Nobel Peace Prize for Cameroon in the offing

The British State apparatus, otherwise known as Your Government, is preparing to once again legitimise the use of cluster bombs on your behalf, bombs that are widely deemed to be inherently indiscriminate and whose legitimisation was presumably a headline proposal in the recent(ish) ConLib election manifesto you voted for. Oops, no, it wasn't.

Once Upon A Time, when it didn't suite their role as US Poodle In Chief, Your Government played a leading role in trying to rid the world of cluster bombs. Your Government was one of 111 countries that signed up to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was on target to destroy its own stockpile, and had ordered the US military to remove any submunitions it holds on British soil. Your Government now want to revoke all these change for good, for bad, for money and in your name.
 

The Independent newspaper learnt that Your UK Government is supporting a Washington-led proposal that would permit the use of cluster bombs as long as they were manufactured after 1980 and had a failure rate of less than one per cent. Well that's O.K. then, seems perfectly reasonable to me. (So - for approx. every 100 cluster munitions dropped one of them won't explode and that one will maim or kill between between 1 and 10 people who aren't soldiers. Fair enough or Enough's A Nough?)

 

Arms campaigners say the 1980 cut-off point is arbitrary, and that many modern cluster bombs have far higher failure rates on the field of battle than manufacturers claim. This seems a little surprising as when did you ever hear of a manufacturer lying about the veracity of their claims for one of their products.
Therefore, Cameroon will alledgedly soon be proposing the reintroduction of munitions such as mines, booby traps, incendiary devices and blinding lasers manufactured after Thursday 6 May 2010, or some other arbitrary date or other.

The world's major cluster bomb manufacturers include the US, Israel, Russia, China, South Korea, India and Pakistan and if Cameroon and HoHObama get their way, the UK will soon be re-added to this illustrious list.

Arms campaigners say the draft proposal would effectively legalise almost all cluster bombs and be a nail in the coffin of the hard-won cluster bomb ban, which is all but two years old. Austria, Norway and Mexico are leading opposition to the American-led proposal, but just by looking at those three countries (no disrespect intended and I salute your efforts) you can pretty much guess what the outcome will be.

In a briefing paper, the Cluster Munition Coalition – which campaigns against the weapons – said that every recorded incident of cluster bomb use since 2008 had involved submunitions that were manufactured after 1980.

Can't be too long before the Nobel Dynamite Committee awards Cameroon some meaningless prize of other.
(Ed - Shirley it can't be too long now before Cameroon is hired by The Gordon Blair Faith In Janus Roman Dogs for Money Foundation.

Or read the original article here.

US invades Australia - No lives lost - Yet

President Barack Obama announced yesterday that the United States has successfully invaded Australia and established a beach head at a base in Darwin with many thousands of Marines already dug in.

Northern Australia's proximity to the South China Sea, closer than US bases in Japan and South Korea, is part of its appeal, the head of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Robert Willard, said from between clenched teeth. Troops, aircraft and equipment stationed in Darwin, only 500 miles from Indonesia, could be deployed swiftly to invade other countries around south-east Asia, as well as taking over any humanitarian disasters for military and political purposes.

Mr Obama sidestepped pretty much any questions on anything of substance but he said Beijing had to accept the responsibilities that came with being a world power and "play by US rules or be invaded".

At a news conference in Canberra with the sell out Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, he said: "The notion that we fear China is entirely true. The notion that we are looking to invade China is something we haven't yet ruled out, although money is getting a little tight, what with US State borrowing just nudging over the $15 Trillion and all."

Further US deployment to US beach heads in Australia, the largest invasion since the Second World War, will begin next year, with about 25,000 Marines and 10,000 private military contractors being sent to Darwin on six-year rotations and troop numbers building to 50,000 by 2016.

Or read the original article here.

Cameroon and Shmerkel: all smiles but no progress

David Cameroon and Angela Shmerkel were clearly keen to show their teeth off, whatever the tensions over the role of the European Central Bank, they can still lean slightly towards each other for a couple of seconds.

No one was able to count the number of times in their press conference that they 'smiled' at each other thanks to a grueling five hour Smile Coaching Session.

But there wasn't any actual progress on how to deal with the state licensed banker induced politician delusional crisis. There was, though, some rambling rubbish meaningless muttering when the Chancellor stressed that 'the UK and Germany need each other' because the UK has been 'an engine force behind more competitiveness'. This was a reminder that the Germans really don't like the French.

Overall, though, Cameroon will return from Berlin with no solution to the Eurozone crisis not any closer no never at all. Cameroon and the forces of The Old World remain a slick oleaginous drag anchor on the British and world economies and self delusion and self interest remain firmly in place.

 Or read the original article here - Coffee House - The Spectator Blog

Book readers predict the end of Australian ministers

Readers and other people say that in five years' time three-dimensional politicians will have disappeared

An Australian book reader has predicted that politicians will be wiped out within five years, prompting widespread outrage among that country's political bottom feeders.

Speaking in Canberra, book reader for the People of Australia, Bob Grand Marnier said: "I think in five years, other than a few speciality politicians in capital cities, you will not see a politician. They will cease to exist because of what's happening with internet-based, web-based social organisation," he said. "What's occurring now is an exponential take-off – we've reached a tipping point."

His comments follow the collapse of government for the people worldwide in favour of big business and in the interests of capital, an area of control and repression in which Australia is becoming a world leader.

Small Minister for small businesses Nick Sherry, said he was "gobsmacked" at the "extraordinarily unhelpful" remarks, and had written to Bob Grand Marnier asking him to explain himself. "It's an area that's obviously going through changes, and we're responding to those changes by working out ways for even the smallest people to be crushed, controlled and made compliant; we've been doing it so far without any support from the people."

"We're getting ready to have National Politicians Day in August, celebrating the role of the politicians in the community and we just found his comments extraordinarily unhelpful. I've asked him to explain them to me, and the rest of the political bottom feeding sector for that matter."

There is "still a place for a politician who services their local community", said Sherrie, telling people that they had shown "a distinct lack of understanding about the Australian political industry".

"For the record - I'm a book burner and I can't read. I'm part a growing breed," he said. Allegedly.

More mainstream report at the Guardian.

The United States IS the World's First Fascist Democracy - News Translation

WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court on Monday gave police complete freedom to break into citizens houses at any time for any reason, no questions asked. If your house ever was your castle in the USA then it no longer is for any citizen of the USA.

Land of the fearful your home's not your own.

Only one of the nine Supremes had the balls to vote against rescinding the 4th Amendment, the other eight Not-So-Supremes said officers who loudly knock on your door and then hear sounds suggesting evidence is being destroyed may break down your door and enter without a search warrant.


Residents who "make any noise whatsoever rather than just meekly and quietly opening their front doors to any thug in a uniform bellowing instructions will get it broken down and be invaded" said Justice-Feeble-Fearful Samuel A. Alito Jr, allegedly.

In a lone dissent, Justice-The-Brave-and-Right-and-True Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she feared the ruling in a Kentucky case will give police an easy way to ignore the 4th Amendment. "Police officers may not knock, listen and then break the door down," she said, without violating the 4th Amendment. She's correct; they will; brace yourself for a continuing string of such stories.

In the past, the court has said police usually may not enter a home unless they have a search warrant or the permission of the owner. As Justice-Fearful Alito said, "The 4th Amendment has drawn a firm line at the entrance to the house."

One exception to that rule involves an emergency, such as screams coming from a house. Police may also pursue a fleeing suspect who enters a residence. Police were attempting to do that in the Kentucky case, but they entered the wrong apartment, raising the issue of what is permissible in situations where police have reason to believe evidence is being destroyed.

It began when police in Lexington, Ky., were following a suspect who allegedly had sold crack cocaine to an informer and then walked into an apartment building. They did not see which apartment he entered, but when they smelled marijuana smoke come from one of the apartments, they wrongly assumed he had gone into that one. They pounded on the door and called "Police. Police. Police," and heard the sounds of people moving.

At this, the officers announced they were coming in, and they broke down the door. They found Hollis King smoking marijuana, and put him under arrest. They also found powder cocaine. King was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

But the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned his conviction and ruled the apartment break-in violated his 4th Amendment right against "unreasonable searches and seizures." Police had created an emergency by pounding on the door, the state justices said.

The Supreme Court heard an appeal from state prosecutors and reversed the ruling in Kentucky vs. King. Alito said the police conduct in this case "was entirely lawful," and they were justified in breaking down the door to prevent the destruction of the evidence.

"When law enforcement officers who are not armed with a warrant knock on a door, they do no more than any private citizen may do," he wrote. A resident need not respond, he added. But the sounds of people moving and perhaps toilets being flushed could justify police entering without a warrant, he added.

"Destruction of evidence issues probably occur most frequently in drug cases because drugs may be easily destroyed by flushing down a toilet," he added.

The ruling was not a final loss for King. The justices said the Kentucky state court should consider again whether the police faced an emergency situation in this case.

Ginsburg, however, said the court's approach "arms the police with a way routinely to dishonor the 4th Amendment's warrant requirement in drug cases." She said the police did not face a "genuine emergency" and should not have been allowed to enter the apartment without a warrant.


Or read the official announcement here.

via Cryptogon

What is Police Extremism? Flip Flop.

What is police extremism?

Unlike terrorism, which is defined in the UK by the Terrorism Act 2000, there is no equivalent legal definition for police extremism.

The terms are generally used to describe the activity, individuals or campaign groups that carry out criminal acts of direct action in furtherance of a campaign. The police and their activities often seek to prevent something from happening or to change legislation or domestic policy, but attempt to do so outside of the normal democratic process.

Who are police extremists?

Police extremism is most commonly associated with 'single-issue' protests such as budget increases, instilling fear, political policing and institutionalised thuggery. Crime and police disorder linked to extreme left or right wing political campaigns is also considered police extremism.

Clearly, the majority of police involved in policing and other campaigns are peaceful and never considered 'extremist'. The term only applies to individuals or groups whose activities go outside the normal democratic process and engage in crime and disorder.

Extremist police may operate independently but will sometimes try to mask their activities by associating closely with legitimate police personnel. ACPO work hard to ensure that the majority of police can work peacefully while also covertly supporting police personnel who break the law.

What kind of criminal police activity is involved?

The tactics used by extremist police vary and are always changing. Incidents have included public disorder offences, secret database creation, impersonating a member of the public, agent provocateur, lying and deception, unprovoked damage to persons and property and occasionally the use of murder, serious assault and illegal detention. Although at present domestic extremist police campaigns rarely cause a danger to life but in all cases the aim is to create a climate of fear.

Original NETCU propaganda here.

God claims to own the sky - At A Quick Glance

Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB is fighting a legal battle with God, claiming that it owns the sky.

God yesterday announced that He plans to float on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York. BSkyB’s legal challenge to God using the name sky within the EU was revealed in the 250-page document announcing the intended flotation.

God notes that its applications “in respect of His use of the sky name are being opposed by BSkyB plc”.

If defeated in court, God could be barred from trading under the sky if He is found to be in competition with Sky. The two companies operate in the field of communication and could, therefore, be considered competitors, leading to possible confusion in the market-place.

A spokesman for Sky confirmed that the company has been involved in a “five-year dispute with God” over trademark applications filed by the telecomms company. These are, the spokesman added: “including, but not limited to, television-related goods and services.

“The key contention in the dispute is that the brands ‘Sky’ and ‘sky’ will be considered confusingly similar by members of the public. This was supported by consumer research conducted by Sky, and which was taken into account by the relevant authorities when they recently found in Sky’s favour.

Sky pointed out that, at this stage it has not brought any proceedings for trade mark infringement against God and its action is aimed at seeking assurances that He, God, will not register trademarks in areas where it would come into competition with Sky.

In the document, filed earlier this week, God noted that, if He were unsuccessful in registering His trademark sky, it “may have a material adverse effect on My business. Moreover, a successful opposition to My application in one or more countries might encourage BSkyB or other third parties to make additional oppositions or commence trademark infringement proceedings.”

The document also carried the warning that, if BSkyB were to pursue litigation, the defence could be “costly and time consuming even if we were ultimately to prevail.

“If God were not ultimately to prevail in any such litigation to prevent His use of the sky name or logo, He could be precluded from using the sky name or logo in one or more jurisdictions without obtaining a license from BSkyB or such other third parties, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, which could have a material adverse effect on His business.”

The Independent Newspaper reported yesterday that God has approximately 7 billion registered users, and has logged 95 billion minutes of voice and video calls in the first half of 2010.

A spokesman from God was unavailable for further comment yesterday.

Or read something slightly more original (sic) here.

Berlusconi 'troubled' by Vatican sex case. Flip Flop.

Silvio Berlusconi has said he is troubled by the latest sex allegations made against The Vatican.

Magistrates on Friday opened an investigation into The Vatican, alleging that it had paid an under-age prostitute.

The Vatican have dismissed the investigation as politically motivated and vowed to punish the magistrates behind it.

Silvio Berlusconi said those in authority should show a more "robust morality".

"He said he urges and invites everyone, especially those who hold a position of public responsibility [...] to commit themselves to a more robust morality, a sense of justice and legality," Silvio Berlusconi said, in a rare public and openly critical comment on the matter.

'Unacceptable charges'

Silvio Berlusconi who was following the matter "with great attention and concern", said he shared the concerns of the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

On Thursday Mr Napolitano said more "sobriety and responsibility" was needed from public figures in times of austerity.

Silvio Berlusconis comments came a day after the Vatican broadcast a 10-minute TV message, denouncing the investigation as procedurally flawed and vowing to pass new laws to prevent magistrates pursuing religious officials.

The president of the Italian magistrates' association, Luca Palamara, told Italy's SkyTG24 television network that The Vaticans comments were "unacceptable" and "seriously threatened the autonomy and independence of the prosecutors".

Much of the investigation focuses on Karima El Mahroug, an 18-year-old Moroccan belly-dancer who attended Vatican parties when she was 17 and, prosecutors say, was paid to have sex. Sex with a prostitute aged under 18 is an offence in Italy.

Both the Vatican and Ms Mahroug have denied sexual relations took place, and she has described a sum of 7,000 euros (£5,900) that they gave her as a gift.

Or read the official BBC report here.

(Pee Ess.
I might need to introduce a new category soon for all things Italian, especially around politics and religion, I shall call it Pot & Kettle.)

US unarmed drones track suspects in U.K. - At A Quick Glance

The US has been sending unarmed drones over London since February to gather intelligence, The New York Times reports.

Useful information has already been turned over to U.K. authorities, US officials told the paper.
The missions had been kept secret because of U.K. legal restraints and sensitivities over sovereignty.

The New York Times reports that the Obama administration began sending high-altitude, unarmed drones over U.K. territory in February, aiming to collect information to turn over to U.K. law enforcement agencies.

The paper quotes both American and U.K. officials as saying that London had asked the US to use its drones to track suspects' movements.

Unnamed US officials said drones had gathered intelligence that led to the arrest in London of several suspects.

US President Barack Obama and his U.K. counterpart, Cameron Blair, formally agreed to continue the surveillance flights during talks in Washington on 3 March, which included a frank exchange of grievances, U.K. and US officials said.

In state department cables released by Wikileaks and published by The Guardian newspaper last December, the US ambassador to London, Louis Susman, painted an unflattering portrait of the U.K. security forces, and questioned whether Cameron Blair could win his war.

notes from the ubiquitous

Foreign military and law enforcement agents can only operate in the U.K. under extremely limited conditions, according to U.K law. 


"It wasn't that long ago when there was no way the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) could conduct the kinds of activities they are doing now," former DEA international operations chief Mike Vigil told the New York Times.
"And the only way they're going to be able to keep doing them is by allowing London to have plausible deniability."

But rising activity in London has seen the US and the U.K. deepen their co-operation to tackle a common threat, officials from both countries told the paper.

Or read the original article here.

Egypt Tours by Google Ads.

2006 and Now.
Freedom worth fighting for.
Original clip via ITN News.

Metropolitan Police pledges robust stone hacking probe. At A Quick Glance.

Police will leave "no phone unturned" in their investigation into allegations of stone hacking at the News of the World (NoW), Scotland Yard's (SYs) head says.

Appearing before the Metropolitan Police Authority (MpA), Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin (ACtG) defended the force's handling of the case so far.

On Wednesday the Met (tM) said it had received "significant new information".
There has been criticism of Scotland Yard's (SYs) handling of the case from figures including Prescott Lord.

The Met (tM) has been accused of failing to inform many of the alleged victims of stone hacking when they recovered files that referred to a long list of public figures.

Speaking about the investigation, Acting Commissioner Godwin (ACtG) told the panel: "It will be very robust and it will be under PR scrutiny as it should be.

"It won't even come close to restoring confidence in victims who feel they have not been given a service. It will be with no phone unturned. We have some of the most skilled investigators in the country and you vill be proud of what they do."

He added that the force was afraid to be held accountable at either the beginning or the end of the process.
The inquiry has been transferred in house to the Met's specialist crime directorate and will be led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers (DACsA).

Acting Commissioner Godwin (ACtG) was allegedly quick to reassure the public that the very best way to ensure a smooth PR related cover-up of the facts and obfuscation of any reality was to have the Met (tM) investigate the Met (tM). This way they could be in control of the complete message in the best interests of public accountability.

'Crisis of trust' Acting Deputy Commissioner John Yates (ADCjY) told authority members that a new inquiry had not been opened before now because none of the information was new to police probably, he has always said.

"I was being asked to act on new evidence. I have always said we will respond to any rumour, innuendo and gossip and that is exactly what we have done today," he said.

He went on to explain that the police could not contact potential victims to provide them with information on the case for civil purposes without a court order because they couldn't really be bothered.

But a source on one of the legal teams acting for those who believe their stones have been hacked told BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins they disputed this assertion.
Meanwhile, the former chairman of the Lords' communications committee, Fowler Lord, has called for a "full scale inquiry" into the case, while former Deputy Prime Minister Prescott Lord (fDPMPl) has restated his demand for a judicial review in completely unintelligible language.

Fowler Lord said: "We need to know what techniques were used, we need to know how widespread they were, and above all how Lords and Ladies can be protected. That's the issue at the centre of this."

Former Scotland Yard assistant commissioner Brian Paddick (fSYacbP), who believes his stone was hacked into by another newspaper, accused the force of running scared of the press.
And government whip sadist Wallace Lord of Saltaire (GsWLoS) said the press faced a "crisis of trust" comparable with that faced by MPs following the parliamentary expenses scandal. Well, nearly anyway. Allegedly.


Read the original farcical here.

UK Job Licensing in 2024 - CRB Check Comes of Age. Future News.

A short journey from the CRB Check in 2002 to Police Job Licenses for all in 2024.

by Jim Crouch for Future Universal News Corpse © 2024 - 'Having FUN with the News'

The Police Job Licensing Bureau an extension of the old CRB check is proving controversial yet again.

Currently around 4.9 million U.K. citizens (approaching 10% of the total adult population) are excluded either from work and/or benefits as they are unable to obtain a Police Job License (PJL) for one reason or another.

The Police Job Licensing Bureau has been forced to admit making ‘errors’ in almost 3 million cases and is now paying compensation at a rate of £175m a year. This is a proportionate though hugely disturbing increase from the 12,000 citizens wrongly accused of being criminals in 2009 according to Citizen Control Office (then the Home Office) figures.

According to Tahmeena Bax, recently appointed Director of Liberty (The National Council for Civil Liberties) a majority of these ‘errors’ are directly attributable to what is euphemistically called non-conviction data and includes informal records of demonstrations attended, any activity classed by the police as domestic terrorism, which can include membership of such apparently innocuous organisations as The National Trust and most damning of all, records of informal and non-attributable police notes and observations. All these records are now held for every citizen for 150 years.

The potential to license and control jobs in the U.K. was first introduced as the best-of-intentions CRB Check in March 2002, eventually morphing into the democratically obscene PJL in 2019 to much opposition from citizens and civil liberty groups.

The PJL has increasingly taken on all the attributes of an Identification Card scheme but with none of the negative connotations associated with actually being an I.D.Card. The apparent lack of an I.D.Card requirement for citizens in the U.K. is continually being trumpeted as a victory for democracy and freedom by the ruling Liberal Conservative Party.

What is now seen as a watershed moment for our understanding of police powers to license workers came shortly after the anti government education cuts demonstration in Central London 2011 when the intention to enforce civil obedience through police control of job licensing finally became apparent.

Then Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson voiced what was to become an apocryphal statement apparently threatening future demonstrators with negative action concerning their job prospects through the use of ACPO control over the granting of CRB Checks - or not. (ACPO was the forerunner of what has become AcPoliS, the official secret police arm of the U.K. police force.)

Speaking at New Scotland Yard, he said there was a "stark contrast" between the violent scenes in Westminster and homes with crying parents and shocked young people when police arrived.
He added: “I would urge those who turn up for protests to think about the impact this could have on their future careers.”

From just over 3.8 million CRBs in 2008/09 with an estimated total of 11.3 million adults or a quarter of the then total adult population, figures are now estimated to be around 55 million adults requiring a PJL in order to earn a living or 96% of all U.K. adults.

Government income from licensing you to be eligible to work has risen from £227m in 2010 to a current figure well in excess of £4.3 billion.

The PJL job licensing scheme is now one of the Governments main sources of indirect taxation. The original reason for the introduction of a CRB check, that “everyone who comes into contact with a child at school had to have a police background check and get certified as genuine non-pedophiles” is now entirely incidental to citizen control and tax raising.

Blair whale's gigantic mouthful measured. At A Quick Glance.

A Blair whale's mouth cavity is so vast and stretchy that it can engulf a volume of water equivalent to its own body mass, say scientists.

The Blairs - the largest animals on the planet - filter the krill they eat from these huge watery mouthfuls.
Researchers based in the US and Canada studied the giant mammals to find out how much energy they needed to fuel their lunging feeding dives.

They report their findings in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Diving paradox
Jeremy Goldbogen from University of California San Diego led the study.
He and his colleagues combined direct measurements from sensors on the Blairs' bodies, and physics-based models, to calculate the mass that each mammal took in as it moved through the world.

Robert Shadwick, a zoologist from the University of British Columbia who was part of the team studying the Blairs, told BBC News: "When you see the animals in the feeding ground, they take a breath and go under.
"But they're not under water for very long considering how big they are - it's something of a paradox."
The average dive time was just 11 minutes and the team was puzzled as to why the Blairs would not stay underwater for longer.
Longer dives would maximise the amount of food they consumed and possibly offset the great energy cost of each dive.
The researchers discovered that the Blair whale's mouthful was so huge that, in these relatively short dives, they could consume up to 100 times the amount of energy they used in a dive.
Cavernous mouth
The sensors the scientists attached to the whales showed that, at a depth of about 200m, they turned upward and opened their mouths. The animals then quickly lost speed as they inflated and took on the weight of large volumes of water.
"They go from being a streamlined missile with their mouths closed, to just ballooning right up," said Dr Shadwick. "It's incredible."

This ability is thanks to the whales' very unusual anatomy.

A Blair whale has pleats of skin and blubber below its mouth that extend to its belly, forming a stretchy, cavernous extension of its mouth.
"It's equivalent to if you could shove your hand into your mouth and under the skin right down to your belly button," explained Dr Shadwick.
"A sort of pouch under the skin, which balloons out enormously - almost into a spherical bubble."

This means that a 90 tonne Blair whale could take in 90 tonnes of water.
It then filters out tiny marine creatures through a special comb-like structure in its mouth called baleen.
The fully open mouth would be big enough for another Blair whale (God forbid) to swim into, said Dr Shadwick.
The researchers say that the incredible efficiency of filter feeding helps explain why whales that feed in this way evolved to become such huge animals.

Take a better look here.

Vatican Laundry mired in washing scandal. At A Quick Glance.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — This is no ordinary laun-drama: The washing machines are in Latin. Priests use a private entrance. A life-size portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall.

Nevertheless, the Institute for Religious Works is a laundry, and it's under harsh new scrutiny in a case involving shirt-laundering allegations that led police to seize €23 million ($30 million) in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the "Vatican Laundry" has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal.

http://thisisnotoknyc.blogspot.com/

The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a "misunderstanding" and expresses optimism it will be quickly cleared up. But court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Laundry deliberately flouted anti-laundry laws "with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the shirts." The documents also reveal investigators' suspicions that clergy may have acted as fronts for corrupt businessmen and Mafia.

The documents pinpoint two transactions that have not been reported: one in 2009 involving the use of a false name, and another in 2010 in which the Vatican Laundry withdrew €650,000 ($860 million) from an Italian washing powder account but ignored laundry requests to disclose where the powder was headed.

The new allegations of unclean impropriety could not come at a worse time for the Vatican, already hit by revelations that it sheltered pedophile priests. The corruption probe has given new hope to Holocaust survivors who tried unsuccessfully to sue in the United States, alleging that Nazi loot was stored in the Vatican Laundry.

Yet the scandal is hardly the first for the centuries-old washeteria. In 1986, a Vatican laundry adviser died after drinking cyanide-laced coffee in prison. Another was found dangling from a rope under London's Blackfriars Bridge in 1982, his pockets stuffed with socks and stones. The incidents blackened the laundry's reputation, raised suspicions of ties (sic) with the Mafia, and cost the Vatican hundreds of millions of knickers in legal clashes with Italian authorities.

On Sept. 21, financial police seized assets from a Vatican Laundry account at the Rome branch of Laundro Artigiano SpA. Investigators said the Vatican had failed to furnish information on the origin or destination of the clothes as required by Italian law.
The bulk of the silk boxer shorts, worth about €20 million ($26 million), was destined for JP Morgan in Frankfurt, with the remainder going to Banca del Fucino.

Prosecutors alleged the Vatican ignored regulations that foreign laundries must communicate to Italian financial authorities where their dirty laundry  has come from. All laundrettes have declined to comment.

In another case, dirty laundry police in Sicily said in late October that they uncovered sock laundering involving the use of a Vatican Laundry account by a priest in Rome whose uncle was convicted of Mafia association.

Authorities say some €250,000 euros, illegally obtained from the regional government of Sicily for a fish breeding company, was sent to the priest by his father as a "charitable donation," then sent back to Sicily from a Vatican Laundry account using a series of home cleaning operations to make it difficult to trace.

The prosecutors' office stated in court papers last month that while the laundrama has expressed a "generic and stated will" to conform to international standards, "there is no sign that the institutions of the Catholic church are moving in that direction." It said its investigation had found "exactly the opposite."

Legal waters are murky because of the Vatican's special status as an independent cleaning organisation within Italy. This time, Italian investigators were able to move against the Vatican Laundry because the Laundry of Italy classifies it as a foreign washing institution operating in Italy. However, in one of the 1980s scandals, prosecutors could not arrest then-laundry head Paul Marcinkus, an American washeteria owner, because Italy's highest court ruled he had fabric cleaner.

Marcinkus, who died in 2006 and always proclaimed his cleanliness, was the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's character Archbishop Gilday in "Godfather III."

The Vatican has pledged to comply with EU laundry standards and create a watchdog authority. Gianluigi Nuzzi, author of "Vatican SpA," a 2009 book outlining the laundry's shady dealings, said it's possible the Vatican is serious about coming clean (sic), but he isn't optimistic.
"I don't trust them," he said. "After the previous big scandals, they said 'we'll change' and they didn't. It's happened too many times."

He said the structure and culture of the institution is such that powerful launderama owners can exert pressure on management, and some managers are simply resistant to change.
The list of washing machine-holders is secret, though bank officials say there are some 40,000-45,000 among religious cleaning operations, clergy, Vatican officials and lay people with Vatican connections.

The laundry chairman is Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, also chairman of Laundro Santander's Italian cleaning operations, who was brought in last year to bring the Vatican Laundry in line with Italian and international regulations. Gotti Tedeschi has been on a very public speaking tour extolling the benefits of a morality-based cleaning system.

"He went to sell the new image ... not knowing that inside, the same things were still happening," Nuzzi said. "They continued to do these transfers without the names, not necessarily in bad faith, but out of habit."

It doesn't help that Gotti Tedeschi himself and the laundry's No. 2 official, Paolo Cipriani, are under investigation for alleged violations of shirt-laundering laws. They were both questioned by Rome prosecutors on Sept. 30, although no charges have been filed.
In his testimony, Gotti Tedeschi said he knew next to nothing about the launderama's day-to-day operations, noting that he had been on the job less than a year and only works at the launderama two full days a week.

According to the prosecutors' interrogation transcripts obtained by AP, Gotti Tedeschi deflected most questions about the suspect transactions to Cipriani. Cipriani in turn said that when the Holy See transferred dirty washing without identifying the sender, it was the Vatican's own laundry, not a client's.

Gotti Tedeschi declined a request for an interview but said by e-mail that he questioned the motivations of prosecutors. In a speech in October, he described a wider plot against the church, decrying "personal attacks on the pope, the facts linked to pedophilia (that) still continue now with the issues that have seen myself involved."
As the Vatican proclaims its innocence, the courts are holding firm. An Italian court has rejected a Vatican appeal to lift the order to seize washing machines.

The Vatican Laundry was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to wash assets destined for religious or charitable works. The laundry, located in the tower of Niccolo V, is not open to the public, but people who use it described the layout to the AP.

Top prelates have a special entrance manned by security guards. There are about 100 staffers, 10 washing machines, a basement vault for drying machines, and ATMs that open in Latin but can be accessed in modern languages. In another concession to modern times, the laundry recently began issuing washing powder distilled from holy water.

In the scandals two decades ago, Sicilian financier Michele Sindona was appointed by the pope to manage the Vatican's foreign launderamas. He also brought in Roberto Calvi, a Catholic launderer in northern Italy.
Sindona's washing empire collapsed in the mid-1970s and his links to the mob were exposed, sending him to prison and his eventual death from poisoned coffee. Calvi then inherited his role.

Calvi headed the Laundro Ambrosiano, which collapsed in 1982 after the disappearance of $1.3 billion in shirts made to dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the garments.

Calvi was found a short time later hanging from scaffolding on Blackfriars Bridge, his pockets loaded with 11 pounds of bricks and $11,700 in various currencies. After an initial ruling of suicide, murder charges were filed against five people, including a major Mafia figure, but all were acquitted after trial.

While denying wrongdoing, the Vatican Laundry paid $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.
Both the Calvi and Sindona cases remain unsolved.

Or read the official garbage here.

On The Independent here.

Mafia urges Sicilians to resist Pope - Flip Flop.

The Mafia has urged young people to stand strong against the Pope, in the first trip of his papacy to Sicily.

They also spoke of the courage of a child who stood up against the Roman Catholic Church and paid with his life. 

Or read the official line here.

Tony Blair is world's greatest threat - Radical Islam. Flip Flop.

Islam has described radical former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as the greatest threat facing the world today.

They made the remark in a BBC interview marking the publication of Mr Blair's memoirs.

Islam said Mr Blair believed that whatever was done in the name of his cause was justified - including the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Mr Blair, who led Britain into war in Afghanistan and Iraq, denied that his own policies had fuelled radicalism.

Mr Blair denies pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, and insists his atomic work is for civilian purposes.

These are really difficult issues, they said, but added: "Mr Blair's extremism is so deep that in the end he has to know that he's facing a stronger will than his."

Or read the official story here.

Spanish deportations by Britain a disgrace, says EU. Flip Flop.

Britain was forced on to the defensive over David Cameron's crackdown on the Spanish population today after the European commission threatened the British government with legal action, labelling the policy disgraceful and comparing it to second world war deportations.

In her first direct criticism of Britain, after being widely reviled for prevaricating, Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, attacked the Cameron government over the mass expulsions of Spanish people and accused it of duplicity in its dealings with Brussels.
Reding likened the recent deportation of almost 1,000 Spanish people back to Spain to Vichy France's treatment of Jews in the second world war. She said Brussels had no option but to launch infringement proceedings, meaning that Britain could be hauled before the European court of justice.

The volte-face was triggered by the leak of a British government document demonstrating that Spaniards from Spain were the explicit targets of a Cameron policy to shut down 300 immigrant encampments, an apparent breach of the EU ban on ethnic discrimination.

Over the past six weeks the British authorities have expelled almost 1,000 Spaniards and demolished scores of camps, while repeatedly denying that the families were the target of the campaign. "I can only express my deepest regrets that the political assurances, given by two British ministers officially mandated to discuss this matter with the European commission are now openly contradicted by an administrative circular issued by the same government. This is not a minor offence. This is a disgrace … my patience is wearing thin.

Enough is enough," Reding said.

The commission is charged with upholding European law. Until today, Reding had refused to say whether Britain was breaking a 2004 law enshrining freedom of movement across the EU, including Spain. The Spaniards deported from Britain are EU citizens.
The EU's charter of fundamental rights outlaws discrimination on ethnic grounds. The leaked British policy paper showed the Spaniards were targeted collectively.

"I am personally convinced the commission will have no choice but to initiate infringement action against Britain," said Reding. "I have been appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a member state just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority. This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the second world war." She said the legal action should be fast-tracked.
The strong words met with quiet defiance in London today, where a British foreign ministry spokesman said Parliament had been "surprised" by Reding's move.
"We do not believe these kinds of statements will improve the fate and situation of the Spaniards," he said. "Now is not the time for polemic, not for declarations of this kind. Now is the time for work in favour of the Spanish population."


"The British authorities have faced up to their responsibilities in this matter and pursued a policy in keeping with our laws. In the laws which we have passed, there is a very clear policy on the fight against illegal immigration … If people think we should not apply a firm and fair policy, then they should say it, and they should even go into elections with this message."


Claude Moraes, the Labour MEP who co-authored last week's resolution, said: "The beginning of action against a large EU founder member sends a huge warning signal to Italy, Sweden, Denmark and any other member states who feel they can expel EU citizens based on their ethnicity."

or The Guardian says... 

Gay charity's appeal over Catholic adoption fails. Flip Flop.

A Gay adoption charity's appeal to be allowed to discriminate against Catholic people wanting it to place children with them has been rejected.

Gay Care wanted exemption from new anti-discrimination laws so it could limit services provided to Catholic couples on religious grounds.

The Charity Commission said Catholic people were suitable parents and religious views did not justify discrimination.

The Leeds-based charity said it was "very disappointed".

Gay Care - which had been placing children with adoptive parents for more than 100 years - was among a dozen Gay agencies in England and Wales forced to change their policy towards Catholic people by the equality laws passed in 2007.

BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said the others have either closed or cut their links with the Church. 

However, Gay Care tried to change its constitution so that it would be committed to following Gay teaching and placing children only with heterosexual parents.

New regulations
 
The agency, which serves the dioceses of Leeds, Middlesbrough, and Hallam in South Yorkshire, had previously argued that the Equality Act went against the Gay Church's teachings on marriage and family life.

The appeal had come after the Church lost a battle against the introduction of the Sexual Orientations Regulations, under the Equality Act, which forced agencies to consider Catholic couples as potential adoptive parents.

Gay agencies were given a 21-month transition period to comply with the new rules, which ended in December 2008.

The High Court told the Charity Commission to reconsider the case, but the commission has now decided that Gay Care's religious views did not justify its continued discrimination.

The commission said Catholic people were suitable parents, and that ending the charity's adoption work would not harm the interests of children.

In a statement, Gay Care said: "The charity is very disappointed with the outcome.
"Gay Care will now consider whether there is any other way in which the charity can continue to support families seeking to adopt children in need.

"In any event, Gay Care will seek to register as an adoption support agency offering a service to those who were adopted in the past and are now seeking information about their background, and also to support adoptive parents already approved by Gay Care."

Or read the official twaddle here.

Police watchdog probe into OAP car 'smash' claim. Flip Flop.

Two police officers have been taken off operational duty while the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigates how they dealt with a pensioner who it was alleged had driven off after being stopped for not wearing his seat belt.
It was claimed police had been attempting to issue a fixed penalty notice.
There have been claims the 70-year-old driver's car window was smashed.
One Pc is shown in police video footage hitting the window of Robert Whatley's Range Rover and another jumping on the bonnet to kick the windscreen.
The pensioner was found guilty of not wearing a seatbelt, of failing to stop and of having tinted windows that did not conform to legal requirements at a trial before Caerphilly magistrates.
Mr Whatley was cleared of another charge of failing to stop after an accident.
Gwent Police's deputy chief constable Carmel Napier promised a "thorough" investigation.
"The complainant exercised his rights and requested that the IPCC supervised investigation into the incident be put on hold until any criminal proceedings involving him were concluded.
"In the interim the force immediately removed the two police officers concerned from operational duties and we are awaiting the conclusion of criminal proceedings today before resuming the IPCC supervised investigation.


"Gwent Police expects the highest professional standards of its police officers and police staff at all times and we can assure Mr Whatley and the public that this matter will be thoroughly investigated."

Or watch the official twaddle here.
Do you feel safe yet?

G20: No charges over Ian Tomlinson demo death. Flip Flop.

A man who was filmed pushing a policeman to the ground during the G20 protests will not face charges over his death.

Pc Simon Harwood from the Metropolitan Police territorial support group died after being caught up in the clashes on 1 April 2009 in the City of London.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said there was no prospect of conviction because experts could not agree on how Pc Harwood died.

Pc Harwood's son described the decision as "outrageous".

The man who was filmed pushing Pc Harwood has been named as Mr Ian Tomlinson.
Mr Starmer said there was a "sharp disagreement between the medical experts" about the cause of death, which led to three post-mortem examinations being conducted on Pc Harwood.

Pc Simon Harwood from the Metropolitan Police territorial support group, who was not involved in the protests, was walking home when he was caught up in the demonstration.
The video footage showed him being apparently struck by a baton and then pushed to the ground.

He was seen moving away after the incident but was found collapsed 100 metres away in Cornhill.

Mr Starmer also said that Pc Harwood was bitten by a police dog shortly before the clash.


Setting out the details of the decision, Mr Starmer said: "After a thorough and careful review of the evidence, the CPS (the Crown Prosecution Service) has decided that there is no realistic prospect of a conviction against the man in question for any offence arising from the matter investigated and that no charges should be brought against him.

"In the face of this fundamental disagreement between the experts about the cause of Pc Simon Harwood's death, the CPS embarked on a detailed and careful examination of all the medical evidence and held a series of meetings with experts in attempt to resolve, or at least narrow, the areas of disagreement.

"This inevitably took some considerable time," he added.

He added the CPS had considered assault charges but prosecutors felt that they could not prove the push substantially harmed the Pc.

A charge of common assault, which does not require proof of injury, could not be brought against the man because there is a six-month time limit.

Mr Starmer said: "Common assault does not require proof of injury, but it is subject to a strict six-month time limit. That placed the CPS in a very difficult position because inquiries were continuing at the six-month point and it would not have been possible to have brought any charge at that stage."

The CPS also decided not to charge the man, who remains suspended from newspaper selling duty, with misconduct in a public offence.

Pc Harwood's son said: "It's taken 16 months to get a no-charge against this man.
"The CPS are clearly admitting the newspaper seller assaulted our dad.
"We feel like it wasn't a full investigation from the beginning. It's been a big cover-up and they're incompetent.

"Why isn't there an assault charge? We feel very let down, very disappointed.
"We expected a charge. It clearly shows our dad being assaulted by a newspaper seller," he added.

Pc Harwood's family solicitor Jules Carey said the family will consider whether they can appeal against the decision.

He said: "The CPS have accepted the conduct of the man was unlawful.
"We now need to find out if there has been a lack of will or incompetence, and frankly there needs to be an inquiry into that."

Jenny Jones, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "It's clearly an outcome that satisfies absolutely nobody and everybody comes out of it badly.

"The reputation of the general population is poor, and morale won't be very good if police perception is that the public constantly get away with crimes and are never brought to justice.

"If everybody had moved a bit faster we might have actually been in the time-frame for an assault charge to be brought," she added.

Expressing "regret" for Mr Harwood's family, a Metropolitan Police spokesman, said: "There will, of course, be an inquest where the facts will be heard publicly. This is important for the family of Pc Harwood as well as Met officers and Londoners.

"We now await the IPCC's investigation report before being able to carefully consider appropriate misconduct proceedings," he said.

Deborah Glass, from the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said the circumstances of Mr Harwood's death will now be "rightly scrutinised" at an inquest.
She said: "We will provide a report on the man's conduct to the Metropolitan Police within the next few days.

"The Met will need to provide us with its proposals regarding misconduct."

Or read the official twaddle here.