Well, Hello, Nanny

Local councils in Britain have decreed that individuals need to be told how much salt they are allowed apply to their fish and chips. Accordingly, they have taken it upon themselves - at taxpayer expense - to give fish and chip sellers new, government approved, saltshakers.

Pot-holed roads, crumbling schools, litter-strewn streets – there’s no shortage of problem areas crying out for their attention.

But councils believe they have found a better use for their money: reducing the number of holes in chip shop salt shakers.

Research has suggested that slashing the holes from the traditional 17 to five could cut the amount people sprinkle on their food by more than half.

And so at least six councils have ordered five-hole shakers – at taxpayers’ expense – and begun giving them away to chip shops and takeaways in their areas.

Leading the way has been Gateshead Council, which spent 15 days researching the subject of salty takeaways before declaring the new five-hole cellars the solution.

Officers collected information from businesses, obtained samples of fish and chips, measured salt content and ‘carried out experiments to determine how the problem of excessive salt being dispensed could be overcome by design’.

Government is supposed to take care of certain things that are difficult for individuals to organize. Things like military defense, certain infrastructure like roads and bridges or some public health initiatives.

They are not supposed to decree how much salt you are permitted.

Yet the mindset of the local politicians is perfectly described in the last quote in the article:

A spokesman said: ‘Heart disease costs taxpayers £7billion a year so to say that projects such as this are a waste of money is mind-boggling.’

That attitude showcases - perfectly - the ownership that local councils feel they have over the activities of the peasants - er - citizens.

A recent commenter implied we here in America should be more like the "civilized" Europeans. I would only point out that my ancestors came to this country specifically to get away from those "civilized" European ideas, laws and customs. Personally, I'd rather not be "civilized" over my right as an individual to decide what is best for me. That is my right, not the government's.

Captain Calamity And The Breakaway State

A man that the Telegraph calls "Captain Calamity" because of his misadventures while boating has declared the windswept Shetland Island he calls home a "Crown Dependency" and broken away from Britain proper and the European Union. He is the sole inhabitant of the tiny islet he calls home, Forewick Holm, or as he calls it now, Forvik.

Stuart Hill, a 65 year-old grandfather, will announce that 'Forvik', an island officially known as Forewick Holm, has broken away from the United Kingdom, quit the EU and become a crown dependency.

Mr Hill said his declaration of a new state - measuring one hectare (2.5 acres) - is intended to force the government and local council into action over the island's history and constitutional legitimacy.

Mr Hill, originally from Manningtree, Essex, settled on the island after his failed solo attempt in 2001 to circumnavigate Britain in a home-made boat - earning the 'Captain Calamity' name - capsized west of the Shetland islands, the UK's most northerly island group.

The Telegraph helpfully linked to the 2001 story that detailed some of Hill's exploits that earned him the "Captain Calamity" name.

A LONE yachtsman was recovering from hypothermia yesterday after his calamity-strewn attempts to circumnavigate Britain came to a predictable end in 20ft seas.

Stuart Hill, 58, was nicknamed Captain Calamity after a string of maritime disasters.

The latest came on Tuesday when his "self-righting" vessel capsized off Shetland. His rescuers said he was "very lucky to be alive".

He was 52 miles west of Shetland after he was thrown out of his boat, Maximum Exposure, and left clinging to the hull.

He was airlifted to hospital in Lerwick where he ignored all appeals and announced that he would probably try again next year.

There is an outstanding quote in that last link:

"Flares and helicopters are mutually incompatible."

We'll see how Mr. Hill's insurrection plays out shortly, I'm quite sure. Meanwhile, you can contact him directly via his website, should you be so inclined. Don't miss the "Declaration of Dependence" which uses a rather familiar (to Americans, at any rate) document as its starting point.

Canadian Lunacy

In yet another sign that Canada has completely lost it, a judge has overturned a father's decision to ground his twelve year-old daughter.

A Canadian court has lifted a 12-year-old girl's grounding, overturning her father's punishment for disobeying his orders to stay off the Internet, his lawyer said Wednesday.

The girl had taken her father to Quebec Superior Court after he refused to allow her to go on a school trip for chatting on websites he tried to block, and then posting "inappropriate" pictures of herself online using a friend's computer.

The father's lawyer Kim Beaudoin said the disciplinary measures were for the girl's "own protection" and is appealing the ruling.

Courts do not belong in the parent-child relationship in this manner. Period. One hopes that sanity will prevail in the appellate court. If not, parents in Canada are in serious trouble.

The EU Gets Its Irish Up

As predicted, the EU oligarchy is miffed at those Irish making like good little democrats instead of obedient serfs:

From the minute it became clear that the Irish people had said ‘No’ to the Lisbon Treaty, Irish politicians and commentators lined up to spew bile at the electorate.

Uneducated, racist, ungrateful, parochial, dysfunctional: those are just some of the insults hurled at the 53 per cent of voters who rejected Lisbon. Swearing is not normally allowed in Ireland’s quality papers, but an exception was made after Thursday’s referendum. The Irish Times quoted one Brussels official as saying: ‘Ungrateful bastards. After all the money you got.’

Leo Varadkar, a leading member of the Irish party Fine Gael, accused the ‘No’ campaign of exploiting the xenophobia of the voters. The Irish Times wheeled out Professor Richard Sinnott of University College Dublin, an ‘expert’ on the Irish voter, who explained that the Irish people were somehow incapable of understanding what was at stake in the referendum. Apparently this is a result of Irish people’s low level of education and their lack of confidence in their own ability to grasp ‘complex issues’.

The breathtakingly elitist view that the ‘No’ camp was basically too stupid to understand the Treaty and its implications was expressed everywhere in the media coverage of the result.

As you can notice, it goes without saying that the pro-Lisbon Treaty forces are viewed as being politically and morally legitimate, while any opposition is viewed as being inherently corrupt, ignorant, and quite possibly evil.  What is scary to see is that the European press has largely abdicated its role to question the designs of the EU oligarchy.  For the most part they are acting as agents of the EU establishment, and not as representatives of the people.  This isn't a great surprise, as the influence of government over the press is more accepted in Europe than it is in the United States.  But you can even see once independent newspapers in places like the UK being co-opted by this process. 

Why have the bureaucrats been unable to sell the "new" EU to the people who are actually going to be ruled by it?  The answer given by the EU is, "because more than half the people of Europe are ignorant, racist bastards."  Does the press really find nohing about that answer they could possibly question? 

Labor Of Love

What results when 30 enthusiastic volunteers spend 18 years and some £3 million working in a shed in Britain?

A brand, spanking, new steam locomotive.

It's a project which makes no sense on paper  -  but it has created 90 tons of polished, gleaming, shining nostalgia. Above all, it means the world to the small team behind it.

Their aim? It's ambitious, to say the least. To build, by hand, the first new full-sized mainline steam express locomotive in Britain for half a century.

Since 1990, a team of around 30 enthusiasts, contractors, volunteers and staff  -  under the banner of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust  -  have turned up every day to an old shed and happily milled and turned, cast, drilled, bored, welded and torqued mountains of gleaming brass, copper and nickel-silver steel to create a machine that belongs in another age.

In a few weeks, all being well, the boiler will be fired and their locomotive, christened Tornado, will turn its wheels for the first time.

The whole project is delightfully bonkers, so utterly British that just stepping through the doors of the workshop and getting a whiff of oil and acetylene, hot brass and stove enamel is enough to blow away the cynicism that comes from living in the 21st century.

It is completely mad to build a brand new, coal-burning steam engine today. Which is why I hope it works out for the builders! They are planning to run passenger trips with the new engine, possibly even running over to Europe via the Chunnel. More about the extremely eccentric project can be seen over at their website.

John Stuart Mill Reaches 500 RPM

"Turning over in his grave" somehow didn't seem strong enough: Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'

A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word "cult" to describe the Church of Scientology.

The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion.

Officers confiscated a placard with the word "cult" on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

A date has not yet been set for him to appear in court.

The decision to issue the summons has angered human rights activists and support groups for the victims of cults.

The incident happened during a protest against the Church of Scientology on May 10. Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church's £23m headquarters near St Paul's cathedral, were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was "abusive and insulting".

Writing on an anti-Scientology website, the teenager facing court said: "I brought a sign to the May 10th protest that said: 'Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult.'

"'Within five minutes of arriving I was told by a member of the police that I was not allowed to use that word, and that the final decision would be made by the inspector."

A policewoman later read him section five of the Public Order Act and "strongly advised" him to remove the sign. The section prohibits signs which have representations or words which are threatening, abusive or insulting.

The teenager refused to back down, quoting a 1984 high court ruling from Mr Justice Latey, in which he described the Church of Scientology as a "cult" which was "corrupt, sinister and dangerous".

After the exchange, a policewoman handed him a court summons and removed his sign.

So when exactly was the flame of human liberty extinguished in Britain? It seems ludicrous that I feel the need to quote John Stuart Mill in this day and age, but it seems we as a civilization have forgotten the important truths he categorized and catalogued:

This, then, is the appropriate region of human liberty. It comprises, first, the inward domain of consciousness; demanding liberty of conscience, in the most comprehensive sense; liberty of thought and feeling; absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral, or theological. The liberty of expressing and publishing opinions may seem to fall under a different principle, since it belongs to that part of the conduct of an individual which concerns other people; but, being almost of as much importance as the liberty of thought itself, and resting in great part on the same reasons, is practically inseparable from it. Secondly, the principle requires liberty of tastes and pursuits; of framing the plan of our life to suit our own character; of doing as we like, subject to such consequences as may follow; without impediment from our fellow-creatures, so long as what we do does not harm them even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse, or wrong. Thirdly, from this liberty of each individual, follows the liberty, within the same limits, of combination among individuals; freedom to unite, for any purpose not involving harm to others: the persons combining being supposed to be of full age, and not forced or deceived.

No society in which these liberties are not, on the whole, respected, is free, whatever may be its form of government; and none is completely free in which they do not exist absolute and unqualified. The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.

That today in Great Britain peaceful political protest is being criminalized speaks to how far society can creep away from human rights. It's as if they believe what Britain really needs is a kinder and gentler KGB, Gestapo or Stasi, enforcing "proper" political belief because allowing people to think for themselves is "dangerous to the state."

When Mill says, "No society in which these liberties are not, on the whole, respected, is free, whatever may be its form of government; and none is completely free in which they do not exist absolute and unqualified," he actually means it. Mill could only look at Great Britain today and declare is not a free country.

Is the country that gave the world Locke, Sidney, Bentham, Adam Smith, Wollstonecraft, Burke and Mill really alright with that?

Gleaned from DBKP.

Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart Now, Baby

A 25-year old Canadian woman will be on probation for the next three years for actually taking a little piece of her lover's heart while engaged in drunken "rough sex."

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian man who asked his lover to carve a heart-shaped symbol on his chest during a rough sex game almost died when she accidentally pressed too hard and punctured his heart, a newspaper said on Thursday.
 
The Winnipeg Free Press said the 25-year-old woman had been sentenced to three years' probation after she pleaded guilty to assaulting the man in February 2007.

There's kinky and then there's stupid. I kind of think this little incident crosses that line. But the man should be a shoo-in for a runner-up position in the Darwin Awards.

How Green Was My……. C-Cup?

Today's utterly pointless invention: the solar-powered bra.

Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan Ltd unveiled its environmentally friendly, and green colored, "Solar Power Bra" on Wednesday in Tokyo which features a solar panel worn around the stomach.

The panel requires light to generate electricity and the concept bra will not be in stores anytime soon, said Triumph spokeswoman Yoshiko Masuda, as "people usually can not go outside without wearing clothes over it."

But it does send the message of how lingerie could possibly save the planet, Masuda said, adding that the bra should not be washed or sunned on a rainy day to avoid damaging it.

Well, strictly speaking, it really isn't pointless at all. It is a way for the maker to get free publicity. Nothing more.

Beirut Boils Over

Sectarian violence has erupted in Lebanon. Hezbollah is claiming it isn't their fault, but they have a lot of fighters on the street. The Lebanese Army is standing aside as the proto-civil war develops.

In a grim reminder of Lebanon's devastating 1975-90 civil war, factions threw up roadblocks and checkpoints dividing Beirut into sectarian enclaves on the second day of clashes between Sunni Muslims loyal to the government and Shiite supporters of Hezbollah.

A top Sunni leader went on television urging Hezbollah to pull its fighters back and "save Lebanon from hell." The army, which has stayed out of the sectarian political squabbling that has paralyzed the country for more than a year, did not intervene in the battles.

The chattering of automatic weapons and thumps of exploding rocket-propelled grenades echoed across Beirut into the night. People huddled in hallways and stairwells as gunmen rushed from one street corner to the next firing at their foes. Some families fled to neighborhoods that remained quiet.

"There is so much shooting and explosions outside. Our building is in the middle of the fighting," a terrified woman, Ghada Helmi, told The Associated Press by telephone.

Fighting began along Corniche Mazraa, an avenue separating Shiite and Sunni areas, then spread to other districts. Combat was heard near the office of Lebanon's Sunni spiritual leader, an ally of the government, and near the official residence of the opposition-aligned parliament speaker.

Having an Iranian armed and financed group with no loyalty whatsoever to the legitimate government is not exactly a recipe for stability. It is not an encouraging sign that the Army is refusing to intervene.

The End Of The World As We Know It

And Britain's Labor party does not feel fine. Gordon Brown's Labor party has suffered a stunning defeat in Britain. More importantly, Red Ken Livingstone is - or soon will be - gainfully unemployed. It has been a terrible day for Labor in local elections.

Boris Johnson capped a cataclysmic day for Labour by seizing power in London last night, and left Gordon Brown facing a desperate fight for survival.

The Old Etonian handed David Cameron a stunning political triumph by ousting veteran mayor Ken Livingstone.

Mr Johnson won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Mr Livingstone's 1,028,966 on a record turnout.

The new Mayor promised to make London "greater still" and finished his acceptance speech by saying: "Let's get cracking tomorrow - let's have a drink tonight."

Shortly after winning the Mayoral contest Mr Johnson announced he would be standing down as Conservative MP for Henley, triggering a by-election.

Mr Livingstone said he took full responsibility for his defeat and paid tribute to the Labour Party, including Gordon Brown, for the support he had been given.

Labor lost by something like 20 percent - an electoral disaster. In fact, it is a forty year low for Labor. Gordon Brown is now facing the stirrings of revolt in his own party as a result of this debacle.

(Amazingly Enough) Pop Culture Can Be Worthy Of Study

First the news from Britain: Britain's Brown punished in local elections

Britain's ruling Labour Party suffered its worst local election defeat on record on Friday, forcing Prime Minister Gordon Brown to rethink his strategy to avoid losing the next national election.

Labour was braced for an even bigger drubbing as pundits and even government ministers predicted the party would lose the prized London mayoral post to a resurgent opposition Conservative Party. The result is expected late on Friday. [ed. Labour did lose the mayoral office as well.] 

Contrite Labour ministers and lawmakers said the government had failed to address Britons' fears of rising food and energy prices, higher mortgages and a possible housing market slump.

The question now is whether Labour can recover before the next general election, due by mid-2010 at the latest, or whether the tide has turned towards the Conservatives. [emphasis mine.]

I was wondering just this back in January.

Come May it will have been 11 years of Labour party rule in the UK. It has been a good run for Labour even if they haven't yet matched the 18 year run of the Tories before them. But I wonder if the inevitable cracks are beginning to show.

What prompted my musing on UK politics?  Well, I had picked up a CD by an English group called The Holloways, and after listening to it I came to the conclusion that Labour's ascendancy might be coming to an end.  A little far fetched you say?  Well, the experts were not predicting the disaster that was this round of UK elections for Labour using more traditional methods.  So, I say don't knock what works!

Tomb

Finally, after 22 years, an International consortium is going to entomb the remains of the Chernobyl reactor. Russia really should have stepped up and done something about this sooner, now that it has huge income from gas and oil, but at least it is finally getting done. After shoring up the hastily-built sarcophagus that was erected after the disaster, the new plan is to build a giant dome and slide it over the entire ruin.

For years, the original iron and concrete shelter that was hastily constructed over the reactor has been leaking radiation, cracking and threatening to collapse. The new one, an arch of steel, would be big enough to contain the Statue of Liberty.

Once completed, Chernobyl will be safe, said Vince Novak, nuclear safety director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development which manages the $505 million project.

The new shelter is part of a broader $1.4 billion effort financed by international donors that began in 1997 and includes shoring up the current shelter, monitoring radiation and training experts.

The explosion at reactor No. 4 on April 26, 1986 was the world's worst nuclear accident, spewing radiation over a large swath of the former Soviet Union and much of northern Europe. It directly contaminated an area roughly half the size of Italy, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

In the two months after the disaster, 31 people died of radioactivity, but the final toll is still debated. The U.N. health agency estimates that about 9,300 will eventually die from cancers caused by Chernobyl's radiation. Groups such as Greenpeace insist the toll could be 10 times higher.

As usual, the media cannot get this right. People do not die from radioactivity. They may die from radiation exposure. Regardless, the RBMK reactor design of the Chernobyl facility was, despite Soviet claims, a weapons reactor with an inherently unstable design. It should not have been used for electricity production and should certainly not have been operated in the manner it was.

Floppy Truncheon?

A British man has been acquitted of all charges in a landmark case. 25-year old Stuart Kennedy will not have to display a floppy truncheon when he next delivers a strip-o-gram.

Three judges have ruled that a male stripper who dresses as a policeman can use a real truncheon in his act.

Stuart Kennedy, a student whose stage name is Sgt Eros, was arrested on his way to an engagement in Aberdeen by two female police officers.
 
They watched his performance in a city pub to confirm his explanation for wearing a police uniform before he was charged with carrying an offensive weapon.

A sheriff threw out the charge at a lower court amid widespread criticism of the Crown for pursuing the case, but prosecutors decided to appeal against the ruling.

They told the Appeal Court in Edinburgh at an earlier hearing that Mr Kennedy, 25, a genetics student and part-time strippagram, would not have been detained if his truncheon had been "floppy".

Men everywhere will be relieved that floppy truncheons are not required by British law.

Syrian Nuclear Video

This is a strange story. Remember the sneak attack by Israel on a site in Syria last year? Well, it seems that the Israelis showed Washington a video of North Koreans inside the facility - which just happens to be almost identical to the North Korean reactor facility at Yongbyon, right down to the number of holes for fuel rods.

The officials said the video of the remote site, code-named Al Kibar by the Syrians, shows North Koreans inside. It played a pivotal role in Israel's decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6, a move that was publicly denounced by Damascus but not by Washington.

Sources familiar with the video say it also shows that the Syrian reactor core's design is the same as that of the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, including a virtually identical configuration and number of holes for fuel rods. It shows "remarkable resemblances inside and out to Yongbyon," a U.S. intelligence official said. A nuclear weapons specialist called the video "very, very damning."…..

…..David Albright, president of Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) and a former U.N. weapons inspector, said the absence of such evidence warrants skepticism that the reactor was part of an active weapons program.

"The United States and Israel have not identified any Syrian plutonium separation facilities or nuclear weaponization facilities," he said. "The lack of any such facilities gives little confidence that the reactor is part of an active nuclear weapons program. The apparent lack of fuel, either imported or indigenously produced, also is curious and lowers confidence that Syria has a nuclear weapons program."

Now that is one weird statement. The absence of fuel in the presence of what certainly appears to be a reactor should not lead one to conclude that there is no weapons program. Rather, it should lead one to believe that the Syrians hadn't fueled the reactor yet. Albright's statement is akin to claiming that a man carrying a machine gun isn't armed if he doesn't have bullets in it. (One doubts such a defense would work in a court.) Wikipedia had a picture of the top of the reactor at Yongbyon. Perhaps Mr. Albright could explain what in the world the Syrians could have been planning to use such a facility for if not for plutonium production.

Side note: This paints Nancy Pelosi's visit to Syria in an even worse light. And kind of points to the silliness of Barack Obama's grasp of how to deal with thugs.

Luke, I Am Your …… Worst Nightmare

Founding a new religion can be a bit rough, apparently. But then, when you base your liturgy on the teachings of a movie prop puppet what can you expect? Yes, Jonba Hehol was finally attacked by a badly-dressed Darth Vader impersonator. One wielding a metal crutch instead of a light saber.

A judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of a Darth Vader impersonator who allegedly attacked two Star Wars fans in their own back garden.

Arwel Wynne Jones, who was dressed in a black bin liner and shiny black helmet, is accused of assaulting Barney and Michael Jones while they were being interviewed for a TV documentary about their love of the films.

Barney Jones (or, as he styles himself for his priestly duties, Jonba Hehol) is one of the founders of the British Jedi Church - which I have posted about before. To update my conclusion about the last post, not only is said Jedi priest seriously in need of a life, it would appear he could also use a good suit of full plate armor.

It's not easy being a puppet messiah.