I’m a Pundit

North Korea has yet again begun to push the boundaries of nuclear testing as they launched an underground nuclear test with less than an hours warning to the rest of the world.  Their consistant tests of these weapons against all UN laws has sparked contraversy over the fact that maybe the American war against WMD’s would be better spent in these locations rather than say, those with no evidence of Weapons of Mass Distruction.

This is worrying though, as North Korea does not seem to have any qualms about their irresponsible use of nuclear power, especially in its military capacity.  Many people have now begun to question whether or not North Korea is infact a threat.  This is in my eyes particularly relevant considering how few people were concerned about the threat posed by other, low risk, countries.

For the meantime however there is little we can do other than watch and wait, although the real risk is an all out war developing between Japan and China versus North Korea.  This could cause real tension in the region where the two countries have often been held with a steady wary gaze from their neighbours. Both these world powers have expressed concern over the testing so close to their borders though, they have also warned the North Korean government with possible military action.

written by Oli \\ tags: Government, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, WMD

As some of you may be aware I was planning to head off to America for a while.  It all seemed to be going swimmingly up until I got through to customs at Detroit Airport.

Now let me back track a little bit first, I quit my job, moved out of my house and all that because I couldn’t keep a job going while I ws over in America and I couldn’t  afford to pay for a house while I was gone.  This didn’t really help me significantly, even though i have around £10,000 ready to spend, since apparently jacking in your house and job is a sure sign of an immigrant.  for this reason they took my bags and my passpot then threw me on to the next plane out of America with nothing but a bag of juice and a slim jim, slim jims are disguisting by the way (think pepperani mixed wtih hay), but after nearly a day without any proper food I wolfed it down!

This entire debacle has however fucked things up majorly for me, this has left me with veryfew options, I am however persuing them withdue haste.  Apparently it seems I got unlucky when I was talking to some people later on, American customs runs on a quota system, and with it being at the end of the month, and me being a traveller on the visa waiver program, I was easy pickings.  That and Detroit is apparently well known for its arsehole interigation crews at customs.

No matter how manytimes I have been told it wsa just luck however this does not remove the fact that it majorly fucked up my holiday, I have given up a lot for this trip and need to put some real effort in to getting some kind of payback on the high and mighty guys who so self righteously screwed me over.

written by Oli \\ tags: Deportation, Deported, detroit, US Customs

Another bullied child was found hanging in a closet recently, as a stark reminder that bullying can have dire consequences.  Jaheem Herrera was your average 11 year old boy, he did well at school and was fairly outgoing.  Unfortunately his mother and sister found him hanging by his belt in the closet.

The school itself is saying it does everything possible to combat bullying, but I have the feeling that the following procedure

“Students are even asked to sign a no-bullying pledge.  ”

Does sweet fuck all.

When I was younger I took a fair amount of abuse, this amounted to bullying, but I am actually glad of this now I lok back, it built my character, helped me learn to look after myself and I realised that bullies tend to target those who have something socially wrong with them in the first place.

It was when I realised this that I overcame any intimidation and pushing myself to develop all my personal as well as academic skills.  So in a way, the bullying helped me.

I think preventing any form of bullying or name calling could infact harm more children than it help, it would stop them learning from each other what is strange or abnormal, and could lead to one hell of a lot of personality disorders in the future.

Now obviously this is a blanket statement, name calling up to the point that a child hangs himself is very, very wrong, maybe the bully them-self should be charged with a crime to balance off their personality.  I think it is important however to find the fine dividing line where the victim shied away from self improvement and turned to self mutilation.

written by Oli \\ tags: Bullying, School, Suicide

I have been often dismayed to see the politicians of our country make continuous blunders in the name of public good. It’s not hard to see how they are putting this country into a deeper and deeper slide, crushing our economy and strangling any new business opportunities.

I live in the City of York, this city is one of the most historic cities in England, and therefore it is a shame to see our local councillors driving it into the ground.

Take for instance the latest fiasco with their new ‘Energy efficient’ head quarters. This was a building designed and budgeted for over £40 million. All for a building of which in size should not even have cost £10 million. This council headquarters scheme was done out of the public eye, and in a very strange order.

Infact it is interesting to point out that even though this never went ahead they spent £4 million on this project, this is before they even had anything more detailed than a quick draft of what the building could look like from the outside. Many York residents are starting to ask why for instance, several hundred thousand was spent on an interior designer before they even had planning permission.

Now, there have been complaints about the location of the headquarters (next door to one of York’s most historic pubs) although personally I don’t see this as a problem, York has a great mix of the modern and the ancientWhat worries me if first the fact that this budget was so high for a building that was so small, secondly that we spent 10% of that budget before the building had even had an architect look at it, thirdly that they didn’t keep residents involved with this, fourthly that the councillor in charge has a family history of swindling and fraud and finally that they are now saying the budget they had was not big enough!

Now however my mind casts down to more mundane problems, with unemployment on the rise, Businesses going bankrupt in quick succession and MP’s saying that companies should not give out pay rises in line with inflation (While voting above inflation pay rises for themselves) I am beginning to wonder exactly why the local council has just embarked upon a crusade against A-Boards.

For those of you who don’t know, A-Boards are these highly visible attention grabbing advertising boards. It is called an A board because it is made of two boards leaning against each other with a rod attaching them, which when unfolded makes the shape of an A.

Apparently however these A boards which you see all over England are suddenly illegal. The Council has pulled out some mundane law passed in the misty past of British law and has claimed that these things could create a dangerous obstruction to partially sighted or blind people.Personally I can think of far more dangerous obstructions blocking York streets, Bollards placed hap hazardly in the middle of paths, barriers on the sides of paths painted in a nice, blended, camouflaged gray colour and the numerous cobbled areas which are not highlighted with huge ‘Cobbles Here’ Signs. I personally think that if they ban A-boards for being a hazard they need to get rid of Women dragging small children about, push chairs, old ladies with trolley bags and, ironically, partially sighted and blind people with those dangerous sticks and a tendency to bump in to things.

Because all of these things are, lets face it, a lot harder to spot sometimes than a four foot high board covered in bright writing designed to catch attention.

written by Oli \\ tags: Politics, Rant

Whether you are in the Uk, USA or mainland Europe chances are you will have seen some aspect of the financial crisis in the guise of troubled banks being bailed out by the government.  But what exactly does this mean, why does it happen and more importantly why shouldn’t it happen?

We have seen on many occasions banks being given tens to hundreds of billions of dollars.  These staggering sums keep banks in business, allow people to spend more.  But at the same time people are taking the money out of the banks they are paying more in taxes, all for it to bail out yet another bank.

It is infact a vicious cycle, the governments in charge a the moment dont wan’t the economic crash to happen so are pumping in moneyto the banks,while raiseing taxes to compensate for the loss.

It sounds pretty terrible, the truth is though our economy is still actually quite strong, and yes we are still paying too much, infact if you look at actual inflation vs wages you will find that even if the market drops a further 20% we will still be poorer than we were 30 years ago.

The truth of the matter is that a crash has to happen, people will lose jobs, banks will go bankrupt and people will lose money.

In other news Boy George was arrested for handcuffing a male ‘escort’ to some rails, I will avoid making the obvious ‘do you really wan’t to hurt me’ song reference here and instead go on to mention that you have to be careful forrockstars who may sem loveable, but often use their on stage personalaty as camoflage, rather like a karma karma karma karma chameleon.

I’ll get my coat.

written by Oli \\ tags: Bail-out, Banks, Celebrities, Recession

PETA, one of the worlds most well known and yet most debated animal rights group has caused huge divide in animal rights groups over the years.

Now it is no secret that I am no sympathiser to animal rights or environmental organizations.  Most of them are extremely effective at making situations worse and causing increased human suffering and poverty with shortisghted idiotic decisions.

PETA however really get on my tits.  They are an organization that focus entirely on propaganda and celebrity endorsement to convince the weak willed and stupid to follow their cause, rather like scientology, simply to increase tehir own profits.

If I am lieing please explain how an organization that earns $30 million surplus a year can only get 3% of fit for adoption pets adopted, the other 97% are killed and dumped.  Compare this to the 27%  rate of killing in other animal adoption facilities and suddenly you have a real worrying figure.

What really ocncerns me about animal rights agencies such as this is that they even argue against pets, not just cattle.  They seem to think it is their right to say an animal should not be alive, because it may suffer just a little.

Well lets get something straight, most people with pets seem to treat them better than their children.  Maybe these PETA volunteers and personnel should be shot, after all they are alive and will undoubtedly suffer at some point in their lives, what is the point of them existing.

They are, to put it bluntly, complete wankers.

Should we nuke the hell out of Africa  because ‘people are suffering’, just kil them all, no more suffering in africa, no more poverty, it’s best for them right?

Wrong.

Animals should be allowed to live, even if their end is a swift chop.  Would you rather not be born if you knew you had a sudden death appearing half way through your life?

Hell yes you would want to live, for as long as possible.

written by Oli \\ tags: Animal Killing, Animal Rights, Disgrace, PETA

So Obama is the new president of the USA, I say this with the tone of voice that most English people use when this is brought up, ie. Couldn’t care less.

But of course in America it is not only a big thing but the BIGGEST thing. 

So who thinks what about the new choice of president?

The media thinks its great, a Black president, woohoo.  They fail to pay much attention to the fact that this black president could be confused for a white person with a heavy tan.  

The Upper class think it’s great, Obama is a true man of the corporation, making the rich richer.

The Middle classes think it’s great, he promises to bring the troops home!  No more war and promises of a more stable economy brought on by the savings this will incur 

The lower classes hate the bastard, god damn son of a bitch making us seem like pussies, I’m down with the war.  Lets lynch that black bastard.

All in all though Obama is the choice I would have made, McCain is undoubtedly useless, just as bush was before him.  To be honest though, neither party is ideal.  

Both parties have been around long enough to become corrupted and inefficient.  Neither of them have any unique ideas or selling points to really bring America back on track and nothing they say really holds any value.

America has the two term policy, no one may be president for more than 2 terms.  This ensures no one president can hold a corrupt power over the United States.  There is however no protection from those just a tad further down the ladder.

Why not institute the 2 term policy for al the managerial and top level positions of a party, hell why not have it just for the party.  By doing this you are ensuring that fresh people, fresh ideas and fresh ideals are brought into the United States.  Not only that but it removes the possibility of corruption, complacency and idiotic managers who rise to power just by being there a long time.

I don’t think this is just a good idea for the United States, but also for England.  It is after all a True democracy.

written by Oli \\ tags: Election 2008, McCain, Obama, President, Result

While Sci-Fi has only been a passing passion in my life, with the literary works of Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov still fresh in my mind, the tales coming from Mars have fascinated me.

Today it was announced that they have found snow falling in the Mars atmosphere, not to mention clay and calcium carbonate (Limestone) in the ground.   Both of these can only be created in the presence of water.

This brings us one step closer to the ever advancing realisation that the only ting stopping humanity from populating Mars is its lack of atmosphere, something that is with time fixable.

Now while many may think of it as a deserted wasteland, others think of it as a  mutated triple breasted utopia and many think of it as another way of ensuring humanities survival, i personally think of it as a true trek of exploration.   In recent years exploration has become defunct, no longer is there a call for people willing to risk their lives in jungles, why bother when a satellite can view the land from above.  But building a civilisation from scratch, now that’s a challenge.

written by Oli \\ tags: , Adventure, Exploration, Mars, Planets, Space, Water on Mars

I find it kind of funny how the press has started chasing Laura Bush (The First Lady) over a car crash she was involved in when she was 17.  In this car crash the driver of the other vehicle, her own boyfriend at the time, died.

Now what gets me is that the press are calling Laura Bush a murderer while completely ignoring the fact that her husband has instigated the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Personally I am a bit disguisted with how the press her branding her a murderess  simply because she was in a car accident during her youth.

The press meanwhile are chasing the police department for a release of the full report and George W Bush has apparently been heard saying he will use all his influence to keep the report private.

And do you know what, I actually agree with him, why would you let your own wife be subject to a media hounding for such a traumatic event as accidentally killing your own boyfriend?

A past pain like that should not be brought back publicly to be used as mere harassment, wether it be a nobody or wife of the president.

You wouldn’t keep reminding a cancer patient of their disease, you wouldn’t keep talking to a tarindriver about suicide after someone jumped infront of his train.

Somethings should be left to be forgotten.

written by Oli \\ tags: Accident, Car Crash, Laura Bush

Michael Moore has produced yet another film outlining his thoughts on a political subject, in the past he has covered thigns wrong with America from Macdonalds to Gun Ownership.  This time however he brings in the worlds slackers, getting them to vote against Bush.

In the wake of 9/11 Micael Moore attempts to bring in an uprosing of people to take bush out of power in America in an attempt to prevent a great atrocity!

If you are residing in America or Canada you can download teh film Here!

written by Oli \\ tags: , America, Free Movie Download, Michael Moore