UK Column Discussion - All Forums

Our Government is a Company . . . And so are our schools

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:13:22 +0000

Quote:We are living in a duality that most don't recognize. Many suspect things aren't going well as jobs are outsourced, public utilities and roads are privatized, and our elected officials keep passing bills they don't read and that don't solve any of the "real" problems we face. Most of us feel that our elected officials don't really represent us anymore. Why is that?

Because they don't!
They represent corporations aka our state, local and federal governments
GOVERNMENT, INC.

The corporatization of our governments (which started long ago) changed the role in government our elected officials play. Once they take office, they no longer represent the folks who voted for them, but become trustees (or employees) of the federal, state, or local corporations. [1]

This scam has been going on a long time [2], but we feel the results of it more each year.
• Have you noticed how our elected officials are distant and difficult to reach once in office?
• Have you noticed how no matter how valid our complaints are - we are ignored?
• Have you noticed how few people ever get justice in our court system any longer?

>>> https://forohioans.wikispaces.com/Our+Government+is+a+Company

http://cafr1.com/WebView/3/B/HealthandFr...e2010.html

Common Purpose at it again

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:39:04 +0000

Common Purpose at it again – this time in Birmingham

Quote:An inquiry is under way after Birmingham City Council broke its own rules by failing to put a £254,000 contract with financial consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers out to tender.
Council chief executive Stephen Hughes has ordered a disciplinary investigation into the conduct of senior city officials who approved a deal with PwC to deliver a programme of behavioural change workshops with 100 local authority managers.

He admitted officers did not follow proper procedures because they were “working to an extremely tight timescale” to get the contract signed.

The probe comes as it emerged the council spent more than £400,000 in six months on consultants to deliver the previous Government’s Total Place scheme, which encourages local authorities and public agencies to share budgets and work more closely together.

The bills were paid by the council using money from the Working Neighbourhoods Fund, a Government cash pot to reduce unemployment and deprivation.

Competitive quotes from at least three bidders must be sought for contracts worth more than £150,000, according to the council’s procurement regulations

But the council did not seek alternative bidders for the contract awarded to PwC and also broke rules set out by the Office of Government Commerce.

PwC was appointed by Be Birmingham, the council-led strategic partnership, to run Total Place collaborative leadership courses.

The contract was then sub-let by PwC to Common Purpose, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting more effective civic leadership.
As well as hiring PwC, the council paid consultants Taylor Haig £163,000 for advising on the Total Place programme.

One consultant at the London-based firm was paid just over £1,000 a day for 23 days work.
The £400,000 consultancy bill was criticised by Sir Albert Bore, leader of the council’s opposition Labour group. Sir Albert (Lab Ladywood) said: “I had no idea this sort of money was being spent on consultants.

“We must have more transparency. There is a huge amount of money being spent on consultants from a pot which is supposed to deal with deprivation, but if you look at the worst areas in Birmingham today they are virtually the same as they were 30 years ago.
“You have to conclude this expenditure has not had the desired effect.”

Details of the contracts for PwC and Taylor Haig emerged following a Freedom of Information Act question from Larry Brown, a member of the public.

The council also issued an apology to Mr Brown for breaching the Data Protection Act after he was identified to either PwC or Common Purpose as the author of the question.

For several months officials at Be Birmingham denied they had done anything wrong in correspondence with Mr Brown. Jayne Bench, head of finance at Be Birmingham, wrote to Mr Brown stating that it had not been necessary to run a full procurement procedure.
The use of the Office of Government Commerce framework agreement reduced the administrative burden in terms of the time and cost compared to running a full procurement procedure and helped to ensure legal compliance, she said.

Ms Bench added: “The requirement has been advertised and capable suppliers have been identified through competitive procurement.”

But the council’s attitude changed abruptly after Mr Hughes agreed to investigate the PwC contract personally.

In a letter to Mr Brown on July 18, Mr Hughes admitted: “Birmingham City Council did not fully follow procurement procedures in agreeing this order with PwC. In using the Catalyst Framework Agreement we should have sought quotes from other providers on the list.
“PwC should have run a mini competition amongst potential suppliers. It appears that the need to commission this work in an extremely tight timescale led to officers failing to comply fully with our procurement process.

“I have asked the strategic director of development to whom the relevant officers report to carry out a disciplinary investigation. I have also instructed Procurement to distil the key lessons from the episode and ensure they are fully disseminated across the organisation.”
There is no suggestion that Common Purpose or Taylor Haig acted incorrectly. Mr Brown is also questioning some of PwC’s charges in the council contract.

The firm was paid £72,900 for research and design, £36,000 for administration and £12,000 for learning materials.
Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-...z1U87XB4la

I appears that that Philip Wright CP trustee is also a senior director at PWC. Pure coincidence http://www.commonpurpose.org.uk/about/go...lip-wright

Do police investigate CRIME?

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:09:05 +0000

Do police officers investigate anything anymore?
our little car was broken into and the steering column vandalised so much that its undriveable, infact it needs a whole new column where they tried to break the steering lock. What do the police do? give you a crime number on the phone, ask if you have cctv, which my neighbour does. Then they tell US to check it and contact them if its any good...

now is it just me or did they just ask me to investigate the crime commited upon me because they cant be bothered? to top it all the insurance company wont fix it as the car isn't worth more than the cost of repairs. They want to take it away and crush it i think. they told us to remove the tax disc, Im thinking ill just get it crushed myself because penny to a pound if they crush it i wont get a penny of the scrap value infact i bet i pay an excess for losing my car. THANKS CRIMINALS.

I Dont drive myself as i dont have a license, my wifes the driver. but after this debacle we have decided to buy another car, not register it, not mot it not tax it not insure it. I will be the driver and if we get caught they can put points on my non existent license ban me from doing something i shouldnt be doing yet will continue to do so. and what? maybe a fine i can whittle down to £1 per week. sounds cheaper than my wifes insurance which was £800 for a 1.2 fiesta thats 13 years old!

We live our lifes within the law and within these poxy rules they impose upon us, i have never even broken any law or been fingerprinted or went for questioning or charged for anything. But at the ripe old age of 31 im going to start getting a criminal record.

bastard coppers and bastard insurance scamms!

Psychopaths

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 05:48:03 +0000

Thomas Sheridan, interesting man.

Another man from the world of pop/rock music who has made interesting observations.

Get Ready Comrades

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:50:24 +0000

Five police sacked for messing around on the job

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:08:02 +0000

Quote:Uploaded by liarpoliticians on Aug 4, 2011
Five Merseyside police have been sacked because they were fooling around in a suspects house instead of doing the job they are paid to do.

Recorded from Sky News, 04 August 2011.

FTSE falls 3.2% in 6 minutes - the beginning of the end?

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:03:19 +0000

Quote:Uploaded by zlocke100 on Aug 5, 2011
I get angry in this video because you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out what has happened here. I know people will think I am weird for caring...

Banks have got us to sign on to their debt, now the European Central Bank is starting buying up nations debt...The ECB will then OWN that country.

This will create a European Superstate where countries can't do anything with the OK from the ECB...THis was the plan ALL ALONG and people just can't see it.

People are too bust with stuff that doesn't matter to worry about their future..

3 NATO Ships Sank, Never Heard on UK Media

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:58:42 +0000

Please be aware some very shocking pictures in this video

LB

Judge allows American to sue Rumsfeld over torture

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 01:59:08 +0000

Quote:Judge allows American to sue Rumsfeld over torture
Aug 4
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A judge is allowing an Army veteran who says he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the U.S. military in Iraq to sue former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld personally for damages.

The veteran's identity is withheld in court filings, but he worked for an American contracting company as a translator for the Marines in the volatile Anbar province before being detained for nine months at Camp Cropper, a U.S. military facility near the Baghdad airport dedicated to holding "high-value" detainees.

The government says he was suspected of helping get classified information to the enemy and helping anti-coalition forces enter Iraq. But he was never charged with a crime and says he never broke the law.

Lawyers for the man, who is in his 50s, say he was preparing to come home to the United States on annual leave when he was abducted by the U.S. military and held without justification while his family knew nothing about his whereabouts or even whether he was still alive.

Court papers filed on his behalf say he was repeatedly abused, then suddenly released without explanation in August 2006. Two years later, he filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington arguing that Rumsfeld personally approved torturous interrogation techniques on a case-by-case basis and controlled his detention without access to courts in violation of his constitutional rights.

Chicago attorney Mike Kanovitz, who is representing the plaintiff, says it appears the military wanted to keep his client behind bars so he couldn't tell anyone about an important contact he made with a leading sheik while helping collect intelligence in Iraq.

"The U.S. government wasn't ready for the rest of the world to know about it, so they basically put him on ice," Kanovitz said in a telephone interview. "If you've got unchecked power over the citizens, why not use it?"

The Obama administration has represented Rumsfeld through the Justice Department and argued that the former defense secretary cannot be sued personally for official conduct. The Justice Department also argued that a judge cannot review wartime decisions that are the constitutional responsibility of Congress and the president. And the department said the case could disclose sensitive information and distract from the war effort, and said the threat of liability would impede future military decisions.

But U.S. District Judge James Gwin rejected those arguments and said U.S. citizens are protected by the Constitution at home or abroad during wartime.

"The court finds no convincing reason that United States citizens in Iraq should or must lose previously declared substantive due process protections during prolonged detention in a conflict zone abroad," Gwin wrote in a ruling issued Tuesday.

"The stakes in holding detainees at Camp Cropper may have been high, but one purpose of the constitutional limitations on interrogation techniques and conditions of confinement even domestically is to strike a balance between government objectives and individual rights even when the stakes are high," the judge ruled.

In many other cases brought by foreign detainees, judges have dismissed torture claims made against U.S. officials for their personal involvement in decisions over prisoner treatment. But this is the second time a federal judge has allowed U.S. citizens to sue Rumsfeld personally.

U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen in Illinois last year said two other Americans who worked in Iraq as contractors and were held at Camp Cropper, Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel, can pursue claims that they were tortured using Rumsfeld-approved methods after they alleged illegal activities by their company. Rumsfeld is appealing that ruling, which Gwin cited.

The Supreme Court sets a high bar for suing high-ranking officials, requiring that they be tied directly to a violation of constitutional rights and must have clearly understood their actions crossed that line.

The case before Gwin involves a man who went to Iraq in December 2004 to work with an American-owned defense contracting firm. He was assigned as an Arabic translator for Marines gathering intelligence in Anbar. He says he was the first American to open direct talks with Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who became an important U.S. ally and later led a revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida before being killed by a bomb.

In November 2005, when he was to go on home leave, Navy Criminal Investigative Service agents questioned him about his work, refusing his requests for representation by his employer, the Marines or an attorney. The Justice Department says he was told he was suspected of helping provide classified information to the enemy and helping anti-coalition forces attempting to cross from Syria into Iraq.

He says he refused to answer questions because of concern about confidentiality, and the agents handcuffed and blindfolded him, kicked him in the back and threatened to shoot him if he tried to escape. He was then transferred to an unidentified location for three days before being flown to Camp Cropper.

For his first three months at Camp Cropper he says he was held incommunicado in solitary confinement with a hole in the ground for a toilet. He says he was then moved to cells holding terrorist suspects hostile to the United States who were told about his work for the military, leading to physical attacks by his cellmates that left him in constant fear for his life.

He claims guards tortured him by repeatedly choking him, exposing him to extreme cold and continuous artificial light, blindfolding and hooding him, waking him by banging on a door or slamming a window when he tried to sleep and blasting music into his cell at "intolerably loud volumes."

He says he always denied any wrongdoing and truthfully answered questions but interrogators continued to threaten him. Both sides say a detainee status board in December 2005 determined he was a threat to the multinational forces in Iraq and authorized his continued detention, but he says he was not allowed to see most of the evidence against him. Documents the government filed with the court only say he is suspected of a crime, without providing details.

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/U...3-17-39-56

Alan Watt - Culture Is Created And Organised To Mould Our Minds And To Control Us

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:01:49 +0000

Alan Watt - Culture Is Created And Organised To Mould Our Minds And To Control Us - Part 1 of 2 (45mins 26s)

Quote:This is from the following RBN show by Alan Watt - http://www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com

Jan. 19, 2009
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN:
The CIA's Dream Machine -- Still Dreamin'
transcript - http://www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com/t...92009.html

(Recommended Read: "The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters" by Frances Stonor Saunders.)

Topics discussed:
Communism, Cold War, Organization Ability - Transition Phase, Surveillance - OSS, CIA, World War II - "Organizational Weapon". East-West Dialectic, "Foundations: Their Power and Influence" book - Culture Industry, Promotion of "Decadence" - Truth and Propaganda. Novelists, Arts, Nihilism, Apathy Creation - Lend-Lease Program, United Europe - Henry Kissinger - Elite Families' Profiteering. Philanthropic Foundations, CIA Funding, Fronts - Control of Technology - Thousand Points of Light - Congress for Cultural Freedom. Council on Foreign Relations, RIIA, World Government - (John D., Nelson, David) Rockefeller Foundation, Covert Intelligence Operations

Alan Watt - Culture Is Created And Organised To Mould Our Minds And To Control Us - Part 2 of 2 (45mins 31s)

Quote:This is from the following RBN show by Alan Watt - http://www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com

Jan. 20, 2009
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN:
CFR, RIIA, IPR, CIA and Global Culture
transcript - http://www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com/t...02009.html

(Books: [Continued: "The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters" by Frances Stonor Saunders.]
["Tragedy and Hope" by Carroll Quigley.])

Topics discussed:
Knowledge is Never Lost - Government Run by Secrecy - OSS, CIA, Culture Creation - Communist Regimes - Predictive Programming. Novelists, Writers, Publication, Guaranteed Sales - Congress for Cultural Freedom, PEN, Funding - Movies, Fiction, Shaping Opinion, "Sin Cities". Hollywood Films, Bolshevism, Russia, Germany - Changing Enemies, Orwell's "1984"- War in Iraq - RIIA-CFR Meeting, Creation of World Culture. Movie Exports, Foreign Policy, "American Values" - Pentagon-Funded War Movies - All Groups Used - Youth, "Antique" History - Folk and Rock Music. Laurel Canyon, Military Families - Communism Funded by Canada and U.S. - Degeneracy, Cold War, Reece Commission. Chatham House (WWII OSS Headquarters), RIIA, Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Milner, LON, UN - Professor Carroll Quigley, Alfred Zimmerman. Britain, British Commonwealth - Lord Lothian, Hess - Royal Institute for International Affairs, Council on Foreign Relations

CCTV Cars - Calling a Council's Bluff

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:17:49 +0000

While looking for links between facial recognition computers and fingerprinting databases for another post, we came across this:

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/rule-rul...story.html

Please read the whole of this delicious story, dear readers, about this tagalong CCTV camera car. It is not long. And do not forget to look at the wide-awake comments as well. Even more delectable is the Northcliffe Newspapers' headline, “One rule for them – one rule for the rest of us”.

So Big Brother’s “enforcement” vehicle is facing a possible honking campaign!! Love it. And… by driving around the town and breaking council rules, the council’s driver is indulging in behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace…..LOL!

Martin, any thoughts on the Road Traffic Regulation Act or the Traffic Regulation Orders as may apply here?

Disentangled

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:47:04 +0000

Hello.

Some "Newbie" questions if you don't mind please -

A quote from the BCG's Corporatisation of Britain page - "Today, we do not know who controls the Bank of England".

A recent article provides two top names to begin with to hold accountable - Andy Haldane,Director of Bank of England. Banks's Governor Sir Mervyn King. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business...iclepage=1

Shareholders are accountable and could be served a public notice of treason. If you are referring to the hidden powers, names as above are a good start. Without Names, nothing sticks, and exactly how all the Corporations operate.

Secondly, to join the BCG it is required to provide full Name and address.
Why do you want/need a "Name" for the BCG organisation to become a member? http://www.thebcgroup.org.uk/civicrm/con...set=1&id=1

Thank you for your time.

Protest for the release of Norman Scarth

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:16:32 +0000

Quote:Saturday, August 13, 2011, 1:00 PM
From WAC Leeds

There will be a Routemaster Bus as part of the protest and there may be members of the media attending, so we require a large show of numbers, as if you did not know Norman Scarth is 86 years old, and he fought for you and I to live free as a veteran of WWII, so please show some respect and support for him as he is a member of this group and was locked up for six months for recording in Court, which is an extreme sentence in any case.

http://www.meetup.com/WeAreChangeManches.../?rv=ea1.2

MPs' expenses chief quits after row over secret investigations

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:41:42 +0000

Quote:MPs' expenses chief quits after row over secret investigations

The Commons expenses watchdog was hit by a new controversy today when the official in charge of investigating MPs resigned.

Luke March quit his post at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority after two months, following a dispute over whether MPs suspected of wrongly taking expenses cash should be named.

He is the second incumbent of the post to leave in a year.

Mr March was criticised when reporters asked why Ipsa was not releasing the names of MPs whose expenses claims were under investigation.

In an interview, he argued that details of his work should remain secret and that it would be "unfair" to identify MPs before allegations were proved. He said there should be no publicity at all if the MPs were cleared.

That, however, appeared to contradict Ipsa's guidelines which state that politicians should be identified when a formal investigation is launched, and that cases should be heard in public where possible.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said Mr March was wrong to oppose publication.

"Taxpayers have a right to know if an MP is being investigated, equally it should be made public if the probe amounts to nothing, or if the error was Ipsa's," he said.

"Public trust in Parliament and the expenses system is still fragile and it would be unacceptable for allegations of dubious claims to be swept under the carpet, or for investigations to be conducted in secret."

MPs have complained that Ipsa has deluged them with red tape and harmed them by publishing details of claims that were refused, however innocently.

In a letter to Ipsa chairman Sir Ian Kennedy, Mr March wrote: "As I explained during our conversation, after much thought and with a good deal of regret, I have come to the conclusion that the role of Compliance Officer for Ipsa is not the right role for me.

"On that basis, I have decided that the sensible thing for me to do is to resign the post."

Martyn Taylor, previously Ipsa's head of governance, will stand in for six months until a permanent successor can be found.

Source: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/p...gations.do

Free thought now officially "terrorism"

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:18:42 +0000

Quote:Uploaded by AdamVsTheManRT on Aug 3, 2011
Your thoughts can now be considered terrorism.

You'll Be Fingerprinted on the Street Next

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:11:11 +0000

From today’s Daily Mail, we hear of how over the last month, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire have been part of a police pilot programme to fingerprint you with a handheld electronic device, while you are being held for questioning in the street, your car, or wherever.

In your car? Driving 1mph over the speed limit while being tailgated by a big rig? That sounds like a nice little money earner. In the street? Right, that means they can be doing it in front of CCTVs that can link your facial profile to your fingerprints (that’s my gloss on it, not the Mails reporter’s).

The device is linked to a national database……oh dear (but see my forthcoming post on the thread about your NHS records going worldwide). The database is said to hold details of convicted people OR THOSE WHO ARE INVOLVED IN POLICE INVESTIGATIONS. Well that about covers it doesn’t it??? And the scheme has now just become official all over the country.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...conds.html

So, dear readers, this is just too much. Shall we get rid of the police then? We read today of how a small town in Florida did just that – they sacked its entire police force for corruption.

But here in the UK, TPTB are ahead of that game. We see fewer and fewer officers with the logos of their local constabulary on their cars and uniforms. They have been given EU money you see. Yesterday, when I came ashore and went about my usual business, I saw three vehicles with BTP (British eTransport Police) written on the side, and a number of PCSOs, but no sign of any local, real officers of the peace. Penny dropped? We cannot enlist our local councils to do what they did in Florida, because the police are becoming “British” rather than, say, from Hertfordshire Constabulary. You'd have to lobby your MP. And the public enquiry would take ten years to happen.

Compare also the story of police corruption in Cleveland – see top story today on the front page of the UK Column – whose Chief Constable has merely been suspended pending investigations BY ITS OWN CONSTABULARY, rather than Cleveland Council or a jury. Oh dear again, oh dear.

Mayor, 84, fires entire police department

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:48:53 +0000

Coaltion wants Londoner's to stop working during Olympics

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:27:52 +0000

Quote:Uploaded by liarpoliticians on Aug 3, 2011
The government is now asking Londoner's to stop working during the Olympics, just to give any tourists and especially the crooked politicians that wanted the games an easy ride to events. FUCK YOU!

British jobs are MORE important than politicians and athletes and their crooked £20bn jerk-off "games."

You're so crooked you expect people to volunteer to work, while politicians, whoreporations, and athletes make a £20bn killing at taxpayers expense. FUCK YOU.

Recorded from BBC London News, 03 August 2011.

Rising council tax, take your own rubbish away

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:07:46 +0000

Quote:Uploaded by liarpoliticians on Aug 3, 2011
A look at one local authority that has decided to save money, by telling residents to get their own rubbish and drive it to collection points. No cuts to the council bosses pay, pension, or perks were harmed in this decision.

The council are defrauding people, paying heavy taxes for less and less services they are legally obliged to provide.

Recorded from Channel 4 News, 03 August 2011.

NORWEGIAN ATTACK A 'FALSE FLAG'.

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:36:18 +0000

Brilliant article by Dr, Webster Tarpley.
http://tarpley.net/2011/07/24/norway-ter...alse-flag/