More Who Says?

“There is no doubt about the democratic correctness of Alessandra Mussolini.”
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, on allowing Alessandra Mussolini’s fascist party to join his electoral coalition

“There is little sign of willingness by any significant insurgent element to... negotiate with the US… The insurgency is increasingly optimistic about victory.”
The US and EU government funded International Crisis Group (ICG), reporting on the Iraqi resistance

“The US fights an enemy it hardly knows. Its descriptions have relied on gross approximations and crude categories…that bear only passing resemblance to reality.”
ICG Report

“They want both of their hands free and both of our hands tied behind our back.”
Defence secretary John Reid, on “apologists” for al-Qaeda who criticised British troops

“I’m not going to tell the Americans how to deal with the response to international terrorism that lost them several thousand people.”
John Reid, when asked if the Guantanamo Bay detention camp should be shut down

“Gordon would relish the chance to be able to demonstrate he is no left winger.”
An “insider” with Gordon Brown’s team

© Copyright Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated)

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=8371

Justice for the 28 Pakistanis kidnapped by Greek Agents

In the wake of the July bombings in London, 28 Pakistani immigrants were abducted, beaten and tortured by the Greek intelligence agency in co-operation with MI6. One senior MI6 agent Nicholas Langman, employed at the British Embassy in Athens, was present at the interrogation.
Both the Greek and British governments have attempted to cover up the story, firstly by denying that the event happened and then trying to impose a gagging order on the press.
This disgraceful scandal has led to the recent resignation of Christos Markogiannakis, the Greek deputy minister for public order and anti-war activists are calling for the resignation of the man resposible, the minister for public order, George Voulgarakis, who has admitted to organising the arrest of 5400 immigrants since the July bombings as "terrorist suspects".
A demonstration has been called for the 21st January in solidarity with the Pakistani immigrants demanding justice and demanding the resignation of Voulgarakis.

No Justice, No Peace.

see: http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=%208061
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=8055

Linux beats M$

For the past year I have been using linux as my operating system. Like many people I was fed up with virus threats, adware, crashes and expensive software to "solve" the previously mentioned problems. So I decided to try a new OI first tried a livecd by the name Slax (http://slax.linux-live.org/). This great little linux distro got me interested in linux and then I tried Mepis. (http://www.mepis.org/node/1462) Mepis is just a great linux distro for those wanting to move from windoze as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Mepis is also a livecd, which means you can try it out without installing to the hard drive. This has the advantage of seeing what Mepis has to offer and testing whether your hardware is compatible, ie works. (It is slow as a livecd, but ok when installed). Most people, most of the time have no problems and install to the hard drive. Installation is a doddle and quick. If you do have any problems, questions then visit the friendly people at Mepislovers (see link)

So what does Mepis have for the'typical" home user?
Instead of M$ Office there is Open Office.
For web browsing it comes with the highly acclaimed Firefox.
Email client is Mozilla thunderbird.
GAIM instant messaging.
GIMP for image manipulation.
Ipod support
Acrobat reader
Xmms audio media player
Xine dvd/video player
.........and a lot more throughthe Debian apt package system (16000 apps)

If you have never tried a linux distro, give Mepis a try.

Another linux distro I'm using is called Kanotix (see link). This is more suitable for more experienced users of linux and is more 'bleeding-edge' and faster than Mepis (not that Mepis is slow). It is also based on Debian, it has a great choice of apps and a friendly forum.

Since the change, no more virus threats, no adware/spyware. I'm in control of my computer OS rather that it controlling me.....and I'm having a lot of fun.

Here is my present desktop running Mepis 3.4.3 RC3
http://img1.yoxio.com/img/225831.png

Workers Liberty

"Juridically they are both equal [the worker and capitalist]; but economically the worker is the serf of the capitalist . . . thereby the worker sells his person and his liberty for a given time. The worker is in the position of a serf because this terrible threat of starvation which daily hangs over his head and over his family, will force him to accept any conditions imposed by the gainful calculations of the capitalist, the industrialist, the employer. . .The worker always has the right to leave his employer, but has he the means to do so? No, he does it in order to sell himself to another employer. He is driven to it by the same hunger which forces him to sell himself to the first employer. Thus the worker's liberty . . . is only a theoretical freedom, lacking any means for its possible realisation, and consequently it is only a fictitious liberty, an utter falsehood. The truth is that the whole life of the worker is simply a continuous and dismaying succession. of terms of serfdom -- voluntary from the juridical point of view but compulsory from an economic sense -- broken up by momentarily brief interludes of freedom accompanied by starvation; in other words, it is real slavery.",
'Bakunin'

Thanks to IntnsRed of debianHELP

http://www.debianhelp.org/index.html

Who Says?

“This work has been especially difficult in Iraq — more difficult than we expected. Now there are only two options before our country — victory or defeat.”
George Bush

“I think the vast majority of them think of us as liberators.”
US vice president Dick Cheney, on the view of Iraqis

“Will the new Bolivian government have a democratic behaviour? Will it be ready to have good relations and maintain the economic aid it receives?”
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, on Evo Morales’s election victory in the Latin American country before Christmas

“If you’re willing to buy flooded houses, you can find some great bargains.”
New Orleans real estate developer F Patrick Quinn III

“There is not a neverending pot of money. Trusts need to balance their books.”
Spokeswoman for Oxford’s Radcliffe NHS Trust, on the decision to withdraw the operation for patients with irregular heart beats performed on Tony Blair in 2004

“Some of these patients cannot work. Yet Tony Blair had the operation and he was back at work the next day. It is a scandal what they are doing. These poor people are being made scapegoats for the bureaucracy.”
Trudie Lobban, founder trustee of the Arrhythmia Alliance

© Copyright Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated).

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=8060

Questions From a Worker Who Reads

A bit of poetry.

Who built Thebes of the 7 gates ?
In the books you will read the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock ?

And Babylon, many times demolished,
Who raised it up so many times ?

In what houses of gold glittering Lima did its builders live ?
Where, the evening that the Great Wall of China was finished, did the masons go?

Great Rome is full of triumphal arches.
Who erected them ?

Over whom did the Caesars triumph ?
Had Byzantium, much praised in song, only palaces for its inhabitants ?

Even in fabled Atlantis, the night that the ocean engulfed it,
The drowning still cried out for their slaves.

The young Alexander conquered India.
Was he alone ?

Caesar defeated the Gauls.
Did he not even have a cook with him ?

Philip of Spain wept when his armada went down.
Was he the only one to weep ?

Frederick the 2nd won the 7 Years War.
Who else won it ?

Every page a victory.
Who cooked the feast for the victors ?

Every 10 years a great man.
Who paid the bill ?

So many reports.

So many questions.

Bertolt Brecht:
Questions From a Worker Who Reads