Britain: Nanny State Descends into Police State

MORE British Insanity
Mother Needs Criminal Record Check Before Accompanying Epileptic Son to School




The Brits are entering the terminal stages of The Nanny State. While their streets are awash in criminals, the schools failing, the Health Care system on the respirator, and Islam on the verge of being the new royalty, the Brits have redoubled their efforts to make life more difficult for British families.

From the Daily Mail. (How do they find this stuff? Hotline?)

"Mother stopped from travelling with son in taxi to school - because she hasn't had a criminal record check"


Yep. In Britain a mother must have a criminal background check to accompany her child in a taxi to school.

And not just any child: an epileptic boy who could die without the assistance of his mother--and he would. British law prohibits the cab driver from assisting with the administration of medicine. From the story:

Accompanying her son to school is no routine family chore for Jayne Jones - it is a matter of life or death.

For 14-year-old Alex is severely epileptic and only his parents know how to operate the specialist equipment to help him if he suffers a life-threatening fit.But that has not stopped Mrs Jones being barred from travelling in the taxi provided by the council to take Alex the five miles to school. Her offence? Not to have had a Criminal Records Bureau check.

But only Mrs Jones and husband Malcolm, 42, who have another son Lucas, aged eight, are trained to use it. And as Mr Jones needs the family car to get to work - and Alex's taxi drivers cannot use the equipment should he need it - Mrs Jones needs to be able to travel with Alex to Greenfield special school in Merthyr Tydfil.

So the authorities were sympathetic, right?

Wrong.

They frankly did not give a damn. As in, they did not care. Simply, they could not grasp the fact that the women who cared for this child for 17 years could be trusted for a 15-minute taxi ride. In fact, in the infuriating, idiotic, Nazi-like responses we have come to expect from anyone in Britain who has even a scent of authority we get the following:

'For the protection of the council and all vulnerable persons in its care it's essential all those endowed with an authority, implicit or explicit, should meet the security requirements within the transport contract provisions.'

The Daily Mail was no more amused than DBKP. A consulted expert points out:

A recent study has warned that the rapid spread of child protection checks and health and safety rules has 'poisoned' relations between adults and children and left youngsters at greater risk.

It said CRB checks and the rise in other regulation have fuelled an atmosphere of suspicion and left adults afraid to intervene or take responsibility.

Yes. We see that. And we see that Britain is turning into a strange Police State where civil servants are neither civil nor servants.



by pat
images: telegraph; DBKP.com
Source:
* http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1034024/Mother-stopped-travelling-son-taxi-school--criminal-record-check.html?ITO=1490

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 28, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, GOLD, PROGRESS, POLITICS, MAFIA, SCIENCE, ASSASSINATION, POLICE STATE, ATHEISTS, ECONOMY, NANNY STATE, SHOOT OUTS, SLEEPING, WITCHES, EXODUS, PATENTS, SEALS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, NAZIS, SMOOTH, POPULATION, KILLER WHALES, POGRAMS, DRUG WAR, SPIES, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

POLICE STATE

1993 A gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.

1994 Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect.

WAR!

1847 US defeats México in battle of Sacramento.

1917 AP reports México & Japan will ally with Germany if US enters WWI.

TERRORISM

1982 FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street.

2007 A federal judge in Miami ruled that suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla was competent to stand trial on terrorism support charges, rejecting arguments that he was severely damaged by 3 1/2 years of interrogation and isolation in a military brig.

DISASTER

1704 Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 40, kidnap 100.

1844 A 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.

1888 Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes.

1956 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott MA.

1975 More than 40 people were killed in London's Underground when a subway train smashed into the end of a tunnel.

1997 Earthquake in Pakistan, kills 45.

SLEEPING

1646 Roger Scott was tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church.

EXODUS

1879 "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation.

SEALS

1913 6.8-m, 4000-kg elephant seal killed, South Georgia (South Atlantic).

SMOOTH

1935 Nylon discovered by Dr Wallace H Carothers.

POGROMS

1988 Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed.

KILLER WHALES

1977 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los Angeles CA).

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1940 1st televised basketball game (college game at NYC's Madison Square Garden-University of Pittsburgh beats Fordham U, 50-37).

1983 Final TV episode of "MASH" airs (CBS); record 125 million watch.

1984 26th Grammy Awards Beat It, Michael Jackson wins 8.

1989 Memo by Bryant Gumbel criticizing Today Show co-workers becomes public.

POPULATION

1940 US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks (9.8%)).

SPIES

1997 FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia.

DRUG WAR

1990 Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine.

NAZIS

1933 German President Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion. Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD).

GOLD!

1849 The California gold rush began in earnest as regular steamship service started bringing gold-seekers to San Francisco.

WITCHES

1692 Salem witch hunt begins.

PROGRESS

1827 The first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., was incorporated by the state of Maryland. It ran from Baltimore to Wheeling, WV (then part of Virginia).

1970 Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge.

POLITICS

1854 Republican Party formally organized at Ripon WI.

1859 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery.

1861 The Territories of Colorado and Nevada organized.

1961 JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor.

MAFIA

1951 The Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., issued an interim report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the U.S.

PATENTS

1893 Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum".

1956 Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory.

SHOOT-OUTS

1997 In North Hollywood, Calif., two heavily armed masked robbers bungled a bank heist and came out firing, unleashing their arsenal on police, bystanders, cars and TV choppers before they were killed.

NANNY STATE

1871 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections.

1997 Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase cigarettes in US.

1998 In their weekly radio addresses, President Clinton and the Republicans sparred over education, with Clinton describing tests showing American high school students lagging behind those of other industrial nations as a "wake-up call" while the Republicans blamed the disappointing results on a "hungry bureaucracy in Washington" that gobbled up education funds.

2003 The Food and Drug Administration announced that every bottle of ephedra would soon bear stern warnings that the popular herb could cause heart attacks or strokes, even kill.

ATHEISTS

2003 The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood by its ruling that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was unconstitutional because of the words "under God."

REVOLT

1708 Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die.

ECONOMY

1982 AT&T looses record $7 BILLION for fiscal year ending on this day.

2007 Wall Street rebounded fitfully from the previous session's 416-point plunge in the Dow industrials as investors took comfort from comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that he still expected moderate economic growth.

SCIENCE

1953 Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.

2003 NASA released video taken aboard Columbia that had miraculously survived the fiery destruction of the space shuttle with the loss of all seven astronauts; in the footage, four of the crew members can be seen doing routine chores and admiring the view outside the cockpit.

ASSASSINATION

1908 Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran.

1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.

BORN

1824 Charles Blondin France, acrobat/aerialist.

1928 Smokey The Bear.

1943 Donny Iris, singer.

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Charles Durning is 85. Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Josef Stalin, is 82. Actor Gavin MacLeod is 77. Actor Don Francks is 76. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 69. Auto racer Mario Andretti is 68. Singer Joe South is 68. Actor Frank Bonner is 66. Actress Kelly Bishop is 64. Football player Bubba Smith is 63. Actress Stephanie Beacham is 61. Actress Mercedes Ruehl is 60. Actress Bernadette Peters is 60. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 53. Basketball player Adrian Dantley is 52. Actor John Turturro is 51. Rock singer Cindy Wilson is 51. Actress Rae Dawn Chong is 47. Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 39. Rock singer Pat Monahan is 39. Actress Maxine Bahns is 37. Country singer Jason Aldean is 31. Actor Bobb'e J. Thompson is 12.

DEATH

1966 Charles A Bassett II astronaut, dies in a crash of T-38 jet at 34.

1966 Elliot McKay See Jr astronaut, dies in T-38 jet crash at 38.

1977 Eddie "Rochester" Anderson comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 71.

2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. died in New York at age 89.

February 28, the 59th day of 2008. There are 307 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: crimtrials
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Smoke Regulators Go After Apartments : At What Point Will They Stop?

First, they came for the restaurants, then they came for the bars and bowling alleys, now if you live in Minnesota and are a smoker, they're after your apartment and car.

The victories of health Nazis have emboldened them to tackle new challenges. Private apartments and vehicles are their next target.

More top-level strategy for a Smoke-Free MinnesotaBy Mark Brunswick and Curt Brown, Star Tribune:

Fresh from their success winning a statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants, Minnesota's anti-smoking advocates are ready to zero in on where you live.

One anti-smoking group will kick-start a campaign this week to encourage landlords to outlaw smoking in their buildings. While the program would be purely voluntary for now, some communities might follow two California cities by considering broader ordinances that would apply to multi-unit dwellings.

Smoke-free groups are also considering pushes to restrict drivers who smoke with kids in their cars, park users who smoke and even cigarette-dangling youth-sport coaches. Still, condos and apartments appear to be the next battleground in the state's smoking wars.

It's part of a national trend aimed at snuffing out those who light up. Chicago can now fine people up to $500 for smoking within 15 feet of beaches and playgrounds. Albuquerque nixed smoking at the zoo. Davis County, Utah, has extended its ban to golf courses and cemeteries.

The answers to this increasing regulation has led to a bizarre invention: faux cigarettes. More from the New York Post:

A new smokeless, tobacco-free, reusable cigarette may soon blow rings around the city's smoking ban.

The plastic Crown Seven electronic device, invented in China and sold online for $100, looks like a sleek cigarette holder and even glows red at one end when you take a drag.

It emits a faint water vapor from its battery-powered filter. Because it's not real smoke, the manufacturers hope the device will fly under health inspectors' radar.

Instead of tobacco, the e-cigarette contains a mix of water, nicotine, artificial smoke flavor and propylene glycol, the chemical used in fog-making machines.

As the story states, it's an answer to Nanny State regulations. But is it the right answer? At what point do people yell, "Stop"? Those cheering on the increasing reach of regulators might quiet down some when the focus changes to other areas of private life.

Regulations about private behaviors keep multiplying: smoking, diet, health. And the list goes on. It's increasingly harder for regulation advocates to disguise their actions as "caring about health".

In the beginning, it was about the health of children and others affected by second-hand smoke, that great excuse to take decisions out of the hands of people affected. Some non-smokers applauded as noxious regulations, in many cases enacted by non-elected officials, took effect.

In most cases, smokers grudgingly obliged. Now the nabobs of the Nanny State have revealed that no place is free from where they will go in search of regulatory power over people's private lives.

Anyone overweight might take notice. With Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, mandatory check ups are part of their plans for more government intrusion into private health care.

Those applauding the increased crackdowns on smoking in private living areas might not be cheering so loudly when they are required to jog to retain health care benefits.

It's clear that the power to regulate smoking in private business establishments didn't satisfy the anti-smoking forces; it seems it only made them hungrier for more rules. This need to regulate others leads to a craving for more stringent regulation.
It meets some of the criteria of "addiction".

Once zealots get the power to determine what is best for someone else, it's a hard habit to break.

by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn



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Canadian Justice? Police Shoot Family's Dogs in Front of Them

Police break in the door and shoot a family's dogs as they watch. A story of Canadian justice north of the border, from the Ottawa Citizen:

Joanne Charlebois said she was spending the evening packing for a move with the help of friends, and her daughters, aged 16 and 19, were studying with a pal, when men in helmets broke down the door of her McArthur Ave apartment.

Charlebois claims officers gave no warning before shooting the dogs, whom she says were gentle mutts who were running away in fear. They left bullet holes in the floor and a casing under the sofa.

"I heard bangs at the front door, they knocked the door in," a weeping Charlebois said. "I thought it was a joke for Halloween.

What happened next is the fear of every person who ponies up money on the American side of the border for the ACLU.

"Then click, boom, boom. My dog (Daisy) was in the air, her legs shaking. Then my dog Maxine came running to me and they blew her head off right next to me.

"They came in and terrorized my household. They killed our dogs ... I'm traumatized, my daughters are traumatized."

The officers kept asking where the cocaine and guns were hidden and tore the place apart.

Maybe it's the libertarian streak, but sometimes, you agree that maybe the ACLU is needed--even if this story did take place in Canada. Even if the ACLU's actions sometimes make you flinch.




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Terror Watch List Swells: A Rorschach Test For Punditry

755,000 Names Now on List

by Mondoreb

News that the terrorist "watch list" has swelled to over 3/4 of a million names can be taken as proof of several things. It's like taking an inkblot test: what you see depends upon your point of view and your agenda.

To civil libertarians, it's proof that the police state is upon us. To the anti-government libertarian, it's evidence that government can't do anything well. To small government conservatives, it's proof that if you subsidize something, you'll get more of it.

It might make terrorists on the home front flinch. Finally, the list will be waved by anti-terror warriors that: Houston, we've got a problem. To the beleaguered air traveler, it's just more bad news with no relief in sight for long lines, irritating delays and invasive searches.

The story from USA Today:

The government's terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list's effectiveness.

The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004. Some lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that it will become useless if it includes too many people.

Useless? A list maintained by a bloated government bureaucracy? That's hard to believe.

More from CNN:

A Government Accountability Office study out Wednesday said the Terrorist Screening Center's watch list contained approximately 755,000 names. But because many potential suspects have multiple names or aliases on the list, investigators are not certain how many distinct individuals are actually represented.

Officials at the Terrorist Screening Center told CNN in September that the number of individuals on the list is about 300,000.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said the "sheer size" of the list raises concerns. Lieberman, I-Connecticut, said the list contains an even higher number of records than 755,000.

So the 'watch list' will be seen as all things to all pundits. What it mostly is: a large government print-out too big to make sense of or assist; with just the right amount of government-inspired snafus to ensure that some air travelers, and few terrorists, will be caught in its web.



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Welcome To America, Ayaan

[image:RidesAPaleHorse]
by Mondoreb

Ayaan Hersi Ali is back in the US. Originally from Somali, she fled to the Netherlands and was threatened by Dutch Islamic terrorists. She fled again to the USA, returned to the Netherlands, and is now back. Her story.

Suppose you were born a woman in Somalia. And suppose you were married off to a distant relative you didn't know. And suppose you escaped all this and fled to the Netherlands, where you enjoy a different life. And suppose the worst elements of Islam followed you there. And suppose, despite international sucess, you were hounded and threatened. And suppose the Dutch government no longer would protect you from those elements which threaten Dutch society. And suppose you had to flee again.

Picture all that and you would have a tiny overview of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who now is in the United States. And hopefully, she feels a little safer.

Christopher Hitchens may not have it quite right in his rants on God, does have it right on many things. The Ali story is one of these. Hitchens in Slate:

Three years ago, at a conference in Sweden, I was introduced to a Dutch member of parliament named Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Originally born in Somalia, she had been a refugee in several African countries and eventually a refugee from her own family, which had decided to "give" her in marriage to a distant male relative she had never met. Thinking to escape from such confines by moving to the Netherlands, she was appalled to find that radical Islam had followed her there—or in fact preceded her there—and was proselytizing among Turkish and Moroccan and Indonesian immigrants.

Her accomplishments, from Wikipedia:

She has received numerous awards for her human rights work, and in 2005, was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

As of October 2007 she has been doing this work from a secret address in the Netherlands. Following the murder of Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch government had been financing round the clock security for her. However, they decided to stop paying for protection while she is living abroad. As a result, Hirsi Ali returned to the Netherlands.

Once before in the USA, then forced to leave, and now back again. As Michelle Malkin put it:

According to Anne Applebaum, courageous Islam critic Aayan Hirsi Ali is now back in the US after being forced to leave briefly when the Dutch government moved to revoke funding for her guards unless she returned there. The bad news is, the free speech rights of those who dare to question the “Islam is peace” mantra remain under assault by jihadists and dhimmi apologists

So Ali is back and hopefully she can find a safe and fruitful life in America. Her story is an inspiring one to anyone who has lived in fear.

And she might just testify that she's found freedom and safety in America. Not the fearful fascist Nazi police state that so many on the Left, who have no clue of living in fear themselves, fantasize about.




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