Wednesday - December 12, 2007

Quote of the day

From Pilgrim at Say Anything talking about the fact that Code Pink doesn’t think Nancy Pelosi is “Left” enough.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/12/2007 at 12:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Humor •  
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Teenage offenders will avoid court if they say “sorry” to their victims

OH RIGHT. I CAN SEE IT NOW.  THIS’LL WORK, RIGHT?  UR CRAZY IF YA THINK SO.

Teenage offenders will avoid court if they say “sorry” to their victims under a major reform of youth justice.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Last Updated: 2:42am GMT 12/12/2007

Ministers hope that the so-called “restorative justice” approach will drastically cut the number of young offenders by 2020.

In a policy blueprint, they said that children should “not receive a disproportionately harsh response” for committing low-level first offences.

Other young people convicted of more serious crimes should also be placed with foster families where possible instead of being locked up, they said.

The proposals - outlined in the 10-year Children’s Plan - have been criticised as a surrender to teenage yobs.

But David Hanson, the justice minister, insisted that it was “inappropriate” to severely punish young people for minor crimes.

In a wide-ranging blueprint for children’s future education, welfare and play, ministers also pledged:

• An overhaul of sex education, including more advice and contraception at specialist health clinics in schools.

• £225 million over the next three years to upgrade 3,500 play areas, ending the “no ball games” culture.

• A fresh crackdown on coasting schools, as comprehensives failing to ensure that 30 per cent of children gain five good GCSEs by 2012 are shut or merged.

• A review of the primary schools which could include more flexible start dates for children born in summer who are often at the greatest risk of falling behind.

Ministers said the 170-page strategy was designed to make England the “best place in the world for our children to grow up”.

It pulls together all policies for young people for the first time, focusing on education, health, the family, social services and youth justice.

In one of the most contentious developments, they said there should be a “complementary menu” of options to deal with young offenders - including those
convicted of a low-level crime for the first time.

The restorative justice approach, which has already been employed in schools to ensure bullies apologise to victims, will be tried on youth offenders from next April.

Although ministers fail to specify which offences it will cover, it is likely to include minor vandalism, the use of offensive language, shoplifting and low-level assault.

Mr Hanson said: “Court is often an inappropriate option for very young people who have never committed any previous offence, particularly if their first offence is very minor.

“By introducing this option for the police, bad behaviour can be nipped in the bud at the same time as the victim’s feelings are addressed.

“It also frees up the police to deal with more serious offences.”

But Michael Gove, the shadow children’s secretary, said the plan would make it “even easier for young criminals to get away with the harm they do to others”.

“We have a serious problem with rising violence in schools and rising youth violence on the streets,” he said.

“We need tough rules on discipline in school and tougher action on street violence but the Government unfortunately is going in the wrong direction.”

http://tinyurl.com/yr2ph5

Posted by Drew458     on 12/12/2007 at 06:39 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime •  
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   Tuesday - December 11, 2007

When good Macs go bad

Wow. A couple of weeks ago my iBook G4 died.

Oh yes, I did everything I knew to resuscitate it. I ran Disk Utility… hard drive failed. Then I ran TechTool Pro...hard drive failed. Then I pulled out the big gun, DiskWarrior. Hard drive failed… but DiskWarrior could save my data to my external hard drive. Then I was to reformat my iBook’s hard drive.

After saving my data, all attempts to reformat failed.

So I took it to the shop, where I was told they could replace my 60G hard drive with what they had in stock.  A 100G hard drive. Good! But…

There I was, in a Mac store, I just had to play with the latest Macs…

Well, if you haven’t seen the latest iMacs, you’ll be as astounded as I was.

Of course, I couldn’t wait for my iBook to be repaired. I’m now the proud owner of a 20” iMac. 2 Gigahertz, dual Intel processors, 1 Gig memory (I did spend the $50 to make it 2 Gig)

Yeah, my wife was pissed. But she went and bought a Jeep Liberty last year without even telling me. I found out when the insurance bill came. She hasn’t got any right to be critical of my purchase.

Posted by Christopher     on 12/11/2007 at 09:48 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Gun Free Zone Liability Act

I was reading Michael Bane’s blog today and came across this:

Gun-Free-Zone Liability --

“If you create a gun-free zone, you’re liable for any harm it causes.”

This may be the most important pro-rights gun bill to come down in many years.

A version of the bill was first introduced in Arizona (HB2456 in 2002) by Rep. Randy Graf (R-6th), with considerable support (12 sponsors!).

In 2003, Rep. Graf re-introduced it in Arizona (HB 2320).
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=HB2320

The state of Georgia joined the effort to enact this important new legislation with HB31, introduced by Rep. Bobby Franklin (17th).
http://www2.state.ga.us/legis/2003_04/fulltext/hb31.htm

At least two other states are actively considering the bill.

The Gun-Free-Zone Liability Act has excellent value even if it isn’t enacted in its first years—it is a just and common-sense bill that would help protect the public. Resisting its reasonable provisions requires taking the moral low ground—that you have no right to defend yourself. A lot of very bad gun bills are planned, so it’s critical to balance that with bills as positive as this one. Ask your legislators to at least look at the bill and support it. Basically, “If you create a gun-free zone, you’re liable for any harm it causes.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

GUN-FREE-ZONE LIABILITY ACT

Talking Points & Bill Text

“If you create a gun-free zone, you’re liable for any harm it causes.”

(NOTE: Copy of the proposed bill text follows.)

Originally introduced in Arizona as The Defenseless Victim Act of 2002, this bill recognizes that gun-free zones, recklessly made and typically with no alternative security provided, are known to be extremely dangerous.

We have seen this (when the bill was first introduced) in the Wakefield, Mass., slayings, the Luby’s Massacre, and even the hijacked airliners on Sept. 11, where pilots and passengers were defenseless, in the false name of security. Congress responded to that with the “Arm The Pilots” law.

The death toll from gun-free zones continues to mount, with the 2007 Virginia Tech slaughter of helpless students and faculty, and at a Christmastime massacre that year in an Omaha shopping mall. The mall had “no guns allowed” signs to keep out FBI-certified citizens with CCW permits. The murderer, as in all such cases, disobeyed the signs. The news media continues to suppress stories where armed individuals stop such mayhem. See for example, The Bias Against Guns, by John Lott, for numerous egregious examples. You can also read this eloquent gun-bias editorial online.

The Gun-Free-Zone Liability Act basically says that, in public places, if you create a dangerous gun-free zone, you’re liable for any harm it causes. There is no cost or budget item associated with enacting this bill.

The idea that gun-free zones are safe is fraudulent.

It is a mythology perpetrated by anti-rights activists who can often be recognized by their beliefs that:

1 - self defense should be illegal,
2 - guns should be confiscated,
3 - no one but “authorities” should have guns,
4 - government can take care of you better than you can.

The anti-self-defense lobby would tell you to rely upon the police for your safety, but they always omit the inconvenient facts that:

1 - police have no legal duty to protect you;
2 - they routinely respond only after an event to pick up the pieces;
3 - when seconds count, the police are just minutes away.

I just sent of letters to my two state congress-critters.  Will let you know the response, if any, that I get.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/11/2007 at 02:31 PM   
Filed Under: • Judges-Courts-Lawyers •  
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Another Bubble Burst

I was listening to NPR this week while they breathlessly reported (with glee) that a report had been released that showed conclusivly that president Bush had been telling the national hurricane center, NOAA and NASA what to say in their reports on global warming.  Henry Waxman’s committee published the report yesterday and it was picked up and touted every hour.  Here’s a sample:

For the past 16 months, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating allegations of political interference with government climate change science under the Bush Administration.

..

The White House exerted unusual control over the public statements of federal scientists on climate change issues. It was standard practice for media requests to speak with federal scientists on climate change matters to be sent to CEQ for White House approval. By controlling which government scientists could respond to media inquiries, the White House suppressed dissemination of scientific views that could conflict with Administration policies. The White House also edited congressional testimony regarding the science of climate change.

But then I see a link on Hot Air to an ABC News story where Max Mayfield, the former director of the Hurricane Center, refutes the report.

Max Mayfield: ‘No One Forced Me to Say Anything’

The former director of the National Hurricane Center says political pressure did not cause him to change his congressional testimony to downplay the link between global warming and hurricanes — contradicting the findings of a Democratic led investigation released Monday.

I can truthfully say that no one told me at any time what to say in regard to possible impacts of climate change on tropical cyclones,” said Max Mayfield in an e-mail to ABC News.

Mayfield was responding to questions about a section in a new report titled “Political Interference With Climate Change Science Under the Bush Administration” — the end result of a 16-month investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The committee is chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Sweet.  The Dems have to hate it when you can actually get the truth and not have to only hear it from their mouthpieces.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/11/2007 at 01:42 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Media-Bias • News-Briefs •  
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Religion of Peace Strikes Again

Via Gateway Pundit

A 16 year-old Toronto girl was strangled by her father for not wearing a hijab.

Friends of the teenager, a Grade 11 student at nearby Applewood Heights high school, identified her as Aqsa Parvez and said they were shocked by the attack on the outgoing, likeable girl, but said she had been threatened by her strictly religious family before.

“She got threatened by her father and her brother,” said Dominiquia Holmes-Thompson, who had known Aqsa since they both started high school together. “He said that if she leaves, he would kill her.”

Ebonie Mitchell, 16, another friend of the victim, said the conflict with her father over wearing Islamic dress came to a head at the beginning of this school year. “She just wanted to dress like we do,” she said.

“Last year she wore like the Islamic stuff and everything, the hijab, and this year she’s all Western. She just wanted to look like everyone else. And I guess her dad had a problem with that.”

Ebonie said her friend had left home once before, in September, for about two weeks. She returned home, but the fights with her family over what she wore just got worse.

Dominiquia, 16, said her friend had been arguing with her father for more than a year over the restrictions he imposed on her, including demanding that she wear the hijab at all times. “She wanted to go out with her friends, hang out and just be like a normal person,” she said. “But he was always trying to control her ... he wouldn’t let her go out or do anything.”

The stricken girl’s friends said the fights with her father got so bad that she had left the family home to live with friends about a week ago. “She was going back, but just to get her stuff,” said friend Krista Garbutt. “She was scared to go home, but she had to get her clothes and stuff.”

Neighbours said as many as 11 people lived in the home, which was sealed off by crime scene tape and surrounded by police cars yesterday, all members of an extended Pakistani family. Const. Valade confirmed that there were other people in the home when the teenager was attacked.

“I didn’t really know any of them,” said one woman, who would not give her name. “There were a lot of them living in that house, always coming and going. They didn’t talk to me, maybe just to say hello once in a while. That’s all.”

The home where the teen was attacked is the listed address of Muhammad Parvez, a Mississauga cab driver. “He was Muslim and very devout, very observant,” said one of his fellow drivers at Mississauga’s Blue and White Taxi, who did not want his name used. “He was always stopping to take breaks and pray: three, four times a day.”

His eldest son, also named Muhammad, also worked as a cab driver and lived in the family home with his wife and at least one child, the driver said. Several people inside the home were questioned by police before being allowed to leave.

Neighbours said the family moved in just over a year ago.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/11/2007 at 11:59 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA •  
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Mohammed to beat Jack as top UK boys’ name

Mohammed to beat Jack as top UK boys’ name By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:53am GMT 11/12/2007

Mohammed is set to overtake Jack as the most popular boys’ name in Britain as a result of the high birth rate in Muslim families, which is driving the British population to a record high.

Study finds foreigners in 80pc of new jobs
A report from the Office of National Statistics says the highest birth rates are in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, both predominantly Muslim.

Jack was the most popular boys’ name last year, chosen for 6,928 babies. Mohammed - taking into account all of its variant spellings - overtook Thomas to lie in second place with 5,991 babies named.

Muhammad Anwar, a professor of ethnic relations at Warwick University, said: “Muslim parents like to have something that shows a link with their religion.

“The Muslim population is generally young and you expect a higher birth rate.”

Exactly. Kinda like vermin and the way they breed.

Economic migrants from eastern Europe have also helped to boost the population, which is set to rise to 65 million by 2017 - an increase of five million. By 2031, the population will be over 70 million.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/11/nforeigner211.xml tinyurl not working again. ?

Posted by Drew458     on 12/11/2007 at 08:36 AM   
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Religion of Peace My Ass, episode 28,713

Full story here

(CNN)—Two bombs ripped through the Algerian capital Tuesday, reportedly killing 47 people, in what appeared to be targeted attacks on government and United Nations buildings.  One explosion was outside the constitutional court in the Algiers neighborhood of Ben Aknoun and the other was in the residential area of Hydra, state-run television network ENTV reported.  The other attack apparently targeted the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in the neighborhood of Hydra, UNHCR chief spokesman Ron Redmond told CNN.

So far no group has admitted responsibility for Tuesday’s blasts.

gosh, is that even necessary? Ok people, place your bets. I’m giving even money odds that it’s Al-Q or some other intolerant pisslam group. 10,000,000:1 it’s a Zionist Conspiracy, but again even odds that “ZC” gets blamed for it, locally at least, within a month

The Algerian Press Service said many of the victims in one of the blasts were on a school bus carrying students.

Video from the scene showed a shallow crater in the road, surrounded by rubble and crowds of people.

A nearby four-story building was missing its facade and there was damage to some of the building’s interior.

What, they blew up a bus that wasn’t full of joooos? How’d that happen?

Algeria, which has a population of three million, is still recovering from more than a decade of violence that began after the military government called a halt to elections which an Islamist party was poised to win.

Tens of thousands of people died in the unrest. Although the country has remained relatively peaceful, recent terrorist attacks have raised fears of a slide back to violence.

In April, the northern Africa wing of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in downtown Algiers that killed 33 people.

Let us win control in free and fair elections or we’ll kill you all!!!!!!!!

Do you think this is another “here we go again” incident; that a major uprising is about to go off, or is this just another “disagreement” between “moderate muslims”?

Posted by Drew458     on 12/11/2007 at 08:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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   Monday - December 10, 2007

Tragedy in Colorado

You’ve heard by now about the murder of the YWAM staffers in Arvada, CO and the subsequesnt shooting at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

Michelle Malkin found an interesting bit in a story in the Coloradoan newspaper.

A gunman in a black trench coat and a high-powered rifle entered the church’s main foray about 1 p.m. and began shooting, according to a source who was locked down inside the New Life campus Sunday afternoon. The source spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because police asked that they release all information.

The church’s 11 a.m. service had recently ended and hundreds of people were milling about when the gunman opened fire. Nearby were parents picking up their children from nursery.

The gunman was shot and killed by a female member of the church’s armed security staff, the source said. Four people were shot, and the source did not know their conditions or whether the shooter was one of the four. A SWAT team was searching the building for an explosive device, but the source could not confirm any details.

And this:

Police arrived to find the gunman had been killed by a member of the church’s armed security staff, Myers said.

“There was a courageous staff member who probably saved many lives here today,” Myers said.

The FBI and the ATF were assisting in the investigation. Officers were combing the campus looking for suspicious devices.

“We had a plan in place, and it worked well,” said Boyd, who in August took over from disgraced pastor Ted Haggard. “Many, many lives were saved today because of some quick, action by the many volunteers here at the church.”

My wife and I were talking about this last night on the way to a Christmas party.  You see, in Virginia, you are generally not allowed to carry your concealed weapon in church.  Here is the text of the statute:

So what is “good and sufficient reason”?  In my mind, what happened in Colorado is possible anywhere.  I will not leave myself unable to defend my family, friends, brother and sisters should something like this happen in our little town.

What say you?

Posted by Drew458     on 12/10/2007 at 11:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Muslim apostates threatened over Christianity

Muslim apostates threatened over Christianity Ah ..From those wonderful folks who have given us a religion of “peace.”
A religion of compassion, a religion of understanding ... whoops. There goes my lunch.

Muslim apostates threatened over Christianity
Last Updated: 2:20pm GMT 10/12/2007Page 1 of 3

When Sofia Allam left the Muslim faith for Christianity, the response from her family was one of persecution and threats. Alasdair Palmer explores the dangers facing Islam’s apostates

Sofia Allam simply could not believe it. Her kind, loving father was sitting in front of her threatening to kill her. He said she had brought shame and humiliation on him, that she was now “worse than the muck on their shoes” and she deserved to die.

Religious persecution of the kind Sofia suffers is increasingly common in Britain today

And what had brought on his transformation? He had discovered that she had left the Muslim faith in which he had raised her and become a Christian.

“He said he couldn’t have me in the house now that I was a Kaffir [an insulting term for a non-Muslim],” Sofia - not her real name - remembers.

“He said I was damned for ever. He insulted me horribly. I couldn’t recognise that man as the father who had been so kind to me as I was growing up.

“My mother’s transformation was even worse. She constantly beat me about the head. She screamed at me all the time. I remember saying to them, as they were shouting death threats, ‘Mum, Dad - you’re saying you should kill me… but I’m your daughter! Don’t you realise that?’?”

They did not: they insisted they wanted her out of their house.

Long article but well worth the read. Catch the rest here.

http://tinyurl.com/2tfe7a

Posted by Drew458     on 12/10/2007 at 09:35 AM   
Filed Under: • Religion •  
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Battle for Taliban stronghold intensifies

Just so ya know folks, Battling Brits kicking Taliban ass !

Battle for Taliban stronghold intensifies
By Tom Coghlan in Kabul and James Burleigh
Last Updated: 11:40am GMT 10/12/2007

The battle for Musa Qala has intensified with British and Afghan troops probing the edges of the town but holding back from a final assault as thousands of civilians remain inside.

Frontline:

Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
With fighting also spreading to many parts of Helmand, Afghan officials claimed that two of the most important Taliban commanders in the province were captured trying to escape Musa Qala.

British military sources said that a number of insurgents had been captured but had not yet been identified.

Colonel Richard Eaton confirmed that there had been casualties in “fierce fighting” over the weekend but that British forces had advanced to the edge of the town.

He said that Taliban fighters had attacked other areas of the province to relieve pressure on Musa Qala.

“There have certainly been skirmishes throughout the area of Sangin [to the south of Musa Qala],” he said.

“The Taliban are trying to create pressure in other areas to relieve the pressure we are exerting on Musa Qala. There were a couple of our bases in the area of Sangin attacked this afternoon. They were repulsed.”

Speaking from inside the town, Taliban commander Mullah Ahmad Muslim claimed: “We have launched attacks in Sangin and in Sarwan Kala. In Musa Qala we have taken 15 prisoners from the Afghan National Army. We have orders to attack the British everywhere.”

With a population of around 20,000 and one of the biggest bazaars in Helmand, the operation to take Musa Qala is the largest military assault that British forces have launched in Afghanistan.

At least 300 people fled the town over the weekend but many remain.

The Afghan government claimed to have captured Mullah Rahim Akhund, the Taliban governor for Helmand and Mullah Mateen Akhund, the district governor for Musa Qala, as they fled the town.

Taliban sources however fiercely denied the claims that their commanders had been taken. “I am almost crying, I am laughing so much,” the Taliban’s chief spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Daily Telegraph by telephone.

“This is just lies. Do you think these are people who are easy to capture?”

“Right now it is going according to plan,” said Nato commander General Dan McNeill. “As to how tough the fighting will or will not be, that is up to the insurgents. If the insurgent wants to fight then the Afghan forces going into Musa Qala will be up to the task.”

Key areas in Afghanistan fighting
British and American forces are to perform the “break in” operation to Musa Qala, but the final assault will be left to the Afghan Army.

There are signs that some people have decided to stay because of the fear of looting when the town falls.

“Outside I can hear the sounds of explosions. We are quite scared,” Haji Mohammad Rauf said by telephone from his home just outside Musa Qala. “Most of the families have fled the area, but I’m afraid that if we leave the soldiers will loot all the things from our home.”

In the days after British troops cleared the town of Sangin, which lies south of Musa Qala, in April, there was systematic looting by pro-government police and militias.

The battle for Musa Qala, which involves some 3,000 British troops, began at 4pm on Friday afternoon as British and Afghan forces advanced in three separate columns from the south, west and east of the town supported by several hundred vehicles and dozens of attack helicopters and ground attack aircraft.

But it was a feint, to distract attention from a helicopter borne landing by a battalion of the US 82nd Airborne Division from Task Force Fury to the north of the town.

The operation is expected to last several more days.

http://tinyurl.com/24vh4r

Posted by Drew458     on 12/10/2007 at 09:11 AM   
Filed Under: • War-Stories •  
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   Friday - December 07, 2007

JUST HOW STUPID CAN A WELFARE SYSTEM GET?  VERY!

I have a real problem with this story. Or I should say with the people involved.

Read it and I’ll explain why.

Stubborn son stops Lotto millionaire moving.

http://tinyurl.com/3a4m3b

Last Updated: 6:32am GMT 07/12/2007

A Lotto millionaire cannot move into her £1 million new home because her teenage son refuses to leave their council house.

right here guys.  It’s a “council house.” That means it’s at the expense of the taxpayer.  Council housing (low rent or free) Like our welfare housing. It’s an apt. in a bldg. So, her little shits don’t wanna leave and what’s she do?  Read on.

Jenny Southall won £8.4 million on

(that’s almost 17 million dollars)

the National Lottery last year and bought a brand new, five ­bedroom home for herself and her three children. But her son Jamie, 15, prefers to remain in their terrace home on a council estate to be close to his friends.

the house cost $1,000,000. Wish they’d publish online photos as they do the paper. AND .. she has bought more then one.

Mrs Southall, 44, stays overnight in the house on the Ringland estate in Newport, South Wales, to look after her son while their new home in gated grounds just a mile away lies empty.

Jamie said: “I prefer living here rather than moving up to the new house. I am used to having my mates round and we can chill out here more than at the new house.”

One of his friends said: “Jamie is happy just staying in the council house where his mates can visit him without having to tiptoe around.

“He’s not looking forward to it. He doesn’t want any of us to think he is getting flash and too big for his boots.”

Mrs Southall, a divorcee, and her three children moved into their council house last year after staying in a hostel when she lost her home because she could not pay the mortgage. But a few months later the part-time cinema supervisor hit the jackpot on the lottery.

She was quick to share her good fortune with her family.

She has bought houses and new cars for her mother, two sisters and two brothers and has given them £250,000 each. Mrs Southall’s widowed mother Jeanette, 69, sister Angela, 45, and brother Andrew, 44, have all been bought houses within a few yards of each other. 

She paid off the £5,000 of student debts of her 20-year-old daughter Lauren and then looked to make herself comfortable in a neo-Georgian house with five bathrooms and its own cinema room. It shares a five-acre private woodland with three similar houses and is next door to Celtic Manor Golf Resort, the Ryder Cup course.

Mrs Southall, who, according to friends, has already spent half of her jackpot win, was given the keys to the house last month but has kept on her council house home and friends are still visiting her there.

A family friend said: “Jamie has not yet come to terms with his mum’s vast fortune and does not want to upset his friends by thinking he is flash. He just doesn’t want to go to the new place and, like millions of other teenagers, has dug his heels in.”

Mrs Southall’s former husband, Waynne, is still paying £200-a-month ($400) maintenance for their two youngest children, Jamie and Kyle, 18.

so, she wins 17 mil and he still has to pay support?  And they’re 18 ???

Mr Southall, a fork lift truck driver who has remarried since the couple’s divorce five years ago, said: “I don’t mind fulfilling my obligations to my children. I just hope that in all this spending Jenny has set money aside for the future of our children.”

oh don’t worry Mr. Southall. She’ll spend till there’s none left and you’ll still get the bill.  Unless you can arrange an accident.

Mrs Southall has discussed the situation of her occupying a council house with officials from Newport council.

A spokesman said: “Having won a lot of money is not a breach of the tenancy agreement as long as the person is still living there.”

And that’s the bottom line folks.  Their system is really, really Fraked up! I haven’t a problem with her winning money. Great.  But with almost 17 million dollars, shouldn’t the damn stupid city council say OUT!  ??  Why is the taxpayer responsible for the whims of her offspring? And why should her ex still have to shell out hard earned money?  I don’t get it. It’s stupid. And what’s with oh the teens dig in heels?  What ever became of parental authority?  Or is that a violation of teen rights?

end of story and rant. 

Posted by Drew458     on 12/07/2007 at 11:32 AM   
Filed Under: • Outrageous •  
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English/Irish Nigerians

If you’ve had an email address for more than a few months, you start to get spam.  The Nigerian Scam is one of the oldest ones, but it must be working with some since I’ve been getting them for years and years.

I new one came in today with a twist.  Instead of being asked to help with a dead relative’s funds, this one is purported to be from a banker who “found” some dormant money.

If you’re not familiar with the scam, it basically works like this:
1. Someone says they need to get a lot of money out of their country and need your help.
2. If they can just transfer the money to your account, you can give it to them when they are able to take it, keeping a piece for yourself.
3. You agree and give them your banking info
4. They clean out your bank

The transaction normally takes a few phone calls and emails to work, while the scammer gains your trust and plays on your greed, but in the end, you have an empty bank account.

This one was much more blantant.  Here is the entire text, unedited:

So please kids, if it looks and sounds too good to be true, use your delete key.

A PSA brought to you from your friends at BMEWS

Posted by Drew458     on 12/07/2007 at 11:01 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime •  
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Never Forget

I was looking around for info on Pearl Harbor Day and found this great site the Navy maintains.

Pearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941 --
Overview and Special Image Selection

The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy’s battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire’s southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.

Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese agression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the oil and mineral-rich East Indies and Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was virtually inevitable.

By late November 1941, with peace negotiations clearly approaching an end, informed U.S. officials (and they were well-informed, they believed, through an ability to read Japan’s diplomatic codes) fully expected a Japanese attack into the Indies, Malaya and probably the Philippines. Completely unanticipated was the prospect that Japan would attack east, as well.

The U.S. Fleet’s Pearl Harbor base was reachable by an aircraft carrier force, and the Japanese Navy secretly sent one across the Pacific with greater aerial striking power than had ever been seen on the World’s oceans. Its planes hit just before 8AM on 7 December. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2400 Americans were dead. Soon after, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya.

These great Japanese successes, achieved without prior diplomatic formalities, shocked and enraged the previously divided American people into a level of purposeful unity hardly seen before or since. For the next five months, until the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, Japan’s far-reaching offensives proceeded untroubled by fruitful opposition. American and Allied morale suffered accordingly. Under normal political circumstances, an accomodation might have been considered.

However, the memory of the “sneak attack” on Pearl Harbor fueled a determination to fight on. Once the Battle of Midway in early June 1942 had eliminated much of Japan’s striking power, that same memory stoked a relentless war to reverse her conquests and remove her, and her German and Italian allies, as future threats to World peace.

This page features a historical overview and special image selection on the Pearl Harbor raid, chosen from the more comprehensive coverage featured in the following pages, and those linked from them

There are terrfic photos and stories surrounding the event. Well worth some time spent.

There are many who draw the similarity between 7-Dec, 1941 and 11-Sep, 2001.  I agree with most of it.  The problem as I see it is: our country’s national resolve to defeat the enemy in 1941 lasted years.  In 2001, it lasted months.  How can we defeat an enemy with no timeline when we insist on it being done before lunch?

Posted by Drew458     on 12/07/2007 at 10:55 AM   
Filed Under: • History • War-Stories •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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