BMEWS
 
Death once had a near-Sarah Palin experience.

calendar   Tuesday - March 03, 2009

To catch a pig

A familiar tale to some of us, but a good reminder anyway. Another great guest post from Carol. She’s on some really great email lists.



Catching Wild Pigs

A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt. 

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government. 

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, ‘Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in The last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. 

Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity. 

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops, welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms—just a little at a time. 

One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! [TINSTAAFL!] And a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. 

Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government ‘help’ is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America, you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut! 

Keep your eyes on the newly elected politicians who are about to slam the gate on America .



“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.”

Thomas Jefferson


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/03/2009 at 10:23 PM   
Filed Under: • HumorPolitics •  
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Alternative Energy Progress: News From The North

Russia To build four MORE floating nuclear generators above Arctic Circle



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photo credit: SMERSH sevmash.ru




Rosatom and the Republic of Yakutia signed an agreement last week for implementing investments to build four floating nuclear power plants for use in the northern coastal areas of the Siberian Republic.

The deal was signed on February 24th and is by Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation considered to be a new page in the history of Russian nuclear industry.

- It will help to preserve Russian leadership in this high-tech sector, writes Irina Tsurina, head of Rosatom’s Analytical Department of Propaganda on the web-site of the state agency.

- FNPP (floating nuclear power plant) is a new abbreviation that will soon come into general use. It is very important for us to make it associable with Russia - as sputnik and cosmonaut were in the Soviet times - as floating NPP is a unique Russian technology, Tsurina writes.

The deal between Yakutia and Rosatom outlines a series of investment projects in addition to the floating nuclear power plants, like uranium mining and a processing combine, reports Interfax.

The construction of Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant started at the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk in April 2007, but in August 2008 Rosatom transferred the assignment to the Baltiiskii Yard in Sankt Petersburg. Before Christmas last year BarentsObserver reported that transfering the construction from Severodvinsk to St. Petersburg did not bring progress to the project. Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported thar the Russian plans for a series of floating nuclear power plants is far from being materialized.

However, Rosatom still maintain that the world’s first nuclear electricity production on a floating barge will be ready by May 2010, writes Interfax. BarentsObserver earlier reported that the intention with this first plant is to supply the Severodvinsk region with electricity.

No information is given about where the four new floating nuclear power plants will be built, in Severodvinsk or in St. Petersburg.

If built in St. Petersburg the plants have to be towed out of the Baltic Sea and all the way along the coast of Norway before sailing into the Arctic waters to their ports in Yakutia.

When the plants need maintance and change its highly radioactive spent nuclear, normally after 4-5 years, it will be towed back to Murmansk or Arkhangelsk regions. Today, spent fuel can be transferred either at a naval yard on the Kola Peninsula or in Severodvinsk, but it could take plant at the civilian Atomflot base, outskirts Murmansk. From Atomflot, spent nuclear fuel is shipped by train to the Mayak reprocessing plant in the South-Urals.

Rosatom is planning to construct a total of seven or eight floating nuclear power plants by 2015, writes World Nuclear News.

Each floating nuclear power plant will be equipped with two water cooled reactors of the KLT-40S type. This reactor technology is a slightly modernized version of the reactors today in use onboard Russia’s fleet of civilian nuclear powered icebreakers based in Murmansk.

Floating nuclear generating stations. It’s an interesting idea. If things go wrong and the reactor starts to overheat, just shut it down and scuttle the barge. Let the sea water cool things off. These reactors are usually in the 135Mw power range (about 70Mw each, with 2 reactors per barge), and often provide heat and desalinated water as well. They have been in use for over 37 years without any major problems, helping give the Reds more than 6000 “nautical years” of reactor experience. In other words, the KLT is a good solid design.

Each two-reactor floating plant will be able to provide enough electricity for a city of 200,000 or contribute to the energy supply of larger cities. Although the units are quite small compared to land-based nuclear power stations being built today, which typically produce 1000 MW or more of electricity, RosEnergoAtom believes the floating reactors’ size will make them attractive for remote areas lacking access to centralized power systems and for seawater desalinization projects.

It looks like Russia has plans to build about 40 new reactors in the next few years. Sounds like they have an actual energy policy. 


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/03/2009 at 05:38 PM   
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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Just Like He Said He Would

“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them.”



But do it slowly, so it hurts more, and maybe some people won’t even notice



Obama Reverses Bush Rule on Protection of Endangered Species




In a move that will subject an number of government projects to enhanced environmental and scientific scrutiny, President Obama is restoring a requirement that U.S. agencies consult with independent federal experts to determine whether their actions might harm threatened and endangered species.

The presidential memorandum issued yesterday, which marks yet another reversal of President Bush’s environmental legacy, will revive a decades-old practice under the Endangered Species Act that calls for agencies to consult with either the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on whether their projects could affect imperiled species.

Earthjustice lawyer Jeanette Brimmer, whose law firm had challenging the Bush rule in federal district court in California, said she expected the new administration would reexamine two pending projects: a Bureau of Land Management plan for overseeing Oregon’s forests, which was finalized on Dec. 30 and could affect protected species such as the northern spotted owl; and construction of the White Pine coal-fired power plant in Nevada.

Bill Kovacs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of environment, technology and regulatory affairs, said reviving another layer of review “will result in even greater delays to projects—including stimulus-backed, job-creating projects—as agencies now grapple with the prospect of lengthy inter-agency consultations to determine, for instance, if a bridge project in Florida contributes to the melting of Arctic ice. This is such a departure from the spirit and the letter of the Endangered Species Act that we wonder if the law’s drafters would even recognize it today.”




Hey all you money grubbing, Gaia hating, capitalist earth-rapers! Here’s another paper cut for you, one of the first of thousands to come. Die slowly you pigs.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/03/2009 at 05:24 PM   
Filed Under: • EnvironmentObama, The OneOil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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Day 65

Still Waiting



NJ Pistol Purchase Permit / Firearms ID card Application Process




The wife and I are still waiting for the State to give us a decision. It’s been 65 days for me so far, for what BY LAW is a 30 day process. Starting to get a bit grumpy about the whole thing.

Small Good News: We heard that our friend just got her permits and picked them up. She applied back in the beginning of December, so it was 87 days start to finish for her. And interestingly enough, when she picked up her permits the police asked to get her fingerprints again, as the first set wasn’t usable. Huh. That tells me that her application went through the entire background checking process without her fingerprints, so no AFIS check? But that’s Ok, and they’ll still issue them without that? Leads one to wonder ...

Big Good News: I mentioned last month how, after more than 30 days waiting, I had contacted my legislative representatives for some help, after finding out that lawyers charge $750 per person to get the job done. A week or so after my emails, I got a call directly from my Assemblyman, Mike Doherty (R, NRA A+ rating). He had spoken to the State Police on my behalf, learned that they claimed to be utterly backlogged, and passed that info on to me. We had a great conversation lasting nearly an hour, and I learned how the NJ legislature works in real world terms. He urged me to be patient, as all the applications get processed eventually.

A day after my email I got back an email response from my NJ Senator, Marcia Karrow (R, NRA A+ rating). The email said how this was an issue she felt strongly about, and would be in contact with me when she had some news. Yadda yadda ya. Sounded like a form letter, right? Wrong. I just got off the phone with her office. She has called for a meeting with the higher ups at the NJSP on the 11th, to find out why they are claiming a backlog when they are already well funded and well staffed, and to remind them that the 30 day law exists and that they have to follow it. And my application, by name, is going to be one of her cases-in-point. The Staties have dodged the meeting 3 times already, but it looks like they’re going to make this one this time.

Oh ... joy?  On the one hand I am just as pleased as punch that my elected officials are doing something, anything, for me. On the other hand I’m a little nervous about being a case in point. This is New Jersey after all. On the third hand, maybe if I’d just kept my mouth shut I’d have my permits already. But I doubt that. On the fourth hand, screw all of that, I’m willing to take a bit of risk if it can make things better for everyone else in the long run. But I feel a little antsy anyway.

So I wrote to the NRA-ILA and gave them an update, and told them that these two legislators deserved those A+ ratings, especially Senator Karrow. And that they should run a public awareness campaign:



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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/03/2009 at 03:39 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
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15 years early

A Calvin & Hobbs comic from 15 years ago. All links lead back to this guy here. If you can’t read the cartoon, click here.



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subsidies ... or a bailout.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/03/2009 at 12:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
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Big Brother Britain is a menace. The irony is, it’s the civil liberties lobby who are to blame.

I’ve only posted part ( a large part ) of her editorial here.
She speaks the truth and there isn’t anything for me to add. 

I hear her often on radio and I’d hate to be in a position where she was interrogating me.  She is one tough cookie let me tell ya.

BY MELANIE PHILLIPS, WRITING IN THE DAILY MAIL

Suddenly, a new political consensus appears to have emerged for the chattering classes. At the weekend, lawyers, celebrities, writers, politicians and lobbyists took part in a series of meetings across Britain, organised by the umbrella group Convention on Modern Liberty, to discuss their fears about the erosion of Britain’s historic rights and freedoms by the ‘surveillance society’.

The convention brought together such stalwart Lefties as the human rights lawyer Baroness Kennedy with the former Tory home affairs spokesman David Davis - who resigned his post specifically to devote himself to campaigning on the civil liberties issue.

We should be concerned about some of the ways in which freedom is being compromised. Some local councils are making wholly inappropriate use of anti-terrorist legislation to snoop on citizens, while other public bodies - such as the Charity Commission, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the BBC - are able to make deeply questionable use of further surveillance powers.

There will soon be compulsory CCTV cameras tracking people as they shop in supermarkets for a bottle of wine, and pubs are being told they will only get a licence if they agree to train their security cameras on their customers.

The Coroners and Justice Bill will allow inquests involving matters of national security to be held in secret if ministers so decide. And the Home Office is planning a new ‘Intercept Modernisation Programme’ which will store details of every phone call, email and internet visit - a proposal condemned by Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, as ‘a step too far for the British way of life’.

These are very real concerns. But despite them, the campaigners’ argument is skewed. They claim that fear of terrorism has curtailed freedom.

But this ignores the role played by the civil liberties lobby in bringing about this state of affairs in the first place. For many of those now howling about the erosion of our ancient principles are the very same people who were behind the introduction of human rights law.

It may be thought a curious irony that the Human Rights Act was introduced in 1998 to tackle precisely the concerns expressed last weekend of a slide into tyranny - and yet liberty has been seriously eroded in the past decade.

In fact, this isn’t curious at all. Although the campaigners would sooner cut off their hands than admit it, the one has followed directly from the other. The idea that human rights law expands freedom was always a serious mistake. It has the opposite effect.

One of the main reasons the State has resorted to gathering intelligence within Britain on such an alarming scale is the collapse of the ability to control our borders. And that was brought about by the systematic refusal by the courts, on human rights grounds, to keep out or deport a range of undesirables.

The reason this country never had the identity card system common to so many European states was the fact that it used to have robust border controls. Once those barriers came down, the only way to protect the country’s security became internal surveillance.

Of course, this runs wholly contrary to the historic principles of English liberty. But that is the inevitable outcome of human rights law - which has ridden roughshod over those principles - because many of those now campaigning against the erosion of liberty also claim that ‘universal’ human rights principles trump Britain’s own.

Under that law, judges have been handed the power to balance rights against each other. And time and again, they have come down in favour of the rights of terror suspects, illegal immigrants and common criminals against the rights of indigenous, law-abiding people. So it’s a bit rich for the liberty campaigners to claim that fear of terrorism has eroded human rights.

THE REST OF ARTICLE HERE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/03/2009 at 11:05 AM   
Filed Under: • EditorialsUK •  
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Church schools could be forced to promote Islam and homosexuality, Catholics fear .

teachers must promote equality and value diversity

Church schools could be forced to promote Islam and homosexuality under a new legally-binding code of conduct for teachers, it is feared.

By Martin Beckford,
Religious Affairs Correspondent

The code is accused of undermining the religious ethos of Christian schools by promoting secular morality and will discriminate against devout staff and drive them out of the classroom, the Roman Catholic church has warned.

As The Daily Telegraph disclosed last month, the General Teaching Council – the profession’s regulator – has published a draft code of conduct that all teachers will have to sign.

It will be used by the GTC in assessing misconduct cases, but also by school governors and local authorities in recruitment and discipline.

Principle 4 of the draft code states that teachers must “proactively challenge discrimination” and “promote equality and value diversity in all their professional relationships and interactions”.

However religious groups fear that these requirements could be used by liberal groups or parents to discriminate against Christian teachers, or to target faith schools.

An alleged lack of commitment to equality and diversity was used by a health trust to suspend Caroline Petrie, a Baptist community nurse, after she offered to pray for an elderly patient.

Oona Stannard, head of the Catholic Education Service, an agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, told the GTC in a written submission that “there was an understandable fear that the call to ‘proactively challenge discrimination’ could be used to oppose faith schools per se, and the rights that they have in law, for example, to select leaders who are of the faith”.

She went on: “This anxiety extends similarly to the direction to ‘promote equality’.

“It would be unacceptable to expect anyone to be required to promote something contrary to their own faith beliefs and, indeed, it would not be possible for a person of faith to promote another faith – ‘this is a matter of conscience.’

Miss Stannard added that there were grave concerns in the Church over the question of whether Catholic teachers would in good conscience feel able to register under the new code.

The Christian Institute, a charity that supports worshippers who feel discriminated against in the workplace, claims the GTC code could be used by educational establishments to insist that staff promote homosexual rights or other religions such as Islam, going against the beliefs of many Christians.

It fears teachers could be turned down for jobs unless they agreed to use materials designed by homosexual rights groups in the classroom, and would face disciplinary action if they tell pupils in RE lessons that Jesus Christ is the only means to salvation.

Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, said: “Respect for people as people is not the same as respecting or valuing every religious belief or sexual lifestyle.


“Forcing this on Christian teachers is to force them to go against their conscience.”

TELEGRAPH

(see, this is where folks fall down on the issue. Forcing them against their conscience?  No.  That only applies to muslims and one or two others.
It’s muslims who must be protected from doing that.  Funny how Christians and even Jews miss that. Where’d Christians ever get the idea they’d be protected as well?  Silly ppl. )

Attention comrade classmates. All raise now and together we sing our new anthem approved by central committee for diversity and kulture.
The following has been approved for comrades by the dept. of Health and Safety as well.  Ready class?  Begin.

“TOMORROW BELONGS, TOMORROW BELONGS, TOMORROW BELONGS TO .................... ?????????????


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/03/2009 at 04:24 AM   
Filed Under: • EducationNanny StateRoPMAUK •  
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calendar   Monday - March 02, 2009

What goes up …

NASA environmental satellite lost in launch failure




... I know, I know, this is from nearly a week ago.


Looks like there won’t be any Global Warming data gathering for a while yet ...


NASA’s $273 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite crashed into the ocean near Antarctica shortly after launch today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., atop an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL booster. Telemetry indicated a protective nose cone fairing failed to separate early in the climb to space, weighing the rocket down and preventing the spacecraft from reaching orbit. The Orbital Sciences Taurus XL rocket

“It’s a huge disappointment to the entire team that’s worked very hard over years and years and really did their best to see it through,” said NASA launch manager Chuck Dovale. “The reason not everyone is able to do this is, it’s hard. And even when you do the best you can, you can still fail. It’s a tough business.”

Said John Brunschwyler, manager of the Taurus rocket program for Orbital Sciences: “Our whole team, at a very personal level, are disappointed in the events of this morning. It’s very hard and, as I said, at a very personal level, (we’re) upset with the results.”

The 986-pound satellite’s four-stage solid-fuel Taurus XL rocket blasted off at 4:55:30 a.m. EST and roared away from its Vandenberg launch pad about five minutes behind schedule because of a minor technical glitch. The ascent appeared normal and telemetry indicated all systems were working as planned through the first stage burn, stage separation and second stage ignition.

Seven seconds after the second stage fired up, the satellite’s protective clamshell nose cone was commanded to separate. The 63-inch-wide carbon composite fairing is designed to separate in two pieces and fall away using small pyrotechnic devices that are activated by a series of electrical pulses.

“We have confirmation that the correct sequence was sent by the software,” said Brunschwyler. “We had good power going into this event and we also had a healthy indications of our electronics box that sent the signal. Once that time had passed, which was about three minutes into the flight, we observed various pieces of telemetry that, of course, we then try to correlate because at first, being humans, we don’t necessarily believe one piece of data.”

While engineers were studying telemetry, the Taurus XL’s third and fourth stage motors ignited as planned. But it soon became clear the fairing was still in place and that its weight was preventing the rocket from accelerating normally.

“The fairing has considerable weight relative to the portion of the vehicle that’s flying,” Brunschwyler said. “So when it separates off, you get a jump in acceleration. We did not have that jump in acceleration. As a direct result of carrying that extra weight, we could not make orbit. The initial indications are the vehicle did not have enough delta V (velocity) to reach obit and landed just short of Antarctica in the ocean.”

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory was designed to study natural and man-made carbon dioxide emission and absorption to help scientists assess how the greenhouse gas might be contributing to global warming.

A Taurus is scheduled to launch another NASA environmental research satellite - Glory - later this year. Officials said today it’s too early to say how the mishap might affect those plans.

This was the eighth launch of a Taurus XL rocket and the second mission failure. It was NASA’s first mission using the solid-fuel rocket after a certification process intended to ensure safety and reliability. A sticker on the ill-fated rocket called attention to that certification, signifying what Brunschwyler described before launch as a process “to ensure it’s the lowest risk possible for these valuable payloads.”

It looks like the Taurus is a good platform for launching a half ton ICBM halfway around the world. Let’s see if they can get actually get the next one into space. My guess is that the next one will have just a wee bit more explosives and a better backup ignition system in the nose cone.

I was actually looking forward to seeing the CO2 data too. Next time then. Get back to work NASA.

Meanwhile NASA has given the Kepler Space Observatory flight a serious once over, and has decided that the nose cone on that rocket is good to go for launch this Friday. The Kepler flight will use a Delta 2 booster. The Delta 2 has been around since forever 1989, and has flown 140 times with a 99% success rate.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/02/2009 at 11:42 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and DiscoveriesSpace •  
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Gee, ya thunk so?

What melts ice?




Fire!




And more fire!




And more fire!!



Hmmm, kinda makes you think, don’t it?

Yeah, and it’s making me think “Where there’s fire, there’s some assclown blowing smoke! Probably named Hansen.

h/t to Vilmar, because it’s snowy outside today and I’m tired of scooting around the internet.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/02/2009 at 05:03 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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Pass the Pork Please

Earmarks and Pork in CJS bill




Here’s the link. Have fun seeing where all the money is going.

This post started out being a comment over at Vilmar’s, but it got so big I realized it was a post in itself. Sorry Vilmar. CJS is not the federal budget. It’s just the Criminal Justice System. But for some odd reason NOAA gets funded through them too. And it’s a whole gigantic poop pile of money, every single year.

Horry Clap, have you looked at some of this merde?

I noticed that almost all the pork money around my area is going to either the NOAA for fish hatcheries and flood control or to various police departments for COPS funding*. A huge part of that is for video surveillance cameras. Everywhere you look, money for video cameras. Britain, here we come.

Billings Montana, population 90,000, gets $269,000 to buy an armored security vehicle. And “tactical blankets”. WTF, are the Cheyenne going on the warpath or something?

Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary in the Upper Peninsula gets half a million for “telepresence”. Say what?

A mere $100 Grand for the Seals As Sentinels program on the coast of Maine. “Save teh whales!!” “Um, sorry, we’re out of whales.” “Save the dolphins!!!” “Um, sorry, we don’t have any of them either.” “Save the seals!!!!1!!” “Ok, that we can do.”

$800 Grand for the University of Alabama to do weather research ... in the Gulf of Mexico.

A cool million for San Fwanswishco to get a Shot Spotter “gun location technology and policing project”, which actually means hidden microphones placed all over the ghetto. Like the SFPD is actually going to respond to a shooting in Oakland.

image

* COPS is an ongoing computerization effort I gather, that has absorbed more than TEN BILLION DOLLARS in the past 14 years; more than < ahref="http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=572">3/4 million dollars per police department. You’d think every badge out there had a box of solid gold donuts by now, but no. They need ever more computers and technology to more effectively fight crime give out speeding tickets and beat up little girls in holding cells.

For 2009 the CJS bill is for 57.9 BILLION
in 2008 the CJS bill was 51.8 BILLION
in 2007 the CJS bill was 54.6 BILLION
in 2006 the CJS bill was 52.3 BILLION
in 2005 the CJS bill was 43.4 BILLION
in 2005 the CJS bill was 41.4 BILLION

Wikipedia says there are 138 million taxpayers. I doubt that. Certainly there are a lot less actual bottom line payers of federal income tax than that. I’d guess half that number, which means the annual bite out of the workingman’s pocket for just CJS alone is around $625. That’s a whole shitload of donuts and fish eggs.

I’m waiting for TQFU** to get out his magic crayon and slash each and every one of these earmarks.

** Obama: The Quicker Fucker-Upper. Love it. Taking it. Using it. Thank you OCM and Vilmar.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/02/2009 at 04:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat LeftistsTaxes •  
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AN ENGLISMAN’S HOME IS HIS CASTLE.  UNLESS INFORMED OTHERWISE BY HEALTH AND SAFETY

Every Englishman is accustomed to pride himself with more then usual complacency upon what is called the

sanctity of an English home.  No soldier, no policeman, no spy of the government dare enter it . . . .
Unlike the tenant of a foreign domicile, the occupier of an English house , whether it be mansion or

cottage, possesses an indisputable title against every kind of aggression upon his threshold.  He defies

everybody below the Home Secretary; and even he can only violate the traditional security of a man’s

house under extreme circumstances, and with the prospect of a Parliamentary indemnity.  It is with this

throughly innate feeling of security that every Englishman feels a strong sense of the inviolability of his

own house. 

It is this that converts the moorside cottage into a castle.  The moral sanctions of an English home are, in

the nineteenth century, what the moat, and the keep and the drawbridge were in the fourteenth. 

In the strength of these we lie down to sleep at night, and leave our homes in the day, feeling that a

whole neighbourhood would be raised, nay, the whole country, were any attempt made to violate what so

many traditions, and such long custom, have rendered sacred.

(The Morning Post, July 10, 1860)

YEAH WELL, THIS BE THE YEAR 2009 AND TIMES AIN’T WHAT THEY WERE IN 1860. AND MORE’S THE PITY

NANNY STATE ‘SHOULD INTERVENE EVEN MORE’

By Matthew Moore
The Telegraph
Feb. 2009

BRITAIN’S “nanny state” does not go far enough and the govt. should pass more safety legislation, according to a public health expert.  Dr. Alan Maryon Davis said that people needed new health and safety laws to “save us from ourselves.”
-30-

Okay, that isn’t the entire article but it is the part I’m most concerned with.
The rest simply buttresses what I’ve already copied.
You’ll have to take my word that I haven’t made it up.

Now then … the reason I’m interested in this aside from the obvious, is that I have just become a witness to the nanny state in operation.  In fact, right here. Yeah ..
see this house? 
image It’s just been built next door to us.  Folks moved in there around the first week in July of ’08.

In order to build this place, they first had to knock down the pretty bungalow that stood there from 1926.  There were three cottages called Dormer Bungalows on this street of approx. 9 houses.  Soon there will be just ours as the one on the other side of us is scheduled for demolition also.

So, they built this house which really does nothing for the area, and filled what was the front lawn in with gravel.  The garage is used for storage and the cars (there are two) park on the gravel.  I’m told it’s an effective burglar alarm as it can be heard quite plainly when anyone walks on it outside the house.  I can believe that as we hear it plainly as well inside ours.  Including the bedrooms.
Unfortunately the houses are pretty close and we also hear their screaming grandkids when they visit at night.

So, the house was completed and they moved in.  BUT ....

A couple of weeks ago, a city inspector or perhaps it was a council member, I’m not clear on that as of this posting, happened to notice a building violation.  image

Apparently there was a law passed in 2002 stating that all buildings including private dwellings, MUST be wheelchair accessible.  Well, as you can see in the first photo this isn’t the case at all.  This house somehow got built without a wheel chair ramp.  But as the owner told me yesterday, in all his 61 years no matter where he’d lived the world over, he had never been visited by anyone in a wheelchair.  The builder may have known, we don’t know cause he isn’t around now.  But the outside had to be torn up and a ramp built and tarmac had to be laid down to make a partial driveway
leading to the ramp. 

You can’t wheel a chair through all that gravel and what is needed is a paved drive and a side walk up to the door.  And that’s another issue.  There was a small step up from the slate slabs on the front entrance.  No – no says the inspector.  Can not have that step.  The entire entrance had to be rebuilt and raised and extended and that’s all being done as I write this.  And that’s not all.

A city inspector has spent a total of two and a half hours INSIDE the house, seeing if things there are wheelchair ready as well.  Some modifications were required inside.  A private dwelling … image

And so it goes here in the land of Health and Safety and Diversity and Multi Culture where all will be made well for all people and where all people will be made free from insults and hurt feelings and every thought will be given to just about any eventuality where someone might find themselves being offended by who knows what on any given day.

No promise of safe streets and neighborhoods of course.  That doesn’t fall under Health and Safety.
But wheelchair accessibility for private homes?  You bet your bippy by golly.
Why, these folks are on the ball. They’re on a roll.  They’re right on top of things.

A car in every garage, a chicken in every pot and a wheelchair ramp installed in every new home.  It’s the law.

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/02/2009 at 11:28 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily LifeEditorialsJack Booted ThugsNanny StateUK •  
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Fascists in Action

Coming Soon to an Obama Near You




image

Jes, I feeks it for ju

Like it say on dee sign, Jes I Cans!




Chavez Seizes American Owned Rice Mills



Soldiers were ordered to take control of the rice mills, which include installations owned by US food giant Cargill.

Mr Chavez accused the companies of disrupting the supply chain by refusing to produce rice at prices set by the government.

“I have ordered the immediate intervention in all those sectors of agro-industry, intervention by the revolutionary government,” he said.

Government officials entered a mill owned by Venezuela’s top food company, Grupo Polar, on Saturday afternoon and said it would increase its output overnight.

Last month, Chavez won a referendum vote allowing him to stand for office indefinitely.

The socialist president, who has already governed for a decade, often radicalises his policies after electoral victories and has nationalised large swaths of the Venezuelan economy in recent years.

Venezuela’s rice millers association said its members were producing what they could with available stocks of the grain and had not been formally notified of Chavez’s order.

The former soldier warned he would nationalise the rice industry if companies tried to further interfere with supplies of the grain.

“I will expropriate them. I have no problem with that and I’ll pay them with bonds. Don’t count on me paying with hard cash,” he said.



Private industry given a set price for their product by the government, and a production quota to meet. And takeover at the point of a bayonet if they don’t comply.



Oh, and did you hear? AIG needs another $30 Billion bailout, so the government is getting an even bigger slice of their stock.

Si Se Puede! Yes We Can! That’s Chavez’ big slogan. Sounds a bit familiar doesn’t it?
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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/02/2009 at 10:17 AM   
Filed Under: • Tyrants and Dictators •  
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The Newest Narco State?

Guinea-Bissau President Assassinated




BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — Renegade soldiers killed Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira in his palace on Monday, hours after a bomb blast took the life of his rival, the fragile West African nation’s armed forces chief.

It was not immediately clear whether a coup was under way, and the capital, Bissau, was tense but calm.

Luis Sanca, security adviser to Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr., confirmed the president’s death but gave no details.

A bomb blast Sunday night killed armed forces chief of staff Gen. Batiste Tagme na Waie at his headquarters in Bissau, according to a state radio report.

The two men were considered staunch political rivals.

Guinea-Bissau has suffered multiple coups and attempted coups since 1980, when Vieira himself first took power in one. The United Nations says the impoverished nation on the Atlantic coast of Africa has become a key transit point for cocaine smuggled from Latin America to Europe.

Just hours after Waie’s death late Sunday, volleys of automatic gunfire were heard for at least two hours before dawn in Bissau and residents said soldiers had converged on Vieira’s palace.

Guinea-Bissau, a tiny country in West Africa, has had a long history of instability and numerous attempted coups since independence from Portugal in 1974. For 23 of the past 29 years, the country was ruled by President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

RISE AND FALL OF VIEIRA: Vieira came to power in a 1980 coup and weathered numerous coup attempts until being forced out 19 years later at the onset of the country’s civil war in 1999. Vieira went into exile in Portugal. A transitional government was formed and opposition leader Kumba Yala became president, but he was ousted in a 2003 coup. The country organized elections in 2005. Vieira returned from exile and ran, winning the vote.

MILITARY PURGE: The military is made up primarily of members of the Balanta ethnic group, who have long resented being under the rule of Vieira. He belonged to the Papel ethnic group, which represents roughly 5 percent of the population. After one of many failed coup attempts in the 1980s, Vieira set up a military tribunal and condemned to death several Balanta officers in an attempt to purge the military of his ethnic enemies.

COCAINE TRADE: In recent years, Guinea-Bissau has become a key transit point for South American cocaine. The drugs are flown from South America in small planes and then parceled out to dozens of drug mules that carry them north to Europe. The huge influx of money from the drug trade has been a major destabilizing force for the small nation.

Military coup? I doubt it, other than that the soldiers may have been the ones doing the actual killing. Bought and paid for. No, I’m fairly certain that this was the drug lords taking over. They run the country in all but name anyway; everyone in power is deeply involved with narcotics because that’s where all the money is.

And do you know what is going to happen? Nothing. Not a damn thing. The rest of the world will hardly even notice. The UN won’t do a damn thing. They probably won’t even bother to draft a mildly worded letter of protest. Who cares? It’s shithole west africa, that poorest corner of the piss poor continent where the primitives animists local populace hasn’t been able to get past absolute tribalism for 10,000 years. That same corner where never ending civil war rages. Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, the Niger Delta. All neighbors, all soaked in blood. Tribalism is the curse of africa, and it keeps the people in a stone age mindset. And that makes them weak. And violent. And into that weakness the drug barons come.

So tribalism probably fueled this conflagration, but the narco-traffickers are going to be the victors. Guaranteed. Even islam can’t save this place.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/02/2009 at 08:55 AM   
Filed Under: • AfricaCrimePoliticsTyrants and Dictators •  
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NO WAY COULD THIS BE RESISTED EVEN IF THE SUBJECT IS A BIT TIRED BY NOW.

OK, so the term global warming is becoming ‘climate change’ lately. Still, I thought this article was a bit on the funny side considering all the fuss and sky is falling comments made by tree huggers.

Britain shivers through its coldest winter for 13 years… and another big freeze is on the way

By Nick Mcdermott
Last updated at 10:39 AM on 02nd March 2009

It’s what we suspected as the deep freeze set in and the country was hit by heavy snow.

Now forecasters have confirmed that Britain shivered through the coldest winter for more than a decade.

The last three months have been the chilliest for 13 years, with an average temperature of only 37f (2.9c).

The winter temperature has been calculated up to February 23, but it would have needed an impossibly high average temperature in the last few days for this winter not to be the coldest since 1995-1996.

Although we are now in March, the recent mild weather is not expected to last. Wintry conditions are about to return with a vengeance.

The warmer temperatures in the last two weeks of February coaxed daffodils and crocuses to make an appearance, adding a splash of much-needed colour to the countryside.

But after a wet and windy day tomorrow, a biting north-westerly wind will blow in on Wednesday, bringing flurries of sleet and snow across England.

Met Office forecaster John Hammond said daytime temperatures will drop as low as 41f (5c).

‘We have had mild winters recently so this one is the coldest since 1995-1996,’ he said.

MORE HERE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/02/2009 at 07:58 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-WeatherUK •  
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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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