green_man_2010

Happy birthday,

Today is polling day.
S/he that votes Yes with me today shall say in years to come " I voted 'Yes' on Polling day.

The choice stands clearly before us all.
Both David Cameron and Boris Johnson got where they are today because of some form of P.R.
That is how the tory party elects its leader, and that is how London elects its Mayor.

Now, what these chaps are saying is that wat is good enough for the Tories and the Londoners is somehow not good enough for the rest of the country, and that we should be stuck with First Past The Post.

And they are joined in this call by the BNP, who want the same thing.

Well, I don't want two teir voting, one rule for them and one for the rest of us - i want fairer Votes for everybody.

I am Voting "Yes" !

Like many English speaking kids of my generation, I went to school, and at school, I got taught history. And it was something along the lines that we, the British, ran the largest empire the world has ever known, an Empire that encircled the globe and brought peace and enlightenment to a myriad of warring tribes and prevented widows in India from throwing themselves onto their husband's funeral pyres as the custom was then. In effect, we - the British - created the modern world as we know it. If we never invented civilisation in the first place, then we took what the Greeks and Romans left us and created Civilisation.02 - which the rest of the world runs on today.

Well, that is what I was told, but I have done my own researches since leaving school, and have reached somewhat different conclusions. Like most myths and legends that persist into modern times, there is some basis in the truth that keeps this legend going - but there is an awful lot that gets left out of the 'official version' of history. The official version is heavily edited by the Ruling Class that sells it to us. ( Read more...Collapse )

Well, bully for 'Call me Dave'.
For anyone unaware, David Cameron in the Uk's present Prime Minister, and has warned Zimbabwe's despotic ruler Mugabe that he can ' no longer hide' from the the international community and must ' take heed of events' taking place in the Arab world. Cameron also predicts that the 'Arab Spring' will spread across Africa from north to south and seep despotism and tyranny away.

I might be getting cynical as I grow oldr , but I gotta tell ya, Dave - I don't think so, mate.
The political left in the UK talks about the UN, the African Union and the Arab League as if these were powerful and efficient bodies.

Seriously, they are all a bunch of bickering nobodies. the UN , much to it's credit , has implemented a resolution that is gonna give the rebels a breathing space and stop gaddaffi drowning the rebellion in blood. But who is putting up the most firepower, the most planes and the most money in this? Is it the African nations or the Arab League? Nope- it is Europe and America that saved Libyan civilian from being massacred last Saturday night, not any of the locals.

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In one political community on LJ that I belong to, I recently said that I hoped that gaddaffi would be unseated, but I felt pity for the troops who were going to be on the recieving end of a Uk/Us airstrike.

Someone else spoke in agreement of the No Fly Zone and the airstrikes, but insisted that 'Gaddaffi and his crowd had it coming to them'.
wll, as a christian , I don't approve of gratitious violence, and even when violence has to be used, it's not an ideal way to do things.

Take a look at this. The usually gung ho daily mail , reporting on the latest news in libya takes a very different tone than I ususally expect of them.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368581/For-malice-orders-Tripoli--crush-mercy--RICHARD-PENDLEBURY-feels-sympathy-men-snuffed-efficiently.html

As theiir correspondent rightly says, these men are conscripts.

It might be called "giving Gaddaffi what for" , but in actual fact, Gaddiffi is probably sitting somewhere safe in a bunker, unlike these poor guys.

Yes, I support sanctions and demonstrations on the part of libyans who want him overthrown.
I support the rebels in using armed uprisings if he will not agree to political reform, and if the Rebels are losing ground to Gaddaffian mercenaries, then I support the UN resolution for airstrikes to protect civilians.

But let us remember that it's not a game here. People are dying, and the deaths of any Libyans, on any side of the conflict are not something to cheer about. a lasting peace must be maintained and the UN should assist in rebuilding the nation along the lines that the Libyans want when its over.

As I write this, Uk and US forces are attacking Gaddaffi's positions in Libya.
The UN has passed a resolution to stop Gaddaffi from killing the civilians who want him deposed.

I will edit this with news footage if I can.

The Libyans have made it clear that they don't want the Ukk, or the US , or anyone else to invade Libya and take out Gaddaffi for them, thank you. They have asked the international community to tackle his airforce though.

And that brings up the question of foriegn intervention.

The fact is that the USA is not welcome in Iraq these days, even after bringing down Saddam.
So, why not, you may ask ?

the answer is that wherever the US army goes, the corporate interests are not far behind.

listen to this -
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Sorry it took up so much space, but that is what we have to avoid.
As far as possible, we, the western powers, should get in , get out and leave the Libyans to run their own country from then on - not use it to secure our own business interests.

if the Libyan rebels want International airstrikes, and a no fly zone so they can nail gaddaffi, then lets do it. but let's not expect them to sell us cheap oil, or accept a western puppet government in return. Just because you take a woman out to dinner, that doesn't mean she owes you anything in return. Either we believe in self determination , freedom and democracy and all that stuff or we don't.

And if we really believe in that stuff, we should be going after military dictators everywhere, not just places that have lots of oil. we should be taking the situation in dafur to the floor in the UN, we should be resolved to stop trading with places like China till they clean up their record and get their act together on humna Rights. And even someone like me, who isn't a professional pundit, has noticed that we don't!

What we need to see in Libya is a Democratic Government to emerge. Whether the rebel forces can sit down after deposing Gaddaffi and form a proper government, or will split up into warring tribal factions remains to be seen. but at least let it be said that this time, we dd the right thing . Let it be said that we helped the Libyans on the terms they wanted, and not the terms that suited us. above all , let it be said that our intervention actually made an improvement possible, and that they had every chance to make a better life for themselves when it was over, if it ever gets that far.

What we have to avoid is doing what we did in Afghanistan and Iraq all over again. We cannot go about building nations for other people. We, the westen powers, handed Germany back to the Germans after deposing Hitler, and I hope that we can hand back Libya to the Libyans once they oust Gaddaffi.

Ok, in an ideal world, the Italians would never have been allowed to use mustard gas on civilians in Etheopia. In an ideal world, Standard Oil would not have sold Hitler all the oil he needed to invade Poland and then run amok in Europe. In an ideal world, the UK and USA would put ethics before their own economic interests and would never install tyrants like Idi Amiin or Saddam Hussain.

But we don't live in an ideal world. However, if we did, what would happen next in Libya?

Without troops on the ground, wars cannot be won. We bombed Germany into ruins, but it was not until Russians, Yanks, and Brits marched into Berlin and flew their flags that Hitler's people got down to signing the documents for unconditional surrender.

It may be argued that troops on the ground need to occupy Libya, but whose troops? I think that the only fair and just settlement to the Gaddaffi question is that we must let his own people deal with him themselves.

The UK, the US , and even the UN, can send in warplanes to shoot down Gaddaffi's air force, which is currently being used to kill the rebels who want him deposed. We could also attack his tanks and artillery from the air, but we must let - we should let, the Libyans take care of this tyrant for themselves.

We must not invade and set up a western style puppet government to ensure our own interests, but rather support the democratic movement within Libya itself. Gaddaffi has it coming to him. He has sponsored acts of terrorism against the West, from arming and funding the IRA to the bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie. It's payback time, and if his own people depose him and put him on trail, don't ask me to speak in his defence.

However, while air strikes against the Gaddaffian troops and shooting down any planes that threaten the rebel advances must begin immediately, it would be wrong for anyone else to march in and take the victory from the rebel forces. Let's assist from the air, but leave our ground forces out of it. Libya must be liberated by the Libyan people, primarily. And we owe it to them to send in the help that they ask for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1YqgPAtzho&feature=player_embedded

Have a look at the link.
Who would have thought that watching an experiment would affect the result?

If this is what watching a beam of light does, maybe we should watch the news a bit more and see what happens, or maybe parents would affect the result if they kept an eye on how their kids grow up?

This was a LOL moment for me. I saw this video and just had to share it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVngBa1wtz4&feature=player_embedded

From the Daily Express - Caroline Lucas claims that the Green Party *is* Opposition Party in Westminster. Story in full is under the cut to save yr bandwidth. But isn't she right? I mean, how can Labour claim to be the ' loyal opposition' when in fact they are simply the 'Business Friendly, Tory Lite Party'?
And Nick Clegg's Liberals? Well, they are in the Tory led government coalition, fiercely fighting to make sure we don't have any increases in student fees, making sure that the government does not go selling off the nation's forests, opposing the renewal of Trident and... well, ok , so they are not actually doing any of that.

So, like Caroline Lucas said - if you want to vote for a party to oppose the Tories - vote Green

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