Ben Emlyn-Jones on WAC Watford

I, Ben Emlyn-Jones, have been interviewed by Heidi King of We Are Change Watford. Heidi and I take a walk through the town and examine its Illuminati occult symbolism. During my trip to the area I also returned the favour and made a HPANWO TV film myself with Heidi, see: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/occult-duran-duran-and-japan.html

Here's Heidi's film on her channel "Essy111": 
Part 1: (video removed)
Part 2: (video removed)
Part 3: (video removed)
Part 4: (video removed)
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA92zPW5KbU

Rothamsted anti-GM Crops Protest

There was an anti-GMO protest held outside the Rothamsted Research Centre in Harpenden, Herfordshire on Sunday. The group organizing the protest has a great name! Take the Flour Back, see: http://taketheflourback.org/ See here for a news story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18224637 . My own views on the subject of genetically modified crops are described in detail in many articles, like this one: http://hpanwo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/alternative-view-ii-part-3.html

There was a very sedate and urbane counter-demonstration by a group of Skeptics led by Mark Henderson, a former science correspondent for The Times. I saw a live lecture by him last week at London Skeptics in the Pub (Sorry, I’ve not had time to do a report). Here’s an article about the protest he’s been planning on his website: http://geekmanifesto.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/the-geek-manifesto-on-gm-crops/ and: http://geekmanifesto.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/dont-destroy-research/ In the article he plays a dirty game of moral blackmail by saying that you’ll be eating less, and feeding your family less of course, fruit and vegetables if you eat organic because they cost more. In fact the price difference between organic and non-organic has narrowed and some organic brands, like Yeo Valley butter, cost less than many non-organic brands. I wish the protesters luck!

Slavefare in Hospitals

I have discovered from a source I’d prefer not to name that the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust in the West Midlands has decided to bring “unpaid jobseekers” into their hospitals to “gain work experience”. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/21/unpaid-jobseekers-deliver-patient-care

That’s another way of saying they’re joining what I’ve christened the “Slavefare” scheme. I’m vehemently opposed to it.

See this article for important background: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/slavefare.html

And this film: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/get-job-you-lazy-scroungers.html

As I predicted, Slavefare has been introduced slowly in stages. The ultimate goal is to have all workers, especially the “unskilled” sector, turned into unpaid servants of the state, a return to Roman-style civic slavery. But of course they can’t tell us that openly can they!? Instead they ease it stealthily under our feet so we don’t notice; they play on the greed and fear and of employers and Government bureaucrats, persuading them to endorse the scheme. The statement made by the union spokesman shows a level of naivete and stupidity that I wish was less common in the Trade Union Movement. The slaves will at first be employed only in simple civilian roles, but I bet my bottom dollar that if somebody doesn’t put a stop to it we will see them serving as Porters!

The good news is that there is genuine resistance to Slavefare. A branch of Tesco was invaded by protesters. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPNKdEtr8yk . This is not the first time Slavefare schemes have been trialed by the Government, in fact their history can be traced right back to the earliest period of the Welfare State. All these trials failed because the moral and practical downfalls I describe in the background article and film above. Hopefully this one will go the same way, although this is definitely the most far-reaching and vigourous attempt ever.

PZ Myers and the BBC's UFO Show

Thanks to a fellow blogger, Carl of the Truth Seekers' Guide, see: http://thetruthseekersguide.blogspot.co.uk/ , I've found out that PZ Myers has been assisting the BBC in their forthcoming UFO Skepperama, see here for background: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/bbc-makes-ufo-conspiracy-road-trip.html . Here's PZ's own blog article about that: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/05/12/my-day-in-flagstaff/

PZ Myers is best known as a debunker of the Creationist theory of Intelligent Design in biology, rather like Richard Dawkins. Here are the two in conversation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gaw6kzXbdA . I think this is another example of the "multi-disciplinary" nature of the Skeptic Movement. People who take a Skeptic position on one thing tend to take Skeptic positions on others. For instance people who don't believe in ghosts also tend to reject 9/11 "conspiracy theories" and, in this case, a man who criticizes Intelligent Design also rejects UFO's .There is definitely a "Skeptic milieu" at work here, and I think this once more calls into question the Skeptic Movement's self-image and persona.

What is a Skeptic? What drives them? What makes them tick? The word is spelt “sceptic” in the dictionary, with a note that the word can also be spelt “skeptic”, and it merely means “one who doubts, who does not believe”. However my confusion over the definition is why I always spell the word with a K and also make the initial S uppercase. For me a sceptic is one thing, but a Skeptic means something entirely different. As I said when discussing TAM London, see: http://hpanwo.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/tam-london-2010.html , their own description of themselves: “A skeptic is one who… rigorously and openly applies the methods of science and reason to all empirical claims… A skeptic provisionally proportions acceptance of any claim to valid logic and a fair and thorough assessment of available evidence, and studies the pitfalls of human reason and the mechanisms of deception so as to avoid being deceived by others or themselves". But this is not a description at all, this is a slogan. There are many people who use science and reason, including many highly qualified and experienced scientists, who would not be described as Skeptics; in fact they’re usually labeled “believers”. Then again there are people who know nothing about science and never use its methods who say things like: “Nah, I don’t believe in all that crap! There ain’t no such things as ghosts or UFO’s. It’s all in yer head innit?” Yet this person would be described as a Skeptic. So it’s impossible to avoid the fact that it is opinions and conclusions about certain subjects that separate people called “Skeptics” from those called “believers” or “non-Skeptics” and nothing else; not methods, not science, not education, not qualification. And they can't get away from that. See here for more information: http://hpanwo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/london-skeptics-in-pub-141111.html . 

Big Brother Shoes

See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2146403/The-GPS-smart-shoe-track-Alzheimers-sufferers-Google-Maps-missing.html  “Smart shoe”, very funny! Thanks to HPANWO Forum member “*Kia*” for bringing this to my attention.

As with the story I wrote yesterday about weather forecasting in South Africa, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/south-african-carbonistas-licence.html , this is another example of a “first step”. This is how oppressive policies are brought onto the Statute books. No politician could get away with announcing: “We, your Government, have decided that we want to be able to track the movements of all people by putting GPS locators into your footwear.” The reaction would be: “No way, Jose! That’s Big Brother!” So instead they bring in a plan to put the locators in just a small section of society: Alzheimer’s Disease sufferers. And they make the plan look attractive with platitudes like: “You’ll never lose Grandma again!” But what they won’t tell you is that this is a secret pilot scheme for a far bigger project. It’s the old story about the frog and the pan. Throw the frog in while its boiling and it’ll hop out before it gets hurt, but put it in and slowly turn up the heat and it will sit there and boil to death.

They’ll expand it slowly, After the successful trial with the Alzheimer’s cases it will be adapted for your children, then “undesirables” like the homeless, prisoners on parole, and asylum-seekers etc (“They deserve it anyway!”). Before you know it all new shoes in every shop will have these locators in and the frog will be well and truly cooked!

South African Carbonistas Licence Weather Forecasting

The government in South Africa is considering plans to make it illegal for unauthorized and “unqualified” individuals to make predictions of extreme weather events. This follows the record low temperatures in the normally balmy country over the last couple of years. Penalties for breaking this law would be a fine of 5 million Rands, about £300,000, or up to 5 years in prison. Only predictions made by SAWS, the South African Weather Service would be permitted.

For me this sounds like the first step towards licensing meteorology and climatology. I suspect it’s because of the current criticism of the established Man-Made Climate Change dogma by independent researchers like David Bellamy, Johnny Ball and Piers Corbyn. The Carbonista regime is merciless to its internal dissidents! The end goal of this move is to make talking, and even thinking, about weather and climate the legal domain of government-controlled authorities; so wiping out dissent against the Carbon™ Emission agenda and its high priests.

(Source: Dot Connector magazine)

Fake Wine

I was in a Cooperative supermarket a few days ago looking for some wine for Ustane and myself. In the good old days in Portering I could afford to be a bit choosy, but nowadays I look for one thing and one thing only: the cheapest bottle on the shelf. I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw two shelves of wine on special offer: £2.99 each; this is almost unbelievably cheap! The shelves were on the same aisle as the regular beers and wines, the bottle came with an attractive white and silver label and the wine inside looked dark and tempting; see the photos above. I was halfway to the checkout when some instinct made me pick up the bottle and look at it more closely. I then realized to my outrage and embarrassment that I had been fooled. This product I had put in my trolley was not wine at all, it was a wine-flavoured alcopop. I thought that the price looked too good to be true; why did I forget the second half of that old maxim?: “So what made you think it would not be?”

At least I rumbled the trick before I got to the till and didn’t actually buy it, but I still felt humiliated and violated. I was about to complain to the manager, but then I realized that the manufacturers of First Cape are not actually breaking any rules. As you can see from the photos I took of the label, at no point does it state that the product is real wine. It is very carefully described as an “aromatized wine-product cocktail”. You can bet that they had it thoroughly checked by a lawyer before selling it. However this is one of those all too familiar cases in our society in which something bad is done, while holding itself away from the borderline beyond which things are officially labeled “bad”, by using legal loopholes. Red tape and acres of Byzantine small print turn black into white and up into down. So let’s cut the crap!: The marketing aim of First Cape is to make their product look like wine. They’re counting on getting in a lot of sales they would not otherwise make from people buying a bottle under the misapprehension that they are buying a bottle of wine, and patting themselves on the back for picking one up so cheaply, no doubt. A lot of those people are going to be much more vulnerable than a certain big, tough old ex-Hospital Porter you might have heard of.

I suppose the answer a lot of people will give me is: “Serve them right for not being on their guard! They should have checked the label. More fool them! They’ll know better next time.” I must be in a minority in that I’m concerned that trickery seems to be the normal way to do business nowadays. It shows a great deal of contempt for their potential customers for First Cape to do what they did. “But so what? It’s a dog-eat-dog world, Man!”, as we’re so often told. It also worries me that the ethics of conventional society are changing; the victims of trickery are more likely to be blamed than the perpetrators. If some old lady or another vulnerable person buys a bottle of First Cape thinking that it’s wine then they are to blame for allowing themselves to be fooled. The one doing the fooling is morally A-OK! This is a similar ethical equation that allows the rapist to say: “She was asking for it!” I find it sad that fairness, trust, honest trade and respect for human dignity and sovereignty have become so marginalized and outmoded. These lamented attitudes are seen by most people as rather quaint and naïve. To believe in them marks you out as weak and sentimental. That’s a shame I think.