[UPDATE - Dec. 21, 2010: The text below has been edited for accuracy.]

UK Uncut targets tax dodgers.There are corporate tax dodgers as well as wealthy individuals who are refusing to pay their debt to society. Two of UK Uncut's main targets are Vodafone (a British wireless communications company) and Philip Green (who runs a chain of British clothing stores):

For the last ten years, Vodafone has been fighting tooth and nail to avoid paying the UK government billions in taxes. Court case followed court case, and eventually the British revenue service won a decisive victory. Vodafone was on the ropes and all that was needed was a couple more government knocks to finally make the communications giant pay up. But instead of forcing through the deal, the British government let Vodafone off. It was one of the most shameless, blatant and costly examples of corporate-government cronyism in years. But at a time when the UK government is insisting upon massive cuts in public spending, the deal is particularly hard for the British people to swallow.

In 2005, Philip Green, who runs a chain of British clothing stores, awarded himself the biggest paycheck in British corporate history. The check was for more than a billion dollars. But this dividend payout was channeled through a network of offshore accounts, via tax havens in Jersey (England), and eventually to Green's wife's Monaco bank account. The dodge saved Green, and cost British tax payers millions. This tax arrangement remains in place. Any time he feels like it, Green can pay himself huge sums of money without having to pay any taxes.

Before the election, Nick Clegg and other like-minded British politicians talked tough about tax dodgers. But as soon as they entered a coalition with David Cameron and the Conservatives, their pre-election bluster became just another inconvenient promise they quietly forgot. In August, Cameron, who is now the British Prime Minister, appointed Britain's most notorious serial-tax dodger to advise the government on how best to slash public spending. Interestingly, none of the politicians who entered the Conservative coalition with David Cameron talked tough about tax dodgers anymore. A Guardian editorial denounced this as "shameful."

Philip Green's tax dodge could pay for:
- The full, hiked-up tuition fees for almost 32,000 British college students.
- Pay the salaries of 20,000 nurses.

And if that's not reason enough to take action against "Sir Philip," it is worth noting that he has built his multi-billion dollar fortune on the backs of sweatshop labor, using sweatshops in South Asia where workers toil 12 hours a day, six days a week, for minimal pay.

UK Uncut can enjoy my full support and my best wishes on their efforts. You can check out one of their posters below...

[UPDATE - Jan. 22, 2010: The text below has been edited for accuracy.]

A lot of people have been wondering why I've been blogging so much lately about the triple tuition fee increases in the U.K. There are a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that, like many Americans, I'm fond of the U.K. and care about what goes on there. I feel the same way about a lot of countries, actually. I also paid a lot for my education, and I sympathize with students in the U.K. about to go through the same thing I did.

But one of the most important reasons I'm staying with this story is that, although it may not seem like it now, what happens in Europe affects the rest of the world, especially the U.S.

Americans no doubt remember the constant comparisons between American and British healthcare as America began the process of healthcare reform. If Britain were to undo its healthcare system, where would all of the comparisons go?

College used to be free throughout the U.K., but now it can cost more than it does in the U.S. It's a big deal when something like this happens in Europe. Europe is a front in a war against the prosperous and peaceful society liberals all over the world are fighting for.

So, why did the Conservative government make a wreck of higher education in the U.K.? I recently read (either on the Guardian or the BBC) that attitudes in the U.K. have turned sharply against fair and equal treatment for people with low incomes. The destruction of higher education in the U.K. is a chink in Europe's armor against the influence of the kind of society-rotting ideas promoted by stations like Fox News in the U.S. The world benefits from Europe's strength on progressive issues, and what happened in the U.K. hurts everyone.

And what's happening in the U.K. has a lot to do with Fox News. In Europe, it's called "Sky News," and their 24-hour news channel now has about half as many viewers as the BBC's 24-hour news channel. Sky News is also carried in nearly every other country in Europe. In Canada, they're called "Sky Angel."

Fox News and it's European affiliates promote the idea of pushing lower- and middle-class people around, and making sure the social conditions are set up so that they can't push back. It's a war against civilization. But to them, it sort of feels like winning in a sport or a video game. I don't believe it's possible to keep some people from acting this way, but they shouldn't be allowed to carry it so far. People should always have things like food, shelter, healthcare, and education.

In the U.S., Fox employs people like Glenn Beck to push ideas about how civilization is the enemy of freedom. Of course, the opposite is true, but that hasn't stopped Sky News from trying to destroy British civilization. I don't live in the U.K., but from what I've read about the mood of the country, and from what I've seen happen with higher education in Britain, they need to save themselves from people like Rupert Murdoch before it's too late! (Rupert Murdoch "owns" Fox News and part of Sky News. He is seeking full "ownership" of Sky News.)

Yesterday, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described the tripling of university fees in the U.K. as "lowering barriers." He cited a number of programs that look similar to the programs offered to students from low-income backgrounds in the U.S. But everyone in America can easily see that Mr. Clegg is either lying or stupid. Students from low-income backgrounds graduate with crippling debt in the U.S., despite similar programs. And many don't even make it to graduation. There is no way raising fees lowers barriers.

The programs being proposed by Clegg sound nice: a free year of college for students from low-income backgrounds already on the school lunch program (students whose families claim certain deductions, as they put it). But the fees students from low-income backgrounds will pay - and the student loan debt they will accumulate - for the remaining years of their education will be greater than they are paying without the free year at the present time (with a negligible difference regarding additional allocations Clegg proposed for the higher of the two new fee cap amounts). And it appears that Clegg only wants to give a free year of college to some, but not all, students from low-income backgrounds who are on the school lunch program. Clegg isn't "being straight" (to use his own phrase) about how the numbers were calculated, so it isn't clear which students from low-income backgrounds will receive a free year of college, but the funding appears to only be sufficient to cover 1 out of 4 students on the school lunch program.

As for the students from low-income backgrounds who don't qualify for the school lunch program, they're screwed! They won't go to college. And everyone else pays triple the amount to go to college. That'll hurt middle-class families. Clegg's ideas hurt all students who have to pay for college.

Clegg's proposals won't lower any barriers.

Even though the debate in Britain has become about competing proposals, Labour Leader Ed Miliband stood up for students and gave a positive speech yesterday. He called the proposed fee increases "cultural vandalism."

[UPDATE - Jun. 21, 2010: The text below has been edited for accuracy.]

On November 28, 2010, an organization known as Wikileaks (wikileaks.org) released more than 250,000 secured messages from U.S. government diplomats, as well as secured messages from people representing other governments around the world, to media sources and to the Internet. Many of the messages were obtained by people who had been given access to the U.S.'s secure message database(s), which some call SIPRNET. The secured messages were allegedly copied by people who had permission to access the database(s) and sent to Wikileaks and others. According to most accounts, Wikileaks released the messages onto the Internet, as well as sending them to five media outlets: The New York Times in the U.S., The Guardian in the U.K., Der Speigel in Germany, Le Monde in France, and El País in Spain.

All of the messages have not been made public yet. So far, only a small portion of the messages have been analyzed and made public. More are expected to be revealed in the weeks and months to come.

The messages released so far, still referred to in diplomatic language as "cables" for some reason, have sparked all kinds of reactions and comments around the world. But some of the messages from diplomats are quite funny. For example, the dictator of North Korea was called "flabby and old." Other messages seem misinformed at best, though many people think the messages are downright mean. I'm inclined to agree. Some of the messages are misinformed and mean, and they sound like something a spoiled brat would say (I hope that translates into German, because a "spoiled brat" is not the same as a bratwurst that has gone bad! LOL!).

Anyway, the main point I want to make about the messages is that they do not show any hate. Even most of the messages from people representing governments in the Middle East do not show any hate. A lot of the messages seem misinformed, but they're not hateful. I guess that's not saying much, but I was relieved to learn that even in their lowest moments, neither the U.S. nor any other country whose messages were released seem hateful. Of course, this is only the first round of messages, so maybe I'm putting my big dumb foot in my mouth. Oh well! (There's also a lot of spying and all types of ill shit...)

The U.S. definitely has a lot to work on, and I think the release of this information will help. I'm totally behind the publication of these messages, and hope no one gets in too much trouble. I also hope no one's life is put in danger, and that the efforts the U.S. is making to reach out to the world are not hindered. I actually hope this helps!

Like I said, this is only the first round of messages, so there will be more to come. The links I have so far are below...