Market Forces: Coming to a Prison or Hospital Near You

The steady erosion of the public service arena continues apace with two developments this week either side of the Atlantic.

In Arizona, a state commission is recommending the privatisation of the state's parks and prisons, in an attempt to reduce a $1 billion budget deficit in the state.

In the UK, meanwhile, a private firm has been selected to take over the running of an NHS general hospital (Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon) for the first time in the history of the health service in Britain. Circle, the new "franchise holders" are a co-operative company.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

The American Spectator : Mennonite Takeover?

The American Spectator : Mennonite Takeover?


An interesting, if somewhat skeptical, summary of the main currents in the recent upsurge in ana-baptist life and belief in America.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

WikiLeaks Hit by DOS Attack. Police Seek Increased Internet Powers

Image via Wikipedia

The backlash against Wikileaks continues apace today, November 28th, with the site claiming on its Twitter page to be "under a mass distributed denial of service attack."

The site today began the process of releasing hundreds of thousands of official diplomatic reports from American embassies and the US State Department, revealing intimate details of discussions between and about America's allies, trade partners and hostile regimes around the world.

The New York Times is publishing a series of articles based on the diplomatic leaks. Today's revelations include insights into diplomatic activity with China concerning the possible reunification of Korea, candid observations on corruption within the Afghan government and the incentives offered to nations to take Guantanamo inmates since President Obama came into office.

Today's attack on the Wikileaks site follows an official condemnation of the leak by the White House, which describes the leaks as "reckless and dangerous" as well as illegal.

The DOS attack, presumably carried out under the authorisation of the CIA, coincides with a report on the BBC website that the UK's Serious and Organised Crime Agency are seeking statutory powers in the UK to shut down web sites which are "deemed to be engaged in criminal activity". That is, before a conviction has been secured in a court of law!

As is often the case when the authorities want extra power, worst case scenarios are usually presented which, it is claimed, will be resolved, prevented or cured if the police are allowed to do X, Y or Z. Web sites that sell drugs, guns or humans for sex trafficking will no doubt be presented as the kind of sites that the police are currently "powerless" to act against under the "limitations" of current legislation.

In fact, such powers, were they to be granted, will be not only be used against organised crime, if recent experiences in the UK are anything to go by.

Following the recent storming of the Conservative Party HQ in central London by a small number of around 50,000 demonstrators taking part in a protest against a trebling in the cost of university tuition fees, some criminal damage was done to the building and one protester threw a fire extinguisher off the roof of the building towards police below.

The web site FIT Watch followed up the mini-riot with an article advising those who had taken part in the demonstration on how to conduct themselves if they found themselves at the receiving end of police inquiries following.

The police then applied to the site's web hosts, the ironically-named Justhost, requesting that the site be suspended, which the company rather meekly agreed to.

Fit Watch - which I am not an uncritical supporter of - has since been re-hosted (here) and is continuing to publish articles that the police would, presumably, prefer that they didn't.

All of which puts the request of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency for the ability to close down "criminal sites" into some perspective.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Related articles

• WikLeaks Reports It Is Under A Denial Of Service Attack (techcrunch.com)
• DOS attack on WikiLeaks.org (news.blogs.cnn.com)
• WikiLeaks Hit By DDoS Attack Just as Its Newest Leak is Leaked Early (mashable.com)
• The Lede: WikiLeaks Reports Attack on Its Web Site (thelede.blogs.nytimes.com)

Tony Blair Doesn't Speak for Me When He Speaks of God

Image via Wikipedia

For the benefit of my four-and-a -half regular readers, and those others who stumble here unintentionally, here's my take on the Tony Blair-Christopher Hitchens debate taking place this week at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto on the question, "Is religion a force for good in the world?"

As a Christian believer myself (I hope I am a real one, converted to Christ from a secular background) it may be assumed that I will be pleased to support Mr Blair's case for God.

But I am not.

For a start, I do not support "religion" as a whole, as if the essence of Buddhism is essentially the same as the essence of Christianity, as the essence of Islam, etc.

They are not all the same. Any superficial consideration of the matter will reveal that religions vary greatly, from the brutal sun-worshiping religions of pre-Colombian America, to the Salvation Army, the Catholic crusades, and the nature-worshiping Druids. Lumping them all together and assessing whether they are "good" or not seems analogous to lumping together one-state Marxism, participatory multi-party democracy and market-anarchism, and asking whether or not "politics" is a force for good.

Clearly, the devil in such a question is in the detail.

More significantly, however, is my objection to the participation of Tony Blair in such a high-profile debate. Although I am unqualified to comment on the reality of his Christian faith, and would not presume to do so, I am sure of this: the action of invading Iraq in 2003 set in motion a chain of events which, by 2010, has had catastrophic results for the Christian churches in Iraq - including the Roman Catholic wing of the church to which Tony Blair converted in 2007.

Christians are required to exercise discernment in their lives, and part of this discipline includes an assessment of the consequences (the "fruit") of a course of action, not only its abstract theoretical dimension. The fruit of the invasion of Iraq for the Christian believers in that nation has been to make them significantly more vulnerable to brutal attack and persecution than was the case before 2003.

The murderous Jihadists who cut off the heads of church leaders in Iraq, and who blow themselves up inside churches, were not committing these acts inside Iraq before the invasion. The same tragic story is unfolding in Pakistan, where Jihadists forced out of Afghanistan by NATO forces, have added to the volatile religious and political mixture in the country and have increased their violent attacks upon Christians and their churches.

The professing Christian Tony Blair, as Prime Minister, was a prime mover in these terrible events which have unleashed such harm onto the church, not to mention the wider non-Christian population. President Bush, also a professing Christian, was of course the senior partner in this folly.

In light of such harm that has been caused, to those the Bible encourages me to see as members of my extended spiritual family, I cannot passively accept that the man who helped to create the conditions which have allowed such suffering to the church, should be accepted in any way as a spokesman for "the faith" that we both profess to share, or for "faith" in general.

There was a time in history when a warrior-ruler who professed faith would be taken kindly but firmly in hand by a bishop and led on a path of repentance and humility. The phenomenon of a king abdicating in order to enter a monastery was not an uncommon occurrence in the pre-modern era. Today, the path for such a man appears to consist of book deals, speaking tours, six figure salaries and endless justifications for indefensible actions which have had catastrophic consequences.

Would it be too much to ask for Mr Blair to choose to lower his personal profile, to repent of his presumption in acting as apologist for God, and to head the words of the ancient prophet:

He has shown you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Or to heed the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.

Jeremiah 6:16

In the meantime, as a Christian, I can accept Tony Blair as a repentant sinner, if that is what he is. I am one too and God knows my own need of forgiveness. But I cannot identify with Mr Blair's role as a religious apologist and, not for the first time, I am reluctantly left to say of his actions, "Not in my name."

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Related articles

• Tony Blair to debate Christopher Hitchens on religion (ctv.ca)
• Blair v. Hitchens: Is religion a force for good or ill? (theglobeandmail.com)
• Blair v. Hitchens poll (scienceblogs.com)

Persecution

From Pakistan to Iraq, Vietnam to Cuba, the persecution of Christians is on the rise as 2010 draws to a close.

I hope to write a fuller article on the subject in due course. For now, here's a musical meditation on the issue by The Frontline, a Preacher Boy Music/Open Doors Youth production.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Democratic Geeks: The Rise of the Data Journalist

Have recently published an article on Data Journalism over at Writing Hood.

A modest and early foray of mine into the world of using official data to create an application is my 2009 Bristol crime map, located here.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Related articles

• Journalists of the future need data skills, says Berners-Lee (guardian.co.uk)
• Analysing data is the future for journalists, says Tim Berners-Lee (guardian.co.uk)

Do it Yourself

Interesting thoughts from Kevin Carson at C4SS today:

Even though the micromanufacturing movement is in its very early stages, a garage equipped with homebrew digitally controlled machine tools can do most of what once required a mass-production factory — at a cost two orders of magnitude cheaper. We’re now seeing a reversal of the technological shift that brought about the concentration of economic power and the predominance of wage employment two centuries ago: a shift from expensive machines affordable only by large organizations, back to general-purpose craft tools affordable by individual workers.

Projects like Open Source Ecology are rapidly expanding the range of tools that can be built cheaply for the garage factory, while 100kGarages is continuing its pioneering efforts in networked micromanufacturing. We’re approaching a time when most of the stuff we consume can be produced in a microfactory with under $10k worth of tools, using open-source digital designs, and marketed to the surrounding neighborhood. When the cost of a factory is three months’ wage, “how ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm?”

Source





If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

The Politics of X factor

Just submitted an article to Telewatch on the links between X factor and the state of politics in the UK.

What do you think?






If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

The Courage of the Lollards

Image via Wikipedia

It's difficult when reading the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards not to be moved and impressed by their courage.

Although the document, which was presented to the English Parliament in the 1390's, is less comprehensive doctrinally than some of the later outpouring of the Reformation era, these radical medieval church reformers certainly possessed fortitude when confronting the abuses they saw in the church of their day.

When the death penalty was normative for "heresy", the cry of these third stream believers is hugely impressive. The image is of Sir John Oldcastle being executed in 1417 for "Lollard heresy and insurrection."

Consider some of the language used:

On the priesthood:

Our usual priesthood, the which began in Rome feigned of a power higher than angels, is not the priesthood the which Christ ordained to his Apostles.

In a thoroughly modern-sounding criticism of clerical celibacy:

That the law of continence annexed to priesthood, that in prejudice of women was first ordained, induces sodomy in Holy Church

On transubstantiation:

The service of Corpus Christi made by Friar Thomas is untrue and painted full of false miracles, and that is no wonder, for Friar Thomas that same time, holding with the Pope, would have made a miracle of a hen's egg

On pilgrimages

the pilgrimage, prayers, and offerings made to blind roods and deaf images of tree and stone be near kin to idolatry and far from alms deeds

In the era of carefully nuanced news-speak, the directness of the Lollard "Conclusions" hits the post -modern mind like a hurricane.

The full text of the twelve Conclusions can be read here.

Is Medvedev About To Redraw Russia's Map? - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Is Medvedev About To Redraw Russia's Map? - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2010

Interesting piece from Radio Free Europe ( a US government-funded media outlet, note) on whether President Medvedev is about to undertake large scale internal geographical and administrative reforms within Russia, creating around 20 super-regions centred on large cities.

There are currently 83 territories, regions and other districts in Russia at present.

We'll find out on November 22 when the President makes his annual state of the nation address.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Opting Out of Airport Body Scanners

I rarely fly. Last time was 2005, I think.

But if I did, I would certainly take the advice of the We Won't Fly campaign as far as full body scanners are concerned.

Looks like there's a growing wave of protest over this issue Stateside. Airline pilots are opposing the move, so are members of the US House of Representatives. CNN, no less , have weighed in this week with a plea to learn from how the Israelis do Airport Security.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

What Are Public Services For? Reflections on Res_Publica's Report on Community Ownership of Public Assets

Philip Blond, director of think tank Res_Publica, advocates allowing local communities in Britain to take over failing state-owned assets in order to run them as community enterprises.

At the heart of the concept is what Res_Publica describe as a

"shift in emphasis from public spending to public investment."

The fact that the launch of today's report, To Buy, to Bid, to Build: Community Rights for an Asset Owning Democracy was attended by Greg Clark MP, Minister of State for Local Government and Communities, lends credence to the critics of Res_Publica that the think tank is too close to the Conservative Party.

Certainly, an article in today's Morning Star criticises the report and sees it as paving the way for the "Ultimate Sell Off" of public assets, including hospitals, schools and libraries.

At the heart of the Star's critique is an interesting quote from Andrew Fisher:

"Leisure centres and libraries meet social needs. They should not be run for profit no matter who owns them."

Some questions occur to me for both Res_Publica and Morning Star (should they not have better things to do than read this blog):

1) How does Fisher define a "social need"? Is food a social need? If so, does the Marxist world view that underpins Morning Star logically lead to statist-capitalism, where the state (albeit in the name of the working classes) owns all property and directs its use?

2) If "social needs" are defined more narrowly, the question of profit still requires examination. If we accept that there is room for a "not-for profit" sector within the economy, who or what should occupy that space? Soup kitchens? Homeless shelters? Swimming pools? Libraries?

It is interesting to note that many groups that have traditionally occupied the non-profit sector in the UK (charities, primarily) have been at the forefront of running profitable enterprises in recent decades, rather than relying exclusively on traditional fund-raising methods. The host of charity shops occupying commercial space on every high street in Britain have, in turn, contributed to an upsurge in social enterprises which have sought to combine and integrate business with socially beneficial or charitable ends. Examples in my own city of Bristol include Aspire; nationally, the Divine Chocolate Company.

3) Is Fisher of the opinion that profit per se is inherently undesirable? This perspective is, in my view, limiting and self-defeating. The desire to benefit from one's labour is a natural and ethical human instinct, in my opinion. Having said that, it is an instinct that is capable of unethical outworking. Witness BP's careless destruction of the physical environment, XE's profiteering from the illegal war in Iraq, or the creation of products which serve no social use.

4) Are Res_Publica concerned about their perceived closeness to the Conservative Party? Do they see their social policy ideas as capable of adoption across the political spectrum? Is Philip Blond's Red Toryism really red? Or mostly Tory?

5) Have Morning Star and Res_Publica thought of getting together for a pint and a natter? The Star, after all, is owned by a worker's cooperative (The People's Printing Press Society), the kind of employment vehicle that has received much praise from Res_Publica in recent years.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Related articles

• Minister backs plan for massive state sell off of assets (telegraph.co.uk)
• Calls for 'public sector sell-off' (mirror.co.uk)

Abortion: the Case for Informed Consent

Whatever one's views on abortion, the fact that, at present, UK law does not require a woman to receive objective information before committing to the procedure, sets it apart from other European countries which have both lower rates of abortion and informed consent enshrined in law.

Nadine Dorries MP, a hated figure among some sections of the liberal left, makes the case for such informed consent to be enshrined in UK law.

I think her argument makes perfect sense.

Forward to 22:20 to hear the MP make her point in the House of Commons here.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Moving Forward on Local Community Energy

Interested to note that practitioners and theorists are starting to come together with members of the public to discuss the opportunities and challenges of locally-sourced community energy generation.

I can't make the December event in London, personally, but look forward to further developments on this important social and environmental issue.

Noted last year that, at present Cuba is emerging as an (?) unlikely world leader in local community energy creation.

Theology Serves the Church

On Police Brutality

Image via Wikipedia

Without looking for it, I have recently stumbled upon a number of articles and cases of police brutality, alleged and proven.

The theme began with an article by Matthew Smith listing a number of deaths of people detained in police custody in London in recent years and outlining the apparent lack of action that has resulted from them. I commented on the piece.

Next came a series of incidents from the United States. First, an in-depth piece by New York's Village Voice on the beating up of Levelle DeSean Ming, a 41-year old taxi driver who beeped his horn as a group of drunken newly qualified off-duty police officers stumbled out of a bar and in front of his yellow cab in 2008. Another off-duty officer, not part of the group who carried out the assault, intervened, was himself assaulted by the drunken officers and has subsequently been assigned to desk duty for the last two years.

Earlier in the year, 22-year old Amit Bornstein, of Marlboro, New Jersey, was arrested at his home by Monmouth County Sheriff’s Officers for failing to appear in Court for minor misdemeanor and traffic infractions. Seven hours later Amit’s body appeared at the local hospital. Surveillance tapes of the time Amit was in police custody have been seized by the County Prosecutor’s Office and have not been released. His family are demanding justice.

With remarkable timing, i then read this by anarchist lawyer David D'Amato who argues that police abuse is the rule, not the exception.

"We can brush aside police abuse as an aberration in an otherwise sensible system, or we can correctly understand it as an unavoidable feature of a warped incentive structure designed by and for the power elite."

Maybe.

Certainly, prison chaplain and state politician Stan Moody has plenty of shocking stories to tell about reality of institutionalized injustice inside the Maine State Prison system in the United States. I've listened to others also describe the way that the prison institution tends to facilitate the brutalization of prisoners by the guards, even if the latter are perfectly reasonable people on the outside.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Related articles

• Friends of Amit Will Hold Rally In Freehold To Demand Justice On Oct. 20th (middletownmike.blogspot.com)
• Conviction tossed out over 'police brutality' (thestar.com)
• Police Brutality Across The United States (rawjustice.com)

Interview with the Ink Cartridge Bomber (Yeah-Man!)

Image via Wikipedia

In a rare global scoop, Philosopher's Tree has secured an exclusive telephone interview with Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, regraded by American security experts as the manufacturer of the so-called ink cartridge bombs recently discovered on cargo flights originating in Yemen.

PT: Mr al-Asiri-

A: Please, you infidel, you may call me Ibrahim.

PT: I'm sorry. Ibrahim. Could you please tell me whether you are in any way connected with the recent ink cartridge bombs which were found on their way to Chicago?

I: If it please you, I cannot say.

PT: You are, however, widely regraded by the US authorities as being the mastermind behind the attempted bombing.

I: Mastermind? I thank you, though, I can say no more about my possible involvement with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

PT: I hadn't mentioned that particular terrorist group.

I: Ah.

PT: You are also credited with the so-called underpants bomb worn by Umar Abdulmutallab in an attempt to blow up a plane on route to Detroit. Can you comment on that report?

I: Underpants are a decadent Western garment and worthy of destruction. Detroit is also a decadent Western city.

PE: A city which contains one of the largest Arabic-speaking populations in America.

I: Why do you accuse Arabs of being involved? You decadent Western bloggers are quick to rush to blame us when underpants are on fire over your beloved automobile manufacturing city, but silent when the sky is on fire due to American-backed Zionist aggression.

PT: Are you saying then that you were involved in the Christmas Day plot?

I: Plot? There was no plot, just an attempt to pin the blame for America's economic collapse on an innocent man.

PT: You mean Mr Abdulmutallab?

I: I mean Father Christmas, you son of a camel. Do you think I am unaware that this innocent figure was originally a middle eastern holy man, centuries before he was stolen by the Coca Cola Company for use in its commercial advertising campaigns?

PT: Moving on, if I may, your brother, Abdullah al-Asiri (pictured) was the suicide bomber involved in the assassination attempt of Saudi Arabia's intelligence minister last year. Were you aware of his plans beforehand?

I: How do you know my dear brother was a suicide bomber? Were you there at the time? No, you have only read the news reports put out by the oppressive Saudi rulers, bankrolled by the imperialist Zionist regime.

PT: But you do accept that your brother did die in the attack?

I: My brother is dead.

PT: Do you know how he died?

I: He exploded, due to excessive consumption of decedent Coca Cola, created by the imperialists in Atlanta, Georgia.

PT: And you accept that he died in the presence of the Saudi intelligence minister?

I: I believe my brother was taking part in a prize giving ceremony for his contribution to the development of the carbonated drinks industry within the Kingdom.

PT: Some security analysts are suggesting that the three bombs which have been linked to you - the underpants bomb, the body cavity bomb and the most recent ink cartridge bomb, were all rather poorly made.

I: How dare you!

PT: It is a fact, is it not, that none of the three devices have so far achieved their intended outcomes so far?

I: Do you know my intended outcomes? Can you see inside my mind?

PT: You were involved in these attacks then?

I: You twist my words like the cords of your underpants. We have a saying in Yemen: some liars tell the truth.

PT: Which seems an appropriate point to thank you for your time today.





end

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Related articles

• Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri: the prime bombmaking suspect (guardian.co.uk)
• "Suspect Behind Yemen Parcels: 'Underwear Bomber' Who Once Blew Up His Own Brother" and related posts (nymag.com)
• Factbox: Who is Ibrahim al-Asiri? (reuters.com)
• Cargo plane bomb plot: profile of Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri (telegraph.co.uk)