Thursday - July 10, 2008
New Military Concept: Cooperation?
Sorry, no moonbattery here. Just a bit of good news that you probably won’t see on your TV news shows. It looks like the Army and the Air Force have found a way to cooperate with each other when it comes to those wonderful Predator UAVs. This is important, as that program is rapidly expanding, and the new aircraft, the MQ-9 Reaper, is starting to replace the 12 year old Predator. Plus, I have a somewhat vested interest in this story, as my cousin’s husband, a senior avionics specialist with the 174th New York Air National Guard, is over in Iraq right now. Again. I think this is his 4th trip for this war, and he was over there in ‘91 for the first one too. His unit has has flown F-16s for ages, but now they are scheduled to become a UAV operational group.
WASHINGTON - Army and Air Force leaders met Monday to discuss developing a new joint unmanned aerial system concept of operations.
“As opposed to finding independent solutions, we are trying to find joint, collaborative solutions that best support the joint warfighter in any spectrum of war,” said Air Force Gen. John D.W. Corley, head of Air Combat Command.
Corley met with Gen. William S. Wallace, commander of Army Training and Doctrine Command, and Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities and Integration Center. The meeting at Langley Air Force Base, Va., emphasized developing unmanned aerial system operations for the full spectrum of conflict—from centralized major combat operations to smaller-scale decentralized operations to include stability operations.
“Taking a joint approach on UAS issues will allow us to rapidly develop force capabilities from concept and capability development through employment by identifying, linking and synchronizing all of our activities, so we can give the best capability to joint warfighters who are fighting a very elusive, thinking and adaptive adversary.”
The approach will include doctrine, organizations, training, leader development, materiel, personnel and facilities, officials said.
One focus of the CONOPS will be methods to best share information and command and control.
“If we can’t share data, then we can’t share information,” Corley said. “If we can’t share information, we can’t command and control.”Finding joint solutions begins with new CONOPS that look at every piece of the UAS spectrum, rather than individual pieces of the puzzle, the ACC commander said.
“We have to treat this as a system,” he said. “You have to think about all the pieces.”
The general said such interoperability will increase effectiveness from a combat standpoint.
“We want to identify areas or opportunities for increasing interoperability in order to optimize support to the joint warfighter,” said Wallace. “It’s all about working together to get a capability to our troops quickly and effectively.”
All of this is Mil-Speak for “We have to work together on this, because some day the budgets are going to get cut. Plus, we’ve figured out that if our people and their people can talk directly to each other, we can react faster against threats.” And that makes a whole lot of sense to me and to everyone over there and their relatives back here. Let’s hope this cooperative endeavor doesn’t get bogged down in meetings and paperwork. Yes, it might cost a few million to change a couple radio frequencies and swap some software, but in the long run everyone will benefit.
The UAV program (what the military just has to call the UAS program) has had a good bit of friction. The things fly, so the Air Force felt they should be theirs, with pilots at the controls. The Army found out that the latest crop of soldiers, who grew up on video games, can pilot these things just as well. So who needs the Air Force? Even being in-theater isn’t completely necessary; because of satellite links these planes can be flown from Omaha nearly as well as they can be flown from Baghdad. But somebody has to maintain and rearm the birds over there, so that part needs figuring out too.
The MQ-9 Reaper is a much bigger version of the MQ-1 Predator. It’s as big as an airplane, and surpasses the combat capabilities of the Predator in every way, because it was designed from the ground up to be a fighting platform. The Predator was designed as a Recon vehicle, and only later adapted to a combat role. So the Reaper can fly twice as fast, twice as high, and carry 7 times as many missiles.
At five tons gross weight, the Reaper is four times heavier than the Predator. Its size — 36 feet long, with a 66-foot wingspan — is comparable to the profile of the Air Force’s workhorse A-10 attack plane. It can fly twice as fast and twice as high as the Predator. Most significantly, it carries many more weapons.
While the Predator is armed with two Hellfire missiles, the Reaper can carry 14 of the air-to-ground weapons — or four Hellfires and two 500-pound bombs.
“It’s not a recon squadron,” Col. Joe Guasella, operations chief for the Central Command’s air component, said of the Reapers. “It’s an attack squadron, with a lot more kinetic ability.”
Don’t you just love Mil-Speak? “Kinetic ability”. That means “blowing stuff up”. 
Posted by Drew458
on 07/10/2008 at 10:21 AM
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Permalink • FUNDING FOR THE ARTS BUT FIRST, SHOW US YOUR BISEXUALS, HOMOSEXUALS, LESBIANS OR ‘NOT KNOWNS’
BMEWS readers, it just doesn’t get any crazier then this. Maybe.
A couple of days ago I think I said something similar, except that I also qualified things by saying every time I claimed to have found the dumbest item worthy of a Moonbat award, darn if something else didn’t come up to challenge that opinion and so the last post I did on a dumb story I left open. That is, I refrained from saying yet again, this is the stupidest thing so far.
Well, being as how the Brits continually come up with things that outdo themselves, I can’t say it won’t get dumber then this either. Who knows what politically correct lunacy they’ll follow this with. But I’m certain they’ll come up with something. They have so far.
OK first, I have a url >>> http://www.mediauk.com/magazines/344246/compass-wessex, but it was no help at all in supplying a proper link to the story.
I am doing a word for word copy here. I suppose I could have tried to do a scan, but my software isn’t good enuff to do a readable copy justice.
So finally, here we go.
SHAME on the ARTS COUNCIL
Actors Ian Mckellen, Ralph Fiennes and Kevin Spacy are outraged by the Arts Council’s new rules for obtaining funding.
The council now REQUIRES all arts organizations to state how many board members are Bisexual, Homosexual, Heterosexual, Lesbian or ‘Not Known.’
It says it’s necessary to see if the applicants are representative. “We see diversity as broader then race, ethnicity, faith, and disability,” says Audrey Roy, the director of grants.
So then. This week we have been treated to, a study that proves babies can be racist if they make a face at spicy food, and a call again for sex ed. for 5 years olds. What next? Stay Tuned!
Drew sticks his nose in:
Morning Peiper. I think these are the links you’re looking for?
The Arts Council has encountered ridicule and anger over attempts to force theatre and museum trustees to disclose their sexuality to obtain funding.
New grant forms require arts organisations to state how many board members are bisexual, gay, heterosexual, lesbian or “not known”.
Sir Ian McKellen and Vanessa Redgrave are among leading figures of the stage who have condemned the move, which appears to discriminate against mainstream venues.
Oscar-nominated Sir Ian, who is gay, said: “It sounds extraordinary. It shouldn’t be on a form. It’s quite inappropriate.”
Redgrave said: “Everyone should put down ‘trisexual’, whoever you are.
Britain has become the world’s leading population of trisexuals.”
They were joined in their condemnation by Christopher Hampton, whose adaptation of God of Carnage, starring Ralph Fiennes, has just opened at the Gielgud Theatre. He said: “It’s bureaucracy and political correctness gone mad.”
The application form notes that the question is for government purposes only and will not enter into the grant decision, but that claim was contradicted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Its spokesman said: “We appreciate that, as a responsible public body they need to monitor their overall grant-making programmes. But it is absolutely not the case that sexual orientation monitoring is a government requirement.”
Condemnation of the question spanned the arts. Julian Spalding, the former director of galleries and museums in Sheffield, Manchester and Glasgow, said: “I can’t see what relevance it’s got. It’s a horrible invasion into one’s personal and private life.” He added: “What they like to do in bed is not the Arts Council’s business.”
The Arts Council has defended its decision to ask grant applicants to state their sexuality on application forms after the policy was ridiculed by stars such as Sir Ian McKellen and Vanessa Redgrave.
Yes, this is major moonbattery. Hello, it’s the thee-ate-ah ... where the percentage of “other than hetero” is roughly 5 times greater than almost all other occupational groups. No kidding. So who cares? Shows can be good or bad whether written/produced/choreographed/acted in by people of any sexual orientation. I don’t think that aspect matters a whit.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/10/2008 at 09:00 AM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Stoopid-People • Typical White People: Stupid, Evil, Willfully Blind • UK •
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Permalink • Wednesday - July 09, 2008
Summer TV
New season of Gabrielle Anwar starts tomorrow, 10pm Eastern on USA Network.
Oh, right. I forgot. Where was I?
I’m actually trying to say that the second season of Burn Notice, a delightful little lighthearted action/drama/mystery/near-sitcom show, starts this Thursday. It’s about this guy named Michael Westen (played by Jeffrey Donovan ["he’s sooo cute” comes up from downstairs]). He’s this super spy guy who gets fired. Burned. And all his money and everything else disappears too. So he’s stuck in Miami Beach, all sun and bikini babes, trying to figure out what happened. Being flat broke, he does whatever he can to avoid moving back in with his nagging, chain smoking mother (excellently played by Sharon Glass) and deadbeat brother. That “whatever he can” is the weekly episode of him helping out some regular schmoo who’s being screwed over by the mob, the government, cheating business associates, etc. And for a few bucks Michael solves the weekly case by being a combination of MacGyver/A-Team/Mission Impossible and The Saint. And sometimes he finds a clue about who burned him.
Along the way he gets a little help from his one remaining friend Sam (Bruce Campbell), who used to be another spy guy but now he’s a bit of a drunk. And more than a little help from his mostly-girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar. You saw Pacino in Scent of a Woman? That was her). She makes it all worth watching. That is, if you appreciate former models who have matured a bit but still kept their slender shape. Damn. Wow. Fiona is this former IRA assassin. Fiona is smart and dangerous, and always just this close to violence. Which makes her sexy as all hell. Oh, and Michael has a nice old Charger Sebring to drive, though it frequently needs work as it’s always getting shot up or set on fire. Season Two will also feature more of Tricia Helfer, former underwear model turned actress. The one who played the Cylon Number 6 in Battlestar Galactica. Not that there’s anything wrong with that either.
It’s a fun show, light and breezy, and the eye-candy factor for guys who are over 30 is first class. ["But he’s sooo cute!!” comes up from downstairs again]
Two other USA shows, Monk and Psyche, start up on Friday. Both are funny in their own way and usually worth watching. But they don’t have Gabrielle.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 08:00 PM
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Permalink • Chinese Police gear up for the Olympics
Yeah, this is going to work great:
Who needs an armored, mine-resistant fighting vehicle to fight terrorists when you have a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric scooter? In Jinan, Shandong province yesterday, armed Chinese police were photographed executing counter-terrorism drills riding Segways, reports Danwei. For months now, China has engaged in secret defense training exercises in preparation for an attack in Beijing during the Summer Games. Spectators at the Games can now rest assured that if there is terrorist activity, Chinese forces are equipped to “lean-steer” to the scene of the crime at a maximum speed of 12.5 miles per hour.
Combine rising fuel costs with escalating security concerns in China, and this makes perfect sense—kind of: ahead of the Olympics, a Chinese anti-terror team has recently been training on specially-outfitted Segways, the electric, gyro-balanced scooters that are more commonly seen zipping across Silicon Valley campuses.
The scooters, which claim a top speed of 12.5 km/hour and which inventor Dean Kamen billed as nearly impossible to tip-over will also be used by officials and security personnel around the main stadium, the partially solar powered Bird’s Nest, come the “Green” Olympics in August.
Yeah, and I’m sure the public will have the utmost respect for these guys. I mean, look at them. A whole squad of cops looking like they have to pee really, really bad. And those flat black Seqways are just so intimidating looking. To get even less respect, they probably should have mounted special flashing lights to their helmets. But if push comes to shove, what do think will happen if, while chasing some terrorists while hanging on and steering with the Kung Fu Gonad Grip of Death, they actually have to fire those guns? I hope their uniforms have abrasion resistant panels in the rear ends.
I think the original plan was for their cops to ride horses instead, but they somehow disappeared just after several new restaurants opened near the Olympic Village.
Not to worry though. Special units have been training hard for months to protect the crowds, and are now masters at stopping fights between ninjas and guys wielding flower pots as weapons:
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 03:10 PM
Filed Under: • Humor • War On Terror •
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Permalink • Summer Bowling League
Yup, we blew it. Totally. And we didn’t even have to. Worse, we shouldn’t have.
Huh? Well, you see, marriage is a never ending act of compromise. Which means you do what she wants, always. Right now my wife’s work schedule is really messed up and highly dynamic. Which means sometimes she doesn’t even know on Monday what hours she’s working on Tuesday. It’s very stressful. They actually do have a schedule, but so much changes so often that it’s hardly worth it.
We bowl on Tuesday nights, and her schedule has her working every other Tuesday night. Last night was supposed to be one of the nights she had to work, so she went to the alley this weekend and pre-bowled. I went with her and pre-bowled too, not that I needed to, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I get to share in her suffering. So we both pre-bowled, and turned in some pretty decent scores. Her series was at least 30 pins over average, and mine was more than 100 pins over average. Looking good!
Monday comes along and she finds out she will have Tuesday night off. “Let’s go bowling then.” Um, honey, we pre-bowled already. “But we’re playing an easy team. Why not use the scores next week, because I might have to work, and besides, next week we’re playing the really good team and we’ll need those scores.” But, but, but ... and so we went.
The lady at the alley was so thrilled to see us. “What the !#$% are you doing here? You pre-bowled!” Naturally it was up to me to explain things. Great. And so we crossed off our great pre-bowling scores, saving them for next week, and proceeded to bowl like total shit. And lost all 3 games. Had we used our pre-bowl scores our team would have won at least 2 of them. So this pretty much kills our chances of getting in the top positions; our wins over the past couple weeks had floated us all the way up to 3rd and we were only 3 points out of 1st. Now we’ll sink down at least as far as 5th. And it’s our fault, totally.
Sure, we can blame some of it on life conditions. She used the drive up there as a bitch session about her job, and got herself all worked up and pissed off before we even got there. That was a fun trip, oh boy. I had very little sleep the night before, and I hadn’t even eaten before we went, so I was a no energy lump. And our little summer league is small, and the only league scheduled for that time slot, so the alley tries to save a bit of money and doesn’t run the air conditioning for the first two hours we’re playing. Great. So I’m sweating my socks off as well. Yup, these are all excuses, and there are really no excuses at league. You have to put everything else in a box and ignore it, and focus on the job at hand. You can’t go getting annoyed at other people, you really have to fight hard at getting upset with yourself when things don’t go right, etc. It’s a game after all. Sure, it’s competition and you want to do your best and it sucks when you blow it, but that’s life. Now get over it, right now, and bowl better the next frame.
I plan on getting up there to practice at least once this week. Without her. And while I’m there, I’m going to talk to the alley owner and see if I can’t get him to adopt this set of house rules for pre-bowling. What we did last night was wrong, and it should not have been allowed. Ok, we paid the price for it already, but I think the pre-bowling idea needs some clarification, so that in the future nobody can get away with it:
HOUSE RULES FOR LEAGUE PRE-BOWLING
If your bowling league allows individual pre-bowling:
- The score sheet must be filled out properly and include the date that this pre-bowling is for use on. If you pre-bowl on October 2nd because you can’t make it to league on October 6th, you put October 6th in as the date on the form.
- Score sheets without a For Use On date will not be accepted. You can not keep a generic pre-bowling score on hand “just in case”.
- Once you elect to pre-bowl for a certain date and have started your pre-bowling, that’s it. The scores that you pre-bowl are the scores that will be used on the date you enter on the score sheet. You can not bowl for score at league on that date. If an actual personal emergency occurs while you are pre-bowling and you have to leave, please try to come back and complete your pre-bowling before league night. If you can not, then your pre-bowling scores will reflect that you had to leave, and absentee scores will be used for the missing and incomplete games.
- There are no do-overs or mulligans. You do not get to pre-bowl multiple times for a given date and submit your best score. You get one go at it, just like when you are at league.
- Because lane conditions might be different when you pre-bowl compared to those at league, no awards will be given for any pre-bowling scores.
- Your league may not allow pre-bowling for position rounds and playoff rounds. Check your bylaws.
Furthermore, although it might be a little ex-post facto, I would throw out the pre-bowling scores we did an end run around last night. Screw us. And maybe next time, just maybe, she’ll listen to me. Ha!
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 12:16 PM
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Permalink • Bush Sucks But Congress Sucks Thrice As Bad
Congressional Approval Ratings Fall To All-Time Low
The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.
Last month, 11% of voters gave the legislature good or excellent ratings. Congress has not received higher than a 15% approval rating since the beginning of 2008.
Well no kidding. They haven’t done a damn thing except spend far more money than they steal from us. Is this the Change the Obamessiah has promised us? The Democrat controlled Congress and Senate has been an abhorrent failure. Only NINE percent think they’re doing a decent job. Meanwhile, Bush’s approval ratings are at 27%, and although that’s a horrendously bad number, it’s exactly three times higher than the Legislator gets. Or, to put it in terms the MSM would kill themselves before using, his approval rating is 300% higher than theirs. How about them apples?
The percentage of Democrats who give Congress positive ratings fell from 17% last month to 13% this month. The number of Democrats who give Congress a poor rating remained unchanged. Among Republicans, 8% give Congress good or excellent ratings, up just a point from last month. Sixty-five percent (65%) of GOP voters say Congress is doing a poor job, down a single point from last month.
Voters not affiliated with either party are the most critical of Congressional performance. Just 3% of those voters give Congress positive ratings, down from 6% last month. Sixty-three percent (63%) believe Congress is doing a poor job, up from 57% last month.
I guess that shows that the only folks blindly supportive of their political party are the ones who actually work for that political party. The rest of us can see that they all suck chunks.
Despite these negative attitudes towards Congress, Democrats continue to enjoy a double digit lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.
‘Momma always said, “Stupid is as stupid does”.’ The entire country is sick to death of this worthless, inept, and corrupt group that the Democrats are in charge of, so of course they want more of the same. Huh? Stuck on stupid much? I guess we should start spelling the word as “Gumpvernment”.
Most voters (72%) think most members of Congress are more interested in furthering their own political careers. Just 14% believe members are genuinely interested in helping people.
Wow, that one gets the salute from Captain Obvious. Hey people, here’s an idea: THROW THEM ALL OUT AND START OVER. The very least you can do is to vote out every incumbent running for re-election. That’s a small start. At this point I don’t think the party affiliation makes much difference. Both sides are pathetic.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 09:56 AM
Filed Under: • No Shit, Sherlock • Politics •
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Permalink • Holy Cows: George W Bush - buffoon or great leader?
link has videoHoly Cows: George W Bush - buffoon or great leader?
By Sameh El-Shahat
Last Updated: 1:40AM BST 09/07/2008
Comments 140 | Have Your SaySameh El-Shahat argues that George W Bush has been the most under-rated president… ever.
So, the hot news now is Barack Obama.
Obama this, Obama that… Naturally, it is very laudable that the United States may have chosen to look beyond the issue of race and opted for a person purely on the merit of his character. But what will they find?
The usual hot air that Washington politicians seem to have made their own. Mr Obama is no different. We’re just too politically correct to say that the only thing refreshing about him is his colour. So we say he’s “bipartisan”, or he’s a “uniter”.
Whatever happened to leadership and honesty as presidential traits? I happen to believe that the only leader in the West to have these two admirable qualities in droves is the leader of the free world: George W Bush.
Yes, we’ve all heard the Bushisms and laughed at them but do you really think somebody supposedly that thick can make it to the top of the most sophisticated political system the world has ever seen?
No, and that is because Mr Bush is far cleverer than most of his predecessors. He may not have been a Rhodes Scholar, but he has the ability to reach out to his people and read them.
Take the Iraq war for example. OK, so he got us into Iraq in the first place. But for Pete’s sake, he’s the leader of the world’s only superpower. He needs to take decisions, even if sometimes they have nasty consequences - which is far better than we do in Europe, where we enjoy dithering not as a means to an end, but as an end in itself.
Something had to be done about Iraq and our government was all for attacking it too. So let’s not blame G.W. for the war.
And when things did go wrong in Iraq, and there were calls to pull out, Mr Bush just followed his own counsel and doubled his bet with the Surge.And he was right because Iraq is in a relatively better shape today than it ever was and Al Qa’eda is a shadow of its former self in that country.
This is a man who has the courage of his convictions.
Let’s not forget how Europe does wars.
Usually we wait and wait until the enemy starts attacking, then we let them win a bit, then we fight until we are tired, then we just call the US to come over to clean our mess.
That is what happened in WWI, WWII, and the Balkans.
Bush is just showing us what a bunch of dangerous ditherers we are and we hate him for it. Naturally.
And the Olympics. Bush said right from the beginning that he’s going to the opening ceremony because he saw the whole boycott thing as silly and counterproductive.
Compare that with Sarkozy who has changed his mind twice so far and to Gordon Brown who, well… err.
Not much leadership from Europe here, as usual, just doublespeak. Once again, it is to Bush that we look for leadership.
Bush may not have the slickness of his predecessor, but he is a man you can trust and who prefers to tell it like it is.
This is refreshing, and very scary for us who are used to our politicians always talking grandly about principles and hiding behind political mumbo-speak.
The fact is you guys hate Mr Bush because he is not a hypocrite and you are used to hypocrites as your leaders. We hate what we don’t understand.
Yes, yes, all you bleeding heart liberals are cringing out there. I can just hear you. But the fact is, Mr Bush has had to take some very tough decisions and the world needs people who can not only talk but also act tough and admit mistakes.
Of course you think Mr Obama is going to make a difference, but as I write this, he’s already giving all the signs of somebody who will say anything to get into power only to act in exactly the same way as the Washington clique he aims to replace!
Hating George W. Bush is not only dull and unoriginal, but it shows a complete lack of understanding of the world in which we live in.
You want liberty but you don’t want to defend it… right.
And for those of you who still don’t buy into what I’m saying, look at the Middle East. Bush single-handedly managed to unite the Arabs in their hate for him.
Given how difficult uniting the Arabs is, it takes a special man with special skills to achieve this. He is just the kind of man to bring about peace in that region!
“George W Bush may not have the slickness of his predecessor, but he is a man you can trust and who prefers to tell it like it is. “
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 07:48 AM
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Permalink • SOME PATRIOTIC SWISS IN MOVE TO PROTECT THEIR COUNTRY FROM islam
Swiss to vote on minaret building ban
By Daily Telegraph reporter
Last Updated: 12:44PM BST 09/07/2008Swiss nationalists have forced a nationwide referendum on whether to ban the construction of minarets where Muslims issue the call to prayer.
If approved the proposal would clash with Switzerland’s constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion.
(No,no it does not clash with anything. This is all about Noise Abatement)The Interior Ministry said it received a proposal on Tuesday with more than the required 100,000 signatures.
It was submitted by members of the nationalist Swiss People’s Party and the fringe Federal Democratic Union, who say they are acting to fight the political spread of Islam. They argue that the minaret is a symbol of political and religious claim to power rather than a mere religious sign.
People’s party lawmaker Walter Wobmann defended the move, saying the authorization for constructing a minaret in Winterthur near Zurich and pending requests in three other Swiss towns have exceeded the limits of many Swiss people’s tolerance.
“Many recognize in this a further step in the creeping Islamization of Switzerland,” he said.
(creeping Islamization of Europe in general.)It’s not the first time the People’s Party has ignited a provocative campaign. Recently they embarked on an anti-immigrant initiative, complete with posters showing a black sheep being kicked off a Swiss flag and dark hands grabbing at a pile of Swiss passports.
Swiss voters last month, however, overwhelmingly rejected their proposal to make it harder for foreigners to gain citizenship.
(more fools they then, as their country will surely be stolen from them. That part the liberals don’t just give away)Still, construction of traditional mosques and minarets in European countries has rarely been a trouble-free affair. Sweden, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Germany and Slovenia are among the countries which have experienced opposition or protests against such projects.
In Cologne, Germany, plans to expand the city’s Ditib Mosque and complete it with dome and two 54-meter-tall (177-feet-tall) minarets, have triggered an angry response from right-wing groups and the city’s Roman Catholic Archbishop.
Slovenia’s Constitutional Court in 2004 banned a move to hold a referendum on the building of a mosque.
Switzerland’s unique system of grass roots democracy allows political hard-liners to take the issue further than in other European countries, where constitutional courts or governments have blocked moves against mosques and minarets. Any Swiss citizen who collects 100,000 signatures within 18 months can put a popular initiative to a nationwide vote.
No date has been set for the referendum. If it is approved, the Swiss parliament must pass a law enshrining a construction ban in the constitution.
Minarets are tall spires typically built next to mosques where religious leaders call the faithful to prayer. There are currently only two minarets in the country, attached to mosques in Zurich and Geneva. Neither is used for calls to prayer.
Opponents of a construction ban say it would violate religious freedom. More than 310,000 of Switzerland’s 7.5 million people are Muslims, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
A United Nations expert on racism, Doudou Diene, says the campaign is evidence of an “ever-increasing trend” toward anti-Islamic actions in Europe.
(Well duh, we wonder why that is. Of course, it couldn’t possibly be anything they bring on themselves.)The Swiss government is concerned about the impact the referendum will have on its international image. Swiss President Pascal Couchepin said the government will recommend that voters reject the proposed ban. Other members of Switzerland’s cross-party government have also spoken out against the ban.
(OK, lets see. What do we want. Hmmm, choices,choices. Save our country or have a happy feel good image among foreigners? Gee, that’s a hard one to decide huh? Country? Image? Can we vote on it?)Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has warned that the anti-minaret initiative would lead to a security risk for Switzerland because it could spark Muslim’s anger.
(oh well then hell. Lets turn turn the country over to an alien breed who don’t fit and never will. Lets by all means surrender now and pray for good terms.)Henri-Maxime Khedoud, spokesman for the Swiss Association of Muslims for Secularism, said that although the Swiss mosques don’t really need minarets, the initiative was an attack against Muslims and contrary to the freedom of everyone to practice his faith.
(Oh bull S#*!. They can practice their damn faith without being noisy about it and disturbing the more civilized citizens of the country. What. They can’t practice their faith without minarets? Heaven help the Swiss cause only a few patriots are on hand to do so. )
http://tinyurl.com/6g8gf5
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 07:05 AM
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • Religion • RoPMA •
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Permalink • Six dead in US consulate attack in Istanbul
As baseball is to Americans and football and golf is to westerners in general, so killing for fun is to muzzies.
And we are NOT killing them fast enuff or in great enough numbers.
Turkey shooting: Six dead in US consulate attack in Istanbul
Last Updated: 12:02PM BST 09/07/2008Three policemen and three unidentified gunmen have been killed during a 15-minute gun battle at the United States consulate in Istanbul.
Four gunmen stormed a guard post near the main entrance of the high-walled compound at around 11am local time, reportedly shooting a Turkish police officer in the head.
A gunfight then broke out at the heavily-guarded compound, ending in the deaths of three of the assailants.
The city’s governor, Muammer Guler, said one police officer had died at the scene and two others had died of their wounds in hospital shortly after the attack.
Witnesses said the battle lasted for at least 15 minutes as the assailants, who had driven to the consulate, apparently tried to gain access.
Television pictures showed bodies lying on the pavement, with trails of blood and weapons around them.
Witness Yavuz Erkut Yuksel said the attackers got out of a white vehicle and surprised the officer at the guard post. “One of them approached a policeman while hiding his gun and shot him in the head,” he said.
Another witness described the attackers as “terrorists, with beards and long hair.”
“They [the assailants] were four people. Three of them got out of the car and fired at the police. I saw them dead afterwards lying on the ground and many more dead among the police,” said Enis Yilmaz, who was going to the consulate for a visa application.
The fourth assailant escaped in the vehicle, he added, and police confirmed they were searching for the vehicle.
Turkey has seen armed attacks from a variety of groups over the years, including Kurdish separatists and Islamist militants.
The US consulate building was fortified after home-grown Islamic militants linked to al-Qa’eda bombed two synagogues, the British Consulate and a British bank in Istanbul in 2003, killing 58 people.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 06:49 AM
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists •
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Permalink • Osama Bin Laden’s son calls for Britain to be wiped out.
The nut didn’t fall far from the tree.
See? This is just one reason why even the offspring have to be ,,,, contained?
Osama Bin Laden’s son calls for Britain to be wiped out on terror web film By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 9:50AM BST 09/07/2008The son of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden has appeared on a terrorist film on the internet calling for Britain and its allies to be wiped out.
Hamza Bin Laden, 16, the youngest of the Saudi-born warlord’s 18 sons, is claimed to be the author of a poem featured on an extremist website to mark the third anniversary of the July 7 London bombings in which 52 people died.
In it, the boy dubbed the Crown Prince of Terror, called for an acceleration in the “destruction” of America, Britain, France and Denmark, the latter singled out for the publishing by its largest selling broadsheet of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
“Oh God, reward the fighters hitting the infidels and defectors. Oh God, guide the youth of the Islamic nation and let them assist with the fighters’ plans,” he continued.
“God, be pleased with those who want to go for jihad – and blind those who are watching and want to capture them.
“Grant victory to the Taliban over the gangs of infidels.”
The poem is thought to have been read out by Hamza himself, and is accompanied by a video clip featuring his father.
A short introduction announced: “We now offer you a new poem by Sheikh Hamza Bin Laden, may God protect him.”
Patrick Mercer, the Conservative MP and a former shadow minister for security, said of the reading: “We now have the Crown Prince of Terror taking up his father’s mantle.”
Hamza, the only son from Bin Laden’s marriage to his Saudi wife, is believed to be living on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the lawless territory of Waziristan.
It is not the first time the boy has been used on film to back his father’s cause.
In 2001, he featured in a joint Taliban and Al-Qaeda video of a militant attack on a Pakistan army camp in South Waziristan.
Earlier this year, in a posthumous autobiography published after she was assassinated in political rally in her home country, the former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto named the teenager as the leader of one of a number of gangs plotting to kill her.
The allegation, which Bhutto said was reported to her by President Pervez Musharraf and a “friendly muslim government”, bolstered intelligence claims that Hamza is being groomed as a future leader of Al-Qaeda.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 06:34 AM
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Permalink • Roll Over, Bark, and Beg: From web site, Fred on Everything. A MUST READ!
There isn’t a thing I can add here. This guy has it nailed right. Check out his writings. He’s good!
Oh god. There is no hope.
The other day I glanced at the web site of the Lake Chapala Society, a social club of sorts for expats around Mexico’s Lake Chapala, an hour south of Guadalajara (where I live). Clicking on “Safety,” I found a long list of reasons why you should never, ever use a firearm to protect your home and family. No. See, you might miss, or be scared, or the intruders might take it away and shoot you, and they might be all mad and hurt you when all they wanted was your television. No, the best thing is to let them do what they want, and then maybe they won’t do anything bad to you.
This supposedly was written by a retired cop but, if so, he (or quite possible she, judging by the tone) doesn’t sound like any cop I have known, which is whole lots.. Anyway, his, her, or its advice, is “Leave the guns to people who are trained and prepared to use them.” Which he says he is.
Nuts. To begin with, cops usually know little about guns. They get a bit of training in the police academy, and then once or twice a year go to the range to fire a couple of magazines. Being actually good with a pistol requires putting tens of thousands of rounds downrange. Street shooting, which is what cops do in the unlikely event that they do any shooting at all, requires training of the sort offered by IPSC or, years back, Jeff Cooper and Chuck Taylor.
A few cops will learn on their own. When I went to shoot at the NRA range on Waples Mill Road in northern Virginia, I saw an occasional dedicated cop. But police departments don’t engage in real training because it costs a lot, takes a lot of time, and just isn’t worth it. The average cop never fires his weapon in line of duty. It serves chiefly as a badge of authority.
Smith (I’ll call him or her) implies further that no one who isn’t a cop knows how to use a pistol. He needs to get out more. In the small-town South of my boyhood, everybody had guns. We used them for hunting, for shooting varmints, and for plinking. My father gave me my first rifle when I was eleven in Athens, Alabama. In high school in Virginia, the first day of deer season was a school holiday because the teachers knew they boys would all be in the woods. When I was fifteen, friends and I often went to the dump in Colonial Beach at night to snap-shoot rats.
I later went to a federal fire-arms school at Parris Island in South Carolina. You may have heard of it. So did hundreds of thousands of other kids. The emphasis was on deadly force. At Camp Lejeune we did fire-and-maneuver with live ammo. (Also flamethrowers and 3.5” rocket launchers, though I do not recommend these for home defense.) If Smith were to check the number of men who have gone through the Army or Marines, he would find that very large numbers of people have had training in the use of firearms.
But what I dislike most about Smith’s advice is his advocacy of helpless passivity. It embodies a profound change in American attitudes, which once favored self-reliance. Now it’s reliance on the group. Don’t take primary responsibility for your defense. No, that would be violent, or scary, or macho, and all. No, let the criminals do whatever they want with you, rely on their merciful natures, and call 911 if you survive.
This is exactly what Smith advocates. If I were a criminal, I would love this guy.
His advice is bad. He says, correctly enough, that most intruders want chiefly to steal things. Think a little. At two a.m., you hear a noise and turn on the lights. You find two guys with knives. You can now identify them. They have knives. Focus on this point. Knives, and you can identify them. Do you see where this leads?
If they leave you alive, you will call the cops immediately after they leave. They know this. If they tie you up, well, you are tied up in the presence of two career criminals with knives. This may work for Smith, but I’ll pass. It just isn’t optimal. If they leave you conscious and tied, you will begin shrieking for the neighbors as soon as they leave. The neighbors will call the cops—and you can identify the intruders.
In the real world, criminals are not always interested only in your television. They will accept such side benefits as offer. This engenders fascinating situations. They discover your daughter of sixteen in her bedroom. “Hey, little girl, you’re real cute. Let’s get a better look. Take those pajamas off.” You get to watch. They may or may not choose to leave witnesses.
If you think these things don’t happen, regularly, you have never been a policeman in a big city. A friend of mine, a Chicago cop, tells of arriving at the scene of a break-in. The intruders had beaten the man unconscious and, among other things they did to her, bitten the woman’s nipples off. Literally.
I remember going one night to a hospital with a DC cop to interview a rape victim of fifteen. She was screaming, sobbing, choking, the doctors trying to sedate her. Messed up for life. Smith is right: Don’t have a firearm in the house. It might make them mad. They just want your TV, see.
In Virginia to get a concealed-carry permit, you attend a mandatory class on how to use a pistol. One of the instructors when I did it was a (very competent) female agent of the FBI. She talked to the class, some of whom were women, about rape. She made the obvious point that very few women have the slightest chance of fending off a two-hundred pound deviate perhaps armed with a knife. A small concealed-hammer revolver, fired maybe through a coat pocket, can easily be handled by a woman of ninety pounds. Studies show that a rapist who has been shot several times loses ardor. We’re talking way beyond Viagra.
What is true of intruders is that they don’t want a firefight. When you rack a round into the chamber of a semi-auto, the sound is unmistakable and means only one thing: Someone is preparing to fire. You have to want a television very badly to go against someone who audibly is planning to kill you and audibly has the means.
You can do as Smith wants—let them do it, whatever it is, and then call a qualified professional. Or you can shoot the sons of bitches. Your choice. I don’t care.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/09/2008 at 02:21 AM
Filed Under: • Crime • Editorials •
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Permalink • Tuesday - July 08, 2008
Light posting
Sorry for not having anything today. Lots of busy going on in life right now. I’ll try to find some time tomorrow, day after at the latest.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/08/2008 at 09:50 PM
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Permalink • Monday - July 07, 2008
Toddlers who dislike spicy food ‘racist’
DOES ANYONE WONDER WHY I COPY VILMAR’S PHRASE WITH REGARD TO THIS PLACE WHEN CONTINUALLY SAY,
THIS PLACE IS DOOMED!
By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent
Toddlers who turn their noses up at spicy food from overseas could be branded racists by a Government-sponsored agency.
The National Children’s Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care.
This could include a child of as young as three who says “yuk” in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food.
The guidance by the NCB is designed to draw attention to potentially-racist attitudes in youngsters from a young age
It alerts playgroup leaders that even babies can not be ignored in the drive to root out prejudice as they can “recognise different people in their lives”.
The 366-page guide for staff in charge of pre-school children, called Young Children and Racial Justice, warns: “Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships.”
It advises nursery teachers to be on the alert for childish abuse such as: “blackie”, “Pakis”, “those people” or “they smell”.
The guide goes on to warn that children might also “react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying ‘yuk’”.
Staff are told: “No racist incident should be ignored. When there is a clear racist incident, it is necessary to be specific in condemning the action.”
Warning that failing to pick children up on their racist attitudes could instil prejudice, the NCB adds that if children “reveal negative attitudes, the lack of censure may indicate to the child that there is nothing unacceptable about such attitudes”.
Nurseries are encouraged to report as many incidents as possible to their local council. The guide added: “Some people think that if a large number of racist incidents are reported, this will reflect badly on the institution. In fact, the opposite is the case.”
Last Updated: 10:15AM BST 07/07/2008
Posted by Drew458
on 07/07/2008 at 03:21 PM
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •
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Permalink • The Battle Hymn of the Republic
I’ve been going through a patriotism phase lately. Please, do not confuse patriotism with nationalism. The two, while close, are not the same thing.
Bearing that in mind, I was going to post the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
I find I can’t do so.
Limewire had over 188 versions, from the US Marine Corp, to Jim Nabors, to Elvis Presley. (I like Elvis’ version.)
I listened to several, and decided that you BMEWsers should pick your own version.
So, if you don’t have it, get Limewire, and search for the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Download your favorite version.
I’m guessing that YouTube has several available also. I wanted it for my iTunes and iPod.
Lyrics:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.
Words: Julia W. Howe, 1861, alt. This hymn was born during the American civil war, when Howe visited a Union Army camp on the Potomac River near Washington, D. C. She heard the soldiers singing the song “John Brown’s Body,” and was taken with the strong marching beat. She wrote the words the next day:
I awoke in the grey of the morning, and as I lay waiting for dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to entwine themselves in my mind, and I said to myself, “I must get up and write these verses, lest I fall asleep and forget them!” So I sprang out of bed and in the dimness found an old stump of a pen, which I remembered using the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.
The hymn appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862. It was sung at the funerals of British statesman Winston Churchill, American senator Robert Kennedy, and American presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.
Music: John Brown’s Body, possibly by John William Steffe (MIDI, score). John Brown was an American abolitionist who led a short lived insurrection to free the slaves.
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/b/h/bhymnotr.htm
Posted by Christopher
on 07/07/2008 at 04:07 PM
Filed Under: • Patriotism •
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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:
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.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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