Author: Mike

I stand next to a person tied to a chair that I know has information that can help me save 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 people from being killed. Yet they won’t tell me what I need to know. How should I get them to tell me? Do I sink to their level to obtain the information? Do I bend the ‘rules’ just this once? Do I stick to the rules and let the masses perish.

I hope that I am never in a position to have to make that decision, but if I am, I have no idea what my actions would be.

What would you do?

Is it me or do I look at the problem too simply? Why are we sending 5,000 British troops to Afghanistan, they (the ever increasingly righteous Labour Government) say it’s to help stop the growing of Opium poppies (huge amount of which ends up on the UK Drugs market) at source.

I have suggestion; surely it would be cheaper to let the growers carry on and then at the end of the season, simply buy up all the opium stock and burn it!!

This must cost less than predicted £1 billion cost and many lives of the 5,000 troops that will have to endure a long term stay – some say three years!!!

I wonder sometimes if politicians study history; many different countries have tried to tame Afghanistan and many have failed! I hope that this ‘adventure’ will not suffer the same fate.

Here’s two very good recent articles on the background to this subject.

The UK Times

Asia Times

The Age – MELBOURNE, Australia

Big Brother and privacy rights

Under the proposed Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Bill, the Australian intelligence service and the police will be given the power to tap the telephones of third parties to the actual suspects under investigation. In other words, people suspected of nothing will be under surveillance. Police will have the power to keep the tap in place for 45 days. The intelligence service will get 90 days. The warrant would be issued by a judge.

The logic behind this seems circuitous and misguided. Whatever links they may have to others, criminal suspect or not, innocent people have the right to privacy and to be treated as innocent. Where is the evidence that the fights against crime and terrorism are being lost because of these cherished rights? To put innocent people under surveillance, whatever the police or the government might argue, removes basic rights. It’s Big Brother entering your house. (Copyright – The Age)

What ever next, UK ID cards with radio transmitters in them to secretly track your movements? YES it would seem so… Stay Tuned!!!

So the press has raised the issue again; more droughts in yet another African country.

I wonder where all the money goes that is donated to the various appeals that we see and hear about. Why does it appear to my ‘simple’ view that year after year the same issues arise. For example, why in this day and age are proper tents not able to be supplied to all of the ‘victims’ of these disasters? Why are the areas of major drought not able to have deep wells sunk to get water from deep underground, or is there really no water that deep? Why do I continue to read that the government ministers of these countries still seem to be able to spend vast amounts of money on luxuries when their own people are dying around them. Another example, the Kenyan government spent US$ 12.3 million on a fleet of luxury cars for its staff as late as 2004. What are they on??

All power to John Githongo, it now looks like his voice is at last being heard, but when will the corrupt leaders of Kenya be removed or have they paid to make sure that they won’t have to answer for their criminal disregard for their fellow countrymen.

What a big city!

Looks kind a different now though.

Look, I’m pissed off at you for constantly pinching my soft drink, every day you just help yourself, I getting fed up with it. I think I’ll teach you a lesson. Let me see… I know, I’ll just slip some neat anti-freeze into my new bottle of soft drink and leave it to one side and see if you drink that, I expect you’ll spit it straight out!!!

No!! You drank the whole lot? Are you stupid or what!! You’re in terrible pain; you’ve been rushed to ER and now you can’t see? You can’t hear!! Hey, I’m sorry mate, but you did keep taking take my soft drink.

What’s that you say judge? I’ve got to go to jail!!! Hey! That 15 months of my life you just took away!! Hey! Hey!! What are you saying!!!! The other guy; oh! I think he’ll be blind and deaf for the rest of his life… But hey! Judge, 15 months, you got to be kidding! Hey! Hey!… Okay I’ll probably be out in six months anyway. Okay, I suppose…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/4701360.stm

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “Shooting oneself in the foot!, perhaps you’d better shoot one of your friends in the face and chest and neck and… instead. Dick, you’d better take better aim next time!!! Nough said!!

Talk about shooting yourself in your own foot, sorry for the pun.

Yes it may be two years ago, but it is now the Armys job to find the guys that did this and get them out of the Army for good. I don’t care what provocation took place, the Armys job is not to beat up teenagers with batons, I did’nt see then loaded down with guns or bombs etc.!

Then the Army has to find the guy that took the video, parade him on national TV and make him understand just what he has done to the reputation of all the service personal who do not act like this and ‘are’ a credit to the job that they do. I wonder how much money he got from the News of the World? Hope you choke on the lager you drank to celebrate.

This makes the effort (albeit we should’t be there in the first place) that we have to put in, even harder.

There was a big article in the Saturday Telegraph about another beauty icon, Catherine Deneuve now aged 62, it got me to thinking when I first saw her in a movie?

Way back in my Navy days, my ship was on a ship visit in Tokyo in 1968! My god, all that time ago! One of the many ‘time killers’ that was always used till the bars opened, was a movie run. Tokyo in 1968, with very little of anglicised (if that is the right word) signage, was certainly a strange place; but a place that I was to destined to visit and enjoy again some 5/6 more times over the coming 15 years, more on that in another posting perhaps.

However for my friends from Boston who are about to struggle out of the weekend snow drifts and make their first visit to Japan here is a little ‘Subway Signage’ that seems to mean one thing to the Japanese and another to me!

However what it really means is; from left to right:

1. Person with injured arm
2. Person holding a child
3. Pregnant woman
4. Person with injured leg

Laugh, my socks fell off!!

Great rugby matches – The French must be kicking themselves, nearly overtaken by the Irish in a game that arrogance was paid it due and then to see their victors of two weeks previous – the Scots – trounced by a buoyant Welsh side. Talking of the Welsh, what a good recovery from their defeat by England. It’s a long time since we’ve seen such a running game as that produced by the Welsh side, plus of course the added bonus of Katherine Jenkins!

It also made a change to see that there are players in the game that can still kick a ball into ‘touch’ correctly. I thought that ‘that’ skill was dying out. England made more progress, two games played, two games won! But I think the other ‘Five’ nations should take a warning from the Italian showing, they ‘are’ getting better and they will eventually produce some shock results.

Olympics – What great opening ceremony and we got to see a Ferrari as well! The Italians certainly know how to put on a good show, though I was a little unsure as to what some of bits of the show were meant to be about. Was Pavarotti miming? My wife was sure he was, I’m not so sure, anyway it looked and sounded great. An added bonus as well was to see Sophie Loran carrying the flag, still a very good looking lady. What sort of show will the UK will put on for the 2012 event? I sometimes wonder about our ability to ‘project’ what the UK is really about in this ever increasing ‘PC’ country that we live now seem to in!

Then of course to the competition, as always, producing some brilliant performances and of course upsets. The Mens downhill for me did not live up to expectations, I thought the course with its tricky turns etc. would have produced some more ‘surprises’ etc. However, is was good to see that even if you go off as last (of the elite) contestant, it doesn’t put you out of contention. Well done Finley for being in the top 30, your time will come. The Luge must be frightening to compete in and if you fall off, it must be even worse. Still both the ‘Brits’ got to the end albeit with one spill.

Many other sports to follow in the coming days – where do those speed skaters get their thighs from? Tree trunks or what!!