The White Rabbit
When I was young a read a book called "The White Rabbit" which told about how a British airman was tortured by the Nazis by being humiliated and half-drowned. The book frightened me at the time. Then today I read the following:
"FBI officials are so concerned at interrogation techniques being used by the CIA on al-Qaeda detainees that they have advised their agents not to take part in many of the interviews, it was reported today.



The methods, which were authorised by the US Justice Department after the 9/11 attacks, include a technique known as "water boarding", in which a prisoner is strapped down, forcibly pushed under water and made to believe he might drown, The New York Times reported today."

So not only are the CIA borrowing methods from the South African Bureau of State Security; they are borrowing methods from the Nazis.

Not exactly a "rogue element" then.

A game of chess
White Black

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

2. N-f3 N-c6

3. B-b5 N-f6

4. N-c3 B-c5

5. BxNc6 b7xBc6

6. Nxe5 O-O

7. N-d3 B-b6

8. O-O c6-c5

9. R-e1 B-b7

10. e4-e5 N-d5

11. b2-b3 R-e8

12. B-b2 N-b4

13. NxN c5xNb4

14. N-a4 Q-g5

15. g2-g3 f7-f6

16. e5xf6 RxRe1+

17. QxRe1 Q-d5

18. K-f1 Q-h1+

19. K-e2 R-e8+

Resigns.

The advantage of playing chess against my astrophysicist son is that if I lose I can bask in his reflected glory and if I win I can gloat. A win-win situation.

The Game
The Game (a paradox)

The object of the game is to forget about the game.

There are no prizes for winning. It will eventually drive you insane. This is counted as losing except under White House rules where it counts as a win!

It is a game for all the family, and ultimately all the world. It is free.

School leavers at Sackville
Our local rag had a scare story about local police being drafted in to deal with year 11 pupils leaving today on exam leave.

I have a vivid recollection of the "good old days" when we left Selhust Grammar School in Croydon in 1968 and somebody set the dustbins on fire. This was pretty dangerous behaviour and could have set the school alight were it not for the fact that staff knew that it happened every year and it was therefore something they were waiting for.

My school was everything the right want. It was a grammar school and it had corporal punishment - yet even then there was disaffection so it is not a new phenomenon.

It is true that pupils are alienated and it would be nice to see some serious research into why. It is quite possible, for example, that constant testing for no purpose alienates pupils. This is different from saying "it is OK to get drunk and cause a nuisance" although that is how the right would read it. Their cosy nostrums will not solve the problem however, trying to find out the reason for the alienation might.

Mistakes says Bush!
I was not reassured that in a broadcast on an American controlled Arabic language TV station today Mr. Bush said he hoped the people of Iraq would know "that in a democracy, everything is not perfect; that mistakes are made."

Bush thinks ppl can torture "by mistake" or perhaps the mistake was taking the pictures? No such photographs have come out of Guantanamo Bay as yet and the Commandant of Guantanamo has gone over to Iraq presumably to confiscate the cameras from his snap-happy subordinates.

Mayday in cyberspace
Cyberpolitics are suitable for ppl who are moderately computer literate but kept out of more trad politics by illness, age or disability.....or perhaps I am just lazy :)

The big story today is the publication of photos apparently showing the torture of suspects by occupying forces in Iraq. The ptb have already questioned some of the photos because they appeared in the MIrror which is anti-war.

The photos were revolting. The photos of generals and politicians pretending to be outraged and shocked were twice as revolting.

It is not a surpise that a foreign occupying force treats the subject people with brutality. Imperial powers have always behaved like this. The surprise is that they behave like the stereotypical tourist and take photos of themselves doing it!

And the question which is not being asked by the media is how much is going on which is not being photographed.

Have a nice day