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Sarah Palin is the other whom Yoda spoke about.

calendar   Thursday - January 22, 2009

Responsible Drinking

Thanks to João Faria da Silva




Peiper sends me things in the mail. Often it’s an envelope full of clippings from the English newspapers, writing about the knife crime, the nulabor government’s latest silliness, etc. Sometimes it’s the real estate section, showing all the gigantic old manor houses up for sale. And so forth; all interesting bits. Sometimes he gets wise and sends me vacation guides to fwance, where they have figured out that they can make money touring groups through all the local wineries, letting them buy bottles by the case right at the source, and even giving the tour in actual English!

A few weeks ago he sent me some coffee. English coffee. I know, that sounds like an oxymoron; England is famous for wonderful tea and God-awful coffee. But what he sent was so ... quintessentially English. “Lazy Sunday”, a blend from Taylor’s of Harrowgate [a-oh my!], a coffee blend made just for reading the Sunday paper and doing to crossword puzzle. And I thought we had specialization here in America! It was very nice, and very light. I noticed the bag was marked “a fair trade product” but didn’t look into that. I wrote back that while it was enjoyable, I usually drink a far stronger blend, more of a “Frantic Monday” than a Lazy Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, the Taylor’s of Harrowgate blend was very tasty. And I adore the brand name. I went around the house for days, playing at being English, saying “Ahye ahm dring-king Tay lawrs ohv Hahro gate” until my wife threw a pillow at me. [yes, I am easily amused.]

So this time, along with another fabulous greeting card, he sends me a little sack of Douwe Egberts. I’d never heard of him. Or it. Douwe Egberts. A brand name that sounds like they should be selling pipe tobacco. This is a much stronger blend, nearly as rich and potent as my usual grind. I like it. But the coffee isn’t sold because it’s good strong coffee. No. This coffee is sold because of the way it’s procured. Really! The blend line is called “Good Origins”, and the selling point of this “Utz Kapeh certified responsible coffee” is that it is “Traceable from farm to cup”. And it is! I hit the company web site, read the spiel, clicked on the links, and found that my beans were grown on the Fazenda Johá farm and picked by João Faria da Silva. Amazing. This is Liberal Guilt gone mad.

Fazenda Johá is part of the coffee project Terra Forte. This is the biggest coffee project in the world set up around the passion for quality coffee. The worldwide biggest single producer under the management of João Faria da Silva and the and Grande Leste Agropecuaria have joined their efforts to achieve professional management, production and commercialization of specialty coffees. The philosophy of the project is to invest in agricultural techniques, social and environmental projects, provide efficient logistic. Terra Forte is known for its quality coffee and high productivity as well as their social and environmental responsibility.

A little more exploration made me feel ever so much better, knowing that the poor exploited native worker’s lives are actually improved by their long days bending over the coffee bushes picking beans.

Impact on our organization

There was a change in the way we think and act. The farms have become well organized and managed. The workers have received extensive training and can conduct their work much more safely. The environment is respected and protected adequately.

Yeah. Extensive training. And adequate protection. “Jose, pick the red beans, not the green ones! But first you spray the bush with some poison to kill off the spiders and lizards. Then you pick the beans.”

And it’s not just Douwe Egbert doing this. I gather there is a whole worldwide - or at least Europe-wide - movement to better the lives and working conditions of the poor downtrodden natives who grow and pick the coffee. And it’s all “sustainable growth” with “natural fertilizers” that “minimize global impact” because ... the coffee bushes take several years to mature and can produce for a number of seasons, so you don’t just rip the plants out of the ground and shake off the beans. And you have to put all that donkey shit somewhere, so you may as well hide it under the bushes.

Yup, it’s a whole movement. “UTZ certified”:

UTZ Certified Responsible coffee growing

UTZ CERTIFIED is a global non governmental organisation which operates a mainstream certification programme for sustainable coffee based on pillars of economic, social and environmental well being.

Together with UTZ CERTIFIED, we are helping farmers look after their workers, their families and the environment in which they live and work. UTZ CERTIFIED certification assures that:

* Workers and their families have access to healthcare, clean water and decent housing
* Children have access to schooling
* Fertilisers and agrochemicals are used minimally and controlled
* Workers are trained and their labour rights are protected
* The use of water and energy is minimised
* Environmental pollution is reduced

UTZ CERTIFIED certification is renewed annually so you can be sure that it is up to date and continues to adhere to the UTZ CERTIFIED Code of Conduct – a set of criteria for responsible coffee growing practices and efficient farm management.

The UTZ CERTIFIED certification does not dictate or guarantee coffee prices, rather it enables farmers to achieve a better price for their coffee themselves and gain more competitiveness in their market.

You can explore this entire amazing, wonderful, guilt reducing world through the Douwe Egberts portal. I never knew. I never cared, or even knew I should care. Or knew that I should feel bad because I didn’t know that I didn’t know or care.

I’m off to the grocery store to pick up some hamburger. Now that I am enlightened, I’m going to ask the butcher what the cow’s name was, and if she was happy.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 01/22/2009 at 12:29 PM   
Filed Under: • Big BusinessDaily LifeDemocrats-Liberals-Moonbat LeftistsFine-DiningInternationalNature •  
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GW, MA episode 613

(Global Warming, My Ass!)

Tiny English Lamb Must Wear Sweater To Survive The Cold



image

They named him Jack Frost of course





More news from Peiper’s corner of the island ...

Affectionately known as Jack Frost, the little lamb, born remarkably early on January 1, thinks nothing of wearing an extra woolly layer. The tiny knitted garment, meant for a human baby, fits perfectly and Jack likes nothing more than snuggling up in it during the freezing weather.

Abandoned at birth, little jack, one of twins, was rescued by volunteers at Manor Farm Country Park, near Southampton, Hants. Farm manager Andrew Davies said: “We think his mother just couldn’t cope with the two lambs.

“This could be something to do with the fact that they were born out of season or just that she didn’t have that important maternal instinct, which does happen sometimes.”

Concerned about the risk of the tiny new born perishing in the cold weather, volunteers at the farm did all they could to keep Jack warm. Mr Davies said: “We brought in some hay bales and a heat lamp for him - then one volunteer had the novel idea of giving him a jumper.

“She trawled all the local charity shops and was lucky enough to find a knitted wool jumper among the baby clothes. It fits Jack perfectly - it’s like it was made just for him.”



Aww, isn’t that precious?


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 01/22/2009 at 12:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff •  
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Does Barack Obama have Iran’s number?  ( It won’t hurt to read this opinion people. )

I guess I just don’t understand or perhaps am unwilling to or even may be too thick to understand all this talk of winning hearts and minds.
What minds? Whose heart? I get lost in this.

Are the critics saying (as it appears to me) that all we have to do to become friends of all these folks, is agree with them?
I frankly read that sort of talk as allowing foreign peoples to make judgments on American affairs that we then MUST follow.  Am I reading that incorrectly?

I’m not talking about a situation where as Americans we move in on someone and insist they live and think as we do.  I don’t want that. I don’t wanna be the world’s policeman either except where American interests and security are concerned. 

It has been said that George W Bush alienated much of the world.  I suppose he may have but I still don’t understand exactly what he did to alienate them.
By defending our country?  The invasion of Iraq?  What?  Seems to me he alienated the left and they have never been on our side anyway. Unless we were paying them something under the table.

Not my job to make decisions but I’d sure like to better understand what’s behind those that are made and just why “the world” insists on making a big deal out of things like Guantanamo which aren’t anyones business but ours.  And I don’t like the idea that we should be sucking up to our critics. Screw em.


President Barack Obama’s popularity has even stretched to Tehran, where Ahmadinejad’s appeal is waning fast, says David Blair

By David Blair
Last Updated: 11:40PM GMT 21 Jan 2009

Hard on the heels of President Barack Obama’s soaring rhetoric comes the cold reality. On his first full day in the Oval office, he takes the helm of an America whose global reputation has sunk lower than at any time since the dismal era of Watergate and Vietnam. Worse, this precipitous decline has taken place at exactly the moment when appealing to the hearts and minds of millions is the indispensable condition for defeating terrorism.

Mr Obama’s inaugural address showed that he grasps this only too well. The lengthy passages aimed at an audience beyond America’s shores also carried an unspoken theme. “I know that we are losing the battle for world opinion,” the new President was subliminally telling us, “and I also know that turning this tide is central to securing the power and safety of the United States.”

This is especially so among Muslims, hence Mr Obama declared: “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”

Is he the man to do it? After George W Bush alienated much of the world, is Mr Obama the President who can win back global opinion?

On his first working day, it is hard to imagine anyone better qualified. Mr Obama has more goodwill than would have seemed possible for an American president during the Bush years. His oratorical prowess and obvious sensitivity to world opinion, his opposition to the invasion of Iraq and, of course, his race, all count in his favour. His first decision was to draw the sting of Guantanamo by suspending the trials presently being conducted by military tribunals.

“We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” said Mr Obama on the steps of the Capitol, adding that the “rule of law and the rights of man” would not be sacrificed “for expedience’s sake”. These words amounted to a barbed rebuke for Mr Bush, the architect of Guantanamo and the man who authorised the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques”.

Meanwhile, the very name of Barack Hussein Obama might be calculated to appeal to Muslims. “Barack” is Arabic for “the blessed one”, while “Hussein” was the founder of Islam’s Shia faith who died in Iraq during the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.

Mr Obama’s daily security briefings will focus on a stark list of threats. The leading concern will probably be Pakistan’s steady descent into a failed state with nuclear weapons, providing a haven for al-Qaeda’s core leadership.

This is one conundrum which Mr Obama’s reassertion of America’s cultural appeal – or “soft power” – will do little to solve. In the end, only military, political and covert power can provide the answer to Pakistan’s possible collapse and the closely linked violence in neighbouring Afghanistan. Hence Mr Obama has already decided to deploy another 20,000 American soldiers in Afghanistan and replicate the successful “troop surge” in Iraq.

But there is one crucial foreign policy challenge where Mr Obama’s personal charisma and appeal might have a direct and decisive impact. Iran’s nuclear programme and its sponsorship of terrorism in the Middle East present America with a threat that comprehensively defeated Mr Bush.

Iran’s revolutionary Shia regime might be viscerally anti-American. The same cannot be said, however, of its youthful, culturally Westernised population. About two thirds of Iran’s 70 million people are under 30 and their view of America is often the very opposite of the official line.

Ask young Iranians which country they would most like to visit, and they will probably answer America. The superpower’s films, music and fashion are all immensely popular inside this revolutionary citadel, where millions of households openly defy an official ban on possessing satellite dishes. Visit the bookshops outside Tehran University and you will find dictionaries of “American English” and even guides to adopting an American accent.

For as long as Mr Bush was in the White House, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could be confident of his ability to rally Iranians against the Washington administration, if not against America itself. At a stroke, Mr Obama’s arrival has removed this crucial reassurance.

“Ahmadinejad and the present crowd don’t know how to deal with anyone other than Bush,” said Dr Ali Ansari, an expert on Iranian politics at St Andrews University. “They would have much preferred it if John McCain had won. Then all they would have had to do is carry on shouting ‘death to America’. Now you’ve got Barack Hussein Obama as President and that’s a huge problem for them.”

Iran’s leaders will be only too aware that Mr Obama’s appeal will extend to millions of their own citizens. Place Mr Ahmadinejad alongside America’s new leader and he sinks to become a risible figure. If young Iranians were asked to choose between their president and Mr Obama, Dr Ansari said there was no doubt about who would win. “In a popularity poll, certainly among young Iranians, Obama would win. I don’t think there would be much of a contest.”

In the week last November when Mr Obama was elected, Iran’s regime unwittingly revealed its fear of the appeal of America’s new leader. A reformist news magazine in Tehran placed his face on its front cover and asked: “Who is Iran’s Obama?” The magazine was instantly banned.

Iran will hold presidential elections in June and Mr Ahmadinejad’s political career hangs in the balance. His disastrous management of the economy, rendered still worse by the recent collapse in oil prices, has alienated many supporters. A large faction of hardline conservatives has turned against the president, including Ali Larijani, the speaker of parliament, and Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran.

Whether Mr Ahmadinejad will be allowed to seek re-election is ultimately in the hands of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The arrival of Mr Obama might tip the balance of this calculation against Iran’s president. “There’s a view among the educated in Iran that Ahmadinejad was right for Bush, but he’s not right for Obama,” said Dr Ansari.

On his first day in office, Mr Obama may already have made Mr Ahmadinejad’s survival less likely. If the Iranian president does fall in June, his possible successor is Mohammed Khatami, a liberal cleric. Mr Khatami, who served as Iran’s first reformist president between 1997 and 2005, remains extremely popular, despite achieving very little while in office.

If Mr Khatami decides to run for Iran’s presidency – and the Supreme Leader, who wields ultimate power, may still be able to thwart this – he would probably win. Despite all the limitations on the authority of Iran’s president, whoever holds this post sets the tone of foreign policy and makes key appointments.

The removal of Mr Ahmadinejad and the possible arrival of Mr Khatami – both of which are made more likely by Mr Obama’s arrival in the White House – could set the stage for a historic rapprochement between America and Iran. “There’s a real window of opportunity, there’s no doubt about it,” said Dr Ansari.

But Mr Obama will undoubtedly continue with a raft of policies which will offend Muslims across the world, including in Iran. America’s support for Israel will remain non-negotiable. Mr Obama might accelerate withdrawal from Iraq, but he will deepen its involvement in Afghanistan by sending yet more US troops to a Muslim country. The signs are that his stance towards Pakistan will be tougher than his predecessor’s and US forces in Afghanistan are highly unlikely to stop their cross-border missile strikes into al-Qaeda’s strongholds in the Tribal Areas, now almost weekly occurrences.

Mr Obama will eventually find a way of closing Guantanamo and dealing with its existing detainees. He will also ban the CIA and US forces from using any of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” that seem indistinguishable from torture. Yet on any day, he could receive vital information from the intelligence agency of an American ally, perhaps in the Middle East, which was extracted by torturing a suspect. Will he refuse to read this? Or will America under Mr Obama implicitly outsource torture to its less scrupulous allies?

These hard realities may yet jeopardise Mr Obama’s appeal in the Muslim world. But in Iran, at least, his powers of oratory and charisma could be a transforming factor.

THE ONE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/22/2009 at 09:36 AM   
Filed Under: • IranMiscellaneousRoPMA •  
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A message from Amnasty Intl. They’ll tell our govt. what to do. Will the USA listen? Hope NOT!

RCOB

I say Hope Not but we all know better.

Yeah it gets me PO’d and I really,really HATE these ppl. (referring to Amnesty Intl.) As in shoot the bastards graveyard dead. When I hear a foreign accent telling us how we “MUST” do things, I tend toward murderous thoughts.  Or is that too strong a word? Nah. Not strong enough is closer to the truth.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/22/2009 at 09:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat LeftistsMiscellaneous •  
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This BMEWS readers, is upside down ridiculous MOONBAT Britain today. Believe it!

batbatbat
Outside of leaving a few bats here I really don’t know what to say about this situation.  I do know that allowing it to begin with only encourages others to do the same and I’m sure they will.
Some other buildings were taken over last month and the one before as well.
The solution of course would be to shoot dead the people doing it. Bingo. Problem solved and doubtful others would risk doing it themselves.
But of course that won’t happen and so look for more of this in future.

The house next to us (due for demolition in six weeks) has been vacant for well over 21 years.  The lady who owned it who passed away about a year ago, couldn’t bring herself to sell her girlhood home.  She married a Harley Street Heart Surgeon and so had the money to keep the house up to a small degree. They kept the heat and electric and gas on year round, had gardeners come in and cut grass even when there wasn’t anything to cut.
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Due to fears of just this sort of thing, squatters, the late mil kept flowers in the windows and a light burning all night and sometimes leaving on a radio or TV.
The mail was checked every day so that nothing look vacant.

It was all a bit hard for American ears to take in when I was told about it and after moving here my wife and I continued the practice when the mil became unwell and could no longer do those things herself.  In fact, the owner has a cleaning girl come in every two weeks to sweep and dust, but there was little to do and mostly she fell asleep on one of the beds there.  We were sent money enough to pay the woman every month.

Heres a photo, the house in foreground is the one that’s vacant. It was sold to a Winchester dentist when the housing market was high. The house is almost worthless but the property is large and goes back a ways.  He is building a new house there.  These are called Dormer Bungalows. The one in the center is ours and it’s falling apart, and the one to the left of us has been demolished and been replaced with a two story red brick eyesore. That property sold at the high as well in the same period.  They may look cute but trust me.  Most Americans would have to be paid to live in one unless they were homeless.  No central heat and NO SCREENS on windows, not even new houses have those. And NO AIR CONDITIONING! 


Squatters have taken over two seven-storey houses on Park Lane in London worth an estimated £30million.

By Alastair Jamieson
Last Updated: 10:05AM GMT 22 Jan 2009

The drifters have occupied the buildings on one of Britain’s most exclusive streets after sneaking in through an unlocked basement door.

The giant residences, most recently used as offices, are thought to be owned by the Duke of Westminster.

The 20 squatters, who share the space with three large dogs, say each address has been unoccupied for more than two years, according to The Sun.

The paper said the former homes were now a clutter of amateur art, acoustic guitars, overflowing ashtrays and the mess from the three dogs.

One of the group, a South African called Martin, said: “The view at sunset over Hyde Park is just magic - especially from the penthouse. I really love it here.” Another, 21-year-old Meg, added: “It’s much better when squatters move into a rich person’s home like this, as the owner can obviously afford to have us here.”

Squatting is not illegal if entry is not forced and no criminal damage is caused to the premises.

The buildings are a short stroll away from some of London’s most exclusive addresses - including an Aston Martin dealership, the Dorchester Hotel and the restaurant Nobu.

Ian Brimhurst, a member of The Westminster Homeowners’ Association, said the squatters were “blighting” the area.

The Duke of Westminster’s spokesman declined to comment.


In addition to hosting luxury homes and hotels, Park Lane is one of the most valuable destinations on the Monopoly game board, alongside Mayfair.

SQUATTERS


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/22/2009 at 07:46 AM   
Filed Under: • OutrageousUK •  
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This is not funny!

Breaking News!!!

Former French President Chirac hospitalised after mauling by his clinically depressed poodle

Former French president Jacques Chirac was rushed to hospital after being mauled by his own ‘clinically depressed’ pet dog. The 76-year-old statesman was savaged by his white Maltese dog - which suffers from frenzied fits and is being treated with anti-depressants.

The animal, named Sumo, had become increasingly violent over the past years and was prone to making ‘vicious, unprovoked attacks’, Chirac’s wife Bernadette said. Mrs Chirac said: ‘The dog went for him for no apparent reason.

‘We were already aware the animal was unpredictable and is actually being treated with pills for depression. ‘My husband was bitten quite badly, but he is certain to make a full recovery over the coming weeks.’

The former French First Lady did not reveal where on his body Chirac was bitten.




At least President Carter was savaged by an actual wild animal, even if it was just a little bunny rabbit. Chirac got bit by his own psycho-micro-mutt? Micro-psycho-mutt? Attacked by his own lapdog. And the dog is on meds?


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 01/22/2009 at 01:12 AM   
Filed Under: • HumorNews-Briefs •  
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calendar   Wednesday - January 21, 2009

President for life, Sheik Barak Hussein Obama calls stop to military trials at Gitmo.

Radio news early today reports President (For Life ) Barak Obama has signed his first order as president in the order to stop military tribunals at Guantanamo.

A Bush spokesman interviewed said that when the decision to use Guantanamo was made, nobody at the time thought it would raise the ire or concern of people half way round the world or at home.  It was seen at the time as a solution, and as a situation where we were at war and these folks did not come under civil jurisdiction.  It has become he went on, an albatross around America’s neck and has given the USA an international black eye.” He also said that finding a place for the prisoners was easier said then done and he predicts a political battle over them.  Where he asks, are you going to try them and house them.  There will be people who will say, “Not in our back yard.” And so the battle will start.

Then there is another unexpected issue.  The human rights issue raised by the left so often.
The countries these folks come from are “not known for having very good reputations where civil rights are concerned.” So will the new govt. (USA) deport any to those countries?  And what about countries that will refuse to take those who might be freed?

This is gonna get a mite sticky. 

Meanwhile, the coverage and opinions on the new president, peace be upon him, continues unabated.  (peiper one sarcastic right wing sob today. just like yesterday and the day before)

Barack Obama inauguration: Bloggers and analysts divided over speech
Some praised it as inspirational, brilliant and poetic. Others found it unremarkable, workmanlike, even condescending.

By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 8:21AM GMT 21 Jan 2009

While none questioned the historical significance of Tuesday’s inauguration - most described the occasion as both momentous and moving - political commentators were sharply divided on President Barack Obama’s hugely anticipated inaugural address.

“A disappointing hodgepodge,” was the view of New Republic writer John B. Judis. He deemed Barack Obama’s speech “unusually abstract” and occupying a “netherworld between inspiring oratory and political argument.

“It was well-delivered, but it consisted of a hodgepodge of themes, injunctions, and applause lines that did not speak directly to the crisis that the country faces.”

Writing for the same publication, however, Walter Shapiro, political columnist and former White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, was moved to proclaim Mr Obama the “poet-in-chief” for the speech’s “striking phrases and sudden bursts of imagery”.

“President Obama reminded the nation that here was a man who wrote himself into his job,” Mr Shapiro declared, although he added “my guess is that Obama’s address was a little too cerebral, a little too reflective of recent White House history to reach the standard of greatness.”

In an 18-minute address delivered before a shivering, expectant crowd of over a million, Mr Obama pledged to rally his nation to “a new era of responsibility” and show the world the US is “ready to lead once more”.

America’s 44th - and first black - president, known for his rhetorical skill and powerful speeches, outlined the grave challenges facing the country. But he stressed they could be met, declaring that “starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin the work of remaking America”.

Debate about where the speech would rank alongside history’s most memorable inaugural addresses began immediately: Did it lack the kind of lofty rhetoric necessary to guarantee immortality? Had the enormous expectations surrounding the address simply proved too great?

John Dickerson, writing on Slate.com, declared it “a good speech but not a soaring one” that lacked “the kind of personal speechmaking Obama was so good at during the campaign.”

CNN analysts Jeffrey Toobin was also underwhelmed.

“I thought that this was a speech with a lot of ideas but no theme and most importantly, this was a speech without a single memorable phrase,” said Toobin.

“We remember inaugural addresses by ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’ (Franklin D Roosevelt); ‘Ask not what your country can do for you’ (John F Kennedy). Where is anything comparable in this speech? I’m afraid this is likely to join the vast majority of inaugural addresses which are quickly forgotten.”

Arianna Huffington, writing in the Huffington Post, said the new president delivered a “solemn reality check” in which he effectively told America it was “time to grow up”.

Calling it “Obama’s sober sermon on the steps”, she said the speech was “a warning bell” but “ultimately optimistic”.

“There was something very powerful about watching this relatively young man, one of the youngest to ever hold the highest office in the land, telling the people of America to grow up.”

This part of the speech riled some, however.

“We…need no condescension from the President of the United States telling us that we ought to act our age, not our shoe size,” wrote Pejman Yousefzadeh, a conservative blogger, on politico.com.

“This inaugural address had a whole host of faults. It fell well below expectations for its inability to connect with the issues of the day, its apparent characteristic of having been written by committee, its vagueness and generalities, and the fact that it puzzled more than it enlightened.”

Historian Michael S Roth, however, could not have disagreed more, declaring the speech “brilliant, deeply felt” and containing “echoes of the great speeches of the past”.

“It was a dignified, thoughtful speech - worthy of the great orator who delivered it and appropriate to our perilous times,” he wrote on Politico.com.

Michael Gerson, in the Washington Post, meanwhile found many of Mr Obama’s words to be platitudes but the speech’s content more compelling.

He said many had “expected the speech to be rhetorically masterful but perhaps ideologically shallow. Instead, we heard a speech that was rhetorically flat and substantively interesting. On his first day in office, President Obama has managed to surprise.”

The New York Times assembled a panel of former speech writers to presidents Carter, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W Bush. They judged the address everything from mixed to marvellous.

But in an editorial the paper declared that Mr Obama’s speech, though lacking the “soaring language” of Presidents Franklin D Roosevelt or John F Kennedy, gave the crowd “the clarity and the respect for which all Americans have hungered.”

THE ONE

I’m still left asking the very same question without any answer. 
Why the hell does the world care one little bit about OUR internal security matters as regards Guantanamo?  Why is it any of their damn business?
And why should any American give a flip about world opinion as regards Gitmo?
Or any other personal home issue.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/21/2009 at 05:00 AM   
Filed Under: • GovernmentHomeland-SecurityInternationalObama, The One •  
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calendar   Tuesday - January 20, 2009

Scuse me Mr. President but a point of order.

“We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers.”

Right sir. And at the rate muzzies breed, kind of like flies you know, how long before some future president takes that oath on the koran?

“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. “

Well now there you go again.  Mutual what?  Their interest with respect sir is our death.  You might wanna keep that in mind.

“And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect.”

What?  What indifference?  The American taxpayer has been giving away dollars for as long as I can remember to every country in the world. And especially your spiritual homeland. You know, the dark planet.  Billions of dollars have gone into that sinkhole and nothing whatever has ever come of it . OK, pirates in Somalia and Nigerian con games. But those aside. .....

We consume the world’s resources? Ah, pardon me but do we pay for it all, or are we on some sort of welfare unknown to us?  You make it sound as though Americans are taking it all away from someone else.  And do we not also produce things that use resources?  Maybe you have us confused with India and especially China.

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“At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:  “Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

Yes sir he did say that.  I think he also mentioned something in passing about “foreign entanglements” as well.  Something we seem to have conveniently ignored.

“To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.”

Ah huh. And sir if ya don’t mind tellin’ us, just how much extra is that going to cost?  Work alongside?  What’s that? A euphemism for give em more cash?
Feed hungry minds?  If it’s the ppl I think you have in mind, fergit it!  First off we don’t need them learnin’ how to read and write.  Soon as they do that, they cause all sorts of grief and get up to all sorts of trouble and cause all manners of problems. It only adds to the white mans burden.  Trust me sir. I’ve been seeing that for a lifetime. There really are people who are a lost cause. You’re about to flog a dead horse sir. With respect.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/20/2009 at 02:28 PM   
Filed Under: • Obama, The OnePolitics •  
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Follow the Bouncing Barrel

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Crude Oil Prices, per barrel
02/08/07 - 65.06
08/06/07 - 68.31
12/27/07 - 90.54
03/31/08 - 97.54
07/02/08 - 145.21
09/24/08 - 104.95
12/23/08 - 38.98
01/20/09 - 32.79 (4:08am)
01/20/09 - 37.29 (1:18pm)
01/20/09 - 38.58 (1:40pm)

Sure, it was a news story for a few minutes when crude dropped below $33 early this morning. But it’s up about $6 so far today. And while it’s down more than 73% since mid-July, prices at the pump have shot up 30¢ since Christmas. Because gasoline demand is down but oil production is still high. Because our refineries can’t process the stuff fast enough so it’s just sitting in tankers. (Remember how Bush was going to build more refineries? Has anyone poured even a yard of concrete or hammered a single rivet on that one yet?) Because the market is swimming in oil. And because of the need to make more heating oil instead of gasoline. (what, you mean diesel fuel? It’s the same stuff, isn’t it, minus the tax and the dye?) And all those 27 various expensive blends. Yadda yadda. The never ending song.
If crude price spikes, then the price at the pump instantly skyrockets. If crude oil plummets, then we hear about the 6 week lag time. If it’s winter, prices rise because of the need for heating oil. If it’s summer, prices rise because of high demand for all those driving vacations nobody is taking any more. It’s a con, m’kay?

At last I can say it ...

Personally, I blame Obama for this whole mess. He’s been in office for 160 minutes and the price of oil has gone up 4%. At this rate, by tomorrow evening we’ll all be dead.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 01/20/2009 at 02:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
Comments (1) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Immigrant raped girl so he could get English lessons in prison and visit his brother in jail.

Well hell I guess that’s as good a reason as any.

I know most ppl are busy with the events taking place in DC today.  I on the other hand have ignored it (is that a mistake?) and have been fuming angry since yesterday over reported crime stories of horrific nature in the news.  And then this one just popped up to add fuel to the fire.


Romanian immigrant raped girl so he could get English lessons in prison and visit with rapist brother

By Arthur Martin and Chris Brooke
Last updated at 5:42 PM on 20th January 2009

Ali Majlat raped a girl because he wanted to be sent to prison, he claims.

A Romanian immigrant brutally raped a young woman on a train station so he could be sent to prison for a bed, food and English lessons at the same jail as his brother.

Ali Majlat, who has a string of convictions in his home country and in the UK, punched, kicked and dragged his 21-year-old victim along the ground as she waited for a train home after seeing friends.

She briefly escaped his clutches, but he caught up with her in an underpass at Wakefield Kirkgate station in West Yorkshire and subjected her to a sustained attack which was captured on CCTV.

Finally, he stole her mobile phone, purse and a bracelet before fleeing. When he was caught five days later he admitted his guilt and claimed he did it so he would end up in prison.

‘When I was on the railway station I thought I should rape this lady in order to get a place to eat and sleep and learn the English language,’ he told a psychologist.

This bizarre explanation for the attack emerged when Majlat pleaded guilty to rape and robbery at Leeds Crown Court on Monday.

On hearing this, Judge Alistair McCallum was so shocked that he asked Majlat’s defence barrister to repeat the defendant’s reasons for committing the offence to be sure he had heard correctly.

Hours before the attack Majlat had tried to visit his brother in Wakefield prison where he is currently serving a jail term for rape and attempted murder. However, he was turned away because he did not have the correct paperwork.

The 35-year-old later told police that he attacked the girl at the local station in the hope he would be sent to the same prison as his brother.

‘All he seems concerned about is being in the same jail as his brother,’ a police source said. ‘ When he was told that he would be deported after his sentence, he seemed horrified.

‘He doesn’t want to go back to Romania. He just wants to stay in a British jail.’

Majlat, who is currently on remand in Leeds prison, entered the UK shortly after being released from a Romanian jail last June after serving time for theft and attempted robbery.

In September he was jailed for eight weeks by Horseferry Road magistrates court in London for burglary. But he was not deported after being freed because he was not deemed ‘high risk’.

Convicts from the European Economic Area - members of the EU, plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland - can be removed only if they are highly likely to re-offend and if they present a ‘present, genuine and sufficiently serious threat’.

In reality, many of these are allowed to remain in the UK as well.

During the case, Judge McCallum demanded to know what procedures there were to stop criminals entering the country.

‘This is going to be something we will have to be looking at more regularly,’ he added.

Currently EU citizens with a valid passport can travel to Britain without prior warning. Even in cases where officials are aware of serious convictions, criminals cannot automatically be turned away.

Critics branded the decision to keep him in a British jail as ‘an absolute disgrace’.

Susie Squire, of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: ‘This man is a career criminal and should be deported immediately. There is no way that hard-up taxpayers should have to bear the financial burden of supporting this kind of individual.

‘Now more than ever, every penny of public money is precious. All available funds should be given to fund tax breaks, not for convicted foreign criminals.’

After raping his victim at 8.30pm on October 12 last year, Majlat fled to London. But police were able to track him down to a homeless hostel in Victoria because he was still using his victim’s mobile phone.

He was closely examined by doctors and psychologists, who insisted he was sane, despite his bizarre claims.

During the court hearing, Judge McCallum said he was considering imposing a life sentence.

He asked the Crown Prosecution Service to investigate Majlat’s criminal history in Romania, particularly sexual offences, before he sentences him on April 6.

After the hearing, Detective Superintendent Dave Shipperlee, of British Transport Police, said: ‘This was a violent and sustained attack on a young woman who must have been absolutely terrified.

‘Police conducted an intensive investigation to catch the man responsible. I would like to reassure the public that incidents such as this are extremely rare on the railway network and also to thank everyone who came forward with information to help us in our investigation.’

In a dossier released last month, the Tories revealed that an estimated 3,000 foreign criminals were released without being deported last year.

Immigrants who were not prevented from entering Britain included sex attacker Josef Kurek, jailed for life in 2005 after breaking into the home of a 25-year-old woman in Swansea and raping her. He had just served nine years for rape in Poland, following four years for attempted rape.

PHOTO

Apparently this sort of behavior runs in the family.  I guess it’s a gift these bastards have.  Just what the heck is it the criminal system doesn’t understand about working to keep the law abiding safer?
These lower forms of life go to jail, come out and do it again.  And Again.  Oh but we must never be too harsh in our judgment and we certainly do not want the death penalty.  Load of BS.  First offense for an act like this and where there is clear proof, as there is here, a trial should not be necessary.  Rack first, then cut off offending member, stuff it in the bastard’s mouth and hang em. But do NOT hang so death comes quickly.

An interesting article in the paper the other day.
21,000 criminals who are spared jail, reoffend.  Oh dear. What a surprise. Surely not. Ya just can not trust the word of ppl these days.

Hey America.  Wanna read something funny?  These same boneheads who make crime so easy here think we (USA) might benefit by following their “humane” example.  Meanwhile ... kids here are wearing stab proof vests to school.  Gangs of negroes have raped girls and poured boiling sugar water and caustic acid on their victims and filming their deeds.  (The sugar we are told retains the heat of the water and so burns the victim longer.)


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/20/2009 at 01:18 PM   
Filed Under: • CrimeUK •  
Comments (2) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Does it get much dumber?  Coastguard can’t rescue until they fill out a healthy and safety form.

These are clearly NOT the same Brits who sailed with Nelson or stood by Winston or flew in the RAF.
These are .... ?  ah ?  Just what the hell are they besides schtupid?

batbat

Coastguards can’t start a rescue until they fill out a healthy and safety assessment

By Dan Newling
Last updated at 2:31 AM on 20th January 2009

Coastguards have been ordered to fill in a health and safety questionnaire before they can respond to calls for help.

All 400 of Britain’s rescue units have been told that before they travel to an accident scene they must complete a ‘vehicle pre-journey risk assessment’.

It is feared lives may be lost as vital minutes could be taken up with the assessments just as rescuers are preparing their response to emergency callouts.

Under the new rules, the teams have to take the time to answer four questions on the type of rescue and journey they are about to undertake.

Lives could be lost in the vital minutes that coastguard rescuers spend filling out risk assessment forms

After first filling out the date and time, the lead rescuer must outline the ‘reason for journey’ and detail any risks the team may encounter during the rescue, including both current and forecast weather conditions.

The form then demands an account of any ‘actions taken to mitigate risk’ before the leader can fill in a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as to whether the risk is ‘acceptable’.

The forms have caused outrage among Britain’s 3,200 coastguard rescuers, who are furious after a string of health and safety rulings recently issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

* Coastguard banned from using flares over safety fears and told to use a torch (flashlight) instead.

Yesterday, one coastguard said: ‘When we were first told about this, we simply couldn’t believe it.

‘When we get a call asking us to go out and rescue someone, we need to go there without delay.

‘But they are asking us to waste time in the office filling out this stupid form.

‘Also, none of us really knows what we are realistically meant to fill in.

‘I mean, how are we meant to know what risks there might be before we get there?

‘And do they expect us to get a full weather forecast before we go out? Do they really want us to find out what the traffic conditions will be?

‘It’s ridiculous. All we want to do is save lives.

‘The impression we get is that the bosses are doing everything they can to make sure their hands are legally clean if there is any kind of problem.’

The pre-journey risk assessment form is designed for when coastguards use their specially-equipped Land Rovers for land rescues.

Rescues by boat are not affected. It is just the latest in a series of bizarre health and safety rulings to affect the agency, which is a branch of the Department for Transport.

In November last year, coastguards were told that they can no longer use flares during night-time rescue missions as they could ‘cause considerable injury’.

Even though the flares light up a large area and are considered essential for finding people at night, the Agency told its teams that they should use torches instead.

In August, a three-man coastguard crew from Devon were disciplined because they rescued a 13-year-old girl using a boat that had not been passed by health and safety officials.

The girl had been only 150 yards out at sea.

Coastguards patrol the entire length of the UK’s 10,200 miles of coastline in conjunction with the lifeboatmen from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Most coastguards work full time in other jobs but carry pagers to alert them when they are needed.

They are paid for the time they spend undertaking rescue missions.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the MCA insisted that filling in the questionnaire does not cause any delay as it ‘can be done at the same time as the rest of the team prepare equipment.’

The spokesman said the pre-journey risk assessment had been introduced to protect the coastguards’ safety.

HEALTH AND SAFETY


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 01/20/2009 at 11:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Stoopid-PeopleUK •  
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The Inauguration

11:33 Eastern
I’m watching Michelle walk down the hall on her way to the big event. She looks annoyed. I can see her practicing smiling. She walks to the big door and starts down the stairs. All smiles. I guess it’s just nerves. I’d be nervous too.

I also checked the sky, looking for a new star in the east, or another sun about to ignite. So far, nothing.

11:40
Obama has found an American Flag pin to wear!
OMG, look at the crowds. There must be 2 million people out there, slowly freezing. Hundreds of thousands were out there all night, waiting. I wonder how many froze to death, and if that number will ever be reported?

11:42
“Ladies and gentlemen, the next President of The United States, Barack H. Obama!” You new they were NEVER going to say “Hussein” out loud. The crowd goes wild, chanting. “Imhotep! Imhotep!” “O ba ma! O ba ma!”

Diane Feinstein “This was the moment” when the message of the Lincoln Memorial finally reached the White House.
And I heard last night that the remaining Tuskegee airmen were brought up to DC to be part of things. Because this election is not about race at all you know. Even though the chaplain giving the prayer is talking about exactly that. “Give him the wisdom to lead us with humility.” Ok, let them have their moment. But Al Sharpton reminded us last night that, hey, just because a black man is now the most powerful human on the face of the planet, it doens’t mean that any sort of equality has been achieved, or that all the other black people aren’t still victims. Thanks Al. Have your cake and eat it too.

11:52
It’s Reetha!! Aretha Franklin sings “My Country Tis Of Thee” with full-on jazzy interpretation. Woo hoo, get your party on. I’m opening a beer. For breakfast. First time I’ve ever done that, but I feel the need somehow.

11:58 Joe Biden gets sworn in.

Noon
Yo-yo ma, Yitsak Perlman and others play us some classical air, a medley. A formal musical interlude. Hope their instruments aren’t harmed by playing outside in the cold.  The clarinet guy works a bit of “Tis a Gift To Be Simple” into the mix ... classic Americana. Very well done. Ok, now I’m feeling it, sniff sniiff, the national pride that’s bigger than anything Democrat centric. The Obama kids aren’t paying attention, they’re talking to each other. At least they aren’t text messaging.

12:05
The moment has come.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts to administer the oath. Obama can’t remember the words, Roberts has to repeat himself. “Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.”
And thus it is done.

12:08
“we are in the midst of crisis. ... a tapping of confidence, a nagging fear that decline is inevitable. The challenges are real and many ... know this: they will be met. We have chosen Hope over Fear. The time has come to set aside childish things ... greatness is never a gift, it must be earned. It has been the risk takers ... who have carried us up the long rugged path. ... starting today we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of rebuilding America.

... the ground has shifted beneath them. The question is not whether the government is too big or too small, but does it work? ... restore the vital trust between the people and their government.
Without a watched pot the market can spin out of control. ... a friend of every person who seeks peace and prosperity ... and we are ready to lead once more! ... we will not apologize for our way of life ... terrorists: you can not outlast us, and we will defeat you! ...

To the muslim world, we seek a new way forward, ...

... we will extend the hand if you are willing to unclench the fist ...

[nice speech. And I will give O some props; he’s a decent speaker. Much better than Bush, that’s for sure]

... a new era of responsibility ... duties we seize gladly ... this is the price and the promise of citizenship ... remember who we are and how far we have travelled ... with hope and virtue ... we carried forth that great gift of freedom ... “

A pretty good speech, and a pretty good delivery. I was expecting the crowd to react quite a bit stronger, but they’re probably about numb from the cold by now.

And now we get some poetry, by Elizabeth Alexander. “Praise song for the day. Each day we go about our business” Yek. She sucks. Utterly. Next.

......................

12:50
We see Bush, Obama, Biden, and Cheney, plus wives, meeting on the steps of the capital. Dick Cheney is in a wheelchair?? Press says he was moving boxes and he strained his back, doctor said to stay off his feet.

Handshakes and hugs are exchanged. George and Laura get into their very shiny helicopter for their last ride, flanked by a pair of Marines in full dress uniform. Don’t they look great? Best. Uniform. Ever. Damn, that helicopter is huge. It’s like a flying bus. And off they go, the helicopter circling several times for one long last look, then flying safely away.

.....................

On Fox News, Juan Williams is just overcome by the moment.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 01/20/2009 at 11:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Politics •  
Comments (9) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Monday - January 19, 2009

Bowling Grumbles

Three quarters of an inch of snow fell this afternoon in central New Jersey. This was sufficient to totally glom up the roads, so it took my wife nearly 2 hours to get home from work. Then she needed to eat somthing, change clothes, etc. So we were an hour and a half late to bowling. We got there in the middle of the 2nd game, too late to bowl in it. So we visited a while, then bowled in the 3rd game. Our team won the first 2 games handily. We sucked in the 3rd game. She rolled 7 under her absentee score, I rolled a terrible 33 under mine. The other 2 people on my team were down too, after doing so well in the first two games. And the other team did quite well. So we lost that game, but won the wood. At least my team lost the last game by a good bit more than the two of us “helped”. So we get 5 out of 7. Then we turned around and came home. It hardly seemed worth it to go, which is what I said before we left. But we have to pay anyway, so we went.

Heading up there and coming back, the roads were pretty good around our town, and perfectly clean and dry a few miles to the north where the bowling alley is. I guess this was a very local storm. I have no idea if 5 points is going to make us go up or down. The top 6 teams played each other tonight, and we’re in 7th place. If they bowled blowouts, we could rise to 5th. HA. We got it!

New Jersey is a small state, with lots of highways. While it has two major east-west highways across the upper and middle of the state, a major highway (the Jersey Turnpike) on the SW-NE diagonal between Philly and NYC, and an east side highway that runs from NYC down along all the coastal shoreline (the Garden State Parkway. “Hey, you’re from Joisey? What exit?"), etc., what it does not have is a north-south highway in the middle or on the west side of the state. There is no real highway between Trenton and anywhere north, nor is there one from Freehold to anywhere north. Thus a whole network of podunk little county roads have been a bit “improved” and try to fill that need. Except they’re all actually local roads, with intersections and stop lights on them every quarter mile. Add snow. And lots of tractor-trailer trucks. And 300,000 cars. It makes a mess right quick, and the result is you just sit in traffic going nowhere. That’s why Princeton, not even 30 miles from here, can be a 2 hour trip. There is also a whole chunk of the state that’s part of the “you can’t get there from here” zone. Actually there are several of them, one about 30 miles to the northwest of us, another that starts about 20 miles south of us, and a huge one in the southern part of the middle of the state. I wish we had another highway or two around here.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 01/19/2009 at 10:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
Comments (1) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Reason 12,811 Why McCain Lost

Speaking about the people Obama has nominated for various offices:

Mr. McCain, meanwhile, has told colleagues “that many of these appointments he would have made himself,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and a close McCain friend.




This once again proves that the American people were given a choice this past November between a young hip leftist, and an old crotchety leftist. They chose the one with some energy. That’s all.

Are you listening GOP? If we stuffed your ass with a billion dollar bailout, could you actually buy yourself a clue? Here, take this baseball bat and start hitting yourself in the head, and repeat after me:

[Whack] John McCain is NOT a Conservative. John McCain is NOT a Republican. [Whack]

Repeat until unconscious. Wake up, and repeat hourly.

Eventually the message will either get through, or you’ll be dead. It’s no great loss either way. 


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 01/19/2009 at 10:09 PM   
Filed Under: • Republicans •  
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