Supermarket Politics

Apologies but there's going to be some swearing.

This post at Talk Politics, as mentioned previously, is worth reading.

As I write this the first Lords ammendment, which makes new legislation a requirement for the introduction of full compulsion, has been accepted and passed without a vote. This is good. They have yet to vote on the ammendment to stop the government's "creeping compulsion" plan or on whether the government will continue to be able to hide the true costs of the scheme.

What about the swearing? Step forward, Blairbrown:

People have this idea that there's a problem in civil liberties with people having an identity card and an identity registered today when across all walks of our life this is happening.

Oh, for fucks sake! For all that Blair is an odious shit, he surely can't be so stupid as to think that that argument holds water? It's a fucking joke. Civil liberties are supposed to protect citizens from the arbitrary use of government power. Government. Power. I'll spell it out: The government is a very powerful institution. The potential for abuse of government power is enormous. Civil liberties protect citizens from abuses of that government power.

Blair would have us believe that the government fingerprinting and iris scanning every person in the country, and recording that information and more (and key numbers which can be used to access still more information) on a huge government database is just like having a supermarket loyalty card. FFS. No. It obviously isn't.

There are two possible reasons for Blair's statement.

1. He genuinely doesn't understand the first thing about civil liberties.
2. He has no qualms about using an argument which he knows is entirely spurious in order to get what he wants. He exploits apathy and ignorance to further his goals and refuses to participate in genuine debate.

It's obviously option 2. He's not stupid. He's just morally bankrupt.

Now, what's that about a respect agenda? No offense Mr Blair, but fuck you, and the Brown you rode in on.

Update
MPs vote to make ID cards compulsory for anyone who renews their passport (BBC link above has been updated). Can someone explain what's voluntary about that?

I've just checked my passport and it runs out at the end of 2007. I'm pretty sure this won't come into effect until after that but if it does, I will be refusing to allow my details to be registered on the national database. Civil disobedience might be the only language these muppets understand.

It's political suicide for the Labour Party, I'm afraid.

Big Brother Government Ruins Family Holiday
A hard working family has had their holiday ruined after the government refused to issue them with passports. The Bloggs family from middle England are angry and upset by the way they've been treated. Mr Bloggs, his wife, and their three lovely children (photo of lovely but sad faced children) were unable to travel to SunnyPlace as they did not hold valid passports. Mr Bloggs said that he refused to register for an ID card and had been refused a passport as a result. "I'm opposed to ID cards in principle. No member of my family has committed any crime and we refuse to surrender our personal details to the government for use in this database."

His wife said they have lost the £2,500 they paid for the holiday.She said "our insurance company says it is our responsibility to have valid passports on the date of departure and that the money is lost". "We'd scripmed and saved all year to afford that holiday and it was all for nothing," she said. "The government should be ashamed of themselves for doing this to my children. They've been looking forward to this holiday for months," she added.

The children were unavailable for comment as they burst into tears every time we asked them about their cancelled trip.

And more. Lot's more.

Tags: News, Politics, ID Cards, Blairbrown