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Sarah Palin is the only woman who can make Tony Romo WIN a playoff.

calendar   Monday - March 23, 2009

The American Top Gun fighter pilot academy was inspired by the Royal Navy and trained by Brits

Don’t shoot the messenger folks, I merely report on the news and pass on stuff I think may have interest back home.

Oh how I did not like reading this purely from a standpoint of national pride.  With no disrespect to Brits EVER cause I always admired their military and know they are damn good.  BUT ... well, you know.

Hey, I never really thought John Wayne won the last war.  I knew that was Hollywood.  I knew he had help.  Robert Mitchum, Errol Flynn, Van Johnson and maybe one or two I’ve forgotten now.

I knew it was the Brit special forces that originally taught our people commando tactics etc.  But I really did think, without ever really thinking about it, that our people would have know about or realized all this other stuff since we’d been so much more involved on a world scene. I just assumed .....
Guess I assumed wrong.

Well then .... Once again we must gratefully tip our hats to the only real friends we have on this side of the world, even though from time to time they get pissed off at us.  Now if only they can come up with a way to save their country without picking on the Germans again. Or the French.

American Top Gun fighter pilot academy set up by British
The American Top Gun fighter pilot academy was inspired by the Royal Navy elite flying instructors, a new book has revealed.

By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:18PM GMT 22 Mar 2009

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Despite the all-American hero imagery of the film starring Tom Cruise, the US Navy’s expertise was in large part due to their instruction by aviators from the Fleet Air Arm.

When British pilots arrived at Miramar airbase in California in the early 1960s the Americans were losing a large number of dogfights in their multi-million Phantom fighters to the enemy’s relatively “cheap” MiG 21s.

The tuition from the British pilots, all graduates of the intense Air Warfare Instructors school in Lossiemouth, Scotland, led to the Americans dominating the skies, the military historian Rowland White has revealed in Phoenix Squadron.

It was then that the their Naval Warfare Academy became known as Top Gun.

“Through the instructors on exchange at Miramar the AWIs methods made their way into perhaps the most well-known programme in the history of naval aviation: Topgun,” he said.

Foremost among the Royal Navy pilots was Lt Commander Dick Lord’s whose work on the tactics group was the founding on which the “original eight Topgun instructors built their course”.

The British pilot, originally from South Africa, introduced simple things such as writing notes on the knee pad of his flying suit during air combat exercises

The Americans trusted Lord enough to give him access to a secret document that played a key part in his writing the Air Combat Manoeuvring manual for the US pilots.

As shown in the film Top Gun the pilots at Miramar were given a structure on air-to-air combat that finished with a final sortie of two pilot instructors against two students. In the film this was when Tom Cruise lost his observer following a difficult manoeuvre which occasionally happened as pilots flew their aircraft to the limit.

Lord’s expertise was so well regarded that he was asked to give lectures to US fighter pilots all along the West Coast.

While the former Royal Navy officer, who married his British wife at Miramar, said he enjoyed the film he did not recognise the characters until his wife told him that the big-talking naval fighter pilots were most accurately depicted.

Although the British did their best to fit in their humour prevailed. Rather than call signs of Viper and Maverick they came up with Dogbreath, Alien and Cholmondley


White’s book is the first to reveal the British role in Top Gun.

“It is remarkable that any history book on Top Gun studiously avoids any British involvement,” Lord, 72, told The Daily Telegraph. “One finds this quite a bit on American history and certainly here they have not given us due justice.”

Lt Cdr Paul Waterhouse, 72, another Fleet Air Arm officer at Miramar with Lord, said the British contribution of a dozen instructors was a substantial help to the Americans struggling for aerial success over Vietnam although it went unnoticed by Downing Street.

“We were helping these guys in the Vietnam war because they were going straight from Miramar to fight the enemy who were flying pretty useful Mig 21s.

“If Harold Wilson knew he would not have been happy.”

He added: “The Americans did not have the experience to use the Phantom properly and you cannot train experience

“I felt a swell of pride when I first saw the Top Gun film because I knew that we were behind it.”

Another British instructor, Cdr Doug Macdonald , 67, said the Americans “were delighted to have experienced people teach them”.


He added: “I think the movie Top Gun is great but it’s thanks to us Brits that they could make the film.”

Soon after the Top Gun course began a Phantom flown by one of the first students shot down a MiG-21, the first time a US Navy plane had succeeded in aerial combat in two years.

OUCH! First time in two years?
Hey, isn’t the Phantom an American plane?  And if it was, how come our guys had less experience flying it then the Brits?

I think it’s pretty normal for a country to toot it’s own horn and build natl. pride and especially in wartime 40’s.  But gee whiz, I think in later years that dream factory in the Hollywood hills could have done better with regard to giving credit where it was damn well due.  No?

See More Below The Fold

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/23/2009 at 09:18 AM   
Filed Under: • HistoryHollywoodWar-Stories •  
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calendar   Sunday - March 22, 2009

Magnum handguns return as loophole found in Dunblane ban.  Huh?  In the UK?

My knowledge of guns leave very much to be desired.  And apparently so does my understanding of Brit law on guns.

I have read and been told by the natives that you can not buy guns here.  Or at least, not easily unless you belong to a criminal gang.

So this article has me a mite confused on the subject.

Hey Lyndon .... straighten me out on this.

March 22, 2009
Magnum handguns return as loophole found in Dunblane ban
Fyfe: gun rights campaign
Daniel Foggo

HIGH-POWERED magnum handguns, almost identical to those used by Thomas Hamilton, the Dunblane child-murderer, are being legally kept and used by firearms enthusiasts.

They are able to procure the weapons and ammunition, both of which they are allowed to keep at home, by exploiting loopholes in laws brought in to ban such guns after the massacre at a primary school in the Perthshire town 13 years ago.

Hamilton, who shot dead 16 children and one teacher before killing himself, used two 9mm semi-automatic handguns and two .357 magnum revolvers manufactured by Smith & Wesson. After the massacre, legislation was tightened with a view to outlawing all such weapons.

However, guns almost identical to the .357 Smith & Wessons, and even larger calibre handguns such as .44 and .45, are easily available to British enthusiasts who possess a Section 1 firearms certificate, which police usually issue without objection to applicants without a significant criminal record.

To circumvent the legislation, the guns are equipped with longer barrels and wire stocks at the back which together extend their length to 2ft. Only “short” firearms are banned. Another loophole is for the barrel of the .357 to be kept short and the six-shot cylinder adapted to take “front-loading” bullets. Although the guns take longer to reload, they are in most other respects identical to Hamilton’s.

Both types of gun derive from a .357 made by Taurus which is almost identical to a Smith & Wesson. They are readily obtainable in the UK at prices starting at about £500.

Confusion among police forces about how to interpret the law has turned the issuing of firearms licences into a “lottery”, campaigners claim.

Those who have kept up their interest in guns since the ban include Stephen Fyfe, who is standing for the British National party at a by-election for North East Lincolnshire council this Thursday. Fyfe, 34, owns six guns including a seven-shot pump-action shotgun and a long-barrelled .44 handgun. He said that bearing arms was a “right”, adding: “Guns are one of the reasons I am standing for election.

“I take deep offence at being assumed to be a psycho just because of what someone else has done.”

Gerry Gable, publisher of Searchlight, the antifascist magazine, and a former gun hobbyist who turned in his weapons when the law was changed, said: “I have watched as obsessive single men and boys with access to guns and who play around in the hate-filled atmosphere of the extreme right have sparked dozens of firearms incidents across the western world since Dunblane.

“If I was the home secretary I would be very worried indeed.”

GUNS

[Drew sticks his nose in with a few pics]

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Legal in the UK. ”Go Directly To Jail” in the USA

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Heck, you want an arm brace to fire this thing!


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Posted by peiper   United States  on 03/22/2009 at 12:46 PM   
Filed Under: • UK •  
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BOWLING WITH OBAMA ……

I’m sure that you folks in the USA have seen (if you wanted to) the Obama video in which he extends a hand to Iran.
It’s at the link below.  I couldn’t be bothered with it.
I also did not copy the entire article.  Again, if anyone has the interest, the link will take ya there.

Iran rejects Barack Obama’s hand of friendship
Iran’s all-powerful ayatollahs have brushed aside US president Barack Obama’s historic offer to end the three-decade long hostility between the two countries.

By Tim Shipman in Washington and Colin Freeman
Last Updated: 4:23PM GMT 21 Mar 2009

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Speaking a day after Mr Obama broadcast a message inviting the Iranian people to a “new beginning”, the country’s supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed it as a “slogan”.

“They give the slogan of change but in practice no change is seen,” said Mr Khamenei in a televised address on Saturday to mark Iranian New Year. “We haven’t seen any change.”

Barack Obama ‘may send letter’ to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to smooth US-Iranian relations.

Iran’s Supreme Leader urges public to voteDressed in black turban and dark robes, the 69-year-old cleric delivered his response during a speech in the north-eastern city of Masshad, as tens of thousands of his hardline followers chanted their familiar refrain of “death to America”.

Dispelling the official Iranian image of America as the “Great Satan” was one of the key aims of the Obama message, which tried to address the country’s 70 million citizens by being launched on YouTube, the internet videohosting website.

Mr Obama invited Iran to “take its rightful place in the community of nations”. He added: “that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization.”

FULL ARTICLE AND VIDEO


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/22/2009 at 12:10 PM   
Filed Under: • Iran •  
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THE RACE IS ON FOR THE WHITE HOUSE.  SIMON HEFFER IN THE TELEGRAPH

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Darn I LOVE this woman.
Specially with her hair down. 
Wish she’d keep it that way.

Alright ... this is a viewpoint from Mr. Heffer who wrote this from N.Y.

When I went to the Telegraph site in order to share this with you, they also had Our Sarah’s photo there. So I thought ...
OK ... I’ll make it my contribution under Eye Candy. 

Motion carried.

The race is on for the White House
Simon Heffer notes that the Republicans are already gearing up to oust Barack Obama in 2012.


By Simon Heffer

The most remarkable sight in New York this week was a middle-aged black man on the subway wearing a badge proclaiming “PALIN IN 2012”. It brought home two things. First, that the next presidential campaign has already started; and second, that it will be as wildly unpredictable as the last one.

All that is missing is a coherent Republican Party to challenge Barack Obama. It is not unusual for there to be no obvious front-runner for the nomination at this early stage; but it is unusual for there to be no sound leadership. The Republicans remain shattered and demoralised following not just John McCain’s defeat, but the years of vilification and failure that preceded it.

The vocal conservative element in the party is angry that Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee chairman and nominal party leader, has been ineffectual in tackling what they (with some justification) see as Mr Obama’s pursuit of socialism. Mr Steele – who has just upset at least half his party by announcing that abortion is, in his view, an “individual choice” – has been savaged by Rush Limbaugh, the talk radio host, which led Mr Obama to accuse Limbaugh of being the de facto Republican leader. It was alarmingly near the truth. As in Britain, where elements in the media have led the opposition to Labour during years of Conservative failure, it is pundits who make the running in attacking the Obama administration, not elected Republicans.

Even if none of them has, this early on, declared an interest in fighting in 2012, it is assumed there are three likely contenders. One is Sarah Palin, far more popular in middle America than the liberal media here or anywhere else wish to give her credit for. Because of her vice-presidential candidacy she has a higher profile than almost any other Republican, something that counts for much in a country where brand recognition on television seems to outweigh almost any other consideration.

This week one of the loose ends of the Palin operation was tied up: Levi Johnston, the youth who fathered a child on Mrs Palin’s daughter Bristol, has been given the boot, and their engagement broken off. If Miss Palin has a man in tow come the next campaign, he is likely to be more reliably from central casting. Mrs Palin, meanwhile, is throwing herself into her job as Governor of Alaska, but maintaining high-profile links with her colleagues in Washington. She has been asked to deliver the keynote speech at the Republicans’ biggest fund raising event of the year, in the capital in June. How she plays that evening will have a considerable bearing on 2012.

The other two possible contenders are putting themselves about even more. Mitt Romney, who failed to secure the nomination last year but who as a hugely successful businessman has developed an authoritative critique of the handling of the economic crisis, has a carefully managed programme, and much to say. So does Newt Gingrich, whose “Contract with America” enabled the Republicans to sweep Congress in 1994 and cause Bill Clinton great difficulties. Washington insiders say that Mr Gingrich’s divisive reputation and three marriages leave him at a disadvantage: but if a black man can become president, so can a serial divorcee.

Sadly for the Republicans, it isn’t three years until the next campaign: it’s one. The Democrats control both houses of Congress. The steamrollering through of the flawed $787 billion stimulus package shows what happens when there is insufficient scrutiny. Someone urgently has to take control of the Republican ideal and give it shape, meaning and intent. There are whispers around the political and business class here that if Mr Obama is not careful, he will emulate Jimmy Carter, and be a one-term president. That will depend not so much on his ill-fortune in office, I fear, as on that of those who would seek to remove him from it.


The promise of change already rings hollow

The scandal of bonuses being paid out of public money to senior executives of AIG, the failing insurance conglomerate, sealed a horrid week for the administration, and for Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary.

Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat who chairs the committee that is supposed to scrutinise such things, denied amending the stimulus legislation to allow the bonuses to be paid. He was lying, as he now admits. He was in fact bullied into it by administration officials, for reasons that remain unclear. Both Senator Dodd and President Obama had donations from AIG to their campaigns of more than $100,000 last year, which may or may not have anything to do with it.

Those of us who watched the Obama campaign at close quarters, and heard all the flannel about new dawns and decency, were unsurprised that this sort of flagrant dishonesty should become apparent so early in the day.

The buck seems, however, to be stopping with Mr Geithner, who has his job despite an admission of tax avoidance, and whose team still has vacancies because of the unsuitability of those chosen. “Change you can believe in” doesn’t quite do this state of affairs justice, does it?


Let’s be diplomatic about this

Conversations with that distinguished minority of Americans who understand foreign policy show a worrying consensus. Mr Obama expected his main challenge to be Iran, to whom he has sent a YouTube video. Instead it is Pakistan, whose president appears to be the prisoner of various insane factions, and whose reputation as a training and breeding ground for terrorism grows by the day.

No one here has the slightest conviction that the administration understands the gravity of the problem, or knows what to do about it. Having been on the receiving end of a sophisticated bit of foreign policy ourselves – the gift of 25 tacky DVDs to our visiting Prime Minister, and the valedictory assertion by a senior official that there was no Special Relationship – we might reflect that if these people can’t deal properly with their friends, they haven’t a prayer of dealing properly with their enemies.

HEFFER

For those who do not know. Mr. Heffer is an editor at The Telegraph and a very well known political journalist and commentator.
He is a conservative and he is NOT anti-American but he does take issue with some American policies.  He was not a huge fan of Pres.Bush but he also wasn’t one of those jerks who compared Bush to Hitler.  He has his opinions which may at times be at odds with some of ours. But unlike liberal critics, Mr. Heffer has good manners.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/22/2009 at 11:13 AM   
Filed Under: • EditorialsPolitics •  
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DEFIANT POSTMASTER TRANSFERED ON MUSLIM COMPLAINTS, DROPPED FROM POL. PARTY TOO.

It’s late Sunday afternoon and there’s much to catch up on.

This update on the postmaster who insists ppl speak English.

Over here, a sub post office can be located in a small convenience store and that’s where our guy Deva worked.

Well, the muslim owner of the store claimed the English speaking Deva was hurting his business and asked the postal authorities to remove him.
They did.

The hero of our story says only five (muslims) complained and anyway he says people with language problems also hold up the line which is another reason for insisting on English. As well, he says if they can’t then they need to bring an interpreter with them.  He also says he asked to be transferred due to abuse and threats.  And we do know that is most likely true given muslim practice in the recent past.

The political party he belonged to has dropped him making two claims.

First, he is 18 months behind in party dues.  Now that ain’t a very good thing and doesn’t speak well I wouldn’t think of the postmaster.
HOWEVER ... the other reason given for dropping him is that his comments DO NOT REFLECT what they believe.  That is not an exact quote.

I do believe an awful lot of Brits will agree when I claim that this country has a very long history and especially over the past 30 or 40 years, of liberalism.  But NOT in the sense of a conservative live and let live, or smaller govt. or liberal attitudes on freedom TIED to responsibility.
Liberalism to these folks takes on a very left wing politically correct if only we can love each other pie in the sky thinking.
That’s why they’re so screwed up and that’s why they are in the process of losing their own country. 
Now I could be very wrong and simply PO’d enough over what I’ve been seeing and reading to be prejudiced in that opinion.
I guess time will tell but so far these people (the white ones anyway) remain mostly silent publically except where they may blog something but nobody is really standing up and making a serious issue of the things the subject of this post is.  But then again as he has pointed out.
ONLY brown skinned people can do that and not be abused with the ‘R’ word.  Although in his case the muzzies and left use other words and actions to try and silence him.

I have done a very small amount of editing for the sake of time and space. Link below.


Dispatched: The post office boss who insisted his customers speak English

By Tom Harper
Last updated at 1:51 PM on 22nd March 2009

The postmaster who refused to serve customers who could not speak English has been transferred to another branch following complaints from local Muslims.

Sri Lankan-born Deva Kumarasiri introduced a ban on non-English speakers last week after claiming they frustrated other customers and made his job more difficult.

Mr Kumarasiri, who moved to Britain 18 years ago, said he believed that new immigrants should learn the language and take pride in their new culture.

But he turned up to work yesterday to find his managers at the agency which runs the Sneinton Boulevard post office in Carlton, Nottingham, for the Post Office had decided to transfer him to another branch.

Last night, Mr Kumarasiri claimed that Riswan Raja, the 27-year-old owner of the shop in which the post office is situated, threatened to make his life a ‘living hell’.

He said: ‘Mr Raja is a Muslim and he is very, very angry. He told me he wouldn’t let me walk through his shop to access the post office and he and other local Muslims have started a petition to get rid of me.

‘Because of that, I decided I could no longer work in this area. I told my bosses and they have transferred me to another post office.’

With tensions running high, his bosses have banned the father of two from revealing his new location for fear of reprisals.

But last night Mr Kumarasiri pledged to stick with his controversial ban on non-English speakers at the new branch.

He said: ‘I will continue with my policy and try to do what is best for the people of Nottingham.

‘I’m not backing down. It’s only a few people who have forced me out. It’s the owner of the shop and some of the Muslim community. It’s not the people out there – they support me. Mr Raja didn’t like my policy and said I lost him a lot of trade, but I only banned five people.

‘If I could I would be out campaigning about this every day, but I have a mortgage to pay so I have to work.

‘I didn’t impose a complete ban. I told people to learn some English or come back with an interpreter. They come back with the right attitude now. It is just common sense.

‘If these people are coming into our country they should practise our language and culture. As far as I am concerned, if you can’t be British you should go home.

Because of his controversial stance, Mr Kumarasiri has also been ejected from the Liberal Democrats, which he represented as a local councillor.

The party’s HQ in London used the fact that he was 18 months behind on his party membership subscription to eject him without fuss or appeal. The local Liberal Democrat leader, Tony Gillam, said: ‘The party investigated the situation because of the comments and publicity around what he is reported to have said, and the party did not agree with what he said. The views expressed go well beyond what we can accommodate.’

UNEDITED AND PHOTOS HERE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/22/2009 at 10:25 AM   
Filed Under: • MiscellaneousOutrageousPatriotismRoPMAUK •  
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Will They Never Learn?

Chinese Drywall Ruins House Wiring All Across The South?




Officials are looking into claims that Chinese-made drywall installed in some Florida homes is emitting smelly, corrosive gases and ruining household systems such as air conditioners, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says.

The Florida Health Department, which is investigating whether the drywall poses any health risks, said it has received more than 140 homeowner complaints. And class-action lawsuits allege defective drywall has caused problems in at least three states—Florida, Louisiana and Alabama—while some attorneys involved claim such drywall may have been used in tens of thousands of U.S. homes.

Homeowners’ lawsuits contend the drywall has caused them to suffer health problems such as headaches and sore throats and face huge repair expenses.

The drywall is alleged to have high levels of sulfur and, according to homeowners’ complaints, the sulfur-based gases smell of rotten eggs and corrode piping and wiring, causing electronics and appliances to fail.

“It’s economically devastating, and it’s emotionally devastating,” said Florida attorney Ervin A. Gonzalez, who filed one of the lawsuits. It would cost a third of an affected home’s value to fix the dwelling, Gonzalez said.

“The interior has to be gutted, the homeowners have to continue paying mortgages, and they have to pay for a [temporary] place to live,” Gonzalez said.

The CPSC has been investigating claims in Florida for more than a month, according to commission spokesman Joe Martyak. He would not confirm whether CPSC is checking other states or reveal how many cases it is probing.

The Florida complaints generally involve homes built or renovated in 2005 and 2006, when a building boom and post-hurricane reconstruction caused a U.S. drywall shortage that spurred builders to turn to imports, Martyak said.

The allegations come after a number of recent safety problems with other Chinese exports, ranging from toys to pet food.

“The breadth of this thing is a lot bigger than people think,” said Chaikin of the Parker Waichman Alonso law firm in Bonita Springs. Chaikin said the problem is perhaps more easily recognizable in Florida because humidity exacerbates it.



Marvelous. Another poorly made product imported from communist China that turns out to be dangerous. Gosh, is it just me, or is everything made in China a crapshoot? Save a dollar, lose your health. Or your house. Wake up cheapskates! It’s simply not worth it. Don’t buy things made in China.




What the heck is drywall anyway, and why are we importing it?

Drywall is two layers of cardboard with a layer of gypsum between them. It is a wonderfully “green” product. The cardboard is made from recycled newspaper. The gypsum can either be mined, collected as a by-product of other chemical manufacturing processes, or even scraped from the air scrubbers in the smokestacks of coal fired power plants.

Where does it come from naturally? Huge amounts in the US and Canada. Lots of it in Europe. Some in Pakistan and Iran and Indonesia. None in China.

Ok, so what is gypsum? Gypsum is the same stuff as classroom chalk. It’s the same stuff as alabaster. Gypsum is very closely related to the burnt lime used in concrete. Heck, gypsum is used in concrete. Specifically,

Gypsum is the more common name for a mineral compound called calcium sulphate dihydroxide, or sulphate of lime. Gypsum is generally found underground near deposits of limestone or other minerals formed by evaporation. One of the most common forms of raw gypsum is a pure white crystal called alabaster.
...
Because the calcium and sulphur molecules in gypsum are chemically bound to water, gypsum is routinely heated in order to remove 50% to 75% of its original moisture. The resulting powder is considered burnt gypsum, although its white or translucent color does not change. Burnt gypsum is valued for its ability to solidify almost immediately after introduction to water.
...
Gypsum is naturally resistant to fire and heat, which helps it form a barrier between combustible wooden frames and the room itself.

The primary component of drywall is the mineral gypsum. It is a light-density rock found in plentiful deposits worldwide. Each molecule of gypsum (or dihydrous calcium sulfate) is composed of two molecules of water (H20) and one of calcium sulfate (CaSO4). By weight the compound is 21% water, but by volume it is nearly 50% water.

Before mixing the gypsum with water, it has to be calcined, which is a roasting process that drives off extra oxygen. It’s the same process that is used to turn limestone into lime (aka burnt lime) which is the basis for concrete.

So the stuff has sulpher in it, big deal. We mine the stuff, millions of tons of it a year. But you can create it in the lab too, by the very simple act of mixing sulphuric acid and chalk. This creates lots of carbonic acid fumes, but the solid stuff left over is gypsum. If you are a smart chemist, you condense that gas and mix it with more crushed lime, and that produces chalk. It’s easy to see that sulpher dioxide (SO2) could get into the mix, either because the raw gypsum used is poor quality, or the chemical reaction was poorly controlled, or the wrong kind of acid used.

So my guess is that the Chinese drywall was made with typical communist piss-poor quality control. IE, none at all. Any old shit thrown into a cardboard sandwich. And they probably got the cardboard from the shipping boxes that they used for nuclear waste. All kidding aside, it’s not worth the risk, even with such a basic product as drywall. Burnt rock paste between two slices of tree pulp. And they screwed that up too.

Buy American.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/22/2009 at 09:37 AM   
Filed Under: • Big BusinessCommiesScience-Technology •  
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calendar   Saturday - March 21, 2009

LOCAL MUSLIMS WANT HIM FIRED BUT POSTMAN WILL NOT BACK DOWN. AN UPDATE.

Last post for this Saturday evening.

This is an update to the article I posted just a couple of days ago about a postmaster at a local PO who insisted that his customers speak the language of the country they are living in.
He said people had to speak English and if unable to then bring someone with them who could, as he wasn’t going to speak another language.

He also (as you will read) quite rightly points out the sad fact that WHITE FOLKS just won’t speak out and just keep mum out of fear.
He says that the only people who seem to have any “rights” to speak are Brown people.  And he damn well is.

Naturally the ones who are now bitching and calling for his sack, SURPRISE, are a few muslims. 

He has also been threatened but is standing by his position. 


Facing the sack and vilified by local Muslims ... but the Postman Patriot insists he won’t back down on his pro-British stance

By Jane Fryer
Last updated at 9:24 AM on 21st March 2009

Deva Kumarasiri looks remarkably unruffled. His royal-blue shirt is clean and crisp, his stripy tie is immaculately knotted, his trousers beautifully creased, his glasses polished to a shine and his mobile phone clipped to his belt in a neat, Velcroed holster.

Indeed, as he sits behind his Post Office counter, smiling through the smeared glass and dolling out stamps, family allowance payments and helpful advice to a queue of customers, he couldn’t look more professional and composed.

Which is a bit of a surprise, because he’s had a pretty torrid few days. Vilified and cheered in equal measure, he’s been in countless newspapers, on the radio and on television and has whipped up a right old storm in internet chatrooms.

Yesterday, the chairman of the local Mosque, Aurangzeb Kahn, confirmed that a petition was circulating among Muslim residents calling for Mr Kumarasiri to be sacked.

Proud: Postmaster Deva Kumarsiri wants customers to embrace British culture

Just in case you haven’t seen a paper, or the news, or turned on the radio in the past 72 hours, Deva is a Sri-Lankan-born postmaster and father-of-two.

For the past six months, he has been running the very small - you can barely move behind the counter with all the parcels, papers and Jiffy bags - but very busy Post Office in Sneinton, a particularly multicultural area of Nottingham.

He also flies enormous Union Jack flags from his home and Land Rover Discovery and, earlier this week, admitted he had introduced a rule for his customers - ‘No English, no service.’

If they can’t even be bothered to learn English, he tells them, they must go away and learn it, or come back with a translator.

The ban was certainly a major talking point among many Muslims attending prayers yesterday in an area of Nottingham with a large Urdu-speaking Pakistani community.


‘There is a strong feeling among some local people that this is wrong,’ says Aurangzeb Kahn.

(why can’t these bastards change their names or at least the damn spelling. who can pronounce this gibberish?)

But Deva isn’t ruffled. ‘I don’t expect everyone to agree with me,’ he says.

‘It was inevitable that those who don’t want to be fully integrated into this country would do something about it. It’s all been quite surprising and I’m afraid I’m a little tired - it was a bit of an early start today because my mum phoned at 3am to say my face was all over the Sri Lankan papers!

‘So now I’m all over the world ... it’s extraordinary. All I’m doing is telling people if they want to live in Britain, be British,’ he explains excitedly and at breakneck speed.

‘Embrace it, be proud of it and most of all, be part of it. Don’t live your life without embracing our culture. Don’t boo our soldiers when they come home from Iraq - whatever you think of the war.

‘And don’t bother staying here without trying to learn the language.’

His comments have caused quite a stir - among his customers, who were taken aback to learn of this new policy, but also among a small handful of ill-informed locals who shout ‘idiot’ and ‘madman’ as soon as he steps out the shop, and a bunch of vitriolic internet bullies who seem to have got the wrong end of the stick.

Because startling though it is to hear anyone quite so outspoken on such a sensitive subject in 21st-century Britain, you need only meet 40-year-old Deva to realise his heart’s in the right place, even if his chat is rather relentless.

All he wants is to protect his beloved adopted country and, of course, his customers. ‘If I can’t understand what they want, then I can’t give a proper service, so I’m frustrated and they’re missing out.’

He’s right. The stream of old ladies, young Asian mums, Pakistani men with parcels and Kurds making a cash withdrawal are all happy to stand in line - while he chats and helps - with no complaints.

‘Ooh, he’s great. He’s so kind. And helpful. But how can he help someone if he can’t understand what they want?’ one says. ‘All he wants is for people to be proud to be British.’

So what is his love affair with Britain all about?

‘Ever since I was a boy - growing up in a village outside the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo and learning English at school - I have loved Britain and everything that the British left behind.

‘We still have the laws, the schools, the courtesy and the discipline. Like many Sri Lankans, I’ve always been proud to be associated with Britain and I always dreamt that one day I would come here.’

And so he did, in 1991. First, he had to sit a citizenship test, which appears to be the first British thing he does disapprove of.

‘Ah, that stupid test, you’d never believe some of the questions - like when was the Church of England established and how old do you have to be to buy cigarettes! Why do we need to know that to become a citizen? It was silliness.’

‘I’ve had a Union Jack flag flying for eight years’

Still, he passed, swapped his Sri Lankan passport for a British one and married Durga, 39, a fellow Sri Lankan. He gave up his studies in electronics to work in a garage and a warehouse, before setting up a catering company. He then trained as a postmaster and became a Liberal Democrat member of Gedling Borough Council.

‘I was happier providing a service than studying,’ he says.

Deva talks a lot about service. Service to his adopted country: ‘I am desperate to do all I can to make Britain better’; and service to his customers: ‘I love helping people and will do anything I can to do so.’

Unless, of course, they don’t speak English? ‘It’s not like that,’ he says earnestly. ‘I would never criticise people who try. If they use even a single English word, like ‘stamp’, or ‘please’, then I’ll go to the ends of the earth to help and encourage them.

‘But when it comes to those who refuse to understand the language, or make any effort, then they’re not helping themselves, so I’ll say: “My mother tongue is at home and this is not the place to use it - here we’re British.’”

But hasn’t that caused unpleasant scenes?

‘Oh no, no, no! No one has minded - they’ve all come back with translators and are still my customers. And look at the queue - I’m hardly short of customers.’

Which is true, but it doesn’t seem much comfort to the owner of the shop in which Deva’s Post Office business is based - a great glowering Pakistani called Raja Rizwan, who’s clearly furious at all the publicity (though all the news crews must have been good for business) and every few minutes interrupts with mutterings of evictions and sackings.

Deva looks thin and vulnerable and young next to him, but he also looks like he won’t be bullied.

‘I am the postmaster and I am trying to make this a better place. So whether you’re white, or black, or Asian, or whatever, we should be one nation, one community, one flag…

‘And speaking of flags,’ he rattles on, ‘I’ve had a Union Jack flying from my house for eight years. It’s the biggest you can get - this big,’ he says, stretching his arms wide.

‘And you know the funny thing? It’s a bit tatty, so I’ve tried to have it replaced, but I can’t get one anywhere - they don’t seem to make them any more - there’s no demand.’

He has a history of putting his money where his mouth is. Last year, in his role as councillor, he was so worried about all the hoo-ha surrounding rubbish collections and charges that he went out with the bin men on their rounds.

‘I thought it might help me to understand the job from their perspective,’ he says. ‘It was great fun - while it lasted.’ It was barely a day before Health and Safety officials intervened to put a stop to it.

And when great swathes of Sri Lanka were devastated by the tsunami in 2004, he masterminded a fundraising project in Nottingham, which raised enough to rebuild a small development on the island, now known as Little Nottingham.

‘We did a good job,’ he says. But while he’s done an awful lot for other people, he’s not had the best of luck himself. First, his catering business failed, then he got a job as postmaster in the nearby Carlton Valley area of Nottingham.

‘I thought I had a job for life - I bought a house and built a second, I made dreams for my retirement - but the Royal Mail shut it down. I was struggling to pay my mortgage and the bank charges went up, so I came here. But I’m not complaining.’

Standing up for his country: Deva says he is proud to be British

It’s a miracle he’s not. What with all the insults and idiots and the bigoted comments he’s had to deal with, does he ever feel he’s banging his head against a brick wall?

‘No. Never. I’m a very optimistic person, so I don’t think like that.’

But he does worry about the impact that immigrants not being able to speak the language are having on our nation.

‘We have a terrible problem in Britain today.

‘We don’t know who our neighbours are, we’re losing our sense of community, and it can only get worse if your neighbour doesn’t speak the same language, because then you get lack of understanding, and fear, and so often racism.

‘It’s all down to language. The fabric of the nation begins to unravel if we don’t speak the same language.’

Deva has equally strong views about the Government. Gordon Brown is an ‘idiot’; David Cameron is just ‘Oh no… and way too green’.

And he frets constantly about the neglect of the working classes. ‘The taxi drivers, the bin men, the nurses, the dinner ladies - they’re not being appreciated.’

So who would he like to see running the country?

‘Sir Richard Branson,’ he says brightly. ‘He’s the one person I do so admire. He’s such a can-do person. I’d love to see him sorting out our businesses and services.’

Anyone else? ‘Oh yes, Jeremy Clarkson! He’s my favourite. He’s not afraid to speak his mind, particularly on the environment. And that radio presenter… has his own show - ooh, what’s his name? James Whale! That’s it.’

Goodness, James Whale? Time to get back to the matter in hand and why Deva, an immigrant himself 18 years ago, feels he should be the one to stick his head above the parapet when it comes to Britishness and speaking the language?

He says: ‘Simple - I had to say something, because too many people are afraid to. The person who’s born here can’t do anything or he’ll be accused of being a racist, you can only complain here if you’ve got brown skin.

‘And the white man, what does he do? Nothing. He has to keep it under his clothes, or his hat, or whatever we say, until it builds up and up like a balloon, until one day it’ll explode and we’ll have riots and hatred and I don’t want that. I just want people to be proud to be British.’
‘I had to speak up because others are afraid to’

He’s an unlikely hero. What you see is what you get, he has no secret agenda. He likes curries, Scotch whisky, playing with his two daughters Shahani and Heshini, World War II movies, nature documentaries and helping with the housework.

‘I like cooking and gardening, though not so much cleaning. My wife won’t let me do much because she thinks I’m a poor cleaner.’

And do they speak Sri Lankan at home?

‘Oh no! Not the girls. I want them to be proud that their father and mother are Sri Lankan, but they are British and this is their country. They have already decided they’re going to be doctors in the RAF.’

They are only eight and ten, but they will certainly get a lot of encouragement from him. He is teaching them the words to the National Anthem - ‘they should know it already, this is their country, but you can’t learn the National Anthem, or fly the flag, or you’ll upset the minority - that’s ridiculous.’

And the future? He’s made a very impressive stand, but by the end of our chat, it looks increasingly likely he won’t have a job by next week.

‘Oh, I try not to worry as things usually work out. I’ll carry on fighting for the working people. Now I’ve started trying to save the country, I suppose I’ll just have to carry on.’

And with that we bid our farewells. Me sidling past a cross Mr Rizwan (who glowers and promises ‘there’ll be a new postmaster by Monday’), and Deva, waving unconcernedly from behind his shabby counter.

I leave feeling strangely touched by our meeting. With all that chatter, he’s not someone you’d choose to be cooped up with for too long, and I’m a bit alarmed by his enthusiasm for Jeremy Clarkson and James Whale.

But Deva is also a good, kind, big-hearted man, who has that terribly rare thing in 21st-century Britain - the courage of his convictions and the confidence to speak out.

PHOTOS HERE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/21/2009 at 05:02 PM   
Filed Under: • PatriotismRoPMAUK •  
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RIGHT. AS IF YOU NEED YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF NO COMMON SENSE.

batbatbat

AWARD FOR THE COUNCIL WARDENS who showed so little common sense and totally officious behavior.  If there were truly any justice they’d be sacked not for trying to fine the lady but just for being so eFFin STUPID!

Fortunately the story has a good end and common sense did prevail but no thanks to the idiots who tried to level the on the spot fine.
What kind of standards are used these days to hire ppl who will be in this kind of position?  Oh right.  Lost me’ed there for a moment.

Just another very sad sign of the times I guess. 
Will it ever get any better?

A pensioner vowed to go to prison rather than pay a £75 fine imposed on her for feeding birds in her local park.

By Paul Stokes
Last Updated: 2:11PM GMT 20 Mar 2009

Michelina Roy, 70, was handed the on-the-spot penalty after tossing bread and left-over crumpets down for the pigeons.

Most of the food had already been devoured by more than 20 birds which had landed on the grass when she was approached by two council wardens last week.

Mrs Roy, a retired mill worker, said: “I thought they were joking. I told them I was just feeding the birds. They were very intimidating, they didn’t show me any ID to start with so I didn’t know who they were.

“I would rather go to jail than pay the fine. I am appealing it because I won’t pay it, I can’t pay it, I’m retired and have under £75 a week for my pension. I can’t afford this.”

She moved to the town from Italy 40 years ago and during her retirement has made feeding the birds part of her daily routine.

After her brush with the wardens from Kirklees Council she said she took the remains of the crumpets home with her where she put them in the dustbin.

Mrs Roy added: “I like to give to the birds because I like feeding God’s creatures and I’ve been going to that park for a while with no problems at all, it’s a lovely place to relax.

“Everyone feeds the birds, we used to feed them in Italy but I won’t do it again. If there had been a notice saying we were not allowed then I wouldn’t have done it.

“I’ve never been in trouble before in my life. They ought to be concentrating on the real litter louts. It’s more environmentally friendly for me to give bread to the birds than just chuck it in the bin.”

Her husband Marytyn, 55, a fitter, questioned whether people seen feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square were guilty of littering.

He said: “How can it be littering the park when all the so-called litter is flying off in the birds’ bellies? I’m very peeved about it.”

A spokesman for Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council said later that the fixed penalty served on Mrs Roy was being withdrawn, but gave no explanation for the decision.

He said: “She will be receiving a letter in the next few days informing her the fine has been cancelled.”

FOR DA BIRDS

Borough Council said later that the fixed penalty served on Mrs Roy was being withdrawn, but gave no explanation for the decision.

We can hope they were embarrassed by the episode and so there was nothing to explain except they have stupid idiots for wardens. But they can’t admit that.  But it really would be kind of them to just openly say sorry that they made a goof and let folks know bird feeding isn’t a crime. Jeez.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/21/2009 at 04:32 PM   
Filed Under: • Blog StuffMiscellaneousStoopid-PeopleUK •  
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AS WE GO INTO ANOTHER WEEKEND, ANOTHER SIGN OF OUR TIMES.

THIS CARTOON SAYS SO MUCH THERE REALLY SHOULDN’T BE ANYTHING FOR ME TO SAY. AND THERE ISN’T EXCEPT THAT IT APPEARS ACCURATE.
I ESPECIALLY ENJOY THE PART IN THE UPPER RIGHT.  AND THE POPE THING PRETTY FUNNY AS WELL AS ACCURATE.

image

cartoon came from THE TELEGRAPH


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/21/2009 at 04:17 PM   
Filed Under: • HumorMiscellaneous •  
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All homosexuals should be stoned to death, says Muslim preacher of hate .

Gee, isn’t that a tad extreme?  A little OTT?
Oh wait, that’s why they’re known as extremists, right?

Yeah homosexuality isn’t normal behavior, granted. But stone people to death?  Jeez.  Is that really part of their creed or is it something they have only recently come up with since 9/11?  Either way, these are some seriously demented folk living among us.

I look at these people and get that same creepy,crawly chill up my spine that I do seeing a desert roach or a large rat.
Why can’t the west wake the hell up and deport ALL this vermin and ship the libtards who support them to a Sharia ruled country.

All homosexuals should be stoned to death, says Muslim preacher of hate

By Sam Greenhill
Last updated at 12:34 AM on 21st March 2009

All homosexuals should face stoning to death, a Muslim preacher of hate declared yesterday.

Anjem Choudary, the firebrand cleric who wants to see Britain ruled by Sharia law, said such a regime was the only way to fix the country’s ills.

Under it, adulterers and homosexuals would be killed by stoning. Asked if that would include anybody - even a Cabinet minister such as Business Secretary Lord Mandelson - Choudary responded with an astonishing diatribe.

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Hate, hate and more hate: Anjem Choudary (centre), flanked by two cohorts, prepares to give a press conference on Friday in which he says homosexuals should be stoned to death. 

(seen here in their disguise so as to appear human. only approach with caution as they are known to carry the plague carrying flea.)

He said: ‘If a man likes another man, it can happen, but if you go on to fulfil your desire, if it is proved, then there is a punishment to follow. You don’t stone to death unless there are four eyewitnesses. It is a very stringent procedure.

‘There are some people who are attracted to donkeys but that does not mean it is right.’

Choudary was speaking at a press conference in London arranged by Muslim extremists to justify their protest in Luton last week against soldiers returning home from Iraq.

His incendiary remarks immediately prompted calls for him to be investigated by police. Tory MP Patrick Mercer said: ‘These statements show the depravity of this man’s beliefs. They must incite hatred and encourage terrorism, and I would encourage the Metropolitan Police to investigate them as rigorously as possible.’

The Rev Sharon Ferguson, chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said: ‘This is appalling. The police should look very closely at what has been said to see if there is any action they should be taking.’

Police were not at the press conference but a Scotland Yard spokesman said officers would investigate if a complaint was made.

Only last week, Choudary, a self-styled ‘judge of the Sharia Court of the UK’, was defending the shameful protests against soldiers parading through Luton after a tour of duty in Iraq.

Yet a week ago, the Daily Mail exposed fundamentalist Choudary’s student days when he was pictured swigging beer, cavorting with women and puffing on a cannabis joint - offences for which he would be lashed and stoned under his version of Sharia law. Yesterday he sheepishly confessed:

‘Yes, I was not always practising Islam. Certainly in my student days I was not a practising Muslim.’
Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammedi


Wake-up call: Omar Bakri has warned of another 7/7-style attack

Yesterday Choudary, 42, was flanked by two fellow firebrands at the press conference at the Express by Holiday Inn Hotel in Chingford, East London.

It started with warning from fellow hate cleric Omar Bakri, who warned that Britons should ‘wake up before it is too late’ or suffer another 7/7 terror attack.

The preacher threatened that ordinary Muslims living here would rise up and retaliate for the ‘evil’ acts of British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bakri, banned from Britain four years ago, broadcast his threats from his Lebanon bolthole over a speakerphone.

In London, sitting alongside Choudary was Ishtiaq Alamgir, another ringleader of the Luton protests, who accused British soldiers of torture, rape and murder. He said: ‘Those British soldiers have blood on their hands.’

A third firebrand, Abu Abdullah, 30, branded the British Government ‘tyrannical’ and warned: ‘Do not relax, do not recline, or you will be touched by the fire of hell.’

THE MAIL


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/21/2009 at 03:52 PM   
Filed Under: • RoPMATerroristsUK •  
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Barack Obama takes his eye off the ball, and puts his foot in it. Some Brit reactions to O.on Leno

Believe it or not America, there were even opinions given on radio programs as to whether or not a president should appear on a TV talk show, and if it demeaned the office.  There were even comments in local papers.
Who wouldda thought anyone outside the USA would give a flip one way or another if an American president went on late night talk show? But apparently there is genuine interest.  Or perhaps the interest is only in what Obama does. 

In a recent editorial on the subject, there was also a general critique of American late TV, Leno, Letterman and a mention of O’Brien.  All were found wanting and the opinion was that America late night just is NOT FUNNY.  And if ya think about it, it really isn’t all that great. Especially since Carson left.
And even his routines could sometimes go on too long. 

The TV critic at The Telegraph says that our late night TV is “designed for an audience already half asleep” and that the “formats are creaky and haven’t had a touch of paint in decades.”

BUT WAIT .... Post is about Barry (fooled ya?) not USA late night.  I was just giving some background. Anyway ....

It appears Mr. Obama kinda put his foot in it and had to say “sorry.” Though I’m damned if I understand why.  It wasn’t like he set out to denigrate
handicapped people or insult the “Special Olympics.”

So here’s some reaction from this side of the water you folks at home might find interesting.  And oh yeah.  Had it been a conservative said it, well you know the rest.

Barack Obama takes his eye off the ball… and puts his foot in it during late-night TV gaffe

By David Gardner
Last updated at 9:32 AM on 21st March 2009
The Mail on Saturday

Barack Obama has been forced to apologise after making a rare gaffe in front of millions of television viewers.

The normally sure-footed president tripped up with a joking reference to his ten-pin bowling skills during an appearance on one of America’s biggest talk shows.


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Barack Obama on Jay Leno risks becoming a bore

By Simon Heffer
Last Updated: 7:37PM GMT 20 Mar 2009
The Telegraph

It was painful to watch the Leader of the Free World on Jay Leno’s late-night talk show on Thursday, doing a good-ol’-boy act and cracking jokes about being President while the economy tanked. Leno purports to be a comedian but is about as funny as Josef Fritzl, which helped Mr Obama look good.

The President’s apologists said that it was his equivalent of Roosevelt’s fireside chats, which may be so: but if Mr Obama makes a habit of going on blue-collar TV and being blokeish, he’ll soon stop being the new Messiah and start being an old bore

Predictably, Mr Obama used this soft interview to do his spin doctors’ bidding on scapegoating Wall Street for America’s economic disaster, exculpating himself from the AIG bonuses, and pretending he could keep all his campaign promises despite the mess America is in. Any Briton watching would have been reminded of the easy, demotic charm of Tony Blair. And we know how that ended.

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COLOR ME EMBARRASSED. I CAN’T RECALL WHERE I FOUND THIS CARTOON BUT IT IS USA, NOT UK. 

March 21, 2009
Barack Obama red-faced after Special Olympics jibe on Leno Show
It was all going so well as the President chatted to Jay Leno. Then he made a crack about the Special Olympics ...
Chris Ayres
The Times, Saturday.

It was billed as the first time that a sitting President of the United States had appeared as a guest on a late-night talk show. After Barack Obama’s performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, there’s also a good chance that it was the last.

Granted, the President, as always, was charming. Granted, he lit up the studio with that Hollywood-grade smile. Yes, he explained the AIG crisis in clear, measured terms, and wisely backed away from a congressional attempt to impose a 90 per cent tax on unpopular bankers. (“I think that the best way to handle this is to make sure that you’ve closed the door before the horse gets out of the barn,” he said, calmly. “What happened here was that the money had already gone out, and people are scrambling to try to find ways to get back.” All in all, “Oboe One” reminded several million Americans why they voted for him.

Then . . . he made a joke about the Special Olympics.

It seemed to pop out of nowhere. One minute he was being all warm and self-deprecating, the next he was making fun of the disabled.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/21/2009 at 02:52 PM   
Filed Under: • MiscellaneousObama, The One •  
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KUDOS CANADA!!  BRAVO! George Galloway banned from Canada on grounds of national security

GO CANADA

About a week ago I posted a story re. this commie (he says he is) politician here in UK, who was bringing relief aid of some kind to Pals after the Israeli shelling over there.
His convoy was stoned in Egypt if you recall. 
Anyway ... he is a traitor to this country in the eyes of many here.  He openly supports muzzie extremists and in the past has invited them to speak at gatherings in London when he was mayor.  That’s the background.

He sure isn’t a favorite of Lyndon and Chris and that’s for sure.  So anyway, I caught this early today and by now you folks back home may already know.  But I HAVE to post this bit of jolly good news anyway.

CANADA SAYS DROP DEAD TO GALLOWAY!

Well okay.  Canadians have better manners then I do and I very much doubt they’d say that publicly even if they thought it. That’s cause they are more mature then I are.

image

I haven’t a clue yet exactly how I’m gonna go about this, but I’ve been thinking of coming up with some sort of extra thing other then Moonbat award for folks like Galloway. Really.  I’ve been thinking maybe, a rat patch, or a weasel badge.  Or should that be reversed?  Rat Badge and Weasel Patch?  No, Weasel Badge or Rat Patch have a ring to it.  Or ....

Does anyone have any other ideas? I won’t want to use it every day and not necessarily for dumb people.  For example, much as we dislike Galloway it can’t be said the man is stupid.  He is cunning, he is literate, he has shown he’s smart even if we believe he says or does stupid things.
So then, an award for smart ppl who do or support really stupid or useless and distasteful things.  Sheehan for example would NOT qualify cause she really is that STUPID!


‘Infandous*’ George Galloway banned from Canada on grounds of national security (*look it up)

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 8:34 PM on 20th March 2009

George Galloway has been barred from Canada on national security grounds.

The outspoken MP, who opposes the war in Afghanistan where Canadian troops are deployed, was due to make a speech in Toronto on March 30.

But a spokesman for immigration minister Jason Kenney said Mr Galloway was viewed as a supporter of the radical Palestinian group Hamas, which is banned in Canada.

The Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, who is on a North American speaking tour, vowed to use all means at his disposal to challenge the ‘outrageous’ ban.

He called the move a ‘desperate election ploy’ by a Conservative government.

But a spokesman for Canada’s immigration minister Jason Kenney insisted the decision, taken by border security officials, would not be overturned for an ‘infandous* street-corner Cromwell’ (*’infandous: too odious to be expressed or mentioned).
This Hamas photo shows the head of the Hamas government Ismail Haniyeh, right, embracing George Galloway during their meeting in Gaza City on March 10 this year

The head of the Hamas government Ismail Haniyeh, embraced George Galloway during their meeting in Gaza City on March 10 this year

Mr Galloway was due to give a speech in Toronto on March 30 but has been deemed ‘inadmissible’ to Canada under section 34(1) of the country’s immigration act.

Mr Kenney’s spokesman Alykhan Velshi said the act was designed to protect Canadians from people who fund, support or engage in terrorism.

The minister has the right to issue special exemption permits but will not do so in Mr Galloway’s case.

Mr Velshi said: ‘We’re going to uphold the law, not give special treatment to this infandous street-corner Cromwell who actually brags about giving ‘financial support’ to Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned in Canada.

‘I’m sure Galloway has a large Rolodex of friends in regimes elsewhere in the world willing to roll out the red carpet for him. Canada, however, won’t be one of them.’

Mr Galloway, 54, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, is consulting organisers of his north American speaking tour and exploring whether legal action can be taken to overturn the ban.

Mr Galloway, an opponent of the war in Afghanistan where Canadian troops are deployed as part of international forces, lamented the ‘idiotic’ ruling as ‘irrational, inexplicable and an affront to Canada’s good name’.

And the Scot also said being refused entry to Canada was like being told to stay away from the family home.

Mr Galloway said: ‘This is a very sad day for the Canada we have known and loved - a bastion of the freedoms that supporters of the occupation of Afghanistan claim to be defending.

‘This has further vindicated the anti-war movement’s contention that unjust wars abroad will end up consuming the very liberties that make us who we are.

‘This may be a rather desperate election ploy by a conservative government reaching the end of the line, or by a minister who has not cottoned on to the fact that the George Bush era is over.

‘All right-thinking Canadians, whether they agree with me over the wisdom of sending troops to Afghanistan or not, will oppose this outrageous decision.

‘On a personal note - for a Scotsman to be barred from Canada is like being told to stay away from the family home.

‘This is not something I’m prepared to accept.’

Mr Galloway was due to speak at a public forum entitled Resisting war from Gaza to Kandahar, hosted by Toronto Coalition to Stop the War later this month.

The Respect party MP was also set to address a second public forum in Mississauga, just south of Toronto, on March 31.

His proposed visit prompted the Jewish Defence League of Canada to write an open letter to the country’s government urging it to do ‘everything possible to keep this hater away’.

In 2006, Mr Galloway was refused entry to Egypt on the grounds of national security after he travelled to the country to give evidence at a ‘mock trial’ of former prime minister Tony Blair and ex-US president George W Bush.

He was held overnight in a police cell before the authorities changed their minds and allowed him in, and he later received a personal apology from the country’s president.

A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada confirmed that Mr Galloway had been deemed inadmissible on national security grounds and would not be allowed into the country.

He said the decision had been taken by border security officials ‘based on a number of factors’ in accordance with section 34(1) of the country’s immigration act.

The act states: ‘A permanent resident or a foreign national is inadmissible on security grounds for:

‘(a) engaging in an act of espionage or an act of subversion against a democratic government, institution or process as they are understood in Canada;

‘(b) engaging in or instigating the subversion by force of any government;

‘(c) engaging in terrorism;

‘(d) being a danger to the security of Canada;

‘(e) engaging in acts of violence that would or might endanger the lives or safety of persons in Canada; or

‘(f) being a member of an organisation that there are reasonable grounds to believe engages, has engaged or will engage in acts referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).’

Immigration minister Jason Kenney has the right to exempt people from the act if it is felt that their presence would not be ‘detrimental to the national interest’.

But the spokesman said Mr Kenney would ‘decline to exercise that discretion’ in Mr Galloway’s case.

PHOTOS HERE

Hang on a minute. I think a rat badge for Cindy would be perfect. Yeah, like her face on a rat body. Galloway on a weasel. Hmmm. Thinking.
Feedback ppl.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 03/21/2009 at 01:31 PM   
Filed Under: • CommiesInternationalTerrorists •  
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One up, two down, down under

Queensland, Australia happily going into Labor for the 5th Time




No, they’re not giving birth to a sister island for little Tasmania. And this doesn’t mean that OctoMom has gone on vacation. They’re holding elections, and it looks like the Labor party is still keeping the Liberal party at bay. And they will have a lady in charge; first time ever.

The Queensland Labor Government appears headed for a historic fifth term in office with a modest swing to the Liberal National Party.

“I’m calling a Labor victory in this election,” retiring Education Minister Rod Welford told ABC radio at 7.43pm (AEST) . Earlier, federal Small Business Minister Craig Emerson and Labor senator Mark Arbib also said the Bligh Government had been returned.

With 55 per cent of the vote counted, Labor appears to hold 54 seats in the 89-seat parliament, a loss of four seats. The Liberal National Party appears to have 32 seats, with three independents holding their seats.

ABC election analyst Anthony Green also called the election for Labor. “I think we can say Labor is back,” he said.

A Labor victory will hand Anna Bligh the honour of becoming Australia’s first elected female premier.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure I do not let you down.”

Ms Bligh acknowledged the swing against Labor and promised her party would deliver this term.

“I want to say to those Queenslanders, I have heard your message loud and clear,” she said.

“I know that you want us to do better in government. And you and every other Queenslander deserve the best.

“The assurance I give you tonight and the assurance I give every other Queenslander is that I will work every single day of the next term of government to deliver better government.”

Ms Bligh said if Labor failed again, it would not take long before “people will start marking us very harshly”.

The Premier said Cyclone Hamish and the Pacific Adventurer oil spill [ a recent 1300 barrel event ] had made it difficult to get Labor’s message across to voters.

Notice that the Queenslanders did not A) need Jimmy Carter to oversee the election process, and B) kill each other in the streets. Typical white people, them and their damned orderly transition of political power. When will they ever learn how to do things properly?

image


Elsewhere down there, because I don’t write about Oz all that often and I have to get off this damn computer and get things done,





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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/21/2009 at 12:31 PM   
Filed Under: • AnimalsInternationalPolitics •  
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Your Tax Dollars At Work

I dunno ... maybe this is a good thing, maybe it isn’t. During the Cold War the Soviets spent all their money building weapons systems to kill us. And to kill Europe too. Now the CCCP is gone, the place is called Russia again, and they have no money. So what happens to all those h-bombs and stuff? They have to be destroyed. That’s a really big and careful job, and that means it’s an expensive job. So who pays for it? Who else? YOU DO.

The Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program has been around for a good many years now, and they have been quite successful ...


image



... at removing all those dusty old WMDs, missiles, ballistic missile submarines, nerve gas factories, and so forth. Good.



Not that it all goes 100% smoothly all the time. Little issues creep up once in a while, like the ship wreckers selling the scrap metal on the side

Submarine scrapper sued
Zvezdochka shipyard is accused of misusing income from selling scrap metal from decommissioned nuclear powered submarines. The lawsuit amounting to 169 million rubles (some EUR 4 million) is filed by Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, RIA Novosti reports.

Rosatom claims Zvezdockha shipyard in Severodvinsk have sold scrap metal from dismantled submarines and by that received additional income that should have been deposited in a special account and used for financing the dismantling program. The income in questions comes from scrap metal sales in 2007 and 2008. The date for the court hearings is not yet set.image

Zvezdockha shipyard has been dismantling retired nuclear powered submarines since the mid-90ties.

Norway paid for the scrapping of a Victor-II class nuclear powered submarine at Zvezdockha in 2003-04, as reported by BarentsObserver. According to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the total cost ceiling for the decommissioning of the submarine was EUR 5.2 million.

The dismantling of the Norwegian financed submarine was completed in April 2004. Which decommissioned submarine the scrap-metal Rosatom claims Zvezdockha sold without putting the money back into the decommissioning funds is not clear.

In the evaluation report about the decommissioning of the Victor-II class submarine at Zvezdochka, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes that the co-operation with the shipyard and the Russian authorities was satisfactory. The project was completed within the specified time frame and within the budget.

However, the ministry writes that there is still room for improvement as regards access to documentation and information. The documentation received for the purpose of review and assessment was relatively limited, and assessments and conclusions must be seen in this light, the ministry writes.

Most of the bigger submarines decommissioned at Zvezdockha, like the Yankee- Delta- and Typhoon-class are financed with money from the US Nun-Lugar funds.

Those crazy ex-commies. Always looking to make a buck on the side!


That is a Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine in the picture. You can tell that from the bulbous swelling at the base of the conning tower. No other submarine had that design. And yes, Soviet submarines had windows. But they never got the budget money for the screen doors. They spent it all on missiles instead. The Typhoon class sub was the biggest and baddest thing ever built, carrying 20 long range missiles each with 10 nuclear warheads. One sub, 200 nukes. The Soviets built all of 6 of these whoppers, and it appears that 3 of them have been sent to the bone yard already. And we paid for it ... seems like money well spent in my opinion.

Except it may just be a waste. ( I know! Who ever heard of government funding a wasteful and futile program? That never happens! ) It turns out that our new friends the Russians have a new missile submarine in the works. This is the Borei class boat, which is a little smaller. (just as long, just as fast, but thinner through the hips) It only carries 16 missiles, each with 10 nuclear warheads. That’s 40 less nukes, right? Wow, what a savings!! Except they plan on building 8 of these. 3 are nearly complete already, and they just laid the keel for the 4th.

Sevmash naval yard announces today that construction of yet another strategic submarine has started

March 19th is the official day of submariners in Russia. The day is marked with big festivities in the capital of submarine building, Severodvinsk on the banks of the White Sea in Northern Russia.
[In America, Submarine Day is April 11. Do something patriotic, like sinking a Somali pirate ship, as celebration!]
The Sevmash construction yard marks the submariners’ day by announcing that they have laid the keel for yet another strategic nuclear powered submarine of the Borey-class. The sub will be the number four of the class.

On Monday this week, Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov informed that mooring trials of Russia’s first Borey-class strategic nuclear submarine Yury Dolgoruky has started, reported by BarentsObserver. The two other submarine of the Borey-class, Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash naval yard. The name of the fourth vessel is yet to be announced.

Russia is planning to build a total of eight submarines of this class by 2015, reports RIA Novosti.

The Borey-class submarine is 170 meters (580 feet) long, has a hull diameter of 13 meters (42 feet), a crew of 107, including 55 officers, maximum depth of 450 meters (about 1,500 feet) and a submerged speed of about 29 knots. It can carry up to 16 ballistic missiles and torpedoes.

Let’s do the math. (6 subs X 20 missiles X 10 warheads per missile = 1200 warheads) vs ( 8 subs x 16 missiles x 10 warheads = 1280 warheads). Huh, that doesn’t seem to add up to any advantage for us does it? And advanced as the Typhoon submarines were, the new Borei boats will have the benefit of 20 years worth of R&D and whatever their spies could steal in the interim.

This kind of seems like Macintosh paying Microsoft for the cost of developing the latest version of Windows.

UPDATE: Theo shows us exclusive spy photos of the new, post-recession Russian sub.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 03/21/2009 at 11:37 AM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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