Sam Iles's Blog

America has ostensibly foiled another terrorist plot. And I say “ostensibly” with emphasis.

It seems a 26 year old chap was “plotting” to “fly explosive-packed, remote controlled planes into the Pentagon”.

The curious thing, though, is the conditions of his arrest. Because he was totally set up by FBI agents. They actually gave him the C4 explosives, the remote controlled plane and guns as some sort of undercover operation. (Seems like aiding and abetting a terrorist to me, but never mind).

Then, once he took delivery of the weapons, he was promptly arrested for “plotting” to blow up things. Of course, without the FBI’s help he wouldn’t have had any explosives or guns – or even the RC plane, which can be bought off of Amazon cheaply enough.

The morality question though seems to be whether or not he ever would have done anything illegal without the FBI’s help. I don’t deny that he may have wanted to blow something up, but he didn’t actually do anything. How can you arrest someone for plotting to do something which you plotted to do? He was probably just a slightly nutty kid, who had some occasional thoughts of committing “jihad” but would never have actually done anything had he not been set up.

In the olden days in the USA the cops would spot you doing something naughty or hear about it on the grapevine, knock on your door and say “buddy, we’re onto you – stop it” and of course the villain would promptly stop it. Perhaps that’s why crime was lower and prison populations way down. Nowadays, however, the law enforcement in America seems too focused on setting people up before they’ve even committed a crime and, more importantly, arresting as many people as is humanly possible.

Whatever happened to the good old days when people were arrested when they committed a crime? The new normal seems to be opposite, setting people up and convicting them before they do anything. Who knows what this kid would have done? Where would he have procured C4 and guns if he didn’t have the FBI to help him out? He may not be guilty of anything, apart from holding extremist Muslim views – something which I’m pretty sure there’s no law against.

Apparently, the guy could face 20 years in prison for attempting to destroy national defence premises.

Coalition proposes a policy which will increase emissions by 20%:

Ministers to look at 80mph limit

Coalition proposes a policy which will reduce recycling:

£250 million to fund weekly bin rounds

So much for the promise that this would be the ‘Greenest Government Ever’…

The cheapest new Kindle is $79 in the USA.

The cheapest new Kindle is £89 in the UK.

“BAH,” people are crying “the exchange rate should make the kindle £50.4889116! How dare Amazon!”

But, the Kindles are different. The USA one is subsidised with ads. The UK one isn’t. Without ads, that same Kindle costs $109 in the USA.

$109 at the exchange rate is £69.661916. Add the 20% VAT which we have to pay (and the Americans don’t) and you get to £83.5942992.

That’s only £5.40 off the asking price. Which is easily accounted for with import duties and the “increased cost of doing business in the UK”.

Please, people: let’s use some perspective here.

Hehe.

I thought it might be interesting to collect some statistics on prisoners in the UK, specifically in relation to drugs. It’s hard to get exact statistics, because the government lumps drug charges into another big category (‘anti-social’ behaviour, I think) but I’ve done my best.

First off: about 40% of sentenced women in prison are for drug offences and 16% of men (in 2002). Now, that is in 2002 and I expect it’s a lot higher now (cannabis has bumped up an evil grade since then). It’s a lot, though.

But, not all. Because, the crime stats obviously don’t take into account the motive behind committing the crime. I do, though:

Drug use is responsible for the great majority of some types of crime for which people are in prison for, such as shoplifting and burglary. An estimated 85% of shoplifting, 70-80% of burglaries, 54% of robberies (I don’t know the difference between a robbery and a burglary) are attributed to drug motivations. Wow.

Just imagine the money that would be saved in policing costs if drugs were a legal, normal thing (not to mention the money made from taxing them). It just seems so obvious.

Two-thirds of UK prisoners have literacy skills below those of an 11-year-old. 40% of women going to prison have previously attempted suicide. 59% of prisoners reoffend within 2 years. In 2004, each prisoner cost the taxpayer an average of £38,000.

Nuts.

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder:

The current crisis makes it relentlessly clear that we cannot have a common currency zone without a common fiscal, economic and social policy. We will have to give up national sovereignty. From the European Commission, we should make a government which would be supervised by the European Parliament. And that means the United States of Europe.

Luxembourg finance minister Luc Frieden:

If you have a currency union, you certainly also need more elements of a political and of an economic union. That was clear from the outset when we started this project some 10, 15 years ago.

George Soros:

There is no alternative but to give birth to the missing ingredient: a European treasury with the power to tax and therefore to borrow.

And now Nigel Farage, UKIP leader speaking in the European Parliament thing:

What is European Economic governance? I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a plane landing in Greece out of which get an official from the commission, an official from the European Central bank and an official from the appalling IMF. And those three people go in, they meet the Greek government and they tell them what they may or may not do. You have killed democracy. You have three, part time, overseas dictators that now tell the Greek people what they can and can’t do. Is it any wonder that the Greek people are now burring EU flags and drawing swastikas across them?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: every single day of this “European debt crisis” takes us one step closer to the United States of Europe. :(

Were you upset when the coalition raised tuition fees from around £3k to £9k? Are you itching for Labour to get back into power so they can bring it back to the £3k level?

Not so fast: Labour pledges maximum cap of £6,000.

But, I thought Ed was a socialist?

Although the Lib Dems favoured abolishing fees altogether, they ended up being complicit in raising them.

Seems the Green Party are the only ones who still want to get rid of them…

Update: Anyone curious about how no tuition fees would be paid for might want to see this link, provided by Caroline Lucas.

Michelle Bachmann, GOP presidential candidate nominee, on recent TV debates:

I think you earned every dollar, you should get to keep every dollar that you earn. That’s your money, that’s not the government’s money. That’s the whole point. Barack Obama seems to think that when we earn money it belongs to him, and we’re lucky just to keep a little bit of it. I don’t think that at all. I think when people make money it’s their money.

No tax? Wow. That is a small government. And quite a promise to live up to.

So how will she fund the government?

Obviously we have to give money back to the government so that we can run the government, but we have to have a completely different mindset, and that mindset is American people are the genius of this economy. It certainly isn’t government that’s the genius.

Huh. So, people keep all their money, but we fund the government from the genius of the people? I guess she has a machine which harnesses genius from people and turns it into money. Wonderful.