Wednesday - February 25, 2009
Starting Over, Again
I just about gave up on bowling the other night. All season long I’ve been trying to bowl the way some people have told me to, and it just wasn’t working. It was getting rather depressing.
Bowling is an odd sport. You don’t really throw the ball, you roll it. And you don’t want the thing to go straight. You want the ball to curve to the inside, because you knock down more pins that way. That’s called getting the ball to hook, and it can be very frustrating.
Monday night the other team had a sub. I know him; he’s a very good bowler. He doesn’t throw the ball very fast, but he puts a huge amount of rev (rotational spin at an angle other than that the ball is rolling) on the ball. He throws it out, it slides smoothly out almost to the edge of the lane, then the ball gets traction and it takes off like a shot in the direction of the rev. He threw in the 240s and up without hardly trying. I think he made a 760 series for the night. I was watching really carefully, and what he was doing was just a more intense version of what I was doing at the end of last season.
So I took all my balls to the alley this afternoon. I figured I’d give that kind of throw another try, and mid-afternoon is the best time to try something that might not work. I was the only bowler there. And away I went. Slow approach, small natural swing, slightly bent-in wrist held firm. Straight push away, get that elbow locked. Stay under the ball as it drops. Walk across the approach, not down the approach. See the invisible line between the 7 pin on the next lane over and the 2nd arrow on my lane. That’s the swing line, so walk parallel to that. Stay behind the ball. Stay behind the ball! Big slow lunge on the last step, get down close to the ground. As the ball swings past my hip, lift and relax the thumb. Feel with the hand. Feel! Yes, the ball is falling forward in my palm. Turn the wrist, not the arm. Turn the wrist so that the palm faces my 7 pin. Now SNAP the fingers closed and snap the arm up from the elbow. Snap it! And follow through with the arm, so that my hand stops next to my ear.
And the ball revved right up like it had a motor attached. Ok, not the insane amount of rev like that other guy gets. But plenty enough, and far far more than the 8 or so spins I’ve been getting with the other throwing style. And it slid down the line to about the 45 foot mark, at which point it got traction and dove to the pocket. It wasn’t a huge hit. It didn’t echo like a gun shot. Pins didn’t go flying every which way; they just got knocked over and slid around knocking other pins down. Try it again. Again, only use the 3rd arrow this time. Again, but move a board to the right. Ah, this is better. Throw it just right and it strikes in the pocket. Through it a little inside and it strikes Brooklyn. Throw it a little too fast and it breaks harder and leaves the 7. Throw it too slow and it breaks high and leaves the 10.
Ah, sweetness and light. This is what is supposed to be happening. I threw 5 quick games - I was done in 40 minutes. My hand and wrist started to tire early in the 3rd game. By the 5th game I was getting exhausted. But I threw 948 for the 5 games, which is nearly a 190 average. And I didn’t have the slightest problem getting my thumb out of any of the balls. And all my balls hooked. Not just the one (a Track Uprising) I decided was dead on Monday. The one I gave up on last season (an Ebonite Total NV) because it was “drilled wrong”. Even the one I bought last summer and didn’t like (an Ebonite NVD). They all worked pretty well. At the end I started leaving 10s and 6-10s, but my USBT makes those spares more than 9 out of 10 times. [USTB: Ultimate SpazBall Throw. A throw where I do everything wrong - limp wrist, pointing, too fast an approach, lofting, horsing the ball around with my thumb, etc., with the result being a high speed throw where the ball revs backwards on the 2 o’clock - 7 o’clock axis at high speed. Not matter how “hooky” a ball is, this throw makes it go dead straight and slows it down once it hits the dry. It’s killer on the 10 pin, 6-10, 9-10, and 3-10 leaves.]
It was me, being a doofus and listening to bad advice, the entire time. And while I know I was playing on worn out mid-afternoon conditions, I think I should still be able to get most of the hook to happen on the heavy league oil patterns. What I need to really do is some wrist and finger exercises. And get some more practice in tomorrow and Friday. I’m gluing new fingertip insets in tonight as I noticed that they were worn out on 2 balls. Inserts only last about 60 games, but at least they’re cheap. Properly tight inserts get you more snap off the fingers. Do the “schnap” properly and you can hear them pop when your fingers come out of the ball.
Assuming my arm is rested, I want to try for a 200 average tomorrow. Yes, I know ... I’m manic / depressive about this whole thing. Welcome to bowling!
My apologies if this is all so much mumbo jumbo to you non-bowlers. This is a video of what I am trying to do and it is not something I am finding intuitive. Notice how fast the guy’s arm moves, yet how slow the ball travels. But it’s spinning like mad. See the ball sliding to the right while it’s spinning counter-clockwise to the left? That’s the “rev” I’m talking about. See how the ball’s slide seems to slow down, and then it shoots off to the left, yet the ball doesn’t actually turn? That’s the “hooking up and taking off” I’m writing about. And the pin reaction? That’s close to perfection. Pure perfection is when you hit the pins just a bit harder, so that the 2 pin and the 3 pin shoot off to the sides, hit the walls, and bounce back hard as they cross the pin deck, helping to clear out any remaining pins. That’s called Double Messengers, and it’s a thing of beauty that happens in an eyeblink. But the hit in this video is a strike, a good reliable one, and that’s all that really matters.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/25/2009 at 04:29 PM
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Permalink • Worcester becomes first city in Britain to be twinned… with Gaza. (touchy-feely stuff)
Well now you can see after reading how romantic these thoughts are. GAK.
Maybe the chapter in my last post is the last after all.
Very liberal thinkers over here.
Worcester becomes first city in Britain to be twinned… with GazaBy Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:32 PM on 25th February 2009They could hardly be more different: one is a picturesque cathedral city in the heart of rural England - the other a grief stricken warzone in the Middle East.
But Worcester, famous as the birthplace of composer Sir Edward Elgar, is on the verge of becoming the first city in Britain to be twinned with with Gaza City.
The council’s Twinning Association is now considering an application which could be passed in the next few months.
An amended motion put forward by Cllr Alan Amos was strongly passed at a council meeting on Tuesday night.
Just six councillors opposing the move out of 35 voters.
Cllr Alan Amos said: ‘Like many I have watched the plight of the people of Gaza, seeing them get bombed and bombed by Israelis with advanced military weapons.
‘But rather than sit there thinking ‘isn’t that terrible’ I really wanted to do something about it.
‘At a local government level it is obviously hard to influence foreign policy, so we wanted to bring people together to show a gesture of solidarity - so Gaza could look at us and see that the whole world isn’t against them, there are people who understand their plight and think what is happening to them is unacceptable.
‘We have made history in doing this, although that’s not what we set out to do. We have done something very memorable and we are very optimistic that this will go ahead.
‘It is a humanitarian gesture and not a political move.’
Any further discussion of the issue now rests with members of the twinning committee who have already fostered successful links with Kleve, in Germany, Le Vesinet, France and more recently Worcester, Massechsetts, in the United States.
Residents have given a mixed response to the proposal.
Nick Walton, 29, said: ‘It is a nice idea, but I’m not sure what it is going to achieve.
‘There are lots of cities all over the world who are enduring similar problems and to single one out for help is not exactly an impartial approach.
‘If we are going to be making cultural exchanges it is going to be interesting because I don’t think you could find two places which are more different.’
Sandra Thompson, 62, added: ‘If there are some positive outcomes for the people of Gaza City then I am 100 per cent behind the idea. People in Worcester are very lucky to live in a very peaceful, conflict-free environment and it is easy to forget about those who aren’t as fortunate.’
(Uh huh. Wait till a million of em live among you in your city and we’ll see how peaceful it is then.)Worcester has a population of 93,700 and is also famous for the New Road Cricket Ground, Royal Worcester Porcelain and Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.
Gaza City has a population of 410,000 making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.
The city was the target of an Israeli bombing campaign earlier this year, sparked after rockets were launched from the territory into neighbouring Israel.
That action followed an earlier Israeli blockade of the coastal city which lasted for more than a year.
The city is currently controlled by Hamas, which were elected by Gazans at the polls.
However the group is listed as a terrorist organisation by both the European Union and the United States of America.
Posted by peiper
on 02/25/2009 at 02:41 PM
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Permalink • This crowded isle …. an editorial comment in the Mail, on immigration and related issues.
I’ve written often about this crowded place and reminded ppl that it is after all, an island and folks seem to forget that.
Or it seemed they forgot. Powers that be certainly aren’t aware of it.
This country, this England, has been sold down the river to use a tired old phrase. No less true however.
Honestly, at this place in time and seeing what I do, I think it’s too late. Mark Steyn covered it pretty well but this Daily Mail editorial I think closes the chapter. I say chapter in the hope that I’m wrong and there will be more to the book called England.
But things do NOT look well at all.
THIS CROWDED ISLE Even in a country long used to mass immigration, today’s extraordinary figures come as a jolt.
Exceeding all previous estimates, the Office for National Statistics finds that one in every nine people in the UK - and one in eight living in England - was born abroad.
London, and the rest of the UK is feeling the pressure of 6.5m new arrivals.
Leave aside the sheer pressure of 6,486,000 new arrivals - and that excludes the millions born in Britain to immigrant families - on what is already the most crowded country in Europe.
The truth is that since 2004, while the British-born population has remained almost static, we’ve been welcoming an average of 313,000 settlers a year, vast numbers of whom have no loyalty to Britain or affection for our way of life.
Yes, we accept that many incomers have made a huge contribution to our society.
But doesn’t immigration on this massive runaway scale threaten to undermine the very concept of Britain as a nation?
“doesn’t immigration on this massive runaway scale threaten to undermine the very concept of Britain as a nation? “
YOU BET YOUR BUTT IT DOES! COUNT ON IT.
Posted by peiper
on 02/25/2009 at 02:21 PM
Filed Under: • Editorials • Illegal-Aliens and Immigration • UK •
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Permalink • Europe has a high degree of tolerance for intolerant imams
H/T LyndonB
Thanks Lyndon. Need to check this guy more often.
This has to be posted. Steyn is a brilliant writer and used to appear in the Telegraph. We read him all the time and then he was gone.
No excuses, I dropped the ball in not checking his site more often. In fact, not at all lately. Gonna correct that at once.
Anyway ... Lyndon dropped a link to this in his comments and I felt it should be posted here.
THE NEXT STAGESteyn on Britain and Europe
Tuesday, 24 February 2009HAPPY WARRIOR
from National ReviewThe other day I found myself wondering when the conversion rate would become an avalanche. To Islam, I mean. If you’ve been following recent developments in the Netherlands, you’ll know that Geert Wilders, a Dutch Member of Parliament, is to be put on trial for offending Muslims. “Look at what you’re doing,” the sardonic Brit Pat Condell pointed out. “You’re prosecuting a man who is under 24-hour protection from attack by violent Muslims. Yet he’s the criminal for expressing an opinion.”
Quite. But, while Europe has a high degree of tolerance for intolerant imams, it won’t tolerate anyone pointing out that intolerance. It is not necessary for Minheer Wilders to be either jailed or forced into exile to conclude that the Netherlands, like many of its neighbors, has already conceded the key point - that Muslims now have the exclusive right to set the parameters of public debate on Islam. And, given that they don’t regard it as debatable at all, that means that the remorseless Islamization of Europe will continue and accelerate while the deWildered political establishment stands mute.
When I talk like that, I’m assumed to be nuts – or, to use the preferred term, “alarmist” (The Economist et al). Brian Barrington, a Dublin blogger, recently concluded a review of my book by asking:
Is Mark Steyn a scaremongering fool indulging in Islamophobic fantasies..?
Answer: yes he is.
Here’s a 2008 headline from Le Figaro re demographic trends in Brussels:
La capitale européenne sera musulmane dans vingt ans.
For those who haven’t taken up President Obama’s urgings to learn another language, that’s French for “Nothing to see here, folks.”
Now here’s a 2009 headline from The Times :of London
Muslim Population ‘Rising 10 Times Faster Than Rest Of Society’.
A little bit harder for that one to get lost in translation. According to the United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics, the greatest number of “Christians” (whatever that means in a contemporary Anglican context) is to be found among the over-70s, and the largest number of Muslims is in the cohort aged four and under. Which is Britain’s past and which Britain’s future? No need to ask a “scaremongering fool”. In a land where the head of state is also Supreme Governor of the established church, a quarter of all public elementary schools in England are what are known as “Church of England schools”. In practice, they cannot teach Christianity because many of them, especially in the inner cities, are now overwhelmingly Muslim. In the Blackburn and Dewsbury C-of-E schools, every single pupil is Muslim. At others, the retreating Christian community can still muster up to one per cent of the enrolment. In Bradford, the Church is building a new school for what will be an entirely Muslim student body. “Demographics change,” says the Venerable Peter Ballard, Archdeacon of Lancaster. “There was certainly a Christian population there at one time and, who knows, 20 years from now the Christians might be back.”
Not in 20 years. According to official statistics, of “white British Christian” households 16 per cent have two or more dependent children; among the UK’s “Pakistani Muslim” households, the figure is 50 per cent; “Bangladeshi Muslims”, 58 per cent. The British Government “sustainable development chair” (whatever that is) Sir Jonathon Porritt has just announced that he thinks parents are being “environmentally irresponsible” if they have more than two children.
That 16 per cent will listen to the sustainable baronet. The 58 per cent will fill the void.
So Britain and Europe are becoming more Muslim. The only question is how much more, how fast. And in that respect I think the only thing I got wrong in America Alone is that I was insufficiently “alarmist”. I’ll bet that “la capitale européenne sera musulmane” a lot sooner than 20 years.
Islam is not a race: As The Times reported, “Experts said that the increase was attributable to immigration, a higher birthrate and conversions to Islam.” That last category is the next stage. Like many readers, I’ve been enjoying Robert Ferrigno’s Prayers For The Assassin trilogy, set in an Islamic Republic of America a decade or three hence, while being just a wee bit skeptical about the premise – that a nuclear catastrophe would prompt millions of Americans to convert to Islam. But in Europe? There’s no need for nukes, just the quiet, remorseless daily reality.
In the next few years, Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Rotterdam will become majority Muslim. Let’s say you work in an office in those cities: One day they install a Muslim prayer room, and a few folks head off at the designated time, while the rest of you get on with what passes for work in the EU. A couple of years go by, and it’s now a few more folks scooting off to the prayer room. Then it’s a majority. And the ones who don’t are beginning to feel a bit awkward about being left behind.
What do you do? The future showed up a lot sooner than you thought. If you were a fundamentalist Christian like those wackjob Yanks, signing on to Islam might (pace Mr Ferrigno) cause you some discomfort. But, if you’re the average post-Christian Eurosecularist, what’s the big deal? Who wants to be the last guy sitting in the office sharpening his pencil during morning prayers?
Funny how quickly it all happened. There was the woman on reception, but she retired. And the guy in personnel who used to say, sotto voce, that Geert Wilders had a point. But he emigrated the year after Wilders did.
from National Review
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Tuesday - February 24, 2009
NJ: A Squeaker in Trenton
N.J. Senate defeats one gun a month handgun-control bill. Sort of.
The bill, S1774, aka A339, was “held”. It was not actually defeated.
A bill that would limit gun buyers to one handgun purchase every 30 days fell one vote short of final legislative approval yesterday when it could not muster enough support in the state Senate.
The plan’s sponsors said limiting the handgun purchases that can be made at one time would fight “straw buys” in which a person with a clean record acquires many guns and passes them to criminals. Opponents argued that New Jersey already had tough gun laws, and that additional burdens would only restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens.
The plan had won approval in the Assembly, and Gov. Corzine has said he would sign it if it reached his desk.
But the plan received only 20 of the 21 “yes” votes yesterday needed for approval. Every Democrat supported the plan except for Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney and State Sen. Fred Madden, both of Gloucester County, and State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D., Cape May). Every Republican voted no, except for State Sens. Phil Haines (R., Burlington) and Jennifer Beck (R., Monmouth), who abstained.
Yeah, that’s the short version of the story.
A bill that would restrict handgun purchases in New Jersey to one per month stalled in the state Senate yesterday. The bill was held by its sponsor, Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Hudson), after it received 20 votes, one shy of the 21 needed for passage. No Republicans voted for the bill, drawing a rebuke from Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex).
The NJ Senate has 40 members and is split 22-18 in favor of Democrats. One of the leading Dems came out against this bill the other week (Sweeney I think), saying we had enough gun laws in the state.
So they took the vote ... everybody voted ... but the “fail” was not recorded. The bill was pulled from the fire at the last microsecond, so that it can be voted on again sometime this year maybe. That seems like cheating to me.
Now, do a little math. 40 members, right? 22 Dems, but 3 voted NO. That leaves 19 in favor. 18 Republicans, but 2 abstain [ the wieners ]. That leaves 16 NO votes, plus the 3 Dem NOs. So it’s 19-19-2; death by tie. So how does the paper come up with 20 votes?
Looks like NJ has learned how to do things from the EU.
PS - Haines and Beck ... we’re watching you now. That “abstain” crap don’t fly no mo. Only Obama get to vote “present”.
“This bill is critical to public safety,” Codey said. “This is a common sense measure to put a stop to in-state ‘straw’ purchases of large numbers of handguns that are then sold illegally and used by criminals and gang members.”
Shut up Codey.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/24/2009 at 04:42 PM
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Permalink • SCOTUS Blows It Again
Decision is against Hayes. Arguments focused on grammar. Roberts and Scalia dissenting, based on grammar.
Everybody misses the obvious: the Lautenberg amendment to GCA 68 is ex-post facto and therefore 100% unconstitutional. Nobody picks up on the almost obvious: Lautenberg Amendment is unequal protection under the law. Just like hate crimes, just like a more severe form of murder being reserved for only when the deceased was a police officer. Same idea, same mistake. Throw them all out because they are all wrong.
This guy from West Virginia Hayes beat his wife. He was convicted of that in 1994. West Virginia did not have a specific “domestic violence” law at the time; Hayes was convicted of “ordinary” battery. In 1996 Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ, which tells you almost everything you need to know) added an amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968 that made it illegal for persons convicted of the misdemeanor offense of domestic violence (but not regular violence) to possess firearms. When the cops came to his house in 1996 for another instance of domestic violence, they found that he had a rifle. He was arrested for violating the so-called Lautenberg Amendment. He got 10 years in jail for that. Because he had a gun in 1995. Hayes took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. And lost.
You can lawyer it up and down and do your best to pretend that making an addition in 1996 to a law that was passed in 1968 means that the addition also existed in 1968 ... and that’s pure bullshit. You can say that Hayes should have lost his R2KBA from his 1996 conviction, and I’ll agree with you: the law is bad, but it is the law. But there ain’t no way in hell you can make me accept that he should be convicted because of a 1996 law that made his situation in 1995 illegal in 1995, when it was actually legal in 1995. That’s ex-post facto, and it’s one of the fundamental building blocks of our nation.
So SCOTUS spends the whole case arguing over whether this clause applies to that noun or that one. Idiots. All of them.
Read the decision here: Dumb Decision. SCROTUS just rewrote and clarified the laws of 39 states
Read the dissent here: Nearly As Dumb Dissent. At least Roberts knows his grammar inside and out. I bet he can spell “potatoe” too.
Don’t want to read a couple of pages of lawyerly gobbledy-gook? Read one short paragraph over at Arms and The Law. Or the Fox News story linked up above.
As for the efficacy of the Lautenberg Amendment, let’s ask Aasiya Hassan about it. Because that same bit of “law” also disarms takes the guns away from people who have protection orders served on them.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/24/2009 at 03:55 PM
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Permalink • This Is Wrong
Not exactly an honestly named bill ... this is a bill to give residents of the city of Washington DC, a federal district NOT actually part of any state, their own Congressweasel. They do not have any Senators, poor babies, because they are not a state.
[ Looking at the other side of the coin, DC has the entire Congress, because running the city is part of their job. See WiseGeek for details. People who live in DC do not have the same voting rights as we do ... because they are not citizens of any state. But different does not mean none. And equal should be out of their reach: they are not a state. That’s their advantage and their albatross. Tough shit. That’s the deal. ]
The District of Columbia’s two-century-long wait for a voice in Congress was a step closer to ending Tuesday with a crucial Senate vote to take up legislation giving the capital city’s 600,000 residents a full seat in the House.
The Senate voted 62-34, two more than needed, to begin debate on the measure that would increase the House to 437 members. It would give the Democratic-dominated city a new vote while adding a fourth seat to Republican-leaning Utah.
Key to the vote was that Democrats, who overwhelmingly support the bill, have seven more Senate seats than two years ago when the chamber fell three votes short of the 60 required to end a Republican-led filibuster.
The bill still faces contentious amendments and may have to overcome GOP opposition to moving to a final vote. If it does pass the Senate, possibly by the end of the week, the bill goes on to a receptive House and ultimately to President Barack Obama, who supports it.
If enacted into law, the measure is likely to face court challenges from opponents who contend that giving a House seat to D.C. is unconstitutional because the District is not a state. The Supreme Court could be the final arbiter.
“I find it unimaginable that 600,000 Americans have no voice and no vote in the United States Congress,” the Senate’s no. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in urging support for the measure.
Washington has been without a vote in Congress since 1801, when Congress took control of the newly created capital on the Potomac but did not provide residents with voting rights.
I’m not sure that anyone was ever supposed to actually live in Washington DC. It was set up to be the working capital of the country, and not be part of any state. Do the people who live there deserve to have representation in the legislature? Sure they do. But not their own.
Allow me to solve this “terrible crisis” for all the dunderheads in DC. I’ll do it in 3 seconds, and it won’t cost a thing:
There ya go. I even used some of that ever popular gerrymandering that politicians love so dearly. Georgetown and Embassy Row is now represented by the folks from Virginia. The Downtown, National Mall, and Capital Hill areas are represented by the folks from Maryland.
And DC specific laws? There probably aren’t any. One city not part of any state, but represented by two states. Self-rule to the extent of any other city ... but no law can be passed that does not agree with both existing Maryland and Virginia law. So all that gun control horse poo goes right out the window; the ghetto bunnies on the northwest side now have the same rights as citizens of Virginia, and the ghetto bunnies on the southeast side now have the same rights as citizens of Maryland.
My plan would not add any new Congress weasels. Assuming the DC ghetto is evenly spread across the city, that would be an extra 300,000 welfare recipients for Virginia to represent, about the same for the MD end of things. So, these two reps would have a slightly greater consituency than average. Big deal. My plan would also remove their votes from the Electoral College, since the city is now represented by the two states. Right now they have 3, as if they already had 2 Senators and a Congressman ... as if they were already a state. One vote would go to each State, which would actually better empower both those states in terms of Electoral Votes per capita.
The District has been represented since 1991 by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. Norton, like five other delegates from island territories, can vote in committees and on some amendments on the House floor but not on final passage of legislation.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/24/2009 at 02:34 PM
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Permalink • Chilling Mumbai terror attack, instructions from handlers and murder.
And there are actually people claiming there’s a middle ground and we need to “talk more and shoot less.”
There isn’t any middle ground. There isn’t any point at which the civilized world (what’s left of it) can meet and have conversations with scum like these.
Please note btw, apparently the terrorist weenies didn’t actually want to die. Not even for 72 virgins. Not even for akbar snackbar.
These are really cold blooded murderous bastards and they do enjoy what they do.
There isn’t any common ground between us.
Maddening that so many people think there might be.
Newly released tapes of conversations between the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks and their gunmen on the ground reveal callous, remote-control killers who controlled every move the terrorists made.
By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Last Updated: 6:03PM GMT 24 Feb 2009The tapes, which were broadcast on an Indian television news channel, relay a conversation between one of the controllers in Pakistan and a female Jewish hostage in which he reassured her despite having already decided to have her killed.
A caller from Pakistan called Wasi spoke to Nurma Shvarzblat Rabinovich, 50, and asked her to call the Israeli consulate in Mumbai to set up negotiations with a senior diplomat.
After she told him she had made the call, and the Israelis were getting in contact with the Indian authorities, Wasi said: “Then don’t worry. Breathe easy. Wait for our next call. Don’t worry, save your energy, save it for a better day. Maybe they’ll speak to us soon and maybe you’ll celebrate Sabbath with your family.”
But in another conversation with one of the gunman, the Pakistani controller gave detailed instructions on how apparently Nurma and another woman should be killed: “Stand her up on this side of the door. Shoot her in such a way that the bullet goes right through her head and out the other side. The bullet should not get stuck in her body Do it, I’m listening,” he hectored his gunman in Nariman House, where six, including the Rabbi of a Jewish charity and his wife were killed. “One is done?” he demanded, and his gunman replied: “Both are finished.” Mrs Rabinovich had been staying at Mumbai’s Chabad Lubavitch charity where she was planning to complete her emigration to Israel the following week.
At other points in the tapes, the Pakistan-based commanders asked detailed questions about the positions of Indian special commandos, what the terrorists had eaten for energy, how much ammunition they had remaining, and gave equally detailed instructions on when to throw grenades and where to position themselves in the building to stay out of Indian commando range.
When one of the Nariman House gunmen asked his controller if he could drink a bottle of Coke he had found, his handler replied:"Drink the mineral water. Drink the Coke. Coke has sugar. That will give you energy. If you find biscuits, eat them.”
As the Indian special commandos closed in on them, the terrorists in Nariman House appeared to panic, and are heard saying to their handlers:"There’s a helicopter above us, looks like an advance the curtains are shot away, please pray we get out of this room alive, please pray for us.”
The Indian government had earlier detailed in their official dossier other conversations between the Pakistani handlers, who they suspect have special forces or intelligence training, and their terrorist gunmen in Mumbai, but these latest tapes appear to be a previously withheld section from the same set.
Posted by peiper
on 02/24/2009 at 02:20 PM
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Permalink • AN AFFRONT TO THE WORLD? OH WELL IF IT’S IN THE TIMES ……
I wasn’t gonna boot again tonight. But damn, there was the Times on the table and I just had to open it.
I got PO’d over their editorial re. Guantanamo. What is it with these folks here.
These schmucks are worried about due process. Yes I understand it could happen to any of us given the right circumstances. But come on damn it.
This guy’s story just isn’t an ordinary everyday thing. Sure, we all try sneaking into countries, we all end up by mistake in Afganland. Where oh btw, there’s a war of some kind going on.
I’m just pissed at the continued hue and cry about Gitmo like it’s anyone’s business but ours.
Here’s what I mean. No reason you guys shouldn’t see it.
Due Process
Guantánamo Bay was an affront to the world. Its inmates must now find justice outside. But that does not mean making Binyam Mohamed a hero.
I really don’t much care about any “affront” my country may have caused the world, comrade editor. Frankly, our security arrangements are not the business of some pinko editor in London mounting his moral soapbox.
I’m more worried about losing my country the same way the Brits have lost theirs. Won’t happen quite as fast in my country though, cause we have guns and the willingness to use em.
An affront to the world? The whole world? Africa? So.America? Somalia??? RUSSIA? Hey mr. editor, screw the world and you too.
The US detention centre at Guantánamo Bay was a grotesque betrayal of justice. But its story does not end with the US President’s decision to close the camp. It is only the beginning of difficult decisions for other countries about how to treat returning inmates. The arrival at RAF Northolt yesterday of Binyam Mohamed, the first prisoner released since President Obama took office, poses real dilemmas for the British Government.
Like many former detainees, Mr Mohamed’s history is complicated. An Ethiopian by birth, he spent seven years in Britain before heading to Afghanistan, where he allegedly attended a paramilitary training camp, and then to Pakistan, where he was arrested by Pakistani security forces in 2002 on suspicion of terrorism. He has spent the last seven years in some of the most horrific jails in the world. He claims to have endured both extraordinary rendition and torture, orchestrated by the US and allegedly abetted by UK intelligence services.
These are serious charges, which must be taken seriously. The fact is that in seven years, Mr Mohamed was never tried. He was initially accused by the US of involvement with al-Qaeda, but charges against him were dropped some months ago. He has also, almost certainly, suffered torture. The Attorney-General has rightly opened an investigation into whether there was criminal wrongdoing by M15, which supposedly interrogated Mr Mohamed in Pakistan.
Whatever his reasons for travelling to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mr Mohamed has been treated outrageously. It was essential that he be released, and right that the British Government pushed the CIA to make documents available to his defence counsel to facilitate that release. There is no justification for him to be put in prison now, or to be kept under a control order which would restrict his movements.
(I couldn’t resist sticking this toon in here.Yet the wrongs that Mr Mohamed has suffered do not mean that the British Government can put aside all questions of national security. It would be foolish to do so, not least given the Pentagon’s claim that 61 former Guantánamo inmates have “returned to jihad”. Mr Mohamed is not a British citizen. The decision to welcome him here, and presumably to fund his housing and medical treatment, seems to be partly motivated by a desire to help to speed the closure of Guantánamo, and partly because Britain was his official place of residence when he was arrested. (His residency expired while he was in prison).
It is therefore right and proper for the Government to have set some conditions in return. Mr Mohamed has accepted that he must report regularly to the authorities, and that he will be kept under surveillance. If he turns out to pose no threat to this country, he should have nothing to fear, and Britain can feel proud of helping America to try to cleanse its reputation. But his immigration status must be linked to his behaviour. Mr Mohamed has been admitted to the UK on a “temporary” basis. If he gives any cause for alarm, the Government should lose no time in returning him to Ethiopia.
Mr Mohamed is challenging the legality of his detention, which is clearly a matter for the US Government. His lawyers have also served suit in the UK, demanding that the Government release US intelligence documents it holds. But that must be a decision for the US authorities, not the UK ones. The Foreign Secretary is right to warn that for Britain to reveal another country’s intelligence would damage trust between intelligence services. The stain of Guantánamo can only be eased if its detainees are now given due process. But justice does not require that Britain should undermine its own national security. Mr Mohamed’s fate now lies in his own hands.
Posted by peiper
on 02/24/2009 at 01:32 PM
Filed Under: • Commies • International • Terrorists • UK •
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Permalink • Stop Wasting My Tax Money!!
Well, who cares, right? It’s NOT our country. We didn’t build it, and we didn’t break it. MYOB. Right? WRONG!!
United States aid for the Gaza Strip’s reconstruction will likely top $900 million, an official said, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepared to make her first Mideast trip as America’s top diplomat.
Israeli and Palestinian officials said Monday that Clinton will visit Israel and the West Bank during the first week of March. Clinton said during her Asia trip last week that she would attend an international donors conference in Egypt on March 2 to discuss reconstruction in Gaza.
She provided no other details, but a U.S. official in the United States said Monday that the Obama administration’s donation will be at least $900 million in humanitarian and rebuilding aid to the Palestinian Authority to help Gaza recover from Israel’s offensive against Hamas last month.
Eff that! NOT ONE DAMN PENNY. NOT A DOLLAR. NOT A GALLON OF MILK. NOT A GRAIN OF RICE. NOT A SPOONFUL OF FLOUR.
Hamas is a terrorist organization. Fatah is a terrorist organization. One or the other of these groups will always be the “authority” in charge over there. Terrorist organizations are OUR ENEMIES. Don’t just let them starve and live in squalor ... FORCE THEM TO STARVE AND LIVE IN SQUALOR. “Enemy” get it? Knock, knock, is anyone at home inside your head? Enemy. Blockade the coast. Sink the ships. Any Americans going there will be arrested for treason. Any American companies sending money there will be seized. War On Terror. Global. You’ve heard of this maybe? That means all terrorists, everywhere. As in, Kill Them Now. Or at least make them suffer until we get around to killing them at our leisure.
Halfwits.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/24/2009 at 12:10 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • War On Terror •
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Permalink • Formula for perfect pancake unveiled by scientists. (TIME FOR LIGHTHEARTED STUFF. ONCE)
Right.
After this it’s back to blood and gore and politics and muslims.
But right now, this is more fun.
Attention Americans watching. Measures here in UK NOT the same as home in USA.
For example, you might notice the chef in the video with what we (USA) call a soup spoon.
NOT OVER HERE.
No. Over here that large spoon is a dessert spoon.
They have a pancake thing here during Shrove Tuesday. Pancake day. And their pancakes are NOT like ours either.
We’d call em crepes. And they are.
Sometime last year a returning Brit who’d been to Florida came back with horror stories of thick pancakes served as a meal and served with bacon and syrup.
The crepes shown here are dessert. Not the main meal.
Whatever. I’ll take Bisquick any day. Do like crepes tho with butter and a dash of lemon and sugar after it comes off the stove. Roll it up and yum.
Have fun.
music is pretty annoying. why do they think they need that?
Formula for perfect pancake unveiled by scientists
Dr Ruth Fairclough, a mathematics professor, has cooked up a complicated formula for the perfect pancake - just in time for Shrove Tuesday.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 8:35AM GMT 24 Feb 2009
Dr Fairclough, a lecturer of mathematics and statistics at Wolverhampton University, has plotted the pancake’s creation down to the last detail.
She says the frying pan’s temperature is one of the most important parts, together with the preparation of the tasty batter.
However, the secret recipe in full is: 100 - [10L - 7F + C(k - C) + T(m - T)]/(S - E) with the closer you get to a 100 - the better the pancake.
In the complex formula L represents the number of lumps in the batter and C equals its consistency.
The letter F stands for the flipping score, k is the ideal consistency and T is the temperature of the pan.
Ideal temp of pan is represented by m, S is the length of time the batter stands before cooking and E is the length of time the cooked pancake sits before being eaten.
She said: “I came up with it because I love making pancakes for my two girls, they can’t get enough of them.
“The first thing to do is that you must get the pan temperature exactly right. When the oil starts lightly smoking you need to pour the mixture in.
“The next thing is that you have to get the consistency of the mix spot on - it can’t be too runny as if it is the pancake just falls to bits.
“Saying that, it can’t have any lumps in it either.
“You can check it’s right by lifting up a spoon and the mixture should just fall lightly off it.
“You should let the mix stand for 20 minutes so the flour has time to absorb into the milk. Make sure you have a medium sized pan, too big and it could be really hard to flip it.
“The pancake should be served piping hot off the pan with sugar and lemon.”
Meanwhile Asda has seen a 13 fold increase in the number Non Stick Aluminium Frying Pan – perfect for Pancake Day.
Honey is all up 105 per cent year on year and maple syrup is up more than three fold in the same period.
Posted by peiper
on 02/24/2009 at 08:35 AM
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining • Fun-Stuff • UK •
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Permalink • WELCOME HOME TO THE UK MOOHAMED
Yeah. No foolin’ folks. That’s how a radio news reader last night referred to the story.
The Guantanamo prisoner was ”returned home” to the UK.
That’s an outrage because this country IS NOT HIS HOME! It NEVER was his home and he surely had not intended it to be his home.
So anyway ... this cartoonist has been blasting away at the USA and Bush and Gitmo and anything else American he can think of where we get things wrong. Which in his view is almost everything.
He is talented, I have enjoyed some of his cartoons but not very fond overall, of him. But hell. Who am I?
Thought this sort of thing should be shared with you. Why should I be the only one frustrated?
And once again, the media is referring to the UK as this bastard’s “HOME.”
Ya think maybe they are preparing the Brit public for something?
Now Dig This friends and neighbors.
Freed Guantanamo prisoner returns to Britain on a luxury jet... and prepares to claim thousands in benefits
By Sam Greenhill, Dan Newling and Ian Drury
Last updated at 10:13 AM on 24th February 2009
THE DAILY MAILA British resident back home after more than four years in Guantanamo Bay could now claim thousands of pounds in benefits if he is allowed to stay in the UK.
Binyam Mohamed, who flew back from the controversial camp in Cuba yesterday, is almost certain to be given permission to remain here permanently.
This would make him eligible for State benefits, and he could even apply for legal aid to fund a multi-million-pound compensation claim against the Government.
Ehiopian-born Mohamed, 30, first arrived in the UK in 1994, aged 16, and was refused asylum but in 2000 he was granted leave to remain until 2004.
By this time, he was already incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay.
After more than four years in the prison camp, he landed back in Britain yesterday vowing to expose Whitehall ‘collusion’ in his torture.
He was flown back on a luxury Gulfstream jet accompanied by two Foreign Office officials, two Metropolitan police officers and a doctor.
The Foreign Office and Home Office jointly paid for the trip, which is estimated to have cost as much as £160,000.
A Foreign Office spokesman refused to comment on the figure today. He said: ‘The overall cost of the operation is not yet known.’
Posted by peiper
on 02/24/2009 at 07:42 AM
Filed Under: • Outrageous • RoPMA • Terrorists • UK •
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Permalink • Schools should adopt back-to-basics discipline methods to curb bad behaviour .
No long editorial comment.
The ONLY reason I’m posting this is because I find it so, so, ... ? Can’t find the right phrase or word.
How long have ppl been saying the same thing?
Oh ... Suddenly someone woke up? Why so late?
I’m not posting the entire article. You can read if interested at the link below.
This isn’t the first time of course that someone somewhere hasn’t said as much.
What I don’t understand is how educators lost the thread to begin with. Aren’t some things just plain common sense?
And why were so many who have called for a return to proper behavior for so long, ignored.
Back to basics discipline in school would curb bad behaviour
Schools should adopt back-to-basics discipline methods to curb bad behaviour and improve results among pupils, according to the Government’s education watchdog.
By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Last Updated: 7:03AM GMT 24 Feb 2009Traditional rules such as banning children with shaven heads and those wearing designer trainers or gang colours have proved effective in maintaining order at the best comprehensives, according to a report by Ofsted.
Formal assemblies, regular patrols of corridors, frequent school trips, strong values and appointing good teachers are also successful methods of raising standards, the study says.
The report examined how state schools in the most deprived areas improved standards, describing how one head teacher tackled troublemakers by suspending 300 pupils in a week.
Parents of all children barred from school were also ordered to meetings - often at anti-social hours such as 6am or 11pm - to be given a dressing-down.
Ofsted said the approach had proved successful and that poor-performing schools in England should mimic the methods to turn themselves around.
According to the watchdog, four in 10 secondary schools in England are still not good enough.
Posted by peiper
on 02/24/2009 at 06:58 AM
Filed Under: • Education • UK •
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Permalink • Obama Prognosis Query
After watching the boy blunder do his most to put this country even deeper in the hole, it has occurred to me that Barry may soon be the third President of the United States to be impeached, and the first to be convicted and removed from office. A development he and his toy poodle mob are apt to take amiss. Assuming he does decide to resist removal how likely are we to see the White House getting more bullet holes this close to the bicentennial of the War of 1812? Would it be a fitting commemoration?
Posted by mythusmage
on 02/24/2009 at 03:03 AM
Filed Under: • Government •
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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