Q - When is a coup not a coup?

A - when John Bolton says it is.

Hundreds of thousands of people drawn from supporters of Hezbollah and other opposition parties participated in a mass protest designed to force the resignation of U.S. puppet Prime Minister, Fuad Siniora. Fully armed troops and armored vehicles were deployed around the Ottoman-style building housing the office where Siniora was holed up. As the protests were taking place, various spokespersons for Western governments and their Middle-Eastern client states chimed in with their support for the corrupt Siniora administration.

Lead chorister in the pro-Siniora / anti-Syria chorus was (soon to be ex) U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, who predictably labeled the peaceful but noisy demonstrations in Beirut as part of part of an Iran-Syria inspired coup d'etat. Apart from the sheer ludicrous nature of this statement, it is highly ironic coming from a representative of a country that has sponsored coups the world over. Perhaps he thinks the only acceptable coups are the ones his country organises? Like the unsuccessful coup to unseat Hugo Chavez, democratically elected by a significant majority of the Venezulan people?

The UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett chimed in harmony, when she met Siniora to express UK support for his government, saying that "This is a government elected by the people of Lebanon and which has the constitutional authority an election gives it". I know that coming from the Nu-Labour camp, Beckett may well be under the impression that being elected is a sort of blank cheque... a carte blanche to do as you please. Perhaps she regards the 100 billion dollars that are reputed to have gone "missing" from Lebanese coffers to be small change. Maybe the corruption that is reputed to be rife in the Siniora administration is okay by her.

Singing much the same tune on behalf of Lebanon's former colonial masters - France, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called from South Africa to express his full support for the corrupt administration. Piling on the sense of irony, King Abdullah, ruler of the utterly undemocratic Saudi Arabia telephoned Siniora to extend "Saudi Arabia's full backing".

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Welcome to school - fascist style

Associated Press reported that armed riot police recently carried out a raid on Michigan junior and high schools as part of an exercise. Of course the children were not made aware of what was about to take place and even teachers were given just a few minutes notice.

Marge Bradshaw, a parent with four children attending Godfrey-Lee Schools said "Some of these kids were so scared, they just about wet their pants. I think it's pure wrong that the students and parents were not informed of this".

Judging by the YouTube video below, a similar incident took place in Goose Creek, South Carolina some years ago, where armed police raided a high school with their weapons drawn - ostensibly in search of drugs. I have to say that the time stated on the video is a little suspect, as nobody in their right mind is at school at 6:45am. Judge for yourself.



I really fail to see any purpose in terrorising children in this way, other than to condition them to accept such brutal intrusions into their lives as routine and unavoidable. It really does not matter what rationale you might come up with... a society that has to resort to such tactics in the education of their children let alone accept them as routine on the streets of our cities, is a society that has failed in a fundamental way. It is not, no matter what way you spin it, a hallmark of a successful, thriving and free society.

If you are voting in the elections on November 7th, will you be voting for someone who will only give you more of the same, or even worse? Or will you be voting for someone who will commit to reversing the decimation of your civil liberties and turning back from the headlong march towards total fascism?

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Essential viewing...

If you have not yet seen it, you should give Keith Olbermann’s commentary on the Military Commissions Act of 2006 a look.

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Fancy a game of tag?

The BBC have reported that scientists working for a new research centre at University College London are busy developing the prototypes of an orwellian system that will represent yet another encroachment on the civil liberties of otherwise law-abiding citizens. Following on from the ludicrous frenzy stirred up by the patently fake 'liquid explosives plot', the device, an electronic tag, will be issued to passengers at check-in and will be used to “track the movement patterns of passengers deemed to be suspicious and prevent them from entering restricted areas”. The system will go through trials at Debrecen airport in Hungary and if successful it could be coming to an airport near you within two years.

Going by the statements of the designers in the BBC article cited above, this device will be fixed to the passenger in such a way as to be difficult to remove. In order to soften the blow to civil liberties this development represents, the scientists claim that “It could also aid airports by helping evacuation in case of a fire, rapidly locating children, and finding passengers who are late to arrive at the gate”. With such a soft and fluffy pedigree, presumably it will also help find lost puppies and retrieve kittens caught up trees.

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