I would argue that the Lords is a very democratic institution. While there are still hereditary peers (who aren’t necessarily undemocratic) the majority are life peers (people who have excelled themselves in their chosen industry/walk of life). The point of the Lords is to provide a fail-safe against the house of commons. The whole point is they can make decisions without having to worry about their re-election. Could you provide evidence that they ‘usually vote in their own financial interests’?

The same is true of the Queen, who has these CEREMONIAL powers and acts as a failsafe against, let’s say, a fascist government. The future depicted in V for Vendetta? Wouldn’t be possible in the UK. Not without a monarch who has been deposed. Not that we could, because the military swear allegiance to the Queen, so we’d be in civil war territory. They’d also have to convince at least half the Lords and half the commons. I’d say it’d be difficult.

If you’re talking about the Chagossians, then you’ll have to fill me in as I haven’t heard anything since the UK GOVERNMENT was last defeated. It’s entirely likely the GOVERNMENT has thought ‘fuck that’ and are ignoring the ruling.

I’m off to get breakfast, so can’t really finish this but I’ll sum it up quickly;

I don’t pay 40% tax – wish I could be earning that much!
Corporations who don’t pay tax don’t get my business, I’m not 100% on that, as I’m using a Gawker Media site – they have offshore tax arrangements similar to those of Mitt Romney.
If you use the Daily Mail as a reference I’ll laugh in your face and ignore your argument.
I would agree that there is a huge industry of ‘pressure groups’ who are always funded by business and are damaging to democracy.
I do know what the government are up to and if I want I can watch every single second of Parliament debating on TV (or in person). Every single law has to be debated in Parliament. If a law is quietly snuck into a bill then it’s our MPs not doing their jobs properly.
Final point – people are human, all of our systems will have faults by nature. Nothing man builds will ever be perfect. Even an atomic clock can tell the wrong time.

Protester Shot In Head – http://dailybail.com/home/update-occupy-protester-shot-by-oakland-police-is-scott-olse.html

Protesters Gassed with whatever substances
http://rt.com/usa/news/portland-police-people-signs-032/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4

NYPD ‘consistently violated basic rights’ during Occupy protests – study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/25/nypd-occupy-protests-report

The London clearance was similar, middle of the night, press kept away.

Europe is as much a democracy is as Greece is and Greece is anything but a democracy.

So the police are now executing our citizens and hiding this mass murder by silencing the press are they?

I take some of the points you are making, but you’re coming across more as a rambling loon than a reasoned thinker.

Paypal got political when it decided to be a part of the blockade against Wikileaks, frees peach and journalism. As they are on the side of Gov / Corp they are protected in doing so when otherwise they could actually be prosecuted under numerous trade laws, constitutional precedents etc…

The younger ones, the loud ones who appear and shortly after are arrested are the ones using DOS attacks from their own computers. These are not the ones doing the hacking. There are different levels and groups and the major damage is done by groups who do not publicise. The data is usually taken and then the access passed to the lower ranks to abuse and have lulz.

Now to aid in covering up war crimes Paypal withdrew their service as did major banks and card companies. Anonymous think this is not right and so are attacking said companies.

Releasing a normal person’s details is not something I agree with but disrupting their business is not something I mind.

Remember this year alone we know HSBC was laundering drug and terrorist money, so was Barclays if the reports are correct. The rest of the banks are paying out billions in compensation for just their last few years of illegal operations, all insured by our money. Paypal accepts money if you want to donate to the KKK or numerous child pornography websites, as do major banks.

So yeah Paypal is a problem when their politics / the politics of the board is used to aid and / or cover up war crimes.

Now if you are taking about the UK and you think we live in a democracy then you are a fool. The UK is not an actual democracy and never has been. We have an unelected head of state who still has a lot of powers, if you believe it or not. You could ask the people of Diego Garcia as she used her powers recently to overrule the courts and deny them their Islands. Better not die without a will or she will get your stuff. Charles seems to meddle quite a bit given he is allowed to amend bills which could impact him financially.

The Lords is obviously totally undemocratic and they usually vote in their own financial interests, as has been the way for centuries.

The City of London isn’t really even counted as a part of the country and voting rights there are actually controlled by corporations leaving citizens with no local representation. Wonder how that came about?

We have no constitution and ‘Free Speech’ is a concept and one not founded in law, as a few twitter users have found recently along with this over the weekend. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-20181601

If you think corporations don’t run this country then its sad. See how laws are made and who sponsors them. We basically vote for the person we think is best to sign over our rights and property to unelected corporations. KPMG and the banks write our tax laws. All the pirating / ACTA bills etc.. were written by corporations.

You could also look back over the last few years, the hundreds of billions taken / gambled away and the complete lack of repercussions and wonder if there is really a true rule of law.

Are you addressing being governed from abroad when you are sitting under an unelected and unaccountable Europe? Seems a bit short sighted. Each law they pass, are they even reported? You do not know what they are upto today and you have no say in any outcome of agreements. The only way bills fail is then there is public outrage otherwise they pass without knowledge. Bills are usually negotiated in secret and the public not given access.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/content/20120618STO47110/html/David-Martin-on-ACTA-law-negotiated-in-secret-is-usually-bad-law

Don’t you think its odd that you pay 40% tax and yet corporations pay almost 0% in many cases. That would suggest whoever wrote such tax laws was not really thinking about your best interests. It also shows how the country suffers because os short sighted and one sided corporate thinking. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219908/Tax-cheats-costing-32bn-year-gap-quarter-country-s-current-deficit.html

1. This isn’t America.
2. The ‘original’ war of independence wasn’t over a foreign company controlling power. It was over the American colonies of the UK not wanting to pay tax without being properly represented in the UK parliament. Even that isn’t the real reason, the real reason is people want to govern themselves, not be governed by others from overseas. Quite natural really.

That makes it a little closer. What they’ve done is they’ve (possibly) stolen the information of 28,000 individuals therefore metaphorically pissing on them.

Where I live we have wooden bus stops, but I can see your point here. What are these individuals, or even Paypal doing to restrict the freedoms of Anonymous? If anything Anonymous are restricting my freedom to use Paypal.

I’d also point out that Paypal can’t possibly be restricting the freedoms of Anonymous, as most of them aren’t old enough to have a credit card or bank account with a debit card.

Democracy means one man one vote, older presidents understood this and warned about the rise of special interests and how they seek to subvert the power of the people. Im sure they warned about private banks among other things. Its a shame you know how to spell words without understanding their meaning and how they came apart.

The original war of independence was over a foreign company controlling power, taxes being force d on the people and at the behest of the company etc…

You are also forgetting a full history of people fighting for your rights which you seem to not even care about.

America has never been a full democracy, it was not too long ago when non-whites couldn’t vote and there are enough laws being passed / fought to ensure similar outcomes now.

In terms of rising up, you can’t even have a constitutionally guaranteed gathering without the police showing up tear gassing you, shooting you in the head, forcing the press away from covering the protest etc… things which now are being fight in court, but unfortunately after the fact.