LONDON CALLING

2005-07-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

Beyond the Recent Blasts in London...

Perhaps I'm a bit pessimistic, but I have a funky feeling about those explosions in London. As the U.S. and Britian continues to completely control and own two countries rich with oil and gas (and you know Iran and Syria are next on their shopping list) and what with well over $400 billion a year to tinker with in their war machines and billions more a year in "intelligence" operations, I can't help but think that not only was 911 an inside job [the evidence is overwhelming] but this recent attack on civilians in London also smacks of an inside job.

What a brilliant way to keep Americans and Britains prepared to continue to pay (with tax dollars and lives) for eternal wars. Just keep scaring them.

But we all must continue to ask questions. Due to an Orwellian state of total control, the city of London is swarming with millions of security cameras every few feet. There would have to be several cameras that picked up suspicious activity if there were several bombs that went off.

Reporter Joel Grover went to London to find out more about surveillance systems.
Special Assignment: "Someone Is Watching You" aired way back in November 11th of 2001.

People come from all over to take in the sights and sounds of London, and to take pictures of the spectacular city. What they don't know is that they're being photographed too, by millions of surveillance cameras that can pan across the city and zoom into every face. Cameras that are a fact of life for most Londoners, like pub manager David Moorely."To be honest, half the time you don't even realize you're being filmed," he said.

Stopping terrorists is how it all began. Back in the early 90s, the Irish Republican Army was exploding car bombs across London, including one that blew out blocks of London's Financial District, known as The City. Police took action and wired up the city with CCTV, Closed Circuit TV cameras on every corner that keep an eye on every street, every tunnel, every back alley, and even rooftops."So if you come into our area, you will be filmed, you will be seen," said Inspector Paul Rouse with the City of London Police.

It's kind of a strange feeling here in London, when you start to realize that every step you take is being recorded by cameras, which can watch you from behind and can zoom in on you from several blocks away.In fact, every car entering the city has its license plates shot by cameras, and instantly run through a national criminal database. If a match comes up, it triggers an alarm at the police station.It turns out the cameras catch terrorists, and common criminals.

"If you're out committing a crime, we'll film you and we'll use it against you," authorities told CBS2 News. The British are so crazy about their cameras, they're even installing them on London's famous double-decker buses. There will be one on the upper deck and two on the lower levels to keep a watchful eye on bus riders. And CCTV is now turning up in hundreds of smaller British cities, like Newham, east of London, the first town to have cameras with face recognition technology. The cameras scan faces on the street and feed them into a database to see if any match a list of local criminals.

"Now, if I think that's a match I will let the police know," said Bob Lack, who runs Newham's camera system. "The best technology against the street criminals was to say 'we may have got your face," he said.

Two summers ago, bombs hidden inside gym bags blew up in three London neighborhoods, including one inside a pub in Soho, right near bartender David Moorley."I've never seen so much blood," Moorley said. "I had a goatee beard at the time, which melted. I just remember standing there, thinking do I live or do I die?"Three people died, 60 were injured, and London police had no suspects, until they looked at CCTV tapes and spotted a man carrying a gym bag outside all three locations that had been bombed. He was even taped buying fireworks used to make the bombs. The cops were able to catch their bomber, a white supremacist named David Copeland, thanks to cameras on every corner.

"It's a shame we have to live that way, but there will always be someone out there that will want to do wrong," Moorley said.And in London's financial district, the cameras seem to be stopping the I.R.A. car bombers."We had two vehicle bombs in 92 and 93, and we haven't had one since."What's happening in Britain could be a glimpse into our future. Police have already installed cameras to watch parts of Tampa, Fla., and they've done it in Baltimore as well.And after Sept. 11, Los Angeles decided to install cameras to watch the blocks around City Hall."America will have between 6 and 7 million cameras in five years," said one of Britain's leading privacy experts has a warning for america..."If you go down the road of this technology, you will change your society forever."

ADDITIONAL ARTICLE OF INTEREST
http://www.politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1327904,00.html'
Since September 11, Britain has been warned of the 'inevitability' of catastrophic terrorist attack. But has the danger been exaggerated? A major new TV documentary claims that the perceived threat is a politically driven fantasy - and al-Qaida a dark illusion.

So what do you think?

WELCOME TO BETTY'S BLOG

2005-07-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my very first attempt at blogging.

While I may be a rookie in this arena, I will do my best to make this
a fascinating place to get together and discuss the events of our world
(and those worlds that we do not know much about... yet.)

Your patience is greatly appreciated as I gear myself up for this.

- BeatBoxBetty

BeatBoxBetty's Blogosphere

LONDON CALLING

WELCOME TO BETTY'S BLOG