Friday - July 25, 2008
Africa is giving nothing to anyone—apart from AIDS.
Of course, all of us god awful right wing fascist racists have known it for years and years. It’s like, we must all be sort of quiet and tippy toe around the real answer which is, nothing will ever change for that place. Ever. To suggest that of course opens one to the previous labels. I don’t care.
I believe this to be true. I realize this article is dated. Kim also did a very interesting editorial on the subject some time ago, and if you check his archieves, it’s an interesting and a fast read as well. The only thing I wouldn’t agree with is that all Africa has given us is AIDS. The author forgot the African Killer Bee.
And I’ll bet there’s lots more if we looked.
H/T LyndonB
By Kevin Myers
No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again. It is nearly 25 years since Ethiopia’s (and Bob Geldof’s) famous Feed The World campaign, and in that time Ethiopia’s population has grown from 33.5 million to 78 million today.
So why on earth should I do anything to encourage further catastrophic demographic growth in that country? Where is the logic? There is none. To be sure, there are two things saying that logic doesn’t count.
One is my conscience, and the other is the picture, yet again, of another wide-eyed child, yet again, gazing, yet again, at the camera, which yet again, captures the tragedy of . . .
Sorry. My conscience has toured this territory on foot and financially. Unlike most of you, I have been to Ethiopia; like most of you, I have stumped up the loot to charities to stop starvation there. The wide-eyed boy-child we saved, 20 years or so ago, is now a priapic, Kalashnikov-bearing hearty, siring children whenever the whim takes him.
There is, no doubt a good argument why we should prolong this predatory and dysfunctional economic, social and sexual system; but I do not know what it is. There is, on the other hand, every reason not to write a column like this.
It will win no friends, and will provoke the self-righteous wrath of, well, the self-righteous, letter-writing wrathful, a species which never fails to contaminate almost every debate in Irish life with its sneers and its moral superiority. It will also probably enrage some of the finest men in Irish life, like John O’Shea, of Goal; and the Finucane brothers, men whom I admire enormously. So be it.
But, please, please, you self-righteously wrathful, spare me mention of our own Famine, with this or that lazy analogy. There is no comparison. Within 20 years of the Famine, the Irish population was down by 30pc. Over the equivalent period, thanks to western food, the Mercedes 10-wheel truck and the Lockheed Hercules, Ethiopia’s has more than doubled.
Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.
Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.
This dependency has not stimulated political prudence or commonsense. Indeed, voodoo idiocy seems to be in the ascendant, with the next president of South Africa being a firm believer in the efficacy of a little tap water on the post-coital penis as a sure preventative against infection. Needless to say, poverty, hunger and societal meltdown have not prevented idiotic wars involving Tigre, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea etcetera.
Broad brush-strokes, to be sure. But broad brush-strokes are often the way that history paints its gaudier, if more decisive, chapters. Japan, China, Russia, Korea, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 20th century have endured worse broad brush-strokes than almost any part of Africa.
They are now—one way or another—virtually all giving aid to or investing in Africa, whereas Africa, with its vast savannahs and its lush pastures, is giving almost nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS.
Meanwhile, Africa’s peoples are outstripping their resources, and causing catastrophic ecological degradation. By 2050, the population of Ethiopia will be 177 million: The equivalent of France, Germany and Benelux today, but located on the parched and increasingly protein-free wastelands of the Great Rift Valley.
So, how much sense does it make for us actively to increase the adult population of what is already a vastly over-populated, environmentally devastated and economically dependent country?
How much morality is there in saving an Ethiopian child from starvation today, for it to survive to a life of brutal circumcision, poverty, hunger, violence and sexual abuse, resulting in another half-dozen such wide-eyed children, with comparably jolly little lives ahead of them? Of course, it might make you feel better, which is a prime reason for so much charity. But that is not good enough.
For self-serving generosity has been one of the curses of Africa. It has sustained political systems which would otherwise have collapsed.
It prolonged the Eritrean-Ethiopian war by nearly a decade. It is inspiring Bill Gates’ programme to rid the continent of malaria, when, in the almost complete absence of personal self-discipline, that disease is one of the most efficacious forms of population-control now operating.
If his programme is successful, tens of millions of children who would otherwise have died in infancy will survive to adulthood, he boasts. Oh good: then what?I know. Let them all come here. Yes, that’s an idea.
(oh you can count on that okay. They will come here. And come and come with every disease imaginable and with all their offspring. Except for those they neglected to round up. Well you know, there’s so many there’s no keeping proper track. Of course weepy eyed libs will welcome them with open arms and your tax $$$ or £££.)
Posted by Drew458
on 07/25/2008 at 08:06 AM
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Permalink • Barack Obama makes a lot of Germans happy. Report from the fatherland
I guess you’ve seen the news on TV or read it in paper back home. But maybe not exactly this version or opinion.
Things really are getting scary. Maybe that should read, scarier?
From early afternoon it became evident that a religious event was taking place in Berlin. Pilgrims streamed into the Tiergarten, determined to see and hear the man they have come to believe in as their saviour.
By Andrew Gimson in Berlin
Last Updated: 3:33AM BST 25 Jul 2008The saviour himself was nowhere to be seen: Senator Barack Obama was said to be inside the Hotel Adlon, next to the Brandenburg Gate and just round the corner from the British Embassy, and a crowd duly formed outside in the hope of catching a glimpse of him.
Not every member of this crowd was gripped by religious fervour: quite a number of the people there were tourists who had arrived purely by chance, but who realised without being told that a star must be inside the Adlon.
But the true believers, of whom there are many, actually volunteer that they are gripped by “euphoria”. Being modern Germans, they express this emotion in quite an undercooled way, but also with great seriousness. Nicolas Geiger, a politics student who had travelled with seven friends from Magdeburg to hear Mr Obama, said: “I don’t know a single person who’s against Obama in my age group. He’s young, fresh, completely different. He’s just such an impressive person, especially compared to the war criminal Bush.”
Mr Obama’s devotees streamed on foot and by bicycle towards the Victory Column, which commemorates the Prussian defeat of the French in 1870 and was moved to its present position by the Nazis, who also made it taller.
As the rays of the setting sun glinted on the golden statue of victory, Mr Obama strode out from the pillar along the raised platform leading to his podium.
It soon became clear that he and his assistants had prepared a masterly text: Berlin, and especially the fortitude of Berliners during the airlift which saved the city after the Communists blockaded it in 1948, became an example to the whole world.
Here was a moral seriousness very much to the German taste. With perfect intonation, for on his lips it sounds better than it reads, Mr Obama described how “all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin”, and reminded us that “retreat would have allowed communism to march across Europe”. What an astute message, calculated to appeal as much to ferocious cold war warriors as to liberal pacifists.
For all the morality, it was hard to detect a single moment when Mr Obama exposed himself to the charge of being a wet and weedy liberal.
The fall of the Berlin Wall became a second metaphor, as Mr Obama spoke of “the walls between Christians and Muslims and Jews” and declared that “these are the walls we must tear down.” He made himself the rhetorical heir of Ronald Reagan.
Mr Obama touched too on the environment, and here the language of salvation became explicit: “This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet.” The time had come for others to “act with the same seriousness as has your nation” when it comes to environmental measures.
The audience loved it: the great orator had not disappointed the high expectations placed in him and German euphoria was no longer undercooled.
To put all this into perspective, we turned to a German intellectual who got his political education in the Left-wing student movement of the Sixties. “The Germans want to get a leader and they are not allowed to get a leader, but a black leader might be allowed. They are in a deep identity crisis and want to be absolved from all their sins. They want to be able to say, ‘Yesterday I met God and he told me the German people are wonderful people’.”
Mr Obama has made a lot of Germans very happy, while making it very difficult for the Republicans in America to denounce what he said.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/25/2008 at 02:57 AM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • EUro-peons • Politics •
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Permalink • Found New Demotivator site..
(Yeah They get them all)
Had to add this 1 of Our Error down here in Florida.. the Big-time Rhino.. at least theres only a few more years too long of him..
Posted by Infinity
on 07/25/2008 at 12:37 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - July 24, 2008
post is delivered to wrong address for 19 years.
Neither rain nor sleet nor .... oh wait .... wrong post office.
Pensioner furious as post is delivered to wrong address for 19 years
By Daily Mail Reporter
A man whose post has been delivered to the wrong address for a staggering 19 years, has finally received an apology from the Royal Mail.
Raymond Southwell has called the company every month for almost two decades to complain that his mail doesn’t arrive at his home in Salterns Lane, Fareham, Hants.
Each time he calls, Royal Mail staff assure him the error won’t happen again.
Going postal: Raymond Southwell had had enough after the Royal Mail delivered his letters to the wrong address for 19 years
The gaff has meant Mr Southwell, who suffers from arthiritis, and wife Jill, 66, who has MS, have failed to receive vital prescriptions on time.
The couple have also missed credit card payments because they didn’t get the bill in time. And a birthday card addressed Mrs Southwell arrived at their address one month late.
Mr Southwell said: ‘It’s absolutely ridiculous. Why it has happened for so long, I don’t know. It’s not even that the post isn’t correctly addressed because it always is.
‘But you can rant and rave as much as you want and nothing changes. Up until now Royal Mail haven’t apologised once.
‘I’m fed up of ringing them up and being told it wont happen again - only for it then to carry on.
‘The chap in Salterns Estate is very good at dropping things round for us. But sometimes he’s away and so our mail sits on his door mat until he gets back. But he shouldn’t have to do the postman’s job anyway.;
Royal Mail have now promised to take steps to ensure that the problem doesn’t happen again.
Royal Mail spokeswoman Jane Thomas, said: ‘We apologise to Mr Southwell for any inconvenience caused and can assure we’ve taken steps to prevent this happening again in the future.
‘It would appear on odd occasions someone covering the regular post man is not as familiar with the area and has accidentally mistaken Salterns Estate for Salterns Lane.
‘We are now monitoring Mr Southwell’s mail to make sure this is not repeated and we’ve also put a special notice on the sorting frame to remind all staff who go on that round to deliver to Salterns Lane.’
Mr and Mrs Southwell believe the problem occurs because their house is the only one with an odd number in the street.
But they say their home has a sign outside with the house number and the street name.
Mr Southwell added: ‘It’s not as if we are hidden away. The house isn’t hard to spot at all.
‘I’ve had plenty of apologies over the phone but all I want is for my mail to be delivered to the right address.’
Last updated at 5:59 PM on 23rd July 2008
But 76 year old Mr Southwell’s post still gets delivered to an address in the nearby Salterns Estate.
Raymond Southwell
Posted by Drew458
on 07/24/2008 at 03:25 PM
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Permalink • Barack Obama lifts the spirits, but he’s not ‘The One’
Interesting commentary from Brit side.
By Iain Martin
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 24/07/2008Even if it is not quite the second coming - this is at least his third visit - Barack Obama’s arrival on these shores will be regarded by his Anglo-supporters as a quasi-spiritual event.
While he may not be our saviour, he is promising to make the world we share with the US a safer place, and to behave in an exciting fashion on our television
For those Britons sick of the old-time religion of the Bush years, the arrival of “The One”, as the McCain team sarcastically refer to their rival, is accordingly a glorious, shining moment.
It follows years of misery in which Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their pupil interpreted the nature of the threat correctly but bungled the response.
For those, like this writer, who began the century regarding Bush favourably (the thought seems very distant now), the appearance of a presidential contender who is comfortable in his own skin, eloquent, quick-witted and cool in his general demeanour does lift the spirits.
British Atlanticists who seek a return to a pre-Bush notion of the United States and want to be able to take pride in a pro-American outlook, should not be anything other than pleased that a candidate for this November’s election is so widely approved of.
But there is a rather large problem here: Barack Obama is not what many hope he is. And how could he be? It is said that we live in an age of super cynicism, of knowing, consumerist scepticism about the powerful and the promises they make, but still there are suckers when the zeitgeist candidate invokes the H word, or the “audacity of hope” as Obama puts it.
In America the gloss has come off the idea of Obama as the candidate for “hope” - though in Britain, less so - as some in the coalition for change he has built work out that, as was always going to be the case, he has begun to trim and behave like what he is: a politician.
Obama has come to Britain on at least three occasions, meeting Tony Blair in Number 10 in 2005 and before that, in 1997, attending his half sister’s wedding. He even turned out for the groom’s stag event, which appears to have involved a pub crawl through Wokingham during which “entertainment” from a stripogram was provided.
As a presidential candidate, he will have considerably less fun on this latest trip. Both major British party leaders (and even one former Labour leader who never misses a chance) want to be photographed alongside Obama and bathe in the reflected light.
David Cameron’s team excitedly point out that they have been scheduled in for some time, while the visit is slightly marred from Gordon Brown’s perspective by the Democrat’s decision to meet Blair.
Although Obama will be seen on the steps of Number 10, at this stage it appears that he will not be pictured there with Brown, as that style of welcome was not extended to John McCain when he came to Britain and the Prime Minister must consider diplomatic good form.
The thought lingers that the Obama team knows a picture with Blair is 10 times more powerful when beamed back home than a similar shot with Brown.
By the time Obama leaves, what will we have learnt? That he is a charming and impressive personality is beyond doubt, and that may be enough to carry him all the way to the White House. But does he, for example, have a realistic chance of achieving the objectives outlined in his recent speeches on foreign policy?
The Obama doctrine, such as it can be divined, seems to be that an America under his leadership would rebuild its alliances, deal with energy security and climate change, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan successfully and bring the struggle with al-Qaeda and the Taliban to a close.
These are laudable aims not far removed from McCain’s (or, let’s face it, anyone’s) aspirations, however close study of Obama’s utterances provides little indication of how any of them are to be achieved.
If he wins, alliances will be rebuilt quite easily by virtue of his magnetism and his second name not being Bush. For the rest, he will have to start spending the accumulated capital.
Take Afghanistan and the Pakistan border regions. Even if we want to end the fight with al-Qaeda and the Taliban, they started it and appear not to want to stop. This suggests more vigorous pursuit if closure is the goal.
He will have to be more hard-headed towards Pakistan than Bush; the US operation targeting al-Qaeda in Afghanistan must be forged together with the one being carried out by Nato, of which Britain is a part.
Then allies, freshly wooed, must provide more in terms of moral support and materiel. It becomes difficult to see how this will work. The German political class, and public, which is to be addressed in Berlin today with a speech intended to echo JFK, will take Obama’s rhetoric to mean they, and the rest of us in the West, can expect a quieter life than we have had since September 11.
The idea of a dove in the White House is popular, even though circumstances will force the next incumbent to be quite hawkish. A reckoning, and resentment, lie ahead.
Worse than that, when the world falls out love with Obama, as it will, his central weakness will be the lack of a clear ideological analysis to sustain him in times of unpopularity. In 1947, a great Democrat, Harry Truman, gave his name to a doctrine which set the West on the road to eventual victory in the Cold War.
Against the advice of many in the foreign policy elite, he said that, although we were tired of conflict - having just defeated one tyranny, fascism - the West would have to steel itself for a long struggle with another: communism.
Where the communists went, America and its allies would block the way. Only when Truman was out of office did the service he had done his country in grasping this truth become apparent. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher inherited his view, believing that communism was economically and morally sick, and if we were strong enough we could defeat it. The rest is history.
The need is for a great foreign policy president of the quality of Truman, or Reagan. To win a long war begun by our enemies, we are going to need more than an attractive but essentially empty vessel.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/24/2008 at 03:13 PM
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • Politics • UK •
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Permalink • Oil!!
The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of technically recoverable natural gas liquids in 25 geologically defined areas thought to have potential for petroleum. The U.S. Geological Survey assessment released today is the first publicly available petroleum resource estimate of the entire area north of the Arctic Circle.
These resources account for about 22 percent of the undiscovered, technically recoverable resources in the world. The Arctic accounts for about 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids in the world. About 84 percent of the estimated resources are expected to occur offshore.
“Before we can make decisions about our future use of oil and gas and related decisions about protecting endangered species, native communities and the health of our planet, we need to know what’s out there,” said USGS Director Mark Myers. “With this assessment, we’re providing the same information to everyone in the world so that the global community can make those difficult decisions.”
Of the estimated totals, more than half of the undiscovered oil resources are estimated to occur in just three geologic provinces - Arctic Alaska, the Amerasia Basin, and the East Greenland Rift Basins. On an oil-equivalency basis, undiscovered natural gas is estimated to be three times more abundant than oil in the Arctic. More than 70 percent of the undiscovered natural gas is estimated to occur in three provinces - the West Siberian Basin, the East Barents Basins, and Arctic Alaska.
The USGS Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal is part of a project to assess the global petroleum basins using standardized and consistent methodology and protocol. This approach allows for an area’s petroleum potential to be compared to other petroleum basins in the world. The USGS worked with a number of international organizations to conduct the geologic analyses of these Arctic provinces.
Technically recoverable resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. For the purposes of this study, the USGS did not consider economic factors such as the effects of permanent sea ice or oceanic water depth in its assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources.
Exploration for petroleum has already resulted in the discovery of more than 400 oil and gas fields north of the Arctic Circle. These fields account for approximately 40 billion barrels of oil, more than 1,100 trillion cubic feet of gas, and 8.5 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. Nevertheless, the Arctic, especially offshore, is essentially unexplored with respect to petroleum.
Ok, don’t ask me how they figure these fields are 22% of the undiscovered resources. I mean, how do they know, since the rest hasn’t been discovered yet? But this is a huge find, and I expect the price of oil to fall based on the news, even though it might take years to develop the technology. Submarine drilling rigs and flexible, heated pipelines submerged below the seabeds maybe.
Now the race will be on to claim territory and set up drilling. Let’s hope for some Global Warming too, which will make their jobs a whole lot easier. Gosh, while this assessment is only 10% of the size of the latest one from the oil shale beds, because it’s in international waters there won’t be any Senator Salazar to get in the way. No let’s hope the neither Bush nor Black Jesus signs that damn UN Law of the Sea treaty either, which would screw us big time with this.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/24/2008 at 10:31 AM
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •
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Permalink • IS THERE ANYTHING TO ADD TO THIS EXCEPT, BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID!
Posted by Drew458
on 07/24/2008 at 10:05 AM
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Permalink • Product Endorsement
I was always an excellent student in grade school. Straight A’s in everything. Ok, in the early years our report cards only had “check” and “check plus”, which annoyed the hell out of me; I was a very exacting child. But the one thing I did mess up was arts & crafts. Yup, I failed scissors in both Kindergarten and First Grade. I couldn’t cut a smooth line if you paid me. Looking back on it today, I blame the tools. School scissors are the worst pieces of junk.
Maybe that bad memory is part of the reason I’ve always appreciated good tools. I’d rather spend a bit more on a tool to get an excellent one that will last a lifetime, than to save a couple bucks and then pay the price with frustration over poor work and the tool’s short life.
Anyway, I’ve found what may be the perfect pair of scissors. I know I know, something so simple and common. But it’s the little things that often make life flow smoothly. Allow me to introduce you to the Fiskars Razor Edge No. 9:
They have a larger and better ergonomically shaped handle than the regular Fiskars scissors. The handle is offset a bit, and the bottom blade has a lowered point. Like all Fiskars scissors they are very lightweight. You can see in the picture that the blades have a relief ground into the face of the blades, which allows them to pass through the cut material without distorting it. But more importantly, these things are really, really, really sharp. And the edge is glass smooth. They are commercial weight fabric shears, designed to cut through half a dozen layers of cloth at once with almost no effort and without any snags. They seem to just float through fabric with hardly a ripple. The sharp edge goes all the way up to the pivot, and you can adjust the tension as necessary. They go through paper like it isn’t even there. Awesome. This is what scissors are supposed to be. About $28 at WalMart, Amazon, and sewing shops, though you can find them for $20. There is a very similar model, the No. 8, that is a little smaller and costs $17, but you get the same high quality razor edged blade in a classic shape. The No. 8 doesn’t have the relief ground into the face of the blades, but you don’t really need that for cutting paper. It’s not even August yet and I’m eagerly looking forward to wrapping Christmas presents using this one. Well done.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/24/2008 at 09:11 AM
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Permalink • WE MUST ALL DO OUR BIT TO SAVE THE PLANET. SO LET’S GO GWEEN
My first post after an off day and what a coincidence. Drew has a really terrific post on a subject I was going to lead with based on some doings on this side of the Atlantic. The lunacy is everywhere and it doesn’t show signs of ending anytime soon. So may I suggest to all of you that you please do your bit now. Later may be too late.
Follow my example, photo below, and start collecting 100W light bulbs.
Not good enough my light bulb that performs exactly as intended - No - The Gween planet savers want me to change to their more expensive and useless to my needs dim yellow glow. You folks know what I’m talking about. Can you honestly read by those eco-friendly bulbs being pushed by the planet savers?
According to their lights I’m an idiot if I reject their arguments with regard to my rejection of their chosen illumination.
There has been serious talk by the EU and it’s being accepted here in UK (of course it is) that the standard and dastardly light that lights well, must go.
They even have a target to the switch off. Well folks, here’s my answer.
And this is only the beginning. There are only 58 showing here but there are a few more behind, and some 150s not shown. It has become our policy now to buy 100W light bulbs every week when the wife does a grocery shop at TESCO. That’s a major chain and I have to tell you honestly they put most of ours back home to shame in some areas. However, poor,poor Tesco also does some very silly things. Like caving in to browbeating by a newspaper here called The Daily Mail, which has gotten onto an ecological high horse calling for the restriction or outright banning of plastic grocery bags.
One major grocery chain is now charging customers 10 cents a bag at the checkout. Tesco for their part, has pulled the stacks of plastic bags from the end of the checkout line, and is putting out three bags at a time. Customers must ask for more as needed. Doesn’t matter if you have a cart full of groceries, you must ask for extra bags. All this in an effort to force ppl to bring their own bags to market. One problem I see is - how does a customer know exactly from week to week what her/his needs will be? Just how many of your own bags are you supposed to bring into the store? Your needs may differ from week to week. I think I should let my American audience know that over here, most major grocery shops do not use baggers as we do back home. Customers bag their own stuff altho you can get help if needed.
There’s already one or two small towns that have announced proudly that they are, “Plastic Bag Free.” I’ve no idea how that works or what they’ve done to achieve such an exalted ecological status.
So, my wife went to the market this week and after getting the politically correct three bags, asked for more which they gave her. She pointed out that she had a weeks worth of groceries in her cart, that three bags at a time only succeeded in holding the line up. Since she was there there at a time when the store
wasn’t too busy and there was nobody else behind her, she started putting only one or two items in a bag and kept asking for more, which they gave with no argument. Since Tesco caved in to the Daily Mail’s daily harangue, my wife asked why Tesco did not point out the following with regard to the highly damaging, planet destroying plastic bag.
THESE ARE DEGRADABLE !!!
THE CASHIER WAS SURPRISED AT THE PRINT ON THE BAG, SAYING HE’D NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE. I BET TESCO DIDN’T EITHER AND CERTAINLY THE MAIL
DIDN’T EITHER, BEFORE GOING AFTER TESCO TOOTH AND NAIL FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS. JUST SHOWS YA HOW MUCH RESEARCH THE MAIL DOES, AND HOW SINCERE THEIR POLITICALLY CORRECT CAMPAIGN REALLY IS.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/24/2008 at 08:58 AM
Filed Under: • Nanny State • Politically-Incorrect • UK •
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Permalink • Wednesday - July 23, 2008
Greenies are annoying us because that’s what they do
If you are old enough, you might remember when soda and other things to drink came in glass bottles. Nice heavy duty ones. You drank the contents, cleaned them out, and brought them back to store. The store sent them back to the vendor or the local bottling plant, and they got filled again. That’s how recycling used to be. Then came the plastic bottle, which either went back to the deposit machine, or went into regular recycling. We were all told that this was an even better way of recycling, and used less energy than either recasting the glass bottles, or cleaning and sterilizing them. See, it was better to shred the plastic and remelt it to make lawn furniture then it was to spend all the money on moving, storing, and processing all that glass.
Well now the Greenies have changed their story. Now that everyone everywhere recycles the plastic. And the aluminum. And the newspaper. And the cardboard. And the steel ... Heck, “co-mingle” is a regular part of the lexicon these days.
There was a time when brands like Evian and Perrier conjured up images of purity and luxury. That was before bottlers everywhere got their feet wet, and drinking bottled water became a very easy and healthy way to stay hydrated and refreshed.
But now there is a growing backlash against bottled water. Thanks to a growing green movement, phasing out water bottles — seen as the ultimate symbol of conspicuous consumption — has become the latest fad.
Sales of reusable eco-friendly bottles like Sigg or Voss Water have surged. Green-minded Web sites list locations of municipal water fill-up stations. And cities like Chicago have added an extra tax to bottled water to discourage its purchase.
WTF? “eco-friendly reusable bottles”? You mean, like glass? Heavy duty plastic? The kind of bottles that were verboten for the past 30 years because they were “environmentally wasteful”? And how is it that they’re reusable? Sure, you take them home and fill them up again. But eventually you’ll have to clean that bottle. Horrors!!
And Chicago, that bastion of freedom and tolerance, has now stuck an extra tax on? Baaah-studs.
Actually, I’ve been waiting 28 years for this backlash. I spotted designer bottled water as a con way back when. Spring water ... sure, one or two of them taste good. Poland Spring in the clear plastic gallon bottles is about the best. But the generic store brand spring water we sold at the Grand Union when I was a stock clerk back in the late ‘70s was nearly as good. Bottled by the Wissahickon Spring water company, and the cheapest thing on the market. That name always stuck in my memory.
Some critics of bottled water cite concerns over the environmental waste of discarded bottles; others point out that municipal water systems were delivering excellent water long before plastic became all the rage.
...
There’s no question that bottled water tastes good, and it’s good for you. The problem is that 8 out of 10 of those water bottles wind up in landfills instead of recycling bins, and it can take 700 years before they begin to decompose. And given how much water we drink, that’s a lot of bottles.The key, says Lauria, is to recycle. ’’If you recycle, all guilt is erased, ‘’ he said. ‘’Recycling solves the problem. If it‘s recycled, it‘s ecologically safe.”
But Americans aren’t recycling enough, and that has become the rallying cry for groups who want to see bottles banned altogether.
Oh horseshit. Is there an office cafeteria that doesn’t have a recycling bin? Is there a neighborhood anywhere that doesn’t have the trucks come around once a week, or, failing that, is there a town that doesn’t have a recycling drop off center? Give me a friggin break. It’s everywhere. Everyone recycles, or at least has the opportunity to. Lots of towns even have the Garbage Police these days, with hefty fines if you get caught hiding the beer cans under the coffee grounds. But the greenies are pulling the old “8 out of 10” crap again, and the old “700 years” blither? Sorry, that requires a willing suspension of disbelief to accept. We’ve all gone green, or green enough. Shut the hell up, get back in your Prius and drive away annoyingly slow if there’s traffic behind you.
But concerns over the environment aren’t the only reason why there is a push to remove bottles. Some say bottled water erodes the demand for the municipal water supply.
Corporate Accountability International says bottled water is subject to less rigorous testing than city tap water, adding that the high cost of energy to make the bottles isn’t worth the cost of a product that may not be any better than local water.
It has launched a campaign called “Think Outside the Bottle’’ to promote, protect and ensure public funding for public water systems by getting people to choose tap water over bottled water. Supporters include actor Martin Sheen.
So they use Media Tactic #1: spread the fear. How ... original. Yawn.
“I’m a big believer in bottled water,’’ said Don Robart, mayor of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who did not support the resolution against bottled water at the mayors’ meeting in June. ‘’From a health standpoint alone, I think we should be encouraging it.”
Robart says it’s a ’’bunch of baloney’’ that bottled water erodes support for tap water. He also notes how important it is to have bottled water on hand in case of emergency.
Hmm ... maybe this is just manufactured “bottled” news? Is that better or worse than real news? Gak.
Oh, and here is some Hollywood smut. Very cold showers at the beach this summer
Posted by Drew458
on 07/23/2008 at 09:24 PM
Filed Under: • Environment •
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Permalink • Stealing makes you tired
MONROE, Wash.— Police say a trail of pillows and backpacks led to two sleeping men who were arrested after a department store break-in. Kyle Burress, 25, and Allen Pierce, 27, have been charged with second-degree burglary.
Police spokeswoman Debbie Willis says a break-in was discovered July 9 at a Fred Meyer department store northeast of Seattle. The two were still being held on bail Monday, and it was not clear whether they had lawyers.
Willis says police followed a trail of cardboard and items from storage containers in a locked area behind the store that led to the two men. One was sleeping in a stolen hammock and the other on a pile of stolen pillows.
Police photographed the men before waking and arresting them.
Maybe they should had just a little less to drink, you think?
Posted by Drew458
on 07/23/2008 at 09:01 PM
Filed Under: • Commies • Humor • Stoopid-People •
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Permalink • Aww, that’s sad
Actress Estelle Getty died yesterday, just 3 days shy of her 85th birthday.
Estelle played Sophia Petrillo (Maude’s Dorothy’s feisty mother) on the comedy series The Golden Girls. The Lifetime network, which airs the show all the time, will have a bit of a Golden Girls marathon as a tribute.
Getty, who spent four decades toiling in show business before winning fame and critical recognition as Bea Arthur’s sassy, 80-year-old mother on the hit show, had been suffering from dementia.
“As of 5.35 this morning surrounded by her family in her Hollywood Hills home, Estelle Getty passed away peacefully in her sleep of natural causes,” her longtime manager, Alan Siegel, said in a statement.
She won a breakthrough role in a production of Torch Song Trilogy that brought her to the attention of Hollywood.
She was ultimately cast as the oldest of four female retirees living together on Golden Girls even though she was slightly younger than her screen daughter.
Getty won two Emmys for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the show.
She died in Los Angeles after a battle with advanced dementia.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/23/2008 at 07:15 PM
Filed Under: • Hollywood •
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Permalink • Tuesday - July 22, 2008
I didn’t know
As many of you know, beloved house author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Terry has become active in fundraising efforts to support Alzheimer’s research.
Terry Pratchett’s books have sold more than 55 million copies worldwide (give or take a few million). In addition to his hit novels about the fantastical flat planet Discworld, he has written award-winning children’s books, including the Johnny Maxwell trilogy and the bestselling Tiffany Aching Adventures. Mr. Pratchett received Britain’s highest honor for a children’s novel, the Carnegie Medal, for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. Mr. Pratchett has one grown-up daughter and lives in England with his wife and many cats.
I’m in shock. I don’t know how I’ll get by without one or two new Pratchett books per year.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/22/2008 at 10:12 PM
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •
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Permalink • Still here, just busy
It’s 10pm Tuesday night. I’m cooking dinner. That’s about how busy I’ve been the past 3 days. Sunday was a big carpet removal job, made even worse because it was in a really small house that was packed with furniture. And mess. Stuff everywhere, piled nearly waist high. We spent more time moving stuff so we could move furniture than getting the rugs out. I thought they said they’d clean up beforehand. Arrgh. Still, I get paid by the hour, so whatever!
Monday I had tons of personal things to do. Housework, shopping, you know the drill. Can’t put it off forever or you wind up like the carpet folks above. But I didn’t have time to even check my email.
Today, and likely for the rest of the week, I’ve got this handyman project. Lady calls me up; “I need a handyman. We have this rotten board in the overhang over the front door that needs replacing.” And yes, it sure was rotten. But it’s one of those projects that just cascades. To get to the board you have to remove the moulding. To remove the moulding you have to get up under the gutters where you find the fascia and the valences are rotted too. And to get at them you have to remove the gutter. Which means taking off the downspouts. And the front of this home is solid bees nests. I killed at least 4 today, either paper wasps or hornets actually. And under the rotted wood were ants. Nasty little bitty black ants, but they bite! Carpenter ants maybe? I thought they were bigger. So it’s turning into a huge project, but the homeowner doesn’t care. “do what needs doing”. I love the sound of that. Naturally, it’s nearly 100 degrees out, so I’m out there getting another sunburn and sweating buckets, as pounds of dirty grit and sawdust rain down on me. Fun fun fun!
So, what’s new? How is our wonderboy doing over in Iraq and on his fact-finding tour? I haven’t even flipped the radio on, much less watched any TV. And right now I’ve got to get a load of laundry in, so I have something clean, and more importantly DRY, to wear tomorrow.
Be good.
Thank Peiper for posting so much in my absence. I’ll be back!
Posted by Drew458
on 07/22/2008 at 09:00 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
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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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