Thumbs down for more control and surveillance for children in Rochdale

Beech House Private School, Manchester Road, Rochdale are piloting a figerprint recognition system from Rochdale based Timeware UK for registration.Cuye : Pic of happy, beaming, inoccent kids starting out on a life of constant monitoringand control - catch 'em young.

School Bursar Louise Feeney explains that the staff are currently trying them out and then the system will be in use by the children in September. (PDF download of system details)

Heywood Community School have a similiar system in use in the school canteen.

For more information about how children are having their fingerprint used to monitor them go to Leave Them Kids Alone.

UK Schools have already fingerprinted more than two million children, inover 3,500 schools to date, some as young as three. Neither they, nor their parents, were ever asked for their consent. This is part of an insidious softening-up exercise to target society's most impressionable, so they'll accept cradle-to-grave state snooping.

"Whether you volunteer or are coerced on to the ID database, there's no way back. You'll be monitored for life. That's why the government is targeting students and young people, to get them on before they realise what's happening ", says Phil Booth of NO2ID Guradian March 7th 2008

"I have not been able to find a single piece of published research which suggests that the use of biometrics inschools promotes healthy eating or improves reading skills amongst children. I am concerned that these reasons are being given as a justification for fingerprinting children. There is absolutely no evidence for such claims."Dr Sandra Leaton Gray, Director of Studies, Sociology of Education, Homerton College, Cambridge.

Read Daily Mail 11th October 2007 by Sue Reid - The sinister truth about what they do with our children's fingerprints

Chris Bridge, head teacher at Huntington SecondarySchool in York (11 York schools use fingerprints) , said the system was preparing pupils for a world in which terrorism was rife, and their privacy would be further invaded.

Your choice - liberty versus control. Tyranny, from without or by constant domestic authoritative state sanctioned and authorised scrutiny, is still tyranny. Liberty and personal freedom require security without intrusion, security plus privacy.

Widespread surveillance defines the police state. Widespread surveillance defines state control. Conditioning children to he acceptance of permanent progressive instrusion in their lives is a first step.

Resistance must start early, be persistent and total.

Learn more today at Leave Them Kids Alone.

Paul Whitehouse and the GLA justify their costs in raised VAT / Tax revenues

We haven't heard much of Cambridge educated, Quaker, Paul Whitehouse, QPM Chairman of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) since his merry men raided Bomfords in the Spring. Some folks may need a memory jog here , Paul was the Chief Constable of Sussex Police for 8 years , who resigned (on a £60 ,000 a year pension) a day after the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, ordered his local police authority to consider sacking him to restore public confidence in the force - way back in June 2001. Which all related to the night of 15th January 1998 when James Ashley was asleep, naked in bed with his girlfriend in his flat in St Leonards when Sussex Police officers burst in and shot him, dead.

The Chief Executive of the GLA was Michael Wilson, former major general on the Defence Intelligence Staff and current chief executive of the Defence Vetting Agency and his position taken over by Ian Livsey in October 2007 he is ex Chairman TrustMark which was set up by The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) in 2004.

Now Paul tells us that over 1,100 gangmasters are licensed to operate legally in the UK, (a small part (around 10%) of the UK agency sector) a requirement which has led to ;

1. Uncovering worker exploitation and illegal activity that has led to the revocation of 46 licences. (see Footnote)
2. More than £2 million in VAT payments are due to be paid to the Exchequer from gangmaster businesses in the period (April 2006 - March 2007) and with a further 289 licence applications since this period, the total of VAT payments is likely to increase.HMRC calculate that that represents an average £51,887 per gangmaster.

3. At least 40 businesses who applied for a GLA licence had not previously been registered with HMRC.

4. As well as VAT payments these previously unregistered businesses declared that they supplied 6,193 workers which may have led to an increase in national insurance payments and individual tax payments by the workers, as well as the corporation tax that the companies would be liable to pay themselves.

The Gangmasters Licensing Authority ensures orderly employment of workers in the agriculture (which includes forestry) , horticulture, shellfish gathering and associated processing and packaging industries. It was set up following the death of 23 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004. It curently has 55 full-time equivalent staff; 9 compliance staff; 20 enforcement staff and a budget of £3,191,000 for 2007-08;

Failure to register with the GLA can result in a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

Paul is, by the way , a busy man in his retirement and is also member of and speaker for "Law Enforceement against Prohibition" a US based organisation that campaigns for drug legalisation as well as Vice Chairman of NACRO.

Footnotes : The GLA announced yesterday in routine Press Notice that Vilnius Recruitment Ltd of Leiston, Suffolk, which supplied workers to cut roses, pick cabbages and work in a duck factory has had its licence revoked (46th to date) with immediate effect by the (GLA) for failure to ensure the safety of the workers a total disregard for their welfare. Offences included ..

GLA officers found: uninsured cars used to transport workers (which they had been warned about) - accommodation charges that were unacceptably high and concealed in pay deductions - overcrowded accommodation - No HSE training in place - Gas certificates for the workers’ accommodation were not available - Agricultural minimum wage was not paid - unpaid overtime - no holiday pay.

Mr Neros Nerijus, director of Vilnius Recruitment Ltd, originally had his licence
revoked (without immediate effect) in October 2007 and was allowed to continue trading during the appeal process.

A survey of the work of the GLA was published in November which is well worth a read ... Interestingly they note .." Northern Ireland‟s paramilitary tradition and land-border with the Republic makes it an area with lower than expected licence uptake and significant barriers to compliance."

In the top 10 priorities declared for GLA in 2008 are included ..." increase in number of compliance staff" ..." Request pro-bono industry intelligence from labour providers, labour users and multiples "...." Carry out some form of undercover operation (e.g. mystery shopper) to better understand the UK food industry (in collaboration e.g. with HMRC and the Police)" ....

Which (with higher food costs) is a part the price we will also pay in greater surveillance and controls over everyone... plus multilingual notices to workers to grass up their gangmasters ...see pics.

Dorset Horse Plods erase political message in the sand ... and send one to all political protesters - plus naked OAP's - Amazing pictures!! Ros Altman

Interesting example of how the Police State beckons ... Guradian

An aggreived Labour voter wrote "I want a referendum" in the sand below West Undercliff Promenade in Bournemouth at around 11am yesterday. The message was cearly visible from the Bournemouth International Centre and the secure zone around it.

At 1.20pm, shortly after the end of the conference's morning session, a line of six mounted police walked over the slogan and erased it. PC Plod (Horsey section) of Dorset police said that the removal was accidental: "They didn't know it was there. They were just returning from policing a demonstration along the beach."

Elsewhere on the beach (no pics available) some naked pensioners squealed and froliced under the guidance of the shapely Ros Altman (pic) to protest about the government's decision to protect Northern Rock savers while failing to adequately compensate elderly people who lost their company pensions when their employer went bust.

Labour aides hastened to ensure that Gordon Brown did not make eye contact (and presumably no other) with the nude swimmers.

ITV - The Kaleidoscope has been shaken

Mid afternoontoday Brandes (8%) and Fidelity(11%) the 2 largest shareholders in ITV were approached to sell their shares at 125p.

Finally they agreed (with others) to sell 18.9 % of the issued shares to Murdoch's BSkyB (39% owned by News Corp.) at a finally negotiated price of 135 p per share. A premium of over 20p (16.6%)on the market price at the time (115.7p up 1% on day) but not announced until the close of the market.

This punt of £ 940 Mn. scooping 696 million shares gives Murdoch 17.9% - The 2003 Communications Act, prohibits BSkyB from controlling more than 20% of ITV. Whilst it does not give the Australian American media monster control, it gives him a very powerful voice in the boardroom.

This follows stories earlier that RTL (34 television and 33 radio stations in 11 countries - dire Channel 5 in the UK), part of the German Bertelsmann media Empire was working with private equity firms on a potential £5bn (US$9.4 Bn.)bid for ITV. RTL were said to be running the ruler over ITV in cahoots with private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which has Lord Hollick as a partner.

Last week heavily indebted US based NTL (whose largest shareholder is the bearded wonder, serial groper, Sir Dickie Branson) confirmed that it is to hold talks with the broadcaster about a potential tie-up, although these do not appear to have happened yet. Murdoch will not be anxious to see competitors from the cable networks muscling in on what he sees as his fiefdom.

It would be foolish to overlook the interests of Apax Partners who now own 49.9% of Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) (NASDAQ/Prague Stock Exchange: CETV) and who have previously been involved in a private equity gang who withdrew a bid earlier which involved Greg Dyke.

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) are also said to be interested in bidding.

As a tiny part of the deal, as a consolidation of ITV's media interests , we may see the tired and outdated Friends re-United outfit (costing ITV, £120Mn over a period of time) be swallowed up in Murdoch's My Space. Should RTL emerge as winners, and have to divest itself of Channel 5 (required by law) then a nice swapparooney looms for Murdoch.

Finally, how will BBC and Channel 4 compete with Sky / ITV / NTL for US TV rights, series , sports ?

IT'S KALEIDOSCOPE TIME FOLKS !!

To quote from our Dear leader after 9/11 when he spoke so movingly at Sedgefield....

"The kaleidoscope has been shaken,The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again."

For those amongst us who are lost by his imagery, turnto page 30 of that masterpiece of 20th Century philosophy by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, and look at page 30:

"Five months ago, the kaleidoscope of power had been shaken, and Aringarosa was still reeling from the blow."

...and watch out for Lew Grade's son to find himself a new job!

US : Warrantless surveillance - 1 step forward, 2 steps back

Lord Patel on - Thursday, August 17
Black Woman Federal Judge Orders Halt to NSA Wiretapping - but it won't happen until Sept 7th at earliest.

Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit, Mich. wrote in a strongly-worded 43-page opinion (in a case broguht by the The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)) that the NSA wiretapping program violates privacy and free-speech rights and the constitutional separation of powers between the three branches of government. She also found that it violates a 1978 law (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)) set up to oversee clandestine surveillance.

Well, today after the Justice Department has appealed her decision she allowed the government on Thursday to continue the program another week while it seeks a further postponement from an appeals court.

The Justice Department asked Taylor to allow the program to continue until the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issues a final ruling on the legal issues ... which legal opinion sought by my office says could take months. Taylor denied this request. The ACLU argued today against an indefinite stay, but did not oppose a short-term one.

Justice Department attorney Anthony J. Coppolino argued that a stay was warranted based on Bush's opinion that the program is vital to national security.

"Your injunction, as far as we can see, was the first time in history that foreign surveillance has been enjoined during a time of war," he argued in front of Taylor. "If the surveillance stops, the nation would be at greater risk of a terrorist attack", he argued.

Taylor did however choose to allow the government a 7-day reprieve while it seeks a stay from the appeals court pending a decision on the legality of the surveillance. Taylor made the point to the administration through Coppolino that he had not mentioned any "attempt at compliance" in his arguments.

Taylor told Coppolino she could not grant the indefinite stay because "there is no likelihood" that her ruling will be overturned. She said granting it would allow "irreparable harm" to continue against the plaintiffs, a group of journalists, scholars and lawyers who believe their overseas contacts are likely targets of the surveillance.

The ACLU argued Thursday against an indefinite stay, but did not oppose a short-term one.

MAKING WARRANTLESS SURVEILLANCE LEGAL

S.3931, (Details here)the "National Security Surveillance Act," HAS BEEN BROUGHT BY Vice-President Dick Cheney and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) AMD SEEKS TO put into law the warrantless surveillance the administration has admitted to conducting. The bill would permit secret, warrantless electronic surveillance of Americans’ phone conversations, e-mails and stored electronic communication records without individualized judicial review. (i.e overthrow FISA)

You object to calling Specter and Arsehole ? Here is part of what he said introducing the Bill...

On the one hand, we are a Nation at war. On September 11 we suffered
the worst attack on civilians in our country's history by an enemy like
none we had faced before. The more we learn about this enemy, the more
we learn about a cruel and brutal opponent who will stop at nothing to
terrorize and harm our country.....

On the other hand, we are a Nation that believes in the rule of law.
We are a people that hold dear the rights and liberties enshrined in
our Constitution.

Senators Larry Craig (R-ID), John Sununu (R-NH) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have today dropped their objections and now support the Bill. This is a result of Senator Arlen"One Bullet" Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican, and arsehole, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said that in recent negotiations, the White House had agreed to delete language from the bill that critics said would have implicitly acknowledged the president’s constitutional authority to order wiretapping without a warrant. Critics say however that the language fudges the meaning of what is "electronic surveillance" and allows wriggle room for Presidentially authorised wiretapping without judicial authority.

This bill is of course designed to nullify anything that the Supreme Court in Michigan decides in limiting the powers of the President / Commander in Chief of a nation said to be at war.

Pic John Negroponte at NSA.