See you in Room 101. This is true madness.

[Purple Monkey]

http://www.businessinsider.com/ndaa-set-to-become-law-the-terror-is-nearer-than-ever-2011-12

[The Nal]

[5co77ie]

There's a thread on this here:

[Purple Monkey]

There's a thread on this here:

/topic/167147-us-congress-moves-to-censor-the-internet/">http://www.efestival...r-the-internet/

Edited December 15, 2011 by Purple Monkey

[t8yman]

its a massive shame that this thread cant really go anywhere, theres nothing to add but

[5co77ie]

I commend raising the profile of this news - although it looks as though there's now a chance of amendments to be made today during the second hearing which supposedly will address concerns with SOPA, amend the bill and vote on it. A change already made is the alteration that action can only be targeted against the illegal subdomain or Internet protocol address rather than taking action against the entire domain - if that hadn't been added it would have been really potent. The bill is due to become law today - wonder what YouTube, and Facebook will do tomorrow?

[Ed209]

Thanks for posting. I didn't know this was happening, and I can pretty much guarantee 99% of Americans don't know this is happening either. Its true what he says, it hasn't appeared on the news at all. I haven't seen one little bit. Scary stuff.

[5co77ie]

and it's now law:

http://www.unitedlib...aa-veto-threats

the House basically voted to suspend the right to due process, the right to a trial by a jury of an accuser’s peers, and the right to habeas corpus

Edited December 15, 2011 by 5co77ie

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Everywhere is getting too Big Brother for my liking. I hope I'm just being irrational.

[eFestivals]

Everywhere is getting too Big Brother for my liking. I hope I'm just being irrational.

Nope, you're not.

Following on on from the comments of that yank general the other day, Britain's top soldier has now also said that the Euro crisis is a bigger threat to this country than terrorism, and that British military resources need refocusing on the home front in preparation for protests and civil disorder.

Now I know that any nation state's first duty beyond any other single factor is to uphold that state, but that idea needs to also reference what a nation state is and by what rules it operates - and in what is supposedly a democracy, protests are allowable and civil disorder is sometimes a consequence while being massively unlikely to actually threaten the state.

It's not like there's any actual movement in this country that people are going to get behind as a possible alternative to what we have (in the way that there was in Russia in 1917 for example), so there's absolutely no threat to the state, there's only a mild and fleeting threat to law and order.

I imagine the old hag in a rare moment of sanity is the background poking Dave Moron with stick while saying "don't make the mistake I made and allow the people too much of their right to protest. We only pretend at democracy".

[rexclark]

Shocking stuff but quite unsurprising from our American cousins.

[5co77ie]

Following on on from the comments of that yank general the other day, Britain's top soldier has now also said that the Euro crisis is a bigger threat to this country than terrorism, and that British military resources need refocusing on the home front in preparation for protests and civil disorder.

[lost]

I'm starting to get the opinion people don't want a free society, they want the state to tell them what to do , what to see and to look after them.

[eFestivals]

I wonder if that means in this country or across Europe as the US Chief Of Staff has predicted.

the British Chief of Staff was talking specifically in relation to this country.

[t8yman]

I'm starting to get the opinion people don't want a free society, they want the state to tell them what to do , what to see and to look after them.

[t8yman]

Shocking stuff but quite unsurprising from our American cousins.

[eFestivals]

harsh IMHO, as much as our american cousins may often be portrayed as hicks and jocks - the bill of rights is held in very high regard. this was done by the back door in many respects, just as the patriot act was after 9/11

surely their view of things is pretty similar to the standard British views over similar things? That it's not really something to worry about as it's only terrorists that will suffer under tighter laws?

It's a combination of racism, indifference, apathy and a trust in authority to not make mistakes which allows govts to get away with such things.

[lost]

wrong and right, people want freedom - they just dont realise when freedom is being restricted or removed.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

In World War Two you could see the enemy as clear as daylight. This enemy doesn't directly show itself. It's a slow slow creep as freedoms get restricted or removed. Like the drip drip drip of a tap it's already happening as far as I can see. Not sure if this link will work but look at this for an example of getting like a Stasi controlled state;

http://www.dailymail...-spy-other.html

PS - Apologies but it's an article in the Daily Hate

Edited December 15, 2011 by Yoghurt on a Stick

[Purple Monkey]

In World War Two you could see the enemy as clear as daylight. This enemy doesn't directly show itself.

Edited December 16, 2011 by Purple Monkey

[sifi]

Fascism has of course continued to exist in many forms across the world post Hitler. One only has to think to Pinochet, the military junta in South America, the former Yugoslavia in more recent years to see fascism live and kicking. Rule by power, oppression and force exists in many countries across the world.

[Purple Monkey]

Well, when your God, or dictator is money, and it governs everything you do - you don't need a daft German with a stupid tache, you're already balls deep in fascism.

[eFestivals]

Dave Moron has been using Thatcher's trick of divide and rule. For example, when employment rates are high it's easy to demonise sections of society as worthless (the unemployed), and when times are tough as wanting more than they deserve (public sector pay and pensions).

But with unemployment rising, and huge numbers of public sector employees to be losing their jobs from April (the latest official estimate is 700,000), then divide and rule is going to be a much harder thing to work.

It's easy to label the unemployed as lazy scroungers when the majority of 'decent' people don't know people who are unemployed (or if they do know any, they know they're not the keenest to work), but with unemployment set to rise rapidly then most 'decent' people will soon know other 'decent' people who are unemployed and the unemployed will no longer be able to be demonised in the same way.

This fact is going to have a huge impact on how things such as protests are regarded compared to how they've been regarded up to this point. A divide and rule policy will cease to have the same large-scale effect, while warmer weather combined with that higher unemployment will increase the numbers of people prepared to actively support things like the occupy movement, and the ability of govt to implement their desired policies will be restrained as a result.

So the govt has two choices. The first is to amend their policies to something that will be more acceptable to society at large, and the second is to change the rules so that they can as far as possible stop things getting away from their control.

The choice has already been made, and the facts of that are there to see.

So it's time to pick your weapon:- protest, or mouse farming. Which are you?

[t8yman]

that was a superbly written post my purple simian friend. poetic.

[fred quimby]

or mouse farming. Which are you?