British Jobs For British Workers?

The recent unofficial strikes promoting a 'British Jobs For British Workers' theme has provoked alot of debate. I'd like to know, in this age of multi-national corporations spanning the globe, how any job for these companies could be regarded as 'British'? It's very dissapointing to see the Unions supporting some kind of aristocracy of labour, with 'British' workers at the head of the queue. Wage slaves fighting over who gets to work for master, it's rather sickening if you ask me.

Personally I'd rather be poor and free than a pampered slave.

In my opinion the protest banners should read 'Decent Jobs For ALL Workers'.

Whinging Savers!

I'm getting rather sick of savers bleating on about how the current low interest rates are ruining them financially and how it's not worth them saving their cash. How quickly they forget that if it wasn't for the taxpayer bailing out the banking system these people wouldn't have any savings at all!

Kids Giving Birth To Kids

In regards the depressing tale of thirteen year old Alfie Patten supposedly fathering a child with 15-year-old Chantelle Steadman, we now have a situation where it appears several teenagers have absolutely no fear at all of publicly anouncing that they have unlawfully shagged a 15 year old girl.

We have a law that nobody appears to have any interest in enforcing. We have schools giving out condoms to children so if they do break the law they will be supposedly 'safe'. Then if they do get pregnant they can have an abortion without the knowledge of their parents. WTF is all that about?

We could take this logic to another level. Assuming that some kids will at one point experiment with drugs, why not have schools give them a 'clean' stash so it's 'safe'? Of course if they accidently overdose we don't need to tell the parents.

Another thing about all this -

[quote]The implication of the rule is that anyone who has sex with a girl under 13 is committing what is termed "statutory rape". There is no defence to this charge - even if a boy says the girl was willing or that he thought she was older than she was, it would not matter.
[/quote]

This law apparently only applies to boys having sex with girls under 13 but not vise versa, isn't that blatent discrimination against teenage boys?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/e-cyclopedia/437789.stm

It appears to me that many teenagers want all the perks of adulthood (sex, booze etc) without any of the responsibilities.

Four Years On The Debt Bubble Is Ready To Pop

It's been over four years since my last post on this blog, in which I pointed out the fundamental flaw in our debt based economic system.

The term 'Credit Crunch' is the catch phrase used by financial experts to describe the current economic woes. Talk about Orwellian Doublespeak. 'Credit Crunch' is merely a more palatable way of saying DEBT CRISIS. The people in power can't say this though because their answer to this financial meltdown is to take on more Government debt!

It is only a matter of time before the whole economic system implodes. It almost happened last year when the banking system was on the verge of collapse but the banksters were rescued by huge Government bailouts at the taxpayers expense. This may have postponed the day of reckoning for the time being but don't be fooled, the system is failing. As someone else said - "the only debate left is whether we sink into a poverty of empty pockets or ones bulging with pieces of worthless paper."

Usury And Freedom From Debt Slavery

Usury, the charging of interest, goes against the laws of nature.

To quote Aristotle -

Aristotle (384-322 BC) formulated the classical view against usury.

Aristotle understood that money is sterile; it doesn't beget more money the way cows beget more cows. He knew that "Money exists not by nature but by law": "The most hated sort (of wealth getting) and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself and not from the natural object of it. For money was intended to be used in exhange but not to increase at interest. And this term interest (tokos), whichmeans the birth of money from money is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of gettng wealth, this is the most unnatural." (1258b POLITICS)

And he especially disliked usurers:

"...those who ply sordid trades, pimps and all such people, and those who lend small sums at high rates. For all these take more than they ought, and from the wrong sources. What is common to them is evenidently a sordid love of gain..." (1122a, ETHICS)

Now, in my opinion the current system of banking is a scam, a fraud on a global scale.

If anybody does not believe this then I ask you to answer one simple question.

If the banks create money (credit) from nothing, yet nobody ever creates the interest needed to repay these loans in full, then how, as a society, can we ever get out of the increasing cycle of debt?

I argue it is imposible and here's why, straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak, a passage from the Fed's own web pages.

How Banks Create Money

Banks actually create money when they lend it. Here's how it works: Most of a bank's loans are made to its own customers and are deposited in their checking accounts. Because the loan becomes a new deposit, just like a paycheck does, the bank once again holds a small percentage of that new amount in reserve and again lends the remainder to someone else, repeating the money-creation process many times.

http://www.dallasfed.org/educate/everyday/ev9.htm

Reserve Requirements and Money Creation Reserve requirements affect the potential of the banking system to create transaction deposits. If the reserve requirement is 10%, for example, a bank that receives a $100 deposit may lend out $90 of that deposit. If the borrower then writes a check to someone who deposits the $90, the bank receiving that deposit can lend out $81. As the process continues, the banking system can expand the initial deposit of $100 into a maximum of $1,000 of money ($100+$90+$81+$72.90+...=$1,000).

http://www.ny.frb.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed45.html

Now if I go to a bank and ask for a loan (to pay my taxes) they will deposit an amount of 'money' into my account (which is infact 'credit' created via the Fractional Reserve System). To be legal tender it must fulfill at least two conditions. One, is that it is acceptable for the settlement of debts, and two, that it is acceptable for the payment of taxes. As the government will accept this credit as payment it becomes Legal Tender. As legal tender equates to real money, the bank has just magically conjured up 'money out of thin air'. Only private banks have this power.

Here is an interesting site that discusses this issue in far more detail.

http://www.prosperityuk.com/

What Exactly Is A Suicide Bomber?

Last week I watched a documentary called “Cult Of The Suicide Bomber”, written and presented by former CIA man Bob Baer. During the course of the programme we were informed that in 1980, as Iraqi forces were advancing in southern Iran, thirteen year old Hossein Fahmideh threw himself under an Iraqi tank and blew up both himself and the tank's occupants. So, according to Baer was the first so called “suicide bomber”, although the Iranian nation proclaimed him a hero and “Martyr”.

However, another Channel 4 documentary I watched on Saturday, entitled “Hitler’s Children”, had an interview with a former German soldier at the Battle Of Normandy. He told the story of how a young member of Hitler’s “Baby Division” gave his life for “The Fatherland” by deliberately blowing up both himself and an advancing Allied Tank. This pre-dates Baer’s example by 36 years.

That said, in both cases I find it difficult to understand how either equates to an act of “suicide”. Both incidents involved an individual willing to lay down his life for an ideological cause.

Now, for an example of what I regard as a true suicide bomber –

FUZHOU: A suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in central Fuzhou yesterday, killing himself and injuring 31 others, local police said.

According to a suicide note found by police, he had been suffering from lung cancer for about two years. In the letter, Huang said he had a dispute with one of his neighbours in 2002. He claimed he had been unfairly treated by the local public security department and was sentenced to jail until the end of 2003. The imprisonment delayed treatment of his illness, he claimed. Huang's family was heavily in debt and his children were unable to go to school because of lack of money, the letter said. Police are still investigating the case.

http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/09/content_467358.htm

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/world/12350455.htm

Working Class Folk . . . .

Most working class folk are wrapped up in their own little world - relationships, morgages and consumerism being the order of the day. Still, do they (and civilians in general) deserve to be the legitimate targets for Islamic terrorism? To me they are targeting the sheep instead of the wolves, and most sheep will seek out a 'far right' shepherd who offers them easy solutions to complex questions. Therefore I agree with Blair, that a firm approach against the preachers of religious hate must be taken. I myself cannot help but feel slightly intimidated by any community which contains (an admitedly small proportion of) individuals willing to blow kids up to attain their ultimate reward in some mythical afterlife.

What Is Reality?

What is reality?

It's a question I've been pondering recently.

Example - I could be at a soccer match, stood next to a fan of the opposition, when a significant game turning event takes place on the field of play. Now we will both see this event through our own prejudices. What I see as a blatent foul he see's as an accidental clash. We both witnessed the same incident so why do we not come to differing conclusions?

Another Example - A neighbour tells me he worships the little green fairies that appear at the bottom of his garden. Now in my own reality I NEVER see these fairies, but in his reality they're there all the time. The belief in God is an essential part of current global politics, yet my neighbours belief in little green fairies gets him locked away as a 'madman'!

So, what is reality? I.M.O every individual has his or her own perception of what reality actually is.

The Tired Ramblings Of A Proletarian Nobody

As a guy I’d managed to reach thirty without committing to a co-habiting relationship with anybody. I’d plodded along without giving any real thought to anything bar getting through life with the least hassle possible, a sentiment shared by countless other members of the human race. As long as I had enough money for beer, rugby and a computer I was more or less happy in my own little world.

When I started work in what was, and still is, my ‘trade’ of printing I encountered a fellow employee who was getting on in years and had a simple philosophy on life.

“You spend a third of your life asleep, a third of your life at work and a third of your life at home. Everybody enjoys sleep, so if you enjoy your job and enjoy your wife you’re laughing.”

If only I’d listened to him instead of living for the moment I might have tried to escape my boring dead end job and a relationship that I let drag on way too long. My thirtieth birthday was the first significant turning point in my life. I realised I wasn’t happy. I ended my non-love affair (no disrespect to my ex who deserved better than she ever got from me) and had genuine intentions of taking time out from relationships and bettering myself academically in the hope of escaping the soul-destroying confines of my job. Meeting my future wife and the subsequent consequences of a family life with four children has ended any realistic hopes of study for the foreseeable future.

However, having my first child had a profound affect on my life. Suddenly I had responsibilities for the welfare of another human being. As a parent my first priority is to nurture and protect my children. It gives me a focus in life; my dead end job gains some meaning, even if it is only bringing home a wage packet to run the household (and having easy going bosses always helps).

So I enjoy my sleep, I enjoy my family life and my job is now tolerable. That would be enough for me if it wasn’t for the fact my family and I are supposedly legitimate targets for suicide bombers, kids are being murdered yards away from my home and the government seems intent on turning my country into some kind of parliamentary duopoly ‘police-state’. I have no faith in religion, no faith in my government and no faith in society as a whole. To put it bluntly, bar my family and friends I’m fast losing faith in everything and anybody. This blog is the result of pent-up anger, an opportunity to air my personal opinions, a cyberspace soapbox where I can rationalise my views on life.