Petition to ‘Ban Blair-Baiting’ at the Iraq Inquiry

[A Little Note: As this blog continues to attract a good number of visitors each day, I have finally decided to bring this blog back from the dead so you guys can expect regular updates pretty soon. Now, I understand that my politics may not interest anyone and this blog was never political. However, there is a petition going around which I want to give plug and a little space in this page. Please take a moment to read it -- I'll consider it a welcome back present from you if you do -- and sign if you agree.]

Taken from http://keeptonyblairforpm.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/petition-to-ban-blair-baiting-at-the-iraq-inquiry/

You might be interested in this new online petition

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Ban Blair-Baiting

Published by John Justice on Aug 05, 2009

Category: Politics

Region: United Kingdom

Target: Opinion-formers

Web site: http://justicefortonyblair.blogspot.com/
Background (Preamble): Bear-baiting, whereby a tethered bear was attacked by a pack of dogs, was outlawed in this country in 1835. It is now time to stop BLAIR-baiting, i.e. attacks on our former Prime Minister by the dogs of anti-war. Less metaphorically it can be defined as the constant incitement of hatred against Tony Blair for taking us to war in Iraq.This year’s Blair-baiting season will reach its peak when the Iraq war inquiry starts to call witnesses. Parts of the media, the anti-Iraq war lobby and some families of soldiers killed in the war are already calling for this to be a TRIAL of Tony Blair with a view to gathering as much evidence as possible to send him to The Hague for “war crimes”. Except that unlike a normal trial, Tony Blair has been presumed guilty in advance.

The organisers of this petition do not belong to any one party but are united in our belief in “innocent until proved guilty” and that Mr Blair should be given a fair hearing at the inquiry. To this end we demand that if the Blair-baiters want to turn the inquiry into a trial they should follow the same rules as a trial and not be allowed to make any public comment on the proceedings until they are over.

Please show your support for Tony Blair through this period of “trial” by signing this petition. If you would like to be more actively involved in the campaign associated with it could you please leave your contact details in the “contact author” box that accompanies this petition.

Petition:

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We, the undersigned agree that Blair-baiting should NOT be allowed to prejudice the outcome of the Iraq war inquiry. We therefore call upon the media and other interested parties to refrain from such activity for the duration of the inquiry.

Sign the petition

Symmetric Key Cryptography (Non-Technical)

Simply put, Symmetric Key Cryptography is the use of related, often identical, key for both encryption and decryption.

[a/n: I'm back for the time being. How long? We don't really know but let's make the most out of it. So, first on the agenda is the series of non-technical cryptography articles I started almost a year ago. I know this is months past due but then this and that came up then I had this and had to be taken care of that and then that happened... Well better late than never, I guess. Let's just pretend I was able to convince you with my excuses and allow me to deliver what I promised ages ago.]

(In this article I will cover symmetric key cryptography in preparation for a discussion on the Russian One-Time Pads and the German Enigma on the succeeding articles.)

Previous: Earlier Forms of Cryptography (Non-Technical)

Symmetric Key Cryptography

Symmetric Key Cryptography is also known as Secret Key Cryptography where in encryption and decryption is performed using a key that is the related or identical (i. e. symmetric). It relies heavily on the secrecy of the key. The use of this paradigm is often referred termed as Symmetric Key Ciphers, Private Key Ciphers, Secret Key Ciphers, Conventional Ciphers, etc.

Earlier Forms of Cryptography (Non-Technical)

(Notes: Continuing the series of articles on cryptography, here I will discuss the two early cryptographic techniques to better prepare readers for succeeding topics where I plan to cover symmetric key cryptography that will run up to the Russian One-Time Pads and the German Enigma which are the highlights of the second world war.)

Spartan SCYTALE. A device used for
early transposition cipher.

Previous: Introduction to Cryptography (Non-Technical)

Earlier Forms of Cryptography

Cryptography is a science and art that is continuously refined by one civilization after another. Some says it dates back to the Egyptians heiroglyphics which are intentionally cryptic to give it importance. Other says that it began with the ancient Chinese whose language have hidden meanings in their words.