UK

The Violence we Live with

On the same day that a man who repeatedly raped and impregnated his two daughters was given 25 life terms and the man who fled to India and married a second wife to hide from prosecution for rape and murder was sentenced, word is out about the new forced marriages law in the UK. The one they didn't think was necesssary.

It wasn't necessary. I wish the Home Office in the UK could be required to explain that to the two girls who were raped repeatedly starting at ages 8 and 10.

The ER: How health insurance parasites make money by keeping us waiting

How hospitals are killing E.R. patients:

Keep in mind that divert status has nothing to do with being insured! Some of the reasons are: 1. Because emergency rooms can't refuse treatment, they lose money on the uninsured, and many hospitals are closing their emergency departments; 2. Patients who are uninsured or underinsured use emergency rooms for primary care and/or wait until their conditions get serious, thus ending in emergency.

The Iron Fist Shows Itself: BAE Investigation and Saudi Terrorism

In a sane world, this would be explosive news that would lead to world governments coming together in a massive judicial and law enforcement effort. Can I call their BFFs "traitors" now, please? Wild-eyed conspiracy foilsheet The Guardian

Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.

Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.

Implanting British Prisoner with Computer Chips

God Save the Queen! I'm sure we won't be far behind. The original link is 404 now, but there were about a million blog posts on it, including no less than Wired's Bruce Sterling. I found it via Helen and Harry. Heh, grrl, I'm "hungry, angry and horny" too.

Ministers are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails.