval of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. In 2002 Tony Blair said - " Every day I see protesters outside Downing Street... I may not like what they call me, but I thank God the can... That's freedom."

Thomas Jefferson once said that - "Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society."- In the ten year period that he has been Prime Minister, Anthony Charles Blair has ensured that the liberty of the British people has become increasingly invisible. We may not yet be living in a police state, but in ten short years of Blair, we have edged and an awful lot closer to one.

Waiting For A Bridge Across...

John B — Fri, 18 May 2007 19:41:01 +0100

Apologies for the lack of recent content posted on this site. I've had a challenging month or two. I lost broadband access for about 4 weeks, then took a planned trip to Venice with my wife's family.

Recently, my family is dealing with a major illness affecting my Mum. There will be new content soon, but for the moment, my priorities are elsewhere.

Thanks for your patience.

Freedom and Fear (Part 2)

John B — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 14:00:09 +0100

I'm passionate about what I see happening around me. When I see: gross injustice, willful ignorance, barbarous brutality, or the stone-cold bullshit of propaganda and censorship being played out on the public stage, something inside of me cries out against it!

Restricting the right to peacefully protest, fingerprinting tens of thousands of schoolchildren, erecting a culture of pervasive surveillance, fighting unjust wars, that kill, maim and disfigure the innocent; these and a thousand other indignities and brutalities, are not the footprints of a society headed for the green fields of freedom. They are the tracks of a culture walking the hard stone road to tyranny.

I want to continue to live in a country where freedom thrives. I want to enjoy the right to think freely and speak openly. To hear and express opinion, without fear of being censored or punished, because my thoughts, or the thoughts of others, are not the politically correct or popular opinions of the day.

I wish to enjoy a fair reward for my labor, to live peaceably with my neighbor, in a country where the rights of individuals, to act, in accordance with laws that are just - and in accordance with their own deeply held personal beliefs, are above all preserved. Where privacy is a right, not a privilege, where freedom is a fact, not a platitude.

Yet for all my bravado, I feel alone in many ways. I am afraid that I have even been cowed of late. I begin to wonder if voices like mine, who do not wish to see a country where children are fingerprinted like criminals, or to live inside a culture of 'cradle to grave' surveillance, will be ignored. In my heart of hearts, I am afraid that a lesser nation is coming to pass.

Already it seems to me, that I live in a society where every citizen is viewed as a potential enemy of their own government. Once this mentality becomes endemic, it will define the way in which governments relate to their people. It will breed a socially toxic bacterium of institutional fear, informational distrust and identity suspicion. Everybody will be a either a potential victim or criminal; both types will be constantly monitored. It is already happening...

What I'm most afraid of, is that the ordinary everyday folk, who are the real hope of the future of freedom here; continue to maintain an enveloping silence, feign ignorance, change the subject, look away. When they see the rights our ancestors gave their lives to preserve being eroded in front of them. I think for me, that fear eats away at my optimism most of all.

I don't want to look into the eyes of my own child one day and say to them, that the reason they are not free, their government so callous, unjust and oppressive, is because I and millions like me, lacked the courage to fight to preserve the most basic and valuable of freedoms.

That we accepted trinkets, in place of treasures. Were pacified with platitudes and tolerated lies, when we should have demanded honesty and transparency- Surrendered to fear and ignorance, when we should have shown courage and wisdom, thus ignoring our better natures, and finally, bargained away our permanent liberties for an illusory cage of temporary safety.

Dissident Vox - Brian in the Rain

John B — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:15:57 +0100

A conversation with peace protestor Brian Haw & an interview with Barbera Tucker recorded last week in London.

Visit Paliament Square.org

These images are of Brian's original protest, which was removed by police in a raid on May 23 2006. The full protest has been re-assembled by artist Mark Wallinger as an exhibition entitled 'State Britain' at Tate Britain, London.

Original image: Christian Payne

Minivox - Solicitors Protest

John B — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:10:52 +0000

An interview with a group of solicitors protesting in Islington against planned reforms to the Legal Aid system.

They argue that these 'reforms' will force legal aid solicitors out of business; dramatically affect defendants access to the legal advice of their choice and diminish the quality of legal representation in court.

MP3 File

Dissident Vox - 'The Invisible College' - (Part 1 of 2)

John B — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 04:02:46 +0000

In part one of a two part show, Dissident Vox examines the paradigm of metaphysical naturalism and looks at the occult roots underlying the tree of modern science. He examines the influence of Sir Francis Bacon and asks what early role the secret brotherhoods of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry played in the path to ascendancy of the scientific worldview.

Introduction
Metaphysical Naturalism - Definition
Music : Ensemble Vermillion - 'Stolen Jewels' - Sonata III (Adagio)

The Invisible College/The Royal Society
Sir Francis Bacon Biography/Resources
Baconian evidence for Shakespearean authorship
Bacon, Shakespeare & the Rosicrucians
Baconian Ciphers
The New Atlantis

Robert Moray
Sir Christopher Wren
Elias Ashmole

The Fraternity of the Rose and Cross
Fama Fraternitatis
Confessio Fraternitatis
Conclusion

9/11, Truth & the Virus of Fear...

John B — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:17:26 +0000

For those of you not paying attention, the BBC have followed last weeks inhospitable reception to a blog post by BBC World's head of news, Richard Porter, with a further unpopular posting by the same gentleman.

In the previous article, Mr. Porter propounded what one reader referred to as an "oops my dog ate my homework" argument, in which he claimed, that the BBC had lost all of its transmission tapes of the televised news output from the BBC World channel for the date September 11th 2001. This unfortunate "error" was compounded, when clips of that same output magically appeared all over the web. These clips, showed the BBC reporting the collapse of the Salomon Brothers building (WTC7) some twenty-four minutes before the actual event occurred.

So far, so bizarre. We have the BBC engaging in a seeming act of news clairvoyance, followed by one of archiving incompetence, both of which seem to require some considerable further explanation. Cue blog post number two, courtesy of Mr. Porters latest article, the unimaginatively titled, 'Part of the Conspiracy? (2).'

This time Mr. Porter lays out a further response, in which the collapse of Building 7 (due to fire) is portrayed as an inevitable event and the BBC (and other news organisations) early reporting of this fact, merely one in which they jumped the proverbial gun after being reliably informed of the soon to occur event. However, Mr. Porter somehow fails to specify who the source of this advance information about the buildings imminent collapse was.

Equally, he does not bother (in the interests of objectivity) to mention the mound of evidence, first-responder and eyewitness testimony from the day of September 11th, which others claim leads to the conclusion that WTC7 did not collapse as a result of fire, but was instead brought down by a controlled demolition. I invite you to study this video as merely one example supporting those particular viewpoints.

Mr. Porter refers to those questioning the official version of events on 9/11 as "fantasists". An assertion which might not appear so disingenuous, if it were not seen to be coming from the editor of a news channel, that has just demonstrated itself to have a somewhat less than straightforward ability to report the 'facts' as they occurred on the day of September 11th 2001.

The story itself is still non-existent within the mainstream news media, but continues to bubble away online, attracting a range of strong (mostly anti-BBC) opinion. This particular story comes after many in the 9/11 truth movement have claimed that the BBC's recent 9/11 documentary was heavily slanted in favour of the offical narrative and portrayed those expounding alternative theories as delusional.

Comment

Personally, I don't pretend to have a conclusive list of ingredients in what looks like an increasingly murky informational soup, nor do I pretend to know who is actually cooking the dish. At this point however, it does seem, that what we are being fed, does NOT taste like the truth!

Something just isn't right with this particular heady brew which sees the BBC implicated by some, in producing a series of biased and slanted reports on the events of September 11th and the 9/11 truth movement denounced as crackpots, lunatics, nuts and liars by others. Then again, something has been terribly wrong with the world for a long time, September 11th was merely the day that fact became tragically apparent to the world in general.

Some forum sources are now speculating that the parties responsible for 'breaking' this particular 'news story' are themselves part of a wider disinformation campaign; responsible for throwing false bait out to the truth-seeking masses, diverting investigation off on wild tangents that will only help reinforce negative conclusions and generally reinforcing the cultivated prejudice of many in the middle-ground of public opinion that the "tin-foil hat brigade" are simply not to be trusted.

Others wonder, whether the whole 9/11 event is not designed to serve a much darker purpose. Even darker than that of dragging us all into a prolonged, increasingly bloody and borderless war, where totalitarian measures predominate, morally blurred methods of coercion and torture prosper and only endless erosions of civil-liberties can guarantee our safety.

In this scenario, 9/11 is an intentional planned misdeed, an informational and cultural cancer, with an aggressive growth rate and an exposure date timed in. It is an information virus, gradually dispersing throughout the body politic of society; spreading distrust and suspicion into all areas of civil and social life; eroding confidence in the survival of the existing social order, leading to widespread psychological and social pathology, conflict, division and ultimately, a desire to radically reform the existing world order altogether.

This in itself an interesting theory, yet appears far outside the comprehension range of the average person attempting to pick through the maze of information and disinformation still swirling around the smoke-filled psychological and physical ruins of that day. What can conclusively be said about this particular news story right now, or indeed about 9/11 in general? What is in fact provable, to the satisfaction of the vast majority of people, in such a way that few are left in doubt as to the veracity of the truth presented before them?

Nothing that's what, absolutely ground zero...

9/11 is a moral maze. Everything that has arisen from it has only deepened the sense of division, suspicion and speculation. Wherever it is leading, whoever is behind it, 9/11 is proving to be a continuing malignancy, a parasite poisoning the host body of the culture in which it lives and one in which the cure, may very well prove almost impossible to facilitate without the death or dismemberment of the patient.

Psychics at the Beeb!?

John B — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:33:59 +0000

The above video, in which BBC reporter Jane Standley is seen and heard reporting on the collapse of Word Trade Centre building 7 (WTC7) whilst it is apparently still standing behind her, is leading to a wave of derisory comment and reaction amongst the 9/11 truth movement.

The BBC editors blog has so far failed to receive any favorable comment after posting a general rebuttal. Equally, the Digg article - where users comment upon the original story, has failed to elicit much in the way of pro-BBC debunking.

What is the BBC doing to explain this bizarre inconsistency - in which one of its reporters appears on screen confirming the collapse of building 7 before the actual event occurs? So far, the answer appears to be very little. Apart from producing Richard Porter, Head of News for BBC World, to claim that the organisation has lost all of its original footage of the days events!

We no longer have the original tapes of our 9/11 coverage (for reasons of cock-up, not conspiracy). So if someone has got a recording of our output, I'd love to get hold of it. We do have the tapes for our sister channel News 24, but they don't help clear up the issue one way or another.

This is simply not a plausible response from the (supposedly) premiere news organisation on the planet. So far the best response Mr Porter and the BBC have produced is contained in the following quote taken from the same article.

If we reported the building had collapsed before it had done so, it would have been an error - no more than that. As one of the comments on You Tube says today "so the guy in the studio didn't quite know what was going on? Woah, that totally proves conspiracy...

It seems unbelievable that an organisation of the calibre of the BBC should be resorting to quoting a You-Tube comment in order to support its version of events - because the actual story, is far more significant than this trite and silly response suggests.

If that is WTC7 in the background, it suggests that the source of the inaccurate information provided to the BBC had foreknowledge that the building was about to be demolished. Which begs the question, who was that source and how could they have known that this random and unpredictable building collapse was about to occur? If as the BBC claim the early report of the buildings collapse was simply "an error" why was it not subsequently corrected?

This "error" and the subsequent explanations issued by the BBC, do little to increase faith in the accuracy and quality of its journalism. An organisation that reports the collapse of a building before it actually topples; fails to correct the mistake; then claims to have lost the original recordings of the event, is barely believable, let alone reliable. The story also raises questions about what other errors may have found their way into the BBC's 9/11 coverage and its recent documentary. It raises far more questions than it answers not the least of which is wether the BBC can really be relied upon to provide accurate and reliable coverage of news events.

Climate Change Heretics!

John B — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:24:19 +0000

Some very interesting statements popping up on the web this week regarding climate change. First up, the President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus, quoted on Physicist Lubos Motl's website the reference frame saying the following in an interview with Hospodarska Niny, a Czech Republic economics newspaper,

Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so. It is not fair to refer to the U.N. panel. IPCC is not a scientific institution: it's a political body, a sort of non-government organization of green flavor. It's neither a forum of neutral scientists nor a balanced group of scientists. These people are politicized scientists who arrive there with a one-sided opinion and a one-sided assignment.

Also, it's an undignified slapstick that people don't wait for the full report in May 2007 but instead respond, in such a serious way, to the summary for policymakers where all the "but's" and "if's" are scratched, removed, and replaced by oversimplified theses. This is clearly such an incredible failure of so many people, from journalists to politicians. If the European Commission is instantly going to buy such a trick, we have another very good reason to think that the countries themselves, not the Commission, should.

The full transcript is here.

Next up, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is feeling the political heat after it emerged that he had remarked in a 2002 fundraising letter that the Kyoto Protocol was "a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations." This is interesting, because back in April 2006 60 scientists signed a letter sent to the Canadian Prime Minister in which they stated,

Observational evidence does not support today's computer climate models, so there is little reason to trust model predictions of the future. Yet this is precisely what the United Nations did in creating and promoting Kyoto and still does in the alarmist forecasts on which Canada's climate policies are based.

"Climate change is real" is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause. Neither of these fears is justified. Global climate changes all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural "noise."

The full text of the letter here.

In 2005, one of the 60 scientists who signed the letter, paleoclimatologist Dr. R. Timothy Patterson, professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences at Carleton University, testified before the Canadian Commons Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development that,

There is no meaningful correlation between CO2 levels and Earth's temperature over this [geologic] time frame. In fact, when CO2 levels were over ten times higher than they are now, about 450 million years ago, the planet was in the depths of the absolute coldest period in the last half billion years.

The full text of this article is here.

Comment

There are many more scientists making public statements to the effect that they do not support the scientific conclusions being presented to the public. Now that the label "climate change sceptic" is being attached to anyone who does so, it will be interesting to see if these 'maverick scientists' continue to speak out against what they see as false and misleading science. Whatever the truth, it is a 'science' that is being used to justify a radical restructuring of the world economy and one which will continue to affect all our lives.

Dissident Vox - Podcast Comment

John B — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:09:29 +0000

Some updated thoughts on the Christmas show 'The true face of Christmas.'

MP3 File

The Art of Political Puppetry...

John B — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 03:30:48 +0000

Sometimes, it seems that the actions of those who debate the important issues of the day in our nations parliament building, resemble a 'Punch and Judy' puppet show more than they do any serious kind of political theatre.

Many of the most important questions are never addressed and when they do appear, they often wear the superficial clothing of scripted soundbites, or else are garbed in obscure linguistic technicalities. These serve only to obscure the shape and form of the issues they are supposed to uncover. In this matter, the government and the opposition parties often act in collusion; both concealing more than the reveal and both appearing to be party to private agendas that are never disclosed, and which remain largely incomprehensible to the general public.

Many of the most powerful lobbys funding and informing the policy development of political party agendas are not visibly apparent. They are rarely discussed openly. Where government itself is concerned, it is only as its period in office unfolds that the vested interests lying below the carefully cultivated propoganda surface begin to become visible.

When they do appear, it is often in a manner which tends to obscure their real significance and importance. This concealment, is further aided by the actions and statements of ministers and politicians themselves, who either have much to lose, or a great deal to gain in the overall equation.

Thus it is that our 'honorable members' often seem content to focus the discussion on those areas of policy (and upon those issues) which serve to direct the course of investigation and the parameters of political debate into channels which can be easily controlled.

Indeed it is rare to see any politician appear in the House of Commons, who seems able to transcend the carefully contrived limitations placed upon them by the personnel managers of the party whip. Even rarer, the sight of one making a bold and brave defense of genuine principle, or pointing out the obvious underlying similarities, in the supposedly opposing positions of the political opponents facing each other across the parliamentary floor.

Against this backdrop, it seems pertinent to ask if the British parliamentary system is in fact merely an elaborately staged political puppet show, where our most prominent politicians act out the scripted agendas crafted for them by a group of largely unseen puppeteers; all the time cheered and jeered by an enthusiastic (though largely irrelevant) parliamentary audience of backbenchers and career politicians.

Is it possible, that some members of the current British government are now serving out their term of office, in the fore-knowledge that (barring some unforeseen circumstance), they will not be re-elected to serve a fourth term in government? Have certain powerful controlling interests privately concluded that the shelf life of this current administration is nearing its sell by date?

As strange as such questions may sound to someone who believes that the visible faces of our government are the real ruling heads of the political body we call the state; they do appear to be consistent with the evidence provided by this current governments recent behavior. Certainly the Labour leadership is demonstrating an amazing tendency to shoot itself in the foot of late and is doing so with an increasingly ridiculous (and barely believable) frequency.

Some will argue that it is the British people who decide who governs them and that they do so at the ballot box. The myth of our egalitarian parliamentary democracy (if in fact it is a myth) is the most important and powerful controlling paradigm of our culture. Yet it must be noted, that even in a supposed political democracy, the political good sense of the people can be hijacked and manipulated by unscrupulous interests.

The will of a people to make informed decisions about the men who govern on their behalf, is largely dependent on what they actually know about them. Leaders do not govern in a vacumn, nor do they rise to prominence solely by virtue of their own efforts. Such men (and women) are promoted to power by virtue of the association and support of others, who both sponsor their political careers and help to build and craft the image which is presented to the public.

Information of that kind is very powerful and can make or break a political career. The asscociations and special interests which underly a politicians rise to prominence are not generally broadcast very widely. In addition much of the most vital and secret information in our society is not in the hands of politicians themselves, but is instead likely to be provided to them piecemeal by those in a position to bestow it. It will be given at a price, that being, a degree of loyalty or allegiance to the agenda of the provider of that information.

Politicians are only human-beings and as such, are liable to be influenced, controlled, or even blackmailed by those with the will and power to do so. It is naive to imagine that the political surface is all that it appears to be, or that we the people are truly informed of what manner and type of person or organisation may wield unseen influence over the people we elect to be our spokesmen.

Perhaps where this current government is concerned, it is simply a case of long-term arrogance breeding complacent incompetence. Regardless of the visible or invisible truth, with every day that passes, it is looking ever more likely that the Conservative party led (but perhaps not controlled by) by Mr David Cameron, will be forming the next visible leadership front to be presented to the British public. That he will be doing so on behalf of a power that sits concealed behind the spin, rhetroric and theatrics of the parliamentary puppet show,is a fact in doubt only to those who have not observed the hidden hands so obviously pulling the strings.

The Truth Will Out?

John B — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 04:52:02 +0000

Continuing a week of dispiriting behavior by television networks in the UK, the Guardian is reporting on a decision by the BBC to drop a drama it was making about the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes in July 2005.

The paper quotes the drama's producer Katy Jones as saying,

I am extraordinarily disappointed, more than anything for the family. It was devastating for them. We had been told by the BBC it was the most important television commission of the year.

In a statement, the BBC cites 'timing and the mix of programmes' as the apparent reason why this (and a further sensitive docu-drama dealing with the lives of the 7/7 bombers) has now vanished from its schedule.

Comment

Apparently the most 'important television commission of the year', was unable to withstand whatever pressure was exerted from within the BBC's leadership, to ensure that it was never brought to air. The BBC claim that dramatic accounts are 'not the best way' to deal with these 'complicated' subjects.

Why then did they originally commission it to be made?

What is it exactly, that is so 'complicated' about producing a drama covering as accurately as possible, the fact that 18 months ago an innocent 27 year old man, was shot at least 7 times in the head by unknown members of an armed team, acting we are told on the authority of Scotland Yard?

It might also be asked, what message we are sending to ourselves, when such a crime can be committed in our midst, then summarily dismissed from our collective consciousness? Surely in such circumstances, those with the power and the mandate to facilitate public scrutiny should be making all available efforts to do so? Is it not important that we are able determine what happened that day?

Apparently not.

It is surely a prerequisite of a just society, that Justice is seen to be done in it. It can hardly be argued that it has been thus far. Unless we are to consider that the execution of Mr de Menezes constitutes a necessary price in the war on terror. One which, despite his death, requires no further investigation or effort on the part of the establishment or ourselves to explain.

The Empty Heart of the Empire

John B — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 20:40:38 +0000

Accusations that UN personnel in Southern Sudan have been involved in the raping and abusing of young children have been published this week in the Daily Telegraph.

The paper has gathered 20 accounts from victims claiming that children displaced by the civil war and sleeping rough on the streets of the capital, have been targeted by UN peacekeeping and civilian staff who pick them up in UN vehicles and force them to have sex.

Despite verbal testimony given by children, the British regional coordinator James Ellery has refuted all allegations, citing a lack of evidence and blaming the accusations on 'misunderstandings' and the local peoples illiteracy. He referred to the allegations as 'rumors'. An internal UNICEF report for the Sudanese government and a report from an unnamed NGO both appeared to substantiate the claims, but as yet, no cases have come to court.

The story follows a spate of similar allegations that have emerged in recent years. A BBC investigation in November 2006 detailed numerous allegations of rape and prostitution connected to UN forces in Haiti and Liberia. The report highlighted the fact the UN appeared both disinterested and ineffective in responding to allegations of the rape and sexual abuse of young women and children and was unable or unwilling to police the widespread use of prostitutes by it's personnel in the region.

A spate of stories emerged from the UN presence in Congo when in October 2005, both ABC and Fox news reported the story of Didier Bourget, a senior UN official from France, who videotaped himself having sex with young Congolese girls and was said to be running an internet pedophile ring in the region. Police investigating Bourget stated that his bedroom was covered with mirrors and he had set up a a series of remote controlled cameras around the room. The sting operation that captured him, allegedly found him preparing to rape a 12-year-old girl.

Following this, a further ABC News investigation published details of Aimme Tsesi, a 15 year old deaf-mute Congolese girl raped and impregnated by a Uruguayan UN solider, who was turned away from the gates of the UN camp when she went there for assistance. These cases were amongst an estimated 150 allegations of sexual exploitation and rape in the region that were highlighted in the ABC program "20/20" which aired in February 2005.

A Times investigation in December 2004, turned up allegations that two Russian pilots based in Mbandaka, paid young girls with jars of mayonnaise and jam to have sex with them. They filmed the sex acts and then apparently sent the tapes to Russia. The men were tipped off when the story was about to become public and left the area, escaping prosecution.

In 2001 former U.N. human rights investigator Kathryn Bolkovac sued the defense contractor DynCorp, (who administered the contract to provide police officers for the 2,100-member UN international police task force) on charges of wrongful dismissal, sexual discrimination and violation of Britain's whistle-blower laws. Bolkovac stated that the company dismissed her because she reported in an email that Dyncorp police trainers officers were availing themselves of services offered by young women forced into prostitution and were complicit in sexual trafficking.

The email alleged that U.N. officers visited Bosnian sex clubs where girls as young as 15 were beaten, raped, refused food, and locked away for days or weeks if they refused to dance naked on tables and consort with paying customers. She stated that the women were told they would be arrested by the local police if they tried to contact them for help. She also said that officials were involved in helping local police to sell women into the sex-trade.

The British tribunal found unanimously in favor of Bolkovac and stated that Michael Stiers, the deputy commissioner of the mission in Bosnia who dismissed Bolkovac, for allegedly falsifying her time-sheet, "had his knife in her and was determined that she should be removed from her role as a gender monitor with IPTF." Despite this decision and the fact the many Dyncorp official resigned under a cloud of suspicion, they enjoyed immunity from prosecution in Bosnia and were therefore never charged.

A similar lawsuit occurred earlier in 2001 when a former DynCorp aircraft mechanic Ben Johnston went public with allegations that during 1999 senior Dyncorp employees were "engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior." Amongst the many allegations were those of middle-aged men having sex with 12 year-olds, involvement with the Serbian Mafia, a DynCorp supervisor videotaping himself having sex with two females despite the fact that one of the women on the video was repeatedly heard saying "no" and the charge that many DynCorp employees bragged about purchasing women from Russia, Romania and other places for use as sex-slaves in Bosnia, and then sold them before returning home.

Comment

There is a sense in which the United Nation's efforts to stem a tide of corrupt practice and moral degeneracy by it's troops and employees is at best negligent and at worst makes it appear criminally complicit in the actions it says it is trying to prevent.

Spokesmen for the UN continue to mouth a combination of platitudes and excuses, denying knowledge, citing insignificant evidence, or else attempting to shift the blame for actions committed by UN forces onto other groups and peoples.

Perhaps it is not surprising though, that an organization which spends such a great deal of time and energy telling other people how they ought to live and portraying itself as a beacon of light and freedom to poor and oppressed people everywhere, should be found at heart to be capable of both high level political corruption and a degree of moral bankruptcy that if maintained, will only lead to it losing further credibility. But then again, perhaps that's the whole point...

The True Face of Christmas...

John B — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 06:12:30 +0000

Dissident Vox embarks on a search to find the true face of Christmas.

Intro

Music
Three Holies Church Choiristers: "Come Let Us Worship"

2 Billion Christians?
Christians in China
"No Longer a Christian Country"
The Word..."Christian"
The Impartiality Summit
Bible in the Bin

The Human...Right?
Stalin's Megamurder
Pol-Pot

The Winter Solstice
Solar Temples
Worship of the Heavens
Clement of Alexandria
December 25th

Vox-Pops in Huddersfield
Interview with the Reverend Catherine Ogle

Osiris
127 Granite Blocks
Hanukkah
Hopis, Druids & Incas
The Prophet Ezekiel
The Festive Tree (Bacchus)
Santa Claus
The Yule Log (Hislop)

Conclusion

Music
Three Holies Church Choristers: "Alleluyah"

Download MP3

The Death of Pinochet - An Interview with Chilean Juan Manosalva

John B — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 19:12:47 +0000

The following is an interview with 25 year old Chilean student Juan Manosalva, in which he discusses his own reaction and that of his fellow Chileans to the death of General Augusto Pinochet.

Q: How did you and your immediate friends and family react to the news of Pinochet's death?

A: My first reacting was one of surprise because I thought Pinochet was going to get over that heart attack and everything was going to be as before. Many people had the feeling that the heart attack was another of his tricks to cheat justice, so it didn't look that bad at first. But when the news of his death came it was surprising and particularly shocking the reaction of people, it was like something they were long time waiting for, and then overnight celebrations and weeping made up all the TV content in all the channels.

About my friends reactions the first thing I have to say is that young people are not really paying much attention to this, they understand that this is a very important episode of our history but that's it. The ones who are really concerned and preoccupied are the older ones, the ones who lived in fear under the oppression of the regime and weren't allowed to speak their minds, or had to remain hidden for fear of being murdered or tortured.

I'm 25 and my friends are of similar ages, so we were kids when all this was going on, so we don't feel it as something to be fighting for on the streets showing placards or celebrating. On the other hand the older members of my family and elder relatives are the ones who are more affected by the news, for instance what my mother feels is great disappointment because Pinochet didn't stand trial and didn't show any hint of repentance for what he did to a part of our countrymen. Some relatives hope that after his death we could finally find reconciliation between ourselves.

Q: What are people saying about this?

Not much really, we are a rather conservative society and it is not our custom to show our political preferences, if it is not during an elections time. If we do show them it is with respect and with an understanding of others' right of think freely. The ones who are talking more about this are the extremes minorities, by this I mean: the extreme left and the extreme right, but for them to become reconciled we will have to wait.

Q: What is the general feeling in Chile regarding this man?

A: The general feeling in Chile is one of a profound division amongst the older generation and a sense of shame amongst the rest.

Q: How do you expect this man will be remembered?

A: As the symbol of what we will never allow ourselves to undergo again in this land, and a symbol of the harm that the US government can inflict on Latin America or any other part of the world; we were very close to becoming a developed country before all this happened but the US screwed us, we had an excellent country and were rather unified, but they made our parents fight and kill each other. That's part of our history and we have learned our lesson, we are now mature and aware.

Juan Manosalva - Blog/Flickr

Shush!

John B — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:24:41 +0000

The Washington Post is today carrying a story containing a statement of denial from the NSA that it ever targeted Princess Diana's communications. The statement reads,

The 39 NSA-originated and NSA-controlled documents referenced in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request in 1998 only contained references to the Princess, and she was never the communicant.

NSA did not target Princess Diana's communications. Furthermore, NSA has cooperated with the investigations into this tragic incident to the full extent of the law."

This is strange, because the agency admitted to holding at least 1056 pages of classified data about Diana back in 1998. The communications were said to need classification in order to protect "sources and methods" of US Intelligence gathering. It was widely reported back then, that such intelligence was gathered using the highly secretive Echelon eavesdropping system.

The official report, due for publication on Thursday, is likely to confirm the original story that her death was an accident.

Forever Unresolved?

John B — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 18:55:07 +0000

In yet another twist, in an ever twisting maze of a story, the Observer newspaper yesterday published an article claiming that the US Secret Service were bugging Princess Diana's telephone conversations on the night before she died.

This revelation will do little to dampen a widely held feeling amongst the British public, that all was very much not as it seemed where the death of the Princess of Wales was concerned.

This has been a long running saga in the British tabloid press. On various occasions it has shown signs of emerging from the heavily veiled shadows it has been cloaked in, only to be re-veiled, or re-obscured, by varying interpretations and misdirections folded into the narrative threads presented to the public.

For example, it has been revealed that the driver of the Mercedes, Henri Paul, was an asset of the French Secret Service and that £100,000 had been transfered into various French bank accounts owned by him, in the months before Diana's death.

Alongside this, there have been claims that the autopsy of the Princess was deliberately botched and that Henri Paul's blood samples were tampered with to make it appear that he was drunk on the night of the crash. The notorious white Fiat Uno, which has been linked by some to Diana paprazzo James Andanson, and which left paint traces on the body of the crashed Mercedes, has never been properly identified. Andanson eventually turned up dead, having apparently commited suicide, when his burnt remains were found in French woodland in May 2000.

Then of course there was the letter written by Diana 10 months before her death, in which she claimed that someone, who has yet to be named for 'legal reasons' was,

planning an ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry".

This latest twist, only confirms what has already become obvious from previous stories of phone tapping and intelligence agency involvement. Princess Diana's private affairs in the weeks and months leading up to her death were indeed considered of very great interest to certain people. The kind of people who are well known for having both very secret and potentially very lethal agendas.

Map of a Dangerous Planet!

John B — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 02:35:19 +0000

For anyone interested in getting an unusual and fairly comprehensive overview of current incidents connected to terrorism, Global Incident is providing an open source, constantly updated and navigable visual map. Using Google mapping, satellite imagery and news feeds to source its information, it presents a detailed and unsettling picture of the fractious and fear-filled world we currently live in.

Permission to Speak!?

John B — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 18:55:07 +0000

The Guardian is reporting:

Police are to demand new powers to arrest protesters for causing offence through the words they chant and the slogans on their placards and even the headbands they wear.

The country's biggest force, the Metropolitan police, is to lobby the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, because officers believe that large sections of the population have become increasingly politicised, and there is a growing sense that the current restrictions on demonstrations are too light.

Full story here

Comment

Are our political leaders now seeking to deny freedom of expression to those they disagree with through forcible means? Have they become so afraid of their own "politicised' people, that the only way they can control them, is to create a society where anyone can be arrested for the slightest unlicensed expression of dissent?

Of course the arguments for such proposals will be crafted in such a way, that they appear to be directed at restricting the freedom of those people who express views that the majority of decent people find repugnant.

Indeed it would not be surprising, if the weeks and months ahead managed to produce a number of high-profile examples of these kinds of views being aired, (to great annoyance and discomfort) in public places.

This will ensure that the widest possible chorus of consent can be obtained for what is essentially a law that would censor the public voice still further. However, having placed such a power upon the statute books, there are strong precedents to indicate that these same powers will end up being used in a far more expansive and sinister way at a future date.

We are heading ever nearer the perilous rocks of dictatorship and totalitarianism in this country. Only the fact that so many of us are asleep at our watch enables this suicidal course to continue unchecked and unopposed.

Dissident Vox - Brian Haw - 2000 Days

John B — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:41:10 +0000

On Thursday the 23rd of November 2006, Brian Haw will have been living and demonstrating outside Parliament for 2000 days. On November the 19th, Dissident Vox visited Parliament Square and handed him a microphone.

Listen to the voice of one of this countries great Britain's, as he talks about his protest, the actions of the state he is standing up against, and why it is more important than ever to stand together for freedom and peace.

Download Mp3

Links:

Parliament Square.org
Brian Haw on Flickr
Wiki entry

When the Pendulum Swings..

John B — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:14:55 +0000

So once again the pendulum has swung in American political life. Where exactly it will end, now that it has begun swinging, is anybodies guess. Given the severity of the last decade under President George Walker Bush, the reaction unleashed by the momentum of the swing is likely to be severe. The sad fact is that this does not bode well, for the American people, or for the world in general.

It may seem for a while, to those enthused by the prospect of getting rid of an odious dictatorial regime, that the coming change's can only be positive. Before anybody gets too excited though, lets wait and see exactly what's coming the round the corner.

The balance between governements, and the people they claim to represent is wildly out of whack, not just in America, but in the world in general. This lack of balance, will only continue to serve those who understand how to manipulate the swinging ebb and flow of political and social life.

American Joker Poker!

John B — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 20:18:32 +0000

The community cards have been shuffled, the Joker has been played, and the latest round of U.S. political elections are over. As the winnings are scooped from the table, the American people need to realise, nothing has changed. The same political card-sharks hold the winning hand at the gamblers table of American political life.

Despite all protestations, misdirections, and bluffs to the contrary, the elite remain, 'ahead after the flop' and all that has occurred is the public launch of a propaganda campaign, that will likely result in a Democratic President being elected to the White House in 2008.

This Democratic President will differ only in style of play from his or her Republican predecessor. He/She may go easy on the early rounds, and the tone may be softer as they settle in for a long slow play, but underneath the poker-face facade, the same cruel tournament game will be crafted, the same dominating agenda of deceit.

Watch out America, you're playing political poker with your future. If you're not careful, you'll wind up broke, bruised and flat out busted, still holding the losing hand you had when you started the game.

How the Future will be Watching You!

John B — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:51:43 +0000

Untitled Document

You will be scanned when you enter a store, your clothing will recognised, by RFID tags embedded in it. This will be matched with your loyalty card data to determine your relationship to the store. Your relative economic worth will determine how you are treated during your 'shopping experience'.
Your car will be tracked by a global satellite navigation system which will provide you with the quickest route to avoid current congestion. Money will be automatically removed from your bank account for fines, congestion charges and any infringements. The police will be empowered to monitor and track your movements, should they choose to do so.
You will be subjected to biometric and psychometric testing, lifestyle profiling and diagnostic health testing. You will be refused employment if you are seen as a health risk, or you refuse to submit to the testing procedure. Your work benefit packages will be drawn up with any potential future health problems factored in.
Your child's school will introduce an electronic system to allow monitoring of what your children eat, their attendance, record of achievement and drug test results.
Facial recognition systems using tiny cameras embedded in lamposts and walls will be used to monitor your every movement.
The elderly will become more isolated as friends and family feel increasingly able to rely on remote monitoring and contact systems to provide support.
Wealthy people will use personal information management services to monitor their ‘data shadow’ and to ensure they are not disadvantaged by any of the vast quantities of information held about them being incorrect or out of date.
The poor will be unable to afford this., they will increasingly suffer the consequences of poor quality information being used to make decisions affecting their lives.

Adapted from : A Report on the Surveillance Society: For the Information Commissioner by the Surveillance Studies Network, 2006

Endemic Surveillance!

John B — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 00:05:31 +0000

A report published this week by the Surveillance Studies Network states that Britain is now one of the five most watched societies on earth, and that it has a culture of "endemic surveillance".

The report highlights an increasing use of militarized surveillance technology in civilian life; a widespread sharing of data and technology between private companies and the military; the heavy interpenetration of transnational communication systems such as GPS and the Internet by the military; and the convergence of telephony technologies and the internet in ways that make surveillance operations easier as some of the main causes behind this.

It also argues that the war on terror has produced "a drive to security" which has given rise to new civilian markets for what were previously military products, and that the networked systems we now use to communicate can be altered "in certain places and times when it suits military objectives."

The process of "function creep" is also highlighted, whereby networked personal data collected for one reason, is used for numerous other purposes. This extends and intensifies its surveillance value and has serious implications for personal privacy. This aspect of data sharing by stealth the report states, is also one of the most often overlooked.

The full PDF report can be downloaded from here.

Who Watches the Watchers?

John B — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:44:15 +0000

The Register reports that the government is funding a project that may lead to a fingerprint security network being placed in the nations pubs and clubs. The technology, (dubbed the ‘InTouch’) manufactured by UK Company Creative Code, is being tested by South Somerset District Council in Yeovil. It is described as "a data sharing and finger characteristic recognition technology".

The article quotes Julia Bradburn, principal licensing manager at South Somerset District Council as saying:

"The Home Office have looked at our system and are looking at trials in other towns including Coventry, Hull & Sheffield."

The Register claims Gwent and Nottingham police have shown an interest, and that the neighboring town of Taunton is planning to install the system in 10 pubs and clubs.

Creative Code describes the benefits of its technology as follows:

"InTouch takes the form of a linked membership network which enables participating venues to make an informed choice about who they allow to enter their premises, in order to make their venue a safer and more enjoyable place to visit.

The InTouch system comprises a function which gives participating venues the opportunity to record any incidents members may be involved in. The ability to record incidents on a member’s profile allows venues to monitor the behavior of individuals involved in alcohol related crime and disorder, and also enables venues to exclude persistent offenders.

If any member has an incident posted on their profile by one venue, this will be shown on their profile when they next attempt to enter an alternative participating venue. This function will assist venues with decisions to admit or refuse entry."

Comment

In the past you would only have your fingerprint taken if you had committed (or were suspected of) a crime. Now it seems, the government views all of its citizens as potential troublemakers and criminals.

It has been suggested that the technology helps to crack down on the worst aspects of binge drinking and alcohol related violence. If that were the case, why would the fingerprinting be mandatory for all customers? The whole system is premised upon the argument that ALL citizens must surrender aspects of their identity data, in order to reduce difficulties from a worrisome minority.

The same government, encouraging the introduction fingerprinting, has recently been introducing biometric palm scanning systems into UK schools. The guidelines state that they do not need to seek parental permission to do this. (Link) Acceptance of this type of technology is thus inculcated in a generation too young to understand its implications.

Many people assume that fingerprints and biometrics automatically guarantee greater security, but this is not the case. What is to prevent someone from stealing the database upon which this information is stored? Or even, (in a more gruesome scenario) actually removing a person’s hand in order to gain access to their finger/palm print. There are many kludges, hacks, and simple human holes in the system, these will inevitably be found by those determined to do so.

Fingerprint and biometric data is far more personal than a password, it is not something that can be simply changed when it is compromised. Therefore the implications of its theft or misuse, will have serious ramifications.

Finally, what is more worrying still, is the development of a trend in which the government reserves the right to make increasingly draconian demands for the surrendering of such personal data from its citizens. We are becoming enmeshed in a web of data-tracking, profiling and surveillance that will prove increasingly difficult to escape from.

The implications of this are indeed quite frightening. Once governments have the capacity to track and spy upon citizens, to deny or allow access as they wish, they will have a truly ferocious level of coercive power. The question then becomes, who will watch the watchers and control those who have the system of control? If human history is anything to judge by, once given such absolute power, those who possess it, will find themselves corrupted by it, in ways which may prove troubling to behold.

Diggers Story Remix DVoxPopz!

John B — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 02:15:20 +0000

Wow! I love this!

These guys absolutely rock!

This is just about the coolest thing anyone has ever done with a podcast we've made. These guys are total fun, and yet they make the point in the sweetest and most positive way possible.

Brian Haw is once again.. "Hero of the week!" Deservedly so. Way to go Diggers Story... Peace!

Check out Brian Haw's site..

The Madness of King George!

John B — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:04:03 +0100

In yet another example of the extraordinary death of freedom in America, on October 17 2006, George Walker Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act 2006 which states,

(A) The term 'unlawful enemy combatant' means -

(ii) a person who, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal, or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense.

Which means, that any citizen of the United States can now be imprisoned indefinitely, without trial, and tortured, should the President of the United States, or his Secretary of Defense, declare them an "enemy combatant".

Jonathan Turley, Constitutional Law Professor was quoted in a television interview on the Countdown news program with Keith Olbermann as stating,

"If you even give material support to an organisation that the President deems as connected to one of these groups, you too can be an enemy combatant, and the fact that he appoints this tribunal was meaningless, standing behind him, was his Attorney General, who signed a memo that said that you could torture someone, you could do harm to someone, to the point of organ failure or death. So, if you appoint someone like that to be Attorney General, you can imagine who he's going to be putting on this board"

He later added,

"People have no idea how significant this is, really what a time of shame this is for the American system. What the Congress did, what the President signed today, essentially revokes over 200 years of American principles and values. It couldn't be more significant.

The strange thing is, we've become sort of constitutional couch potatoes, the Congress just gave the President despotic powers, and you could hear the yawn across America as people turned to "Dancing with the Stars" It's other-worldly!"

As Keith Olbermann pointed out, ultimately this means that the only thing keeping any American citizen out of Guantanemo Bay, is the sanity (or otherwise), of the President of the United States.

Do you feel like gambling the future of your freedom on your President's soundness of mind America!?

Citizen Scoop is online!

John B — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 05:40:15 +0100

I'm pleased to say that I'm finally ready to officially announce the arrival of a new website I've created. It's called 'Citizen Scoop' and I hope that it may prove interesting to some of you. :)

Its designed as a supplemental resource for this years 'Citizen Journalism and Podcasting' panel at the UK's annual podcasting shindig PodcastConUK. I'm pleased to announce that I'm chairing that panel, and have high hopes it's going to be a great success.

The first two podcasts are already up on the site and contain some cool conversations with BBC broadcaster and podcaster Chris Vallance and new-media specialist, podcaster, filmaker and web-head CC Chapman.

Please feel free to check 'em out!

Wham Bam Flim Flam Man!

John B — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 20:35:23 +0100

Vox engages in a short anti-tyranny rant!

NB This is not an attack against anyone's value system.

It is an attempt to point out that our value systems and beliefs can be hi-jacked and manipulated by unscrupulous people, and that the electoral process is part of this hijacking.

Music : Giles - 'Freedom' - Podsafe Music Network.

Download Mp3

Prime Ministerial DNA!

John B — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 20:03:48 +0100

Tony Blair feels there should be no limit on the number of DNA samples held on the national database. Speaking at the Forensic Science Service headquarters in central London the Prime Minister said,

"I think the politicians are more resistant than the public. I think the public think if this is helping us track down murderers, rapists...then go for it."

Coming from a leader who rarely bothers to ask the public what they think about anything this is pretty rich. Of course a politician claiming to speak for people he never consults is nothing new, and if all else fails, scaring the public into surrendering freedoms is always a useful tactic. One which this government has shown no unwillingness to use in the past.

The current administration has consistently shown an extraordinary willingness to infringe upon the freedoms of its citizens. This latest statement joins a long list of such pronouncements and efforts, all of which follow an unrelenting pattern of attempting to restrict and control the freedom of the population.

These have included, (but are not limited to) a manufactured debate on the need for a national identity card, the introduction of number-plate recognition systems, calls for biometric scanners, and the (almost unnoticed) installation of the highest number of CCTV cameras per-head of population on earth.

In a rare moment of political candour, the Prime Minister did manage to clarify exactly how many DNA samples he felt the State should be able to hold by saying,

"The number on the database should be the maximum number you can get."

Well that'll be everyone in Britain then Prime Minister! (Link)

Murder in Moscow (The Life & Death of Anna Politkovskaya)

John B — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 10:00:34 +0100

Dissident Vox investigates the life and work of the Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovkskaya, who was brutally murdered on the 7th October, by an unknown assassin, in the lift of the Moscow apartment building where she lived. He also takes a look behind the veil of Vladamir Putin's Russia, and digs out some biographical background on the current Russian President.

Intro
Russia's most famous nuisance
13 Dead Journalists
The Soviet Past
Gulag Kolyma
Putins Russia
The new rich & the old poor

Putin biography -
Youth
The KGB Years
The rise of the unexceptional man
President Putin

Music - Panacea - 'Sandoko Huro'

Anna Politkovskaya
The absolute Journalist
Death threats and poison tea
Chechnya
'A Small Corner of Hell' (Excerpt)
The Editor
The last interview
The last story
The Demonstration(s)
The Funeral
The reality

Music - Claire Fitch - 'After'

Additional Sources - 'Inside Putins Russia' (Andrew Jack)

Download Mp3

A Little About Zimbabwe...

John B — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 01:11:21 +0100

I know very little about Zimbabwe...

After watching this video, smuggled out of the country after last months demonstrations by Trade Unionists on September 13, doing a few brief searches, and a small amount of reading, I know a little more.

I know that Zimbabwe is a country in terminal decline. That it has the highest HIV rates in the world, with malnutrition at very high levels, and that 3000 people die every week. 80% of its population are unemployed, and life-expectancy is 37 for men, and 34 for women. The lowest in the world.

I know also that the country is in the grip of a vicious economic crisis and that inflation has spiraled to 1200%. Many hundreds of thousands of people are now homeless, hungry, and desperate.

The countries President Robert Mugabe has been in power for 26 years, he praises the actions of the Police engaging in the extra-judicial beatings shown in this video footage.

Finally I know that the kind of treatment handed out to these people is both commonplace, and deeply offensive. That if help is not found, or action taken, it will continue to unravel, with even more horrifying and terrible consequences for the suffering people of that country, and the Continental region of Africa as a whole.

Iran; Bloggers Prison

John B — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:23:01 +0100

The Guardian newspaper reports today on the growth of a blogging culture among Iran's conservative Islamic clerics, and states that,

"Following the example of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ayatollahs, seminary students and theologians are receiving training in setting up their own weblogs." (Link)

Iran is said by many human rights groups to be the worlds biggest prison state for reporters and according to the association Reporters without Borders, 13 of the countries journalists and bloggers were jailed during 2005 alone. Threats, detention, summons and arrests of reporters who are critical of the regime remain commonplace, and many journalists are only able to remain out of prison by paying very high bail. (Link)

Truth & Terror

John B — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 03:44:43 +0100

Arrested on a routine stopover in the United States. Imprisoned and deported to Syria. Detained, and tortured for 10 months.

Smeared and labelled a threat to national security.

Four years later, cleared of any connection to terrorism. (Link)

Winning with Webcameron!

John B — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 04:09:25 +0100

I've just spent a surreal 30 minutes over at 'webcameron', the brilliantly named, and cunningly contrived attempt, to portray Conservative party leader and Prime Ministerial hopeful David Cameron, as both web-savvy and stylishly informal.

My initial impressions, are that an awful awful lot of focus group planning, and My-Space market research has gone into moulding and shaping something designed to look, as if it was thrown together by a happy accident.

The whole site has the kind of low-level polish, that you would normally associate with something like a boy band or an MTV 'reality' show. You get a sense that the people involved in its creation have spent both hundreds of thoughtful hours, and tens of thousands of pounds, creating just the right level of 'amateur chic' to appeal to their target demographic.

Like almost everything else created by our modern political leaderships, it's amazingly short on depth, and frighteningly long on surface. It also seems to foreshadow the next staged electoral farce. Where we will probably see the lumbering Labour party lizards, led by the terribly dour and terminally uncool Gordon Brown, battling a fresh-faced version of the old boy Etonian Tory network, reinvented for the 21st Century, and fronted by the awkward hipster chic of Mr David Cameron.

Judging by this early effort, it promises to be both a truly bizarre spectacle and a well planned foregone conclusion. All the early running has Cameron ahead by a very long political mile.

The British political establishment and those who give them their marching orders, are well aware of the damaged credibility, and shortening shelf life of this present government. Currently mired in an unpopular war, and damaged by years of lying, it seems unlikely that they will be able to carry off another electoral term, without exposing the elite's policy agenda to a level of unnecessary scrutiny.

Thus it is, that with the launch of 'webcameron', we are beginning to see the pointless political posturing and positioning, that is the prelude to a changing of the political guard. One designed to placate the restless disaffection of the British public, and to convince us all that we really do live in a truly interactive and representative democratic society. The truth of course, is something very far away from this, and no amount of clever contrivances can disguise the shallow and callous centre at the heart of the British political machine.

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers!

John B — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:55:44 +0100

NOTE

YouTube has removed the original video apparently due to what it is calling a 'terms of use violation'. They have also removed the comments section that refered to the original footage.

Leaving aside the issue of whose rights are being violated by watching or discussing this video on a publicly accessible website, I have linked back to the BBC's original page for this story. You can access it here, or by clicking on the video above.

Original Post

The BBC has produced an undercover report highlighting the Chinese governments ongoing habit of executing prisoners and harvesting their organs, which are then offered for sale to rich customers in need of new body parts. One hospital told the BBC reporter that it could provide a liver for about $100,000.

The practice was first widely exposed back in in June 2001, when Chinese doctor Wang Guoqi testified before the U.S House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human Rights that this was a commonplace occurrence. The Chinese Communist party promptly accused him of lying. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials labelled his testimony "a vicious slander against China" and "sensational lies".

A subsequent 2005 report in the Times quoted Huang Jiefu, China's Deputy Health Minister, who admitted that its useage was so widespread that it was in need of regulation;

"We want to push for regulations on organ transplants to standardise the management of the supply of organs from executed prisoners and tidy up the medical market".

The practice dates back to (at least) the 1980's and was not reported on in the western media until March 1993, when Amnesty International brought it to public attention. This was followed in 1994 by a Human Rights Watch report, entitled 'Organ Procurement and Judicial Execution in China' which stated;

China's extensive use of executed prisoners as a source of organs for medical transplantation purposes, a problem which so far has received somewhat less international attention, likewise creates serious cause for concern on a number of basic human rights grounds.

The consent of prisoners to use their organs after death, although required by law, appears rarely to be sought. In some cases, prisoners and their families are not even informed that the organs will be removed, although in others, the families are given cash payments. Since the prisoner's body is cremated immediately after execution and any last written will or statement can be censored by the authorities, moreover, family members have no way of ascertaining whether or not organs have been removed.

The execution procedure prescribed by Chinese law (shooting in the back of the head), is sometimes violated in order to expedite harvesting of prisoners' organs. According to Chinese legal authorities, some executions are even deliberately mishandled to ensure that the prisoners are not yet dead when their organs are removed.

The lack of adequate judicial safeguards in China, coupled with the existence of government directives allowing political offenders and other nonviolent criminals to be sentenced to death, virtually guarantee that a significant number of wrongful executions will take place. Some of those unfairly sentenced may be unwitting organ donors.

The use of condemned prisoners' organs involves members of the medical profession in the execution process in violation of international standards of medical ethics. Chinese doctors participate in pre-execution medical tests, matching of donors with recipients and scheduling of operations, often on a first-paid, first-served basis.

Full report here.

A Guardian newspaper report on 13 September 2005 contained claims that Chinese cosmetics companies were also profiting, by stripping the skin and tissue from both prisoners and aborted foetuses, and then using the harvested skin to develop collagen and wrinkle treatments for inclusion in beauty products for sale in Europe.

Comment

Perhaps we should not be surprised by the brutality of a regime that systematically suppresses dissent with a system of censorship, totalitarian enslavement, torture and murder. A state which forcibly controls the birth rate of its population and maintains the death penalty for minors, is hardly likely to consider that the rights of those it holds imprisoned, are of any greater consequence, than those of a herd of cattle.

China's hereditary oligarchy, continues to be one of the most disgusting and repugnant regimes currently oppressing a third of the people of planet earth. The fact that it is so routinely tolerated, and so rarely criticized, says a great deal about the current state of freedom in our increasingly inter-connected world.

Dissident Vox - Propaganda & the Spin Cycle!

John B — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 02:37:48 +0100

Another episode of Dissident Vox arrives!

This time Vox digs deep, uncovering the history of propaganda, psyops, and mind manipulation! A stimulating main course of ideas and information, with a cracking side order of podsafe music!

Intro

Music - Jammin INC - 'Propaganda'
Etymology of Propaganda
Definition - (wiki)
General info - (wiki)
Congregatio de propaganda fide

Edward Bernays - Father of Propaganda

Biographical info - (wiki)
The Invisible Government
Commitee on Public Information
Uncle 'Siggy' - The Infuence of Psychoanalysis
The Museum of Public Relations
Video - 'Century of the Self' - (Link)

The Military and Mindwar

War Propaganda and the Media - (Link)
Propaganda Critic
"Full Spectrum Dominance" - (Link)

Conclusion

Music - Baba Israel and Yako - 'State of Emergency'

Related Links

Deception and Disinformation
MK Ultra
Fake TV News
Propaganda Remix Project

Bibliogaphy

'Propaganda' PDF (1928 - Edward Bernays)
Politics and Propaganda - Weapons of Mass Seduction
Where the Truth Lies: Morality and Trust in PR and Journalism
Manufacturing Consent (Herman & Chomsky)

Vox Card 01

John B — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 02:50:00 +0100

The producer would like to apologise to regular visitors to this site for the temporary break in transmission. This is due to a slight technical delay in our Digging and Delving Department (DDD) which has meant that research on the latest podcast has taken some time to put together.

Our technician is busy working on the problem, and we can now inform you that the latest episode of 'Dissident Vox' will be modulating its way to your ears in the very near future. Thank you for your time and patience and please keep your ears and your mind open.

Dissident Vox - Tenner on the Floor!

John B — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 22:26:08 +0100

A musical mini-cast from Vox in the garden..

Intro
Black Lab - 'Ecstacy'
The RSI Zone
Derek James - 'Free Love'
The Tenner on the floor
Melodrome - "Love Replaces Love'

NB - The Second track is misidentified as being by the artist Aaron Short when it is finished playing. It is correctly identified as being by Derek James when it is introduced! Funnily enough Aaron Short's track is entitled 'People Make Mistakes' and you can find it here!

State of Terror

John B — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:13:58 +0100

Vox records from the field!

In this episode Vox takes a look at the history of state sponsored terrorism and the current conflict in Lebanon. He analyses the recent alleged foiled terror plots in the UK, peeks into the background of Iran, and shines a small flashlight of truth upon the dark surfaces of Operation Gladio, Operation Ajax, the School of the America's, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Contains strong anti-tyranny perspectives! :)

Intro

Israel/Lebanon conflict
IDF vs Hezzbollah

Iran the new boogeyman!
Irans Defense
Iran Wiki

The arming of proxy states-
- US arming Israel
- Supplemental article
- British arms to Israel

- Russia arming Iran
- Guardian article 2003
- Russia & the Middle East

Agendas & directions
The latest 'terror'
Pakistan Intel the Taliban & Al Qaeda (Reprint of the NYT Article)

State sponsored terror
-The School of the America's
- A few Unsavory alumni!
- SOA Manuals

Wargaming Iran - Operation Hotspur
New Yorker article - 'The coming wars'

Operation Gladio - Wiki
- Recruiting fascists for terrorism
- The Strategy of Tension

Operation Ajax - Wiki article
The CIA in Iran

Gulf of Tonkin Incident (NSA site)
Johnson's resolution
- Supplemental

Final thoughts
Contact details

Music - London Rain - John Paul Roney

PSA for Lebanon

John B — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 13:36:59 +0100

Click the image or the link below to play the movie.

A group of New-York based multimedia artists has created this short 2 minute Public Service Announcement for Electronic Lebanon. At a moment when this conflict seems to have vansished into the world news sections of the press, this is a timely reminder.

The Shepherd's and the Sheeple - (Another week in the war-zone)

John B — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 21:41:16 +0100

As each day unfolds, with yet another series of grim casualty statistics, bomb reports, explosions, and atrocities, it seems that we longer have any real sense of the true scope and depth of the unfolding tragedy that is the (so called) 'war on terror'. Instead our language, tone, and even our belief systems are altering and reshaping themselves to accommodate the barbarism, and to 'normalize' the terror, and somehow in the process of doing so, we are becoming ever more immune to both the corpses and the consequences.

The mutilated infrastructure of our civil societies has changed beyond recognition in the last five years, and the fallout is everywhere to be seen. From the repressive legislative agendas of our governments, to the shattered consensus of old-world values, the humanitarian ideals we adhered to, (or thought we did), are now being rapidly consigned to the rubbish heap of our collective past under a deluge of secret arrest, torture, and endless warfare.

Cities, towns, and villages are leveled by wave after wave of blanket bombing. Whole regions are poisoned by the irreversible human and environmental disaster of depleted Uranium tipped shells, and tens of thousands of individuals have been killed, injured or displaced. How many of these victims can truly be said to have been 'terrorists' and how much of this insanity can our leaders permit in our name? Thus far, the answer seems to be that there are no longer any moral limits, and that the battle and the bloodshed are only set to increase.

Economies and resources are being ruined and looted in the name of 'democracy' and 'liberation', and blatant lies are being manufactured and paraded as truths. All of this happens without any outcry, and without any great resistance to its implementation. The 'plan' it seems is most definitely in effect.

An ideological 'fence' has been placed around the borders of this 'conflict'. The parameters for the next stage of the game set in place, and there is a terrible sense of foreboding and resignation about the next series of events likely to occur in this war. It is all becoming terribly normal, and every day it seems as if our societies are coming closer to world where atrocities are commonplace, and are simply part of the price we must pay to secure a supposedly safer world.

Do we really care?

Do you believe in this 'war' dear reader? Are you firmly convinced of the validity of the arguments upon which it is founded? Does doubt not cloud your mind, when you see that those selling the package, and directing the herd, are themselves discredited liars, thieves, and manipulators of the democratic process that they so staunchly claim to uphold and defend? Does it in any way unhinge the carefully sealed box of consensus reality, that holds your faith and trust in those who claim to best represent you, when you witness the atrocities they commit in your name?

For myself, I find it impossible to concede that the arguments, assumptions, and manipulations of those who daily murder the truth can or are correct or honest, or that the 'surface' appearance of things, which they so carefully craft for us in nicely wrapped info-bytes, and news-casts are truly representative of reality.

We are being led like sheep, by those who believe they have the right and the responsibility to 'shepherd the herd'. With each faltering step towards the pen of our ignorance, we accept greater and greater levels of moral degeneracy, and ignore more of the awful reality that those prepared to poison and slaughter the flock in one field, will have no great degree of difficulty shearing and slaughtering the rest should the need or desire to do so arise.

Depleted Uranium shells fired at Lebanese 'targets'

John B — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 03:03:27 +0100

According to a forum thread here , it is possible that the Israeli Defense Force has utilised Depleted Uranium shells in some of the tank munition it has fired into southern Lebanon. The claim is based upon images taken by photographer David Silverman on July 14th. The post also states that one of the images was printed in early editions of the Guardian newspaper on July 15th.

To access the images goto:

http://editorial.gettyimages.com

Type in the image numbers below.

Image 71440735

Image 71440734

What you see is a shell shape that looks remarkably like the image below.

An article on the Amnesty USA site explains that;

Depleted uranium is a chemically toxic and radioactive heavy metal used particularly in armour-piercing ammunition. DU weapons are denser than conventional arms, meaning they can penetrate heavy armour more easily. They burn up on impact, creating a radioactive dust, the effect of which remains the subject of safety debates. Like other heavy metals, DU is toxic and constitutes a health risk independent of any residual radioactivity.

AI is calling on governments to consider refraining from the transfer and use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons. There is much controversy over their long-term effects. Some studies suggest that DU dust, which remains in the vicinity of targets struck by DU weapons, poses a significant health risk if inhaled or ingested.

This is more than something of an understatement. Massive amounts of DU munitions have been used in recent conflicts. They remain technically legal, because there is no specific treaty banning their use, despite the fact that their usage clearly constitutes a form of chemical warfare.

The physical and environmental effects of contamination are long-term, monstrous, and in no way reversible. For those requiring a more detailed understanding of the truly horrendous long term effects of this type of munition, there is an informative (and disturbing) video located here.

War...What is it for!?

John B — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 04:26:58 +0100

For any thinking person, who believes in freedom, values liberty, reveres life, and upholds the proposition that all people should be free to make their own decisions, practice their religion of choice, and live peaceably in their own homes and communities, these are deeply troubling times. As our world continues to slide into ever more violent cycles of terror and war, and our civil liberties are seen to rapidly disintegrate by a process of progressive erosion, increasing suppression, and over-arching secrecy, the question needs to be asked;

"What is this 'war' for!?"

This modern crusade, that we now (after very careful programming) call the"war on terror" is meant to be in the furtherance of such great and lofty goals as "peace" "freedom" and "liberty" isn't it? Never mind the fact that it is founded almost entirely upon lies, built upon fear, and preserved and realized through terror. "The ends justify the means." Or so we are told..

The rhetoric emerging from the 'warspeak' machines of the mainstream media persists in its unceasing daily effort to program and force feed us into stunned and stupified submission, until we simply sit back and accept it all. Simultaneously numbing and bombarding our senses, as we switch between barbarous slices of reality one moment, and a multi-channel menu of carefully vetted digital distractions the next.

The Bush/Blair mantra continues to be, that we are in an ideological and physical struggle to the death, with the mortal enemy of radical Islamic terrorism, and that any and all actions are justified, in order that "freedom" and "democracy" might prevail. It is thus implied, that the terrorists alone are the ones who are responsible for our descent into a climate of barbarity and willful ignorance.

Thus it is that we live in a world, where our officials sanction secret arrest, torture, and detainment without charge OR trial, and where the blanket bombing of civilian targets joins economic sanctions, and military invasion, as simply a standard part of our collective foreign policy.

Surely anyone with the slightest interest in researching the facts about what has happened in the past and is happening now, can discern that those who preach the message that we must surrender our freedoms, (and it seems our consciences), are always the very same people profiting from the continuance and expansion of the 'war' and its wider agenda.

Yet it seems that the complexities, divisions, psyop's, and ruses, nurtured and crafted in the hidden councils and chambers of the ruling elite's, have succeeded again, in confusing the mass of people into accepting as truth what is in reality a gigantic global lie. Because the fact is, that in this particular grand global chess game, the 'terrorists' are merely useful pawns, to be manipulated for careful and strategic advantage, in the hands of those more who create, train, fund, and protect them.

The truth is, that (despite early appearances to the contrary), this 'war' is not against global terrorism, it is against each and every one of us. It is a war against the people themselves. It is not a war FOR freedom. It is a war AGAINST it, and ultimately, against anyone who stands in the way, of the collectivized project, long nurtured by the elite's, to remake the world in the image that they have chosen for it.

The Qana Massacre

John B — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:31:17 +0100

Reposted from YouTube . Original link here.

The Cost of War! - "2+2=5!"

John B — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:14:19 +0100

Looking at the stream of horrific images emerging from the latest stage of the ever escalating war of terror, (this time in the Lebanon), it is unbearably difficult to find any meaningful language to describe what I am seeing. In fact I can't find any adequate words, and I don't know how to relate to it, other than with a mixture of revulsion, anger, fear, pity, and some measure of intellect and prayer.

Pictures of young Lebanese children, (and adults) with their limbs separated from their bodies, and heads separated from their necks as the result of bomb attacks, don't bear repeated looking at, and I for one didn't want to see them, but I have looked, and having done so, I don't ever want to look again.

We are living in an age of almost casual insanity, where rocket and bomb attacks are claiming lives as I write, and where this occurence is only the latest salvo in a spiraling vortex of war, terror, and barbarity, that seems to be dragging us inexorably towards the threshold of another major World-War. That's if we are not already in one, after all, who announces that these things have become World Wars anyway?

These kinds of events and images are so terrible, hurtful, and degrading, that they stretch our belief in the essential quality of good in human beings to a breaking point. They never fail to appall, and yet, because they are so horrific, they are not images that we wish to dwell upon. Many people may not have seen these particular pictures emerging from Lebanon, because our mainstream media are carefully screening out many of the much nastier realities of this war for us. They are as tragic and monstrous as any that you can imagine.

Massive destruction, death, debt, and a wave of societal fear are only some of the very real costs of this war already. A war which has already cost the world so much, and in the process, has changed the shape of our lives and societies radically. A war which, everyday, continues to insert it's propagandised messages into the mainstream body politic of our culture(s).

Those preaching it's message, tell us it is a war to preserve freedom, but it's only boon so far, has been to provide those who deal in death and fear with enormous opportunities for profit and influence.Whilst the rest endure the daily 'mind-war' in the marketplace of ideas that is the media. Exisiting in our compartmentalised mental pods, in varying states of awareness about what is really going on. Those paying attention, are witness to the blanket erosions of freedoms once considered worthy of fighting to preserve.

Today the cost is broken human bodies, and a massive concussive personal and structural body blow to the whole of Lebanese civil society. A quarter (at least), of the entire population has been displaced, and many tens of thousands are fleeing the region. Next month the focus of war may be somewhere else, as another terrible series of days are endured. After all, this is only one terrible snapshot in this ever expanding boundary-less and global war. This is only what's happening on the Israel-Lebanon border this week. Next week, it may be worse, it may be Iraq, or Palestine, or Afghanistan, or any major city anywhere in the world, but one thing we can be sure of, the "war" will still be with us.

I feel like a passive spectator, watching my screen, scanning news-feeds, and channels, as the elite sponsored war machine batters down the isolated pockets of goodwill, happiness, and freedom in the world. I feel in fact, as if I've entered the parallel universe of a dystopian novel, where the political air is thick with the smell of bloodshed, and the airwaves around me seem to be reverberating to the drums of dictatorship. However, I'm not asleep, and this isn't a fantasy. We really live in this kind of world now, and pinching myself awake only confirms that sad and dreadful fact to be true.

Have you noticed that there are always more dead? In this terrible terror war, there are always more casualties, and more bodies. As the latest car bomb rips through an occupied civilian street, or artillery fire rings out in a crowded marketplace, or a bus or train bomb rips through the centre of a major city, there are ALWAYS more dead. We live in an age where laser guided rocket attacks are claiming lives as I write, and I feel as if the human race is tumbling ever more rapidly into a savage and immoral wasteland, where the ends justify the means, and somehow we never seriously question the legitimacy of the lies that guide us.

Everyday our freedoms wither as our governments legislate away our liberties before our eyes, using the perverse logic that they are only doing so to in order to protect our freedom. Could there be a more absurd and dangerous example of doublethink? In this new world emerging before our eyes, it seems that 2+2 does in fact =5, and that we MUST surrender liberty to protect freedom.

Despite the obvious blind absurdity of the assertion, it seems that every day we accept our loss of freedom a little more and thus expect our freedom to be upheld a little less. We are all part of this 'war' now, whether we realise it or not, and I for one can't escape from the hollow feeling of emptiness it engenders in me every day, no matter how many digital infotainment sweeties I nibble to distract me from it's awful realities.

Link : The original site hosting these images has since been taken down. I'm not sure why. There is an archive locate here. However the images are very distressing so please be forewarned.

Justice for Jean?

John B — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 15:45:54 +0100

Vox offers a reaction to the news that no criminal prosecution is to be brought in the case of the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes.

Justice4Jean - Family and supporters site

CPS Statement in full

Audioblog July 15th/16th

John B — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 04:25:49 +0100

Vox arrives back at his virtual home from home, and turns on the light!

Feedburner Feed Playing up!

John B — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 19:59:22 +0100

I am afraid that there is something very awry in the wiring of the feedburner feed because in the last few podcast posts it seems to have become 'invalid'. It now returns phrases such as "itunes:summary should not contain HTML" and "description should not contain iframe tag" all of which is baffling as this is the first time the feed has ever behaved this way. The basic Blogharbor xml feed (http://dissidentvox.com/index.xml) seems fine,so I would suggest using that if you wish to recieve the current podcasts.

Trying to figure out how to repair it! If you have any thoughts, I'd be happy to read em! :)

English in July

John B — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 01:39:02 +0100

Vox cures his England FIFA hangover with some wonderful music from Killarney's wandering minstrel Brendan O' Shea. He also offers some thoughts on what it means to be English, details the latest freedom surpressing legislation, and takes a look at the state of play as we approach the anniversary of the London bombings on 7/7.

Intro
Music 'Hollow Moon' - Brendan O' Shea
Brendan's MySpace site
itunes Link for the album "In the Light'

England FIFA Hangover!
English and England
It's not about football (Times article by Bran Appleyard)
Wiki entry on England
English National Dress?
Maybe this!?

News
Jail time for whistleblowers
Scrapping Human Rights
Gordon Brown wants your ID!

Music -'Canada' - Brendan O' Shea

7/7 reflections
Wiki - London bombings
Survivor blogs

The current official 'coincidence theory'
The current unnoficial 'conspiracy theory'

Gobbels and Propaganda
Bush family background - A skull and some bones
Guardian piece

Closing comments
Outro

CONTACT THE SHOW
dissidentvox@googlemail.com

Dissident Vox - B is for ball..Or Bilderberg! (minicast)

John B — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 05:23:01 +0100

Vox discusses the current focus of global attention that is the 18th FIFA World Cup. He takes a peek inside the secretive world of the Bilderberg Group meeting in Ontario, Canada, this weekend. (June 9-11) and picks his 'Bilderberg 11' to compete for the mythical 'Masters of the Universe' Trophy.

Intro
FIFA World Cup
Football 12th Century Style!
The Nation and Footie

Team Bilderberg
A Barrel of Oil
The Squad!
Vox Bilderberg 11

Notices
Personal Comments
Music : 'Look Hard' - 'Globalinks'

Contact the show at: http://dissidentvox.com where you can leave audio comments
or email DV at : dissidentvox@googlemail.com