Blimey - where does one start? Leaving EU politics out of the way for the time being...
Re the "high tax rant"I think every tax payer thinks at some point that they are being short changed as regards public services. My excuse as an employee of one of these services as provided is that we do have limited resources/manpower and will prioritise according to urgency - which explains why you wait for a cop to look at the scene of your "simple break in/opportunist burglar attack". Here - we do at least try to deal with this within an accceptable time scale.
Note the way I worded the above crime. I am aware that the person reporting is a victim of crime and we do try to send someone to check for any clues as person probably a "past/present customer" as soon as we can realistically.
Any serious crime - including aggravated burglary - will be high priority and naturally the "simple break-in/small items nicked" will slide down the scale of urgency on that basis.. Now I am sorry - but that's just the way it is... and I am aware that the minor crime will be very major to its victim. I can only ask for patience and understanding from the public out there on this one.
Re the Fluoride/vaccine rantFluoridation - agree that this is a controversial issue as most toothpastes contain fluoride so adding to the water is perhaps unnecessary.
Vaccination? I think I'd rather be vaccinated against Swine Flu or any other disease than catch it and perhaps die as a result. We eradicated killer diseases in the past by vaccination. Because of fear of MMR - we now have measles increasing again

Mad Doc's better qualified to comment. I can pass a comment from knowing the guy in question - he can talk about his "lurgies" till hell freezes over
ID cardsAgain there are fors and againsts. As an Englishman or rather typical Yorkshireman - I dislike the idea of them and I have a passport anyway - which is basically .. errr. an identity card. There are other criteria which can be used to verify who we all are - and we do not have such great diffculty in establishing real names of all our customers. The concept is alien to the UK and I agree folk will take a lot of convincing on this issue.
But I thought there was a huge PR about dropping the whole idea of the ID card.
Green issuesOK .. I will concede that we appear to be going OTT on this, I have more wheely bins than I know what to do with. On the plus side - I did not have to buy them and as a result - I no longer have to load up my car with stuff to the recycling dump
As a responsible adult - I will recycle stuff/mend broken appliances and behave considerately to my environment and fellow citizens and their progeny. Which means I conduct my lifestyle with adequate regard to the planet by own choice...
I will concede the point that fining folk for not putting the rubbish in the correct bin or placing the bin out for collection on the wrong day or overfilling the bin just slightly is counerproductive and simply encourages rants such as rwolf's

here.
So I will concede some of the points I think he's trying to make are valid remarks for discussion - but would suggest, hopefully tactfully and gently, that he makes a more toned down rant in Chat Room on a :soap: soapbox rather than in SPL section.
I would like to reassure him that we are nowhere near a police state as depicted in the excellent Oscar winning German film "The Life of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) which is based on a true story .. and that even with the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty - we will still have our democracy/some soverignty and be able to elect governments who have to set out their stalls in manifesto pledges.
I think I have deciphered his rant into a discussable format?

Most are worthy of a thread of their own

as most are controversial and will have folk in very polarised camps anyway

Bit like the speed cam debate then
rwolf wrote:
We are slowly but surely being taken over by a vicious police state and when the Lisbon Treaty is fully ratified the vicious police state takeover is going to be coming for you at 100 mile an hour and if you don't know the law and don't know how to protect yourself from the statute (corporate law) it's going to consume you.
Some of you think you're not slaves how much tax including stealth taxes do you play and what do you get in return how
much was your pension worth including private pensions and how much is it worth today?
Soon they will be putting Fluoride in our water supply and that will be just the start, soon they force us to takes the Swine Flu vaccine (what are the ingredients in vaccines?), soon they will force us to take the ID card and remember you'll have to apply for the ID card (applying means begging).
I believe Scotland already has an environmental task force that will fine you if you don't obey Climate Change regulations; Climate Change regulations are designed to take money from the people and give it to the government and very little to do with global-warming.
Do you think you're a person or do you think you're a human being? There's a big difference.
John Harris's PowerPoint presentation from his latest talk.
http://www.tpuc.org/content/johns-lawful-rebellion-powerpoint-file-0The Matrix is a system neo that system is our enemy when you're inside you look around and what do you see businessmen, teachers, lawyer's, carpenters the very mind's of the people we are trying to save but until we do these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy you have to understand most of these people are not ready to be unplug and many of them are so inert so hopelessly dependent on the system they will fight to protect it.