Thursday - April 02, 2009
British military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001. There are 16 pages. Want America to know.
This just came up on my screen and I thought it important enough to post and share.
I guess most folks at home are concerned (rightly) with problems there and our own losses in Iraq and this other blighted place called Afganistan.
From time to time though it doesn’t hurt to let people know that we aren’t alone. The UK too has lost and is still losing a lot of people and many naturally are very young.
So here are some photos of a few brave BATTLING BRITS.
The rest of the collection of photos are HERE
I have read that it isn’t being referred to as a “War on Terror” anymore in official circles. ?? Anyone know about that? What is then?
Are these kids dying in a ‘Police Action?’ What then?
Posted by peiper
on 04/02/2009 at 01:15 PM
Filed Under: • Patriotism • Personal • UK • War On Terror •
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Permalink • DAMN! ISN’T THERE ANYONE WHO IS ABLE TO RID AMERICA OF JUDGES LIKE THIS?
Come On People.
Where’s this going? A courtroom with aclu representation? It could. Would you want to bet your house against it?
Isn’t there anyone who’s willing enough and trained and capable enough to rid us of these dupes of the left.
Then what? A law suit that favors the grizzly bearded fagots at US expense? I wouldn’t bet against that either.
Terrorist suspects held in Afghanistan can challenge detention in US civil courts
A US judge ruled on Thursday that terrorist suspects held at a military air base in Afghanistan can use US civilian courts to challenge their detentions.
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 6:46PM BST 02 Apr 2009US District Judge John Bates turned down the US government’s motion to deny the right to three foreign detainees at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.
The decision followed a US Supreme Court ruling last year that said detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had the right to challenge their detentions in court.
The US government had argued that it did not apply to those in Afghanistan, but Mr Bates said the cases were essentially the same and quoted the Supreme Court ruling repeatedly in his judgment.
He wrote that the determination to hold them as enemy combatants is part of a process even more inadequate at Bagram than it is at Guantanamo.
Three detainees are from outside Afghanistan - Fadi al-Maqaleh of Yemen, Amin al-Bakri of Yemen and Redha al-Najar of Tunisia. Mr Bates reserved judgment on one detainee, Haji Wazir, because he is an Afghan citizen.
The judge’s decision will complicate the task facing President Barack Obama as he attempts to dismantle the punitive architecture of George W Bush’s war on terror.
The new president has vowed to close the controversial prison on Cuba by January next year and has tasked officials to determine what to do with the remaining 250 prisoners there.
So far his administration, like Mr Bush’s before it, has ignored the issue of Bagram, which has been used to detain Taliban fighters and al-Qaeda suspects since the early days of the US invasion of Afghanistan.
Despite his pledge on Guantanamo, critics have accused him of continuing some of the practices of the Bush era.
Posted by peiper
on 04/02/2009 at 12:55 PM
Filed Under: • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • War On Terror •
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Permalink • SO THEY SLICED HER WITH A KNIFE AND CHOKED HER TO DEATH AND GOT LIFE? WANNA BET?
So, the feral little shits murdered this poor old lady but one was just a baby of 14 so the paper doesn’t tell us what happened to the little fuck.
Probably nothing. Ah but ... the 15 year old got life. Which as we all know does NOT really mean life.
Read what these little bastards did to that poor old lady. FOR THE FUN OF IT!
And now the one who was sent to jail and has served 11, we find had a day release so that she could get laid obviously because she is now pregnant.
AND ... oh screw it,
Read this and see if your blood doesn’t boil. What is wrong with these fuckin freekin idiots? What the damn hell ever happened to god damn common sense and where the hell is justice in this?
I’m sorry I caught this. Jeez I just can not believe it. Law and Order. Yeah, right.
Murderer in jail for 11 years gets pregnant during day release from prisonBy Tom Kelly
Last updated at 4:10 PM on 02nd April 2009Lisa Healey was just 15 when she was jailed for murdering a 71-year-old widow in Lancashire in 1998.
A woman jailed for life for the brutal murder of a pensioner has become pregnant during day release from an open prison.
Lisa Healey is expected to give birth in the next few days after secret sex sessions with her boyfriend.
The 26-year-old, who has served 11 years of her sentence, will bring her child up in a mother-and-baby unit of Askham Grange Prison near York.
Healey was 15 when she and her 14-year-old friend Sarah Davey killed widow Lily Lilley in Failsworth, near Oldham, Lancs in 1998.
The girls, who had run away from home, befriended the lonely 71-year-old woman near her terraced home and after being invited in for a cup of tea turned her last hours into a living hell.
In what the judge described as ‘an act of unspeakable cruelty’ they taunted her, squirted her with shampoo and cut her legs with a long bladed knife.
After choking her to death with a gag tied so tightly her false teeth were driven down her throat, the girls crammed her body into a bin half full of rubbish, and threw in a framed photograph of her son as a baby along with her birth certificate.
Laughing and giggling, they trundled the bin through the streets and pushed it into a canal.The girls used their victim’s house as their own, inviting local children in and using her pension money to buy crisps and chocolate.
They were finally caught, four days after moving in, when neighbours worried at seeing the door open and no sign of Mrs Lilley alerted police.
photos at the link above and more story ....
Posted by peiper
on 04/02/2009 at 10:38 AM
Filed Under: • Crime • Outrageous • Stoopid-People • UK •
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Permalink • Drew, bulk mail, and the Post Office
Instead of replying to each post on Drew’s article “San Francisco Passes “Do Not Mail” Resolution” (especially since Drew decided to not respond to any of my points in his response to my response…) I decided to just write an op-ed.
First, the USPS is losing money. Last year was bad. Each time the gas price goes up 1¢ the USPS shells out another $1 million/day. Unlike our competitors, like FedEx, UPS, etc, the USPS is not allowed to own their own aircraft. Without its own airfleet, the USPS cannot contract for ‘bulk’ fuel. USPS contracts with private airlines to carry mail. Add in gassing up the semi-trucks, and even my own route van, you’ve a huge cost right there.
And, yes Drew, when you and I were children postage was five cents. Gas was also 19¢. And back then, postage was subsidized by the taxpayers. Postage rates haven’t been taxpayer-subsidized since 1983.
There is no reason on earth why the Post Office should essentially underwrite commercial advertising.
The Post Office does not underwrite commercial advertising. The Post Office and its customers negotiate bulk rates, as all businesses do. Bulk rate mail gets discounted in a variety of ways:
Volume discount.
Reduced service. Bulk mail is not forwardable, for instance.
Longer time-frame for delivery. Delivery is not guaranteed within _ days.
Unlike Drew, who seems to,
I think of trees as a crop. We can always plant trees. In fact, the lumber industry does just that. The lumber industry wants a crop to harvest in the future. Trees are truely a ‘renewable resource’. So attacking bulk business mail on that front is ridiculous. Rather like ‘think of the grass’ each time you mow your lawn.…think of the trees, etc
If you have a problem with receiving bulk mail, it’s probably not the Post Office you have the problem with. It’s the marketers who sell their customer address lists to each other. That’s right, businesses sell your personal info, such as–Name, Address, Phone #, Buying habits–without your permission.
This can be stopped now. No laws necessary. All you have to do is contact the Direct Marketing Association, either by phone (212.768.7277, ext. 1888) or on their website (https://www.dmachoice.org/dma/static/learn_more.jsp).
The fact is, business mail, bulk or otherwise, is important to the economy. The Direct Marketing Association says this:
Why Do Not Mail Bills Are Bad Public Policy
To many consumers and policymakers, Do Not Mail bills may sound like an idea whose time has come. However, learning even a little about advertising mail and direct marketing quickly reveals the many problems that Do Not Mail registries would create.
* Advertising mail is a large and diverse economic engine creating $686 billion of economic activity annually that would be adversely affected by even just one bill becoming law. Businesses both large and small rely on advertising mail to provide consumers with information, announcements and savings opportunities. Additionally, millions of jobs are dependent on advertising mail and direct marketing - from copywriters in ad agencies to rural letter carriers in remote corners of a sparsely populated state.
* Advertising mail provides consumers with a convenient marketplace and an easy connection to local goods and services. As well, it provides significant necessary revenues that help fund the services offered by local post offices.
* Advertising mail often can level the playing field between large and small business. It offers a cost-effective entry into new markets for small businesses looking to introduce themselves to local customers. These businesses would be seriously disadvantaged without access to advertising mail to reach potential customers. Further, advertising mail offers larger businesses, who often bring jobs to small towns and rural areas, a way to reach broader audiences.
* Legislation is not needed to provide consumers with options for removing their names from marketing lists. Consumers have a variety of choices ranging from contacting an individual company, to registering their name with DMAchoice.
Keeping a strong and vital postal system is a great advantage to consumers by maintaining competition in the package delivery market. On-line commerce is reliant on package delivery and a competitive postal system helps keep shipping rates affordable.
Keep in mind that we are currently in a recession, though el presidente Hussein seems hell-bent on causing an actual depression. With that in mind, let us not hamstring businesses from advertising the cheapest way possible.
Or get government out of the private sector entirely and let UPS or somebody else do the job ... faster, and for less.
The Constitution authorizes Congress to ‘establish Post Offices’. Now, I daresay that Congress could do a better job IF they ignored the politics. Example, the Post Office has just eliminated/restructured many of it’s ‘districts’. My district was one that was eliminated. Doesn’t effect me as a ground-pounder, but does effect several mid-upper level management positions. Well and good, until you read the fine print. Seems that those districts that most needed to be eliminated had very strong congressional support for keeping them. Therefore, the inefficient, bloated districts are staying put.
Congress could also repeal the private express statutes. These are the laws that effectively make the Post Office a monopoly. They basically say that, yeah, it’s your mailbox, but the Gov’t owns the space inside it. Therefore nobody but the Gov’t mailman can put mail in your mailbox. These laws date from the 1880’s.
The plus: competition in mail delivery. Better service!? Maybe.
The minus: numerous. From having however many private mailmen walking across your lawn, to, well:
Example. The USPS was experimenting with ‘contracting out’ mail delivery to private companies a couple of years ago. This was in high volume big cities like LA and Miami, FL. The private companies bid for the contracts and the low bid won. So far, so good.
Then the private companies turned around and hired people off the street to do the mail deliveries. These ‘street people’ not only failed to deliver the mail in a timely fashion, many times they didn’t deliver it at all. Several of these ‘temporary hires’ were video-taped dumping the mail. Several have been charged and convicted of identity theft. Several more were illegal aliens. Sometimes they were the same.
It’s easy to bash the Postal Service because who else can you bash? You don’t hear about the FedEx screwups. Why? Because I (the USPS mailman, who’s there every day and knows the people by name) usually flag down the FedEx (or UPS) driver and tell them that ‘Hey, you left a parcel at a vacant house.’ Or ‘Hey, you left a package for a person who moved last month.’
Even more frequent are customers who try to refuse/return a FedEx or UPS parcel to me. I tell them to call whichever company delivered it. If I take it, they’ll have to pay postage. The fact is, Drew, that I, as a mailman, have over 700 deliveries a day, every day. UPS drivers don’t even come close. They just deliver parcels. If they had to go door-to-door each day it would cost them, and therefore you and me, just as much. And UPS charges a premium for Saturday delivery. I don’t know about FedEx.
Now, let me tackle the so-called cheaper e-commerce. Yes, I suppose it is cheaper to receive and pay your bills over the internet. Or is it? The ability to do that involves a large initial capital outlay, and indeed a constant monthly outlay. In otherwords, you have to be able to purchase a computer, and purchase internet access. Just using myself as an example, my initial capital outlay was $1600. This bought an iMac and an inkjet printer. The printer immediately decided to clog up. Sigh.
Now, for internet access I need either a landline phone, which I have at $22/mo, or a cable connection. I don’t have cable because of its humongous cost vs. benefit. So landline it is. Adding broadband to my landline was another $25/mo. Total, just for internet access PER MONTH is $47. See, I’d can the landline since the wife and I have cellphones now. But I can’t if I want internet access.
Now, that’s me, and no doubt the average BMEWS reader. I can afford it. Note that I’ve not even mentioned, until now, ‘the poor’. Can ‘the poor’ afford the initial capital outlay and the monthly internet bill? Without some sort of government subsidy?
The answer is no.
Also, e-commerce presupposes things like electricity being available and relatively cheap.
Availablility: The remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through Dayton last year and caused much damage. Parts of the city were without power for over three weeks. Can’t pay your bills online without power.
Cheap: el presidente Hussein is going to ensure that power is forever out of reach with is Gorbal Warming Cap-&-Trade policies. I daresay that part of Hussein’s goal is to shut down dissent on internet sites like BMEWS by making power too expensive to maintain a blog.
Miscellaneous items:
SwedeBoy mentioned
Stopping Junk Mail is only part of the Problem.
The Local Fishwrap has a “Shopper” hand Delivered.
There is no way to Stop it.
They will not comply with requests to discontinue Delivery.
The Bundle is Dumped on your driveway and Piles up if you are on Vacation.
I view this as a Security Issue as Much as a Waste Issue.
All the Burglars just look for the Piles to know you are Not at Home.
Indeed. This is one of the problems that third-party mailers discovered back in the early 90s. Several magazines like Time, Newsfreak… er… Newsweek, etc, got together to find a cheaper way of delivery. They contracted with private firms, who hired day workers to deliver the goods. I can’t tell you all of the times I remember stepping over a plastic bag with several magazines laying in the middle of driveways and lawns. My guess is that many customers were not enthused either.
I have much the same problem with our newspaper. All I ask is that they get it on the porch. Not on the driveway, not in the flowerbeds, not in the bushes, not on the sidewalk, etc. Yet, at least once a month I have to call up the newspaper and threaten them: “I’m a mailman, how would you like it if I just threw your mail in the yard, driveway, bushes, flowerbeds, sidewalk? All I ask is that you get it on the porch!”
And, at this time of year, don’t forget those phone books that are thrown on your driveway, in your bushes, in your flowerbeds, etc. I’ve several vacant homes that have multiple years of phonebooks on the porch. These same homes have been ransacked for copper piping, used for drug dens, etc.
Peiper, the Forever stamps came out a couple of years ago during a past postage increase. The Forever stamps say Forever on them and have a picture of the Liberty Bell. They are ALWAYS good for the one-ounce First-class letter rate, regardless of the current postage rate. You buy Forever stamps today at 42¢ and a hundred years from now they (theoretically) will still be good for the going rate of $42. 
My bottom line is this. There are two Constitutional duties of Congress, the Military, and the Post Office. There is massive fraud and waste in both. That is the fault of Congress.
Now, if I were President, the first order of business would be to abolish all government unions…
Posted by Christopher
on 04/02/2009 at 10:22 AM
Filed Under: • Big Business • Economics • Government • Personal • Politics • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Wednesday - April 01, 2009
workin
I’ve got a whole house worth of windows to clean today, and it’s already after midnight here. Shouldn’t take me more than a day, but maybe 2 days if this rain doesn’t let up. Yet another word of mouth job. I love them. I just wish my customers had bigger mouths!
See ya L8ter.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/01/2009 at 11:37 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Army Still Dicking About
It could be a perfect fit for cramped cockpits and truck cabs—a weapon potent enough to penetrate body armor, but sporting a bantam package that won’t turn maneuvering in tight spaces into a Houdini act.
Though the Army says it’s interested in putting a so-called “subcompact” carbine into the hands of certain Joes, the effort is likely to get kicked to the curb in favor of a new, full-sized carbine—the victim of withering budgets and the service’s focus on updating the M4.
Late last summer, the Army embarked on an ambitious analysis of the latest weapons the small arms industry had to offer. The effort focused mainly on possible alternatives to the M4 carbine, but its secondary goal was to look at subcompacts, or so-called “personal defense weapons.”
Hey, I like the term. “Personal Defense Weapons”. I think that’s what all us citizens need. More than a pistol, less than a battle rifle, and make the whole package about 17” long. I’ll take 4 please.
These handy little guns can be anything from a submachine gun to a chopped-down carbine. The Army first announced it was interested in such a weapon in 2007, to give pilots, tankers and truck drivers a little more firepower than the Beretta M9 9mm pistol.
“The subcompact has to serve a lot of different people ... it’s much too early to say this is what we are looking for,” Jim Stone, the head of the Soldier Requirement’s Division at Fort Benning, Ga., told Military.Com recently.
Such a cautious approach has veteran gun makers doubtful that these new, compact weapons will ever make it to formal testing, let alone into Soldier’s hands.
“I see this as an uphill battle,” said C. Reed Knight Jr., owner of Knight’s Armament Company. “The government still doesn’t know what it wants.”
Gosh, more non-news. A bunch of us have been saying that the 9mm just ain’t enough gun for a long time, especially not in a full size pistol. And the 5.56 NATO just doesn’t cut it at longer ranges.
So what is it the Army wants? Who knows? They probably want something the size of a derringer that is accurate to 800 yards, can defeat light vehicle armor, has no recoil, and fires 1000 rounds a minute without overheating. Seriously ... how about a little reality check guys?
“The 5.56mm is too big and the 9mm is too small,” he said. “We really need something in between those.”
As part of the request for information, Army weapons officials maintain the service is looking at all calibers for both the carbine and the subcompact.
The state of the economy will also force the Army to consider “is this worth my investment or not?” Stone said. “Separating wants and needs sometimes is very tough.”
It’s this kind of talk that makes Knight doubtful he will get a return on the $2 million his company spent developing its new PDW.
Knight said he knew when he started that the weapon would have less than “a 50-50 chance of it getting adopted.
“I think it will probably die a slow death,” he said.
I think the line between rifles and pistols has been smeared, blurred, and half erased. Rifles have to be a decent length to get any kind of power out of them. If you want a close quarters weapon, get a knife. Anything a bit further, get a pistol. Maybe what they need is a change in combat. That’s NEVER going to happen the way they want it to. So the search is on for a short gun, a “PDW” that can close the big old gap between a pistol and a short range rifle (ie an assault weapon). But you can’t beat physics: if they want power, it will mean recoil. Only way to fight that is with weight. More weight means less maneuverability. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Power vs recoil vs weight vs range vs maneuverability. Choose two, and pay for it in the coins of the others.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/01/2009 at 10:41 PM
Filed Under: • Military •
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Permalink • Not Exactly A Great Idea
Anybody see the flaw in that plan? Like, you could have 10 AK47s in your trunk and be almost out of gas, but on the return trip you have no guns and a full tank of gas ... and your car weighs the same? Or you pack the body panels full of ammo, drop it off, wire you payment to a bank in the Cayman Islands, then fill the fenders up with sand ... and your car weighs the same? Not what I’d call a very bright idea. Oh, but they’re trying! Yeah, that counts for soo much.
Mexico trying harder to catch smuggled US guns Try to bring a refrigerator into Mexico in the back of your pickup, and you are almost certain to get stopped by Mexican customs officials. Stick a couple of AK-47 rifles in your trunk, and chances are you’ll whiz right through. Now Mexico is owning up to its leaky border as it launches a new program to monitor vehicles entering the country. The goal is to weigh and photograph southbound cars and trucks, in hopes of snaring more gun smugglers.
Um, yeah. Sure.
As the Obama administration promises a crackdown on the illegal U.S. weapons trade that supplies the drug cartels, Mexico is acknowledging shortcomings on its side of the 2,000-mile border.
“Security concerns require a customs overhaul,” Alfredo Gutierrez Ortiz, who oversees border checkpoints as director of Mexico’s tax collection agency, said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. “Today, passenger vehicles really enter without being inspected.”
Mexico checks only 10 percent of the 230,000 vehicles that cross the border each day, according to the federal Attorney General’s Office. By weighing cars to see if they are unusually heavy, and running license plate numbers through a database of suspicious vehicles, the government hopes to catch more hidden contraband.
The United States has long weighed and checked the license plates of northbound vehicles, but the technology is new to Mexico, which is installing it at all customs checkpoints. It was introduced last week at Matamoros, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, and should be added along Mexico’s border with Guatemala by year’s end.
Ah, Ok, “unusually heavy”. Fine, that’s a little better. So I’ll just fill the car with skinny people wearing fat suits, stash a bunch of rifles somewhere, and lose the fat suits south of the border. Nobody will ever know. Doctor up a few passports and driver’s licenses to match their false weight. Or maybe replace certain parts of the vehicle with much lighter ones ... cuz it would be sooo hard to find a chop shop in LA run by Mexicans who could kit something like that up. 500 pounds goes a long way in terms of guns and ammo.
Inside Mexico, strict gun control laws prohibit sales of weapons with calibers higher than a .38 handgun. Even to buy those, citizens must get permission from the Defense Department.
Hey, an 8mm Remington Magnum is a caliber less than the .356” bullets fired in a .38 handgun. And that bad boy will shoot through any body armor made, the steel plate you’re hiding behind, and the solid concrete wall behind you. It’s just not going to work guys.
But I have to give this news article a leetle credit. While they are blaming the US for the sale of lots of the regular weapons, they do admit that the actual, real military grade stuff is coming up from further south. Of course, they don’t extend that thought to a) why go for sporting arms when you can get actual genuine military hardware and b) if military issue firearms can get in from the south, then anything else can too. Like more sporting arms. Or whatever.
“You’re seeing truly military-type guns, like grenade launchers,” Mangan said. “They’re not coming from the U.S. The hand grenades that are being used, you’re looking at that stuff migrating up from Central America.”
Experts also agree that the Mexican military, which is often outgunned by traffickers, has not been a significant source of weapons despite the potential for corrupt soldiers to sell out to the cartels.
Many of the cartels’ grenades and other heavy weapons could be leftovers from Central America’s civil wars, Mangan said.
Mexico has seized more than 2,702 unexploded grenades since the start of President Felipe Calderon’s term in December 2006, compared to 59 during the first two years of the previous administration. Grenades have been traced back to the militaries of many countries, from South Korea to Spain and Israel, Mangan said.
Gutierrez acknowledged that the new system will not be as effective the southern border, where many communities straddle the frontier and residents regularly bypass official crossings.
“We need to address the breach — everything that doesn’t go through customs — because that’s the biggest problem in the southern border,” he said.
Ok, yeah, they’ve got an awful problem. I think Mexico needs a 3 way Civil War right about now. Druggies on side A, the Padrones (them with all the money) on side B, and 800 billion really pissed off Mexican peasants who are sick of the never ending bullshit on side C. My money is on side C, but not until the 12th round. The druggies have already won the first few rounds, now I expect the rich guys to bring their toy soldiers into play in a big way. Side C won’t make a play until the other two bleed each other out quite a bit.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/01/2009 at 10:17 PM
Filed Under: • Crime • Latin-America •
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Permalink • No Contest
FRANCE WINS !!! 
(that’s Mrs. France on the left. And
stolen from Theo’s, cuz I know what Peiper likes
Posted by Drew458
on 04/01/2009 at 06:13 PM
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy • Humor •
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Permalink • A partial solution
Usually I mock San Fwan for a variety of reasons, super left wingage being the main one. But to me this makes sense. Not sure if it will work or not.
City Calls On California To Give Citizens Choice Over Junk Mail
SAN FRANCISCO, March 31—The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today passed a resolution calling on California to create a Do Not Mail Registry giving its citizens the choice to stop receiving unwanted junk mail.
Though non-binding, the resolution represents the first time American lawmakers have withstood pressure from the direct mail industry and the U.S. Postal Service to side with the majority of Americans.
Sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, the board approved the resolution by a 9-2 vote.
“Until now, junk mailers have stifled all efforts to give Americans what they want: an enforceable, comprehensive solution to junk mail’s waste and annoyance” said ForestEthics Executive Director Todd Paglia. “San Francisco is the first city in the United States to take political action against junk mail, marking the beginning of a long-awaited government intervention to protect citizens from relentless and predatory junk mailers.”
Bills calling for Do Not Mail Registries have failed in more than 20 states, despite widespread frustration with junk mail. A 2007 Zogby poll revealed that 89% of Americans support the creation of a national registry.
“Reducing junk mail is in keeping with our nation’s efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and lead more sustainable lifestyles,” said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, upon passage of his Do Not Mail Resolution. “Just as Do Not Call overcame industry opposition to become the most popular consumer rights bill in history, I hope that this resolution will empower our representatives on the state and federal level to represent their constituents on this issue.”
I have a much better solution, but nobody listens: eliminate the bulk mail rate at the US Post Office. There was NO junk mail before it existed. And now, every year the price of stamps goes up, the Post Office is overwhelmed with work, two thirds of what shows up in your mailbox is crap, think of the trees, etc.
There is no reason on earth why the Post Office should essentially underwrite commercial advertising. If some schmoo wants to send me some ad, let him pay full price, just like I do. Kill the Bulk Rate and you’ll have to lay off lots of PO workers. Hey, too bad. They’re just as bloated as the rest of government. But with 2/3 less work, the ones left will be able to handle the job. And let’s put a 10 year moritorium on the price of stamps too. Gosh, the Post Office is losing money? Tough shit. Tighten your belts like the rest of us. Or get government out of the private sector entirely and let UPS or somebody else do the job ... faster, and for less.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/01/2009 at 04:34 PM
Filed Under: • Environment • News-Briefs •
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Permalink • WILD ANIMALS OF THE HUMAN (?) KIND WRECK HAVOC ON lONDON
I suppose you folks already know about this. ? Or maybe not. Ppl calling themselves anarchists and others have brought violence to London.
Another one of those useless ‘G’ meetings that the extreme left and others of no particular political bent just love to bring mayhem to.
People who rampage and destroy using the political flavor or cause of the month as a cover to legitimize what they do. An excuse to simply break windows and throw stones at the police. We’ve seen it all so often.
I think what’s different this time is how much better they are organized. They get better at it every year. And more sophisticated.
Yes, maybe a few suffer some injury but the bottom line is, they really have nothing to fear. Nobody will shoot them dead, which is exactly what they so richly deserve. They are a cancer if you will, but no one appears to have the stomach to cut the cancer out. And it would not be hard.
I saw a photo today online, thousands of the slime all crowded and gathered in downtown London. Mustard gas would have worked so well.
Or perhaps something more lethal. What a wonderful opportunity the powers that be missed. And how many would really care?
But no, they are allowed to live and breathe and come back again in some other place at some future time and do again what they do every year.
What a golden opportunity for a would be suicide bomber you might think. All those scum packed together. The score is sure to be high. But again no because these “protesters” are actually doing the work of those who want to bring down the west. Still however, I live in hope that one day maybe, just one .....
But no yet again. And what happens when one of these “anti-capitalist and climate change activists” who are on a rampage through the city gets hurt? Why, the police provide first aid and fix boo-boo.
You just can not allow these unter menchen to freely get away with the damage and harm they do and the threat they represent. It’s because they feel safe and because they know that no real harm will come to them, that they act this way.
And the people who pay? Why who else? The taxpayer. Are these scum worth the cost?
I say NO! They should be rounded up and immediately be made to simply disappear by whatever means. Most especially the leaders and organizers.
Cut off the head and the body will shrivel and die. But No.
And so we will look forward to the next stuffed shirt ‘G’ meeting and view more of the same from the same sort of hangers on and left wing loony tunes.
The west doesn’t really seem at all deeply interested in it’s own survival. Does it?
Protesters storm RBS office as thousands of anti-capitalists ransack the City in G20 riotBy Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:14 PM on 01st April 2009ENGLAND’S CANCER IN PHOTOS There are 29 pix.
Hundreds of anarchists went on the rampage this afternoon as the G20 protests descended into violence.
Several police officers were injured and a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland targeted as drunken troublemakers brought chaos to London’s Square Mile.
A violent mob with their faces covered by bandanas broke into the RBS building after windows at its entrance were smashed.
RBS had to be bailed out by the Government last autumn and has been widely condemned for giving its former chief executive a £16million pension.
Sir Fred Goodwin, who led the bank to the brink of collapse, has become the focus of public anger over the financial crisis.
Today, a printer and other pieces of equipment were hurled from the building as the gang ransacked the office.
Hundreds of protesters cheered as a blue office chair was used to smash one of the blacked-out branch windows.
The violence came despite an unprecedented police presence due to the protests over tomorrow’s G20 summit and Barack Obama’s visit.
Violence erupted after around 4,000 people were penned in by officers outside the Bank of England as riot vans blocked off surrounding streets.
Scotland Yard said the situation was deteriorating with ‘increasing levels of violence’.
By 2.30pm, the protesters had been evicted from the premises and police in riot gear supported by mounted officers had forced the crowd back down the road.
A police helicopter hovered overhead as the officers tried to get the crowds under control. They were heard chanting ‘shame on you’ and hurled missiles.
Scotland Yard said a ‘number’ of people had been arrested in connection with the RBS attack.
By 3pm, 19 people had been taken into custody in total and the cordon surrounding the area relaxed.
Eleven of the arrests were this morning after officers found police uniforms in the back of an armoured vehicle parked in the City of London.
Others were made for violent disorder, threatening behaviour, indecency and one for possessing Class A drugs.
Observers spotted many demonstrators drinking and smoking cannabis as they swarmed towards the City this morning.
Bankers and other office workers were warned to stay away or dress down to avoid being targeted by people furious at the financial crisis.
Four separate demonstrations were taking place across the capital as world leaders held frantic talks to discuss tomorrow’s summit.
Most proved peaceful but the flashpoint was inevitably in the City as thousands gathered outside the Bank of England.
Hundreds more were prevented from entering the area by police and started running battles with officers.
Masked and hooded men also tried to breach police lines to get to a climate camp in nearby Bishopsgate.
Police forced them back as they were pelted with empty beer cans, fruit and flour. At least one officer was seen with blood spurting from his head.
Chants of ‘f*** the police’ and ‘our street’ were heard as police reinforcements were drafted in.
There were ugly scenes as the protesters refused to fall back and goaded officers. Eventually they surged forward, forcing police to draw their batons.
Protesters clutched horses heads’ made from cloth and sticks and flags or figures of death and threw empty beers cans, fruit, flour and paint at officers.
Many suffered minor injuries and were seen bleeding from the head after police beat them back as they tried to force their way through.
The clashes came just as it seemed the protest, which was also attended by comedian Russell Brand, would pass off peacefully.
Wearing a black baggy woollen hat and with a small group of friends, Brand waved and gave the thumbs-up to fellow demonstrators.
He said: ‘I always come to these kind of things, I’m very interested. I am interested in learning and interested in why these people have come to this.
‘I wonder what alternatives there are and I think it makes people cogent of them. I think it’s also very beautiful.’
Asked to comment on the protests by Sky News, he said: ‘I’m not here to comment - I’m here to protest.’
He later escaped the police cordon to return to his home in North London.
‘F*** the system’, ‘Beat inflation - eat the rich’, and ‘Scum’ were graffitied on to the building as people peered out from windows on the fourth floor.
Officers on horseback guarded the crowd as items, including coins and computer keyboards, were thrown.
A blue paint ball was hurled from the crowd and hit one of the concrete columns outside the bank, narrowly avoiding the head of one policeman trying to keep order.
The police desperately tried to shepherd the protesters, who were carrying banners proclaiming ‘Balls to the Banks’ and ‘Punish the looters’.
Posted by peiper
on 04/01/2009 at 12:01 PM
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Permalink • COULD THIS BE THE PARIS HILTON OF THE CAT WORLD?
Hey, in that sort of mood while the nutters and crazies are screwing up London with protests at the G-20 thing. Bags of hot air.
The politicians and the protesters. A pox on all and so I happen to find this while surfing.
Top this one V. ha.
Made a really big discovery today. Well I didn’t. The wife did.
She has been working the last few weeks a bit at a time, cleaning out her late mom’s things, papers and photos etc. The old lady was a pack rat and so there is a lot. In fact, we were tossing things out as far back as three years ago. And all of it has an odor. Musty. Not very nice. Lots of books.
Gee whiz, I didn’t know the old dear could read. lol
Well .... a few minutes ago the wife came into the room with a small stack of post cards and also ship and aircraft ID cards, all from 1939.
WOW! So far there are 11. Have no idea if there will be any more.
Gonna scan these if I can and post.
Meanwhile I leave you with this.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
Posted by peiper
on 04/01/2009 at 11:03 AM
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Permalink • Appropriate Timing?
Huh? Um, what?
The Justice Department has dropped its case against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a department source told CNN on Wednesday. Stevens, 85, was convicted in October on seven counts of lying on mandatory financial disclosure forms. Stevens hid “hundreds of thousands of dollars of freebies” he received from an oil field services company and its CEO, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said. Many of the alleged free services were given as part of the renovation of Stevens’ Alaska home.
Stevens maintained his innocence even after the conviction, and his sentencing has been delayed amid charges by an FBI agent of prosecutorial misconduct.
Stevens also lost the senatorial election last November to Democrat Mark Begich—who had been the Anchorage mayor.
Um, why would they do this? Isn’t the guy guilty? Wasn’t he convicted of taking bribes? Well, yeah, but ...
According to Justice Department officials, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to drop the case against Stevens rather than continue to defend the conviction in the face of persistent problems stemming from the actions of prosecutors.
The judge in the Stevens case has repeatedly delayed sentencing and criticized trial prosecutors for what he’s called prosecutorial misconduct. At one point, prosecutors were held in contempt. Things got so bad that the Justice Department finally replaced the trial team, including top-ranking officials in the office of public integrity. That’s the department’s section charged with prosecuting public corruption cases.
An angry federal judge held Justice Department attorneys in contempt Friday [2/13/2009] for failing to deliver documents to former Sen. Ted Stevens’ legal team, a rare punishment for prosecutors in a case where corruption allegations have spread to the authorities who investigated him.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said it was “outrageous” that government attorneys would ignore his Jan. 30 deadline for turning over documents.
Last month, Sullivan ordered the Justice Department to provide the agency’s internal communications regarding a whistle-blower complaint brought by an FBI agent involved in the investigation into the former Alaska senator. The agent, Chad Joy, objected to Justice Department tactics during the trial, including failure to turn over evidence and an “inappropriate relationship” between the lead agent on the case and the prosecution’s star witness.
Sullivan said after the government turns over the documents he’s demanded, he will hold further hearings to hear arguments about whether the case was so damaged that Stevens deserves to have his conviction thrown out and a new trial take place.
During Friday’s hearing, Sullivan repeatedly asked three Justice Department attorneys sitting at the prosecution’s table whether they had some reason not to turn over the documents he asked for. They finally acknowledged they did not, and Sullivan exploded in anger.
“That was a court order,” he bellowed. “That wasn’t a request. I didn’t ask for them out of the kindness of your hearts. ... Isn’t the Department of Justice taking court orders seriously these days?”
Judges rarely hold prosecutors in contempt. The most notable recent case occurred in September 2007, when a North Carolina judge jailed prosecutor Mike Nifong for one day on a contempt charge for lying during the rape case against Duke lacrosse players.
But sanctioning federal prosecutors is even more unusual. A Washington bankruptcy judge did so in 1987, ruling that the Justice Department unlawfully tried to put a financially troubled computer firm out of business. In 1995, a federal judge in Texas held a prosecutor in contempt for refusing to provide him information that had been sealed by another judge.
In his complaint turned over to the court in December, Joy accused prosecutors of mishandling evidence, covering up information and trying to keep a subpoenaed witness from testifying.
He also said the lead FBI agent in charge of the investigation, Mary Beth Kepner, had an inappropriate relationship with witness Bill Allen, the Alaska millionaire at the center of the investigation. Joy said he once saw Kepner entering Allen’s hotel room alone. Joy also said Kepner told him she wore a skirt during her appearance at the Stevens trial as a “surprise/present” for Allen.
Joy accused Kepner of developing close personal relationships with other witnesses — inviting them to dine at her home, revealing details of FBI investigations and accepting gifts from them, including a job for her husband as a security guard at the Port of Anchorage, Alaska.
The Justice Department attorneys have given conflicting information about whether Joy has been given whistle-blower status to protect him from retaliation, which is why Sullivan demanded internal communications on the matter.
NPR reports that Holder “wanted to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated.” Also, according to the NPR report, Holder “is said to have made his decision because of Stevens’ age.” [Stevens is 85]
So to catch a supposedly dirty Senator, the feds had to use a dirty prosecution, hid evidence, and used a honey trap to procure favors? Nasty. And the new AG, Eric Holder, isn’t going to stand for that kind of monkey shines. Well, good. But Holder is basing his decision to dump the conviction because of Steven’s age? That sounds like BS to me. Stevens is a Republican. Holder would put him in jail if he was 104. He tossed the case because it was dirty from top to bottom, period.
That’s about all I can take away from this.
UPDATE (because Macker saw the obvious conclusion!):
Yup, it’s looking more and more like this was a kangaroo court:
Attorney General Eric Holder decided to abandon the case due to prosecutorial misconduct—one Justice Department source called the stunning turnaround a “black eye” on the department and the FBI.
Stevens was convicted last year of lying on a Senate disclosure form in order to hide $250,000 in gifts he received from an oil company executive and friends.
Only after the conviction did allegations of FBI misconduct come to light. The judge in the case has repeatedly delayed sentencing Stevens, and at one point he held prosecutors in contempt. Justice Department officials later replaced the trial team.
Stevens sought to dismiss the case, and Wednesday’s action in effect supports his request. A hearing has been set for April 7.
In a written statement released Wednesday morning, Stevens suggested he would have fared better in his losing November election had it not been for the “unfair” case against him.
“I always knew that there would be a day when the cloud that surrounded me would be removed. That day has finally come,” Stevens said. “It is unfortunate that an election was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair. It was my great honor to serve the state of Alaska in the United States Senate for 40 years.”
Holder said he would not seek a new trial.
“After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial,” Holder said in a statement released shortly after the motion was filed Wednesday.
“The misconduct of government prosecutors, and one or more FBI agents, was stunning. Not only did the government fail to disclose evidence of innocence, but instead intentionally hid that evidence and created false evidence that they provided to the defense,” said attorneys Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. and Robert M. Cary.
Funny, Senator Stevens is a Republican. And this whole thing took place during the Bush administration. Now, no one would ever think that Bush would throw a high ranking politician to the dogs (right Scooter?) or allow for a total miscarriage of justice (like those two Border Guards?), so it’s just inconceivable that this kind of behavior would ever get his approval. But this case seems to be 99% politically motivated, if the drive to convict at all costs was so strong as to cause the FBI and the fed gov to hide and falsify evidence. Let’s find out who were the “motivators” behind this case, all the way up to the top, and see what party (Democrat) they belong to. Then hang them. Yeah right, as if ANY Democrat will even get as much as a scowl for any wrong doing, past or present, in this administration.
Given the level of corruption, greed, pork, etc that passes for normal in DC, somebody must have had the world’s biggest hard-on for Stevens. All this for a quarter million in house repairs [now rumored to be “merely” $80000; another bit of FBI untruth and witness hiding]? Pfha! William Jefferson had a third as much in CASH in the ice box. Marked bills too. And no trial or indictment for him has EVER been made. What gives? It’s not like he’s Martha Stewart, who needed to be publicly flogged to keep the rest of us from undertaking any financial impropriety. [I’m choking on that last one, given Fannie and Freddie etc]
Posted by Drew458
on 04/01/2009 at 07:28 AM
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Permalink • Confiker Panic
From Mcafee.com, the anti-virus people:
Identifying and removing Conficker
There’s been a lot of talk about how Conficker is going to create havoc on April 1. Conficker, formally named W32/Conficker.worm, began infecting systems at the end of 2008 by exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. Since then McAfee has seen two more variants of this worm and many binaries – files ready to load into memory and execute – that carry the worm’s malicious payload. Conficker.C is the latest variant. Its “call-home protocol” will change on Wednesday, April 1, and may entail an update with some as-yet unknown functionality.
McAfee already offers protection from the Conficker worm in its endpoint and network products, and Microsoft has issued a security patch for the vulnerability that the Conficker family has used to propagate. Yet many computer users continue to worry about infection. The information below will help you understand more about the worm, the steps you can take to clean an infected system, and measures to prevent reinfection.
What is the Conficker worm?Conficker.C is the most recent variant of the Conficker worm. Exposure to Conficker.C is limited to systems that are still infected with the earlier variants, Conficker.A and Conficker.B, which operate by exploiting the MS08-067 vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server Service. If the vulnerability is successfully exploited, it could allow remote code execution when file sharing is enabled. Conficker combats efforts at eradication by creating scheduled tasks and/or using autorun.inf files to reactivate itself.
McAfee has identified thousands of binaries that carry the Conficker payload. Depending on the specific variant, the worm may spread via LAN, WAN, web, or removable drives, and by exploiting weak passwords. Conficker disables several important system services and security products, and downloads arbitrary files. Computers infected with the worm become part of an “army” of compromised computers and could be used to launch attacks on websites, distribute spam, host phishing websites, or carry out other malicious activities.
How to tell if your system is infectedSymptoms of Conficker infection include the following:
* Access to security-related sites is blocked
* Users are locked out of the directory
* Traffic is sent through port 445 on non-Directory Service (DS) servers
* Access to admininistrator shared drives is denied
* Autorun.inf files are placed in the recycled directory, or trash binSteps to remove Conficker and prevent re-infection
We recommend customers take the following steps to remove W32/Conficker.worm and prevent it from spreading:
1. Install Microsoft Security Update MS08-067: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx
2. Clean the infected systems, and reboot
Use anti-malware solutions such as McAfee VirusScan Plus or ToPS for Endpoint to clean the infection. Use behavioral detection techniques like the buffer overflow protection in Host IPS to prevent future infections. This is important because Conficker can propagate via portable media such as infected USB drives. As the media are accessed, the system processes autorun.inf and executes the attack. For more information, read McAfee Avert Labs’ document “Combating Conficker Worm.”
3. Identify other systems at risk of infection
You need to identify which systems are at risk. The list includes systems that either are not patched against Microsoft vulnerability MS08-067 or do not have proactive protection controls to mitigate the vulnerability. McAfee Vulnerability Manager and ePolicy Orchestrator can identify systems that are vulnerable and not protected.
4. Limit the threat’s ability to propagate
Using network IPS at strategic points in your network will quickly limit the ability of the threat to spread. This gives you time to either update your client anti-virus signatures or modify policies to block the threat using the behavioral controls.
The talking heads on TV are saying that if you can get on the internet and bring up the mcafee.com web site, then your system is Ok. I’ve kept up with the Windows updates, and I do quite a bit of system cleansing on a regular basis, so I’m Ok.
And you Mac guys, hush. Sooner or later somebody’s going to invent a Mac virus, and you’ll have to go through this BS too.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/01/2009 at 06:16 AM
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
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- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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