posted on June 13, 2007 08:26:16 PM
What in the world is going on here? My God!!!! Mentality of a police state??? To say the least.
New Nanny State Push in Britain
By Kevin McCandless
CNSNews.com Correspondent
June 13, 2007
London (CNSNews.com) - As if they don't have enough to worry about already, Britons are being told by their government to stop smoking, stop eating so much, be more patriotic, drink less wine and -- oh, yes -- be more polite.
Beginning in July, a sweeping smoking ban comes into effect throughout Britain, making it illegal to smoke in restaurants, pubs or any public place under threat of an instant fine of around $100.
While government ministers say this will lessen the burden on the national health system, local city councils throughout the country will controversially employ squads of undercover inspectors to spot illicit smokers.
In addition,companies could face fines of around $2,000 if they fail to keep written records of times when employees illegally sneak off to smoke or if companies fail to submit these "smoking incident forms" to the nearest authority.
If Britons trying to quit smoking decide to look for consolation in food, they'll be confronted by continuing government warnings of an "obesity crisis."
With one in three girls and one in five boys projected to be obese by 2020, the British Medical Association annual conference later this month is likely to urge the government to take drastic action.
The motion under consideration would require social workers to consider obese children less than 12 years of age to be neglected and to take them into foster care.
Meanwhile, both major political parties here are embracing the idea of a national "Britain Day" -- a holiday when all things British will be celebrated.
Speaking in London earlier this month, Conservative Party leader David Cameron said that Britons had failed to develop a national identity like the United States.
"Of course, America is not perfect," he said. "But it does succeed in creating, to an extent far more evident than we have achieved here, a real sense of common identity."
Anyone wanting to celebrate future Britain Days with a glass of wine faces another government stricture -- this time from the Department of Health, which launched a campaign last week to encourage a culture of "sensible drinking."
Targeting middle-class adults who don't "necessarily realize" that they're drinking too much, the campaign will require warning labels to be placed on all alcoholic drink packaging by 2008.
And topping off the swathe of government warnings, a prominent cabinet minister complains that Britons aren't polite enough, either.
Home Office minister Louise Casey said in a newspaper interview that she would like to see a new spirit of politeness in Britain.
Casey, who heads the government's Respect Task Force -- a body dedicated to combating anti-social behavior -- said it was unbelievable how rude people were becoming. She cited parents allowing their children to run wild in the streets and said drivers regularly toss trash out of their cars while driving.
Dramatic new measures were needed, she said, suggesting that popular television soap operas paint a more positive picture of the country than they do.
"There's a public service responsibility to try to uphold certain standards of decency," Casey said.
Sean Gabb, director of Britain's Libertarian Alliance, attributed the recent government moves to the fact many members of the ruling Labor Party -- including Prime Minister-in-Waiting Gordon Brown and Home Secretary John Reid -- had been radicals or Marxists during their student days.
Where they had once wanted to nationalize industry, he said, they now want to nationalize citizens' private lives.
"These people have the mentality of a police state," Gabb said. "They don't believe in the basic concept that there is government, there is civil society, and that the two are separate."
posted on June 13, 2007 08:44:26 PMBeginning in July, a sweeping smoking ban comes into effect throughout Britain, making it illegal to smoke in restaurants, pubs or any public place under threat of an instant fine of around $100.
Oh the horror!!!. How many states, cities and towns in the USA have instituted non-smoking bans in restaurants and bars?
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on June 13, 2007 09:28:15 PM
You make my point....LOl without even realizing it. But it goes WAY over your head that this is NOT about smoking.
The UK just points out the direction we will soon be following them. Reports for those illegally smoking...etdcWe all know how much the liberal internationalists LOVE playing Europe wanna-be's.
BIG BROTHER....regulating all these areas of our lives.....taking REPORTS....just like the POLICE states do.
With the liberals in charge, we'll be there sooner, rather than later. Not just employees reporting to owners...but soon family members reporting each other.
BIG BROTHER rules.
posted on June 13, 2007 11:33:43 PM
Poor dopey linduh must not have heard about a little AMERICAN thing called the "Patriot Act".....hasn't noticed the bushits trampling the Constitution...Big Brother is here and active....wake up, dope!
