text:
You're telling me that I can have sex before marriage, listen to heavy metal and enjoy life and then go to a place that is full of like minded individuals who are willing to create the largest orgy on record while some AC/DC and Steel Panther plays in the distance? I may actually start believing in religion if that is to be my eventual outcome.
It strikes as strange that no religion or denomination can agree on what exactly hell looks like; I would expect that if God were all powerful then, at the very least, he would leave perhaps a picture on Tumblr showing the real hell. Unfortunately, no such luck. Despite looking through the tag 'hell' in Tumblr, all I was able to source were pictures of broken IPhones, bad hair days, insecure tweens and memes. Is God sending us a message to indicate that hell is essentially going to look like a modern day remake of Saved by the Bell?
|Where do I sign up again?
As an Atheist, it comes to thought that perhaps the reason that hell is so sporadic in its description is perhaps the bible is being viewed as any other piece of fiction -- inside the reader's mind. Hell is no more of a worry to me than stepping in the rear left overs of a dog; that is to say that it isn't really a worry: I simply wipe it from my mind as I would wipe the brown from my shoe. Religion has often used the fear element to meet its quote of follows, and while I respect their right to base convictions and morals off of a 1600 year old book that has been rewritten twenty times, I would like to be left alone without having to be told that I am a bad person for embracing the beauty of a pseudo-secular society. Religion only becomes a problem when it forces ideals onto those who do not wish to follow them -- sort of like the right winged political parties.
I stated that I respect their right to their religion, and I do, however that wont stop me from tearing it into several million small chunks. Let's start off by finding several contradictions:
"So they sent twelve thousand warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. "This is what you are to do," they said. "Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin." Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan." Judges 21:10-24 NLT
Wait. So it's alright to have sex before (or commit adultery) marriage so long as you murder innocent dwellers and force your self upon the women and rape them? This isn't a part of the bible where they show the brutality of worshipers of 'false Gods', this is literally the depiction of Christian warriors, and even worse, after they rape those virgins, they need more:
Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh, between Lebonah and Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, "Go and hide in the vineyards. When the women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to be your wife! And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, 'Please be understanding. Let them have your daughters, for we didn't find enough wives for them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. Judges 21:10-24 NLT
Dick move guys, dick move.
Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble. Wisdom 3:5-7 NAB - The Book of The Wisdom of Solomon
Above is one of those passages from the Bible where even the Christians went 'wooooah not cool bro!' and excluded it, with exception to the Roman Catholic Church which saw it fit to include verses of human sacrifice by fire to God. This is what I mean about inconsistencies; seriously, go look through the New Testament - IT'S NOT THERE. I read through the Methodist, Church of Scotland and Baptist editions and I couldn't find it!
Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT
If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives." Leviticus 20:13 NAB
Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. Exodus 21:15 NAB
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on his way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. "Go up baldhead," they shouted, "go up baldhead!" The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two shebears came out of the woods and tore forty two of the children to pieces. 2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB
Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children. Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT
So let me cap:
- It's not alright for me to have sex before marriage - unless I rape an entire village full of virgins?
- I can burn people alive as a birthday gift to God?
- I can murder children is their cheeky
- If I flip a Priest off for taking the last Subway cookie, I'll be put to death?
- I should murder the children and rape the wives of any man who beats me on Call of Duty?
Okay religion...you just...stay cool, mkay?
I have so many quotes and not nearly enough time in the world to go through them all. From what I understand of the bible, Atheists and Christians will be going to hell in equal quantities simply for farting.
So to all my fellow Atheists out there, save me a VIP badge to the Motorhead and Anthrax gigs in hell; make sure that there's a chilled bottle of Jack Daniels, and try to find some curvy punkrockers for me to spend the night with.
I'm the Young Political Radical. Stay opinionated, and stay beautiful!


text:
"Sono bravi tutti tranne me"
"Prova a fermarmi"
"Nessuno mai"
Diego Fazio or also known as DiegoKoi was born in Lamezia Terme (CZ) October 25, 1989. As a young man he started out creating tattoo designs and was inspired by the work of Katsushika Hokusai. In time, Diego's technique moved on from the sharp and heavy lines of Japanese tattoo drawings and he progressed on to the lightness and delicacy of pencil drawing.
The persuit of perfection is an obsession for Diego. He has the ability to see hundreds of shades of grey and achieve extreme realism in his works. He spent a brief time training with the great artists Calabrese, Maurizio Camevali who helped him define his drawing skills to be able to communicate his vision. Diego has made a great name for himself and is commissioned regularly from all over the world. His work goes beyond the simple picture and has wowed the public with exhibitions in the picturesque area of Calabria, Italy.
With his background, it is not surprising to see how strong Diego's work, with an almost perfect technique he's really communicating emotions through each of his works
and far beyond that, in my opinion, he also successfully convey his vision as an artist.
- Audience Award Best Artist 2011 NonfermArti
- Prize painting section NonfermArti 2011
posted by Fiman Prayudi Utama for ART

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Lord Lucas: My Lords, if I may call my noble friend's attention to the time.
Lord Rees: My Lords, this Administration over a period of time has reduced taxation. It has abolished a number of taxes. I hope therefore that Mr. Blair's latest statement shows that there is some common ground between us. I hope that we may profit from the example of New Zealand and I hope that a low tax, simple environment may lead to genuinely user-friendly legislation. I hope that that is not too optimistic a note on which to end my overlong speech.
Lord Simon of Glaisdale: My Lords, we are singularly fortunate that a Chancellor of the Exchequer of such distinguished service as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe, should focus our minds on this aspect of our fiscal system. We are also greatly indebted to the three reports to which he referred. Particularly, it was most encouraging to read the two models on which we might base a complete rewriting of our fiscal code over the next five years. I mention the three reports at the risk of impertinence after the contribution, referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It has been consistently useful, not least in its latest report.
There are two different types of legislation. One is designed for ordinary people. An example of that would be the recent Family Law Bill which has been before your Lordships. Whatever one may say about its thrust, it is well drafted and can be understood by the people it affects--the ordinary people in the streets. Then there is technical legislation, for which one can reasonably be required to have recourse to an expert. For patents, one goes to a patent agent; for landlords and tenants legislation, to a solicitor, and for the revenue statutes to a solicitor or accountant. However, there is no excuse for the complication and obscurity of much of our fiscal
I shall not attempt to cover points made by noble Lords who preceded me. Many of them have had far more recent experience of Treasury and fiscal matters than I and I shall not be affronted if the Minister tells me that I am discussing a Jurassic fiscal code. I venture to agree with practically everything that has been said but I wish to submit three broader considerations for your Lordships, for what they are worth.
First, we use our fiscal code for economic engineering. That is permissible, but it almost inevitably leads to great complication because it needs fine tuning. Frequently, what is required to be done by the fiscal code could be done in other ways; for example, capital allowances by direct grant. One would have to interpolate some body like the University Grants Committee or the Arts Council to make the necessary adjustments. We are used to such machinery and I suggest that whenever the fiscal code is used to implement an economic policy or even to guide personal behaviour, one should find out whether there is a simpler method of achieving the same result.
The second consideration which I wish to point out is how profoundly I agree with what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe, said about the haste with which much of our fiscal legislation is prepared. It is almost always due to an excessive desire for secrecy. When I was a Treasury Minister, no one outside the Treasury was allowed to see a Finance Bill until it had been published. That was relaxed painfully, and the Law Officers were finally allowed to see it. The secrecy was unnecessary. Some things are highly secret, like Customs and Excise legislation, where a change in duty may lead to reticulation. But income tax and other matters concerning the Inland Revenue are not so secret and could well be widely discussed, particularly with a view to ensuring perspicuousness.
The third consideration which I suggest is that one-fifth of our fiscal legislation relates to anti-avoidance provisions. They are incredibly complicated. The reason is that the tax avoidance schemes are often complicated. With our tradition of fiscal equity, the Inland Revenue follows the convolutions through so as to hit precisely one scheme and no other. By that time, the provision is often quite incomprehensible.
I once had such a provision, and an accountant on the Back Benches pointed out that in certain remote circumstances, it would involve a double charge to tax. That was a challenge to the Inland Revenue, which proceeded to chase it further to ensure that there was no double charge to tax. It succeeded, but at the cost of complete incomprehensibility. When I was challenged as to its meaning, all I could do was to repeat what Sir John Simon, with his incomparably clear legal brain, said: "What the Inland Revenue intends to do by this is so-and-so. I don't see how it does it, but that is the way
We can sweep away the great bulk of the anti-avoidance provisions by a simple provision such as exists in the United States and Australia. Any transaction, the dominant purpose of which is the avoidance of tax, shall be void for that purpose, though valid for any other. The law is quite capable of dealing with a dominant purpose. I ask that the point be considered.
Lord Cockfield: My Lords, the issues raised by my noble and learned friend Lord Howe and the report of the Tax Law Review Committee are of great importance. However, I wish to go further into the causes of the trouble than that report or my noble and learned friend's speech went. The report deals essentially with the effects and not with the causes. It deals with symptoms, not the disease itself. Although there is a great deal of merit in the relief of symptoms, there is much greater virtue in trying to tackle the causes.
My noble and learned friend kindly referred to the speech that I made in your Lordships' House nearly two years ago. On that rare occasion noble Lords were permitted by the usual channels to discuss the Finance Bill, and I analysed the reasons for the complexity of fiscal legislation. I do not propose going over the whole of that field again. But I want to make one comment which links back to those remarks.
The guilty parties, if I may use such a phrase, in this field are successive Chancellors of the Exchequer and also the legal profession, particularly the judiciary. I shall come to the latter point in more detail in a moment. So far as Chancellors of the Exchequer are concerned, it is not simply a question of failure to simplify taxes; it is a penchant they have for introducing new complications. Almost every Budget has its list of what that very great Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Lever of Manchester, described as "ripping little wheezes". Those are what in these days are called "tax shelters" designed to attract public attention and, no doubt, the plaudits of the business community and particularly of the financial services industry, in whose pockets for some strange reason the benefits of the tax relief almost always end up.
We should be much better if we had much lower rates of tax--I entirely agree with my noble friend Lord Rees--but no tax shelters. The two things go together. If there are a lot of tax shelters, there are high tax rates. What we want are no tax shelters and much lower tax rates.
I now turn to the question of the legal profession and the judiciary. One has to be very, very careful what one says here. As we know, the judges are a very sensitive lot, much given to criticising one another (if one studies the minor incident of the Scott Report) but somewhat adverse to people criticising them.
It is very well known that the standard of proof in criminal cases is very much higher than the standard of proof required in civil cases. That is not so much a
I listened with great interest to the remarks of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Simon of Glaisdale. One of my earliest jobs when I was very young was cleaning up the excess profits duty of the 1914-18 war. That contained an anti-avoidance provision; so, indeed, did the excess profits tax of the 1939-45 war; so did the excess profits tax of the Korean War. I was involved in the administration of all three. I hate to say how old I am, but noble Lords can draw their own conclusions from my remarks. There can be provisions of that kind in times of war. First, people are prepared to tolerate them, and secondly, on the whole the standard of behaviour on the part of the kind of people who normally go in for tax avoidance is inhibited by public opinion. Incidentally, in both of the first two instances we had exactly the same sort of body as the noble and learned Lord suggested. I believe it was called the Board of Referees, which pontificated on whether or not the main purpose of the transaction was tax avoidance. A few years ago, in the Ramsay case, it looked as though the judiciary was taking a rather stronger line on purely artificial transactions, but I believe that has gradually been chipped away at in subsequent cases.
In the end, the attitude of the judiciary in this respect is a reflection of public opinion as it existed a generation or so ago. It has been said, and the quotation will be familiar to noble and learned Lords, that the law lags behind public opinion and public opinion lags behind the truth. In the present instance the time lags are very considerable. I believe that the general attitude in the country towards taxation is somewhat different to what it was, for example, at the time of the Civil War. I refer of course to the Civil War in which Oliver Cromwell and Charles Stuart were involved. The origin of that civil war rested on taxation considerations. The whole emphasis after those events was to cut down the power of the Crown to tax the citizen.
There has been a change in this quite extensive period, and people accept that there is a legitimate place for taxation and that it is not simply a question of the Crown getting money out of the citizen for purposes of which the citizen would not approve. Of course some governments take too much money, and for purposes that not everyone will support. But, as a general proposition, I believe there is a greater acceptance today that the state has a greater role than it had before the war, and certainly a greater role than it had before 1914.
At the end of the day, this issue is capable of resolution only if there is a state of public opinion under which it is unacceptable. In those circumstances, a general anti-avoidance provision may take us some way further forward. But in the end, that can happen only if there is a change in the ethos and outlook of people in the country, of the legislature itself and particularly, at the end of the day, of the judiciary, whose job it is to enforce the standards by which we all have to live.
Lord Boyd-Carpenter: My Lords, I have been taking part in financial debates in one House or the other since the year of grace 1951. I must say at once that, of all those debates over all those years, I have never heard one opened better than this one, introduced by my noble and learned friend Lord Howe of Aberavon. His speech was masterly, it gave a splendid set-off to the debate and it demonstrated a greater quality of understanding of the hideously complex issues with which we are concerned in these debates than any I have heard. The House has every reason to be greatly indebted to him.
I want to deal quickly with one or two particular aspects of the matter and first of all with the need for simpler and more friendly financial legislation. That is becoming more difficult because of the curious way in which the Inland Revenue appears to be handled.
For many years I dealt with Inland Revenue offices in the town of Rugby, where I was an administrator, and in London where I lived mostly, and in Hampshire with a tax office close to me. It now appears that it is the policy of the Inland Revenue to move their offices very largely away from what I might describe as "inhabited areas" and put a considerable distance between a great many taxpayers and their offices.
Perhaps I may quote from my own experience. When I was chairman of Rugby Portland Cement, I dealt with the tax office in Rugby. Later I and my wife dealt with tax offices which are located, believe it or not, at Walsall and Bootle. I do not know how many noble Lords are familiar with those no doubt distinguished areas, but they are a very long way from those who live in the south of England.
I wonder whether my noble friend the Minister will say whether there is a deliberate policy of moving tax offices into remote parts of the country, with the consequence that proper, immediate contact with the tax office is much more difficult. If the tax office is in the same town or area in which one lives or works, many small points of difficulty can be easily resolved by a visit to the office and having a word with an official. But if the tax office is located, as in my case, hundreds of miles away, every issue, small or great, that one wants to take up with that office has to be dealt with either by prolonged and expensive telephone calls or by extended correspondence.
I wonder whether it is pure chance that I have been affected or whether it is the deliberate policy of the Revenue to move its offices out of the south of England
I turn to particular forms of taxation. I agree wholly with what was said earlier today; namely, that the best system of taxation is taxation at low rates with very few concessions. Once taxation is at a high rate and, to prevent causing hardship, it becomes necessary to allow a great many concessions, the whole system becomes infinitely more complicated. Can my noble friend the Minister say whether it is the policy of the Government to impose rates of taxation which are as low as possible, even though that may involve it being levied over a fairly wide area?
Here, I should like to comment on a tax which I believe is a thoroughly bad one; namely, VAT. VAT involves imposing an additional charge on a vast number of goods. In truth, it is inflationary because it inflates prices arbitrarily. It also operates in surprising areas. Some noble Lords may recall that a little time ago I raised in your Lordships' House the extraordinary business of VAT being imposed on repairs to old churches. If ever there is an area which would seem to be justifiably made free of tax, it must surely be work on old churches. When a small country parish, such as the one with which I am associated, has to repair its lovely but ancient little church and finds that, in addition to the building costs involved, it is also taxed on the money used for that purpose and the expense incurred, that seems to justify criticism of the tax system. I believe that VAT is a very bad tax. Its effects on the economy are very serious indeed.
It has been said earlier in the debate that the more there is a tax burden in one direction or another, the greater is the incentive to take steps to avoid it. Tax avoidance is a very serious matter. I know from my own experience at the Treasury that a great deal of energy has to be devoted to making sure that taxes are not avoided. But, the higher the rate of tax--whether it be VAT, income tax, surtax or whatever--the greater the incentive for taxpayers to avoid it and not, in that respect at any rate, to be taxpayers at all. Therefore, again I want to know the Government's policy in that direction.
Finally, if taxation is to be restrained, it is necessary that there should be economy in public administration. There are innumerable directions in which we all want to spend public money and know that spending public money will do good. But if we comply with those demands, we shall push tax rates up to dangerous heights.
In that context, in the moment that remains to me, I beg my noble friend the Minister to say that legal aid will be cut. In the past day or two there has been the example of a German who has undertaken litigation with a company in this country and who apparently has received £½ million in legal aid. As a taxpayer, I object to contributing to that amount of legal aid and in particular to assisting the efforts of a German to litigate against a British company.
Lord Ashburton: My Lords, not for the first time I find myself speaking in a debate in which, compared at any rate with the galaxy--if that is the appropriate collective noun--of former Treasury Ministers who make up such a large proportion of the speakers on this occasion, I am definitely a lay person, perhaps a lay Lord, albeit one with several decades of working experience of the two particular aspects of this matter that I want to raise. Since there are only two aspects, I hope to be brief. Given the fact that each speaker has 10 minutes, I may even under-run rather than over-run the time. I hope that one day it might even be possible to auction one's under-run to one of your Lordships who wishes to be more loquacious than he is allowed.
I cannot pretend that I have fully absorbed the detail of the Inland Revenue and IFS reports. But I have no difficulty in applauding their general tone and particularly the optimism about improvement which comes through in the report of the Inland Revenue. Some of the comparative examples of rewritten New Zealand and Australian tax legislation strike one forcefully as examples of what should be aimed at whenever possible.
In the course of my browsing I found one--perhaps other noble Lords also found it--rather pleasing double entendre. In paragraph 6.8 on page 22 of the Inland Revenue background paper, which is concerned with understandability of legislation, it says,
Generally, it seems to me that rational people have to approve of simplification and thereby user-friendliness in every legitimate human activity. In the case of taxation there seem to me to be two principal reasons. First, a democratic one: it must be right that taxpayers as a whole accept the system of taxation as fair and rational. They cannot possibly do that wholeheartedly unless they have a reasonable understanding of it and indeed may well not accept it even if they do understand it.
There is a horrible jargon word in management speak--to "own". The various layers of management have to "own" corporate policy before they can effectively manage; taxpayers have to "own" the tax system before they will pay taxes happily and not spend excessive time trying to avoid payment. If your Lordships will forgive me, perhaps I can recount my daughter's experience. At the age of about 18, between school and university--I hope she is out of the tax net; this is around 20 years ago--she took a job at the Ideal Homes Exhibition. She came home waving around £45 in her hand and I said, rather facetiously, "I hope you are going to put aside some money to pay the tax on that". She turned round and said to me, "Daddy, what do you think you are talking about? I earned this!"
The second reason why simplification is desirable is that it should at least make some dent in the size of what is, in my view, an unnecessary industry. Fiscal advice employs an amazing number of highly paid professionals whose time could be redeployed. Given
I am well aware that it is not difficult to parade desirable simplifications without taking adequate account either of the knock-on effects or the need to replace the revenue which simplifications tend always to reduce. I doubt whether the noble Lord, Lord Cockfield, will remember, but he taught me a lot about how easy it was to ignore this side of changes when I discussed with him some ideas I had on the tax system in the late 1960s. I have always been grateful to him for opening my eyes.
The two aspects I should like to raise relate to CGT. Like the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brightman, I hope that this comes within the scope of the debate. In my view, CGT is not a satisfactory tax as it is now. However, it is too big a subject to embark on at this time except in one or two details.
CGT, at the taxpayer's marginal rate of up to 40 per cent. at the top, is a tax which can badly distort personal investment decisions. As a simple example--I know that one must be wary of simple examples--an individual buys a holding of shares for £1,000 and happily finds that, to his surprise, the price has quickly risen further than he feels is justified by the facts available to him to, let us say, £2,000. He would like to sell but that would involve him in paying somewhere between 25 and 40 per cent. of the gain in tax, leaving him with somewhere between £1,600 and £1,750 to reinvest.
Anyone who has tried to run investment portfolios for others, professionally or for himself, is aware that to find an alternative investment which will do as well from a base of £1,600 as the former will from £2,000, is something of which one dreams. To act on that belief takes a lot of confidence. There must be hundreds of thousands, possibly even more, of investment holdings which should rationally be switched but where the tax cost is such a heavy disincentive that they are left untouched.
I know that individuals can and, under the present tax regime probably should, invest through CGT-exempt vehicles such as investment or unit trusts. But the very existence of such vehicles seems to me to be clear evidence that CGT at present rates is too high and that switching investments should not be a taxable event as such. If there is one way of deterring individuals from bothering to understand and appreciate the workings of commercial undertakings, I can think of no better way than giving an incentive such as now exists to put all such decisions in the hands of a relatively small number of professional managers. I may be wrong, but I suspect that the raising of the base rate of CGT to 40 per cent. from the 30 per cent. rate then charged--already a heavy deterrent to switching--was probably intended as a simplification. In my view it remains as an awful warning of unintended disadvantageous side effects.
Simplification is bound to involve compromise. But I add my plea to that of the noble Lord, Lord Cockfield, and others that the best simplification that could possibly be introduced would be to lower drastically the rates at which taxes are levied and to reduce equally drastically the exceptions. In the specific case of CGT that would save an enormous amount of time and money.
I know that there are problems galore in all of this and the question of how to tax those whose income is made by effectively trading in shares is one of the more obvious. If we can agree that income should legitimately be taxed, however it arises, but that switching of investments should be a legitimate non-taxable event as it is for investment and unit trusts, then the compromise should lead one to a low rate of tax without exceptions. Certainly any system which attempted to determine annually what proportion of an individual's investment profits had been spent rather than reinvested would be a nightmarish step directly away from simplification.
The second point on which I should like to touch briefly--I seem to be overrunning my time already--is the current resurrection of the argument that capital gains tax should be paid at a lower rate according to the length of time an investment has been held. That would undoubtedly be something of a simplification in that it would help to allow the abolition of index linking, though one must remark that the best way of abolishing index linking is by abolishing inflation. I hesitate to criticise any move which tends to lower tax rates. But long experience has taught me that the correlation between the time an investment has been held and the social worthiness of that investment is tenuous in the extreme. I was going to say "tends towards zero" when I realised that that would not stand up.
I know that the received wisdom is that long term is good and short term is bad; that speculation is undesirable and can be logically separated--I know not how--from investment which is desirable. But those views do not stand up to dispassionate examination. All investment involves speculative analysis of prospects and, in our heart of hearts, surely, we know that. The desirable thing, it seems to me, is that investment decisions should be well informed and rationally arrived at, not that they should be judged with the criterion of how long they are held.
Occasionally, a short-term sale of an investment is the right thing to do. The price of a share can run up against all expectation to a level where the only proper response is to sell it. By so doing the investor is actually doing good, by tending to reduce unrealistic pricing in the market and helping, in however small a way, to make the market more rational. The investor does not deserve to be criticised therefore nor taxed more heavily.
As I said, a graduated CGT may well be a simplification and better than nothing. But I fear that some people kid themselves and would happily kid the public at large that there is some moral merit in holding investments for a long time. Though it is not relevant to the present debate, I am equally unhappy that the word "stakeholder" is in danger of being used in the same way as "long term". They sound good, but do not necessarily stand up to dispassionate analysis. Roll on simplification; but caveat simplificator.
Lord Hayhoe: My Lords, having served as one of his Ministers of State in the Treasury when my noble and learned friend Lord Howe of Aberavon was Chancellor, I am delighted to support him again today. Our debate
Some improvements had been made. The revenue departments had consulted more widely, as my noble and learned friend Lord Howe said. The draft clauses of significant parts of tax legislation had been published during the early 1980s, as described by my noble friend Lord Rees. But the major reform for which all of us have been waiting so long has at long last been given real impetus and prominence in the Inland Revenue's plans for tax simplification which were published last December. I am delighted to give a warm welcome to those proposals.
As is made clear in those reports, there is scope for simplifying the language of the law. The examples given in the report of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and in the appendices to the Inland Revenue report are striking. How could anyone not want to see this kind of change being made? There is also scope for improving and simplifying the policy content of tax legislation. I shall not repeat many of the comments that have been made except to note that recently in the United States the fashionable thing was Mr. Forbes and his flat tax, which was designed to do away with many of the complexities. It seems to have had a fairly limited life and has gone into the ground, though it may be resurrected for the Republican platform for this year's presidential election.
I am delighted that the Inland Revenue report makes it clear that both aspects are now to be addressed. One recognises that much of the complexity of the law arises from the pursuit of fairness, and the elimination of present complexities will almost certainly give rise to greater inequalities and inequities in the way taxes fall. A proper balance has to be struck and no doubt this will be extremely difficult to achieve. The Inland Revenue's plans and proposals deserve every encouragement. They are in tune with the plans for self-assessment. If one thinks just of self-assessment of capital gains and what we have heard of today, simplification on that front will be helpful for those people who are making gains of more than £6,000 a year, because under that figure a blanket opt-out or relief is available under existing provisions. I hope that real progress will be made on
I want to say a few words about explanatory memoranda. The Institute of Fiscal Studies and the Hansard Society Commission argued for a much greater use of explanatory memoranda. The Inland Revenue report concludes rather more cautiously, but certainly not discouragingly, that progress could be made on that front. I agree that there would be implications for other areas of UK legislation. One has only to look at some of the complexities concerning local government finance or our social services to realise that explanatory memoranda would have a part to play.
I should like to see a much wider use of explanatory memoranda. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, that it is more sensible for reference to be made at a later stage to explanatory memoranda than to what appears in Hansard. I remember only too well my first intervention as a new Minister at the Treasury on the Finance Bill in the very early hours of the morning on a subject about which I knew absolutely nothing but on which I had a marvellously thick book of briefing from the Inland Revenue. I appropriately read out the response to some detailed points that had been made by one of the Opposition spokesmen who stood up afterwards to say how well I had dealt with the point he had raised and welcomed my first intervention in Finance Bill Committees. However, I discovered from my private office afterwards that I had read out the wrong reply to the amendment. Clearly, it made not the slightest bit of difference but it underlines the point that with some of the very complex provisions of Finance Bills very few of those speaking on them really understand the detail. I therefore welcome very much what is being proposed.
I was disappointed by the Government's response to our debate on "the legislative process" which was initiated by the noble Lord, Lord Nathan, in December 1994. I am now greatly encouraged by the Inland Revenue's plan, The Path to Tax Simplification. I wish it well.
Finally, I endorse and commend two of the final points made by my noble and learned friend Lord Howe of Aberavon. He spoke of using the Special Standing Committee procedure on matters of tax legislation and also of the possible future role of this House perhaps in a joint committee of that kind. I think that such a combination, together with the efforts that are now to be made by the Inland Revenue with the support of the Government and the Chancellor, could lead to a considerable advance in the simplification of our tax legislation. It is something surely that in all parts of the House we would warmly welcome.
Lord Shaw of Northstead: My Lords, I thank my noble and learned friend for initiating this debate today, a debate which is a valuable start to what must be a fairly long process. I was interested to hear my noble
The Path to Tax Simplification discloses the quite horrifying figures of increases in the total amount of tax law in the 18 years between 1952 and 1970. What was, in 1952, 1,076 pages, in the next 18 years became 3,119 pages: in the past seven years it has become 3,483 pages.
We must all welcome the initiative taken by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to try to simplify the tax legislation for the benefit of businesses and taxpayers generally. Reform is not going to be easy, as I believe nearly every speaker this afternoon has said. It certainly will not be quick. It is forecast that a complete rewrite will take around five years. I am not surprised, but this massive task is only worth undertaking if it is to be done thoroughly and with full consultation.
The Inland Revenue has, most welcomely, already made a start in its document The Path to Tax Simplification, which happily concludes--to fortify the thoughts of most of us this afternoon--that it is satisfied that a rewrite is technically feasible and that its benefits will substantially outweigh the cost--a note of optimism not usually shown by the Inland Revenue.
Today we are not, of course, discussing taxation policy, but rather the language and form in which taxation law is written and presented. As the Tax Law Review Committee tells us on page 5 of its report,
The difficulties in understanding tax legislation arise partly in its wording and layout and partly also in the pattern of its intent, for every aspect of a subject is sought to be covered. It has not been good enough, and nor will it ever be in my view, to lay down the law simply as a general principle or intention. The detail has had to be spelt out. Consequently, as Bennion is quoted as arguing in the TLRC report,
Frankly, too often, this is simply not true. I have served on a number of Finance Bill Committees both as a Back-Bencher and as chairman. Too often, the more complicated the clauses, the less difficulty the Government have had in getting them through. I say immediately that I make one notable exception. When I first became an MP in 1960, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Simon of Glaisdale--I hope that I may say "my noble and learned friend" because he was a constituent of mine for a number of years--played a leading part in the preparation of the 1960 Act. That Bill contained some very complicated clauses on anti-avoidance. I have looked them up. They were widely debated, but clarity was not an obvious result.
Anti-avoidance is a matter which has not been looked at yet, as we have been told, but in fact it will be looked at as something entirely separate. I am sure that that is right. It is a field where specialists in the Inland Revenue battle with taxation specialists in the private sector. Sometimes a lack of clarity results in uncertainty, and that in itself may, it is hoped, deter attempts at avoidance. But sometimes, as has been said this afternoon, a lack of clarity is the result of a lack of clear instructions to the legal draftsman. All that raises the question as to whether notes and explanations attached to legislation should be encouraged.
The modern custom of providing Notes on Clauses has been very successful. It has been helpful not only to committee members, but also to the poor old committee chairman who, in another place, has to have a good understanding of what is the subject of debate to keep the debate in order. I believe that such notes, or other notes made in some other way, along with ministerial comments made during the passage of Bills, should be available to the courts should litigation arise at a future date. I say that because those notes and the explanations given by Ministers must have been a part of the reasoning by which Parliament passed the legislation in the first place.
The TLRC report suggests that there should be a project team drawn from various disciplines. Chapter 7 states,
Whether the rewrite is done by a project team, as described by the TLRC, or by the Inland Revenue, I accept that outside consultations must take place and since the objective is not to raise money, but
Baroness Seear: My Lords, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe of Aberavon, mentioned in opening this debate, I am, very much to my surprise, a member of the Tax Law Review Committee. I sit on this committee in a state of considerable trepidation as I am surrounded by persons who are extremely experienced and expert in the field. They are judges, accountants of the highest calibre and legal advisers, and a very formidable body it is. However, it includes two or three chosen ignoramuses--I speak for myself; the others are not ignoramuses, of course--who have no such qualifications. I assume that we are there in order to look at what is being considered from a political point of view, because several of the members are MPs--and that is why I made the qualification that I did a moment ago. But we look at the issues even more from the point of view of what we would now have to call the person on the Clapham bus, because if there is any legislation which directly affects every citizen in the country it is tax legislation. It affects them in the most sensitive place, namely their pockets, and therefore it is important that the ordinary taxpayer's point of view should be considered when changes in the tax system are being discussed.
From the point of view of the taxpayer--even more importantly with the coming into force of self-assessment--the three matters that must govern all tax legislation and reviews of tax legislation are clarity, certainty and democratic control. Nobody can possibly disagree that the present legislation is almost impossible to understand. I am reinforced in that by the fact that the most eminent of the people who sit on this committee from time to time confess that they do not understand it and that it takes them an interminable time--which is wasted time--to find their way through the present legislation. There is no question but that it needs to be clarified.
One welcomes the decision to try to rewrite the tax legislation in plain English. Those of us who are concerned with trying to write plain English know that this is no easy task. To write about an extremely complicated matter in plain English and to make it accurate at the same time is very difficult. Five years is not too long for such an undertaking. As I listen to the discussions in the committee, it occurs to me from time to time that in the desire to achieve clarity, accuracy and therefore certainty may be sacrificed. Certainty is vitally important. Before people embark on any expenditure, or any activity, they want to know what the tax liability will be. They must be able to find out within the legislation how tax will impinge upon them.
While I very much welcome the determination to rewrite the legislation in plain English, I enter the caveat that there is a considerable risk that in so doing we may lose certainty, which is important from the point of view of every taxpayer in this country. There is a tendency in the discussions to believe that everything will be fine if one gets it more or less right. That description of the discussions is perhaps a little unkind, but I do not believe that that is good enough from the point of view of the taxpayer. It has to be exactly right. The overworked expression, "The devil is in the detail",
A suggestion has been made--which has been accepted only in modified form--that the legislation should be written in purposive terms and that the detail should be left to regulations. Here the parliamentarian in me is very much stirred. Noble Lords have often complained about the tendency in modern legislation to leave matters of importance to regulations. Your Lordships' House has been extremely vigorous in ensuring that that does not happen more than it absolutely must. But I suggest that in the field of taxation this practice may be particularly dangerous if regulations are not subject to detailed and rigorous scrutiny.
It has been suggested that a Special Standing Committee should be set up to go through the regulations and vet them and that they should come back to Parliament for final sanction. That democratic sanction is very important. We must be on our guard against making it simply a rubber stamp. It has already been suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Shaw, that that is too much the case at the present time. The reform will be very imperfect if that continues. After all, the basis of Parliament is that there is no taxation without representation. If our representatives do not have a real input into the scrutiny and an opportunity to object, however good the committee may be that has gone through it, we shall not achieve what we should achieve and the safeguards for the taxpayer will not be adequate.
Viscount Chandos: My Lords, I should like to join in thanking the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe of Aberavon, for initiating this important and interesting debate. His role extends to the presidency of the Tax Law Review Committee, whose interim report has been the kernel of this afternoon's debate. Both in his speech and in his foreword to the interim report, the noble and learned Lord has demonstrated his knowledge of the subject, commitment to reform and his customary frankness in admitting lack of progress in this direction in all the years that he was (in the words of his noble friend Lord Cockfield) one of the guilty parties.
The noble and learned Lord might have said that he had wrestled for too long with the obstacles to the production of a comprehensible, efficient and modern framework for tax legislation. But on this side of the House, we might derive two conclusions from the admissions of the noble and learned Lord. First, over the past 17 years the Conservative Government have not slayed all of the dragons--not even the right ones--and may have shied away from the dragons with the longest tails and most toxic breath.
Secondly, in a more bipartisan spirit, the task of reforming both the existing body of tax legislation and the future legislative process is a formidable one. The noble and learned Lord's speech and recommendations
The importance of action to improve the clarity and consistency of tax legislation cannot be over-estimated. This has been recognised by my honourable friend the Shadow Chief Secretary, notably in his speech in May of last year. The interim report points out in Section 1.29 that the estimated burden of the present inefficiencies and inadequacies amounts to £10 billion, of which as much as £7 billion falls directly on the taxpayer as compliance costs. That is even higher than the £4 billion suggested by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe.
In terms of fairness and equity--a subject stressed by the noble Lord, Lord Taverne--the complexity and opaqueness of the present position unduly penalises the less well-off. Sophisticated professional advice of the kind needed to navigate through these murky waters inevitably is affordable by and hence available to, only the wealthier individuals and larger companies. Above all, the overwhelming complexity which arises from faults in the underlying policies, overlaid with the effect of excessively detailed drafting to create intended clarity, comprehensiveness and certainty, produces a system in which action taken on both a macro and a micro-economic basis can become so distorted that the intended effect can be blunted or negated, while setting off a whole series of after-shocks and knock-ons in unexpected areas.
Although the main thrust of today's debate and of the interim review--and even more so, that of the Inland Revenue's report--is in the area of language, and the form of tax legislation, it is, as other noble Lords, particularly the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brightman, and the noble Lord, Lord Cockfield, have argued, unavoidable that the substance of tax policy has to be considered at the same time.
The analysis in the interim report of the implications of operating under common law rather than the civil law which prevails elsewhere in much of Europe is, speaking as a very unlearned Lord, illuminating; the consequences of building, higgledy-piggledy, uneven brick by odd-shaped flint, on a 19th century structure, as highlighted by the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, are only too clearly demonstrated; but we must ask at the same time whether the fundamental tax policies of the past 17 years--or even of the past 150 years--have sought to emphasise simplicity and efficiency whenever possible?
Of course the world has become more complex, none more so in the areas of foreign exchange and financial instruments, wherein some of the most fiendishly
But what is already clear is that, despite the Government's regular pronouncements on removing special tax allowances and the like (the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe, laid claim to that while he was Chancellor) we have been presented with a continuing stream of special schemes--"ripping little wheezes"--with the consequential increase in legislative complexity on the one hand, and economic distortions on the other: Business Start Up Schemes changed to Business Enterprise Schemes, which changed to Enterprise Investment Schemes, with hundreds of clauses of legislation over 15 years. The legislative effect has been burdensome and the economic effect--well, my Lords, the Exchequer has financed fine wine, classic cars, residential property, but precious few productive businesses, certainly in comparison to the tax revenue forgone.
These Benches therefore wholeheartedly support the noble Lord, Lord Cockfield, in his advocacy of lower taxes and no tax shelters, with the important condition that the lower taxation is fairly applied, not concentrated upon those who currently benefit from the tax shelters which abound.
I return to the narrower but vital issue of tax legislation and the related parliamentary procedure and scrutiny. We on these Benches also give our strong support to the key recommendations of the Tax Law Review Committee, in terms of plain language, the use of explanatory memoranda, and a rewrite of existing legislation, starting with that relating to the taxation of income.
Even if the Minister's own understanding of tax and other complex issues is such that Hansard's record of his contributions will be a model of clarity and usefulness, I most strongly support the general advocacy by the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, of explanatory memoranda, in preference to the deliberations of the Minister's less clear-headed colleagues.
On these Benches, we look forward to the accelerating progress of tax simplification--form and substance alike--under the strong direction of the Minister and his colleagues--and of their successors.
The Minister of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish): My Lords, we have had a most interesting debate. I stand to sum it up with trepidation. It seems to me that I come at the end of what could be described as a stream of penitent Chancellors, Chief Secretaries, Financial Secretaries and Ministers of State at the Treasury attempting to explain why they did not do what they thought they ought to do when they held office. It has been a kind of mea culpa all afternoon. I felt at one stage that I should perhaps rush to the Bishops' Bench and absolve them all from their responsibilities for that.
There is appropriateness in the day chosen by my noble and learned friend Lord Howe of Aberavon, because the other place is this day dealing with the
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If you want to give your home a new look, but don't know where to start, this is the article for you. In the following paragraphs, you'll find pointers that will help you get the most out of your home. Use the following information as a jumping-off point for your own home improvement journey; this is just the beginning of your education on the subject!
Lampshades of simple structure and design are quite a bore. Brighten up a lamp shade by using stencils and acrylic paint. You could literally create any design you can think of and give more personality to your home.
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Now that you read this article, you should feel better prepared to engage in home improvement. Use what you have learned to make new and better strategies that can help you succeed. If you can do so, you will have great satisfaction in the end.


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Anyone out there that has experience in starting up a blog or website will know that the main stumbling block is traffic – or lack of it!
It seems to me that by simply adding the word 'traffic' to a marketing product you can multiply a vendor's chances of success.
The question is – how many of these traffic products are actually worth the price on the box?
Not many in my experience!
You see, building up a steady stream of website traffic is not a weekly or monthly process – it takes one heck of a lot of work (believe me!).
So what about Traffic Authority? is Traffic Authority a scam or can it really turn around your internet marketing fortunes?
Let's take a closer look…
If you are interested in making real money online that can possibly replace or supplement your income regularly check out our #1 Recommendation HERE
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Okay, I thought it'd be best to do a little overview of this product before jumping into the nitty-gritty of how it's supposed to work etc.
It is essentially an online marketing income product created by three guys – Greg Chambers, Doug Wellens and Chad Stalvey.
Not really sure on the background of this bunch because I haven't really come across them before.
But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt (at this point).
The main selling point of this product seems to be the promise that you can make up to $10,000 a month by simply following the process they give you.
What is Traffic Authority?
Glad you asked! Okay, the product is made up of three main parts:
- The Tools
- The Training Modules
- The Affiliate System
Let's check out the tools section first…
- Landing page builder
- Web traffic trackers
- Pop-up generators
- Website redirectors
- Countdown timers
- Geotargeting apps
- Split testing apps and software
- Offer rotators
A basic membership plan of $47 a month will allow you to make use of these tools.
The video training is made up of modules that will teach you how to be successful in the following subjects:
- Using social media for marketing Traffic Authority affiliate options.
- Using email marketing to bombard people with your Traffic Authority affiliate link
- How to get…or rather buy traffic for your affiliate offers (packages supplied by Traffic Authority of course!)
- Advice on how to contact local businesses in your area so you can attempt to flog them the Traffic Authority package!
This video training doesn't exactly sound like much and when you factor in the costs, an extra $97 a month, you end up with something a little bit dubious (in my book, anyway!).
Finally, there is the Traffic Authority affiliate program, which focuses on marketing Traffic Authority's tools and traffic packages to others.
You need to first purchase these tools or traffic packages before being granted the permission of trying to offload them to others!
The traffic packages actually made me feel faint as the cheapest one is listed at $220 while the most expensive is listed at $4,297.
I'm not being funny but 5 grand would get you a ready-made niche website with traffic already in place – why would you buy a traffic package for this ludicrous price?
The Traffic Authority Package
Unfortunately I've seen this sort of system many times before and I doubt very much that it will ever get you to the $10,000 a month mark.
The only real way to make money through this platform is to peddle their products – do you see where this is going?
They get you to pay to make them more money!
It's a simple trick but it's been an effective one online now for quite some time.
Simply put – The majority of the Traffic Authority training is devoted to first convincing you to buy its products, and then to sell those same products to others.
Is Traffic Authority Legit?
Although they try their best to paper over the fact – Traffic Authority seems very much like an MLM scheme to me.
At the end of the day you can only make money out of their system IF you are a customer.
Anyone that pays over 4 grand for a traffic package really needs their meds updated…or they have way too much time and money on their hands!
I suppose I could of forgiven all this if the training was a streamlined bit of marketing know-how…unfortunately it is not.
As a newbie affiliate marketer you would do well to stay away from this product. The training seems intent on completely avoiding the subject of content so it can just concentrate on advert leads that are not really targeted.
This means you are effectively spamming a lot of people in the vain hope they will sign up with Traffic Authority themselves (so you earn a commission).
How long do you think it will take Google to catch on to what you are doing?
What will they do to your website when they find out?
If you are interested in building an online business this product is NOT the way to go.


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- 24 January, 2018
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One foot after the next
Wanderlust. From Caspar David Friedrich to Auguste Renoir opens at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin on May 10 (Photo: "Solitude" by Hans Thoma).
Wanderlust. From Caspar David Friedrich to Auguste Renoir opens at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin on May 10 (Photo: "Solitude" by Hans Thoma).
Rügen, Germany's largest island, would be unthinkable without its famous chalk cliffs. Take the coastal route from Sassnitz to Königsstuhl for the very best views. After a bracing walk by the Baltic Sea, guests of the 5-star Grand Hotel Binz can treat themselves to a pampering session in the hotel's own Ayurveda Center or order a warming beverage in the Shaker's Bar (photo).
Anyone can spray walls, but Swiss graffiti artist Guillaume Legros aka Saype uses areas of turf the size of soccer fields as the canvas for his airbrush art, most of it human portraits. A pioneer of this genre between land and street art, Saype uses biodegradable paints he developed himself.
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The weather first thing this morning was frosty (-4c) with fog and it didn't look too promising. It was too cold to venture out to the gym, so I messed about on the computer for a while. By 09:30 it was starting to look like a bright sunny day and, totally unplanned, I decided to take myself off to St Ives and Cambridge.
The visit to St Ives was to check out the flooding and to see if it had subsided enough for the walk that I'm leading in 4 weeks time. The flood plains were still under water but, given some dry weather, it should be passable although I'll have to check it out again nearer to the time. Another reason for going to St Ives was to take the "guided bus" to Cambridge. As I now have a bus pass, this didn't cost me anything and made for an interesting excursion.
It is half term and the grounds to the Colleges were open to the public so it took the opportunity for a walk around "the backs" and through Kings & Trinity. It developed into a lovely day and I bought myself a picnic lunch from M&S which I ate on a bench whilst basking in the sun.
The pictures were taken on my Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone which I also used to track the route of the guided bus by GPS whilst listening to BBC Radio 2. I later used it to access the Field & Trek website whilst visiting their shop. Smartphones are expensive, but the one device provides so many functions that it is, for me, becoming an essential tool as well as satisfying the "nerd" in me.


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Having returned home from the Incentive Trip to Half Term, last week was mainly dedicated to being with our son and having fun with him. Friday evening however, I held my Annual Catalogue Launch Party and Buy one, Get one FREE Sale.
In previous years I have held this at home, but with the popularity of it increasing, this year I decided to hold it in a village hall. Setting up would have been a mammoth task alone, but one of my dear friends and Downline members, Allison, offered to help me.
Oh how we had fun getting the party started and preparing the room.
There were Brownies, Biscuits, savoury nibbles and of course, some delicious Lemon sweets from the Amalfi Coast for the ladies to enjoy.
My Buy one, Get one, FREE Sale was bigger than ever before, with no less than three tables. I managed to sell quite a bit, but have returned home with a Box full, that I have listed for you to see and take advantage of.
Match the value of the retired items you buy from my Sale, with FREE items from the new Annual Catalogue. It's an amazing offer. Take a look at the list, message me with what you'd like set aside and your address and then head over to my ONLINE STORE to place your order to the same value or more, remembering to use the current Club Code CH23GEDA. Once I receive an email telling me that you've placed your order, I'll package up and send your chosen retired items to you FREE of charge. Apologies, but this sale applies to UK buyers only.
See my Sale List HERE
My Launch Party is the first chance my ladies have at seeing the new In Colours … Dapper Denim, Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo, Peekaboo Peach and Sweet Sugarplum. Which is your favourite?
Some of my customers live further afield and are unable to attend my Launch Party, so I send them a Catalogue through the post. This year I added a mini project for them to complete, so that they could get their hands crafting with new products straight away.
The little kit pack made these cute little Post-it-note holders, that would help them to flag their favourite pages within the catalogue.
Everyone who comes, receives a FREE strip of Raffle Tickets. Everyone gets the same chance to winning one of three Prizes … from embellishments right up to a Stamp Set and new In Colour Markers set …. and all for just being my customers and showing me their support.
Over the coming week, I will share more from the amazing Incentive Trip that I was fortunate enough to experience. We have an abundance of photographs to work through, but to select just a few is proving to be quite difficult.
Hoping you manage to find something within my Sale that fills your heart with Happy.
Mikaela x


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Health and Recuperation
Its a matter of being properly informed
© 2017 Published by SANUM-KEHLBECK, D-27318 Hoya
Dear Reader, As a patient you may already have heard SANUM-Therapy mentioned in a conversation. It may have been with the therapist or doctor who was treating you, and who referred to this concept during a consultation. What he/she meant by this was treatment using medicines which above all get to the root of your physical processes, and likewise of your immunity too, for example. This means that SANUM-Therapy has a biological-holistic orientation, so as to influence events within your body gently and so as to achieve regulation. However, it is not our concern here to go into fine detail and inform you comprehensively about SANUM-Therapy and its medicines. The therapist to whom you have entrusted your health will certainly be able to answer all your questions. Ask him/her anything you like. He/she will no doubt be happy to talk about the remedies produced by SANUM-Kehlbeck.What we are concerned with here has as its aim the awakening in you of an understanding of the things that are going on in your body, resulting in its continued robust existence. These processes are important as pre-conditions for your continued enjoyment of good health and a zest for life. It will become clear that both of these definitely depend on those occurrences and processes within your body, and not just what contributes to good digestion, for instance. However, the importance of the intestinal processes is indeed just as great as the importance of those in the blood and, along with further processes, they make up the fundamental happenings within your organism. About our Relationship with MicrobesMaybe, like many other people, you think that microbes are fundamentally harmful, microbes that are also known as micro-organisms or microscopic living beings, and which we encounter all over the world in the shape of viruses, bacteria and fungi. It would be useful for you, and to your advantage, to thoroughly review this opinion. Of course there are microbes which play an evil and fateful role within our bodies in the genesis of many kinds of disease. However, their harmful properties can only develop to full effectiveness if our body provides the soil in which they can flourish and be active. It must provide them with the environment (milieu) that arouses and fosters their parasitic character. Think, for instance, of the growth of seeds in the field; this must also possess its own precise milieu for the seeds to develop, like the microbes in our body. For your previous opinion regarding microbes (= micro-organisms) to be corrected, it is also important to be aware that we would not be able to live at all without the continued existence of microbes within our organism, a colossal number of microbes of many kinds and in many forms. Even our bodys immune system, so important and so sensitive, which essentially decides whether we are well or sick, is dependent for its health and strength on a population of bacteria which co-exist harmoniously. Thus we live with an innumerable host of micro-organisms inside our bodies, literally in symbiosis with us, in other words in a living community, within which these micro-organisms carry out indispensable tasks for our metabolism.
Our bodies internal milieu is of critical importanceIf this significant living community is to be preserved intact, it is vitally necessary to maintain our internal milieu in a state of biological balance in its bodily juices and tissues, and to look after it. Not until the milieu has become altered over a longish period of time and lost this balance, as a result of disordering influences either from within or from without, can harmful microbes develop from those innocuous micro-organisms. Symbionts are friendly disposed towards us, but they can become parasites, which cause increasing damage to our blood and will also destroy it, unless the appropriate biological treatment is applied. This destruction can be observed, for instance, by means of darkfield microscopy, in the blood of many terminally ill people in the final stages of their illness.Many people still persist in the erroneous opinion that microbes are primarily harmful and therefore need to be combatted and destroyed. These people also think that these nasty microbes come wafting over us, or somehow force their way into us from outside. That is not the case, as has been clearly demonstrated by various research results, even some from earlier times. According to these research results it is rather the case that, from the time of our birth, we play host to certain genera of microbe within our bodies, and these have the potential to become parasites. For the infant, some of these microbes even constitute its first practice material in strengthening its immune system. It has also been clear for a long time that the little embryonic being in the womb accepts micro-organisms from its mother via the placenta, which implies that this inheritance is transmitted by the placenta.
Microbes also exhibit a change of form in phasesA further significant discovery of research carried out in years past is that the genera of micro-organisms present in our bodies since birth are subject to changes of form in phases. These depend on their environmental living conditions in the blood and tissues. Bound up with these changes in form there are also changes in the action of these micro-organisms for our bodies. In scientific terminology this plurality of form is referred to as pleomorphism, and within this the change of form itself, dependent on the milieu according to the laws of Nature, is known as cyclogeny. This implies that the micro-organisms in question are subject to a phased developmental cycle, from a very tiny, immobile particle of protein to a fungal form with a complicated structure. It is in this ultimate phase that the parasitic character of the microbes in question is fully revealed. Fortunately, this cyclical development is also able to be reversed, and indeed, this can be achieved in completely non-violent and non-toxic ways, by being given its own biological treatment.The most important genera of micro-organisms with this property of plurality of form (pleomorphism), which many people harbour in their body in one form or another, are referred to technically in the language of medical science as Mucor racemosus, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. Now, these three genera by no means constitute our bodies total complement of micro-organisms, for in our gut alone there are further genera of very useful bacteria. When we are ill, there are also some of a harmful kind. The three above-mentioned genera of micro-organisms are named here because they are of supreme significance for the all-important events that take place in the blood. Of course, the mucous membranes are also the sphere of Candida albicans, both in the gut and in the female vagina. In many people Mucor occurs together with Aspergillus. In such people, if a variety of adverse influences brings about illnesses or disorders with long-term impairment of their internal milieu, then both genera of micro-organism may undergo changes in form and become harmfully active. The symptom picture caused by this development is quite different from the picture when only one genus out of the two is present. This deleterious collaboration of Mucor and Aspergillus may often be observed, for instance, in particularly severe diseases, as demonstrated by the results of special blood tests. This kind of specialised test is facilitated, e.g., by dark-field microscopy, which deserves to be more widely employed.
Everything depends on the acid-alkaline ratioThe internal milieu of the body may be biologically balanced in favour of good health, or it may be distorted to such an extent that it stimulates the micro-organisms that are present to change their form, developing from symbionts into harmful microbes. The acid-alkaline status in the juices and tissues of the body plays a significant role in deciding between these two possibilities. The acid-alkaline ratio is a quite elementary and existential given fact that affects the metabolic processes in living organisms everywhere. Without it biological, organic life is not even remotely possible. It is closely connected with vital metabolic processes within our bodies, even extending into the interior of their billions of cells. The degree of acidity inside an electric battery determines its efficiency, and in the same way the degree of acidity in our body also determines how healthy it is. In our body too the acid-alkaline ratio critically affects vital bio-electrical processes in the metabolism of each and every cell. In a good state of health this is shown by a high electrical potential between the cells nucleus and the cell membrane, as high as 70 millivolts or more. In our body the acid-alkaline ratio is expressed in the so-called pH level. That is a value which is obtained from the blood and other body-fluids - not forgetting the urine - for diagnostic purposes and for checking the state of health. The pH level of blood in circulation in a healthy young person is in the region of 7.4 and, since it is above 7.00, it is slightly alkaline. Generally speaking, even in a healthy person, there is a certain antagonism between this blood pH-level and that of the tissues. In other words, a contrary adjustment of the pH level. This means that the pH level of healthy tissue is just slightly below the neutral level of 7.0. In people who are seriously ill this antagonism is expressed in a much greater difference in the pH levels. In sickness the blood may have a pH level of 7.8, whereas the equally sick tissue may plunge into the acidic range, with a pH level of well below 7.0.
Over-acidity is a significant factor in diseaseThis acidic milieu provides the highly structured micro-organisms in our body with ideal conditions for intensive development towards their harmful fungal form. However, this acidic milieu also favours the emergence of a dangerous deficiency in the supply of fluids to the tissues, so that the blood supply to the finest capillaries (micro-circulation) is severely reduced or even blocked. This means that, for all the cells, not only is the vitally necessary supply of oxygen and nutrients impeded, but also the equally vital disposal of metabolic waste products. It may be said that, in this state, all the cells are slowly acidifying away and thus becoming increasingly ill, unless therapeutic help is applied in the shape of appropriate biological medicines and other therapeutic measures. When scientists establish a link between the most threatening diseases and cell respiration that is being steadily throttled, it is probably apt. Thus we cannot state clearly enough that chronic over-acidification of the tissues must be regarded as a hazardous hotbed for the genesis of many serious diseases with a wide variety of pathological pictures. This condition also spurs on microbial life in our bodies to develop in a deleterious direction. Along with this a further burden is placed on our organism in the shape of metabolic waste products from these harmful bacteria. In such a state, the body has a noticeably depressed immune integrity, making it more easily susceptible to attack by exogenous microbes. This then finds expression in frequent infections, which may also be of a serious nature.
There is a great deal that we ourselves can do and preventThus everybody should strive to avoid long-term over-acidity of the tissues in their bodies. That is an important precaution that we can take against many diseases. In this way the human immune system will also remain considerably less stressed. There are a few good behaviours in our everyday life that will constitute one such positive precaution, and this includes avoiding sour reactions, altogether or as often as possible. You see, our immune integrity includes a neuro-emotional component, which means that the strength of our immunity is influenced by the way we think and feel.The type of diet we consume is likewise considered to be a significant precautionary and therapeutic factor in protecting us against diseases that arise from a compromised internal milieu. A natural wholefood diet rich in energy foods with plenty of fruit and vegetables to provide alkalis is well suited to this purpose. The same is true of sufficient fluid intake without combustive values. The best drink - of which plenty may be consumed - is fresh, pure spring water. Some ordinary and luxury foods, when consumed in the long-term, constitute a serious risk of damage to our health, maybe because they are acid-forming, as in the case of coffee, for instance. These should be avoided, or at least severely restricted.Another thing that is indispensable if we are to keep healthy, or even to regain our health, is regular physical exertion, lasting as long as possible, through work or sport; and with no shyness about sweating. This activates cardiac and respiratory activity, which in turn promotes better micro-circulation (the circulation of blood through the finest blood vessels, the capillaries); not only does this improve the oxygen supply to the tissues, but it also increases the disposal of metabolic waste products. Essentially, and in the final analysis, illnesses often constitute an emergency vent for decayed material and acids, consequent upon dysfunction of their normal exit routes from the metabolism. Extended physical exercise also has a favourable influence on the conditions required for balanced microbial life within our bodies. A particular role in our living and eating habits is played by the consumption of animal protein, in the shape of meat and meat products primarily, but also in the shape of eggs, milk and dairy products. Detailed studies confirm that, even in the case of ongoing slight excess consumption of animal proteins, the micro-organisms present in the body, such as Mucor and Aspergillus, feed on these and thus begin their deleterious upward evolution. Not only that, but any excess of animal proteins, when metabolised in the body, will tip the acid-alkaline balance further in the acid direction. As well as this, in the long-term, as a result of this excess, dangerous deposits of protein will form, for instance on the walls of the hair-like vessels in the tissues, the consequence being increasing destruction of the micro-circulation. The research of Professors G. Enderlein and L. Wendt - independently of each other - have supplied us with significant findings on this subject. Just as proper treatment takes these circumstances into account, the same applies in the case of correct precautions to be taken in respect of our diet.
Diseases are not primarily FateWhen we refer repeatedly and emphatically in this article to dangerous over-acidity, it should not be imagined that this is the same thing as over-acidity in the stomach: something from which more than a few people also suffer. What we always mean here is over-acidity of the tissues, which can affect the whole organism, but can also build up locally in a small area of the body. This can be particularly problematic in the heart and brain areas. However, not every acid dish results in such over-acidity of the tissues, nor does every sweet dish have a de-acidifying action. Often the reverse is the case. Thus dishes sweetened with sugar, rather than naturally sweet, when metabolised, generally leave acids behind in the body, and these can cause disorders, whereas on the contrary raw, sour-tasting fruit has a favourable influence on the bodys alkaline economy. Anyone who is intent on genuine healing from illnesses arising from the causes referred to here, and is not content with temporary suppression of their symptoms, will be aware from what has been said that this real healing depends on their active co-operation. This treatment with medication must be complemented by further measures - primarily by dietary adjustment. Only then will there be good prospects for successful healing, which can be lasting, so long as fresh mistakes are avoided. For this reason it is right not to regard disease as primarily the hand of fate. Many people, for instance, pave their own way to chronic disease, on the one hand by intemperance, and on the other hand by inertia. So then, it is a dangerous illusion if, maybe after a few years, a symptom picture emerges and these people expect to be truly healed simply by taking 3 a day for a fortnight. This is not to be confused with mere suppression of symptoms, which it is possible to bring about quite quickly. Such suppression of symptoms just shifts the focus of the disease process disastrously, and often even deeper into the organism.
Possibilities for successful healing treatmentA treatment that promotes lasting healing should have a regulative and biological character, which dispenses with the mighty anti of blind combat and destruction of microbes. A component of such treatment is also the elimination of all local disturbance factors in the organism. These are known as focuses of diffusion and other disturbance zones. Another essential part of this treatment is the restoration of a balanced acid-alkaline economy, likewise a thorough elimination of all products of metabolic breakdown from the body. A high priority in this biological treatment is also the cleansing of the gut, particularly the bacterial colonisation of the gut, also known as the bacterial lawn, which is so important. The harmful upward evolution of the micro-organisms in the blood and tissue of the patients body to become parasitic microbes requires a particular treatment with medication, so that they are broken down biologically. The possibility of biological breakdown of parasitic micro-organisms is based on the results of investigations by the researcher, Prof. Dr. G. Enderlein (1872-1968). He had realised that the various developmental stages of micro-organisms are in an active relationship in which the less evolved lower forms can join together with the parasitic higher forms in a copulative - i.e. sexual - union, the outcome of which is to reduce the latter to harmless forms that can be excreted. The lower growth-forms, which promote healing, are known as chondrites, and they are a component of valuable pharmacological preparations. In treatment these preparations are prescribed to patients in various administrative forms. This very gentle form of treatment, referred to as Isopathic Therapy, is complemented in a fair number of cases by an equally gentle treatment that uses immunobiological preparations. However, in a number of cases these immunobiological preparations are also prescribed on their own. Many people have already been lastingly helped with a comprehensive healing treatment such as this. It is particularly chronic diseases with a variety of symptoms that are susceptible to a healing therapy of this kind. Especially fungal diseases (mycoses) in their various presenting forms should be included among these chronic diseases. The preparations that are employed to treat these diseases never act like antibiotics, killing and thus creating new problems; rather their action is biological, reversing the evolution of the harmful microbes. But even so, the best healing therapy remains the taking of sensible precautions, with each person assuming responsibility for the way they lead their life and feed themselves in accordance with the biological principles of life.
What informs us about our internal state?Should we not be feeling quite well, or even feeling positively unwell, for some length of time, then the question arises: what is going on in our body, what has caused us to feel out of sorts? If we have been feeling unwell for quite a long time, then we should hesitate no longer in trying to trace the cause. The early stages of many diseases are reflected in the blood with certain microbial pictures. What can be quickly revealed in the way of early stages presents an opportunity really to clear up the disease process that would otherwise become more advanced. Thus, the important thing is to investigate the state of the patients blood. Dark-field microscopy, which has already been referred to, is the method of choice, and offers a good degree of prognostic certainty in providing an early warning of a disease. It would be a blessing for many sick people if this investigative method of arriving at an early diagnosis were much more widely used in medical practices than it is at present. This method also affords a good way of checking on the progress of a disease and - if required - it can also provide photographic documentation with pictures of the blood. It allows an objective view of the changing microbial state of the blood in successive blood samples, depending on the progress of the treatment. Of course, because of their very nature, this applies first and foremost where the SANUM medicines are used as appropriate. Dark-field microscopy is a special holistic investigation, which must be carried out with a drop of living blood taken from the patient. This investigation involves the use of a dark field in the microscope, created by illumination; in this field initially small growth-forms of micro-organisms and their state are rendered visible. These cannot otherwise be seen, even when quite strong microscopic magnification is used. Thus the presence of so-called endobionts in the blood can be established at an early stage, before they have fully developed their parasitic properties, giving rise to a corresponding picture of physical disease. This investigation is completely harmless, lasts only about 15 minutes and not only gives clear information regarding the patients internal milieu and any microbial infestation of his blood, but also regarding the extent to which his blood-cells are able to carry out their functions. A more extensive investigation of the blood sample also provides important clues as to the extent of any degenerative disease processes, including even a cancerous tendency, and it also provides evidence regarding the immune resistance at that point, and the cell resistance. Bearing in mind these possibilities, dark-field microscopy cannot be replaced by any other known method of blood investigation. Besides, dark-field microscopy is very motivating for the patient who is present, because of its rapid and easily viewable findings regarding the state of his blood, and it is also totally suited to preventive investigations for prophylactic healthcare. However, it is indispensible to have an operator who is trained and experienced in dark-field microscopy, if reliable investigative results are to be obtained. This is also the case for a further meaningful microscopic blood investigation to obtain early indications of disease, including a particular staining method for the blood sample. This was developed for Professor Arno Linke. A later form of blood microscopy, this has already found its way into some practices, where it has been used successfully.
Patients rightly want more informationThough appropriate, recently promulgated legal regulations sadly do not permit any further explanations within the context of an information sheet for patients, such as you have here. Since patients have a free choice, not only of a physician, but also of their type of treatment, it will happen that further information is desired, because it will matter to more than a few patients that they are given a comprehensive healing therapy. It should therefore be in the patients own interest, and that of prospective patients, to rely on practitioners who are experienced in the kind of biological and holistic treatment that has been sketched out here and which goes back to the origins of the disease. Please enquire of your trusted practitioner regarding the SANUM preparations, which have proved their worth over many years in Biological Medicine. Should the need arise, we are also happy to provide names of experienced practitioners in your area. Please enquire separately regarding addresses for blood investigations by dark-field microscopy.
SANUM-KEHLBECK GmbH & Co. KG Arzneimittelherstellung Postfach 1355 D-27316 Hoya Telefon: +49 (0)4251/9352-0 Fax: +49 (0)4251/9352-290 http://www.sanum.com Email: email@example.com


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Just quickly, because that isn't the point of the post, apparently the Hizbullah chap is called Moussawi and he had said that Jews destroyed the World Trade Centre on 9/11 and maybe some other anti-Jewish things as well. The problem with this chap's reasoning is that Hizbullah isn't a state whereas Israel is. Israel is also a state whose existence is predicated on on-going abuses of human rights including very serious war crimes like ethnic cleansing. I don't know a lot about Hizbullah but I gather that their existence is predicated on its resistance to the State of Israel, a state that claims to represent the world's Jews. Further, there is a little bit more to fascism than saying nasty things about Jews. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that anti-Jewishness is clever, laudable or even ok but in the case of people on the receiving end of Israel's genocidal ambitions in Palestine and the south of Lebanon, I'd say it is understandable. But there is no double standard between boycotting Israel (and fascism) and engaging with a spokesperson for Hizbullah.
Now where was I. Ah yes, a meeting at SOAS. Here are the details:
Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?
Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?
Date: 16 May 2009Time: 10:00 AM
Finishes: 16 May 2009Time: 2:00 PM
Venue: Brunei GalleryRoom: Lecture Theatre
Type of Event: Conference
This study considers whether Israeli practices in the OPT are consistent with colonialism and apartheid according to definitions provided by international law and the consequent implications for international action and responsibility, including prospects for bringing the question to the International Court of Justice.
Research was conducted by an international team of experts in human rights law and international humanitarian law, including Michelle Burgis, Shane Darcy, Max du Plessis, Fatmeh El-Ajou, Hassan Jabareen, Victor Kattan, Michael Kearney, Stephanie Koury, Godfrey Musila, John Reynolds, Rina Rosenberg, Iain Scobbie, Michael Sfard, Virginia Tilley, and Mays Warrad.
The study was supported by the Middle East Project (MEP), a project of the Democracy and Governance Programme of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa.
Organiser: HSRC Middle East Project and the Sir Joseph Hotung Research Programme
Contact email: firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact Tel: +44 20 7898 4561
Organised by: School of Law ,


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November 17, 2009.
Two years ago today.
Abe and Conni had raked a huge pile of leaves out in the middle of the yard. They called me outside to watch. Abe climbed up on the top of a 6 foot ladder. Conni steadied it for him. I hollered for him to wait and ran in and got the camera. As I watched through my lens, he launched off the ladder and into the air.
He had to be at least 10 feet in the air. I had no idea he would do anything other than just jump into the leaves. But no. He had to do a full fledged, text book, class A belly flop.
Do you have any idea what happens to a pile of leaves when you land in them? It is not the soft cushy landing Abe thought it would be.
I won't even try to describe what happened next. In short, he hurt both wrists and had the air knocked out of him. I can't write all the sounds he made.
I ran down to him (still with the camera) and this is the next picture.
It did scare me. He could've really been hurt.
Thankfully, he wasn't.
Now, it is funny.
If you ever get the urge to jump off a ladder into a leaf pile, remember this picture.
There are life lessons all around us if we just look! :)