HOLD OFF THE HURRICANES.....by BUSsing, CAR-POOL in a COROLLA, Taking the TRAIN, or Making for the METRO

Yeah I've been saying for yonks that the Yanks should put a one US dollar per US gallon tax on fuels. Instantly less traffic congestion in cities, especially rush-hour, plus greater impetus to bring public transport on line, and appropriately comfortable, safe, clean and convenient. I'd phase the one dollar extra in, in stages over a year. This also allows carmakers and car dealers to start stocking more fuel efficient versions.

Think of how all that extra money could be spent, such as in govt schools, universities and hospitals.

You know, I have such a soft-spot for America, growing up with US cartoons then later the adult tv shows etc. But I wonder how history will look back on the United States of this period.

I've heard it said that they are the only Western World country, that DOES NOT have some kind of universal health care system, the only one that retains the death penalty....and uses it with regularity against the poorer people, the only one who didn't sign the Kyoto Greenhouse agreement (oh, Australia, refused to sign on too, when America asked Aust to NOT sign, as otherwise America would've been the single odd one out. However Aust has said that although it will not sign on with the protocol, it will go through all the appropriate motions and achieve the stated targets) The Yanks claim that Kyoto will only 1% fix the problem (if there even IS a problem, which they alone don't yet admit). However the longest journey starts with the smallest step, eh

Not negating the terrible tragedy of all those poor folks killed this year in Southern USA, first New Orleans, then now this last couple of days in Florida, but it is possible that there is a "silver lining" to this cloud. If the Southern USA states start getting batterred more regularly by severe tropical cyclones........say if they start getting 2 or 3 "once-every-thirty-year" hurricanes each and every year, then maybe, maybe, they'll finally be brought undeniably to the conclusion, that the Earth's climate is changing fast, and that maybe we better all start becoming more fuel efficient, and polluting less, "treading more lightly, on the planet"

I recall not so long ago, the US tobacco company executives standing up one by one in front of a congressional review committee and stating out loud "I believe that smoking cigarettes DOES NOT cause lung cancer" .....(Reference docu "The Last Cigarette" as aired on SBS TV Fri 10 Jan 2003 and Sat 31 May 2003 as recorded on my videotapes catalogued as # (1612) and (1748) respectively )

Maybe Prez Bush's administration will finally be brought to realise their folly in simply "mining" more and more oil and gas resources (including in Pristine National park areas) then burning them up as fast as possible in oversize "SUV" cars and poorly designed and built homes and heating systems, etc etc

Oh well my brief comment has turned into somewhat of a rant. so I leave off there.

cheerio


Patsy..... "So, is killing *Not* wrong anymore ?"
Trudy..... "We don't have to worry about Right and Wrong anymore, ZOOT decides for us"
.....THE TRIBE ep 2:49

A Law that you'd expect in Tyrannical Countries....a betrayal of trust

Here's something that was on the general "aus.tv" newsgroup. Not really tv related, still the news has given quite some coverage to the Govt's new proposed so called "anti-terror" laws including their "shoot to kill" clause. The link provided to the newspaper site didn't work when I tried it, but it have been just a temporary hiccup

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/a-betrayal-of-trust-and-liberty/2005/10/19/1129401313656.html

In Australia, any of us can be detained merely because authorities
believe we might know something that we don't even know we know.

The authorities do not have to believe we are guilty of any crime,
or are planning any crime, or have consorted with any suspicious persons.

How could such a law be drafted by the Government
and supported by the Labor opposition?

You can be detained for one week but then on a new warrant,
another and another and another week. Unless it is approved
in the original warrant - and why would ASIO do that?
- you are not allowed to contact your wife, your husband,
your child, your mother, your father and, of course, not a lawyer.

If you don't answer ASIO's questions satisfactorily, you can be charged
and subject to five years in jail. But the law is reasonable, it goes on to say
that if you don't know anything, then it's not an offence not to tell ASIO anything.

But you have to prove you didn't know anything and so the "onus of proof" is reversed.

You can be asked to produce a paper and if you don't, you also go to jail
on prosecution for five years but the law goes on to say, being fair-minded again,
if you don't have such a paper, it's not an offence not to produce it but
you have to prove that you didn't have it.

How do you prove you do not have something that you do not even know exists.
Again, "onus of proof" is reversed.

If a journalist heard that you had been detained and sought to report it,
he would go to jail for five years.

If a detained person were released and talked to anyone about his or her experiences,
subject to prosecution, five years in jail.

This seems to be a law for secret behaviour by authorities, for making somebody disappear.

It is a law that one would expect in tyrannical countries and not in Australia.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/a-betrayal-of-trust-and-liberty/2005/10/19/1129401313656.html

USA's Invasion of IRAQ, vs nobody's invasion of the USA

I came across this newsgroup posting while looking for something entirely different (I's after info on the tv series THE TRIBE actually). It's bit of a one-eyed opinion, but the guy does bring up a few valid points worth considering.

All of the below is a quote lifted from a public newsgroup


It's getting a bit tiresome seeing one misguided American after another with
their cutsie little yellow or red-white-blue ribbons on their outsized SUVs.
Yeah, I guess it's the thing to do; maybe part of that whole soccer-mom
culture. Unfortunately, the only thing they demonstrate is that the person
behind the wheel is a clueless, gullible, misguided, nitwit.

If foreign invaders landed on our soil, as we have done in Iraq, I would be
the first one to take up arms and repel them. (I suppose that would make me
an 'insurgent' by OUR logic.) This, and other aggressive governments have
always done their utmost to make it APPEAR as if committing yourself to kill
in feuds on distant shores that have nothing to do with the welfare of the
citizenry is somehow patriotic.

It is not.

Enlisting in the armed forces, in the absence of a real and impending
foreign threat, is no different that hiring yourself as a paid assassin . .
the only difference is, you're not getting paid enough. But let's take a
realistic look at exactly WHO joins up in an all-volunteer army.

The first group are those who join (during peacetime) for the benefits: to
get an education, or because it seems a reasonable career path. Consider
carefully! Realize that you are gambling with your humanity. Once you sign
that form, you sign away your right to say: "No, that is an atrocity." You
put your abilities, including the ability to kill, at the disposal of proven
liars, psychopaths . . . enemies of humanity. Do you think that every German
soldier in World War II who helped load Jews into cattle cars was a
cold-blooded killer? Most were poor kids, just like you, who got caught up
in the patriotic frenzy. Once you're in, you're IN. You lose the ability to
stop killing until they tell you so. This not only makes you less than
human, it makes you less than an animal, for even the animals retain their
freedom of self determination.

The second group are the simple minded, who fall for patriotic entreaties
about defending democracy, Mom, apple pie; in other words, all the
traditional government propaganda. Do you think Soviet lads subjugated their
neighbors throughout the world because they thought the Soviet Union was an
EVIL empire? No, they were fighting for MOM, and whatever passes for apple
pie in Russia. Step back and examine the lies your government is handing
you, and ask yourself if they have the ring of truth. Do you want to be one
of the murderers in uniform who opened up on their fellow citizens at Kent
State? When you put on that uniform, you give up all autonomy, and become
nothing more than a weapon, to be used for whatever evil purposes the
scoundrels in government demand (and, if you look carefully, you will
discover that the only interests THEY serve are those of the big businesses
that own them.)

Finally, you have the hard-core psychopaths. These are the people who WANT
to kill. Murder, torture, rape; THESE are the American values upon which
THIS group is focused. The cause doesn't matter, they're after the thrill
that only warfare can provide.

Just remember: killing for George W. Bush, or for George H.W. Bush, or for
Lyndon B. Johnson, or for Richard M. Nixon is not the same as defending
yourself, your family, your friends, or your country. Don't be a dupe. Don't
Enlist!

Remember -- supporting the troops means supporting Bush aggression,
profiteering, and war crimes. Here's an idea: why not take those ribbons,
dip them in blood, and mail them to the White House?

- --
Tom St.Denis

111 Banning Rd
Kanata, Ontario
K2L 1C3
Canada

Home: (613)836-3160
Cell: (613)796-8220

tomstdenis@gmail.com

NSW TOLL ROAD RIP-OFF vs Poor People Lynched on their Leases

Hey folks, what's happening in NSW lately....! I saw on TV news there was a
punch-up in your state parliament, which by any measure is un-forgivable.
You don't just inadvertantly walk around a huge wooden table.....the
equivalent of walking through 3 rooms distance in a domestic house, then
grab an opposition politician and start punching and choking him

We've seen full on riots amongst the politicians in Taiwan parliament
before.......easy to fix , simply a loud announcement over the loudspeaker
system..."anyone NOT sitting in their seats with their hands on their heads
within 15 seconds will get a lifetime ban from ever being in the
parliamentary chamber ever again, plus they'll lose their job and all of
their accrued pension/superannuation benefits " .....job done, no childish
ruckus in parliament ever again, whether it be NSW or Taiwan

However one point that one of those NSW pollies made later, did seem to have
some merit

He was referring to some section of the NSW Pacific highway, somewhere near
Kempsey or vicinity, remember where they had that horrific bus crash many
years ago and many people were killed, (oh hang on, that doesn't matter, as
they were only poor people, all the rich people and politicians were flying
instead)

Anyway the guy said that years on, they were still screaming out for
concrete divider between the lanes of opposing directional traffic, where
cars currently still whizz by at 100 kmh, just inches apart, separated by
all the safety of a painted white-line

He said that within days or weeks of opening, a concrete divider had been
placed in a particular Sydney street (with much slower moving traffic)
simply for the purpose of, almost forcing, motorists to use the new
"Cross-City" tunnel.

Note that this is a new privately owned tunnel, so all profits get plundered
from motorists and fly off to goodness only knows where, to line the pockets
of a few filthy rich.

So apparently NSW roads "can " provide concrete traffic control barriers
when a private company's profits are at risk, if people are allowed to make
a voluntery choice NOT to use their products or services.

Then just after seeing that in the tv news I happened to read in a newspaper
over the weekend that Macquarie, a huge multinational investment
conglomerate was going down in share prices of late. Note I'm not sure but
think maybe Macq own the new Cross City tunnel. The newspaper article was
more about how over extended they were becoming, having recently bid more
than a billion dollars more than the competition to buy a certain Chicago
(USA) toll-road franchise that gives them a 99 year lease. The newspaper
article pointed out the similarities with ENRON where a company got too big
too fast, (leaving behind it's core business) only to have it collapse in a
heap, a month after someone had the guts to stand up and say "But the
Emperor isn't wearing ANY clothes !"

Who do government's think they're fooling when the offer 99 years leases on
things to big corporations, that's as good as a sale. In 99 years time
we'll probably use "Stargates" or "Transporter" type technology to travel
around.

It's amazing though how a 99 year lease, when offered to "little people" can
simply by unilaterally evaded by the govt with just the single stroke of a
pen, when it wants to

Some 40 or so years ago in Christchurch, New Zealand there was a program to
assist low income families to buy into their first home. To save on the cost
of buying the land, (the land cost being a substantial component of the
initial price) the govt offered new housing blocks, in a cheap-arse area of
the city's extreme outer edge, on a 99 year lease, at "peppercorn" rental
(very cheap). The lease contract also gave the homebuyer (who owned the
actual house structure which they'd have built) the right to buy the land
whenever they wanted to, at the fixed price of 500 NZ Pounds currency. NZ
changed to metricated dollars and cents currency in 1967, and 500 pounds
became $1,000

Then one day sometime around 1988, the rip-off mongrels in the government,
showed themselves up to be the lying theiving scumbags that they are by
sending everyone letters indicating that their "locked in for 99 years"
annual peppercorn rent for the land was to skyrocket in price. The people
could still buy their land if they wanted, but the govt had shifted the
goalposts and unilaterally broken the earlier written agreements they'd
made, and upped the price payable for the land from P.500 ($1,000) to
$20,000

Yep, a true story. Some good friends of mine, a poor family, were put in
that exact situation.

The newspaper article about Macq mentioned that Melbourne's tollways only
exist by getting huge govt subsidies which the hotshot accountant types
disguise, but they're effectively gifts of public money to private profit
making companies owned by rich-pricks.

Well as governements have shown that they can cancel long leases whenever
they want to (when it's only poor people who own the 99 year leasehold), why
don't the various Eastern States Australian governements simply take these
tolled roads and tunnels back ?

Fortunately here in WA we do not have any tollways. AFAIK New Zealand does
not either, however I recall reading something while I's over there recently
that some changes to the motorway system that gives access to Auckland, seem
to be "softening up" the populace for the introduction of future privately
owned profit making tollways. Remember that whereas public owned roads are
there to provide a service at minimum cost possible, private enterprise
doesn't get involved in pay-for-use roads and tunnels to provide a service
at the lowest possible cost to users, it gets involved to make the highest
possible profits, from doing the least actual work or provision of service

Oh well that's the end of my rant for now, my fingers are running out of
puff.

cheerio



Patsy..... "So, is killing *Not* wrong anymore ?"
Trudy..... "We don't have to worry about Right and Wrong anymore, ZOOT
decides for us"
.....THE TRIBE ep 2:49

BIRD FLU pandemic, GIANT RATS and DINOSAURS and DASTARDLY DISNEY BONES PREZ BUSH up the BACK-SIDE

I heard on the tv news that a Melbourne outfit is gearing up to produce anti
viral agents to treat the BIRD FLU, oh good that sounds hopeful I hear you
say.

Yep they reckon they'll have stuff available in quote "just a few months"

Wow that really fills me with confidence..... NOT !

I'm glad that we DON'T currently have Aussies, especially, West Aussies,
(from the Indonesian adjacent NorthWest Broome etc region, all the way down
through to Perth) dropping like flies, but you gotta wonder how bad it
*might* be before this new source of treatment drugs DOES comes on-line. And
that's assuming the new drugs will actually *DO* anything. The tv news last
night, said that the 2 main categories of 'flu drugs were not very effective
at all, for certain strains of the BirdFlu. (The fictional tv show
"Survivors" teaches us that when the Fertiliser-hits-the-Fan, we can't
believe whatever the Govt tells us on tv and radio news anyway !)

Now sooner or later a "E.L.E." (Extinction Level
Event...like-what-killed-the dinosaurs) asteroid will hit the Earth and
effectively kill of all human life. Now maybe that'll be next year, or maybe
in 2012, or maybe not for another 65 Million Years, but assuming we have
even several hundred if not thousands of years until the next "big one" then
that allows improvements in technology to have established sustainable human
settlements on the Moon, Mars or elsewhere. either by using improved
"Spacecraft" technology, or possibly totally new and different
"Stargate-like" technologies that we *might* develop at some future date

However it should be a real worry to all us Humans currently living on
Earth, that a version of Influenza isn't going to kill us all first

Now maybe it won't be this current version of the Bird Flu, but with the
Asian culture of keeping live pigs and live poultry in the same place,
allowing bird and pig/human/mammal flu virii to interbreed...............I
have very serious concerns for the human race's long term survival on this
one point alone. Making International laws to ensure pig and poultry
husbandry takes place at different locations would be a good first step.
But what are the politicians busy doing ? Well a few years ago, a big bunch
of DISNEY stuff was about to become Out-of-copyright protection, approaching
the 50 year limit since creation. So the multibillion dollar Disney
corporation told the US Govt, that it wanted copyright protection ramped up
to 75 years. and you know, when a big coporation Like Disney or
Halliburton-KBR says "Jump" the US Prez replies simply "Yes Sir, How High
?" Under the gutted and useless "F**ked Trade Agreement" that Australia
recently signed, we can be forced to bring our laws "into line" with US
laws, if our laws are different, and Disney's rooting for our copyright laws
to be first in line. Copyright laws were enacted some hundred plus years
ago and were intended to protect an author during his lifetime and provide
for his widow and young children until they became of age, in the event of
his untimely death. Far from Ratchetting up the copyright laws from 50 to
75 years, they should be hacked down to buggery, to something like 20 years
maximum. We're told that "Intellectual Property" laws protect investments
in research, however this totally untried and untested THEORY flies in the
face of several thousand years of scientific research and developments,
which up until only a hundred years ago or so, had no "intellectual
property" protection at all. Slowly more and more cases are now starting
to come to light about how scientific research and academic debate are
becoming stifled, stopped dead in their tracks by IP and copyright laws.

OK back to the Bird Flu spiel........let alone certain other factors. Like
how humans, a comparitively "sterile" species (perhaps beaten only by the
Chinese Giant Panda in that respect) and along with RATS (who ARE prolific
breeders) have managed to so thoroughly "infest" this world. Yep we could
pretty much be described as "weeds" forcing out local endemic species and gr
owing, to the exclusion of others, even if such growth is UNsustainable and
likely to cause degradation of the environment in which we live, in the
longer term. So another cause for concern there.

Maybe we'll all become so concerned we'll become worry-worts (sp?) and all
die of "worry" even before the Asteroid, 'Flu, plagues of giant rats, or
running out of resources gets us !

Oh well them's a few of my thoughts, of late.



..."For more 'an a year, I ain't had nuthin' 'twixt m' nethers
that ain't powered by battery" Kaylee ex SERENITY movie (quoted from
memory and slightly paraphrased)

Check out my 'blog
http://kiwicatherinejemma.blogspot.com email xenaATagnDOTnetDOTau

Patsy..... "So, is killing *Not* wrong anymore ?"
Trudy..... "We don't have to worry about Right and Wrong anymore, ZOOT
decides for us"
.....THE TRIBE ep 2:49

WAR, what a waste of money !

I received the following quote as part of an email from a good friend of mine, a highly educated dudette who lives in America. I thought it worth including here.


Now, who said this?

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This [peace] is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This [war] is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

It was from a famous general.

Hum … you are shaking your head this morning and that is not good.

Ok … try Eisenhower.



Ok … from your non-responsiveness, I would say you are still asleep.

So … wake up! (end of quote)

SURVIVORS 1975 tv series further comments

OK I've now seen the final ep from season one but not all of the extras yet.
Yeah I remembered they picked up an "almost doctor" along the way, but
couldn't remember exatly when or where she came into the series.

I know this show was from the 1970's but looking at it now, I see it as
still very sexist

Greg won't let Abby and Lucy go to the old quarry alone to collect supplies at the abandoned "porta-cabin"
because the men are all busy planting crops and they can't spare a man to
"accompany her" Like, as she can drive a car, fix a flat tyre, shoot a gun if
need be (to protect their chastity from the non-existant wandering rapists),
the stuff at the quarry is all in small boxes, which her and Lucy can easily
load themselves. They don't need the increased muscular strength of a man
to swing an axe or a sledgehammer or to lift heavy weights, or throw a spear deeper into the Rhino's thick hide , so what gives ?

Later after the trial, when they decide as a group decision to execute the
retarded man Barnie (thinking erroneously he'd attacked and killed Wendy)
ONLY THE MEN draw straws to select which one of them has to fire the fatal
shot........like yeah 'cause the women are all stupid and useless cry-babies etc etc
GGRRRRR. That attitude makes me cross. Oh well I guess the scriptwriters
are a reflection of their time, and their own education and upbringing.

I think that's one reason why I like Joss Whedon's creations so much. I
dunno if you'd call him a S.N.A.G. but he'd have to be the most UNsexist man
I've ever come across (well not that I've ever actually met him in person, obviously)

When the SURVIVORS tvseries first aired in NZ, and as I's about 15 years old at the time, I already knew that jacks were used for changing
flat tyres, but only after seeing Greg use the jack from the boot of his
sports car did it occur to me that you could also use them to lift an
obstruction clear from a wounded person. But something that always pissed
me off was we never saw Greg take his jack BACK, what if he'd gottten a
puncture just up the road, he couldn't call the AA ! (=RAC or NRMA)

Later in the 1980's film "Quadrophenia" I learnt how car jacks can be used
to spread the window security bars in chemist shop windows when you wanna
steal some prescription drugs !

I can't say that in the last 20 years or so I have lifted any toppled
tractors or busted into very many chemist shops, but I have used jacks for all sorta
things around here and there.

cheers


Patsy..... "So, is killing *Not* wrong anymore ?"
Trudy..... "We don't have to worry about Right and Wrong anymore, ZOOT
decides for us"
.....THE TRIBE ep 2:49

USA guns laws, the Frelled Trade Agreement and the poor design of gas fuelled hot-water systems

Well I was having a go trying to fix my hotwater system. it's the most
rooted design you could even imagine. so many bits and tubes and screws and
even to examine the one part that is apparently faulty, you seem to need to
strip absolutely every peice and every part from it, ggrrr, I'd like to know
what dikkhedd designed this system (runs off bottled gas), I'd go 'round to
his place and give 'im a kick up the jacksie. I've given up for now, I'll
have another go at it another day, time for a breather, so I thought I'd
have another session on the computer

Saw one more ep at lunchtime, OK, just one ep to go now, plus the dvd extras

Yeah as I understand it, America's problem with guns, is. very much the case
with handguns for the mostpart

If you walk down a shopping street, with nefarious intent, carrying a rifle
or shotgun, people tend to notice and call the coppers

But a handgun can be concealed under a loose jacket, or in a medium sized
handbag or small shoppingbag etc

It's their ease of concealability that more easily allows them to be taken,
to the scene of an intended crime and used.(in a robbery or carjacking etc)

What annoys me is that often enough, our govt says our laws have to be
"brought into line" with US laws, like eg, copyright increased to 75 years
after author's death, at the request of DISNEY because a bunch of their
stuff was due to come out of copyright a few years back

And just a few days ago, they said that under the F**ked-trade-agreement
with the US (as signed recently, even though, by the time we got it, the
yanks had gutted anything good out of it) apparently we're be forced in
future to take US Beef, even though it fails to have a strict mad cow
inspection regime.

A recent survey showed that 97 % of consumers want clear and precise
country-of-origin laws on our foodstuffs but the govt refuses to give us
that. Instead almost all food labels now simply say "made from local and
imported ingredients"

Imported from where ? The radioactive farmlands of Kiev, or the mad cow
infested ranches of America, we'll never know and the govt refuse to change
labelling laws, ggrrr, and it's not as if there aren't any consumer lobby
groups out there pressing for the changes.

Oh well, I guess as a society we'll stagger on for a bit longer. Ya gotta
wonder though if it wouldn't be an improvement if the Survivors-flu, "The
Tribe virus", the Jeremiah "Big Death" or bird flu went through and knocked
off 10 to 25 % or whatever of the population, it might be just the shake-up
the world needs

How about out govt "bringing into line" Australian laws with the US on
petrol prices amd gun laws ! of course they never would !

cheerio

Survivors 1975 tv show further comments, plus London Police shoot dead un-armed man

OK I have now seen *most* of those eps, on the dvds recently borrowed, plus
a few thoughts on that ethnic Brazilian guy the UK police shot (a couple of
months back, when I's in NZ I recall)

Re Survivors series one, Obviously I remember major points, like wendy's
attack and murder, and Barnie getting executed over it, only to later
discover it was Tom Price responsible, but I forgot some aspects like those
"traders" aka gun toting vandals, who had shot their entire flock of sheep
(bar one) just 'cause the boss-man wanted "his woman" back, like as if he
owned her

After the just previously injuried Tom Price, shot the boss dude (and was
killed moments later by his men, returning fire) I understand Greg and Abby
not wanting further bloodshed with his other 5 men, but If I's them I'd at
the very least say "we're keeping one of your 2 lorries, the one with the
food, in compensation for our flock of sheep you maliciously destroyed for
no good reason, now get in the other lorry and your Range Rover and bugger
off and never come back this way again !" However anyone less pacifist than
them would surely havejust killed all the guys, and taken both the lorries,
plus the rangerover and caravan.

Just another 1 or 2 eps to go, which I guess I'll see lunchtime today. Plus
the extra docu items.

Incase you're wondering why there are so many shotguns and so few rifles
depicted in this series, this is because since ww2 finished, UK has had very
strict gun laws, although shotguns are slightly less restricted. Shotguns do
have a devastatingly powerful effect, but only for a short range, dunno for
sure, a few tens of yards 50 to 100 m depending on the amo used.. I dunno
what the percentage is, but many more English homes, especially in country
areas, would have a shotgun. Abby as a wealthy country person would've
possibly had experience with shotguns shooting clays (flying targets) or
grouse and pheasant hunting

The rifles depicted so far, have been mostly the smallest available, a bolt
action .22 calibre, which can be dangerous to more than a km, but not
accurate anywhere near that far

The 2 lorry-loads of trader-scavenger-vandals, also had one military style
"assault" rifle (seen as they invaded the sheep paddock and blindsided
"Paul")

Pistols used to be very strictly controlled in UK, recently an outright ban
on all private ownership, so now just the police, military, and outright
criminals have them

Re that Brazilian electrician who the UK police recently shot dead on the
subway "because they thought he was a terrorist" I think this has proven a
very very disturbing point in British society today (possibly also applying
to Aust and NZ too etc)

Previously we might've accused the Yankee cops of being trigger-happy
especially when dealing with minorities, negro and hispanic, however there's
one thing the recent UK experience has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt

.........in the UK, even when a "suspect" (neither charged nor convicted of
ANY offence) is already well secured and detained by police officers, they
have an official policy of "shoot-to-kill"

....and not just the actions of a handful of triggerhappy "rogue" cops, but
this is the official policy as espoused by a senior police official after
the event.....I saw him at an official press-conference on telly in NZ

When later, photographs of the guy were released, proving the other police
claim, that he was wearing a bulky coat etc, showed the police to be
deliberately lying to the public, the police then threw their investigative
weight behind, the issue of finding out how those photos had gotten released
to the public......it's a shame they don't put as much effort into finding
out how and why, members of the public are turning up dead, with their
brains riddled by police bullets . ("Bullet in the brain-pan, squish" I
seem to remember the quote from "river tam", sorry can't remember if that's from
the 2005 released film "Serenity" or the earlier series "Firefly" 2002/03)

I think it's a matter of great public interest to any folks living in
England, that it is now official govt policy that you can be riding the
train or walking down the street and police will grab you, then fire at
point blank range 7 bullets into your head, without so much as even asking
for i.d. and seeing if your the right bloke they're looking for or not !

It's soooo scary that under the excuse of "anti-terrorism" the
govts/police/paramilitary forces are rapidly becoming THE terrorists !

cheers

SURVIVORS tv series 1975 vs Bird flu recent Asian disease outbreaks

Thinking of recent outbreak of Bird Flu in Asia and a fictional tv series
which depicted a worldwide pandemic.................

A fellow called Carl's recent email to me, about the Bird Flu just happened to coincide with my
re-watching of the excellent 1975 UK tv series SURVIVORS

Season one of three was recently released on DVD set and although they're a
shocking price, a video-trading friend of some years standing, from Sydney,
has kindly allowed me to borrow her discs temporarily

Even 30 years on, this series stands up very very well indeed. It's still
the absolute best and, most likely "realistic" treatment of a post
apocalypse story. Even the theme music for this story is scary !

Remember that in SURVIVORS, the disease was first thought to be a version of
the normal FLU.

On tv news last night they said that under their theoretical "worst case"
scenario, Perth hospitals would have 1,000 fatalities and 7,000 recovering
with appropriate medical treatment (assumes satisfactory access to modern
drugs etc)

Yeah well, that actually sounds "quite good" ie not as bad as could be.
However I wouldn't believe any Govt sources if they told me that the sky was
blue. Remember this is the same govt that is trying its best to start
world war 3 just so that the vice Prez's company Halliburton-KBR can make
more profit

......did anyone ever really believe that Iraq had WMD and that
"intelligence" to justify the invasion of Iraq wasn't bogus from the start !
I know I did. Plus why has no-one on Earth had the guts to stand up and say
"The pot calling the kettle black" The Yanks are the guys with the most WMD
on Earth. I heard the other day that they are developing new mini-nukes so
that they can use them willy-nilly without feeling so guilty about the huge
casualties that will ensure amongst the un-armed civilian populations.

Remember a couple of years back, the ANTHRAX powder releases in USA which
killed several postal workers, the independant inquiry got as far as
tracking its original source down to one of 2 US MILITARY
sources........before the US Fed Govt stood in the way and stonewalled the
investigation from going further

After the tragedy of the Sept 11 2001 attacks, the creation of the US Dept
of "Homeland Security" was supposed to be so that agencies like FBI and CIA
communicate better. Yeah good idea, who wouldn't support that.

However recently I heard that the US Federal Govt is funding it's "Homeland
Security" department to research into making diseases MORE RESISTANT to
antibiotics and hospital treatment. Say what ? You've got to be kidding
me, the Asian Bird Flu and Golden Staph *NOT* bad enough for you already.

Well whether it's "Bird Flu" , the Yank's new and improved "Golden Staph" or
whatever else they're working on in the name of "Homeland Security" the
world might indeed be as good as destroyed by a worldwide pandemic.

Certainly having just recently seen the first few episodes of SURVIVORS
again, for the first time in several years, I can only describe this as
....

.....ABSOLUTELY BONE-CHILLINGLY FRIGHTENING......

The tv series scenario was for more than a 99.9 % killed by the virus,
approx one in 5000 survive.

Now, is this current outbreak of the Bird Flu gonna be "the big one" I
think probably not. However will a variant of human and animal 'flu hit us
big-time sometime in the future, to a greater or lesser extent, yes I reckon
that's very likely indeed. Maybe it won't be "sooner" but likely it'll be
"later"

I don't know if seasons 2 and 3 have been released on DVD yet, certainly
some critics say that season 1 was the best (the main creative genius behind
season one only was "Terry Nation" creator of the Daleks, Dr Who and Blake's
7, ) Some folks say seasons 2 and 3 lost the plot somewhat, however my
recollection is that it's all good.

Anyway this fictional tv show certainly makes clear a few of the many
difficulties that any small numbers of survivors of a major pandemic
disaster would face.

Thinking of disasters of other sorts, does anyone see a sort of "poetic
justice" regarding Hurrican Katrina and the damage to New Orleans by the
failure of the Levy-bank dykes around it ? The US Army Corps of Engineers
have done excellent work in a difficult landscape for the last 100 or so
years controlling the Mississippi river and responsible for New Orleans
flood control.

A couple of years back they were scheduled for a further half a billion US
dollars to upgrade New Orleans dykes. However both the money and the
engineering staff were siphoned off for use in the Invasion and occupation
of Iraq. Now the US Federal govt knew that those dykes would not hold in a
category 4 Hurricane, unless they got the upgrade.

Oh well now it's going to cost them some 130 Million plus to repair the
damage......not even counting the social costs, including those people
tragically killed. Another old saying comes to mind "A stitch in time,
saves Nine", and never is this, more-so the case, than with Flood Control.

THIS PARAGRAPH BELOW ADDED 5 Dec 2005

Note that it's recently come to light that it was actually a direct result of the formation of The Dept Of Homeland Security, that caused the previously excellent FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Authority) to be downgraded and basically "gutted". .....and it was directly because FEMA had been so thoroughly gutted, that it's resposnce to the hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was so poor. Independant commentators have warned that, Changes announced recently, intended to improve FEMA, will actually make the situation very much worse !

That's all that comes to mind for now





..."For more 'an a year, I ain't had nuthin' 'twixt m' nethers
that ain't powered by battery" Kaylee ex SERENITY movie (quoted from
memory and slightly paraphrased)

Check out my 'blog
http://kiwicatherinejemma.blogspot.com email xenaATagnDOTnetDOTau

Patsy..... "So, is killing *Not* wrong anymore ?"
Trudy..... "We don't have to worry about Right and Wrong anymore, ZOOT
decides for us"
.....THE TRIBE ep 2:49