Saturday - July 19, 2008
Right of households to rubbish bin collection by councils to be abolished
THIS IS THE ANTI-SOCIAL ACT OF A LEFT WING LABOR GOVT.
I can’t imagine the town or city councils telling homeowners to drop dead BUT ...
I suppose that they could tell homeowners to contract out for trash pick up the same way we did in California.
Thing is tho, in our particular situation, the household is currently paying out £1700 a year to the city council. We have no street lights or sidewalks on this street. I’m not at all certain what the payments do cover, outside trash pick ups. They did provide rat control (outside the house fortunately) two years in a row. That was interesting btw. Someone came out and put poison down this hole and spent the time to come back for something like three weeks treating the area. They could have done it in one day with gas. But they aren’t allowed to use it here. ?? It’s thought they come from the field across the road which is a farm and grows rape seed, among other things.
By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 11:30AM BST 19/07/2008The legal right of all householders to have their bins emptied by their local council is to be abolished, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.
The government is to give councils the power to refuse to collect rubbish if home owners fail to abide by draconian rules which may include leaving bins in the right place, sticking to weight restrictions and following strict recycling policies.
Labour is quietly pushing the new rules through parliament without any debate after it proposed amendments to a 130-year-old law which has, until now, made it a statutory duty of local authorities to collect household waste.
There are fears that the changes to the law will lead to large increases in fly-tipping, bonfires of noxious substances and rat infestations around uncollected waste. Despite this, there will no reduction in council tax for home owners.
The Conservatives described the plans as “disgraceful”, adding that bin men will now be able to use “any excuse not to empty your bin”.
Many Labour MPs fear the changes will add to a growing backlash against the government which has seen them slump in the polls.
Ian Gibson, a Labour MP who sits on the parliamentary committee which is scrutinising the changes, said: “It is a British way of life to have your bins emptied once a week. Taking that away is like losing your birthright.”
Phil Woolas, the environment minister, quietly added an amendment to section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 earlier this month which now states: “A waste collection authority is not obliged to collect household waste that is placed for collection in contravention of a requirement under this section.”
Town halls will be free to set their own rules on what constitutes a “contravention” of waste collection policies.
Councils could refuse to empty bins that are too far from a curb, are not placed directly outside a gate or are put out on the street too early.
The proposed changes amount to a reversal of the basic right of all households to have their rubbish collected, which was enshrined in law by the Public Health Act 1875.
The measures have already passed through two parts of a three-stage scrutiny process in parliament and will become law later this year if they are approved by the standing committee on climate change, which is dominated by Labour MPs.
It comes at a time when the government is already under fire over controversial fortnightly rubbish collections, which affect almost 20 million people, and “pay as you throw” schemes being trialled by some councils, in which bins are weighed and penalties imposed on people whose rubbish exceeds set limits.
Eric Pickles, the shadow local government secretary, said: “It is disgraceful that these new laws are being rushed through Parliament with no debate and no vote.
“People genuinely want to improve recycling and go green, but Labour’s policy of bin cuts and bin taxes will fuel fly-tipping, backyard burning and harm public health.
“These changes will fuel the public backlash at the Government’s rubbish policy. Under Gordon Brown, local residents are paying exorbitant levels of council tax, but are failing to get decent public services in return.”
Currently councils must collect rubbish from home owners unless it breaches one of two policies – “a closed lid” policy where the bin is not shut properly or a “side waste” policy meaning bin bags cannot be left alongside wheelie bins.
Whitehall sources said that the change in the law was proposed by central government and was not requested by councils.
A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: “It is in no way in councils’ interests to use tactics that would alienate local people. It would be wholly counterproductive for town halls to approach this issue in a heavy-handed way that could put people off dealing with their rubbish responsibly.
“Councils always provide people with straightforward information about what to do with their rubbish and work with residents to reduce the amount they produce and to encourage them to recycle.
“Britain is the dustbin of Europe, throwing away more per household than any other country in the EU. We have to change radically the way that we get rid of our rubbish and the days of tipping everything into a hole in the ground are long gone.”
Joan Ruddock, the minister for climate change, biodiversity and waste, said: “There is still a general duty to collect rubbish free from households. All that has changed is that when a household is given a formal notice, if they don’t abide by it then the council no longer has a duty to collect.”
(Free? What Free? Isn’t that one of the things taxes pay for? Or are taxes only paid to support the lifestyles of politicians? oh. right. forgot. )Government targets are for 40 per cent of household waste to be recycled by 2010, rising to 50 per cent by 2020. Policy papers show that officials want to limit rubbish collections in a bid “to compel householders to reduce their waste”.
Last month ministers also revealed that householders will face fines of £50 for failing to recycle their rubbish.
Councils will refuse to collect rubbish if homeowners break recycling rules
Posted by Drew458
on 07/19/2008 at 09:13 AM
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Permalink • AN OBAMA SEAL AND TRIBUTE, by Minta.
This is the work of a brilliant artist who I’m mad about and does other really great art work aside from this sort of thing. Which is damn clever.
Her non art site is:
http://www.afewshinypebbles.com/
And she writes darn well too.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/19/2008 at 04:18 AM
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Permalink • Friday - July 18, 2008
Cry baby quits after speaking the truth
yeah, no shir Shitlock. But speak the truth and be damned ...
“We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline,” the former Texas senator said, “You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession.”
A day after making the comments, Gramm said he was referring to America’s leaders, not the public. He stood behind the “mental recession” comment, though, saying, “we don’t have measured negative growth. That’s a fact; that’s not a commentary.”
McCain responded that day to the comments saying during a campaign stop: “I believe that the person here in Michigan who just lost his job isn’t suffering from a mental recession. I believe the mother here in Michigan or around America who’s trying to get enough money to educate their children isn’t whining.”
Hey old man! Yeah you, McShame. Never heard of loyalty? Never heard of context? Pussy little shit bird.
The correct response to the dems and the media is “What, are you stuck on stupid? This is the greatest country in the world, the greatest country that’s ever been, and our citizens enjoy the highest standards of living, employment, freedom, security, and opportunity in the world. And while it’s always a good thing to try and make things even better, there are an awful lot of people who take that for granted. People who feel put upon because they only have 2 cars, 3 TV sets, a riding lawnmower and a lawn to ride it on, so much food that half of the country is overweight, secure banks they can safely keep their money in, etc. Get some perspective already. More than half the world goes to bed hungry, and lives hardly any better than their ancestors did 5000 years ago. That’s terrible, and those people have real complaints. America isn’t perfect, but we are a young country and we’re making progress all the time. Complaining that this isn’t utopia is whining. America has not lost its competitive edge and we are not in decline. Saying so because you can’t get what you want the very instant you want it is whining. And it’s not the same as an honest complaint. Or a real grievance that needs redress. And it’s not the same as crying out for help because life has turned against you. And if you can’t tell the difference without my laying out a dozen examples, you really are stuck on stupid.”
And the next day, when your boy Phil tries to cover and says he was referring to government leaders, you give them both barrels: chapter AND verse of all the moronic statements, bills, beliefs, belligerent actions and genuinely un-American behaviors of the Democrats. A mere 300 to 400 examples should do. Again, that’s called loyalty. That’s being a stand up guy, and that’s being a good politician who can fight on his feet. Characteristics we want in a leader, by the way. Turn lemons into lemonade and bitch slap your opponents with the rinds at the same time.
Instead Numero Juan plays the cowardly Obama Bus-Toss game. What a coprolite. Way to take the fight to the enemy there, Mr. Navy. Fight? Oh, no, no, we can’t have that. This has to be the padded kid gloves campaign, each finger lined with seasonally shed chinchilla fur. No criticism, no conflicts, no vigor, no strength, no loyalty. Son of a bitch. I mean, I expect Obama to act like a gutless pouting little fancy nancy, because he is one. But Mr. War Hero? No. Ach, crivens, tohellwivit!
Don’t worry, I’m not letting Philby off either. Ever hear of taking one for the team Phildo Dildo? Did you ever stop and think that letting the dems and the press gang up on you for a while takes the heat off your guy? After all your centuries in government you can’t beat off this attack, or just ignore it, or find some way to shift the blame? Gosh, so glad we elected you, tough guy. What, about 38 times, wasn’t it?
In a written statement released Friday, Gramm said his comments had become a distraction for McCain.
“It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country,” Gramm said. “That kind of distraction hurts not only Senator McCain’s ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country’s problems, it hurts the country.”
Nonsense. Tell the press to take a hike. Tell the dems to get a life. Ask yourself, WWDCD? (what would Dick Cheney do?), and act accordingly. With one finger on each hand. Man up. For goodness sake, you quit/got fired because these jokers were complaining about a remark you made that said they were complaining. Well, duh, hello?
Posted by Drew458
on 07/18/2008 at 10:38 PM
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Permalink • Dear World: Get a haircut, and get a real job. Clean your act up, and don’t be a slob.
* If it’s always the case that Congress and the Senate each pass their own version of a bill, then why do we have both houses? Repeal the 17th, get the Senate back to working on State To State issues as is their sole mandate.
Read the bill and it’s background here. Read the Conservative viewpoint here. They think it’s 0.7% of our GDP. I think they’re off by an order of magnitude: the US would have to put up $821 Billion PER YEAR.
HR 1302 RFS
H110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1302
←→
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESSeptember 26, 2007
Received, read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
AN ACT
To require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Global Poverty Act of 2007’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) More than one billion people worldwide live on less than $1 per day, and another 1.6 billion people struggle to survive on less than $2 per day, according to the World Bank.
(2) At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, the United States joined more than 180 other countries in committing to work toward the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to improve life for the world’s poorest people by 2015.
(3) The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include the goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, that live on less than $1 per day, cutting in half the proportion of people suffering from hunger and unable to access safe drinking water and sanitation, reducing child mortality by two-thirds, ensuring basic education for all children, and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria, while sustaining the environment upon which human life depends.
(4) On March 22, 2002, President George W. Bush stated: `We fight against poverty because hope is an answer to terror. We fight against poverty because opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity. We fight against poverty because faith requires it and conscience demands it. We fight against poverty with a growing conviction that major progress is within our reach.’.
(5) The 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States notes: `[A] world where some live in comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives on less than $2 per day, is neither just nor stable. Including all of the world’s poor in an expanding circle of development and opportunity is a moral imperative and one of the top priorities of United States international policy.’.
(6) The 2006 National Security Strategy of the United States notes: `America’s national interests and moral values drive us in the same direction: to assist the world’s poor citizens and least developed nations and help integrate them into the global economy.’.
(7) The bipartisan Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States recommends: `A comprehensive United States strategy to counter terrorism should include economic policies that encourage development, more open societies, and opportunities for people to improve the lives of their families and enhance prospects for their children.’.
(8) At the summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) nations in July 2005, leaders from all eight countries committed to increase aid to Africa from the current $25 billion annually to $50 billion by 2010, and to cancel 100 percent of the debt obligations owed to the World Bank, African Development Bank, and International Monetary Fund by 18 of the world’s poorest nations.
(9) At the United Nations World Summit in September 2005, the United States joined more than 180 other governments in reiterating their commitment to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
(10) The United States has recognized the need for increased financial and technical assistance to countries burdened by extreme poverty, as well as the need for strengthened economic and trade opportunities for those countries, through significant initiatives in recent years, including the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, and trade preference programs for developing countries, such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
(11) In January 2006, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice initiated a restructuring of the United States foreign assistance program, including the creation of a Director of Foreign Assistance, who maintains authority over Department of State and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) foreign assistance funding and programs.
(12) In January 2007, the Department of State’s Office of the Director of Foreign Assistance added poverty reduction as an explicit, central component of the overall goal of United States foreign assistance. The official goal of United States foreign assistance is: `To help build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system.’.
...
Passed the House of Representatives September 25, 2007.
yes, it passed unanimously. On a voice vote. Without hearings! Because most of the bastards didn’t even read it. But it has a catchy name, so it must be good, right?
Don’t forget, this is spending in addition to all the millions and billions we give away to every flea picking nation on earth already, plus the dozens of billions we spend on africa to try and teach them the crazy concepts of monogamy, fidelity, and safe sex, plus oceans worth of drugs for those who won’t listen anyway. Because that’s not enough you see.
I have a counter proposal: The FOAD bill of 2007-2032: Fuck Off And Die. Not one penny in foreign aid, public assistance, growth incentive to any foreign nation. For any reason, even if they have an emergency. Tough. Fucking. Shit. Not one cent to the UN. If foreign countries want our money, find something to sell us. WTH, we’re Americans, we buy everything. Anything. Have you ever seen the crap for sale in a Dollar Store? And those places NEVER go out of business. But giving it away? Been there, done that, it don’t work, and only builds resentment. And lazy foreigners. Who breed like filthy rats.
For the next 25 years, let’s take whatever the total amount of give aways is this year, and spend that money on ourselves. Rebuild our infrastructure. Raise up our own poor. Make the USA the lowest rated nation for infant mortality. Make us the highest rated nation for education and standard of living. Fix our own house before giving out free paint and shingles to the whole darn town. See, I’m not being heartless. In 2033 we can take a fresh look and see who needs some help. And if they’re all gone by then, mostly, well then look how much money we’ve saved.
This bill is insanity. But it’s coming up for a vote soon. You know what to do.
Yes Drew, we do. The very first thing to do is to try, really try, to ferret out the truth. CBO (Congressional Budget Office) says this bill would cost less than $1 million per year. VRWC says this bill would cost $845 BILLION. That’s a galactic cost difference: 65,000 times greater cost according to one group. Somebody - maybe more than one somebody - is playing fast and loose with the truth. Who? The why is obvious - politics.
But I can tell you this - the idea is to give $1 a day to every Starvin Marvin on the planet. That’s $3 BILLION a year right there. PER DAY. $1.095 TRILLION PER YEAR. And since it’s a UN plan, that means the USA will pick up at least 75% of the tab. That’s $821 BILLION A YEAR, right there. And that assumes the gollywogs won’t breed. Like hell. Oh, and adopting this will probably make us subservient to the UN; they’ll have the power to tax us to get the cash.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/18/2008 at 08:26 PM
Filed Under: • Insanity • Politics •
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Permalink • vicious mob attack on police officers
Now see, here again the police who I generally support handled this all wrong.
Pepper spray? Spray? NO-NO guys.
THE ONLY WAY IN WHICH TO HANDLE A MOB, IS TO EXTERMINATE IT!
You’d only have to kill a couple dozen using real weapons. That’s live ammo in case ya forgot. Anybody bitches about that, you turn your weapons on the trouble makers also. That’s how you clear a violent mob. Bang-Bang ur graveyard dead. Problem solved in seconds. No paperwork, no lawyers, no civil right groups sticking their noses in. Those who do, repeat all the above.
Take a peek at the town center where this happened. This isn’t some inner city ghetto.
Police officer bitten in vicious mob attack ... after asking girl to pick up a piece of litter
Last updated at 4:01 PM on 18th July 2008
Two policemen who were attacked by a 30-strong mob were today recovering from their injuries - with one receiving hospital treatment for a bite wound.
The feral attack was launched after the officers asked a teenager to pick up some litter she had dropped.
One of the policemen required hospital treatment after the attack in Northend, Croydon, South London on Wednesday afternoon.
North End, Croydon, south London: Two officers were set on by a mob, some wearing school uniform, after they asked a teenage girl to pick up a fast-food wrapper she had droppedPolice said that when patrolling officers asked the girl to pick up a piece of litter she did so - but then immediately dropped it.
When they asked her to pick it up again, a friend with the girl reacted aggressively.
A group of up to 30 teenagers and adults gathered around the officers and attacked them. One officer was bitten.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the officers, aged 34 and 29, were now on sick leave suffering from bruising and knee injuries.
A 15-year-old girl was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault. She has been released on police bail.
Two men aged 34 and 38, both from nearby South Norwood, were arrested yesterday on suspicion of assault and violent disorder.
Shopkeepers in the area told today of their horror at the level of violence used against the officers.
T-Mobile phone store manager Shil Mehta said that just before turning on the police the two girls had been fighting each other.
Trouble spot: Shopkeepers in the area told today of their horror at the level of violence used against the officer
‘The attack happened right outside our shop,’ he said. ‘I saw two girls fighting. The officers tried to stop the girls, who were about 15 years old and both were wearing school uniforms, but then they turned on the police.
‘When one of the policemen tried to restrain one of the girls a crowd started to develop around them. I think he was trying to put handcuffs on the girl.
‘There were about 30 people in the crowd at this stage, of all ages. A couple of men aged in their 30s were screaming at the police to let go of the girls.
‘I don’t think they knew the girls, but just saw the police wrestling with them and had a go at the police because they thought they were being heavy-handed.
‘Then one of these men lunged at the officer holding the girl, from behind. I think he tried to punch him in the head - he definitely took a swing. Then the girl tried to run away.
‘At that point the other policeman got his baton out and pepper spray. They managed to get hold of the girl again but by this stage the crowd was huge. I would say about 70 or 80 people were now in the street watching.
‘One of the policemen pinned the girl on the ground because she was maniacally trying to fight him.
‘That’s when the police back-up arrived. There were three or four riot vans, three police cars and two unmarked cars.’
Mr Mehta added: ‘Using batons and pepper spray they managed to disperse the crowd but I have never seen anything like it.
‘I don’t know what happened just before the two girls started fighting. It seemed like the police were already talking to them before they started fighting each other.
‘Then as the police were dealing with them, two blokes waded in and made things a hundred times worse.
‘It really is a sad state of affairs when police are being attacked in a shopping high street in broad daylight. No one is safe, it seems.’
Inspector Simon Ellingham said officers were examining CCTV footage.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/18/2008 at 10:30 AM
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Permalink • The incredible moment a leopard attacks a crocodile
Clash of the Titans: The leopard attacks a crocodile in Kruger National Park
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:49 AM on 18th July 2008These are the incredible pictures which show the first ever leopard attack on a crocodile.
Hal Brindley snapped the amazing moment a leopard snatched a crocodile at a South African game reserve on the only occasion this behaviour has ever been documented worldwide.
The American wildlife photographer was taking pictures of hippos from his car at a waterhole in Kruger National Park when a speeding shape came out of the bushes and headed for the water.
After an initial struggle, onlookers stared in disbelief as the leopard emerged dragging a thrashing crocodile up the bank.
With its’ snout pointing upwards, the crocodile snapped and attempted to fight back as the predators flipped and tumbled in a dramatic battle.
But the leopard, who had it caught by the throat, remained in control as the crocodile’s legs clawed frantically at the cat’s belly, its jaws snapping at air.
There have been recorded cases of crocodiles killing leopards but never the other
way around as the meat a crocodile provides is not sufficient enough to justify the risk.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/18/2008 at 10:10 AM
Filed Under: • Nature •
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Permalink • Schoolgirl, 12, questioned by police for trying on nail polish (hey. she was wrong but)
Is it me because I’m now an old goat so far over the hill he can’t even see where he’s been?
Or are kids today really dumber in spite of the tech age?
First, I really do think the cops and manager and guard were a bit over the top. Wouldn’t one have been enuff? The kid wasn’t a criminal really she wasn’t.
Simply non thinking and maybe yeah, a bit stupid. Honestly people, I really do not think that she thought what she did was wrong. And that’s a different problem altogether IMHO.
And least you think it’s just Brit kids, no-no. My wife used to work as a supervisor in K-Mart many,many yrs ago. Boy did she bring home stories of what customers used to do. Not just the shoplifters and baddies. But folks who thought there was nothing wrong in tearing open packages in spite of open displays, and women opening a lipstick package and putting a smear on their lips to see what the color might look like, and then if not liking it simply putting it on the counter and picking up another they found that they did like. And these weren’t usually teens, surprising
So here finally is the story.
By Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 11:40AM BST 18/07/2008A 12-year grammar school girl was held by police for more than an hour and questioned on suspicion of shoplifting after trying on nail polish on one finger in a shop.
Hannah Gilbert painted one fingernail in the peach coloured Revlon varnish at a branch of Boots in Folkestone, Kent, after failing to find a suitable tester.She was caught by a security guard, questioned by three police officers who checked for criminal records and detained until her parents came to collect her and pay for the polish.
Barry and Cheryl Gilbert said they were read their rights and told their daughter could be forcibly restrained because she was over the age of 10 - even though she had made no attempt to escape.
They criticised the treatment as “heavy-handed” and demanded that the police apologise.
Mrs Gilbert said: “Hannah was scared and crying. The whole approach was very heavy handed.
“I find it incredibly hard to believe this was the most serious incident going on for the police.
“Frankly, this country has gone crazy. This is the sort of thing that just makes me want to pack our bags and leave as soon as Hannah’s finishing her schooling.”
The incident happened earlier this month during a trip to the town centre. Miss Gilbert, who lives 10 miles away in St Mary’s Bay, had only been allowed shopping on her own once before.
The Folkestone School for Girls’ pupil said: “I went into the shop and saw a nail polish which I thought looked alright.
“There were no testers so I put a tiny bit on my thumbnail. The security guard walked up behind me and said I had to pay for it or it would be theft.
“I was really scared. I had no money on me so he said I had to come into the office. “
Mrs Gilbert, a 46-year-old nurse, said: “She was kept for an hour in a small office with the security guard and a manager and the police were called.
“The security guard who caught her was grinning like he had caught a big fish. It was ridiculous.
“At first there were three officers there and when we got there it was just one. The officer told us our rights and that they had the power to forcibly restrain Hannah as she was over the age of 10 - it was completely over the top.
“One officer even told me that if I didn’t pay they would take Hannah in a police van to Folkestone Police station and charge her with theft.
“She’s not the kind of child to do something like that. And who was looking after the shop if the security guard was with my daughter? I would have thought that left them more open to crime.”
Mr and Mrs Gilbert paid the £6.29 price of the polish and pledged never to return to the shop.
A Boots spokesman said: “During the recent event at our Folkestone store we worked with Miss Gilbert and subsequent local law enforcement to ensure an effective resolution was met.
“Mrs Gilbert’s daughter remained on the premises until she was able to be released safely into the care of her parents.
“These safety measures are in place to ensure our customers have a continued safe shopping environment.”
A Kent police spokeswoman said: “Police were called to a store on Sandgate Road in Folkestone by the mother of a 12-year-old girl who had been stopped by shop security.
“No crime was reported and no further action has been taken.”
Posted by Drew458
on 07/18/2008 at 09:36 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - July 17, 2008
I think I’ve been out-cyniced!
I read lots of other blogs. I read a lot of comments too.
Over at Pajamas media, I read Rick Moran’s piece Obama Tries To Rewerite History, wherein he explores having BO applying Harry Turtledove-like alternate histories as an explanation for the flip-flops and the constant “down the memory hole” rewriting of the Big O website. The basic unstated premise is that the voters are brain dead zombies with no short term memory, and that the fawning media is only too eager to forget to mention all BO’s old positions and statements; they just lap up whatever drivel he spews today, and report on that in glowing terms. Barry could do a 180 tomorrow and another one the day after, and the media would hardly notice it, shifting their viewpoints effortlessly to match his. But some of us notice it, and some of us can remember more than a week or two into the past, and some of have keyboards ...
I would like to point out a few uncomfortable facts for Mr. Obama. As he speaks of “success” and even “victory” in Iraq, his own party has already given in to defeat as both the speaker of the House and Senate majority leader pronounced the war “lost” months ago. The overwhelming majority of Democrats see this war as lost and a failure. Obama himself saw the war as “a complete failure” last summer at the exact same time he was calling the surge a “failure” and agitating for an “immediate withdrawal” from Iraq. He made no mention of consulting with our generals, or the Iraqi government, or anyone else:
“Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq and there never was,” Obama said in excerpts of the speech provided to the Associated Press.
“The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq’s leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year — now,” the Illinois senator says.
Sounds pretty clear to me. But then, I guess I don’t quite have the knack of this counterfactual stuff because this is what he said on Tuesday: ...
Ok, Moran’s piece is decent, and it offers some explanation for the dynamic propaganda rewrites his website gets almost daily. But then I read the comments. From reader Mouse:
Truth is narrative. The truth about Iraq –what happened, Obama’s positions, the reality on the ground, the future– all this will be definitively written in the next few days during Barack’s over-seas trip. Barack will state it, the press will report it, and that will be History and that will be Truth.
With ten megatons of exposure everyone in America will then have the facts and that little six watt candle of a blog you’ve got won’t even be noticed, –and even if it is everyone will know you’re just making things up.
This anyway is what I think is the intent of Obama’s Chicago handlers: simply create reality through a lot of press, a reality favorable to Obama, and the only one most politically indifferent Americans will ever know.
Wow. He’s absolutely right. But to get there he may have to be an even greater cynic than I, with such lowered expectations that the hurdles that need jumping are in deep narrow slots in the ground. Damn. Reality is what TV tells us it is. Welcome to 1984, 24 years later. There is no content or thought. Today’s impression is all that matters. We are less than sheep.
Mr. Mouse also runs the Wannagetaburger blog where he expands on that theme a little, as he ties it into that New Yorker Magazine cover story from a couple days ago:
Working with a new concept. How about: Obama’s handlers aren’t political geniuses, but just very disciplined, well financed fellows with a script? By this idea, as long as the script is “correct”, in terms of responding to the given political dynamisms, they do all right. But when the dynamism changes, and they have to adapt, they stumble.
The illustration on point would be Iraq. It was supposed to be a quagmire, nobody foresaw the turn-around coming (nobody on the left). Barack would run as the antiwar candidate of superior judgment. But there has been a turn-around and his judgment stinks, and his attempt to reposition himself has been immensely clumsy, such that now nobody knows for sure just what his position is but neither the right nor the left trust him.
...
ertainly it was expected that if he won the primaries he would then tack toward the center. But there was no thought that he would have to tack to the center on Iraq, which would remain a disaster. Now that it’s not a disaster, but his repositioning is, he’s going to Iraq. But this is a seat-or-the-pants move, it wasn’t in the script, and I doubt that the puppet masters have any idea how it’s going to turn out.I do though, expect that they know exactly what they’re going to attempt: It’s not that Barack is going to adjust his views to the reality on the ground, it’s that with all the publicity, reality is going to be made to adjust to his views.
His Iraq speech of a few days ago will be his position --still a 16 month time table. His speech after he comes back will affirm that the reality he saw on the ground supports the prescient judgment made in that speech before he left. Never mind whether it does or not, the press will define what Barack says as what is real. After all, reality is narrative, and the massive media coverage will confirm that what he saw is true and that what he suggests is wise.
I presume this is their intent, to use the fawning massive media to define a reality that will work until November.
But, there’s HOPE that some CHANGE will come about ... his reason that Obama will lose, and that the media will knock a couple holes in his stuffed shirt etc is that New York isn’t about to let Chicago steal the Spin Machine. Which also explains the magazine cover pretty well, as his earlier post shows. Today’s comment and post are a reiteration and extension of an earlier post that tries to suggest that Richard Daley is the King Maker here. But back to today’s alternate reality: allowing their Dem guy to lose is a fair price for NY to pay to keep their keys to the machine.
Damn. I have been out-cynic-ed!
read a little more in the NY Sun:
The reality is that without Mr. Daley’s backing, Mr. Obama would be running a very different kind of campaign. Part of the tactical genius for Mr. Obama’s campaign has been provided by his campaign consultant, David Axelrod, who also is a longtime operative in Mr. Daley’s operation.
A columnist with the Chicago Tribune, John Kass, explained the arrangement in an interview with CNN: “Richard M. Daley is the boss of [the] Chicago Machine. His spokesman was David Axelrod. Their candidate is Barack Obama. Who speaks for Barack Obama? David Axelrod. There’s no such thing as coincidences. Chicago politics doesn’t have coincidences.”
Interesting. And not something you read in every single right wing blog every day. Or hear on the news, ever. I’ve got to think about this some, because I don’t see the Why of it yet. What’s in it for Daley? Is Obama his Manchurian Candidate? To what end?
Posted by Drew458
on 07/17/2008 at 09:45 PM
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Politics •
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Permalink • Another first for Sci-Fi wonder material
Here’s a neat way to use up any extra carbon credits you might have lying around [/sarc]: Graphene. Huh? Graphene is a very recently discovered material. It’s carbon, but bonded together like a honeycomb. Graphene is the individual layers that make up graphite, carbon nanotubes, and buckyballs.
This is some amazing shizzle. It’s just about straight out of a Larry Niven novel. Heck, it might be more sci-fi than any sci-fi material yet written about
- Since the honeycomb lattice is only 1 atom thick, graphene is essentially two dimensional. It has length and width, but no height (one carbon atom high, and carbon is a small atom).
- Graphene has just been shown to be the strongest stuff on earth, many many many times stronger than steel or titanium.
Hone compares his test to stretching a piece of plastic wrap over the top of a coffee cup, and measuring the force that it takes to puncture it with a pencil. If he could get a large enough piece of the material to lay over the top of a coffee cup, he says, graphene would be strong enough to support the weight of a car balanced atop the pencil.
- Graphene has already been used to create the smallest transistor ever, just 1 atom wide by 10 atoms long
- Graphene is much more heat resistant than silicone, so those hot running microchips wouldn’t burn up if made from it. Plus with transistors at the atomic level, even the most massive chip would be smaller than a “picochip”. Make it into paint and you get fireproof houses that never need exterior maintenance.
- Speaking of chips and circuity stuff, graphene is about the closest thing to superconductor cloth that’s ever been. It pushes electrons along at a million meters per second
- Even better, graphene can propagate a surface charge about 130 times faster than a silicon wafer; circuits made from it really should be “lightning” fast
- You could make clothes out of it too. A one atom thick sheet of it is opaque. Plus those clothes would never wear out either. And an entire outfit might weigh a quarter ounce. And if you had a trailing thread, you just might be lightning proof while wearing it!
Right now the stuff is so new that it’s properties are still be discovered. Then we have to figure out how to actually make the stuff in usable quantities. But hey, once upon a time aluminum was the most expensive metal on earth, until folks figured out the electric furnace. The other good news is there is a nearly limitless supply of carbon on Earth. So go about your lives for now. This one might take a decade or so to figure out. By that time we’ll have nanotubes and buckyballs for everything too. But when it does happen ...
we won’t need steel,
we won’t need wood,
we won’t need copper,
we won’t need taters,
we won’t need cotton,
when we have graphene,
they’re all forgotten,
but old man ribba,
he jus keeps rollin along.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/17/2008 at 04:35 PM
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries •
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Permalink • When gun owners attack … each other
Get a grip people ... and take a pill.
Comment flames surround Tammy Bruce over her “me and Snuffy” picture she uses for radio promos and stuff. (Snuffy is her snubby):
People just drop their biscuits over this one, because she has her finger on the trigger. Comment flames ensue. It’s a publicity pic folks, not the Eddie Eagle safety program manual. Tammy then saddles up her high horse and goes for a trot around the paddock, labeling them what object to pics of violatin’ Gun Rule #2 as “Trigger Nazis”. More flames ensue. Publicity stunt, honest expression of her rights, deserved chastising of the over reactive busybodies, or an irresponsible untrained individual mouthing off? You decide. I can see both sides, and I also tire of the “watch every move you make so you don’t give gun owners a bad name” idea. And where did this “training” meme come from? The phrase don’t say “the right of the properly trained and forever safety paramount people to keep and bear arms”.
Such a reaction is actually lame compared to the sparks generated at Jeff’s page when he objects to the “sport” of live pigeon shooting. Add a bit of booze to the comment stream and it gets really nasty. And every one of these commenters are gun people. Every last one.
Some people are willing to have their pictures taken wherein they exhibit a more casual attitude towards guns. I think that’s supposed to make them look sexy or dangerous. All I know is, if I see them acting like that around me in real life with real guns, then it’s time for me to go. Posing for a picture? Big whup. Just don’t load live ammo, m’kay?
Some of the shooting sports and outdoor recreational activities don’t sit well with others. Does that make those activities wrong? OTOH, try putting yourself into an 1855 “states rights” frame of mind, or think about the old Dred Scott decision before reading the “pro” comments over at Alphecca. Strangely parallel ain’t it?
This kind of thing goes on all the time. What Jeff labels the “People of the Gun” need to cut each other some slack once in a while. Right Zumbo?
Posted by Drew458
on 07/17/2008 at 01:59 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
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Permalink • Darwin Missed One
Look up Looney Loser in the dictionary and you should find this guy:
A 27-year-old Avondale Arizona man has been arrested on suspicion of causing a massive power outage last summer in Goodyear’s Estrella community.
The outage knocked out power to nearly 4,000 homes for 19 hours June 18, 2007, when Goodyear’s high reached 115 degrees.
David Limas was arrested July 7 in Avondale at a house on Locus Lane, just east of Central Avenue. Police said they delayed announcing the arrest to allow for additional investigation. The said they think the suspect acted alone.
According to police, officers arrested the suspect on a tip from the public. He reportedly told investigators he cut down the pole because he enjoyed the sparks it made.
Police said Limas was on probation in connection with a May 2006 burglary and copper theft arrest at the time of the outage. He faces one felony count each of arson and aggravated criminal damage.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/17/2008 at 01:29 PM
Filed Under: • Crime • Stoopid-People •
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Permalink • NOT SATISFIED WITH IRISH VOTE, FRENCH PRES. SAYS VOTE AGAIN.
I wrote this with some frustration more then a year ago. Therre’s a reason for me posting something almost out of date. Yeah I know. ‘07.
Well apparently the same sort of thinking exists still.
You’ll see what I mean after this rant.
PEIPER RANT FOR APRIL 29, 2007
Authorities here arrested a couple of terrorists from Libya. Police have proof positive what they were up to and what they were planning. AND, they weren’t here legally anyway.
Also, it’s beyond doubt they are a danger to the public if not now then they will be if given half a chance. BUT ....
THEY CAN’T BE DEPORTED. Why? Because there’s a danger that if sent back to their home country, they could face torture or death.
AHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who gives a flip? I want em graveyard dead. Oh .... can’t do that. Against the Euro-pee-on convention on human rights. And England is a member of the EU. And 69 percent of the population would like to disengage. But this democracy won’t allow that.Just to show you how things are. Pay attention cause this is real. Not makin’ it up. The EU has been pushing (with very strong support from the Germans) for a European constitution that would legally bind member states. Even now, there are rules and regs in place that bind the Brits to laws passed in Brussels. (a constitution along the lines of USA but stronger because there would hardly be any states rights) has been pushed again and again.
Well, the politicians who want it thought they had a winning hand and decided to put the idea to the voters of member countries thru a referendum. They were totally convinced the people were behind em. Big mistake.
So there were gonna be these referendums last year and Europe got the biggest shock it’s had since the Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939.
French voters, of all people, voted NO! Now the govt. in France was all for this constitution and wanted a recount. Then, another huge surprise. Holland also voted NO!
It was England’s turn next to hold the referendum here and put it before the voters. But guess what? Mr Blair and the Labour (left) party knew exactly how Brits would vote, and so CANCELLED the referendum! The Germans (the big guns, no pun, behind a strong EU) suggested that the constitution be put in place anyway.
Well that didn’t go anywhere. Then the Germans said, lets give these voters a second chance to see their mistake (they actually said that) and have them vote again to correct their first mistake. That was greeted with some angry voices and everything died down. For awhile. Till this week.
The new German leader, Angela Merkle, (I might not have spelled her name right but who cares) sent out an email meant to be private. You would think that with the lessons of history with regard to things Germans write down and pass to others, she might have avoided so public a medium for something meant to be very PRIVATE!
But no. She’s a daughter of the Fatherland after all. No slur intended as we Americans haven’t always been too swift keeping things under wraps either.
What her email said was that the EU must have a constitution and that the way to get it, was by stealth. Alright, she didn’t use that last word. I did. But her suggestion amounted to the same. She wanted to substitute another word in place of constitution and smooth the path for it’s passing without a referendum.
Every single thing that Hitler predicted (except for a war between the USA and the Soviets) with regard to who would be calling the shots in Europe within a few years of German defeat in war, has pretty much come to pass. He also wanted a united Europe, under German rule of course.
Seems some Germans still do.
Stay Tuned
FAST FORWARD TO PRESENT DATE. JULY 2008 SEE BELOW.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/17/2008 at 09:08 AM
Filed Under: • Editorials • EUro-peons •
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Permalink • AP reluctantly starts to sing Die Walküre
Throughout the country, al-Qaida in Iraq, an insurgent organization thought to be affiliated with the global terrorist network but comprised mainly of Iraqis, has lost so much clout it is close to becoming irrelevant to the outcome of the war.
What did you say there? Did I hear you say the surge actually worked?
When President Bush announced in January 2007 that he was sending more than 21,000 extra U.S. combat troops to Iraq — mostly to the Baghdad area — as part of a new approach to fighting the insurgency, commanders said their No. 1 focus was degrading al-Qaida’s ability to foment sectarian violence.
In the Latifiyah area, it’s not hard to see that goal appears to have been achieved — an accomplishment that adds to the expectation that Bush will be able to further reduce U.S. troop levels this fall.
That soldiers are looking elsewhere for a battle is a testament to how much Iraq has changed from a year ago, when violence was at its height. Now it’s the lowest in four years, thanks to the U.S. troop surge, the turn by former Sunni insurgents against al-Qaida in Iraq, and Iraqi government crackdowns on Shiite militias.
There is no available official estimate of the number of al-Qaida fighters in Iraq. A U.S. intelligence estimate early this year put it at a maximum of 6,000, although it probably has fallen far lower recently. Perhaps more importantly, U.S. officers said in a series of Associated Press interviews over the past 10 days that so many al-Qaida leaders have been captured or killed that its remnants are ineffective.
Did you say something about failed policies?
Col. Al Batschelet, chief of staff for the U.S. command overseeing military operations in the Baghdad area, said that once the leadership began disappearing, lower-level technicians were pressed into duty.
That had the effect of accelerating the group’s decline: the technical experts were not as good at organizing and executing attacks, and by taking the lead they exposed themselves to being captured or killed. That, in turn, has left even less-technically skilled fighters to perform the specialized work of assembling bombs like al-Qaida’s signature weapon, the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, officers said.
What do you call these fighters again? Weren’t they the new Minutemen? Holy warriors? Freedom Fighters?
Stephen Biddle, an Iraq watcher in Washington at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in an interview that without an urban hideout, al-Qaida is reduced to the role of being ”furtive terrorists.”
Ok, AP tries so hard to minimize it. But I pulled the core points for you. The whole thing, with their endless picayune caveats, is here.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/17/2008 at 07:04 AM
Filed Under: • Iraq • War On Terror •
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Permalink • Wednesday - July 16, 2008
Long Term Study Shows Atkins Most Effective Diet Method
The Atkins diet may have proved itself after all: A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest studies to compare the dueling weight-loss techniques. A bigger surprise: The low-carb diet improved cholesterol more than the other two. Some critics had predicted the opposite.
“It is a vindication,” said Abby Bloch of the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation, a philanthropy group that honors the Atkins’ diet’s creator and was the study’s main funder.
However, all three approaches — the low-carb diet, a low-fat diet and a so-called Mediterranean diet — achieved weight loss and improved cholesterol. The study is remarkable not only because it lasted two years, much longer than most, but also because of the huge proportion of people who stuck with the diets — 85 percent.
Pretty neat. I remember when Atkins was all the rage, and the critics all had this major Stuck On Stupid criticism: Atkins doesn’t work once you stop dieting. Well, duh! Morons.
The research was done in a controlled environment — an isolated nuclear research facility in Israel. The 322 participants got their main meal of the day, lunch, at a central cafeteria ...
In the cafeteria, the appropriate foods for each diet were identified with colored dots, using red for low-fat, green for Mediterranean and blue for low-carb.
As for breakfast and dinner, the dieters were counseled on how to stick to their eating plans and were asked to fill out questionnaires on what they ate, Stampfer said.The low-fat diet — no more than 30 percent of calories from fat — restricted calories and cholesterol and focused on low-fat grains, vegetables and fruits as options. The Mediterranean diet had similar calorie, fat and cholesterol restrictions, emphasizing poultry, fish, olive oil and nuts.
The low-carb diet set limits for carbohydrates, but none for calories or fat. It urged dieters to choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein.
“So not a lot of butter and eggs and cream,” said Madelyn Fernstrom, a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center weight management expert who reviewed the study but was not involved in it.
But that’s what Atkins IS: red meat, butter, eggs, cream. And your one cup of dry salad a day.
Average weight loss for those in the low-carb group was 10.3 pounds after two years. Those in the Mediterranean diet lost 10 pounds, and those on the low-fat regimen dropped 6.5.
More surprising were the measures of cholesterol. Critics have long acknowledged that an Atkins-style diet could help people lose weight but feared that over the long term, it may drive up cholesterol because it allows more fat.
But the low-carb approach seemed to trigger the most improvement in several cholesterol measures, including the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL, the “good” cholesterol. For example, someone with total cholesterol of 200 and an HDL of 50 would have a ratio of 4 to 1. The optimum ratio is 3.5 to 1, according to the American Heart Association.
Doctors see that ratio as a sign of a patient’s risk for hardening of the arteries. “You want that low,” Stampfer said.
The ratio declined by 20 percent in people on the low-carb diet, compared to 16 percent in those on the Mediterranean and 12 percent in low-fat dieters.
But was this really a vindication for Atkins? Because these people weren’t really doing the Atkins diet. Atkins lets you eat all the red meat you want. Actually it specifically says not to get your protien from vegetable sources. Ok, the study was done in Israel, so of course there wasn’t bacon or pork chops, but this emphasis on beans and fish? What the heck is that all about? Maybe they were trying to save money or something.
I did the Atkins diet 5 years ago. I was at least 75 pounds overweight. My wife and I were both out of work that summer, and her mother needed a complete kitchen remodeling. Seriously, it was Board Of Health time if we didn’t make some fixes. And the MIL was 100+ lbs overweight herself. So the three of us decided to suffer together. For 94 days of broiling summer we did the kitchen. What started out as a simple project grew and grew and grew, until we wound up ripping the place right down to the studs and the joists and even replacing them due to dry rot. New subflooring, new wallboard, insulation, new ceiling, 5 new circuits with GFI, new lighting, all new appliances, ducted fan, new cabinets and floor tiles and paint. A custom butcher block work surface installed specifically for someone her height (4’9"). And stained coped moulding, which is the ultimate bitch job if you don’t know how its done. And I didn’t. So I worked my ass off every day, all summer long. And we followed Atkins like we were religious converts. And I did 85% of all the work, and learned to be a master drywaller, and learned to hate old houses with a rare passion. And frameless cabinetry. That crap still gives me nightmares. Spend the extra money and get real cabinets. The frameless models will suck your soul dry when the MIL decides she wants matching clear oak moulding.
Atkins has this entry phase they call “induction”. It says you only have to do it for 2 weeks, but you’ll lose more weight if you stay on it longer. So we stayed on induction 6 weeks, until we were ready to kill each other. I remember the three of us going to McDonald’s one night, buying some burgers and throwing away the buns, eating what was left with a plastic fork. We just couldn’t take it any more, and wheedled the employees into giving us free fries. One. Fry. Each. It was beyond pathetic. Anyway, at the end of the “3 week” project I had lost 60lbs, and I’ve got “owesies” on my MIL for the rest of her life, even if she lives to be 120.
But we had eggs and bacon for breakfast every day. Lots of bacon. And steaks. And chops. And cheese. And fat, fat, and more fat. And our one cup of dry salad a day. And no bread, and no sugar. It was awful. But it gets easier over time they claimed! Like. Bloody. Hell. The only thing that gets easier is your urge to kill. But, to be fair, this was the only time in my life I ever went on a diet, so I don’t know what being on any other kind of diet is like. And 5 years later, after eating whatever the heck I wanted when I wanted, I’ve gained most of it back. It’s time to give it another go. Guys with a lot to loose usually drop 20lbs in the first 2 weeks; so even if you only last a month it will get you off to a good start.
So I guess my wandering point is that an average loss of 10.5lbs seems rather slight to me. Maybe these skinny desert nerds didn’t have much to lose in the first place.
Posted by Drew458
on 07/16/2008 at 09:19 PM
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Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
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On: 07/09/17 03:07
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
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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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