Activists to swamp US arms giant with Twitter storm and email messages to protest at firm’s £150m census contract Protesters urging a boycott of this year’s census are holding a day of internet or e-action to kickstart two days of campaigning amid increasing fears about data security and the involvement of global arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The campaigners are angry that the £150m contract to run the census has been awarded to the US arms giant, while others claim the legal safeguards to prevent breaches in data security are inadequate. Activists are aiming to swamp Lockheed Martin with a “Twitter storm” and email messages detailing the minutiae of their day. Hundreds more are expected to take part in protests in towns and cities across the country on Saturday, with many saying they are willing to risk a criminal record and a £1,000 fine by refusing to fill in the 32-page questionnaire. A small group of protesters demonstrated outside Lockheed Martin’s offices in central London at 8.30am on Friday. About a dozen people – some dressed as weapons and others as arms dealers – attempted to enter the offices to voice their concerns but they were turned back by security guards. Chris Browne, from the Count Me Out campaign , said: “I strongly believe that the more people who find out about the involvement of the world’s largest arms producer in our census, the more civil dissent we will witness, and the bigger the campaign will get.” Emma Draper, an anti-arms trade campaigner from London, said: “I have no objection to the census itself because I recognise that it has served an important purpose historically. However, I think it is outrageous that the government can get away with paying a huge arms company millions of pounds in order to process data which is supposed to be of benefit to public services and people’s welfare.” Draper, 25, added: “I live my life trying not to get involved with companies who profit from destruction and selling weapons to oppressive regimes and building nuclear weapons and I really don’t see how the government can make people comply with this.” Lockheed Martin, which makes Trident nuclear missiles and F-16 fighter jets, won the £150m contract in 2008. A spokesman for the Office of National Statistics (ONS) insisted all data was securely held and defended the involvement of Lockheed Martin, stating it was “a major supplier of non-defence related services for the public sector”. “The contract for census processing was awarded to Lockheed Martin UK – not Lockheed Martin US – in August 2008,” said an ONS spokesman. “Lockheed Martin UK offered best value for money in an open procurement under European law and the EU procurement directives were satisfied.” Data from the census, which needs to be completed by 27 March, is sent to a secure plant in Manchester and then to Titchfield, Hampshire, for analysis. It is owned by ONS and a spokesman said it remains confidential for 100 years. However, Symon Hill, writer and associate director of the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, said many people remained deeply unhappy about Lockheed Martin’s involvement, adding that he would be among a growing number not filling out this year’s census. “I have reflected at great length. I have not taken this decision lightly but I feel that being asked to fill in the census is being asked to co-operate with an arms company and, as a Christian and as a pacifist, that is something that I feel I cannot do in conscience.” Census Arms trade Internet Twitter Email Computing Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Activists to swamp US arms giant with Twitter storm and email messages to protest at firm’s £150m census contract Protesters urging a boycott of this year’s census are holding a day of internet or e-action to kickstart two days of campaigning amid increasing fears about data security and the involvement of global arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The campaigners are angry that the £150m contract to run the census has been awarded to the US arms giant, while others claim the legal safeguards to prevent breaches in data security are inadequate. Activists are aiming to swamp Lockheed Martin with a “Twitter storm” and email messages detailing the minutiae of their day. Hundreds more are expected to take part in protests in towns and cities across the country on Saturday, with many saying they are willing to risk a criminal record and a £1,000 fine by refusing to fill in the 32-page questionnaire. A small group of protesters demonstrated outside Lockheed Martin’s offices in central London at 8.30am on Friday. About a dozen people – some dressed as weapons and others as arms dealers – attempted to enter the offices to voice their concerns but they were turned back by security guards. Chris Browne, from the Count Me Out campaign , said: “I strongly believe that the more people who find out about the involvement of the world’s largest arms producer in our census, the more civil dissent we will witness, and the bigger the campaign will get.” Emma Draper, an anti-arms trade campaigner from London, said: “I have no objection to the census itself because I recognise that it has served an important purpose historically. However, I think it is outrageous that the government can get away with paying a huge arms company millions of pounds in order to process data which is supposed to be of benefit to public services and people’s welfare.” Draper, 25, added: “I live my life trying not to get involved with companies who profit from destruction and selling weapons to oppressive regimes and building nuclear weapons and I really don’t see how the government can make people comply with this.” Lockheed Martin, which makes Trident nuclear missiles and F-16 fighter jets, won the £150m contract in 2008. A spokesman for the Office of National Statistics (ONS) insisted all data was securely held and defended the involvement of Lockheed Martin, stating it was “a major supplier of non-defence related services for the public sector”. “The contract for census processing was awarded to Lockheed Martin UK – not Lockheed Martin US – in August 2008,” said an ONS spokesman. “Lockheed Martin UK offered best value for money in an open procurement under European law and the EU procurement directives were satisfied.” Data from the census, which needs to be completed by 27 March, is sent to a secure plant in Manchester and then to Titchfield, Hampshire, for analysis. It is owned by ONS and a spokesman said it remains confidential for 100 years. However, Symon Hill, writer and associate director of the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, said many people remained deeply unhappy about Lockheed Martin’s involvement, adding that he would be among a growing number not filling out this year’s census. “I have reflected at great length. I have not taken this decision lightly but I feel that being asked to fill in the census is being asked to co-operate with an arms company and, as a Christian and as a pacifist, that is something that I feel I cannot do in conscience.” Census Arms trade Internet Twitter Email Computing Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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At least 35 killed and hundreds wounded in capital of Sana’a after government troops and loyalists open fire on marchers At least 35 people have been shot dead and hundreds wounded in Sana’a after soldiers and plain-clothed government loyalists opened fired on protesters trying to march through the Yemeni capital. The death toll, which is expected to rise, is the highest seen in more than a month of violence in Yemen, with protesters demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down. The protest on Friday had started peacefully. Tens of thousands filled a mile-long stretch of road by Sana’a University for a prayer ceremony mourning the loss of seven protesters killed in similar violence last weekend. As the prayers came to an end, however, the sight of black smoke from a burning car caught the attention of protesters, who began surging towards it. Witnesses say the first shots were fired by security forces trying to disperse the protesters and they were joined by plain-clothed men who fired on the demonstrators with Kalashnikovs from the roofs of nearby houses. A nearby mosque was transformed into a chaotic makeshift hospital for injured protesters. The wounded, most of them men in their early 20s, were suffering from the effects of teargas and bullet wounds, many having been shot in the chest. The dead were carried into the mosque’s main prayer room and laid out in a line with miniature Qur’ans on their chests. “They shot people in the back of the head as they were running away,” said Mohammed al-Jamil, an Indian doctor treating the wounded. “Whoever did this wanted these people to die.” Children were also caught up in the violence. “My brother is twelve years old, they shot him twice, once in the arm and once in the leg,” shouted a young man through a crackling microphone to a roaring crowd of thousands outside the mosque. “Saleh would rather shoot us all before stepping down.” Until now government forces have largely used water cannons, rubber bullets and teargas to disperse anti-regime rallies, but live rounds were fired on Friday in what appears be the beginning of an increasingly violent crackdown on protesters. Anti-government demonstrations were held in other cities, including Taiz, Ibb, Hodeidah, Aden and Amran, following Friday prayers at midday. Yemen, the youngest and poorest country in the Arab world, has been hit by weeks of protests set in motion by uprisings in north Africa that toppled long-serving leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and spread to the Gulf states of Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Saleh has maintained a firm grip on power for more than three decades and has rejected calls for him to step down, saying he will only do so when his current term of office expires in 2013. Yemen Arab and Middle East protests Middle East guardian.co.uk
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At least 35 killed and hundreds wounded in capital of Sana’a after government troops and loyalists open fire on marchers At least 35 people have been shot dead and hundreds wounded in Sana’a after soldiers and plain-clothed government loyalists opened fired on protesters trying to march through the Yemeni capital. The death toll, which is expected to rise, is the highest seen in more than a month of violence in Yemen, with protesters demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down. The protest on Friday had started peacefully. Tens of thousands filled a mile-long stretch of road by Sana’a University for a prayer ceremony mourning the loss of seven protesters killed in similar violence last weekend. As the prayers came to an end, however, the sight of black smoke from a burning car caught the attention of protesters, who began surging towards it. Witnesses say the first shots were fired by security forces trying to disperse the protesters and they were joined by plain-clothed men who fired on the demonstrators with Kalashnikovs from the roofs of nearby houses. A nearby mosque was transformed into a chaotic makeshift hospital for injured protesters. The wounded, most of them men in their early 20s, were suffering from the effects of teargas and bullet wounds, many having been shot in the chest. The dead were carried into the mosque’s main prayer room and laid out in a line with miniature Qur’ans on their chests. “They shot people in the back of the head as they were running away,” said Mohammed al-Jamil, an Indian doctor treating the wounded. “Whoever did this wanted these people to die.” Children were also caught up in the violence. “My brother is twelve years old, they shot him twice, once in the arm and once in the leg,” shouted a young man through a crackling microphone to a roaring crowd of thousands outside the mosque. “Saleh would rather shoot us all before stepping down.” Until now government forces have largely used water cannons, rubber bullets and teargas to disperse anti-regime rallies, but live rounds were fired on Friday in what appears be the beginning of an increasingly violent crackdown on protesters. Anti-government demonstrations were held in other cities, including Taiz, Ibb, Hodeidah, Aden and Amran, following Friday prayers at midday. Yemen, the youngest and poorest country in the Arab world, has been hit by weeks of protests set in motion by uprisings in north Africa that toppled long-serving leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and spread to the Gulf states of Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Saleh has maintained a firm grip on power for more than three decades and has rejected calls for him to step down, saying he will only do so when his current term of office expires in 2013. Yemen Arab and Middle East protests Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …At least 35 killed and hundreds wounded in capital of Sana’a after government troops and loyalists open fire on marchers At least 35 people have been shot dead and hundreds wounded in Sana’a after soldiers and plain-clothed government loyalists opened fired on protesters trying to march through the Yemeni capital. The death toll, which is expected to rise, is the highest seen in more than a month of violence in Yemen, with protesters demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down. The protest on Friday had started peacefully. Tens of thousands filled a mile-long stretch of road by Sana’a University for a prayer ceremony mourning the loss of seven protesters killed in similar violence last weekend. As the prayers came to an end, however, the sight of black smoke from a burning car caught the attention of protesters, who began surging towards it. Witnesses say the first shots were fired by security forces trying to disperse the protesters and they were joined by plain-clothed men who fired on the demonstrators with Kalashnikovs from the roofs of nearby houses. A nearby mosque was transformed into a chaotic makeshift hospital for injured protesters. The wounded, most of them men in their early 20s, were suffering from the effects of teargas and bullet wounds, many having been shot in the chest. The dead were carried into the mosque’s main prayer room and laid out in a line with miniature Qur’ans on their chests. “They shot people in the back of the head as they were running away,” said Mohammed al-Jamil, an Indian doctor treating the wounded. “Whoever did this wanted these people to die.” Children were also caught up in the violence. “My brother is twelve years old, they shot him twice, once in the arm and once in the leg,” shouted a young man through a crackling microphone to a roaring crowd of thousands outside the mosque. “Saleh would rather shoot us all before stepping down.” Until now government forces have largely used water cannons, rubber bullets and teargas to disperse anti-regime rallies, but live rounds were fired on Friday in what appears be the beginning of an increasingly violent crackdown on protesters. Anti-government demonstrations were held in other cities, including Taiz, Ibb, Hodeidah, Aden and Amran, following Friday prayers at midday. Yemen, the youngest and poorest country in the Arab world, has been hit by weeks of protests set in motion by uprisings in north Africa that toppled long-serving leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and spread to the Gulf states of Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Saleh has maintained a firm grip on power for more than three decades and has rejected calls for him to step down, saying he will only do so when his current term of office expires in 2013. Yemen Arab and Middle East protests Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …It’s been heartbreaking to follow the news out of Libya, knowing that civilians fighting for democracy were being slaughtered. So I guess there’s some satisfaction in seeing them get some help. But I’m going to be a cynic here and point out that our intervention is most likely driven by Libya’s oil reserves. You don’t see American officials calling for us to intercede in the Sudan, where wholesale slaughter has been going on for a long, long time. Still, I don’t mean to dismiss the heart-stopping complexity of competing national interests at play in this decision. I suspect it will turn out badly; these interventions usually do. But this may be the least bad of some very bad options: BARACK Obama has called the leaders of France and Britain to coordinate Libya strategy after the UN Security Council backed military action against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. The council meeting voted to permit “all necessary measures” to impose a no-fly zone, protect civilian areas and impose a ceasefire on Gaddafi’s military. The US President’s move came amid calls for immediate enforcement of the no-fly zone “before it is too late” for civilians. Diplomats indicated that air strikes from a coalition led by Britain, France and the US could be imminent as Gaddafi’s troops close in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Enforcement will rely on air power as the resolution rules out sending ground troops. Celebratory gunfire immediately rang out across Libya’s main rebel-held city of Benghazi. Tracer bullets streaked across the night sky as preachers at mosques shouted “God is greatest!” over loudspeakers.
Continue reading …It’s been heartbreaking to follow the news out of Libya, knowing that civilians fighting for democracy were being slaughtered. So I guess there’s some satisfaction in seeing them get some help. But I’m going to be a cynic here and point out that our intervention is most likely driven by Libya’s oil reserves. You don’t see American officials calling for us to intercede in the Sudan, where wholesale slaughter has been going on for a long, long time. Still, I don’t mean to dismiss the heart-stopping complexity of competing national interests at play in this decision. I suspect it will turn out badly; these interventions usually do. But this may be the least bad of some very bad options: BARACK Obama has called the leaders of France and Britain to coordinate Libya strategy after the UN Security Council backed military action against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. The council meeting voted to permit “all necessary measures” to impose a no-fly zone, protect civilian areas and impose a ceasefire on Gaddafi’s military. The US President’s move came amid calls for immediate enforcement of the no-fly zone “before it is too late” for civilians. Diplomats indicated that air strikes from a coalition led by Britain, France and the US could be imminent as Gaddafi’s troops close in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Enforcement will rely on air power as the resolution rules out sending ground troops. Celebratory gunfire immediately rang out across Libya’s main rebel-held city of Benghazi. Tracer bullets streaked across the night sky as preachers at mosques shouted “God is greatest!” over loudspeakers.
Continue reading …It’s been heartbreaking to follow the news out of Libya, knowing that civilians fighting for democracy were being slaughtered. So I guess there’s some satisfaction in seeing them get some help. But I’m going to be a cynic here and point out that our intervention is most likely driven by Libya’s oil reserves. You don’t see American officials calling for us to intercede in the Sudan, where wholesale slaughter has been going on for a long, long time. Still, I don’t mean to dismiss the heart-stopping complexity of competing national interests at play in this decision. I suspect it will turn out badly; these interventions usually do. But this may be the least bad of some very bad options: BARACK Obama has called the leaders of France and Britain to coordinate Libya strategy after the UN Security Council backed military action against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. The council meeting voted to permit “all necessary measures” to impose a no-fly zone, protect civilian areas and impose a ceasefire on Gaddafi’s military. The US President’s move came amid calls for immediate enforcement of the no-fly zone “before it is too late” for civilians. Diplomats indicated that air strikes from a coalition led by Britain, France and the US could be imminent as Gaddafi’s troops close in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Enforcement will rely on air power as the resolution rules out sending ground troops. Celebratory gunfire immediately rang out across Libya’s main rebel-held city of Benghazi. Tracer bullets streaked across the night sky as preachers at mosques shouted “God is greatest!” over loudspeakers.
Continue reading …Bachmann accuses Weiner of trading in ‘fiction’ on budget. His retort: ‘I don’t think you want to go there’
March 18, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media There’s something about Anthony Weiner that seems to really get under Sean Hannity’s skin. Maybe it’s the way he makes both Hannity and his guests look like utter buffoons. That might have something to do with it. Such as when Michele Bachmann went on with Hannity and Weiner the other night, producing hilarious exchanges such as this one: HANNITY: Here’s my point, $3.7 billion, we have nearly $5 trillion now accumulated Obama debt, $5 trillion. You tell me how much you are willing to cut out of the budget? WEINER: Well, let me ask you something. Is it accumulated Obama debt when President Bush left office, there was 700,000 job losses that month. There are more private sector jobs created under President Obama in his two years — HANNITY: That’s a lie. WEINER: It is a fact. HANNITY: Congressman, I know you are a Democrat and I know you’re a bitter partisan. But in the month of February — WEINER: No, I’m just a partisan. HANNITY: Stop it. In the month of February our deficit — WEINER: Don’t call me names, Sean. It is almost St. Patrick’s Day you are going to call me names? HANNITY: Yes. Our deficit was $223,000 for the month. In 2007, if we are looking at real dollars and real money, we paid less in a year than we did for the month of February! WEINER: Well, look, I will tell you this. The deficit right now comes from three places. One, unfunded wars, two, enormous numbers of jobs lost a tragedy that President Bush drove us into this cliff and three tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. HANNITY: Congresswoman Bachmann, you know, George Bush has been out of office for nearly 2-1/2 years he can’t get over it. Barack Obama’s budgets nearly $5 trillion in debt. He won’t mention where he would cut. I’ll ask you the same question — WEINER: What do you mean he? HANNITY: That would be you! Congresswoman, where would you cut? BACHMANN: You know, Sean. I had no idea that Representative Weiner was such a reader of fiction. He’s a huge fiction reader because that’s all of his numbers. I wanted to mention — WEINER: Bachmann, I don’t think you want to go there. I don’t think you want to go there, Bachmann. Weiner later repeated that Bachmann’s little bit of projection was “ironic”. No kidding. After all, this is the congresswoman who’s been running around (mostly on Fox) for the better part of a couple of weeks now claiming that there is $105 billion in health-care reform implementation “secretly” tucked into the budget — even though it’s one of the most publicly debunked bogus republican claim in awhile. The Washington Post’s fact checker dismissed it as “bordering on the ridiculous”, while PolitiFact dismantled it as well. I also liked the parting shots that Weiner got in: WEINER: I believe when there are millions of Americans not working because of the Bush decisions that we do have to take care of those people and that adds cost, no doubt about it. HANNITY: Congressman, you’re going to have to man-up. You have to sit at the table and put your pants on — WEINER: Make it three on one or four on one next time, I’m ready for you. HANNITY: You are a star. Just go look in the mirror. WEINER: I love these balanced debates. HANNITY: Yes, well, that’s what it is. BACHMANN: Tell me about it. HANNITY: Tell me about it. If Weiner keeps this up, they’ll never let him back.
Continue reading …Bachmann accuses Weiner of trading in ‘fiction’ on budget. His retort: ‘I don’t think you want to go there’
March 18, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media There’s something about Anthony Weiner that seems to really get under Sean Hannity’s skin. Maybe it’s the way he makes both Hannity and his guests look like utter buffoons. That might have something to do with it. Such as when Michele Bachmann went on with Hannity and Weiner the other night, producing hilarious exchanges such as this one: HANNITY: Here’s my point, $3.7 billion, we have nearly $5 trillion now accumulated Obama debt, $5 trillion. You tell me how much you are willing to cut out of the budget? WEINER: Well, let me ask you something. Is it accumulated Obama debt when President Bush left office, there was 700,000 job losses that month. There are more private sector jobs created under President Obama in his two years — HANNITY: That’s a lie. WEINER: It is a fact. HANNITY: Congressman, I know you are a Democrat and I know you’re a bitter partisan. But in the month of February — WEINER: No, I’m just a partisan. HANNITY: Stop it. In the month of February our deficit — WEINER: Don’t call me names, Sean. It is almost St. Patrick’s Day you are going to call me names? HANNITY: Yes. Our deficit was $223,000 for the month. In 2007, if we are looking at real dollars and real money, we paid less in a year than we did for the month of February! WEINER: Well, look, I will tell you this. The deficit right now comes from three places. One, unfunded wars, two, enormous numbers of jobs lost a tragedy that President Bush drove us into this cliff and three tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. HANNITY: Congresswoman Bachmann, you know, George Bush has been out of office for nearly 2-1/2 years he can’t get over it. Barack Obama’s budgets nearly $5 trillion in debt. He won’t mention where he would cut. I’ll ask you the same question — WEINER: What do you mean he? HANNITY: That would be you! Congresswoman, where would you cut? BACHMANN: You know, Sean. I had no idea that Representative Weiner was such a reader of fiction. He’s a huge fiction reader because that’s all of his numbers. I wanted to mention — WEINER: Bachmann, I don’t think you want to go there. I don’t think you want to go there, Bachmann. Weiner later repeated that Bachmann’s little bit of projection was “ironic”. No kidding. After all, this is the congresswoman who’s been running around (mostly on Fox) for the better part of a couple of weeks now claiming that there is $105 billion in health-care reform implementation “secretly” tucked into the budget — even though it’s one of the most publicly debunked bogus republican claim in awhile. The Washington Post’s fact checker dismissed it as “bordering on the ridiculous”, while PolitiFact dismantled it as well. I also liked the parting shots that Weiner got in: WEINER: I believe when there are millions of Americans not working because of the Bush decisions that we do have to take care of those people and that adds cost, no doubt about it. HANNITY: Congressman, you’re going to have to man-up. You have to sit at the table and put your pants on — WEINER: Make it three on one or four on one next time, I’m ready for you. HANNITY: You are a star. Just go look in the mirror. WEINER: I love these balanced debates. HANNITY: Yes, well, that’s what it is. BACHMANN: Tell me about it. HANNITY: Tell me about it. If Weiner keeps this up, they’ll never let him back.
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