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Jun. 11th, 2008
For the UK-deficient among us: the Prime Minster and the Labour Party apparatus are trying to increase the amount of time that a suspect may be held without charge from 28 to 42 days. Police may not question a suspect once s/he is charged, so this additional time is meant to ensure that they have enough time to assemble a credible case against someone they've arrested. There are various "safeguards" around this, the latest of which being that any suspect who is released without charge aftwr 42 days detention will be entitled to a payout of £3,000 per day. A vote in the House of Commons is due tonight, and Labour is promising lots of cash to Northern Ireland to ensure that the Irish Protestant MPs (all 9 of them) vote with the Government. John Major ruled with the help of the Irish Protestant MPs for the last few months of his government, as his Tory MPs were dropping dead or being forced to resign and he lost his absolute majority.
The various civil liberties problems with such a law are many. The government need only to declare an emergency (spurious or not) and bang up anyone it doesn't like. People who say that it can't happen here should think of Japanese internment in WW II in California, or German internment in the UK at the same time.
Benjamin Franklin said it best: He who would give up liberty to get security deserves neither.
Britain has a long history of respecting the civil rights of its citizens. Although the USA has travelled much further down the road of perdition than we have, abrogation the rights of people who have not yet been convicted of any crime means that all of us who have not (yet) been convicted of a crime may lose our rights too.
I am hoping that Brown loses the vote this evening and resigns in disgrace. He is a stain on the office of Prime Minister, borne by such great luminaries as Churchill, Disraeli, and Gladstone. He is totally unfit for the office, having lusted after it so long that his character has been indelibly marked by lust and envy and frustration. I expect that, as the world (and UK) economy goes down the tubes, Brown's "expertise" on the economy and any remaining shadow of the thought that he might be competent will go down the tubes with him. I suspect also that he will be thought to be one of the worst Prime Ministers in the last 100 years (with Chamberlain vying for the worst spot).
How do we then tackle the terrorism problem? First, get out of Iraq. That would relieve about 9/10ths of the problem. Second, ensure that privacy laws are respected but that criminality is punished. Most of the police chiefs of the country are not convinced that 42 days detention are necessary. Police here always seem to have a chip on their shoulders about the law they are sworn to uphold. Miscreants are said to get away with crime because of the limits of the law. But when the police feel they have criminals bang to rights, they trump up the evidence to ensure that the criminal is convicted. Look at the Birmingham 5 (6?) and many other cases that have been quashed because the police have bent the rules to ensure a conviction and been caught out. The police officers involved normally are retired by the time the case is quashed so there are no repercussions. Third, have an election in short order to get rid of Labour and let it reform itself, just as it did in the 1980's and early 1990's and just as the Conservatives have done since 1997. Just getting rid of Brown will not kill the cancer that the Labour Government has become. The lot of them need to be swept out in disorder and disgrace. They have been in power too long and need the assistance that opposition will give them to boot out these idiots who are running things, reform their finances, and start thinking rationally again.
And, even if he does win the vote, his authority has been fatally punctured. The labour party conference later this year will be an interesting affair, with plots and moaning by all present. The MPs are fearful for their seats and, if they think that throwing Brown off the sled to the wolves will help them keep their seats, they'll do it.
Not soon enough, alas.
The various civil liberties problems with such a law are many. The government need only to declare an emergency (spurious or not) and bang up anyone it doesn't like. People who say that it can't happen here should think of Japanese internment in WW II in California, or German internment in the UK at the same time.
Benjamin Franklin said it best: He who would give up liberty to get security deserves neither.
Britain has a long history of respecting the civil rights of its citizens. Although the USA has travelled much further down the road of perdition than we have, abrogation the rights of people who have not yet been convicted of any crime means that all of us who have not (yet) been convicted of a crime may lose our rights too.
I am hoping that Brown loses the vote this evening and resigns in disgrace. He is a stain on the office of Prime Minister, borne by such great luminaries as Churchill, Disraeli, and Gladstone. He is totally unfit for the office, having lusted after it so long that his character has been indelibly marked by lust and envy and frustration. I expect that, as the world (and UK) economy goes down the tubes, Brown's "expertise" on the economy and any remaining shadow of the thought that he might be competent will go down the tubes with him. I suspect also that he will be thought to be one of the worst Prime Ministers in the last 100 years (with Chamberlain vying for the worst spot).
How do we then tackle the terrorism problem? First, get out of Iraq. That would relieve about 9/10ths of the problem. Second, ensure that privacy laws are respected but that criminality is punished. Most of the police chiefs of the country are not convinced that 42 days detention are necessary. Police here always seem to have a chip on their shoulders about the law they are sworn to uphold. Miscreants are said to get away with crime because of the limits of the law. But when the police feel they have criminals bang to rights, they trump up the evidence to ensure that the criminal is convicted. Look at the Birmingham 5 (6?) and many other cases that have been quashed because the police have bent the rules to ensure a conviction and been caught out. The police officers involved normally are retired by the time the case is quashed so there are no repercussions. Third, have an election in short order to get rid of Labour and let it reform itself, just as it did in the 1980's and early 1990's and just as the Conservatives have done since 1997. Just getting rid of Brown will not kill the cancer that the Labour Government has become. The lot of them need to be swept out in disorder and disgrace. They have been in power too long and need the assistance that opposition will give them to boot out these idiots who are running things, reform their finances, and start thinking rationally again.
And, even if he does win the vote, his authority has been fatally punctured. The labour party conference later this year will be an interesting affair, with plots and moaning by all present. The MPs are fearful for their seats and, if they think that throwing Brown off the sled to the wolves will help them keep their seats, they'll do it.
Not soon enough, alas.