posted April 19, 2011 02:02 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rogue Guru:
RMChex: I mean this and this. I won't be visiting your country anytime soon. How do you stand it?

---

Ahh I see. It doesn't bother me at all; firstly the scheme didn't actually go ahead but secondly, the cameras would have only been for 'problem' families - of which mine isn't one. If anything, perhaps it could help those problem families and turn their lives around? As for the CCTV in the streets - again, I see it as a good thing. Acting as a visual deterrent, it helps prevent crime and when if it fails in that capacity it helps to catch offenders. What's not to love?

posted April 19, 2011 02:20 PM            

One of the not-so-good side-effects of human beings' nearly limitless adaptability: any situation we've been in long enough (esp. if that means all our lives) becomes our conception of "normal" and "acceptable".

And about those "problem families"... who's deciding that they're "problematic", and are the deciders trustworthy: i.e., do they have any ulterior motives for deeming 20,000 families worthy of such an invasion of privacy?

posted April 19, 2011 02:56 PM            

Two separate things; Social Services and Magistrates Courts decide if a family is problematic, i.e. causing problems for socety. Yes they are trustworthy. They aren't the ones who deem or don't deem whether the CCTV in homes initiatives is a good idea or not; that was suggested by the Childrens Secretary, part of the Government.

Here, the public cameras are for crime deterrance and they are effective - but obviously you don't have to believe that if you don't want to. :-)

Rachel

posted April 19, 2011 02:59 PM            

Well, that's not going to work with me..even though that's exactly what my friends would call someone who buries snide remarks in places where Snidely thinks the target won't see them.

posted April 19, 2011 05:24 PM            

I agree with you about the Kool-Aid; nasty stuff! :P~~~

We'll have to agree to disagree on the reason behind the cameras -- for now, anyway. My thinking along those lines comes from what I've seen and read about the human condition thus far in history. Seems to me, if you leave a loaded gun lying around in the open, pretty soon someone's going to pick it up and use it.

Wait a sec... HEYYYY! I can resize the text input field?? SINCE WHEN?!? Sweet! =)

Sorry 'bout that. I was saying...

Seems to me, if you leave a million video cameras just hanging around, there's always going to be that temptation for the people in power to use them... for more power. (It helps to understand this if you've spent a lot of time researching and contemplating the lives of the people in power, the ideologies on which they are raised (which is a far cry from the childhood conditioning we 'plebians' get), and the beliefs they have demonstrated and professed.)

There were some pretty brilliant people involved in the formation of the United States, which is unique and worthy of immense admiration for its concern for individual liberties and its inbuilt suspicion of anyone who's given the reigns of governmental power. They said stuff like "A monarch should always have a noose around his neck; it keeps him upright," and, "where the people fear the government, there is tyranny; where the government fears the people, there is liberty." They knew that when you hand someone the Big Stick, you're also handing them the temptation to use it selfishly, rather than for the good of all -- a temptation that humanity has a horrible record of resisting.

I just don't think it's wise, at our present state of collective spiritual development, to leave a Big Stick like this lying around.

jwhop: Gee, I'm really sorry I called you a sheep. Clearly, I've misjudged. Your preoccupation with "being baited" shows you more likely to be a fish. Not to mention the way you fell for the whole two-party scam "hook, line, and sinker!"

And call me anything you like. You do anyway.

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

"There are no bad words. There are bad intentions..." -- George Carlin

posted April 19, 2011 05:46 PM            

Keeps visiting here a kinder place to be

posted April 19, 2011 06:07 PM            

Take

posted April 19, 2011 06:18 PM            

Clearly, you have.

So tell me, are you having fun yet? Would you like to have even more fun?

posted April 19, 2011 06:26 PM            

Just a gentle reminder insults arn`t the path to change. They just keeps the old gears grinding and keeps one stuck running the same old tread mill.

Jump off and enjoy !

posted April 19, 2011 08:16 PM            

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wTWWjYTe1I

------------------
We justify ourselves each time we take a breath...

posted April 19, 2011 09:01 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rogue Guru:

MoonWitch and lalalinda: try "paras".

---

posted April 20, 2011 02:04 AM            

Retrograde Saturn has completed the transit to the Sun, next it will conjunct Ascendant. Pluto to square Pluto next year.

posted April 20, 2011 09:39 AM            

Whoa, wait a sec... Saturn Rx just ended a Sun transit? Is that why my life circumstances recently went from just about miserable to fairly decent?

What will Saturn conjunct my Asc. do??

And Pluto square Pluto??? Doesn't sound very cathartic to me... *shivers*

posted April 20, 2011 10:42 AM            

Reasons, Seasons, Lifetimes.

I am not a frequent poster here anymore. I check in, read, laugh, check out.

Not in animosity, but in balance.

posted April 20, 2011 10:59 AM            

quote:

---

Wait a sec... HEYYYY! I can resize the text input field?? SINCE WHEN?!? Sweet! =)

---

I noticed that, too. I thought it was a Firefox thing. (EDIT: it doesn't work on my Internet Explorer at work)

quote:

---

And Pluto square Pluto??? Doesn't sound very cathartic to me... *shivers*

---