Knock Knock

Hey Ho

High Five

Meanwhile, in a London Gentlemen's Club …

Apologies for the Grossness, but Hey: I'm Gross.

Christmas Twerky

Ho Ho Ho

I usually make a sweary and inappropriate Christmas card for the blog, but this year, Non-Seq came up with such a glorious festive greeting I cannot resist posting it instead.

Wishing all my blogpals an unconscionably spiffy Saturnalia / Winter Solstice boozefest / Hannukkah / Christmas / whatever (delete where applicable), but this year with extra special greetings to two true heroes of freedom and democracy, Eddie Snowden and Chelsea Manning.

Not that any of this NSA business should have surprised anybody; we've known for decades …

After all, Messr.s Martin and Mitchell defected from the NSA to Moscow in 1960 and blew the whistle on the NSA spying on its friends and its own citizens.

And here's one of my own posts, from way back in 2007, entitled 'Fuck the NSA":

"Here's a bit of fun:
Some dumb fuck with a crew cut will be reading this up in Yorkshire today, thanks to the title of the post.
I just want to say "Fuck off. You are not welcome here."

Today's subject is the delightful Menwith Hill NSA listening station just outside Harrogate in Yorkshire.
This is the world's largest electronic monitoring station, run by the NSA and responsible for "the signals intelligence and communications security activities of the US government".

Ever wonder where your emails go?
Ever wonder what that faint click was on your phone?

In total violation of EU civil liberties legislation and basic common decency, the NSA use Menwith Hill to monitor private (yes, private) telephone conversations, mobile conversations, emails and faxes plus a whole lot more, listening out for key words such as "bomb" or "bush"
(in my more radical days I would often include the word "bomb" in email titles to make sure they read it, on the assumption that if enough people did that, the twats would eventually get bored and fuck off home to America).
We have demonstrated and lobbied against this outrageous violation of civil liberties (and EU law), but to no avail. Menwith Hill is unaccountable, unlawful and undemocratic and amazingly, very few people seem to be aware of its existence.

I can understand why they needed the nearby Fylingdales early warning radar station during the cold war (though that is now being upgraded to become part of the farcical Star Wars defence shield), but Menwith Hill is illegal and immoral.

In case you think they're not listening to you, they constantly monitor all European post, telephone and telegraph signals, together with mobile communications and such corporations as ITT and RCA in the US.
Say "Hi" to them next time you call anyone.
Then tell them to fuck off.

Now you know."

So Merry Christmas Blogville, Eddie and Chelsea and - as Tiny Tim said, "Gawd bless us, every one."•


•except the NSA.

Yes, You Did.

Christmas Is Coming …

Family Planning in the Eighteenth Century