Monday - December 29, 2008

geriactric humor

If these don’t apply to you already, they will soon enough.

An elderly gentleman ...
Had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%
The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, ‘Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.’
The gentleman replied, ‘Oh, I haven’t told my family yet.
I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!’

******************************

Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement center were sitting on a bench under a tree when one turns to the other and says: ‘Slim, I’m 83 years old now and I’m just full of aches and pains. I know you’re about my age. How do you feel?’
Slim says, ‘I feel just like a newborn baby.’
‘Really!? Like a newborn baby!?’
‘Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants.’

******************************

An elderly couple had dinner at another couple’s house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen.
The two gentlemen were talking, and one said, ‘Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great. I would recommend it very highly.’
The other man said, ‘What is the name of the restaurant?’
The first man thought and thought and finally said, ‘What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love?
You know… The one that’s red and has thorns.’
‘Do you mean a rose?’
‘Yes, that’s the one,’ replied the man. He then turned towards the kitchen and yelled, ‘Rose, what’s the name of that restaurant we went to last night?’

******************************

Hospital regulations require a wheel chair for patients being discharged. However, while working as a student nurse, I found one elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet, who insisted he didn’t need my help to leave the hospital.
After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let me wheel him to the elevator.
On the way down I asked him if his wife was meeting him.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘She’s still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown.’

******************************

Couple in their nineties are both having problems remembering things. During a checkup, the doctor tells them that they’re physically okay, but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember

Later that night, while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair. ‘Want anything while I’m in the kitchen?’ he asks.
‘Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?’
‘Sure.’
‘Don’t you think you should write it down so you can remember it?’ she asks.
‘No, I can remember it.’
‘Well, I’d like some strawberries on top, too. Maybe you should write it down, so’s not to forget it?’
He says, ‘I can remember that. You want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries. ‘
‘I’d also like whipped cream. I’m certain you’ll forget that, write it down?’ she asks.
Irritated, he says, ‘I don’t need to write it down, I can remember it! Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream - I got it, for goodness sake!’
Then he toddles into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes,
The old man returns from the kitchen and hands his wife a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment.
‘Where’s my toast ?’

******************************

A senior citizen said to his eighty-year old buddy:
‘So I hear you’re getting married?’
‘Yep!’
‘Do I know her?’
‘Nope!’
‘This woman, is she good looking?’
‘Not really.’
‘Is she a good cook?’
‘Naw, she can’t cook too well.’
‘Does she have lots of money?’
‘Nope! Poor as a church mouse.’
‘Well, then, is she good in bed?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Why in the world do you want to marry her then?’
‘Because she can still drive!’

******************************

Three old guys are out walking.
First one says, ‘Windy, isn’t it?’
Second one says, ‘No, it’s Thursday!’
Third one says, ‘So am I. Let’s go get a beer.’

******************************

A man was telling his neighbor, ‘I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it’s state of the art. It’s perfect.’
‘Really,’ answered the neighbor . ‘What kind is it?’
‘Twelve thirty.’

******************************

Morris, an 82 year-old man, went to the doctor to get a physical.
A few days later, the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman on his arm.
A couple of days later, the doctor spoke to Morris and said, ‘You’re really doing great, aren’t you?’
Morris replied, ‘Just doing what you said, Doc: ‘Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.’’
The doctor said, ‘I didn’t say that. I said, ‘You’ve got a heart murmur; be careful.’

******************************

A little old man shuffled slowly into an ice cream parlor and pulled himself slowly, painfully, up onto a stool.. After catching his breath, he ordered a banana split.
The waitress asked kindly, ‘Crushed nuts?’
‘No,’ he replied, ‘Arthritis.’

Hey, #8 applies to me already!
Sent in by the other Carole. Thanks!

Posted by Drew458     on 12/29/2008 at 02:24 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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Pictured as he waited to die: Patient subjected to 6-hour delay in A&E - dies in agony.oops, sorry?

The longer I’m here the scarder I get.
This is almost an unbelievable story. 

I was getting ready to close for the night and did a quick scan to see if there was anything that shouldn’t be missed.
Oh boy was there. THIS. And although it won’t bring back the poor guy, I hope the family sues BIG TIME and some ppl lose their jobs and never be allowed to work in the health field again.  Jeesh!

Pictured as he waited to die: Father subjected to 6-hour delay in A&E - despite GP’s note that said he had to be seen immediately

By Colin Fernandez
Last updated at 5:19 PM on 29th December 2008

A father-of-two died after a six-hour wait to be seen at an A&E department - despite having a note from his GP saying he must be treated immediately.

Stewart Fleming, 37, turned up at his local casualty unit with wife Sarah clutching a note from his doctor saying he must be seen ‘straight away’.

But instead of being sent to the head of the queue, Mr Fleming had to sit and wait in agony as his organs collapsed as a virus ravaged his body.

It was three hours before he was even assessed to see if he was a ‘priority case’, and even then it took another three hours for him to be admitted - six hours since he arrived at the hospital.

Doctors then realised the gravity of the situation and desperately started treating the infection, which was attacking his heart, kidneys and liver.

His nightmare began on December 12 when he arrived at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent.

Railway signalman Mr Fleming had been ill with flu-like symptoms for around a week and a half before he went to accident and emergency.

After a course of antibiotics had little effect, his GP recommended going to the hospital.

After belatedly receiving treatment, he remained in hospital for another week before having a leg amputated on December 19 - the day of his son Matthew’s 12th birthday.

He was then put in a drug-induced coma in a bid to save his life.

But, on December 27, after spending another week fighting the illness following his transferall to the Harefield Hospital, near Uxbridge, West London, Mr Fleming died.

The hospital in Kent has since apologised as it was busier than normal ‘due to a high number of admissions’.

But Mr Fleming’s wife of 15 years Sarah, 42, said the family, of Rainham, Kent, was devastated by her husband’s death and has demanded an explanation from hospital chiefs.

MORE HERE AND PIX AS HOSP. FUCKS UP

Posted by peiper     on 12/29/2008 at 12:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine • Medical • Outrageous • UK •  
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Video: Great white shark circles kayakers and fishermen in Sydney .

Amazing footage of the moment a group of kayakers and fishermen found themselves being circled by a great white shark has been released.

By Jon Swaine
Last Updated: 1:27PM GMT 29 Dec 2008

One of the group was even knocked into the water by the shark, and was forced to tread water while the man-eating creature circled him for a minute.

The incident took place in Sydney, Australia, on the same day that Brian Guest, of Perth, was killed by a shark on the other side of the country.

Steve Kulcsar, the 29-year-old kayaker who was knocked overboard, told the Australian Daily Telegraph: “A fisherman yelled out, ‘There’s a 5m shark coming your way.’ We all thought he was just trying to stir us up for a laugh, but a few moments later, a big fin appeared.”

SHARK STORY

Posted by peiper     on 12/29/2008 at 11:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals •  
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Muslims protest before Israeli Embassy in London.

A not so “peaceful” protest by the followers of the ROP in London brought traffic to a standstill.

They were of course protesting the awful brutish bloodthirsty Israelis, who had the damn nerve to complain about rocket attacks against them, coming from Gaza.

Imagine that if you can.  Rockets fired from Gaza.  Israelis say stop. Hamas say haha what you gonna do about it?
Israel replies by going BOOM on Gaza and now these folks try and storm the Israeli Embassy in London and cause grief for bystanders.
That’s something muzzies have a habit of doing, isn’t it?  Here’s a shot of a peaceful muzzie. Looks perfectly reasonable. For a muslim. It almost looks human.

Way back in time before many of the folks here at BMEWS were around, there was a war in the Middle East in ‘48 and again in ‘67 and there were other times as well.  What I recall vividly however was the lack of any street protests by angry Jews.  What I do remember vividly were the stories and the arguments in the press, about the number of American Jews who volunteered to go over there and fight for Israel.  As American citizens they were not supposed to do that.
But it was early days for the young state and warm bodies were needed for the cause.  So they went.

They didn’t do street protests because there wasn’t time to engage in that sort of thing. Not that they had em much back in the late 40’s. But the point is, unlike these pictured protesters who will accomplish NOTHING but a traffic disruption, the Jews from America and I should mention the UK as well, in fact all that could go from where ever they were, did so.  This lame group of open mouthed non-entities find it much easier to shout at a building then go and actually fight for the ppl on whose behalf they are holding up traffic.

What?  you want them to fight?  Against armed Israelis? Go on.  Risk getting a boo-boo from an Israeli soldier or tank?  Much easier tossing bomb into crowd of unarmed civilians and safer too.  And a lot easier and cozy right here in London fighting traffic.

So there.  That’s my comment on this group of losers.  Now then ....

I’m ready for some Eye Candy.  So here.  Enjoy the shot.

Right. I see why they’d rather stay in London. 

UPDATE: Peiper, there was something wrong with your picture of the protester. Lemme see ... I think maybe I can ... you betcha!

See? All better now.

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by peiper     on 12/29/2008 at 09:50 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Editorials • Paleswine • RoPMA •  
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Israel pounds Gaza for third day: Interior ministry destroyed.

Early in the morning for some places in BMEWS so thought I’d post this now.

Israel kept up its bombardment of Gaza overnight expanding its targets to include an Islamic university and government buildings such as the interior ministry.

By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 8:29AM GMT 29 Dec 2008

Local Palestinian medical sources said six Palestinian children were among the estimated 300 people killed in the attacks, including four sisters aged from 1 to 12 whose house was hit when Israel tried to bomb a nearby mosque.

The night skyline was lit up repeatedly by huge explosions as Israeli F- 16s dropped laser-guided precision munitions on targets inside the densely populated of Gaza City and Rafah.

Witnesses said the Islamic University was struck at least six times and the interior ministry headquarters levelled by bombs.

The ministry was run by Hamas and the university had close links to the Islamist movement.

Israel issued a statement claiming the university labs were used by Hamas as a weapons manufacturing and development centre and it accused university lecturers of teaching bomb-making.

For the first time since operation Cast Lead began on Saturday, Israeli warships got involved, firing naval artillery at positions close to the main port in Gaza City.

Dead and injured Palestinians continued to be brought to Gaza’s hospitals with local medical sources saying the death toll since Saturday had reached 307. The number of injured has climbed to 1,400.

Four girls from the same family aged from one to 12 years old were killed in an air raid in the northern town of Jabaliya that targeted a mosque near their home.

Two boys were killed in raid in the southern city of Rafah, and a seventh person killed was a Hamas member.

With Israel showing no sign of heeding international calls for an end to hostilities the people of Gaza were left guessing what the next range of targets would include.

The centre of Gaza City was plunged into darkness after the local power station stopped functioning because Israel had refused to allow deliveries of diesel oil needed by the generators.

Israel provides most of the power to the Gaza Strip although a local power station, bombed by Israel in 2006 but now partially repaired, provided electricity to Gaza City’s most densely populated area.

The antiquated switching system of Gaza’s power distribution network meant that the power still coming in from Israel could not be diverted to Gaza City so the hundreds of thousands of people got set for lengthy power cuts.

Israel took care to justify the bombing raids on the Islamic University issuing the following statement: “One of the structures struck housed explosives laboratories that were an inseparable part of Hamas’ research and development program, as well as places that served as storage facilities for the organization.

“The development of these weapons took place under the auspices of senior lecturers who are activists in Hamas.

“Among the weapons that have been developed and manufactured at this site are Qassam rockets.

“Hamas has been working tirelessly to extend the range of the rockets, as has been shown during the past few days.”

Israel has repeatedly said the operation could last a long time. The aim is to stop militants in Gaza firing rockets into Israel.

Israel has threatened to launch a ground assault and is now calling up 6,500 army reservists.

An Israeli civilian was also killed this morning by a rocket fired by militants from Gaza. He was hit while working in the centre of the Israeli port of Ashkelon, about eight miles north of the Gaza Strip.

He is the second Israeli to be killed by rocket fire from Gaza since Israel launched the operation.

GAZA

Posted by peiper     on 12/29/2008 at 09:27 AM   
Filed Under: • Israel • Terrorists • War On Terror • War-Stories •  
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Republican party candidate distributes racist Barack Obama song.

I don’t suppose this is news to BMEWS but it’s just being reported here.

I went to the site at Rush and tried listening to it.  First, I didn’t think it was clever or really witty. Cute? Funny? Depends on your sense of humor.
I thought it was sort of juvenile.

I guess it could be thought to be funny because there are a couple of clever lines in the parody.  But the production quality was, in my opinion, very poor.
Maybe it was supposed to be.  My background is in recording studios and so perhaps I expect too much.  I admit I did not listen to it all. Not because of the content. I had no problem with that. It was the sound that I found very annoying and because of that alone, it was hard to listen to. Like it was recorded on a phone line.

A candidate to lead the Republican party is facing a wave of criticism after he sent other senior US politicians a Christmas CD featuring the song “Barack the Magic Negro”.

By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 10:02AM GMT 29 Dec 2008

Chip Saltsman, who is campaigning to become chairman of the Republican National Committee, defended the tune as one of several “lighthearted political parodies” that have aired on Right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh’s show.  MAGIC NEGRO

The 2007 ditty by conservative comedian Paul Shanklin, which is sung to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon, calls into question the President-elect’s racial identity. In the song, Shanklin, doing an impression of the New York activist the Reverend Al Sharpton, sings: “They’ll vote for him but not for me because he’s not from the ‘hood.

“See, real black men, like Snoop Dogg, or me, or Farrakhan, have talked the talk, and walked the walk, not come in late and won.”

The song picked up on a March 2007 comment article in the liberal Los Angeles Times in which David Ehrenstein argued that part of Mr Obama’s role was “to assuage white ‘guilt’ over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history”.

It was part of a collection of 41 songs by Shanklin on a CD titled We Hate the USA that Mr Saltsman, who managed Mike Huckabee’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, sent to Republican party members with the message: “I look forward to working together in the New Year”.

Mr Saltsman was condemned by the current party chairman Mike Duncan, who is running for re-election.

“The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party,” he said in a statement. “I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction.”

Ada Fisher, one of three black Republican party members, responded in an open letter: “Racist actions and deeds have no place in the party. The lack of sensitivity in understanding the historical election we just had and the challenges this nation faces as we must bind our wounds as well as bring our people together requires that we set aside our biases.”

But Mr Saltsman was unrepentant: “Liberal Democrats and their allies in the media didn’t utter a word about David Ehrenstein’s irresponsible column in the Los Angeles Times last March,” he said.

“But now, of course, they’re shocked and appalled by its parody on the Rush Limbaugh Show.

“I firmly believe that we must welcome all Americans into our party and that the road to Republican resurgence begins with unity, not division. But I know that our party leaders should stand up against the media’s double standards and refuse to pander to their desire for scandal.”

He told The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper, that members of the Republican committee have “the good humour and good sense” to see Shanklin’s tunes as “lighthearted political parodies”.

TELEGRAPH

OK SO A QUESTION FOR BMEWS.

Should this guy have known better then to mail out the CD?  Shouldn’t he have envisioned the criticism ‘to the party’ before mailing something out to many people he was going to be working with?  Was it irresponsible?  True, it was 2007 originally and true the libs are just making political hay which we’d do as well and you know that’s true.  Heck, I can’t see our side missing an opportunity like that were it a dem. who produced the CD.

I think he should have known he was giving the Democrats a free gift.  As individuals we might be excused for a bit of silliness perhaps. 
But not if you’re hoping to be a leader of a major political party that some folks already believe is a second cousin to the klan.  Please lets be honest about it, this simply reinforces the negative attitudes about us.  Do we really need that?

Posted by peiper     on 12/29/2008 at 08:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Politics • Racism and race relations • Republicans •  
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   Sunday - December 28, 2008

Liberal, Conservative, what’s the difference?

Finally, somebody wrote a piece that succinctly defines the difference between liberal fascist moonbats and compassionate conservatives. He is Christopher Chantrill at The American Thinker. He wrote, in part:

“This is the basic conflict between liberals and conservatives. Liberals believe you can solve social problems with government programs. Conservatives believe that you must solve them person-to-person, face-to-face. Compassion means, literally, “suffering with.” Getting paid to run a government program to help the poor with tax dollars isn’t “suffering with.”

Exactly. This is the true ‘trickle down’ economics: government, be it local, state, or federal, rakes in billions through the threat of force, and ‘trickles down’ just enough to keep you breathing. Good times or bad, Government never seems to “suffer with” us at all.

I do my “charitable” works personally with people I know through various venues: family, church, work, neighborhood, etc. I don’t (usually) just send money off to some big, impersonal government ‘welfare’ organization (like United Way) so that they can skim a few hundred thousand off the top for themselves and ‘trickle down’ some pennies to those in need. That doesn’t count what those government ‘charities’ seize by force from my paycheck…

Go read the whole article entitled The Conservative Elevator Story.

I guess George W. Bush was right when he used the phrase ‘compassionate conservative’. I hated it because I thought it was redundant, but I couldn’t quite point out why I thought that.

Posted by Christopher     on 12/28/2008 at 07:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Editorials • Government • Personal • Philosophy •  
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Gaza: Running the Numbers

RE: the situation in Gaza and Israel’s response to it.

Comment by BlueStateSaint: “Run an Arc Light for the entire length and width of the Gaza Strip.” and blow the entire place even closer to Hell.

Now, just for sick fun, just how much work would that be? Let’s take a look at some numbers. Air Force types with more accurate information than mine are free to provide better numbers.

I looked at things, and concluded that it’s more a matter of logistics than practicality. You can do the job in less than 4 days with only 80 bombers. If you can add twenty dozen fighter planes into the mix the job can be done in less than 3 days. The problem really boils down to where you can field the planes from, and how fast you can get each reloaded and back into the sky.

Want to see the math?  I’ve read that a B52 can carry 50 one ton bombs. If the assured destructive blast radius of one of those bombs is 75 meters (what bombers call the PI, and I’m using a PI of over .8, which means an 80% destructive rate), how many bombs does it take to level all of Gaza? We want to kill everyone and their goats, and leave no buildings standing.

It turns out that the real limit of this operation is how fast you can reload and launch each airplane. If you can get a bomber into the air every 2 minutes, and land another one every 2 minutes, then you can cycle 15 bombers per hour, or about 20 every 90 minutes. Use the British air base in Akrotiri Cyprus. You would have to refuel the planes about every 3rd flight from Cyprus. The smart move would be to get to work right now to build a second strip parallel to the first one. Put 2000 men on the job and it should be done in two weeks or less. Then you can cycle more than double the number of planes, about 40 per hour. You would need a small army of bomb loaders.

Israel is so close it ain’t even worth flying bombers from there. Instead use Israel’s air bases to launch fighter planes, which can probably carry 4 of these bombs each. So every 12 fighters would equal one bomber. Bring in a couple carriers just over the horizon ... between the US Navy and the IDF, can we put 240 fighters on the job? Let’s assume we can.

If we can put 80 B52s into a continuous bomber stream, and they take off from the British air base at Akrotiri in southern Cyprus ... only 230 miles from target ... half an hour each way, 15 minutes over target, 15 minutes to takeoff and land (2 hours total air time) and 2 hours to reload? .. call it 5 runs a day to be safe ... how long will it take to do the job? With an air base cycle rate of 40 per hour and 2 hours air time, this means you are limited to using 80 B52s. I wish we had that many. Ok, drag some B2s along as well. Surely we have 80 bombers between the two? Add in all the fighter planes, and you effectively have 100 B52 bomb loads in the cycle.

The Gaza Strip is 360 square kilometers. 360 x 1000 meters x 1000 meters

A Mk82 GP bomb has a fatal PI of 75 meters ... which means damn near everything inside that radius is destroyed or killed.

Now we do the math: to destroy one square kilometer you need to lay down a grid of these bastards 14 x 14. 196 bombs. Call it 200, which is 4 B52s worth. (which also gets your PI up a little higher) Therefore you would need 4 x 360 = 1440 B52 loads to destroy Gaza utterly: 72,000 bombs. Given 100 planeloads and 5 runs per day, which is 500 runs worth, it would take just 70 hours. 

Better start building that second runway in Cyprus, and somebody better get the bomb factories up and running again.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/28/2008 at 04:58 PM   
Filed Under: • War On Terror •  
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Analysis: Israeli politics lies behind Gaza attacks .  Interesting and worth the read.

My final post for the night and will leave you with this. With no comments from me.

The people of Sderot, a small town in southern Israel a few miles from the Gaza Strip, have 15 seconds to take cover whenever the wail of sirens gives warning of another rocket attack.

By David Blair,
Diplomatic Editor
Last Updated: 5:08PM GMT 28 Dec 2008

For almost five years, this has been their daily ordeal and Sderot’s bus stops have been specially reinforced to serve as armoured shelters from the regular salvoes fired out of Gaza.

With a general election due on Feb 10, no Israeli government could afford to appear indifferent to this threat, especially as Palestinian fighters are deploying rockets with longer ranges and heavier warheads, with some weapons capable of hitting the port of Ashdod 20 miles from Gaza. In all, some 500,000 Israelis live within range of Gaza’s rockets.

The political imperative to act undoubtedly lay behind Israel’s decision to launch the attack. It will have weighed most heavily on the minds of Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister and leader of the centrist Kadima party, and Ehud Barak, the defence minister and leader of the Labour party.

Both will be fighting the election against Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister from the right-wing Likud party. As they enter this contest, neither can afford to appear anything but hawkish.

Yet the scale of the response exposes Israel to international criticism. Almost 300 Palestinians have been killed in the last two days alone. By contrast, rockets fired from Gaza have killed 17 Israeli civilians in the last seven years.

Since Israel completed its withdrawal from Gaza in September 2005, about 150 Palestinians have been killed by its security forces in the territory for every dead Israeli civilian. Faced with this astonishing ratio, Israel’s government will find it extremely hard to argue that its response has been proportionate.

Moreover, the subtext to the operation in Gaza is a failure of policy on both sides. Since Hamas seized control of the territory in June 2007, its only tactic has been to fire rockets at southern Israel, thereby provoking a draconian – and predictable – response.

Meanwhile, Israel has blockaded Gaza of all but essential humanitarian supplies and launched regular military raids. On the rare occasions when the territory’s border posts have been open, Palestinian fighters have occasionally attacked them, forcing their closure and maximising Gaza’s isolation and the ordeal of its people.

Its 1.5 million inhabitants are effectively prisoners. This cycle of attack, retaliation and more attack has achieved nothing save inflict suffering on both sides.

Last year, a truce arranged by neighbouring Egypt brought a measure of calm. That has now collapsed amid recriminations over who was to blame.

Israeli forces killed three Palestinian fighters and destroyed a tunnel linking Gaza with Egypt during an operation in November. A barrage of rockets fired at Israeli towns was the response, with 70 being launched last Wednesday alone.

The only hope lies in restoring the ceasefire. But any political progress will have to await the outcome of Israel’s election. In the meantime, the military campaign goes on.

ANALYSIS

Posted by peiper     on 12/28/2008 at 02:45 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Israel calls up reserve troops and sends tanks to Gaza border. Says fighting not over yet.

I read an article today that said even the police were now targets as anyone with membership in Hamas, was considered fair game.  Even those with no terrorist connections.  Very hard for me to imagine someone a member of Hamas and not having that connection.

Seeing this and other photos at the link has brought home to me just how far gone and how desperate things are over there.
I also don’t understand how it is that Arab countries haven’t been able to rein in Hamas in some way.  Somebody has to fund them. You don’t get rockets at a charity shop or the intl. Red Cross.

Is it at all possible that before this there might have been some, no matter how few, that had no personal stake and wasn’t anti Israel, who lost a family member who wasn’t a Hamas member, and is now committed to the fight?

Israel gave warning a week ago that it was not going to tolerate the continued rocket attacks against it’s population. 
Now the question is going to be, how far will the west allow Israel to go in defending itself.  That’s almost funny isn’t it?
Israel appears to be the only country in the world that might need permission from others to defend itself and defend it’s actions.

Israel calls up reserve troops and sends tanks to Gaza border after killing more than 280 in ‘one of the bloodiest days in 60 years’

By Jane Flanagan and Jonathan Petre
Last updated at 6:38 PM on 28th December 2008

Fears of invasion are growing after Israel called up thousands of reservists and moved dozens of tanks to the Gaza Strip border.

The move follows one of the bloodiest days in 60 years of conflict between the Palestinians and the Jewish state, in which more than 280 people in Gaza were killed.

Air strikes were launched on Gaza for a second day, piling pressure on Hamas, in what Israeli leaders said was a response to almost daily rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants following the end of a six-month ceasefire a week ago.

‘Right now, we are not considering an end to the fighting,’ Israeli Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel said on Israel Radio. ‘We have the time, patience and means ... to return life in southern Israel to normal.’

Medical staff struggled to cope with the wounded and dying flooding into hospitals in cars, vans and ambulances.

At Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s main medical amenity, beds ran out within minutes and bleeding bodies were lined up on the floors of the corridors as medics fought to help the most severe cases.

Some of the missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.

Mothers tried desperately to reach their children through the smoke that filled the streets, along with the sound of ambulance sirens and the cries of grieving relatives.

Shopkeeper Said Masri, 57, who sent out his nine-year-old son to buy cigarettes minutes before the air strikes began, sat in the middle of a Gaza City street close to a security compound, alternately slapping his face and covering his head with dust from the bombed-out building.

‘My son is gone, my son is gone,’ he wailed. ‘May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn.’

Corpses rolled up in blankets filled hospital floors, awaiting identification.

‘We are treating people on the floor, in the corridors. We have no more space. We don’t know who is here or who to treat first,’ said one doctor.

MORE PHOTOS AND STORY

Posted by peiper     on 12/28/2008 at 02:05 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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U.S. hands over Viagra pills to Afghan warlords in return for vital Taliban intelligence.

I suppose it’s one way to gather information in a war zone.
Does this also mean US Intel. will be contributing to a possible increase in the population of that blighted place?

OK it looks funny.  I guess.  Maybe.  Not too sure.  Yeah, it’s funny.

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:55 AM on 28th December 2008

CIA agents have come up with a potent new weapon in the war in Afghanistan.

Instead of giving local chieftains cash or guns for information about the Taliban, they are supplying them with Viagra.

The anti-impotency drugs are said to have worked wonders for aging tribal chiefs, many of whom have much younger wives.

(WHOA. HOLD THE PHONE. YOUNGER WIVES?  HOW YOUNG?  MAYBE THIS ARTICLE ISN’T AS FUNNY AS I THOUGHT)

They have greeted returning agents with a mass of information about Taliban movements and supply routes - and a request for more of the little blue pills.

In a country where corruption is rife, offering bribes has been standard practice for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency since the war began in 2001. Agents say warlords and tribal leaders expect to be paid for their co-operation.

School equipment, toys, medicine and even dental care have been offered in return for intelligence on enemy forces.

Cash or weapons were also popular but these often attracted attention from the Taliban, who exacted revenge on villagers for helping coalition troops.

‘If you give somebody $1,000, he’ll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find, and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money from someone,’ said Jamie Smith, a veteran of CIA covert operations in Afghanistan.

‘Even if he doesn’t get killed, he becomes ineffective as an informant because everyone knows where he got it.’

Mr Smith added: ‘You’re trying to bridge a gap between people living in the 18th century and people coming in from the 21st century.

‘So you look for those common things that motivate people everywhere.’

Which is why CIA field agents turned to Viagra. The drug has been available in the Afghan capital Kabul since 2003, five years after it first became available in the UK.

But the diamond-shaped pills are virtually unknown in many remote villages.

One CIA agent told the Washington Post newspaper the drug was offered only to elderly tribal leaders. Many have the four wives allowed by the Koran, and are persuaded that Viagra will ‘put them back in an authoritative position’, said the agent.

They are all given health checks, to make sure the new excitement will not prove too much for them and turn their families against the U.S.-led coalition.

VIAGRA

Posted by peiper     on 12/28/2008 at 01:04 PM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • War On Terror • War-Stories •  
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Government crackdown on offensive and harmful online activity to be launched in the New Year.

Well great. About time because, “it’s all for the kids.” Right?

Sure it is.  To start with.
But I have a worry here.  Please note he also would like to bring the office of the President (soon to be the O man) into this.
According to my reading, American sites could be involved.  Hey, the French already have Yahoo and Google restricted in some ways.
I just do not have a very trusting nature with regard to any govt. that talks about censorship. 

Having said all that, I do recognize there is a problem and there might be content online that’s totally off the wall and encourages behavior.
We know there are sites out there where those who are so inclined can find info on how to make explosives. Do we need that online?

I can’t pretend to have answers. Only questions. Bottom line?

I get nervous when officials with titles like “Culture Secretary” (Minister for public enlightenment and propaganda?) call for bans.  I’m never sure govts. know where the line gets drawn.

Internet sites could be given cinema-style age ratings as part of a Government crackdown on offensive and harmful online activity to be launched in the New Year, the Culture Secretary says.

By Robert Winnett,
Deputy Political Editor

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Andy Burnham says he believes that new standards of decency need to be applied to the web. He is planning to negotiate with Barack Obama’s incoming American administration to draw up new international rules for English language websites.

The Cabinet minister describes the internet as “quite a dangerous place” and says he wants internet-service providers (ISPs) to offer parents “child-safe” web services.

Giving film-style ratings to individual websites is one of the options being considered, he confirms. When asked directly whether age ratings could be introduced, Mr Burnham replies: “Yes, that would be an option. This is an area that is really now coming into full focus.”

ISPs, such as BT, Tiscali, AOL or Sky could also be forced to offer internet services where the only websites accessible are those deemed suitable for children.

His plans to rein in the internet, and censor some websites, are likely to trigger a major row with online advocates who ferociously guard the freedom of the world wide web.

However, Mr Burnham said: “If you look back at the people who created the internet they talked very deliberately about creating a space that Governments couldn’t reach. I think we are having to revisit that stuff seriously now.” It’s true across the board in terms of content, harmful content, and copyright. Libel is [also] an emerging issue.

“There is content that should just not be available to be viewed. That is my view. Absolutely categorical. This is not a campaign against free speech, far from it; it is simply there is a wider public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being clear about it.”

Mr Burnham also wants new industry-wide “take down times”. This means that if websites such as YouTube or Facebook are alerted to offensive or harmful content they will have to remove it within a specified time once it is brought to their attention.

He also says that the Government is considering changing libel laws to give people access to cheap low-cost legal recourse if they are defamed online. The legal proposals are being drawn up by the Ministry of Justice.

Mr Burnham admits that his plans may be interpreted by some as “heavy-handed” but says the new standards drive is “utterly crucial”. Mr Burnham also believes that the inauguration of Barack Obama, the President-Elect, presents an opportunity to implement the major changes necessary for the web.

“The change of administration is a big moment. We have got a real opportunity to make common cause,” he says. “The more we seek international solutions to this stuff – the UK and the US working together – the more that an international norm will set an industry norm.”

THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Posted by peiper     on 12/28/2008 at 11:11 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Government • International • UK •  
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   Saturday - December 27, 2008

Should’ve kept their mouths shut

Last week, Hamas declared an end to their cease-fire truce with Israel, and started shooting rockets across the border again. Bad move. It looks like the Izzies are putting a beat down on their lice riddent heads. Gee, too bad.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli warplanes rained more than 100 tons of bombs on security sites in Hamas-ruled Gaza Saturday and early Sunday, killing at least 230 people in one of the Mideast conflict’s bloodiest assaults in decades. The government said the open-ended campaign was aimed at stopping rocket attacks that have traumatized southern Israel.

Most of the casualties were security forces, but Palestinian officials said at least 15 civilians were among the dead. More than 400 people were also wounded.

The unprecedented assault sparked protests and condemnations throughout the Arab world, and many of Israel’s Western allies urged restraint, though the U.S. blamed Hamas for the fighting.

But there was no end in sight. The first round of strikes began around noon Saturday followed by successive waves of attacks that continued into the early hours Sunday.

Israel warned it might go after Hamas’ leaders, and militants kept pelting Israel with rockets — killing at least one Israeli and wounding six.

Hundreds of Israeli infantry and armored corps troops headed for the Gaza border in preparation for a possible ground invasion, military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said late Saturday that the goal was “to bring about a fundamental improvement in the security situation.” He added, “It could take some time.”

The Israeli airstrikes caused widespread panic and confusion, and black plumes of smoke billowed above the territory, ruled by the Islamic militant Hamas for the past 18 months.

Good. Lay it on, nice and thick. Drop every bomb you have, and kick as much ass as you can for the next 23 days. Oh hell, don’t stop there. Make Joe Biden’s wet dreams come true, and have “a created international crisis” on DAY ONE going full steam ahead.

Lay waste to the whole damn area with my blessing. If I can help in any way, let me know. Trigger fingers getting tired? Fingers getting callused from pushing the big red button too many times? I can do that for you. No problem.

Yeah, all the lefties will side with the terrorists, who are already screaming this was either an unprovoked attack or an excessive one. Fuck them. With a burning cactus. Get it done, once and for all.

           

Posted by Drew458     on 12/27/2008 at 11:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Israel • Paleswine • War On Terror •  
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Council official evicted elderly tenants from bungalows… then moved in herself.

I believe this is outrageous Fraud is my term for it but it’s probably worse.

The worst of it is, the official is out of office due to what she did BUT is still getting FULL PAY!
I would like to think that if this happened back home in the US, the official would be sent to jail and no pay.

Hey ... no work ... full pay .... works for some.

ELDERLY RESIDENTS FORCED OUT ... COUNCIL OFFICIALS MOVES IN

By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 1:41 PM on 27th December 2008

As a council official with responsibility for helping the homeless, Kristine Reeves knows how much people value their homes.

Which makes it difficult to explain how she came to play a key role in evicting frail and elderly tenants from their bungalows - then moved into one with her partner.

The £52,000-a-year head of neighbourhood and strategic housing was just one of 18 council employees who took up residence in former sheltered accommodation at the Greyhound Opening site in Norwich.

She also benefited from the rent at the one-bedroom bungalow she took over two months ago being reduced from £69 a week to £47.

Similar properties in the area cost between £350 and £750 a month.

Miss Reeves, 38, has now been suspended on full pay by Labour-run Norwich City Council, which admits conflict of interest rules were flouted.

Council leader Steve Morphew has promised to ‘make good the damage’. Miss Reeves - who, according to Land Registry documents, bought a three-storey house worth an estimated £190,000 four years ago - was dismissive of her new accommodation yesterday.

She said: ‘These are not fit-for-purpose units at all. They are really very cold and you couldn’t swing a cat there.’

Some 25 old people were moved out under plans to replace their homes with 100 high-density flats and houses.
bungalows

The 18 council officials have now been given a month to move out of the properties.

Rather than hire security to prevent squatters moving in to the empty bungalows, officials decided to rent them to employees, without consulting elected councillors.

MIss Reeves moved in with her partner Graham Ross, also a senior housing official.

Former residents are furious. Widow Ida Hall, 89, said: ‘I didn’t want to leave. I liked my little bungalow. It was lovely.’

Simon Wright, LibDem candidate for Norwich South, said: ‘It’s absolutely abhorrent that officers involved in a decision to evict elderly, frail pensioners should then move in at reduced rents.’

After the scandal broke Angela Hadley, the council’s assistant director of neighbourhood development, who herself rented one of the properties for a time, resigned due to ‘severe ill health in her family’.

Suzanne McBride, co-strategic director for community and neighbourhoods, has ‘left the authority’.

Laura McGillivray, the council’s £121,000-a-year chief executive was said to have been unaware of the scandal.

Miss Reeves and the other occupants have now been given a month’s notice to quit. 

PHOTOS HERE

Posted by peiper     on 12/27/2008 at 12:06 PM   
Filed Under: • Oppression • Outrageous • UK •  
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