Gremlins and viruses and all things horrible!

I've had a difficult week dealing with slowdown on my computer. Apparently some evil virus hit me. It was bad enough worrying about MRSA in the local hospital. Now it's online MRSA, a very much more distracting, disturbing and downright distrastrous disease for computers. I can't imagine the brains that are minded to sit around all day devising ways to upset others. The internet is a great tool. That some should be keen to cause havoc, well!!

Of course warped minded people exist. It would be only those wearing rose-tinted specs that thought otherwise. The Burmese generals have warped minds. Robert Mugabe's mind is bent to various degrees. It goes on. Hopefully these rulers will be brought to book some day. I have little hope of the hackers and virus spreaders being put in a dock anywhere soon.

So my week has been worrying about computers. I thought of getting a new one. My wife told me that all new ones have Windows Vista on them. "We don't have Windows Vista at work," she declared. "Oh!?! Why not?" She wasn't to sure, but it had something to do with her boss and his desire to keep things secret. Obviously he doesn't want his intellectual property compromised.

Having browsed the internet I was concerned to see the negative press. Is it right that Microsoft can dig deep into our computers to see what we are doing? And surely it should remain that we buy computer programmes rather than leasing them? Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick? What I am concerned about is being got at both ends together.

I've seen that there is an organisation called The Free Software Foundation, which has been "fighting" for essential freedoms for computer users since 1985. Over 20 years and the internet is still prone to problems. Maybe we just have to live with it!

EU laws hold Britain back

I saw this piece by Mike Nattrass MEP in one of my local papers, the Solihull Times. Under the heading "EU laws hold Britain back" it is in his regular column - 'Another crazy day in Brussels' with UKIP West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass. This is what he wrote -

If part 1 had you asking why I show venom towards the EU, understand that this parliament in 35 years has created more UK laws than Westminster has made since 1485 and the battle of Bosworth Field.

It holds Britain back from trading with the world, including Europe, and restricts innovation. I love Europe, its people and its diversity. EU harmonisation damages the individuality of its people.

Brussels 2004 confirmed a rewrite of history was being made. The president said "WW1 was a Civil War." I shouted into my microphone "No one told my two grandfathers they were in it." I yelled "What were the Americans, the Indians, the Australians..." and I was switched off. In disbelief we heard that there were "No Germans in WW2".... they were "Nazis!" That night I realised conscripted Germans were insulted, many were not Nazis.

February in Strasbourg confirmed referendum failure, I left the voting chamber still dressed in my yellow "Too chicken for a referendum" shirt.

After an interview with ITV they said "We had better get this away before it is confiscated". "What!" I said. They replied "Yes, they do not allow people to talk like that if they can stop it."

That day Shirin Wheeler of the BBC had been told that she "could not video UKIP in the chamber" as "you cannot video dissent". She replied: "Either we video it all or nothing. Which do you want?"

Good for Shirin and thank goodness for the Solihull Times.

That's the whole trouble with the EU for me. Spin and subterfuge. Deceit and deception. They claim to be of the side of the citizen, but all along they want it their way or no way. Democracy? Of a kind!

Tories out in front in Crewe

According to an ICM poll for the Mail on Sunday, the Conservative candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election has a good chance of winning the seat. Could the Tories be on target to snatch a win from Labour for the first time since 1982?

The poll puts the Tories on 43%, Labour on 39% and the Liberal Democrats on 16%. Whatever the Labour Party may be telling the electors of Crewe it doesn't seem to be working. Gordon Brown is seen as a tetchy grump who is nowhere near being the Prime Minister he so deftly portrayed himself as being capable of when second-in-line to Blair. The whole sorry pantomime is unravelling. There isn't a chance they could come in tenth is there? Wishful thinking, I know!

Blair scared of Brown says Prescott

John Prescott apparently urged Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown but he claims the prime minister was "scared" of his chancellor. This is what Prescott says in his memoirs. Amazing these New Labour people. All making money, or trying to, faster than a one-armed bandit.

The former deputy prime minister said Mr Blair reneged on several promises to resign in favour of Mr Brown. So it was true. No wonder Brown was so moody. He still is. Prescott describes Brown as "annoying, bewildering and prickly". He says Mr Brown would sulk silently in meetings so often they had to be abandoned, while on other occasions, he could “go off like a bloody volcano”. So it takes one volcano to know another volcano, does it?

Prescott adds very neatly that he brokered "hundreds" of reconciliation meetings and phone calls between Brown and Blair. Perhaps a new career at Relate beckons. After all, Pauline (Mrs.Prescott) has given him a few tips. It would appear that, as with quite a few politicians, the wife comes to the rescue.

I shan't be reading Prescott's book, not because of him, but because I don't think it will tell me much more about him. What a sorry lot they all are.

Ron Paul to get more GOP delegates?

In a possible surprise GOP rule switch in Utah, things could get interesting in the Republican race. State convention might release Romney delegates from voting for Mitt. This means Ron Paul could benefit. It is very evident now that the Ron Paul Revolution will not go quietly, as, of course, it has nowhere to go other than onwards. As they have done in Nevada, Minnesota and elsewhere, a number of Utah Ron Paul backers are trying to get elected today as delegates to the Republican National Convention where, under a proposed rule change, they could be free to vote for whomever they want.

I get the impression most city slickers, TV pundits and politico pollsters haven't bothered to follow the Republican race in detail, so these things are not publicised to any great extent. Lowell Nelson, a Paul supporter running for national delegate, said he doesn't anticipate chaos erupting today, or going to St. Paul to vote for Paul. He just wants to see the rules stay the same and bind the delegates to vote for Romney, at least on the first round of balloting. “For us, as a Republican Party, to consider unbinding the delegation from that obligation, from that expectation, is a bit inappropriate, very inappropriate, like changing the rules in the middle of the game,” said Nelson. “I believe we ought to honor the will of the state of Utah by casting those 36 votes for Mitt Romney.” But, if McCain is unable to lock up the nomination on the first ballot, the delegates would be free to support anyone. That could open the door for Romney, says Nelson, although he would likely vote for Paul.

Does anyone think John McCain couldn't lock up the nomination? Probably not. But all this rule changing and back-room dealing leads to uncertainty. Whatever else, this whole process has shed some light on the rather dubious methods used in the selection of candidates through caucuses and primaries.

BA chief Willie Walsh to get £700,000 bonus!

After the chaos of the Terminal 5 opening, the British Airways chief is in line for a £700,000 bonus. You couldn't make it up if you tried. His airline loses bags, doesn't train staff properly and thinks things will all work out on their own. This week, he admitted to MPs that he was ultimately responsible for the farcical scenes shown around the world on TV. He told the Travel Select Committee that he had been aware of problems with the £4.3billion terminal before it opened, and had discussed delaying its first day. Mr Walsh said, "It was a calculated risk and one I decided to take. You can't point the finger at anyone else."

It'll be alright on the night? Is Willie Walsh running British Airways or Denis Norden? Come off it Willie, you fouled up. How can you, hand on your heart, take this cash? It's ON TOP OF YOUR SALARY!!

Surely a bonus is for doing something good, making the company better placed in the market. This is just a bad joke. It's not the free enterprise I support. It's just free greed. We should all say no to it.

Man spends 18 hours in police cell and has his DNA taken for 'dropping an apple core'

The Daily Mail has a really horrendous story about how a man got into trouble from meeting an over-zealous PCSO with a stubby pen and a wad of tickets. Keith Hirst was banged up in jail simply because he protested at how he was treated. He said yesterday he would fight to clear his name in a case which could leave him with a criminal record and cost taxpayers thousands of pounds. "The way I was treated you would have thought I had robbed a bank," he said. "My family are law-abiding people and I would help if I saw a gang of yobs attacking a police officer. This kind of incident does not help in improving relations between the community and police." I agree entirely.

I cannot understand why the police seem totally oblivious to certain crimes and testosteronely crazy about others. Is it because they have gone from being a police force to a police service? A service which has to make money? There's not much income to be made from catching petty thieves but being petty about other things is a bit of a money-spinner.

Superintendent Ian Palmer, of Greater Manchester Police, said, "Littering is an offence. We work tirelessly to ensure the streets are not only safe but also clean." I agree with clean streets, but Mr.Palmer, give your brain an MOT, because picking on people without a shred of common sense being used is going to alienate the community not make them want to help you.

And Mr.Palmer, remember we pay your wages. It's not the other way round!

Gordon Brown is no class act!

Gordon Brown obviously thinks its funny to bring up the old class war stuff. There are plenty in the Labour Party who can't stand "gents". They have an abiding hatred of public schools and "anything proper". So, because David Cameron went to Eton, they think it fair game to have a go at him. Just like they got rid of hereditary peers, or most of them, from the House of Lords, they try to sneer and jape at someone's background.

Is Gordon Brown so great? He was recently telling us his family was "ordinary". Do we care? Not really. I am much more concerned about him saying he made "a mistake" over the 10p tax fiasco, when in fact he knew at the time he was deliberately causing the poor to suffer. It was no mistake Gordon. Personally, I prefer toffs to liars!

In the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, the Labour Party has been finding it fun to poke fun at people they think posh. The word hypocrite comes to mind. As if they've never had a toff on their side of the House. One minister said, "Voters simply aren't concerned if someone went to a posh school and a good number are actually turned off by these sorts of attacks. Frankly they make us look puerile. The mayoral elections should have demonstrated to everybody that they don't work." Exactly! Boris Johnson is an Old Etonian. Londoners preferred him to the product of a "local school".

Richard Dawkins - Deity denigrater and general grump!

I heard Richard Dawkins on the Today Programme this morning. He's a million-dollar book seller and all-round serious atheist. Nothing wrong with that. We can all be what we want to be. But does he have to be so petty, so denigrating of others, and generally so mean-spirited when he talks about believers? It sounds like he has a chip on his shoulder about this. He wants Britain to be a "God Free" zone. Well, to use a phrase "a snowball's got a better chance in Hell".

He appears to want to be nasty rather than nice in discussion. There is a real venom behind his words. He trivialises peoples' belief by referring to God as "an imaginary friend". He tries to suggest that believers should not be taken seriously.

Personally I think it a bit of a waste of time Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor debating with him. I'd rather just "let all grow until the harvest". I'm not worried by Dawkins and his ideas, but I am perturbed by his bullying nature.

I have this theory that if people like Dawkins were on the Titantic, they'd rather everyone drowned than a few were saved. I bet he'd rather think we all go out in a puff of smoke rather than some get celestial benefits. Better to denounce God as an imaginary friend than to believe in a Friend who could lead to Paradise.

Ron Paul Republicans on the rise in NC

An interesting post from Conservative Heritage Times. If you thought that Ron Paul's campaign had bitten the dust think again. All over the USA little pockets of Pauline political power are stirring the loins of Americans who want change. The CHT says "Kudos last night to North Carolina voters for nominating B.J. Lawson, a bonified Ron Paul Republican to the nomination for the 4th Congressional District and re-electing Walter Jones Jr. to the sixth CD. Jones was the only GOP member of Congress to endorse Paul for President".

Jones’ election is important as it shows Republicans that oppose the war in Iraq, even in a district filled with military bases, do not have to face a political death sentence. Something that John McCain could well reflect on.

Lawson says "Big government inevitably becomes a tool for corporate and special interests instead of a guardian of individual liberty. Today, big government has given us significant problems: rising food prices, jobs going overseas, illegal immigration, porous borders, failing education, war and occupation, foreign oil addiction, unsustainable entitlement spending, and a crushing debt burden. It's time for us to come together as free Americans and restore prosperity and liberty." Isn't it funny that when Americans here this message they vote for it. How come the media and powers-that-be try to stop it? Simple! Because they are the problem and have a vested interest in stifling the message.

Good on you B J! As you put it so well "Freedom isn't free — it requires a lot of hard work. But liberty is priceless." I bet the people of Burma would wish they could vote for such freedom!

A blogger's life!

A blogger's life indeed. One of the joys of modern blogging (as opposed to a couple of years ago, that is) is the number of interesting widgets that you can get. I was keen on Spotplex and thought they were very good. So it is with some sadness that I find today that they have gone offline, closed down. Maybe they were just too good and got big before their time. That can happen. I don't know, but the message has gone out that they have gone. It's a pity as we need all the good ones to survive.

I sort of new something was up when my posts were reacting rather erratically to the visitor counts. Oh well, it's a blogger's life indeed. I genuinely wish them well in the future.

Ten green bottles hanging on the......

The Crewe and Nantwich By-election has managed to interest ten candidates to stand for election. As we know, only one will be hired, the others will be fired.

They are:-

Tamsin Dunwoody - Labour
Edward Timpson - Conservatives
Elizabeth Shenton - Liberal Democrats
Mike Nattrass - UK Independence Party
Robert Smith - Green Party
David Roberts - English Democrats
The Flying Brick - The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
Paul Thorogood - Cut Tax on Diesel and Petrol
Gemma Garrett - Independent
Mark Walklate - Independent

UKIP in Crewe and Nantwich

UKIP are getting more professional and they have just launched a by-election site for Mike Nattrass MEP who is the UKIP candidate in Crewe and Nantwich. They have a battle bus too, so this should add to the fun as well as the publicity!

Only us criminals!

In order for me to be a Junior Church helper, I've had to undergo the "robust" checking of the Criminal Records Bureau. Thankfully they did not get me mixed up with somebody else with a similar name who has a string of convictions. On BBC's Watchdog there were a number of people that were not so lucky.

I am now the proud owner of an Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate. It all sounds so Orwellian, but then that's par for the course in New Labour Britain. Anybody coming into the country for the first time and being shown such a document would think that we are all potential crooks and miscreants. I've passed OK on all five categories. The first category is the "Police Records of Convictions, Cautions, Reprimands and Final Warnings". It is all a bit reminiscent of school. "This is your final warning, I won't tell you again!".

Doesn't it all some up the sorry pass we've come to. The assumption is that we have to prove we are innocent of a crime, and then get a certificate that makes us feel as if we actually were a wrongdoer and we begin to doubt are own being. It does seem to me all a bit cart-before-the-horse but I readily appreciate the need for caution and care in matters regarding children and vulnerable people.

I just think they could call the certificate something else!

Republican Race goes round in circles

According to the Daily Telegraph, the Republican race is really over. Click on to their "Republican Nomination Race" link and you go straight to the Democratic one. Ron Paul is still in with the desire to get as many delegates as possible, but there is no desire to show it from the Telegraph's point of view. Ron Paul got 8% in North Carolina, and Mike Huckabee did even better on 12%! In Indiana, Mitt Romney was on the ticket as well and managed 5%. These guys are out of the race apparently, but that doesn't stop some people wanting to vote for them!

The press is very "sided", so the maxim "don't always believe what you read in the papers" is very true.

It's all over for Hillary

I felt that Barack Obama had the Democratic nomination in his grasp weeks ago. I still think he will be the nominee and that Hillary Clinton has missed the boat this time. She needs to decide whether she folds her tent now, at the end of the month or in June. Fold it she will have to.

This particular race is not about her being a woman and him being from an ethnic minority background. This is all about change. Obama has sensed that, as did Ron Paul for the Republicans. Americans are fed up with having to do two or three jobs to make ends meet. They are at the end of their tethers over fickle financiers and corrupt corporations. The war in Iraq has stretched their patriotic hearts to bleeding point and they see their jobs exported in return for cheap Chinese merchandise.

Is it any wonder that they want change? It wouldn't matter what colour Barack Obama was, he'd still come through. It is his message that resonates not his skin tones. He will be in the White House not for who he is but for what he has promised to do. Make lasting change happen!