Below are 20 journal entries, after skipping by the 20 most recent ones recorded in Professor-rat's Blurty:

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Friday, November 20th, 2009
10:13 am	Qld cops clobbered A member of the original Northern Territory intervention taskforce has slammed the Federal Government for not taking responsibility for health services in Aboriginal communities. The Australian Medical Association's Territory branch says compulsory health checks uncovered thousands of children with serious lung problems but about 500 have not been given adequate follow-up treatment. It says only about two of these cases per week are being dealt with. The federal Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon, says money has been given to the Territory Government to ensure health service delivery in remote communities. But former intervention taskforce member Dr Bill Glasson says the Territory does not have the capacity to deal with the problems. "The Federal Government initiated this, the Federal Government should finish with this and the Federal Government in washing its hands of the responsibility of this is not on," Dr Glasson said. "They can talk all day and all night about closing the gap, they'll never close the gap. "So Warren Snowdon, take a bit of leadership, get out there and get this problem solved." RELATED - The Australian Human Rights Commission has issued guidelines on what has to be done to make the Northern Territory Intervention comply with the Racial Discrimination Act. The Federal Government wants to reinstate the Act before November 26. But some of its Intervention measures, such as limiting what indigenous people can spend their welfare payments on, would not be legal under the Act in their current form. Race discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes says the guidelines will provide information to the Government on how it could make such measures comply. "We formed the view in discussions with the Government that it would be helpful to have guidelines such as this, once the suspension was removed from the Act, so that they could be used to help in the development of income management schemes to ensure they weren't discriminatory," he said. Qld cops clobbered in new reports on the post-palm island thing. Sear ' Tony Koch' and ' The Australian'. (Comment on this)
10:12 am	Slack shit Some bloke called John Bursill done a tour of Australia recently presenting the Hard Evidence that 9/11 was a conspiracy — last night he sprach at the New Council Chambers @ Trades Hall. According to a comrade who attended, the crowd was large, numbering several hundred, with most being middle-aged or older (which segment was described as being of a similar ilk to that which supported One Nation) while a smaller segment was younger (mostly blokes in their twenties). NB. Bursill also spoke at the Sydney Forum in September — an annual gathering of far-right activists conducted under the auspices of the Australia First Party, for which Dr James Saleam is Der Fuehrer. Pathological Lying: Symptom or Disease? Charles C Dike, MD, MPH, MRCPsych Psychiatric Times, Vol. 25, No.7 June 1, 2008 Pathological lying (PL) is a controversial topic. There is, as yet, no consensus in the psychiatric community on its definition, although there is general agreement on its core elements. PL is characterized by a long history (maybe lifelong) of frequent and repeated lying for which no apparent psychological motive or external benefit can be discerned. While ordinary lies are goal-directed and are told to obtain external benefit or to avoid punishment, pathological lies often appear purposeless. In some cases, they might be self-incriminating or damaging, which makes the behavior even more incomprehensible. Despite its relative obscurity, PL has been recognized and written about in the psychiatric literature for more than a century. The German physician, Anton Delbruck, is credited with being the first to describe the concept of PL. He observed that some of his patients told lies that were so abnormal and out of proportion that they deserved a special category. He subsequently described the lies as “pseudologia phantastica”… In the UK, the Anarchist Federation has issued a statement regarding the apparent fact that ‘Unite Against Fascism (UAF) stewards collaborate with police on anti-EDL mobilisation’ (November 13, 2009): The Anarchist Federation condemns the group Unite Against Fascism (UAF) who, on Saturday 31st October at a mobilisation against the English Defence League (EDL) in Leeds city centre, openly handed one of our members over to the police. Several UAF stewards, including the head of UAF Leeds, physically prevented our member from rejoining the cordon, and then called the police over to arrest him. We will not tolerate collaboration with the state to halt the activity of genuine anti-fascists and ask other progressive organisations to do the same. UAF’s policy of negotiating with the state for its public protests is well known, as is its alliance with religious leaders, trade union bureaucrats and politicians. UAF, apart from being nothing more than a front group for the Socialist Workers Party, has never been an effective means to combat the rise of fascism in Britain nor does it offer anything to working class communities. D. Yates, National Secretary (Anarchist Federation, UK) VICTIMS of Maitland-Newcastle pedophile priest John Denham took the first steps this week in what could be Australia’s biggest compensation payout by the Catholic Church to child sex abuse victims. Denham is scheduled to be sentenced in December 2009 after pleading guilty to sexually abusing dozens of boys in the 1970s and 1980s. Some victims have sought a meeting with Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone, one month before Denham is sentenced for child sex offences from 1968 to 1986. The Denham case could produce a total payout greater than the previous known highest Australian payout of $6 million, paid to nine victims of Maitland-Newcastle pedophile priest Vince Ryan But it is extremely unlikely to top the known highest individual Australian payout of $2 million, paid by Maitland-Newcastle diocese to a Ryan victim because of the catastrophic impact of the priest’s offending. Solicitors said this week the Denham matter could be Australia’s biggest compensation case because there were 39 victims, and because of the successful prosecution of former Vicar-General Tom Brennan in March. Brennan was convicted of knowingly making a false knowingly making a false written statement. Newcastle solicitor Kate Maher, of Braye Cragg, who acted for a number of the Ryan victims, said evidence that Brennan didn’t act after he was repeatedly told of Denham’s offending was similar to the failed duty of care issue raised in the Ryan case. Evidence that the late Monsignor Patrick Cotter knew of Ryan’s sexual abuse and “decided to say nothing” was significant because of the breach of Cotter’s duty of care to the children, she said. Brennan’s conviction is believed to be the first successful Australian prosecution of a priest linked to failing to act over another priest’s offending, Ms Maher said. But the impact of another church sexual abuse case that went to the High Court in 2007 remained a “significant hurdle”, some solicitors and barristers contacted by The Herald this week said. Solicitor and sexual abuse victim John Ellis lost his case against the Archdiocese of Sydney, and was ordered to pay the church’s $750,000 legal bill, after the High Court refused an appeal to challenge the church case that there was no one to sue because of its internal structure.. (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
12:05 pm	Crisis of capitalism predicted Venezuela's economy is suffering a deepening recession at a time when the rest of the world's economies are picking up steam, according to data released Tuesday by the country's central bank. That is bad news for the country's populist leader Hugo Chávez. In the third quarter, economic output fell 4.5% compared with the year-earlier period. The decline follows a second-quarter drop of 2.4% - the second consecutive quarter of economic decline -- officially putting Venezuela into recession. Full: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125851006163953115.html# If I were Hugo I would blame Cuban cyber-dissidents for this for the ENEMY PENETRATES EVERYWHERE! (Comment on this)
11:56 am	Against Sharia - for Jihad Rally against Sharia law, for universal human rights One law for all - No religious laws or courts Saturday, 21 November 2009 12 noon to 2pm Hyde Park, on North Carriage Drive, between Stanhope Place Gate and Albion Gate, Hyde Park (closest underground Marble Arch). Speakers include philosopher AC Grayling, columnist Johann Hari, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, Bangladeshi feminist writer Taslima Nasrin, Southall Black Sisters’ Pragna Patel and Women Against Fundamentalism’s Rahila Gupta. A full list of speakers, including Iranian and Iraqi activists, follows below. “Organised by the One Law for All campaign, Saturday’s rally is in opposition to all religious laws in Britain and worldwide,” said campaign spokesperson, Maryam Namazie “In particular, we are showing solidarity with people who are resisting Sharia law and defending universal human rights and secularism,” she said. Expressing his support for the One Law For All campaign, human rights defender Peter Tatchell of the LGBT group OutRage! said: “This protest is in solidarity with Muslims worldwide who are campaigning against the inequalities and inhumanities of Sharia law. We reject all religious laws and courts, including those inspired by Judaist and Christian fundamentalism. “Sharia law is one of the most extreme manifestations of fundamentalist religion, which is why we need to highlight it. “We oppose interpretations of Sharia law that stipulate the execution of women who have sex outside of marriage, of Muslims who renounce their faith (apostates), and of Muslims who have same-sex relationships. “OutRage! defends and supports Muslim women who are campaigning for equality. We cannot accept the way some Islamic states, including western allies like Saudi Arabia, restrict women’s freedom of movement, impose compulsory dress codes on women, make women subject to the control of male guardians, and deny women access to certain jobs and positions in government. “We believe that Muslim women and LGBT Muslims worldwide should have rights, freedoms and choices, in accordance with the principles of equality and non-discrimination that are enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he said. Maryan Namazie added: “Our rally is being held to mark Universal Children’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. “Simultaneous acts of solidarity will take place in countries across the world, including Australia, Canada, Denmark , France , Germany , Nigeria , Serbia, Montenegro and Sweden. “Sharia law is becoming a key battleground, particularly because it is an extension and representation of the rising threat of Islamism. Sharia matters to people everywhere because it adversely affects the rights, lives and freedoms of countless human beings across the world. “Opposing Sharia law is a crucial step in defending universal and equal rights, and secularism, and showing real solidarity with people living under and resisting it everywhere. November 21 is yet another important day for further strengthening the mass movement needed that can and will put a stop to Sharia once and for all,” she said. Speakers at the rally include: Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s Asad Abbas; Poet ‘AK47;’ One Law for All’s Yasmin Atasheen; Musician Fari B; International Humanist and Ethical Union’s Roy Brown; Secularist Ismail Einashe; Singer/Songwriter David Fisher; Philosopher AC Grayling; Women Against Fundamentalism’s Rahila Gupta; Journalist Johann Hari; Poet ‘Lilith;’ Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq’s Houzan Mahmoud, Lawyer Cris Mccurley; Lawyer Rony Miah; Campaigner Maryam Namazie; Writer Taslima Nasrin; Southall Black Sisters’ Pragna Patel; British Humanist Association’s Naomi Phillips; European Humanist Federation’s David Pollock; Iranian Secular Society’s Fariborz Pooya; National Secular Society’s Terry Sanderson; Poet Selina aka ‘Jus1Jam;’ Activist Muriel Seltman; Equal Rights Now’s Sohaila Sharifi; Organisation for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq’s Issam Shukri; Iran Solidarity’s Bahram Soroush; Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell and National Secular Society’s Keith Porteous Wood. (Comment on this)
11:52 am	A Kruddy population explosion rejected More than 60 per cent of Australians think the country would be worse off if the population grew to 35 million by 2050, a new study finds. Federal government projections show the country hitting that figure by then, a prospect most Australians find worrying, the Ipsos-Eureka survey of 812 people found. At present the country's population is just over 22 million. The think-tank said: "Sixty-four per cent of those surveyed believed Australia would be a worse place to live if we reached a population of 35 million by the year 2050. "Conversely, 14 per cent believed Australia would be a better place to live (while) 22 per cent thought it would be same." According to Ipsos-Eureka, NSW residents were least supportive of population growth, with 75 per cent saying their state would be a worse place to live. Sixty-five per cent of Victorians and 63 per cent of Queenslanders felt the same way, the survey found. A related RAT institute survey found that the overall IQ of Australia rose everytime Kevin Rudd and Lindsay Tanner went overseas. (Comment on this)
11:47 am	Net justice The price of liberty is eternal vigilantism A man who threw a dog off a bridge has turned himself in out of fear after a campaign by internet users to bring him to justice. Video of the incident was posted on Lithuanian websites and spread around the world before Facebook users campaigned for the man to be tracked down and turned over to police, the Daily Mail reports. The footage shows the man carrying the dog to the side of a bridge overlooking a busy highway. According to the Daily Mail, he jokes about proving dogs can fly before scanning the road below for traffic and then calmly dropping the dog over the side of the bridge. Amazingly, the dog survives and can be heard yelping in distress over the passing traffic. The dog was later rescued and received treatment for multiple fractures and internal injuries. The injured animal is expected to make a recovery. Lithuanian web-users reportedly pieced together the man's identity and location from the video and assisted police in finding the man's name, address, email address and Facebook profile. He was identified as Svajunas Beniuk. Police later issued a statement thanking web-users for their assistance in tracking Beniuk who is expected to be charged with animal cruelty. Prediction pools may yet take off - invest in Castro @stiffs dot com! - and even one day eclipse the kind of spectacular attacks we saw in 2001. I'm a little ambivalent about this because some of the tyrants and criminals victims families might come after the pioneers of this new law-enforcement paradigm. I'm only 55! Have mercy! (Comment on this)
11:34 am	Some gnawing criticism of books ' The pursuit of happiness' was pretty much a dud with zero attention paid to such areas as pre-Columbian Arawak, pre- colon California and the South Pacific before the French and Cook arrived. Also what is up with the bourgeois obsession with mysogynist misantropes like Nietzche and Freud!? Fucked if I know, but it must surely offend at least half the human race. Traven found trying I bought the 'Jungle' novels in 1980 and have been trying sporadically to read them ever since - without much success. As the Hollywood mogul once said, ' If I want to send a message, I'll use Western Union'. It looks like there is a lot of messages - good ones I should say - being sent in these books ...but it appears on my limited reading to come at the expense of narrative drive, character exposition and plot. Then I was given serious paws at a sentence that claimed the local indigenous peoples of Southern Mexico had less rights than a ' Chinaman in Australia or a slave in Liberia...' This struck me as odd because many Chinese did very well out of Australia and enjoyed equal rights at the time Traven was writing. Also as I understand it Liberia was founded for freed slaves seeking to resettle in Africa and that should have been known to Traven in Mexico. The 'message' loses it force when it becomes a blunderbuss instead of a more accurate weapon and Traven now appears fatally dated though I will struggle on. Its tough to find anything worth reading with a decent message in it these days. A bit like trying to find a decent movie without digital pollution. (Comment on this)
11:27 am	Viva Athens libre This is a first posting on the developing situation in Athens where the 36th anniversary of the Polytechnic Uprising against the colonels' junta has been marked by long and sustained battles with the police during which hundreds of people have been detained. At the time of writing all central Athens is off bounds. 21:30 17 November 2009 At the time of writing all central Athens is off-bounds and cordoned off by thousands of police forces as battles between protesters and police are developing after the end of the 36th anniversary march for the Polytechnic 1973 uprising and massacre. It was perhaps the most massive protest march commemorating the Polytechnic Uprising in the last 25 years. And despite guarantees from the government the presence of the police in the city of Athens was massive and provocative to the extend that the official organising bodies of the march refused to start their long way via the Parliament to the American Embassy (believed to be behind the 7 year fascist junta) if riot police forces did not withdraw. After 16:00 policemen arrested a young man claimed to be in possession of a molotov cocktail, while during the hours preceding the march a dozen of protesters en route to the Polytechneio were detained for carrying gas masks. Police blockades have sealed off large areas of the Athens centre and are all day conducting mass stop and search operations even in the remotest northern and western suburbs of the city. The march started moving at 16:30, shortly stopped at Syntagma square to commemorate the police assassination of two protesters in the Polytechnic march of 1980, while with some tension built up uproad, at the junction of the Athens Hilton, at 18:15 when riot cops threw a tear gas in the midst of the march attempting to break away the anarchist block. The tension was quickly diffused. The first block of the march reached the American Embassy at around 18:00, where hundreds of riot policemen stood in line guarding the building. After the traditional long stop, the march started dispersing in large blocks. At that time, the anarchist block numbering between 2,500 and 4,000 people (still the numbers are unverified) decided to return to Exarcheia via Alexandras Avenue where the Athens Police Headquarters Tower and the Supreme Court are lined. Upon reaching the Police HQs, the big anarchist block was cut in two by riot police forces, leading the protesters to counterattack against the cops and the glass-n-iron symbol of repression with rocks and nautical flares. The clashes initially forced the police forces to retreat and continued until outside the Supreme Court, with smaller blocks breaking up in the side-streets. Soon after 19:00, under unspecified circumstances, a 100 strong block of protesters was surrounded at the junction of Alexandras avenue and Spyrou Trikoupi street by large riot police forces that immobilised them and brutally detained them. There are reports of people seriously wounded, as well as of two journalists (one working for the French press, and one for the radio-station Kokkino) detained or arrested. The bourgeois media claim that the people detained were unrelated to violence against the police. Meanwhile protesters that had managed to reach Exarcheia square engaged police blocking the way to the Polytechnic in battle with use of rocks and molotov cocktails, forming barricades. The area is surrounded by police forces and off bounds even for state and bourgeois journalists. At the same time Exarcheia locals have gathered in a demo demanding the immediate retreat of the police from their area. According to the locals the policemen are extremely violent and bear no insignia of identification. Up to this moment the countdown is about 250 detentions which the persecuting authorities will decide if they are arrests within the next 24h, while protesters are gathering outside the Police HQ Tower demanding their release. At the same time, the State Persecutor has published a law-suit against the rector and the three sub-rectors of the Athens Polytechnic for allowing athens.indymedia to use its server. The law-suit is considered an unprecedented violation of academic freedom. In Salonica, three different protest marches in commemoration of the 1973 Uprising were marked again by massive participation. After the end of the march protesters attacked riot police forces outside the Aristotelian University building barricades across Egnatia street. In the city of Irakleion, in Crete, the Polytechnic protest march starting at Freedom Square and soon attacked riot police forces surrounding it. During the clashes 5 people were detained, out of which 1 has been upgraded to an arrest. More than 100 protesters have occupied the city hall as a response to the repression, demanding the immediate release of the comrades and the retreat of the cops from the city centre. The protest march in the city of Larissa was completed with no clashes, detentions or arrests. This clash gives us a taste of the final global epic showdown to come - the final battle between us and those crap-filled Fabian/Marxist states who will claim they are anti-capitalist and for the worker. This will be a grudge cage match to the death! Only one will survive! (Comment on this)
11:10 am	Poor peasantry fights against terrorists The North Korean captain of a tanker being held by Somali pirates is believed to have died after being shot during the hijack. When the MV Theresa VIII was hijacked north of the Seychelles on Monday its 28 crew members tried to fight off the pirates. RELATED - it was recently revealed that one of the 9-11 hijackers complained to the police in Virginia that he'd been mugged by a black man. (Comment on this)
11:00 am	Unidentified item in baggage area Comparison of sites using the LiveJournal codebase - see Wikipedia Communist anti-capitalists - a plague on the anarchist movement - fuck off and die '...As democratic Kampuchea wound the clocks back, there were to be no towns, no money, no cars, no religion, no holidays, no schools. In the new society all traces of individuality were to be eradicated. Families were split up, men and women segregated, the women had to cut short their hair and everyone had to wear black. There was to be no love apart from love for the Organization and the nation and all marriages had to be approved. Aside from China communication with the outside world was severed. The country was plunged into a world of surveillance and fear...' From ' The lost executioner - a story of the Khmer Rouge ' ( The hunt for Duch ) While there were similar anti-peasant Marxist genocides in Russia and China, Cambodias in the 1970's, was - in terms of percentage of the population - the worst ever to this very day. Marxists lied - millions died. So why do any 'anarchists' still tolerate Marxists these days!?? Are they just FUCKING NIHILIST TOOLS? (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
12:35 pm	Leave self-harm to the professionals Police have shot dead a man in front of a primary school Sydney's south-west. Just before 9am, police were called to a home in Wangee Road at Lakemba on reports that a man was trying to hurt himself. They will not say what he was armed with. A confrontation took place and an officer fired his gun, hitting the man. He was taken to Canterbury Hospital in a critical condition but later died. The street is closed as police set up a crime scene. One neighbour told the ABC that he is shocked by the shooting. "As you can see there is a school opposite, mothers dropping off kids [the street] has been very quiet," he said. An internal investigation is underway and the Homicide Squad has been notified. It is not clear whether the attending officers had a taser. The New South Wales Government rolled out tasers to frontline officers last year, promoting their importance as an alternative weapon to a gun for police dealing with the mentally ill. (Comment on this)
12:09 pm	Sex-maniac cop WA's police - entertainment journalism gold A PERTH detective has confessed to illegally searching the WA police computer system for the personal details of women he ``fancied'' on the street. John Lawrence Curran, 46, a former detective sergeant at Warwick police, kept a blue clipboard folder and personal diary where he recorded handwritten notes of the women and printed out copies of their car registration details. The lewd handwritten notes next to the names included "huge bazookas’’, "hooters plus’’, "blonde long skinny legs’’, ``69’’, and ``older female - pass’’, the Perth Magistrates Court heard today Curran, 46, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of unlawfully using a police computer involving 14 women and two men between November 2005 and January last year. He also pleaded guilty to twice showing his girlfriend a police video record interview. The Crime and Corruption Commission began investigating the formerly decorated detective in June 2007 after allegations were made about his behaviour. The divorced father of three, who had worked with the police for 27 years, resigned after the CCC raided his Alexander Heights house in April last year. Prosecutor Brett Tooker told the court when Curran saw a woman he ``fancied’’ on the street, he would write down her car registration details and later search them in the police system. He would note down her address, date of birth and other personal details. He met one of the women, going to her house to ask her about a bogus theft, while six women he traced through advertisement in an adult classified section. Mr Tooker described the actions as ``appalling’’ and a ``gross breach of the public trust’’. He called for him to be jailed. ``He was motivated by a sexual interest in the women and what he did, he did for his own sexual gratification,’’ he said. But Curran’s lawyer Mark Andrews said his client had a ``chronic severe psychological condition’’ that had been caused in part by the ``harrowing’’ incidences he had seen while working as a police officer. He said he was an emotional ``shipwreck''. ``After completely 25 years of police work, he became so psychologically vulnerable he made these errors of judgement,’’ he told the court. Mr Andrews said the searches were only conducted because he was ``curious’’. He said they were not the most serious offences and he did not deserve to be jailed. Magistrate Doug Jones will sentence Curran stiffly tomorrow. YOU don't have to be a civil libertarian to oppose giving police the powers to indiscriminately stop and search people without so much as a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Yet that is exactly what the West Australian government is trying to do with legislation before parliament this week. Think about it for a moment. You could be walking down the street (or even driving a car) and a police officer, for whatever reason, could stop you, frisk you and go through your personal possessions. If you are a woman that includes rifling through your handbag. No reason needs to be given, no discussion had, no consent. These are extraordinary powers, unprecedented in this country. West Australian Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan defends them on the grounds that they won't be used unnecessarily. But the legislation is silent on this opaque promise, which, with the sands of time, could wash away. Anyone who values their freedoms should be appalled. The newly elected state Liberal MP Peter Abetz (when he isn't referring to the actions of Adolf Hitler to improve law and order in fascist Germany) says: "When it comes to the crunch, people prefer to be safe than to have freedom." But a large component of safety is protection against an all-powerful state. That is why the term "reasonable suspicion" is a bedrock of policing standards across the globe. The real reason the Barnett government wants to introduce these absurd laws is because there have been recent well-publicised cases of botched "reasonable suspicion" arrests resulting in the courts letting the accused walk free. That happens when police don't do their jobs properly. The solution is to improve policing, not simplistically widen their powers so as to infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens. And of course Western Australia now has mandatory jail sentences for anyone who assaults a police officer. If you resist a search you can be pinned against the floor and, if you in any way react, you could be deemed to have assaulted the officer who without reason stopped and searched you. So blokes out there, don't go getting too offended when a cop runs his hand up your wife's inner thigh without reasonable suspicion. It could land you in jail. (Comment on this)
12:06 pm	Geneva convention needed for net-war Rules in a knife fight THE cyber-battlefield is heating up, with the US, China and France leading a new era of IT warfare, a security provider reports. "There is little disagreement that there are increasing numbers of cyber attacks that more closely resemble political conflict than crime," the report from McAfee said. "The US, Russia, France, Israel and China are not only preparing their cyber-defences, they're also preparing cyber-offences. "We have also seen evidence that nations around the world are ramping up their capabilities in cyber-space, in what some have referred to as a cyber arms race." Attorney-General Robert McClelland has previously admitted Australia has been the victim of attacks, although he has never said whether the Government was being hit by other nations, criminal groups or individual hackers. The attacks are understood to have largely been attempts at so-called denial of service, whereby computer systems are overwhelmed. The online group Anonymous has hinted at plans to attack websites related to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy because of the possibility the Government may decide in coming weeks to filter the internet. McAfee said the discussion about cyber-warfare needed to be taken out from behind the closed doors of cabinet rooms and defence meetings. "We believe this veil of secrecy around cyber-warfare needs to be lifted." Important questions, such as where to draw the line between cyber-espionage and cyber-war, need to be discussed, McAfee said. "Since governments, corporations and private citizens all have a stake in the future of the internet, it is time to open a global dialogue on how to manage this new form of conflict." The willingness of some nations to test their cyber powers on others may signal the beginning of a cyber cold war. "If a major cyber conflict between nation states were to erupt, it is very likely that the private sector would get caught in the crossfire," the report said. (Comment on this)
12:03 pm	Mesh-net found in-the-wild A BRITISH town is to offer free wireless internet access to all its 186,000 residents, in what is thought to be the first such scheme in the country. Local authorities in Swindon, in the south of England, will set up 1400 secure access points around town to create a "wi-fi mesh'' offering residents the internet without having to pay line rental or connection charges. The £1 million ($1.8 million) project will be funded by a mixture of public and private money, but the council hopes it will eventually turn a profit. Residents will be limited in their usage of the free service but will be able to sign up to 20Mb upgrades for "significantly less per month'' than major broadband competitors, while visitors can use a pay-as-you-go service. Digital City UK, which is running the project, is 35 per cent owned by the council and hopes to roll out similar schemes in other British towns. "This is a truly groundbreaking partnership which will have real benefits for everyone living in Swindon,'' said Rod Bluh, leader of Swindon Borough Council. The first phase will be switched on in early December, and the council hopes to complete the whole network by April. In addition to access to normal websites, residents will also be able to use the wi-fi network - which will be protected by anti-virus software - to gain access to council services. Plans are also afoot to deliver real-time information on home electricity usage and local air quality. Mustafa Arif, director of aQovia, the council's partner in Digital City UK, said the scheme was an innovative way to provide revenue and services. "Digital City's business model is built around subsidising free access with revenues from business and community services that are delivered over our wireless network,'' he said. (Comment on this)
11:54 am	Senator calls Catholics ' criminal' Senator Rick Xenomorph last night launched a wide-ranging attack on the Catholic religion saying that it had been wrong on persecuting dissidents and alleged 'sinners', ( 'Kill them all and let god sort them out') wrong on starting many religious wars, inquisitions, pogroms and witchhunts, wrong on gravity and the position of the sun, wrong on liberalism and freemasonry, wrong on supporting absolutist monarchies, wrong on birth control and the right to die and also wrong on condoms. Such a record spanning over a thousand years made its practicioners liable, the senator said, for serious penalties for culpable and indeed, even criminal negligence. (Comment on this)
11:47 am	Greek update Traitors, murderers, and torturers...oh my Greek police fired tear gas and arrested 200 people after clashes broke out at a march to honor a 1973 anti-junta student revolt in Athens. The march began late in the afternoon on Tuesday at the Athens Polytechnic, where at least 44 people were killed in the 1973 student uprising. Around 6,500 police were deployed across Athens for the annual march to the US embassy, which is often marred by clashes between anarchists and riot police. Students and adolescents were among the tens of thousands marching across the Greek capital, criticizing capitalism and NATO and calling for the legalization of undocumented migrants. Uniformed soldiers and sailors from the Greek military trade union marched behind a banner which read: “No soldiers beyond our borders. Dissolve NATO.” The protestors also called for the withdrawal of all US troops from Greece and the dismissal of certain police personnel, calling them traitors, murderers, and torturers. Three police officers were injured in the clashes. Another demonstration in Greece's second city Thessaloniki also produced clashes between youths and riot police, while rival student groups clashed at the city's Aristotelio University before the march even began. The student wing of the conservative New Democracy party said 10 of its members were hospitalized with bruises after being attacked by leftists. Turn about is fair play A Greek radical anarchist group has claimed responsibility for a small bomb that exploded last week outside the home of a Socialist politician. Nobody was injured in the attack, which caused minor damage to the suburban Athens apartment building where Mimis Androulakis, a member of the governing junta, lives. The Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire group says Androulakis, a former Communist, is "a television-friendly lackey of those in power." Since the end of September, Greek police have arrested and charged with terrorism five suspected group members. Monday's proclamation, posted online, said none of the five were linked with the Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire. The group has targeted several slimy politicians over the past few months. (Comment on this)
11:44 am	Cong-rats to the Czecho's PRAGUE — Thousands marched through the Czech capital Tuesday in commemoration of a student protest 20 years ago that grew into the human tidal wave sweeping away the communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia. Today, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are European Union and NATO members. While the world recession has left its mark, their economies are among the strongest of the continent's former communist nations, and their democracies among the most resilient. Pragmatic Czechs in particular have moved into the European mainstream, with most citizens spending little time on any normal day looking back on their Velvet Revolution. But Tuesday was no normal day for the several thousand Czechs gathered to relive the hours that led to their nation's democratic triumph. Nov. 17, 1989, began with fiery speeches at a university campus in Prague, inspiring thousands of students to march downtown toward Wenceslas Square. As darkness fell, police cracked down hard, beating demonstrators with truncheons and injuring hundreds in the melee. Unbowed, the crowds mushroomed in the ensuing days, with demonstrators chanting: "You have lost already!" They were right. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and communism in the region, by Dec. 10, Czechoslovakia had a new government. On Dec. 29, Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright who had spent several years in prison, was elected the country's first democratic president in a half century by a parliament still dominated by communist hard-liners. For many retracing the march, it was a joyful return to a time when repression proved no match for people power, which in a string of protests brought down the Iron Curtain across East Europe. "I came here with hope," said Renata Krbcova, 45, who studied at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in 1989 and joined the ranks of those that rolled through the capital. "It was a wonderful feeling, after all we hoped that something had to happen," she said. On Tuesday, Havel, President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jan Fischer joined hundreds of people laying flowers and lighting candles at a monument marking the site of the brutal clash. "The demonstration, the march set the history into motion," said Havel, who was applauded by the surrounding crowd. Prominent outsiders joined in the praise. "I congratulate the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 20 years of democracy and reaffirm the commitment of the United States to our strong alliance," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. Czechs remain relatively optimistic, 20 years on. A Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, conducted among respondents of nine post-communist countries, has only Czechs and Poles feeling they are better off now than back then. The Aug. 27 survey had a percentage of error between plus or minus 3.5 and 5 percentage points, depending on the country. But on most days, the euphoria of those revolutionary days is hard to find. Besides an economic downturn, the country has been in political limbo since the government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in March in the middle of the Czech EU presidency, just days before President Barack Obama's visit to Prague. Havel said his nation of 10 million is still on the right track, enjoying a democratic society with the rule of law, respect for human rights and a free-market economy. But he expressed concern about "a loss of trust in politics, the gap between the public and the politicians." In a disquieting sign of the freedom of expression that has grown from the Velvet Revolution, hundreds of supporters of the far right extremists Workers' Party staged a protest rally near the National Theater, briefly disrupting the festivities. CT24 news television reported the extremists attacked two people. Police said 48 extremists were detained, both from that protest and from a clash between 100 neo-Nazis and police. (Comment on this)
11:37 am	Butt angel WASHINGTON — Evil Angel founder John Stagliano’s attorney has asked a judge to throw out a motion by Justice Department lawyers to slate a status hearing to resolve pending motions and set a trial date. Stagliano attorney Allen Gelbard told XBIZ on Monday that he opposes the government’s motion because U.S. Judge Richard Leon has yet to rule on the motions to dismiss the cases and other pre-trial motions against Stagliano, as well as Evil Angel Productions and John Stagliano Inc. “I suspect the judge is taking his time on the matter because he’s taking the motions seriously,” said Gelbard, who also noted that the judge previously had been bogged down weighing matters over prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Gelbard said that the Justice Department’s latest motion to get a trial date isn’t appropriate because Leon earlier made it clear that it would render an opinion as soon as possible and that other pending motions would not be considered until the court ruled on the motions to dismiss. “[U]ntil the court rules on the defendants’ motions to dismiss, any such determinations are unnecessary as should the court grant defendants’ motions, these issues will all be moot,” Gelbard said. Gelbard told the court last week that all of the motions raised in prior motions are “serious and profoundly important constitutional issues pertaining to, amongst other things, the continuing validity of the obscenity doctrine as applied to consensual private recipients, its applicability to Internet communications, and peoples’ rights under the substantive due process guarantees of the 14th Amendment to privately obtain sexually explicit entertainment for use in the privacy of their homes.” Stagliano, Evil Angel Productions and John Stagliano Inc. were charged with seven counts in April 2008 of operating an obscenity distribution business and related offenses. The charges stem from the mail and Internet distribution of two movies "Milk Nymphos," directed by Jay Sin; "Storm Squirters 2" directed by Joey Silvera; and a trailer from Belladonna's "Fetish Fanatic 5." Stagliano, who spoke on Saturday at the Free Speech Coalition’s annual fundraiser at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles, blasted the government over its prosecutorial efforts against him and his companies. Stagliano was crowned FSC Man of the Year at the event, which draws top industry executives from the online adult, DVD, store owner, sex toy and novelty sectors. “How would one know what is obscene in this country?" Stagliano asked at the FSC event. “There are no black-and-white answers.” Stagliano told the crowd of about 300 that he particularly took issue with their efforts to strike from evidence his statements to Reason.tv and the Los Angeles Times. - X-Biz news (Comment on this)
11:31 am	Call to shut down power on bad fire days With the almost certain knowledge now that a power-line arc caused a fire that took most of the lives last black saturday, I repeat my call for the premier to shut down the power grid on days like that. Declaring a 'general strike' and shutting off the power - at least in wooded areas - appears to be the only sure way to save lives now following the manifest failure of line-clearing...that is chopping down vast forests alongside the power-lines that has been done since ash wednesday. Mr premier - don't let hundreds more die before you act. (Comment on this)
11:29 am	Bad company Till the day I die. Bad publicity - we seem to be coming in for a bit of it lately with bourgeois historians in the UK and USA both drawing parrallels between the anarchist movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's and the Muslim jihad of today. I take the view that there is no such thing as bad publicity when we're being condemned by a bunch of slavish toadies to state power as most historians demonstrably are. Its practically an endorsement when the spineless flunkies and lackies of brute-force attack your violence. As if the small and limited measure of self-defence made by a few of the wretched of the earth could ever match in intensity and scope the massive genocidal waves of state violence over the last century. Yet bourgeois historians still seem to take pride in balancing these manifestly huge, orders of magnitude differences in favor of the state. They don't seem to have heard of something called the internet yet, whereby any fact may be drilled down on and double-checked. In spite of the general anarchist consensus since the 1920's that overt support for propaganda-of-the-deed be abandoned, PoD never really went away...and I would argue that ( with a little help from the paid liars) that its due for a mini-revival today. In an age of increasingly imperial politics where 'democratically elected' leaders are treated more like royalty than generic public servants then the highest patriotism surely becomes tyrannicide. The Jihadists surely have the right general idea in terms of tactics - even as the strategy of spreading Sharia can only be seen as repugnant to all libertarian socialists everywhere. Then between the spectatcular high peaks of terror and the teeming flood plains of pacifism lies the variagated terrain of the threat. The threat in the age of the net is surely a potent weapon when backed up by specific tactics such as prediction markets for infamous politicians and Denial of Service attacks for some of the worlds largest bureaucracies - such as the pentagon. Naturally any level of violence is voluntary in the anarchist milieu and I would expect that only a minority among us are equipped, mentally and logistically, to launch any attacks. It remains the case that so long as any pacific avenues of hope for change exist then it's hard to justify any attacks that risk collateral damage in the form of any living beings. Also the doctrine of diversity of tactics sometimes appears shaky and is always being 'pinged' by concern trolls that see it as their lifes work to monitor anarchism for any signs of life. Self described anarchists have even been known to join in wedge-issue politics of the worst sort with regard to the blac-bloc, so the hurdles are set high for any anarch wanting to chance their arm. Most of us in the direct action business stick to ELF and ALF style actions that are generally very safe and secure, perhaps with the occasional joining in with the odd automated Ddos attack. The challenge now facing us in an era of growth in our movement and decline in 'superstate' power is to step up the tempo of our illegal operations and specifically identify them as anarchist-revolutionary ( as opposed to the relative obscurity of ELF, ALF and Crimthinc activities) Like it or not we already have global branding and even our logos - the @ and the black-flag, so the defining moment for us is approaching when we can no longer hide our light under a bushell and it would be false and even dangerous modesty to do so. Libertarian socialism is the last-one-standing. Anarchism is not perfect - but compared to democratic and authoritarian socialism its all we have left. The sooner that message gets out - in spite of the identity-politics involved - the better. The final battles promise to be bitter - we may even need to ally temporarily with democratic socialism in order to finally see off the threat of Marxism - and the final battles may not just be in the realm of ideas swaying mass public opinion. We may need to do what Hezbollah did in 2006 and move up from guerilla warfare to more traditional forms of warfare - third generation warfare. This will increase the dangers of new Nestor Makhno's arising among us - however our newly revived assassination skills should come in handy to take care of any home-grown demagogues. Some anarchists acclimatized to decades of peaceful propaganda and second-string status to authoritarian Fabians and Marxists will not take kindly to this future I've outlined here. But anarchists can walk and chew gum. Activism - much like work - need not dominate anyones day and we can surely muti-task if we can do anything. The lessons from Spain also remain clear - create revolutionary solidarity in the enemies rear and prepare early for guerilla activity. The 'democracies' like the UK and the USA that betrayed Spain will finally have their goods returned to them I promise you. I'm running with the pack. (Comment on this)