Friday - March 07, 2008

SOCIALISM IS GREAT. JUST ASK HER. EVEN GETS MONEY FOR HER DOGS.

Hey why the hell not.  The Brit taxpayer as I’ve mentioned in the past, is far wealthier then ppl think.  Why they actually grow money on a money tree in their gardens.  They just don’t brag about it.  They try and keep it secret so fewer immigrants will hear about it and flood their flimsy borders.

So here’s the deal.

Not only does this very young lady get a handout from the local council, she also collects something for each dog.

Isn’t socialism great?  But wait ... There’s more.  What?  You thought that was it?

In the summer they get their benefits transferred to the shore if that’s where they’re gonna be. 

Meanwhile, because begging isn’t legal here, these ppl (yeah, there’s a guy further on up the street) sit in one spot and folks who pass simply drop money on the blanket. 

She’s happily reading a book here.  Gee, kind of like getting paid to read tho I can’t imagine her making much. But every bit helps when you’re poor and oppressed.

Meanwhile, other youngsters overseas wearing the country’s uniform ........ nuff said.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/07/2008 at 10:17 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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So, while some bravely fight, servicemen and women have been advised only to wear civilian clothing

Which of course lights my damn fuse.  Damn it ... this is the RAF!
These are ppl in service to their country ... who are the fuckin’ idiots who’d abuse them?

Armed Forces ‘should wear uniform in public’
By James Kirkup
Last Updated: 11:26am GMT 07/03/2008

Gordon Brown has said military personnel should be encouraged to appear in public in uniform after it emerged that some RAF servicemen and women have been advised only to wear civilian clothing outside their base.

The order was given to personnel at an air base in Cambridgeshire on the advice of RAF police after reports of verbal abuse from members of the public.

The Prime Minister today condemned people who showed disrespect to members of the military and urged the police to intervene to prevent harassment.

Britain’s armed forces should be “encouraged to wear their uniform in public and have the respect and gratitude of the British people”, Mr Brown said at Downing Street.

“I encourage the local police to back up our armed forces so that not only can our armed forces wear their uniforms in public, but they should have the gratitude of the British public for the work they do,” he added.

The base commander at RAF Wittering, near Peterborough, issued his recommendation on uniforms after reviewing incidents of abuse over a seven-month period.

Sqd Ldr Tony Walsh, a spokesman at the base, said a number of personnel who lived in the city and its outskirts had suffered abuse when wearing their uniforms off-duty.

The abuse had come from a “cross-section” of the community, he added, and was believed to be linked to the RAF’s operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, the Chief of the Air Staff, said: “Whatever people’s views are about specific military operations, everyone should be able to recognise the bravery and professionalism of our Armed Forces and respect the difficult job they do.”

Liam Fox, the Tory shadow defence secretary, said last night: “I think that the majority of our public would be appalled to hear that there are no-go areas for our Armed Forces, even in their own country.”

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police said she was not aware of any incidents of servicemen being attacked or abused in Peterborough.

http://tinyurl.com/2ms3ck

Posted by Drew458     on 03/07/2008 at 09:56 AM   
Filed Under: • Outrageous •  
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My stomach was torn open… so I tucked my shirt in and kept shooting

I caught this story early today in our Telegraph and wanted to post it when I caught an email from our GOF, with a link to another paper with the same story.
The Daily Mail.  Thanks Grumpy ... The DMail version is much better as are the online photos and the awards to these wonderful young people I call,
BATTLING BRITS!

It’s kinda frustrating even for me as a foreigner, to see and read about these kids while at the same time I see ppl of the same age sitting in a doorway in Winchester waiting for passersby to drop money in their hats.  All the while collecting benefits from the taxpayer.

Amazing stories of the selfless heroes of Afghanistan
By MATTHEW HICKLEY and PAUL HARRIS - More by this author »

Last updated at 09:07am on 7th March 2008

They all made a pact before they went to war.

Whatever happened to them in Afghanistan no one - dead or alive - would be left behind.

One night in Helmand Province, that pledge was put to the test.

In a terrifying split second, the close-knit group from one of the Army’s most battle-scarred units came under fire from a hail of Taliban bullets and rocket-powered grenades.

Four men were hit and several others temporarily blinded by phosphorus. Their screams of pain cut through the darkness as the ambushed platoon was pinned down by gunfire from two sides.

But the men of 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment knew precisely what they had to do.

And today the extraordinary heroism which allowed the young soldiers to keep to their pledge at any cost can be revealed as they are awarded some of the highest military honours.

The men repeatedly braved enemy fire to rescue their injured and fatally wounded comrades from the hands of the Taliban.

Private Luke Cole, 22, carried on fighting after half his thigh bone was blown away.

When another bullet ripped open his stomach, he simply tucked his shirt in tighter “to hold everything in” - and carried on keeping the enemy at bay until back-up arrived.

Sergeant Craig Brelsford, 25, continued to command his men long after he was critically wounded - and right up to the moment he died.

In a singularly selfless act, he ran to put his body between the enemy and his wounded comrades.

It protected them from Taliban gunfire, but cost him his life.

And the 25-year-old platoon commander, Lieutenant Simon Cupples, led a rescue party into the killing zone to carry the injured to safety and recover the dead - again and again and again.

Their astonishing courage - and that of scores of other British servicemen and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq - is marked today with a raft of 184 awards.

They include the biggest batch of medals since fighting began in Afghanistan nearly seven years ago - a reflection not just of the ferocity of the conflict, but of the conspicuous bravery of British troops.

The ambush near the frontline town of Garmsir underlined the extreme danger that troops face daily in what has turned into a bloody and difficult war.

It played out into a six-hour pitched battle as both sides poured in reinforcements. But true to the pact, Lt Cupples and his men refused to withdraw until the bodies of two fallen comrades were recovered.

Telling their families back home that no one knew what happened to them, he decided, was “simply not an option”.

His valour and dedication is recognised with the award of a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross - the highest bravery medal after the Victoria Cross.

Yesterday he told the remarkable story of that night last September.

The young officer, now a captain, recalled how his men were advancing under cover of darkness when they came under devastating fire from a Taliban trench just 20 yards away, and then from other enemy positions.

“I could tell we had taken serious casualties.” he said. “There was screaming from the men around me. Because we were so close to the enemy it was very difficult to withdraw and regroup, but we couldn’t leave the casualties.

“It was asking a lot for the blokes to run forward into enemy fire like that.

“But they did it because their mates were out there. When you live and serve with your men like that it creates a very special bond. You would do anything for those guys. That’s what drove the soldiers forward.”

Captain Cupples, from Derbyshire, who married his sweetheart, Louise, shortly before deploying to Afghanistan, is due to return with his unit next year.

Also involved in the September firefight was Private Cole, from Wolverhampton, who is awarded the Military Cross.

http://tinyurl.com/2c9jdw

See that link for photos and more info.  Impressive! But then, bravery always is. And the Brits have it in spite of all that goes on at home.  And I’ll get to that maddening subject later. 

Posted by Drew458     on 03/07/2008 at 08:33 AM   
Filed Under: • Awards • Heroes • War-Stories •  
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   Thursday - March 06, 2008

No, George, No! Bad Monkey!!

File this one under “WTF is going on?”.

(IsraelNN.com) US President George W. Bush announced Tuesday that he would override a congressional ban and transfer $150 million to the Palestinian Authority.

The United States has committed more than $500 million in aid money to the PA for 2008, but concerns about terrorism and corruption have caused Congress to ban direct money transfers to the Authority. Bush spokesmen said it is “crucial” to shore up PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and to prevent the financial collapse of the PA.

President Bush has proposed a sixfold increase in aid to the Palestinians, including $150 million in direct cash transfers to the Palestinian Authority, in an effort to bolster the government in advance of a Middle East peace conference planned for later this month in Annapolis.

The $435 million in additional aid, on top of $77 million requested earlier this year, has attracted little notice in the president’s $45.9 billion supplemental request last week to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, if approved, it would constitute the administration’s largest amount of direct aid to the Palestinian Authority. Previously, the administration had limited cash transfers to $50 million at a time.

Since Hamas seized Gaza, the Bush administration has sought to demonstrate support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and new Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The Annapolis conference is designed to show that the Fayyad government is on track to create a Palestinian state, with the backing of Arab leaders, and State Department officials said the money sought by Bush is designed to signal that substantial aid will flow to leaders who reject terrorism.

The aid request “supports a critical and immediate need to support a new Palestinian Authority (PA) government that both the U.S. and Israel view as a true ally for peace,” the State Department said in its detailed justification for the aid request, which was sent to Congress yesterday. The “funds would provide immediate, demonstrable improvements in the lives of Palestinians by supporting the PA’s efforts to extend the rule of law, achieve economic revival, improve governance, and avoid a fiscal crisis.”

The budget justification said the $150 million cash transfer would help the Palestinian government avert “an immediate fiscal crisis,” while $130 million more in project assistance would help create “immediate employment opportunities” that would demonstrate “moderates can deliver jobs and provide hope for a better economic future.”

An additional $40 million would be devoted to improving the administration of Palestinian ministries, $10 million would be used to provide security for experts overseeing the project assistance, $25 million is aimed at narcotics enforcement, and $25 million would be devoted to training Palestinian forces loyal to Abbas. Also, $20 million would be used to make “immediate improvements” in delivering health care at government clinics. The remaining $35 million would help refugees.

“An immediate fiscal crisis”. What the hell does that mean? Nobody over there has a job. They don’t do anything, they don’t make anything. They run the place on donated money. So where’s the crisis? Are they behind on Kasaam payments to Syria? Are the terrorist martyrs brigades itching for a paycheck? Crap. 

Look at some of the breakdown and decipher it:

• $40 million for “improving ... the ministries.” Translation: outright bribes


• $10 million for “security for experts overseaing the project”: strongarm “protection” money - to keep safe the people who are over there giving the ministers money. WTFF??


• $25 million for “narcotics enforcement”: say what? This is to buy off the drug dealers, or to buy up all their stash


• $25 million for “training”: a ton of cash to rebuild a terrorist army. Oh sure, we can trust Abbas; he’s the good terrorist.


• $35 million actually gets to the “refugees”: sure, but it gets to them as rations and ammo

This is disgusting. Why oh why is the US government doing this? Why does Israel keep turning the water and electricity back on and then handing over millions in taxes to these animals?

Posted by Drew458     on 03/06/2008 at 04:02 PM   
Filed Under: • Insanity • International • Stoopid-People • Terrorists •  
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Whaddya Mean “the chicken wasn’t halal”??

Muqtada Al-Sadr Comatose In Iranian Hospital

Via MEMRI: Shi’ite cleric and leader Muqtada Al-Sadr was secretly transferred a few days ago from Iraq to Iran for hospitalization as he was comatose.

It was reported that his illness resulted from food poisoning.

Al-Sadr is being treated by Iranian specialists, as well as by Russian doctors brought in to help the Iranian medical staff treat him.

Source: Al-Siyassa, Kuwait, March 3, 2008

Posted by Drew458     on 03/06/2008 at 03:51 PM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists •  
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This is a watchbird watching you … everywhere

Some of our older readers may remember Munro Leaf’s Watchbird cartoons from back in the 50s. Our sci-fi junkies readers will recall a short story of the same name by Robert Sheckley, and what happens when things get out of hand.

We’ve seen the Predator and other ULV drones and various other Spy Eye in the Sky devices. Here’s another one that’s coming down the track. This one looks like a bird, it’s no bigger than a bird, and it nearly flies like a bird. Pretty cool, but harken back to Sheckley’s tale ... do you really want flocks of these things flitting around?

The technology behind this thing is great. Instead of making a little RC airplane shaped like a bird these researchers are trying to make it actually fly like a bird. That understanding, and the desire for that kind of natural flight, goes back further than DaVinci, further than Daedalus & Icarus. But unfortunately “Whatever Man Invents the Devil Steals”. So it gets a spy camera and immediately the local police want in on it. It’s bad enough in the UK or in cities in the US where they’ve got surveillance cameras everwhere. But cameras that can follow you around? Not cool. While the technology behind the Watchbird isn’t 100% yet, and it is probably quite range limited, I think a line has been crossed, or a Rubicon, or some other idiom that says “too far”.

Robotic Bird Makes First Flight

A micro-aircraft with feathered, morphing wings showed off its stuff yesterday when the bird-like craft lifted off for its first flight. And its landing was just as dramatic: The RoboSwift crashed into a tree.

The craft weighs less than three ounces (80 grams) and spans just 20 inches (51 centimeters) from wingtip to wingtip. Its small size and onboard cameras make RoboSwift a possible soaring spy: The craft could make scientific observations of wild birds without disturbing them or hover above crowds of people or vehicles for government and law enforcement surveillance purposes. In fact, the Dutch National Police Services Agency said it will financially support the craft’s development.

Lentink and aerospace engineering students from Delft University of Technology in cooperation with Wageningen University designed the craft after the common swift, which can fly the equivalent of five roundtrips to the moon and remain airborne continuously for 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometers). Last year, Lentink and his colleagues discovered the common swift morphs its wings depending on flight conditions. The shape-shifting is what gives the bird its expert maneuverability and efficiency.

Like the bird, RoboSwift sports feathers, though just four on each wing. By folding these feathers over one another and sweeping them back and forth, the mini-craft morphs its wing shape and the surface area exposed to the elements in order to reduce drag. The feathery adjustments make RoboSwift a more efficient and agile flyer compared with fixed-wing craft.

“The new vehicle can really morph like a bird does. It uses actual feathers,” Lentink said.

And during its demo, the robotic swift tested out its avian disguise with the real thing. “During the demonstration, there were a couple of gulls that flew toward [RoboSwift] to inspect it,” Lentink told LiveScience.

In the future, the craft will get lessons in bird-flying behaviors such as gliding. When gliding, the motor will be turned off and the propeller will fold up so the aircraft can fly even more quietly and save energy.

Next week, the students who developed RoboSwift will take part in an international contest in India for micro-aircraft called the American-Asian Micro Air Vehicle Competition.

The RoboSwift, built by researchers at the Delft University of Technology, is among the first flying machines with a “morphing” wing sweep. As you’ll see in the video below, its wings reduce in surface area when pulled back to limit drag, the way the wings of actual fast-flying swifts do. Unlike the real birds, however, the RoboSwift is designed to spy on you.

Inside its small body (20” wingspan), there’s a low-resolution wireless camera. The idea, already thought to be a good one by Dutch police, is that RoboSwift can be used to surreptitiously hover over crime scenes or football riots. People below, if they did look up, would only to see a soaring, swooping bird of no consequence.

The dudes from Delft are so proud of their little 3-oz. beast, they reckon they can even use it to observe other birds without being noticed—they just have to find a way to fold up that propeller once RoboSwift is aloft. Stashing that long-ass antenna on the end of the tail might help too.

In the video below you can see it soar, spy—and crash into a tree—like a true master of espionage.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/06/2008 at 11:59 AM   
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   Wednesday - March 05, 2008

IS ENGLAND ABOUT TO BE SOLD OUT ?  STAY TUNED.

It’s 2:25am and I had insomnia. Just had to boot and do some things had nothin’ to do with blogging when I fell across this story.

The ppl were promised a referendum on this subject long ago.  But when the powers that be found out that the people would vote no, they promptly backed off.

So, the politicians have voted and decided among themselves and other vested interests that they are qualified to think for the populous.
They will decide, in spite of promises, for the people.
I think this addresses the comments made by Dr. Jeff earlier on where this country is going.

MPs reject EU treaty referendum

MPs have rejected proposals to hold a UK-wide referendum on whether to ratify the EU’s Lisbon Treaty.
The House of Commons turned down the Conservative proposal by 311 votes to 248 - a margin of 63.

The result means Parliament itself will decide whether to ratify the treaty, signed by EU leaders last December.

Thirteen Lib Dem MPs rebelled against the party’s orders to abstain on the referendum vote, with three frontbench spokesmen resigning their posts.

MPs rejected the Conservative amendment to the EU (Amendment) Bill, but 29 Labour MPs supported it. Three Tories defied their party leadership.

Manifestos

All EU parliaments must ratify the treaty before it can come into force. The only country which has committed to a referendum is Ireland.

We hope that in this case the Lords will hold the government to their manifesto commitment

William Hague, Conservatives

Clegg revamp after rebellion

The three main UK political parties promised a public vote on the EU Constitution in their 2005 general election manifestos.

But the constitution was rejected by the French and Dutch electorates later that year. The Lisbon Treaty was drawn up to replace it.

The government and the Lib Dems say the treaty does not have constitutional implications, so a referendum on it is not needed.

The government says most changes are minor and procedural and it has secured “opt-outs” where necessary.

Month-long debate

But the Conservatives, some Labour and Lib Dem MPs and the UK Independence Party among others, say that it is effectively the constitution under a different name - so there should be a referendum.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said: “This treaty will now go to the House of Lords.

“It is convention that the House of Lords does not stand in the way of manifesto commitments. We hope that in this case the Lords will hold the government to their manifesto commitment.

“The Liberal Democrats’ position will once again be pivotal. We will see if they follow their three-line whip in the Commons to abstain.”

The Lib Dem leadership, which instead wants a referendum on whether the UK should stay within the EU, ordered its MPs to abstain in the Tory-led debate.

But 13 refused to do so, instead voting for a referendum on the treaty.

Scottish affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael, countryside spokesman Tim Farron and justice spokesman David Heath resigned from the Lib Dem frontbench team.

MPs have been debating the different elements of the treaty over the past month.

http://tinyurl.com/3cshwr

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2008 at 09:16 PM   
Filed Under: • Government • Politics •  
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Scooped again

Damnation. Even a blog that doesn’t focus on moonbats beat me to this one. Must be her international army of minions helping out.

But I’ll run it anyway ... because it’s just unbelievable

Britain’s first ‘Safe Text’ street has been created complete with padded lampposts to protect millions of mobile phone users from getting hurt in street accidents while walking and texting.

Around one in ten careless Brits has suffered a “walk ‘n text” street injury in the past year through collisions with lampposts, bins and other pedestrians.

The 6.6million accidents have caused injuries ranging from mild knocks and embarrassing cuts and bruises through to broken noses, cheekbones and even a fractured skull.

Almost two thirds - 62 per cent - of Brits concentrate so hard while texting that they lose their peripheral vision, researchers found.

Given the apparent dangers of “unprotected text”, over a quarter of Brits - 27 per cent - are in favour of creating a ‘mobile motorway’ on Britain’s pavements.

Texters could follow a brightly coloured line, which which would act like a cycle lane, steering them away from obstacles.

And 44 per cent of those surveyed wanted pads placed on lampposts to protect them while texting. The study found that busy city streets were the worst for “walk ‘n text” accidents.

The research showed that Brick Lane in East London was the top spot for texting injuries.

Now Brick Lane has been made the country’s first “Safe Text” street, with brightly coloured padding, similar to that used on rugby posts, placed on lamp posts to test if it helps protect dozy mobile users.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2008 at 06:44 PM   
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It must have been that islamophobic profiling

Intercepted pass from Little Green Footballs

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A former Navy sailor was convicted Wednesday of leaking details about ship movements to suspected terrorism supporters, an act that could have endangered his own crewmates. Jurors convicted Hassan Abu-Jihaad, 32, of Phoenix of providing material support to terrorists and disclosing classified national defense information on the second day of deliberations.

The American-born Muslim convert formerly known as Paul R. Hall faces up to 25 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in May. His attorney, Dan LaBelle, said an appeal was likely.

The leak came amid increased wariness on the part of Navy commanders whose ships headed to the Persian Gulf in the months after a terrorist ambush in 2000 killed 17 sailors aboard the USS Cole.

“Fortunately there wasn’t an attack based on the information Abu-Jihaad passed,” said FBI agent Kimberly K. Mertz.

Abu-Jihaad, who was a signalman aboard the USS Benfold, was accused of passing along details that included the makeup of his Navy battle group, its planned movements and a drawing of the group’s formation when it was to pass through the dangerous Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf on April 29, 2001.

“Mr. Abu-Jihaad jeopardized the lives of countless American servicemen and women and, as a member of the U.S. Navy, his conduct was shameful and deceitful,” said Kathryn A. Feeney, an agent with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

Abu-Jihaad was charged in the same case that led to the 2004 arrest of Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist accused of running Web sites to raise money, appeal for fighters and provide equipment such as gas masks and night vision goggles for terrorists. Ahmad, who lived with his parents where the computer file was allegedly found, is to be extradited to the U.S.

I wonder what tipped them off? You don’t think it could have possibly been the name change do you? One that screams I Wannabe A Terrorist? Nah, it couldn’t be. Holy smokes, straight out of Bugs Bunny ... Hassan Chop Abu-Jihad.  What. A. Loser.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2008 at 06:17 PM   
Filed Under: • Stoopid-People • Terrorists •  
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I wonder why other blogs get so many visitors?

I’ve been watching the stats for the past week or three. Things aren’t going that well here. BMEWS isn’t dieing, but we’ve lost readership. I’ve been doing research, reading up on all those “how to make your blog grow for fun and profit” articles. I even gave RWN’s post yesterday on “Blogging While Female” a good going over, just in case. “Be yourself”, “Be original” they said. Gee, that helps.

Then I took a look around some of the really popular sites on the internet. Wanna know what really draws people in? Pirates. And sexy women. And sexy women dressed as pirates. And sexy women dressed as anything, or better yet, undressed as anything. Face it, most of the people who spend time mousing around the internet are acne-riddled 14 year old boys who are so geeky their own mothers have locked them in the attic. They’ll do anything and go anywhere if there’s the merest hint of something, anything, female at the other end of the mouse click.

What else brings in the people? Hollywood gossip. The greatest blogs out there don’t bring in one tenth the traffic of a good scandal and skanky starlett page. Forget “Playful Primate in the TLLB ecosystem”. These sites are “Mega-Godzilla Stomping Tokyo, Server Melting, Golden Egg Laying Money Generators”.

For the younger audience, it’s dinosaurs, sharks, and Miley Cyrus. Go figure.

Right then, what to do ...

Ah ... one for the kiddies!!

If Tyrannosaurus rex had ever taken a dip in the ocean, this ruler of the land would have met its match - a bus-sized marine reptile with bone-crushing teeth the size of cucumbers.

In the summer of 2006, a team of Norwegian paleontologists and volunteers discovered the 150 million-year-old fossil of a pliosaur on the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from the North Pole. A year later, the team, led by vertebrate paleontologist Joern Hurum of the University of Oslo’s Natural History Museum, excavated the nearly complete skeleton.

The newly described pliosaur, dubbed The Monster by team members, boasted a length of about 50 feet (15 meters) and powerful paddles extending 10 feet (3 meters).

“Not only is this specimen significant in that it is one of the largest and relatively complete plesiosaurs ever found, it also demonstrates that these gigantic animals inhabited the northern seas of our planet during the age of dinosaurs” said Patrick Druckenmiller, a plesiosaur specialist at the University of Alaska Museum, and a member of the expedition that found and excavated the fossil.

Ok, that ought to hold the little bastards for a bit. Now, what else can I come up with??

This is Bar Rafaeli, fashion model from Israel. She’s dating actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Not bad, eh?

More importantly, where did they get that wallpaper??

(now to just sit back and watch the sitemeter ping like mad. Fame and fortune are soon to follow, and our ad revenue will finally exceed the $16 horde we’ve amassed over the past year.)

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2008 at 05:12 PM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Eye-Candy •  
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I’ll keep my dollars, thanks

It’s got to really suck when you spend money by the kilogram instead of by the increment. Inflation in Robert Mugabe’s Paradise has caused the local scrip to fall from One Million to the dollar back in October to Twenty Five Million to the dollar today. Even at the old, “good” rate of 1,000,000:1 the ink on the banknotes was worth more than the money itself. Today’s rate makes this the most worthless currency on earth. Honestly, they would be far better off using toilet paper as money: a single sheet of Charmin is worth Z$ 106,770.80. If it takes just one tenth of a drop of ink to make one of their bills, and the ink sells for $100 per 55 gallon drum, then the ink is 5 times more valuable than the Z$1 money printed with it.

This can’t go on. It’s not like the cost of living there is even close to high. Poor folk can get by on less than 25¢ a day. Setting aside the right or wrong of whatever reasons Mugabe had, to do what he did to the country, the place is this close to bottoming out. Expect a revolution pretty soon. Or mass starvation. Or both.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) —It’s easy being a multmillionaire in Zimbabwe these days, at least if you’re counting in local dollars.  Money traders in the economically depressed African country say the Zimbabwe currency has tumbled to a record low of 25 million for a single U.S. dollar.  With Zimbabwe dollars mostly available in bundles of 100,000 and 200,000 notes, one $100 note bought nearly 20 kilograms (40 pounds) of local notes at the new market rate Wednesday.  Currency dealers said uncertainties ahead of elections scheduled March 29 and the world’s highest inflation of 100,500 percent led holders of hard currency to hang on to their money at the same time as the state central bank pumped more local cash into the market for election costs.

With industry and production collapsing, Zimbabweans have become heavily dependent on imports of the corn meal staple and basic goods. Until last year, the former regional breadbasket was self sufficient in canned and processed foods, household goods, soap, toothpaste, toiletries and other items now imported from neighbors Malawi, South Africa and Zambia and from as far afield as Egypt, Germany, Iran and Malaysia.  According to latest official poverty line data, an average family of five needs a monthly income $35 to survive while remaining living in poverty.  But most general hands and other lower paid workers earn less than the equivalent of $10 a month in an economy also suffering record formal sector unemployment of 80 percent.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/03/05/zimbabwe.money.ap/index.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3490880.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2008 at 04:35 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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sad reflections of an old soldier

Hadn’t realized I’d been away so long. Have much catching up to do.
Over the last week I’d found a few items that surely belong in the Moonbat catagory and was in the process of trying to tie some things together, and cope with with problems both computer and personal when a friend sent this to me.  I thought it well worth posting here.

sad reflections of an old soldier
By Albion

Many times I have heard the phrase ‘life is too short’ and when you have lived more of your life than you have left to live one is inclined to agree. I have got to an age where I have to seriously consider whether I am too old to take up the violin. I don’t feel old; my brain is that of a teenager but the all-consuming drive to own ‘stuff’ and to impress the opposite sex has gone. That is a good thing as I now consider that youthful impulse no more than a trivial distraction, being immaterial and of no consequence to ones future. That is the crutch or heavy baggage that one unknowingly carries in their early years.

I served in the British army when Stalin was in power in Russia, when Franco was in charge of Spain, Tito was ruling a ‘United’ Yugoslavia, Chiang Kai Shek was being driven from mainland China into Taiwan and it was another 12 years before the Berlin Wall went up. I was a British soldier defending England, its freedom and its way of life, who the hell would I be defending now?

Things change very quickly. I lived in an England when her empire was beginning to crumble. Time passes, now its own children are beginning to lose their sense of racial identity, and indeed the whole country is made to feel guilty of its proud history and ethnic uniqueness and is tragically losing its sense of purpose and direction. 

Our leader’s talk of embracing British and British-ness, they tell us we are not English any more and very shortly we will even cease to be British and become European. The England as I knew it will be no more; all this change has occurred in one person’s terrifyingly short lifetime.

In my youth my country did not spawn ‘home grown’ terrorists, the person sitting next to me on the bus was English so was the bus conductor and the driver. Stop and think; what or who caused these catastrophic negative social changes to our once homogeneous society? It was not the people; it was our traitorous narcissistic politicians in collusion with the power hungry, corrupt European federalists.

When my son reaches my age what will my country resemble? If nothing changes the descent into a European authoritarian autocracy will be total and absolute and the England I defended will be no more, the England my uncle died for will be unrecognizable and the England my grandfather God rest his soul, who fought in the boxer wars, would be horrified.

The politicians are still telling the grubby peasants they have the country and its peoples best interests at heart at the same time they are breaking up what was once a ‘United’ Kingdom and eroding the very fabric of a proud nation who feared no-one, who kowtowed to no-one and most certainly did not allow a totally foreign or exotic Eastern culture to affect, influence, dictate, threaten its security, its way of life or its future, and to change the English character of many of its major cities. What total screaming madness is this?

What have our government done for its own people you might ask? Well they have put in place legal mechanisms to threaten and to silence its own people with incarceration if they dare object to this horror.

This is the country I gave the best years of my youth for. I will make doubly certain that my son does not waste his youth as I did, sacrificing his immature youthful years believing in the lies of ‘home grown’ renegade, lying, and treasonous bloody impostors.

http://tinyurl.com/2a52u6

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2008 at 09:18 AM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism •  
• Comments (9) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Yes!

Great job Texas and Ohio.  I was worried the Obamanator was going to sweep the primaries yesterday and make it a one-hourse race.  Now that Hillary has won, the chew-fest between them will continue on for another couple of weeks.  Get the popcorn!

Clinton scores 3 wins; McCain clinches

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton scored three victories in a night of revival that denied Barack Obama a ripe opportunity to drive her from the Democratic presidential race. Clarity came only to the Republican side, where John McCain made the nomination his own.

Clinton won the big races in Ohio and Texas, as well as Rhode Island, to break her costly losing streak, and asserted, “This nation’s coming back and so is this campaign.” But Obama came away with a large share of delegates, too, in counting that continued Wednesday, meaning he’s got a lead that’s tough to overcome.

McCain’s long-slog victory was a striking achievement in a party once wary of his famously independent ways, now his party to lead in the November election.

The Arizona senator won a final validation — an invitation to the White House on Wednesday to receive the endorsement of President Bush, his nemesis in a past campaign, in a symbolic closing of the ranks.

No such unity came from the Democrats; instead, their crackling race was still on, and perplexing as ever.

“Boy, thank you Oh-HI-o,” Clinton said in her victory speech. Obama won in Vermont.

Clinton won about 55 percent of the Ohio vote in nearly complete returns. She was winning just over half in the Texas primary.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2008 at 07:32 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Politics •  
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   Tuesday - March 04, 2008

Hurry Up Heller

In a benighted effort to disarm criminal gangs, NJ has passed Assembly Bill 339 out of committee and towards the Senate floor for a vote. Committee members approved the measure 5-1. The bill limits firearms permit holders, who have already passed a thorough background check, to purchasing only one handgun per month.

The bill does not apply to rifles or shotguns. I guess NJ is happy and eager for it’s law abiding citizens to buy them dozens at a time.

Is this bill really necessary? How is this going to stop crime? The idea behind the bill is obvious, and rather insulting. The idea is that people are legally buying pistols in bulk quantities and then “losing” them or having them “stolen” shortly thereafter. The insult is that the government is making the assumption that anyone who purchases several handguns at a time is actually making a de facto straw purchase for criminals and then exploiting a legal loophole to avoid prosecution. Gee thanks NJ. Even after a county, state, and federal background search that proves I am neither a criminal nor a mental patient, the assumption is that I am a crook.

Given the media’s phobic attitude towards guns, is it even possible that one such “crime” has occurred and the story not become major headlines? Has there been a single prosecution of a straw purchase enacted through circumstances of false loss or theft? Not that I’ve heard and this is one of the things I listen very carefully for.

The other possible reasoning behind the bill is equally insulting. This is the Super Nanny concept that says I can own guns, but I can only own so many of a certain type or acquire them at a slow and careful rate. NJ doesn’t want me to get my hands on too many pistols at the same time. They’re probably afraid that they’ll metastasize into some sort of critical mass in my closet and go off on a shooting rampage all by themselves.

NJ bill 339
blurb from the NRA/ILA

Posted by Drew458     on 03/04/2008 at 09:39 AM   
Filed Under: • Government • Guns and Gun Control •  
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