November 29, 2007

Out of an archive: tasers at the UK arms fair, MARK THOMAS

I've included the entire article for your nonenjoyment. I've bolded the nice text as it applies to TASERS.

And you thought they were for protection against rapists! Shame on YOU!

The human mind is endlessly creative in cooking up ways to harm one another in the name of REVENGE and REPRESSION. Would that it were so great in coming up with ways of living with one another and finding alternative sources of energy that actually work besides coal, oil, nuclear fission ..............

Leg irons row sees two companies thrown out of London arms fair

· Organisers misinterpreted equipment, says MD
· Peace activists arrested outside trade show

Rob Evans and Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian
Wednesday September 12 2007

Two companies were ejected last night from Britain's biggest arms fair for promoting leg irons for prisoners and battlefield captors. BCB International, a British-based firm, and Famous Glory Holding, a Chinese company, were thrown out of the biennial Defence Systems and Equipment show which opened in London's Docklands yesterday.

Although the type of leg irons on offer appear to escape the government's ban on the sale and export of equipment that can be used for repression and torture, their promotion is hugely embarrassing to the exhibition's organisers.

The two companies were told to leave, allegedly for breach of contract, by Reed Elsevier, organisers of the fair.

Last night BCB denied selling leg irons. Andrew Howell, its managing director, said the organisers had "misinterpreted" equipment in their catalogue, adding they were not advertising leg irons but "lefs" or the "light extendable flexible" cuff used to restrain hands.

Mr Howell said a DVD promoting his firm's equipment, which contained a photograph of the cuff, was 10 years old. He said ejection from the trade exhibition was "totally unfair", and that his firm had been questioned by Customs yesterday.

A representative of Famous Glory Holding made no comment.

Both the government and Reed Elsevier have been trying to improve the image of the arms exhibition. Arms companies this year were told not to show off cluster weapons which, while not illegal, are widely condemned because many of the unexploded "bomblets" they scatter over a wide area maim and kill civilians.

At least one company was told not to promote its cluster bombs at the fair despite its strong attempts to do so.

Whitehall last year altered the rules to allow the export of leg irons, cuffs and shackles if such equipment's chains are between 240mm-280mm (9in-11in) long. However, the Foreign Office website lists a range of equipment which it says the government wants to control as a matter of policy. It includes

"stun guns and tasers, and specially designed components for such devices, leg irons, gang chains, shackles (excluding normal handcuffs) and electric-shock belts designed for the restraint of a human being".

Scores of demonstrators, with drums and trumpets, some from the Campaign Against Arms Trade, marched to the exhibition's site. A group of up to 20 protesters taking part in a sit-in outside the Docklands' ExCel centre were arrested on suspicion of a breach of the peace.

Several countries with bad human rights records, including Libya, Saudi Arabia, China, and Indonesia, were invited to attend the event this year.

Mark Thomas, the comedian, political activist and investigative journalist, said:

"I just wanted to thank the police for providing this level of protection against those evil thugs across the road."

He added:

"It is an illegal fair in respect that illegal activities take place there."

A spokesman for Reed Elsevier said:

"We run DSEi along very strict guidelines, and take any alleged breach of these extremely seriously. We investigated these allegations as soon as we received them, referred the matter to the appropriate government authorities and took steps to close the stands in question immediately."

This year Reed Elsevier announced that it plannedd to sell the event after journalists from The Lancet, one of its publications, urged the company to end its connection with the arms fair. F&C Asset Management and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust both sold shares in Reed in protest over its connection to the arms trade.

Criminally Confident

Mark Thomas
13th September 2007

Guardian article

The demonstration against the arms fair in London’s Docklands on Tuesday saw the usual gathering of pensioners, Quakers, anarchists, -peaceniks and tutting liberals (my category), waving banners in blood-red paint. From a distance it looked like Sesame Street was doing a show-and-tell special on imperialism. Closer inspection would reveal a cop-to-demonstrator ratio of 1:1; this wasn’t crowd control, it was more like mentoring.

I had been asked along by Campaign Against Arms Trade as a speaker, which entailed being backed up against a brick wall and addressing a crowd penned in by metal barriers, via a megaphone held above the phalanx of the Met’s fluorescent jackets. Everything went swimmingly: local residents’ speeches were met with particular appreciation, news teams scribbled notes, and peace songs were faintly sung. I thanked the organisers and headed for the Docklands light -railway to go home.

As I walked up the entrance ramp I was stopped by police. “I am afraid I can’t let you past me until I have searched you, as I have reason to believe that you could have articles intended for criminal damage,” said an officer.

“What good reason?” I asked.
“We watched you address the crowd.”
“I am being stopped for what I said in a speech?” I spluttered.
“Oh no. Not because of what you said. It is because you look overconfident.”

That was the official reason, I was “overconfident”; bless them, they even wrote it on the stop-and-search slip the police have to provide. Under the title “Grounds for Search”, the officer wrote: “overconfident attitude of Mr Thomas”.

How can I walk past the police in an overconfident manner that might indicate criminality on my part, I thought, short of wearing a black-and-white stripy jumper, with a bag marked “SWAG”, shouting: “Do your worst flatfoot!” How do the police differentiate between “confidence” and “overconfidence”? Maybe there is a training programme at Hendon, perhaps an ID line-up room for the overconfident full of the Tory frontbench, where new recruits point at Michael Gove shouting: “That one! Definitely that one!”.

Perhaps there are briefing sessions where the significance of “overconfidence” is explained by Sir Ian Blair with the aid of a Venn diagram: “Circle one is Osama bin Laden, circle two Ronnie Biggs, and finally drug dealer Howard Marks is circle three. What is in the shaded area where the circles coincide? Cockiness. They all cock a snook at authority. That and a cavalier attitude towards health and safety.”

Surely, if overconfidence is now part of the police’s forensic arsenal, Jeremy Clarkson could never leave his house. He would be over the car bonnet with the cops rifling through his manbag before you could say “He’s just Richard Littlejohn with a copy of Motor Sport magazine”. And if the cops were really after the overconfident, they would have a wagon permanently stationed outside Peter Jones in Sloane Square.

There is a definite sense among campaigners that the police conduct stop and search for no other reason than that they can. I recently saw police search a clown in central London. She was wearing a colander on her head and dressed in rainbow tights. I am not an expert but I believe Raffles preferred black slacks. And I would guess that most criminals avoid wearing a colander; it not only draws attention to them, but it tends to put the balaclava out of shape.

I could be wrong, it could be a double bluff; maybe clowns have pulled off a multitude of heists. The late Charlie Caroli might have done the Brinks Mat job, shoving the bullion down his baggy pants before wandering off to shove shaving foam into someone's face.

Bizarrely, I have worked quite a bit with the authorities on arms issues, finding and reporting three companies offering illegal torture equipment at the last Docklands arms fair, then appearing before a parliamentary select committee on arms dealing. Last May I cooperated with police after I found electroshock torture equipment being demonstrated at the police and security trade fair in Birmingham.

In fact customs were even tipped off on these pages only weeks ago about possible breaches at this Docklands fair: a warning that proved accurate as two arms companies were thrown out of the fair for allegedly offering leg irons — an offence under the Export Control Act, as reported in the Guardian yesterday. Perhaps those arms dealers slipped past the police by being underconfident, possibly dressed as Dickensian clerks, wringing their hands and muttering: “Good day t’yer guv’nor,” when they touch their caps.

This article first appeared in The Guardian

Mark Thomas - Serious Organised Criminal
DVD ~ Mark Thomas

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Comedy that really makes a difference! This is Mark's true story of cake icing as a political weapon, of demonstrations to Defend Surrealism and getting to like the police. Mark turns an 18 month battle over Parliament Square and the right to demonstrate into bizarrely brilliant stand up.

This is how Mark fought the law ... with the law's permission! It is a laugh out loud funny world inhabited by anarchists, Goths, artists and the Westminster Constabulary, in which Mark becomes a Guinness World Record holder, organises 2,500 protests in one day and changes the law in the process.

Synopsis
Comedian, presenter, political activist and broadcaster Mark Thomas provides stand-up with a difference. In this show he tells the story of his Guiness World Record for organising 2,500 protests in one day, and how it changed the law.

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Website: http://www.MoveToAmend.org Mission: We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to: * Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights. * Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our votes and participation count. * Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments. Company Overview: On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, The People rule.

Proposed change to the US Constitution

We the People

I. Powers and Rights Reserved To We the People, Never Delegated or Violated Without Consent

A. The People are expressly defined as human beings and does not refer to corporations or contractual relationships.

B. No contract, agreement, or promise may ever bind any human to refuse to enforce the law, or prohibit them from speaking on matters of public interest.

C. We the People may believe anything, including the possible belief that this Constitution must be discarded and replaced with a superior document which defends the People and protects their power to enforce this Constitution against the Government.

D. The People are educated to apply the lessons of history to ensure rights are preserved, power asserted, and this Constitution is protected from domestic and foreign enemies.

E. The People have the enforceable right and power to review any public document and access any public official.

F. The People have the enforceable right to engage in any speech, communication, or discussion on issues of war crimes, government incompetence, or allegations of reckless government planning and maladministration.

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I. The People have the enforceable right to freely travel, without questions, and without delay. Any law enforcement officer, agents, or contacted security official who uses any ruse, scheme, or deception to engage in pretextual stops shall be enforced as a violation of this Constitution.

J. The People have the enforceable right to compel govenment officials, contractors, and securty personnel to identify themselves, disclose their policies and procedures, and respond to complaints about violations of this Constitution, the Supreme Law, or laws of war.

K. The People may not be subject to any electronic surveillance except on probable cause and a warrant before a judicial tribunal. The President, Congress and others are expressly denied the power to enact, create, use, or rely on quasi-judicial tribunals to self-certify warrants to conduct surveillance.

L. All denied powers to the US Government in this Constitution are reserved to the People to be used to defend the Constitution.

II. Powers and Rights Reserved to States

A. States shall have authority to enforce any law within their jurisdiction. Failure to enforce the laws of war shall be prosecuted as a war crime.

B. States shall, when the Federal Government refuses to enforce the Constitution or Supreme Law, enforce the national and international law against contractors, legal counsel, state or US government officials.

C. Any state may start impeachment investigations or proceedings against the President, Member of Congress, or US government official on issues of international laws of war, domestic rebellion, or violations of the Supreme Law oath of office, or Geneva Conventions. The States shall, upon receipt of an impeachment investigation or conviction from any other state, shall within 10 days debate that resolution. If convicted by 2/3 of the States, that US government official shall be removed from office. Any effort to thwart State efforts to enforce the US Constitution through impeachment investigations or impeachment proceedings at the State level may be construed as a subsequent violation of this Constitution and laws of war.

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III. Independent Branch

A. All US government, contractor-provided, and legal counsel data shall be retained in an independent branch.

B. The President, Congress, and Judicial branches have no power, right or claim to not fully fund this Independent Branch.

C. The Independent Branch conducts electronic surveillance of the US government, stores that data, and ensures there are independent, safe, retained records of all US government transaction, including conversations and memos between legal counsel and government officials. Once created for the government or connected with any legal or illegal activity, these records are public records.

D. The data may be seen only upon a showing of reasonable belief or suspicion by the United States Congress, Court, or Executive Branch that the information may be useful in enforcing the Constitution, Supreme Law, or Geneva Conventions.

E. Private citizens may view any data, unless the US government provides sufficient, detailed evidence why that request for information should not be met for bonafide, lawful secrets. Any effort to hide evidence behind a claim of "state secrets," where that claim is linked with an effort to bypass the Constitution, oath of office, Supreme Law, or laws of war may be punishable by the death penalty.

F. All government data belongs to the People. Any legal counsel working for the US government shall ensure that the People's right to reliable information is protected. A failure to protect this information could be construed as a war crime.

IV. Prosecutorial Branch

A. All prosecutorial options are denied of the President.

B. The Prosecutorial branch has the power to raise independent combat power, support them, and may lawfully use that deadly combat force to confront Members of Congress, the Judicial Branch Officers, or the Presidents upon showing of probable cause for war crimes.

C. The prosecutorial power is the exclusive power of the prosecution branch. However, anyone may make a claim of illegal activity, and enforce the laws of the United States and States respectively. Any effort to block anyone from unilaterally attempting to enforce the laws of war through discovery, investigation, and open discussion of those alleged war crimes shall be construed as a possible subsequent offense under the laws of war.

D. Legal counsel are subject to public review, audit, and can be required, with fair notice, of a requirement to demonstrate before any court their compliance with the laws of war.

E. Legal counsel may be denied authority to conduct discovery during any investigation when that discovery is linked with efforts that would thwart war crimes investigation, enforcement of the Supreme law or Geneva Conventions.

V. Judicial Branch

A. The Judicial Branch is above the Legislative Branch and Executive Branch only in order of precedence. The Judicial Branch is a co-equal branch, and closest to the People and Constitution. It is least responsive, and most slow to the People's daily interests to enforce the Constitution and Supreme Law or Geneva Conventions.

B. Where the Judicial Branch does not timely enforce the Constitution, Supreme Law, or laws of war, the States and People retain the power and right to investigate and prosecute allegations of US government illegal activity, war crimes, or violations of the Supreme law.

C. All precedents under the laws of war are binding on the Judicial Branch, US government, and the People through enforcement actions.

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VI. Legislative Branch

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B. The Members of Congress may be stopped between sessions and held to account for their failure to enforce the laws of war.

C. Refusing to investigate or impeach the President, Judicial Officers, or any current or former US government official for alleged war crimes, maladministration, illegal warfare, or other crimes against the People, States, or US Government shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to not fully assert ones oath of office, and punishable by the death penalty under the laws of war.

D. There are three chambers to the Congress. The Senate and House have a legal duty to fully enforce the laws. Any decision to not timely review evidence of impeachable offenses, or not investigate war crimes or maladministration could be construed as subsequent offenses under the laws of war.

E. The Superior Chamber shall decide, before any debate, whether the proposed bill is or is not Constitutional. This determination is subject to approval, challenge, and rejection by the People, States, and Judicial Branch.

F. The Congress is denied the exclusive power to make rules. Any rule which prohibits any investigation into alleged malfeasance in re the laws of war, Supreme Law, or oath of office is illegal, and may be construed as a subsequent offense under the laws of war.

G. The Congress shall comply with public audits, and timely provide within 45 days of an audit report a statement of remedy, and outline a plan within 90 days to fully comply with all legal obligations under the Statute, Supreme Law, oath of office, and laws of war.

H. The Congress may raise and support an army, and independently order that army only against the President when the President refuses to enforce the laws of war, or comply with his legal obligations under this Constitution.

VII. Executive Branch

A. The Executive Branch is led by three Presidents, co-equal with non-overlapping jurisdictions. The Executive Branch has one power: Executive Power. All actions taken under that one power are lesser authorities not powers. The Executive Branch has no power to create new powers or assign itself broader power.

B. The Executive Branch is listed last because it is the least responsive to the People, and the greatest threat of tyranny to this Constitution. The President is a clerk, not a King or Emperor. The President only manages programs. The President has no power to ignore, rewrite, or refuse to enforce the law. Each of the three Presidents shall have an ongoing requirement to demonstrate to the People and States and Congress and Courts compliance with the Constitution, Supreme Law, oath of office, and laws of war.

C. The Domestic Affairs President is responsive to the States and US Government on internal affairs.

D. The Foreign Affairs President shall have exclusive power to interact with foreign powers. The Foreign Affairs President is denied any power to violate the laws of war, or use covert activity against American citizens.

E. The Executive Branch, Congress, Judiciary, and Foreign Affairs President are denied the power to thwart any lawful State action to organize with foreign powers and agents to defend the US Constitution, enforce the laws of war, or protect the rights and powers of the People and States against domestic encroachments by the US government, legal counsel, or other US government officials.

F. The Commander in Chief shall only have power to lead combat operations during war time. Congress shall conduct ongoing, public reviews whether the Commander in Chief is or is not competent in managing combat operations. The Presidents and Commander in Chief are denied the power to prohibit Congress from using electronic surveillance or use separately raised and supported armies to conduct this oversight during wartime and peacetime.

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H. During Peacetime, the Commander in Chief shall periodically cooperate with ongoing Oversight of US combat forces to ensure they are combat ready, fully trained on the laws of war, and prepared to lawfully be used to defend the Constitution against foreign and domestic enemies.

I. The Executive Branch and Presidents and officers, agents, contractors, and personnel are denied the power, right, or authority to order anyone to ignore any statute, law, legal requirement, or obligation under the Constitution.

J. The Executive Branch has no power or authority to directly contact the Legislative Branch by name. The President may only request, not order other branches of government. All Communications between the Executive and Legislative Branch shall pass through the Prosecutorial Branch, and retained in the National Archives. Those records are available for public inspection at any time. The People have the enforceable right to compel the Executive Branch, Legislature, and Judicial Branch to produce documents.

K. The Executive Branch, Congress, Judicial Branch, and Prosecutorial Branch, and States are denied the power to wage warfare, information warfare, or harass American civilians through his agents, combat troops, or third parties in the United states or from overseas. Any funds used for this illegal purpose belong to the People and States. Contracts used to enforce, compel, or organize this illegal activity are not enforceable, and contrary to public policy.

L. The Presidents are denied a presumption of competence until proven. The President shall always have the burden of proof, and is expressly denied a presumption of good faith until demonstrated with overwhelming evidence in public. An election result is not proof of competence nor does it satisfy a presumption of good faith, only of mastery to win an election through legal or illegal methods and deception.

M. The Executive Branch and Presidents and subordinate agency head, contractor, and employees are expressly denied any assurance any conversation he has related to illegal activity, war crimes, unlawful acts, or other threats to the US Constitution shall remain secret behind any shield, scheme, agreement, or technology. Any order a President or anyone gives to anyone to hide, destroy,not provide, or conceal evidence of illegal activity may be construed as a subsequent war crime, punishable by the death penalty. This restriction against following illegal orders may not be bypassed by claiming the order was from a non-person, electronic device, or other non-Constitutionally recognized entity, database, policy, guide, or other document.

N. The Presidents are denied the power to use any combat force, technology, or other military weapon or plan against American civilians, except in cases of internal rebellion which only the Congress shall approve in writing. When the Congress fails to act, or abuses its authority, the State Governors may lawfully use deadly combat force to detain and enforce the laws of war prohibiting illegal use of force against American civilians.

O. The Presidents are denied the power to induce any civilian to take any action that might deny them on any Geneva protections as a civilian. Any order, ruse, scheme, propaganda, or unreliable information to induce anyone to wage war, information warfare, or any action to harass civilians is punishable by the death penalty, and may be enforced as a violation of the laws of war.

P. The President, when delegating any power to any agency head, agrees that that agency shall be organized as if it were a separate, lesser, and not coequal branch. Those agencies shall fully cooperate with the other branches of government to ensure power within the branch or department is divided. There is no single agency, division, or office in the Executive Branch that is beyond ongoing oversight by the other four branches.

Q. The President shall have no power to block the Congress, States, Judiciary, Prosecutorial, and Independent Branch from a having co-equal status to oversee, manage, and organize that lesser branch. If the President refuses to substantially comply with that requirement, Congress may not lawfully provide funding for that agency, and the funds return to the States and People.

LadyBroadoak Visionary Planetary Healing Tutorial

November 29, 2007

Out of an archive: tasers at the UK arms fair, MARK THOMAS

Leg irons row sees two companies thrown out of London arms fair

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