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Guess Who

A policy of extending control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires.

Control through indirect methods of exerting control on the economy of other entities.

The term is often used to describe the policy of a nation’s dominance over distant lands, regardless of whether the nation considers itself part of the empire.

Residents of an imperialist state usually don’t consider it as such.

Originally Posted: October 2nd, 2009

The IP Problem

There’s an excellent talk on Google video given by Rick Falkvinge of the Swedish Pirate Party. It addresses the important questions of copyright law, intellectual property, individual freedom, free speech and privacy.

Rick explains how copyright laws infringe on your personal privacy and your freedom of speech. Rick traces the history of copyrights, and discusses their implication for a liberal and open democracy.

Essential viewing.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2541736281918823479

Originally Posted: June 9th, 2009

Get It While You Can

There has been controversy and news coverage in the UK, on the subject of MPs expenses and incomes. It’s been a shameful display of greed and avarice, with a lot of backtracking and apologising, by MPs and their parties.

On TV, some MPs suggested they went into politics to help others and for the common good. Nothing could be further from the truth. MPs go into politics, because they have an unfulfilled power lust, along with it an unsatiated desire for wealth. If that were not so, they wouldn’t be in politics. And this embarrassment wouldn’t be splashed across every news media available.

All parties are trying to come clean, with public apologies, repayment of monies gained from the public purse, and promises to clean up their act in the future. It won’t happen. The leopard won’t change his spots.

Stephen Fry expressed his view on television, when he stated, it was nothing more than “a storm-in-a-teacup”. Fry said “everybody had lied at sometime about expenses and made claims they were not entitled to”. If we accept Fry’s argument, the politicians have done nothing wrong. He suggests, journalists had been fiddling their expenses for years and were now responsible for working the crowd and generating an adverse reaction from the public.

Stephen Fry is wrong.

Journalists are answerable to their respective newspaper editors and/or proprietors. If found to be falsifying their expenses, could be dismissed.

Who are the politicians answerable to?

Will they be dismissed, if found to have dishonestly claimed £10,000 of public money to refurbish a bathroom or kitchen, in their second home? Probably not.

Some MPs are the UK’s representatives on the World Stage. If they cannot aspire to, embrace and live by such lofty ideals as truth, honesty and decency, should they be holding positions in Government?

The principle is important. Or we may as well have ex-prisoners, thieves and other miscreants in Government office. (Don’t mention Geoffrey Archer or Jonathan Aitken).

There is irony here. Those most fit to govern, have no desire to do so. Those not fit to govern, are the people who seek power. Isn’t that strange?

Links to The Telegraph expose:

MP’s Expenses

The Delivery Dossier

20 Most Bizarre Claims

Shop Till They Drop

Withdrawn Claims

Claims Would Shame Dictators Police Say

Originally Posted: May 15th 2009