--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "hugheshugo" > <richardhughes103@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: >> > > > Remember the night I volunteered to gather up > the Maharishi photos and put them into a Word > file for people because I was up anyway? This > is what I was up for. They finally, after six > hours of being held incommunicado, put a phone > in the detention cell so that people could call > someone. It was dial-out only so that no one > could call them, and the detainees could only > call landlines, collect. > > I was the only person my friends could get ahold > of. The wife was as hysterical as I have ever > heard anyone be in my life, in tears, barely > able to control herself. She had been treated > like the worst sort of criminal for six hours > for wanting to visit London. > > > As for the erosion of civil liberties, the legislation has crept in > > since 9/11 bit by bit our hard won liberty has been eroded, I don't > > know why people don't care about this maybe it's the slow drip- drip > > that that people I talk to assume that the government has our best > > interests at heart, I've never been that trusting. The police are > > never slow to abuse their power, anti terrorist legislation can be > > used to arrest people for just about anything. > > This is what I've heard about the UK as well. I've > been pretty vocal about why I no longer live in the > US; it's sad to me to see another country that was > *founded* on liberty and the rights of individuals > "following its lead."
This is what really surprises me our liberty was hard won and it's getting washed away without anyone appearing too bothered, so many people don't care and if they have an opinion at all it's likely to be "If you've done nothing wrong you've nothing to fear" which is obvious bullshit. Here's a recent true story for your astonishment. A guy was released from jail after spending twenty years inside for a crime he didn't commit. Worse, he was fitted up by the police because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He sued the government for compensation and from the money he recieved they removed the equivalent of twenty years board and lodging. You couldn't make it up, and this is supposed to be a left-wing government, compassionate socliasism and all that. The home secretary at the time David Blunkett started all this madness, he was a right fascist. > > I used to be a regular demo attendee always trying to change the > > world or at least the government. I can't do it anymore cos it's > > illegal, yep someone got arrested and held without charge for 4 days > > just for reading out the names of war-dead in Iraq in public. And I > > don't think the kids are too bothered, probably got enough worries > > paying off their students debts and looking forward to those > > mortgages to care. > > In my estimation, we really can't count much on this > new "me first" generation. > > > And the CCTV thing, that really winds me up, everywhere you go there > > are cameras, even when I'm walking the dog in the morning they're > > following me, what are they expecting me to do? strap explosives to > > her and blow up the police station? It's madness, they even watch me > > when I'm doing chin-ups on the swings in the park, I give them a > > volley of rude hand signals for that, quite surprised I haven't been > > arrested actually. As they monitor all e-mails too I'll probably get > > my door kicked in by the spooks tonight, if you never hear from me > > again I'm rotting in a cell somewhere. > > Just in case this happens and they let you call someone > collect, write me offline and I'll give you my number. > I won't be able to DO anything about it, but you'll > have someone to talk to. :-) Cheers man, nice to know thewre will be someone out there. > > They have plans for roadside cameras to log every car that drives > > past, face recognition software so they can automatically track > > whoever they want wherever they want. > > They had those in New Mexico as well, on the highway > leading up to Los Alamos (where the National Labs are > located, and where all the weapons are invented). We > once toyed with the idea of having a bunch of us drive > along that highway the same day, all of us wearing > Bin Laden masks. > > We abandoned the idea because when we thought it through > we realized it could result in a one-way ticket to > Guantanamo. I would like to have seen it, but they have no sense of humour about these things. I remember when I was leaving Israel many years ago I was packing my rucksack when I noticed my alarm clock was broken and it had wires hanging out, I picked up my friends bag of dead sea mud stuck the wires into it thinking how amusing it might be for the guards at the airport to find a joke bomb to liven up their day... Pretty glad I didn't as we were dragged off by Mossad and strip searched anyway, we both had out-of-date visas too, by ten months in my case. But here's the thing they were kind and courteous all the way through AND gave us tea and biscuits afterwards! > > The Stasi would have loved > > technology like that. I think that could be the problem, a lot of > > this only happens because the technology has been invented and > > someone in the government thinks it will save time and money to use > > cameras rather than actual policemen and then it gets used to > > monitor just for the sheer control-freakness of it. > > My friends told me that everyone entering Britain is > now going to be fingerprinted, but they have as an > alternative option having iris scans made. That's a > little more intrusive in my opinion, because iris scan > software/hardware can be set up to work at a distance. > For example, you could set up such a device in a door- > way and get an instant identification on anyone who > walked through it, without asking them anything. > > I'm sorry, but technology like that is just *screaming* > to be abused. Yeah I think so too, they did have a plan for ID cards with all sorts of biometric and personal info on them and they plan to charge us a fortune for the priviledge of carrying them everywhere but they have lost so many peoples personal info lately that they will have a hard time convincing anyone they can be trusted. For instance, a civil servant posted the bank details of 14 million people to someone in another department without encrypting it or even paying for registered post! and it got lost causing a bit of a storm. Perhaps ID cards will be the straw that broke the camels back and start a popular revolt. I've already decided I'm not going to play along I don't trust them one jot. > > The tabloids whine about immigrants but just as many Brits leave > > every year, don't blame them I plan to split as soon as possible. > > Sad to hear it. I'm an ex-pat, and know very well how > you feel. It's really heartbreaking when you see the > country you've grown up in and that you love doing > things like this. And so you hope there are "better > places" out there where this kind of madness doesn't > happen. > > So far, there are. So far, it seems that I have chosen > one to live in (Spain). But there are icky things goin' > down here, too. Fear makes people do weird shit. > > What it all comes down to for me is that the only > "safe place" on this planet is the ability to transcend. > That's the only place you can "go" where there aren't > any crazies. Yeah, I could meditate in my cell to pass the hours ;-) > Good luck... > Thankyou, I've no idea where to go but should really take advantage of the whole free eurozone thing as it should make it much easier to settle somewhere. The plan is to work abroad lots and see if I can find somewhere perfect, impossible I know but fun trying.