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May 31, 2004
EU USA PNR Agreement
Recently the European Union 'agreed' to hand over passenger information to the United States Department of Home Defense (for some reason that conjures up images of Dad's army...). Seems reasonable enough, the USA has a right to have a chance to weed out the terrorists who fly from Europe.
I have two problems with this.
First. If you are a terrorist, how likely are you to use your own name or any details that match to your background? OK, so patterns of falsified personal information might appear and point to a single source, just as any persons writing adopts a tone which acts as a sort of literary fingerprint, so too could a terrorists lie factory develop the same sort of 'fingerprint'. Grant that. BUT - innocent people still get caught in the net!
This is a big problem. Why? Four words - Guatanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib. People have been released from Guatanamo Bay after being held, often hooded, cramped, deprived, abused - for over two years - with no charges ever brought against them. The USA reserves the right to charge these people at any time in the future. Imagine having that hanging over you?
And remember these people were innocent. The USA tries to attach doubt to this by saying that no evidence could be found to back up their theories. Pah!
So, innocents caught in the net are presumed guilty and subjected to anal rape by chemical lights. Great.
The second problem I have is with the wording of the 'agreement' between the EU and the states.
Remember that all of us here in Europe have quite strict privacy laws. The airlines were up against it when they were ordered by the Department of Home Defense to hand over passenger information as they would have been breaking European laws. However it was coming to the point where the airlines would not have landing rights if they didnt hand over the info. Rock. Hard place.
Those innocents will have one happy thought to console them as they are repeatedly violated by the next Lyndie England - they were put there so that we could enjoy shopping and lattes in New York. Tht one thought should sustain them through their ordeal and by the time they are released - if they werent a terrorist before they surely will be. God bless America!
Anyway my beef was with the wording of the 'agreement'. I'll just throw out the points I'm having issue with:
Point 7 of their lead-in and jutification which talks about how the USA is a sovereign power and has the right to its jurisdiction which doent clash with international laws. fine. It then goes on to state, and this is the scary bit:
The United States is a democratic country...
errr... their current president was NOT elected. by the people. It an oligarchy at the moment.
it continues...
...democratic country, governed by the rule of law and with a strong civil liberties tradition.
Yaeh right! like for the last thirty years, except in the South where they are all secretly waiting for the return of General Lee.
The legitemacy of its law making process and the strength and independence of its judiciary are not in question.
What about Judge Roy Moore from, surprise surprise, Alabama? He wants to put a monument to the ten commandments in the foyer of the Alabama courthouse because he claims that God's laws are higher than that of man. Well I dont think any of us can dispute that point, but this is a member of the 'independent' judiciary that we are talking about here!
Press freedom is a strong guarantee against the abuse of civil liberites
Two words - FOX NEWS. These dipshits decided that instead of calling terrorists by their accepted name - terrorists - they would from now on cal them islamists, which would stop us all being confused with islamics, that is the followers of islam, or rather muslims. Well I for one am no longer confused about who is and who isnt a terrorist.
Other points of interest: the freedom of information act aplies to the information handed over. This means that you have to have sufficient security clearance to be able to view the information that is held against you. The weirder parts of the information handed over is listed below.
- frequent flyer information
- general remarks (!!!)
- no show history
- and a few other fields I would include if I could understand the acronyms....
- and there are thirty other fields, name address, sex, destination, favourite colour...
The most disturbing of these is the general remark field. Just imagine a ticket checker having a bad day. Somehow you manage to piss him/her off in some way and they make an oblique, scathing comment in the 'general remarks' field. They may as well tattoo 'I like being on the bottom of the naked human pyramid with a red chemical light up my ass' on your forehead.
The whole notion that such an agreement can be enacted with no discussion and merely for financial reasons is VERY disturbing. Democracy was hanging in there outside of the USA (where it is dead, dead, dead), but now is showing signs of catching the same disease that afflicted its Uncle Sam.
Ladies and gentlemen I herald the new age - I give you - totalitarianism.
Posted by dottie at 9:06 AM
Glamour
Glamour is an old word. I always grin when I hear women described as 'glamorous'.
A glamour is the description of a spell that makes things seem what they are not - simply put a glamour is an illusion. Not what I would consider a compliment...
Did you ever see the film 'I'm gonna git you sucka' where the young hero picks up a gorgeous(*) girl in a bar by telling here he has a 12 inch penis.
When they back to her place, wracked by guilt he confesses that he doesnt pack a foot long in his shorts.
It turns out that the girl is putting on a show herself. She starts by taking off her long wig to reveal patchy hair, then she pulls off her eyebrows, takes out her false teeth, pops her bra stuffers out, undoes her corset.
Our horror struck hero finally runs when she pulls off her false leg and starts hopping toward him telling him that she is 'ready for him now'. Classic.
Next time someone describes your woman as glamorous - bitch slap the muthafucka!
(*) gorgeous - theres another one. Ever hear the expression of disgust - 'I could feel the gorge was rising in my throat' . Nuff said.
Posted by dottie at 12:09 AM
May 27, 2004
I'm ba-aack!
Finally.
The database for my blog had been corrupted (some guy with red rimmed eyes and a pocket full of sweeties so I'm told...). It took a while to get it fixed but its all better now.
I'll be doing a redesign real soon, I'm ashamed that I am a web designer and this old thing looks so shabby. I have found a nice program to run my photo gallery too, so I'll be putting up more photos as they come.
Good to be back!
Comments
Tim Gillen
Good to have you back. I've been missing my daily update.
Mr 5thPercentile
Yeah, I need to do a redesign soon as I dont think the Matrix 'construct' look really suits it :)
Posted by dottie at 4:43 PM | Comments (2)
May 7, 2004
Web link bar codes for mobile phones
Semacodes. Very nearly a real world hyperlink!
This is a great idea. You know the way it takes ages to type in anything on your mobile device whether it is a WAP enabled mobile phone or a whatever. This technology allows you to instantly snap a picture of a 2D barcode and using installed software it will redirect to the URL stored in the barcode. rilliant. Simple. No fuss.
Huh? Well instead of printing URL's that have to be typed in it is almost like clicking a link on a web page except in the real world.
Posted by dottie at 3:52 PM
May 6, 2004
Live music on a USB memory stick
The link below goes to a news article about a new service for sharing live music in music venues. The key to it is a system that records the gig as it happens and makes it available on a touch screen machine provided with USB ports and USB memory sticks. You pay $10 to take the gig home with you and share it with whoever you like.
Why free sharing? Well the band gets their cut of the $10 and they got a lot of free advertising from word of mouth, meaning more people at their next gigs and so on.
Excellent
Posted by dottie at 8:33 PM
Running water
Our water is cut off. I can't cook my lunch until it comes back on. Damn.
I take some time to think about people who are permenantly in this situation. Carrying water from a source which can be miles away. Every day. They might be lucky and the water is clean.
I'm only put out for an hour or so. The water won't poison me (well, this is Dublin water we are talking about...) and it won't infest me with parasites that could make me go blind, mad or worse.
I feel lucky.
I also feel fucking hungry! Bloody corpo
Posted by dottie at 1:10 PM
Pretty Women
The following is based on a generality that struck me as passingly poetic when I was drunkly contemplating tonight...
Pretty women are like ripe apples hanging from a bough.
...and so...
If you dont see that they need to be plucked from the tree then everybody is unhappy.
You dont get to taste the fruit - 'nuf said.
The fruit itself doesnt get to be devoured and more importantly, appreciated.
And anyone who happens to see and understand this little ballet is saddened by the misinterpretation of the situation, the fruit wasted, devoured by the wasp.
And you. You get to sit at home holding your head asking yourself the question 'Why?'
Not nice.
Dont you like apples?
Posted by dottie at 1:55 AM
May 4, 2004
iProd
A little bit tastless but there you go...
Posted by dottie at 10:09 PM