Lords vote to screw the disabled by 213 - 229

The battle is lost, but the war just began.  It is a war that disabled people cannot lose, so by giving the poor, the helpless and the disenfranchised a kicking tonight, the coalition have simply declared their willingness to take the fight to the next level.

BRING IT ON!

I can think of a lot of legal ways to take this to the next level, can you?

My response to an article in Herald Scotland

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/spartacus-report-reveals-criticism-of-benefit-reform.16412349

In case it doesn't get published, it's all true ...

"We have been working closely with disabled people and disability organisations on the introduction of Personal Independence Payment and have listened to their views."
Yes, they listened to peoples views, then ignored them, lied about them and covered them up. 
99%, 98%, 92%, all against the PIP and they STILL forge ahead with it regardless.  They bring Parliament into disrepute by subverting the will of the House of Lords, and then threaten to use an 18th century by-law to again subvert the will of the Lords and the will of the people.  This isn't a democracy, its an autocracy.  A form of Govt. where they pretend to listen, and it goes in one ear and straight out of the other.  That isn't listening, it's deception.  No different to attending an ATOS medical, where no matter what you suffer from and no matter what you state during the medical, it is ignored and they state whatever they need to find you fit for work.
It's more than a disgrace, it is criminal and illegal.

 I'll keep on at them until hell freezes over, this autocracy will not stand

The system is only part of the problem

I took part in the #fab12 thread on Twitter today.  I saw it tagged somewhere and curiosity got the better of me, so I took a look.  I wish I had not bothered in hindsight.

But it did wake me up to a big problem in UK2012 p.l.c., that SOCIETY is just as culpable for society's ills as the coalition and the system.  The people, or a sizeable percentage of them, are seemingly just out for what they can get and don't give a monkeys about the plight of anyone else.  It is very sad that our country has become so lemming-like that they will freely jump off of the cliff because they are told it is the shrewd thing to do, rather than suggest an alternative course of action where every life is a life worth being a part of - and removes the need for the finality of flinging yourself from Beachy Head.  An alternative that doesn't end up with THEM too floating lifeless on the waves with the rest of those they were happy to abandon. 

No system can be adopted without public support, or even innocent public apathy.  It seems like the percentage of the public who are lucky enough to be employed right now, or have a nest egg to fall back on, are quite content to throw the poor out with the bath water to ensure their own well being.  I wonder what their sentiment will be when they are rudely awakened to the realization that they are also being scapegoated by the system they have sold out to?  Will they be shocked into protesting when the realization dawns on them that the Euro has just crashed and that they are to be just as penniless and unemployed as the people that were forsaken by them?

I have no doubt that there were some trolls on the #fab12 thread, that goes without saying.  Shit always attracts flies.  But I left feeling like the problem was more substantial than that.  I left feeling like I needed to put my fingers down my throat and induce vomiting.  I know of many, many tweeters who, in my opinion, are not trolls.  They genuinely believe that people should work for a pittance rather than not work at all.  They believe that a staple diet of turnips is better than starving.  Well, i'm allergic to turnips.  Plus they taste like minty crap.  I want better, I deserve better.  I paid my dues for 25 years, now I want what's coming to me now I am unable to work.  I demand it.  If some financial consultant only earns £90,000pa rather than £98,000pa, then let it be.  It doesn't cost £90k to buy a cwt of turnips, and even plentiful accompanying root vegetables to please the palate, so my conscience is clear with those with loadsamoney paying a little bit more.

Now to convince them of that, before they depart for their yuppie Saturday evening in an Old Broad Street wine bar. ...

Govt plumbs new depths of depravity, as Lord Freud stabs democracy in the back

I'm sure sick and disabled people around the country were whooping with joy as the Lords destroyed the Welfare Reform Bill with three consecutive overwhelmingly passed amendments to the bill.  What you may not be aware of is as soon as the Lords went home, Lord Freud attempted to undemocratically derail the amendments with some of his own ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/12/welfare-benefits

Have you honestly ever heard anything like it?  Honestly, what is the point of the Lords, and the democratic process as a whole, if one sleaze-bag POS with govt backing can simply gallop all over it after the debate has finished?  Is 'bringing the chamber into disrepute' really something that will bother Lord Freud too much, when he has the full weight of an unelected coalition behind him to run roughshod over the entire democratic process, and bulldoze through reform that would see sick and disabled people impoverished and destitute?  It frankly flies in the face of common decency, and shows the coalition in the shit brown coloured light they deserve to be enshrouded in.  There is nothing democratic about Britain in 2012, the people need to be standing up to be counted.  That's ALL people, not just those people who can only only stand with the aid of a support device.  Otherwise, it will be YOUR rights this democratically unelected coalition come after next.

Cameron takes a complete pasting in the 'other place'

I can't link to the beeb as they have chosen to impose a media blackout on anything related to #spartacusreport and disability rights, it seems, but I can confirm that all three WRB amendments were passed in the Lords tonight.

Now to complain to the BBC at their blackout of coverage on one of the most important nights in history for the well being of sick and disabled people across the entire country ...

edit ... They decided to write about it, they sure took their time, enjoy.  Even now, they are pretending only the first vote happened.  For the record, it was a triple event ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16515414

The falacy of forcing the disabled 'into employment'

I'll start off with a question ... what employment?  Where is all this employment for people who can't work?  Are employers just going to start throwing common sense out of the window and employ disabled people to work when there are CVs for 100% able-bodied, qualified people on their desk?  Lets get real here.

A comment I read, on the comments section of a national rag today ...

My partner has been deemed fit to work and we are currently working towards an appeal, he has a condition that effects his muscles and tendons, so he doesn't have anything strength, so he can pick up an empty cup but not one full of water, things like that. He also cannot carry out any personal takes, feed himself, get out of his chair, he can use a computer for very short amounts of time (he can manage about half an hour a day).
He was deemed fit to work as he can hold an empty plastic beaker and because he can use a phone and a computer for very limited amounts of time. Yes he can do those things, but being realistic who would employ someone to work from home for 30 minutes a day depending on when he happens to have a good day. Then you have to consider that he needs help going to the toilet and being fed, so he couldn't work outside the home unless he had a carer, which we can't afford and an employer wouldn't pay for.

A 100% valid point.  Apart from the fact that this commenter's partner CANNOT work, regardless of what the ATOS disability denial factory, in collaboration with Sgt Major Cpl Lt Iain Duncan-Smith, says, even if in theory an employer did give him employment that employer would hardly be getting value for their buck.  An employer would be out of business in double quick time if he were that lax in his judgement of employing people to work for his company.  Fulfilling an obligation to have 4% disabled (but still capable) people on your workforce is completely and utterly different to employing people who are not fit to carry out their duties and would be a drain on the company.  As well as the employers obligation to then ensure the health and safety of that person at work.  No wonder Cameron is also doing away with worker's rights.  Dangerous workplace?  No problem, caveat emptor.

Lets get ******* real here, please!  Cameron is absolutely bonkers if he thinks an employer is going to employ an unqualified person who cannot do the job, just because that person has fraudulently been declared 'fit for work'.  Harsh but true, it's just the way it is.  But Cameron does know this, he is not a stupid man.  Which begs the question, why would the govt want to fraudulently force down a persons benefit entitlement based on a lie?  M.O.N.E.Y. is why.  Avarice, greed, insanity, to fund HS2, call it what you will.  But disabled people, with no ability to work, are being thrown aimlessly and mindlessly into the work market for no other reason than financial gain.  That is a disgrace, and alone enough to question whether this govt is fit for purpose.  Cameron's tory party are not fit for public office, and need to be prosecuted for human rights abuses.  Some achievement for a mere 18mths in power.

We're all desperate for welfare reform, Mr. Cameron, but hiding the truth is not the way to achieve it

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2084706/David-Camerons-Welfare-Reform-Bill-Hiding-truth-way-achieve-it.html

Plaudits to the Daily Mail for going against the well worn grain.  Read it and weep, Mr Scameron