Monday, April 30, 2007

Official obnubilation or obloquy...


Update: 02/05/07 ..."More than 20,000 people have dropped off the register for postal votes in the wards in Birmingham at the centre of fraud allegations three years ago." [BBC Link]


Figures seen by the BBC suggest the problem was worse than first thought.

In four other wards, where there were allegations of fraud at the time but no formal enquiry, more than half the postal voters have disappeared from the list.


Election commissioner Richard Mawrey QC upheld allegations of postal fraud relating to six seats won by Labour in the ballot of 10 June 2004.

Judge Mawrey said evidence of "massive, systematic and organised fraud" in the campaign had made a mockery of the election and ruled that not less than 1,500 votes had been cast fraudulently in the city.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

obloquy n. - abuse; disgrace. oblocutor, n. one who denies or disputes
obnubilation n. - beclouding or obscuring; obfuscation


X marks the spot...Vote rigging? It seems that this year extra checks have been introduced following a series of allegations of vote rigging, ...allegations...I'm sure there has been some sort of fraud ever since postal voting was introduced in 2001. In 2002 there were problems with irregularities in the electoral roll [BBC Link] and who could forget the famous quote from a judge investigating the vote rigging in Birmingham's 2004 local elections who said he had heard evidence of fraud that...


"would disgrace a banana republic".

However now there has been a large increase in applications for postal votes and there is concern that the computers that will do the counting (and checking of signatures) may not be able to cope, if not then manual checking will be the fallback...why not just have manual checking in the first place?...it may take time but it will safer and less open to rigging. All that said I was somewhat horrified to read of what, in my opinion, is downright criminal corruption; the following excerpts are shocking: full article from the Times Online HERE.



Hyde (Graham Hyde, a Labour councillor, working as a parliamentary aide to the local MP George Mudie) warned: "Put the postal vote form out of sight...Don’t get caught with any on you. We are not supposed to collect them."



"He appeared well aware of the ramifications of what he was suggesting. One of the students conspiratorially told the group he believed that what they were doing was “illegal”. Hyde responded: “Yes it is. But we’ve done 25% already, so...”



"Last year Labour’s activities in the ward were the subject of complaints from rival candidates. One said: “Local Labour voters were going door to door, pressuring people to fill in their votes and then delivering sacks up to the polling station."






"At the count, the ballot boxes were opened first and the Liberal Democrats had a commanding lead. Then the postal votes were opened and they were almost all Labour. everyone present had suspicions that something was afoot."

"Complaints about the activities of the Labour teams canvassing door-to-door were made to the police, who wrote a strongly worded letter to all the parties warning them to abide by the code of conduct.

Despite repeated warnings, the government failed to introduce safeguards to make the system secure. Political parties rushed to persuade hundreds of thousands of people to sign up for postal votes and experts now fear fraud is endemic.

The government has repeatedly refused to tighten up the system... In the forthcoming election, postal voters are simply asked to provide a signature and date of birth, although fears are also mounting that new electronic verification machines will be unable to cope."


“Postal voting on demand is inherently unsatisfactory. The whole system is open to abuse. Secret ballots were introduced in 1872 to stop exactly this sort of problem and we now seem to be going back to the 19th century.”

This last by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, an academic expert on elections. He's so right!

Official obnubilation or obloquy...

Update: 02/05/07 ..."More than 20,000 people have dropped off the register for postal votes in the wards in Birmingham at the centre of fraud allegations three years ago." [BBC Link]
Figures seen by the BBC suggest the problem was worse than first thought.
In four other wards, where there were allegations of fraud at the time but no formal enquiry, more than half the postal voters have disappeared from the list.
Election commissioner Richard Mawrey QC upheld allegations of postal fraud relating to six seats won by Labour in the ballot of 10 June 2004.
Judge Mawrey said evidence of "massive, systematic and organised fraud" in the campaign had made a mockery of the election and ruled that not less than 1,500 votes had been cast fraudulently in the city.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
obloquy n. - abuse; disgrace. oblocutor, n. one who denies or disputes
obnubilation n. - beclouding or obscuring; obfuscation

X marks the spot...Vote rigging? It seems that this year extra checks have been introduced following a series of allegations of vote rigging, ...allegations...I'm sure there has been some sort of fraud ever since postal voting was introduced in 2001. In 2002 there were problems with irregularities in the electoral roll [BBC Link] and who could forget the famous quote from a judge investigating the vote rigging in Birmingham's 2004 local elections who said he had heard evidence of fraud that...
"would disgrace a banana republic".
However now there has been a large increase in applications for postal votes and there is concern that the computers that will do the counting (and checking of signatures) may not be able to cope, if not then manual checking will be the fallback...why not just have manual checking in the first place?...it may take time but it will safer and less open to rigging. All that said I was somewhat horrified to read of what, in my opinion, is downright criminal corruption; the following excerpts are shocking: full article from the Times Online HERE.

Hyde (Graham Hyde, a Labour councillor, working as a parliamentary aide to the local MP George Mudie) warned: "Put the postal vote form out of sight...Don’t get caught with any on you. We are not supposed to collect them."

"He appeared well aware of the ramifications of what he was suggesting. One of the students conspiratorially told the group he believed that what they were doing was “illegal”. Hyde responded: “Yes it is. But we’ve done 25% already, so...”

"Last year Labour’s activities in the ward were the subject of complaints from rival candidates. One said: “Local Labour voters were going door to door, pressuring people to fill in their votes and then delivering sacks up to the polling station."


"At the count, the ballot boxes were opened first and the Liberal Democrats had a commanding lead. Then the postal votes were opened and they were almost all Labour. everyone present had suspicions that something was afoot."
"Complaints about the activities of the Labour teams canvassing door-to-door were made to the police, who wrote a strongly worded letter to all the parties warning them to abide by the code of conduct.
Despite repeated warnings, the government failed to introduce safeguards to make the system secure. Political parties rushed to persuade hundreds of thousands of people to sign up for postal votes and experts now fear fraud is endemic.
The government has repeatedly refused to tighten up the system... In the forthcoming election, postal voters are simply asked to provide a signature and date of birth, although fears are also mounting that new electronic verification machines will be unable to cope."
“Postal voting on demand is inherently unsatisfactory. The whole system is open to abuse. Secret ballots were introduced in 1872 to stop exactly this sort of problem and we now seem to be going back to the 19th century.”
This last by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, an academic expert on elections. He's so right!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Oppressive, odious oaf...

It seems my original opinion of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez was the correct one; having been convinced, like many, by evidence of infrastructural improvements to the country and witnessed abundant testimony of the good things he was doing I am now fully back where I started...360º...or a double U turn! The title of the post tells you all you need to know.

Today the Spanish and Spanish speaking press are abuzz and agog with Chavez's latest ridiculous outburst of serious insults:

El ex presidente español "es un fascista que además apoyó el golpe, es de la calaña de Adolfo Hitler, un tipo que da es asco y da lástima, un verdadero lacayo de George Bush".
Roughly translated to English: "The Spanish Ex-president is a fascist who in addition supported the coup [April 2002], he is of the same nature [class/species] as Adolf Hitler, a 'bloke' who is revolting and pityful, a genuine servant [slave/lapdog] of GWB". The irony, of course, if such crude and wholly inappropriate things have to be said, is that Chavez himself is far more akin to Hitler. What he said isn't new to him, it's similar to what he said last year about Bush himself: [Link] Chavez told thousands of supporters at a rally that he thought:

"Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George Bush".
Unbelievable. OK, thats the odious bit; the oppressive bit is more worrying. Last week the Daily Telegraph reported that "On Mr Chávez's order, 17,000 communal councils have now been set up across the country, and an estimated £1 billion earmarked to fund them. As the official slogan, "Build power from below", proclaims, their stated purpose is to promote grass-roots democracy and hand power directly to the people - in particular the urban poor who make up the bulk of his most fervent supporters." I posted on the BBC about this almost 2 years ago...but anyway, not too bad you say?...

….members of these voluntary groups will constitute a nationwide militia, schooled in Cuban-style tactics for both guerrilla warfare and counter-insurgency.
...ah, that makes it of more concern...an armed (tame) militia.

Also The International Federation of Journalists [IFJ Link] ...said "President Hugo Chavez’s decision to close a television station (RCTV) that has been critical of his government and his recent remarks calling into question the future of free trade unionism signal a worrying development for media pluralism and union rights in Venezuela"... ..."At the same time, Chavez has been calling into question the future of free trade unions."

Chávez's intolerance of dissent is so high that he has even ordered the nation's Communist Party to disband itself, in order to become a member of the government's "Unified Socialist Party." that from Francisco Rodriguez in The Guardian (Comment is free) "Should egalitarians support Chávez?" On top of all this the crime rate, and especially the murder rate, is going through the roof, Theresa Bradley (Bloomberg News) reported yesterday that nearly 90% percent of people polled last month said they were unsatisfied with their personal safety, while almost 50% cited crime as the nation's worst problem.

More on May 1st...when the oil is nationalised; only last week Venezuela explicitly said (threatened?) for the first time, companies may not be compensated for losing investments in the Oil takeovers.
S.O.

Oppressive, odious oaf...

It seems my original opinion of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez was the correct one; having been convinced, like many, by evidence of infrastructural improvements to the country and witnessed abundant testimony of the good things he was doing I am now fully back where I started...360º...or a double U turn! The title of the post tells you all you need to know.

Today the Spanish and Spanish speaking press are abuzz and agog with Chavez's latest ridiculous outburst of serious insults:

El ex presidente español "es un fascista que además apoyó el golpe, es de la calaña de Adolfo Hitler, un tipo que da es asco y da lástima, un verdadero lacayo de George Bush".
Roughly translated to English: "The Spanish Ex-president is a fascist who in addition supported the coup [April 2002], he is of the same nature [class/species] as Adolf Hitler, a 'bloke' who is revolting and pityful, a genuine servant [slave/lapdog] of GWB". The irony, of course, if such crude and wholly inappropriate things have to be said, is that Chavez himself is far more akin to Hitler. What he said isn't new to him, it's similar to what he said last year about Bush himself: [Link] Chavez told thousands of supporters at a rally that he thought:

"Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George Bush".
Unbelievable. OK, thats the odious bit; the oppressive bit is more worrying. Last week the Daily Telegraph reported that "On Mr Chávez's order, 17,000 communal councils have now been set up across the country, and an estimated £1 billion earmarked to fund them. As the official slogan, "Build power from below", proclaims, their stated purpose is to promote grass-roots democracy and hand power directly to the people - in particular the urban poor who make up the bulk of his most fervent supporters." I posted on the BBC about this almost 2 years ago...but anyway, not too bad you say?...

….members of these voluntary groups will constitute a nationwide militia, schooled in Cuban-style tactics for both guerrilla warfare and counter-insurgency.
...ah, that makes it of more concern...an armed (tame) militia.

Also The International Federation of Journalists [IFJ Link] ...said "President Hugo Chavez’s decision to close a television station (RCTV) that has been critical of his government and his recent remarks calling into question the future of free trade unionism signal a worrying development for media pluralism and union rights in Venezuela"... ..."At the same time, Chavez has been calling into question the future of free trade unions."

Chávez's intolerance of dissent is so high that he has even ordered the nation's Communist Party to disband itself, in order to become a member of the government's "Unified Socialist Party." that from Francisco Rodriguez in The Guardian (Comment is free) "Should egalitarians support Chávez?" On top of all this the crime rate, and especially the murder rate, is going through the roof, Theresa Bradley (Bloomberg News) reported yesterday that nearly 90% percent of people polled last month said they were unsatisfied with their personal safety, while almost 50% cited crime as the nation's worst problem.

More on May 1st...when the oil is nationalised; only last week Venezuela explicitly said (threatened?) for the first time, companies may not be compensated for losing investments in the Oil takeovers.
S.O.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Ows opines...

Remember last September when I changed to Beta Blogger?...and then spent time in purgatory as it was a problem for people to comment and for me to comment elsewhere? THIS is the post; but the reason I mention it is because I've put the Owsblog stats on a graph and look HERE for what happened to those numbers after the 3rd quarter when I switched!

I promise I won't mention this episode again...

S.O.

Ows opines...

Remember last September when I changed to Beta Blogger?...and then spent time in purgatory as it was a problem for people to comment and for me to comment elsewhere? THIS is the post; but the reason I mention it is because I've put the Owsblog stats on a graph and look HERE for what happened to those numbers after the 3rd quarter when I switched!

I promise I won't mention this episode again...

S.O.

Ows's optical opiate...

Another poll and one I am a bit more interested in...yes, the Sexiest Women in the World according to readers of FHM Magazine in the UK. Jessica Alba has been crowned as the sexiest followed by glamour model Keeley Hazell and Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria. [BBC link]

"She's a talented, successful and beautiful actress who clearly has sex appeal that translates worldwide," said the magazine's editor, Chris Bell talking of Jessica Alba. Talented...yes, they all voted on talent and success as their most important criteria...NOT!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

1st. Above, Jessica Alba in very sexy panties indeed...so sexy in fact that regular readers may recognise them from last year in this post about World Ocean Day (???)...any excuse! Interestingly enough if you do follow the link to read the other post you'll note I mention Span's pervy sidetrack...I may have to ressurect that feature!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

2nd: Above, Keeley Hazell, I must admit I hadn't heard of Keeley before reading the BBC article but I must admit she does have a certain something....hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

3rd: Above, Eva, the Latin Lovely, a very sexy lady indeed.

...and below the intriguingly gorgeous Keira Knightley; she was 1st last year but this year has dropped to twelth...but who cares...any excuse...AGAIN!

S.O. ... :-)

Ows's optical opiate...

Another poll and one I am a bit more interested in...yes, the Sexiest Women in the World according to readers of FHM Magazine in the UK. Jessica Alba has been crowned as the sexiest followed by glamour model Keeley Hazell and Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria. [BBC link]

"She's a talented, successful and beautiful actress who clearly has sex appeal that translates worldwide," said the magazine's editor, Chris Bell talking of Jessica Alba. Talented...yes, they all voted on talent and success as their most important criteria...NOT!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

1st. Above, Jessica Alba in very sexy panties indeed...so sexy in fact that regular readers may recognise them from last year in this post about World Ocean Day (???)...any excuse! Interestingly enough if you do follow the link to read the other post you'll note I mention Span's pervy sidetrack...I may have to ressurect that feature!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

2nd: Above, Keeley Hazell, I must admit I hadn't heard of Keeley before reading the BBC article but I must admit she does have a certain something....hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

3rd: Above, Eva, the Latin Lovely, a very sexy lady indeed.

...and below the intriguingly gorgeous Keira Knightley; she was 1st last year but this year has dropped to twelth...but who cares...any excuse...AGAIN!

S.O. ... :-)

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

One...

"One Kneel to the Arsenal!" One is slightly amused; one is not at all surprised: Royal Arsenal and all that...

Arsenal ball The bargin from Barcelona could be the one: "Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal's ingenious midfielder, is apparently the source, after he told Spanish radio that the Queen told him about her allegiance when the team visited Buckingham Palace in February. 'It seems the Queen follows football and she told us she was an Arsenal fan. She appeared to definitely know who I was and we exchanged a few special words,' he said." Times Online News Blog reports [Link]

Is it a coincidence that just as Arsenal football club is facing the possibility of passing into foreign ownership, we learn that the Queen is a fan?
Of course this isn't really a surprise: her mum was a gooner so I suppose she influenced her daughter's choice: proof in this link to ArseWeb

A few other choice facts (Wikipedia) about this mighty team and their 'firsts': Arsenal vs. Sheffield United in January 1927 was the first English League match to be broadcast live on radio. A decade later, in September 1937, an exhibition match between Arsenal's first team and the reserves was the first ever football match to be televised live and Arsenal also featured in the first edition of the beeb's Match of the Day, which screened highlights of their match against Liverpool in August 1964 although one presumes the 'other' clubs games were broadcast too.

Another great tale (if you're an Arsenal fan) was the history of their 1919 promotion...I think I've posted this before on Baldinio's blog...a period that saw fraud, bribery and match-fixing and involved not only Arsenal but Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United...

However one match in that final pre-war season was so outrageously and obviously fixed that the authorities eventually had to act – not least because every newspaper in the country was carrying the story of the fix, and the effects that it had. As a result the issue of Manchester Utd 2 Liverpool 0 became the first football ever to go to court, and the High Court ruled that the match was indeed a fixed.

plus ça change... ;-)

One...

"One Kneel to the Arsenal!" One is slightly amused; one is not at all surprised: Royal Arsenal and all that...

Arsenal ball The bargin from Barcelona could be the one: "Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal's ingenious midfielder, is apparently the source, after he told Spanish radio that the Queen told him about her allegiance when the team visited Buckingham Palace in February. 'It seems the Queen follows football and she told us she was an Arsenal fan. She appeared to definitely know who I was and we exchanged a few special words,' he said." Times Online News Blog reports [Link]

Is it a coincidence that just as Arsenal football club is facing the possibility of passing into foreign ownership, we learn that the Queen is a fan?
Of course this isn't really a surprise: her mum was a gooner so I suppose she influenced her daughter's choice: proof in this link to ArseWeb

A few other choice facts (Wikipedia) about this mighty team and their 'firsts': Arsenal vs. Sheffield United in January 1927 was the first English League match to be broadcast live on radio. A decade later, in September 1937, an exhibition match between Arsenal's first team and the reserves was the first ever football match to be televised live and Arsenal also featured in the first edition of the beeb's Match of the Day, which screened highlights of their match against Liverpool in August 1964 although one presumes the 'other' clubs games were broadcast too.

Another great tale (if you're an Arsenal fan) was the history of their 1919 promotion...I think I've posted this before on Baldinio's blog...a period that saw fraud, bribery and match-fixing and involved not only Arsenal but Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United...

However one match in that final pre-war season was so outrageously and obviously fixed that the authorities eventually had to act – not least because every newspaper in the country was carrying the story of the fix, and the effects that it had. As a result the issue of Manchester Utd 2 Liverpool 0 became the first football ever to go to court, and the High Court ruled that the match was indeed a fixed.

plus ça change... ;-)

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Our obtruding ommission...

More from Alcuin Edward's 'The Truth' (4th March) from his blog Whatever:
"The only way to make the game more even is to resurrect society. We need to realise that we are all responsible for the fact that our neighbours live shitty lives. It's time to make things better... yes it is, but it's also time to work together in this game so that we can win for a change."

"The aim, the ultimate aim, is a liveable world. A world in which life is pleasant for the majority of people and there is no advantage for those sybarites who choose to hoard their wealth like ancient dragons and to sequester themselves away from the world so that the shitty world is hidden from them. Instead, we will squeeze the shittiness from the world and make it clean and sweet and new."

Earth FlagThat is connected, in a Span Ows roundabout way, to Earth Day (follow the link through the flag) Strangely enough there are 2 Earth Days: equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated on the vernal equinox in March and the second is today "Responding to wide spread environmental degradation, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin called for an Environmental Teach-in or Earth Day to be held on April 22, 1970. (Gaylord Nelson? Was his father another of those that despised English history ?) Over 20 million people participated and it is now observed each year by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries." This he did 'to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda', back in 1970; apparently, coordinated by the non-profit Earth Day Network, Earth Day is the largest secular modern-day holiday in the world.

Our obtruding ommission...

More from Alcuin Edward's 'The Truth' (4th March) from his blog Whatever:
"The only way to make the game more even is to resurrect society. We need to realise that we are all responsible for the fact that our neighbours live shitty lives. It's time to make things better... yes it is, but it's also time to work together in this game so that we can win for a change."

"The aim, the ultimate aim, is a liveable world. A world in which life is pleasant for the majority of people and there is no advantage for those sybarites who choose to hoard their wealth like ancient dragons and to sequester themselves away from the world so that the shitty world is hidden from them. Instead, we will squeeze the shittiness from the world and make it clean and sweet and new."

Earth FlagThat is connected, in a Span Ows roundabout way, to Earth Day (follow the link through the flag) Strangely enough there are 2 Earth Days: equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated on the vernal equinox in March and the second is today "Responding to wide spread environmental degradation, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin called for an Environmental Teach-in or Earth Day to be held on April 22, 1970. (Gaylord Nelson? Was his father another of those that despised English history ?) Over 20 million people participated and it is now observed each year by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries." This he did 'to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda', back in 1970; apparently, coordinated by the non-profit Earth Day Network, Earth Day is the largest secular modern-day holiday in the world.

Olusegun Obasanjo out...

Update 24/04/07: No real big surprise that the Nigerian election was marred in controversy: "Turnout was low. The government and the electoral commission say it was a success, but there has been a barrage of criticism. The opposition says it was a charade. So too do Nigerian and international election observers."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This weekend Nigeria will see a new President. Like many blossoming democracies, once someone gets power they seem to think they should keep it, no matter what; in Nigeria the people thought differently and their struggle [against a bid by Mr Obasanjo to have the nation's constitution amended to extend his tenure] taught Nigerians the important lesson that democracy would survive only if they applied themselves to protecting and nurturing it…

A few reminders, choice quotes from the BBC [link] of what these people went through to vote: There were a number of killings, thefts of ballot boxes and an attempt to blow up the election headquarters; a number of policeman were killed while escorting election officials with the papers. Four people were killed in clashes...after only half the voting papers arrived; men armed with cutlasses and guns stole ballot boxes; in the south-west, men disguised as policemen abducted election officials.

It seems most elections we read about these days are marred by some violence or other, yet in 'civilised' countries apathy reigns.

The value of a vote...Alcuin (http://alcuininsull.blogspot.com/) writes from his blog Whatever ( The Truth, posted March 4th) that:
That's right, we are all responsible for accepting the shittiness of life as inevitable.We don't vote... or if we do, we're more likely to vote for a contestant on a reality TV show than we are to vote for those who will decide how our lives will be lived.
Alcuin isn't wrong. It reminds me of something I read very recently, although its origin is disputed [Link] and has become one of those 'urban myths' from email spam. It goes that "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government... The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence"...
From bondage to spiritual faith
From spiritual faith to great courage
From courage to liberty
From liberty to abundance
From abundance to complacency
From complacency to apathy
From apathy to dependence
From dependence back into bondage
Now in this case the 200 year point indicates this was surely written about the USA and their young democracy but it also suggests to me that the UK is most definitely in the 'apathy to dependance' phase or at the very best, just leaving the complacency to apathy phase. Of course even when we vote it can be ignored, as in the case of the EU Constitution:
"Europe's elites, however, immediately made clear that the project remained on course. "The French and Dutch did not really vote 'No' to the European constitution,"
This, or course, is where apathy leads and the aforementioned Constitution may now be forced on the UK via 'the back door'...but that's another story.

S.O.

Olusegun Obasanjo out...

Update 24/04/07: No real big surprise that the Nigerian election was marred in controversy: "Turnout was low. The government and the electoral commission say it was a success, but there has been a barrage of criticism. The opposition says it was a charade. So too do Nigerian and international election observers."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This weekend Nigeria will see a new President. Like many blossoming democracies, once someone gets power they seem to think they should keep it, no matter what; in Nigeria the people thought differently and their struggle [against a bid by Mr Obasanjo to have the nation's constitution amended to extend his tenure] taught Nigerians the important lesson that democracy would survive only if they applied themselves to protecting and nurturing it…

A few reminders, choice quotes from the BBC [link] of what these people went through to vote: There were a number of killings, thefts of ballot boxes and an attempt to blow up the election headquarters; a number of policeman were killed while escorting election officials with the papers. Four people were killed in clashes...after only half the voting papers arrived; men armed with cutlasses and guns stole ballot boxes; in the south-west, men disguised as policemen abducted election officials.

It seems most elections we read about these days are marred by some violence or other, yet in 'civilised' countries apathy reigns.

The value of a vote...Alcuin (http://alcuininsull.blogspot.com/) writes from his blog Whatever ( The Truth, posted March 4th) that:
That's right, we are all responsible for accepting the shittiness of life as inevitable.We don't vote... or if we do, we're more likely to vote for a contestant on a reality TV show than we are to vote for those who will decide how our lives will be lived.
Alcuin isn't wrong. It reminds me of something I read very recently, although its origin is disputed [Link] and has become one of those 'urban myths' from email spam. It goes that "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government... The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence"...
From bondage to spiritual faith
From spiritual faith to great courage
From courage to liberty
From liberty to abundance
From abundance to complacency
From complacency to apathy
From apathy to dependence
From dependence back into bondage
Now in this case the 200 year point indicates this was surely written about the USA and their young democracy but it also suggests to me that the UK is most definitely in the 'apathy to dependance' phase or at the very best, just leaving the complacency to apathy phase. Of course even when we vote it can be ignored, as in the case of the EU Constitution:
"Europe's elites, however, immediately made clear that the project remained on course. "The French and Dutch did not really vote 'No' to the European constitution,"
This, or course, is where apathy leads and the aforementioned Constitution may now be forced on the UK via 'the back door'...but that's another story.

S.O.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Orgasmic osculation...

I assume many of you read the news this week [DT Link] that new research shows that eating chocolate is more stimulating to the heart and the head than kissing, apologies in advance if you've already done this to death (the story that is, not kissing and chocolate...no apologies needed if you're deeply involved there).

Of course this will not be news of regular readers of Owsblog who were (hopefully) entertained by open eyed osculation re the many and varied ways of kissing:
Slobbery kiss: This is excellent for cunnilingus and fellatio...
AND the indepth history on the discovery, use, manufacture and health benefits of the orgasmic ordeal that is chocolate:
Scientists have found that one 'square' of milk chocolate contains almost the same amount of phenols as a glass of red wine and that plain, dark chocolate contains even higher amounts.
More health giving benefits reported [BBC link] Re this latest news I was a bit wary imagining lab rats/assitants being told to 'get at it' with what would have been very unromantic non-passionate snogs, so I was relieved to read that "Romantically attached couples" were the ones who were asked to have heart monitors and electrodes attached... to their scalps!! (pheeeew) by scientists. This was to measure their heart rate and brain activity.

The results led the research leader, Dr Lewis to say: "There is no doubt that chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz. Ah well...

A spokeswoman for Cadbury added “You'd think people would be shy about kissing in a laboratory, but that wasn't the case at all. We're not talking about a quick peck here." In the name of equality, even though women are thought to be bigger 'chocoholics' than men, both sexes showed the same responses in the tests.

S.O.

Orgasmic osculation...

I assume many of you read the news this week [DT Link] that new research shows that eating chocolate is more stimulating to the heart and the head than kissing, apologies in advance if you've already done this to death (the story that is, not kissing and chocolate...no apologies needed if you're deeply involved there).

Of course this will not be news of regular readers of Owsblog who were (hopefully) entertained by open eyed osculation re the many and varied ways of kissing:
Slobbery kiss: This is excellent for cunnilingus and fellatio...
AND the indepth history on the discovery, use, manufacture and health benefits of the orgasmic ordeal that is chocolate:
Scientists have found that one 'square' of milk chocolate contains almost the same amount of phenols as a glass of red wine and that plain, dark chocolate contains even higher amounts.
More health giving benefits reported [BBC link] Re this latest news I was a bit wary imagining lab rats/assitants being told to 'get at it' with what would have been very unromantic non-passionate snogs, so I was relieved to read that "Romantically attached couples" were the ones who were asked to have heart monitors and electrodes attached... to their scalps!! (pheeeew) by scientists. This was to measure their heart rate and brain activity.

The results led the research leader, Dr Lewis to say: "There is no doubt that chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz. Ah well...

A spokeswoman for Cadbury added “You'd think people would be shy about kissing in a laboratory, but that wasn't the case at all. We're not talking about a quick peck here." In the name of equality, even though women are thought to be bigger 'chocoholics' than men, both sexes showed the same responses in the tests.

S.O.

Opportune outfit...

Update 24/04/07: A triumph indeed: no doubt the scantily clad beauties helped produce the near record turnout!
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Just a quick line to congratulate Triumph, apparently Europe's largest manufacturer of women's underwear, lingerie etc, on their efforts to get the French voting public out to elect a new President. According to Elainne Ros in Paris, reported in El Periodico; some women's groups aren't too happy - whyever not - decrying the poster campaign as sexist.


As well as this poster stating "With me there'll be no abstaining" there's another celebrating that "At last a well supported candidate"....you can imagine how well supported :-)
Sorry for the loooooong delay in posting (4 months!!!) : various reasons, no excuses, hope to post more often.

S.O.

Opportune outfit...

Update 24/04/07: A triumph indeed: no doubt the scantily clad beauties helped produce the near record turnout!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a quick line to congratulate Triumph, apparently Europe's largest manufacturer of women's underwear, lingerie etc, on their efforts to get the French voting public out to elect a new President. According to Elainne Ros in Paris, reported in El Periodico; some women's groups aren't too happy - whyever not - decrying the poster campaign as sexist.


As well as this poster stating "With me there'll be no abstaining" there's another celebrating that "At last a well supported candidate"....you can imagine how well supported :-)
Sorry for the loooooong delay in posting (4 months!!!) : various reasons, no excuses, hope to post more often.

S.O.