Kidnap and Torture

The State claims and exercises [a] monopoly of crime ... and...it makes this monopoly as strict as it can…. It punishes private theft, but itself lays unscrupulous hands on anything it wants, whether the property of citizen or of alien.... Of all the crimes that are committed for gain or revenge, there is not one that we have not seen it commit – murder, mayhem, arson, robbery, fraud, criminal collusion and connivance. (Albert Jay Nock)

A man arrested for driving while intoxicated and then forced into solitary confinement for 22 months tried to get help by writing to the jail's nurse, but the only response he got was a dose of sedatives, his lawyer said.

Stephen Slevin, 57, was arrested in August 2005 in New Mexico’s Dona Ana County, charged with aggravated driving while under the influence and possession of a stolen vehicle, although Slevin maintains the car was lent to him by a friend. On Tuesday, a federal jury in Sante Fe awarded him $22 million in damages for enduring inhumane conditions in the Dona Ana County jail.

Slevin had one medical examination after being arrested and was labeled suicidal, his lawyer said. He was jailed in lieu of posting a $40,000 bond. He never appeared in court. He never saw a psychiatrist. And, despite being permitted an hour's exercise per day, frequently spent the entire 24 hours locked in a windowless cell. Toenails curling around his foot because they were so long, fungus festering on his skin because he was deprived of showers, Robinson Crusoe mingled with Josef K, lost inside the grinding wheels of the state.

Aphorism #5

The human being who invented singing was walking with bare feet over brambles.
      Pierre-Albert Jourdan

(Un)Intended Consequences

Passive Eating

Government actions are urgently required to discourage eating:

• A ban on advertising in print media, electronic media and in public places.
• A ban on sponsoring sports, etc by food producers. Using fit, healthy people to advertise food sends the wrong message to the public.
• Plain wrapping and standardised labelling of all food with graphic images of the consequences of eating food. Food brands may not be printed any larger than 0.8 pt on any part of the package.
• Packaging shall only identify the type of contents (see Addendum L.5 for the list of 308 approved types), the quantity therein and its obesity rating in blobs.
• The highly addictive “fresh food” shall be prepared so as not to be visually attractive. Fruit and vegetables shall be left in cardboard boxes in the sun for at least 2 days before being put on display to customers.
• Refrigerated food shall be packaged and stored so that the use-by date is no more than 4 days from the time of packaging to discourage hoarding.
• Companies which previously prepared (and served) food directly for customer (“restaurants”) will be assisted in converting to a non-food business.
• Fast-food outlets shall be replaced by authorised dispensaries with restricted working hours.
• Citizens shall be issued with electronic passes that they must produce in order to buy food in order to facilitate managing their condition.
• All producers of food shall be licenced, including garden plots, trees and shrubs yielding edible matter. Any such means which have the potential to exceed production beyond licenced allowances, shall be seized and destroyed. Owners of garden plots, trees and shrubs shall, at their expense, install and maintain facilities for remote monitoring of those means by the Bureau Against Redundant Food.

Until Governments make these essential laws to protect the health of the public, parents can protect their children from the effects of passive eating by:

• Not eating in the presence of children.
• Leaving the house and staying well away from doors and windows if they must eat.
• Not eating in the car or other enclosed space which may be occupied by children in the future.
• Seeking medical advice to help with their eating habit.
• Showing the children the filthy results of eating before flushing.
• Remembering that humans can get adequate nourishment from sources other than food. e.g. tofu.

In order to protect themselves against future litigation, workplaces must implement eat-free policies including:

• Bans on the consumption of food while working near others including other employees and customers.
• Instigating random searches to discourage the smuggling of food into the workplace.
• Placing signs on the doors of lavatories reminding employees that they wouldn’t need to use the lavatory unless they’ve been eating.
  Lavatories do not need to provide comfort or privacy. Gradually reducing the number of available lavatories will further encourage employees to kick the habit.
• Introducing urine and blood tests for employees in high-risk areas.
• Providing counsellors with appropriate psychological training to help employees kick their eating habit.
• Installing CCTV cameras in high risk areas such as lunch rooms and lavatories.

Obesity is a global problem as long as people are induced by Big Food that the consumption of food is a status symbol, provides enjoyment and comfort.

[Shamelessly borrowed, out of admiration, from Contrary2Belief.]

Zombies and Cockroaches

According to Paul Krugman:

Zombie Lies 'remain part of what [every naive or politicized observer] knows to be true no matter how many times they have been shown to be false. Kill them, and they just keep shambling along'.

Cockroach Ideas are 'ideas that you try to flush away, but keep coming back. (Are cockroach ideas the same as zombie ideas? Not quite, I would say; I think of cockroach ideas as misconceptions held because the people holding them are just unaware of basic facts, while zombie ideas are held by people who refuse to acknowledge contrary evidence)'. 

Aphorism #4

Man is born free and is everywhere in chainstores.
      Pliny the Welder

Less Weltschmerz*, more Hikikomori**

Sitting on a bus crawling through the tram works in Beeston, on the way to the doctor's, this came on the mp3 player. Would that I could find the oomph to be incited to some blood-letting, in the Demolition Triangle....

* Weltschmerz - lit. world pain; mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state
** Hikikomori - pulling inward to confinement, acute social withdrawal