Friday - April 24, 2009

Charity worker suspended for Christian beliefs on homosexuality.

Story is a week old by now but it sort of dovetails on a subject Drew brought up yesterday.
Seems like there’s only ONE opinion sought or paid heed to, and that’s the left and the homosexuals.  I am aware that not all of them are left. Apparently there are a number who regard themselves as conservative republicans. ???  I don’t quite understand that connection.
Anyway ... people either lose beauty pageants or jobs without the required one way opinion.

Charity worker suspended for Christian beliefs on homosexuality

by:
Ruth Gledhill

A charity worker has been suspended after telling a colleague about his Christian beliefs against homosexuality, even though he says he is not homophobic and was merely responding to questions from a colleague about his beliefs.

David Booker, 44, who works at a Christian hostel in Southampton, a charity, was asked about his faith by a colleague, Fiona Vardy during a late shift last month.

He told her he was opposed to same-sex marriages and to homosexual clergy but denied being homophobic and said that he had homosexual friends.

The next evening, Mr Booker was suspended from his £19,000-a-year post as a hostel support worker with Society of St James, where he has been employed for the last four years. The hostel told him the action was taken for “events that happened last night”.

A few days later he was told he had “seriously breached” the charity’s code of conduct “by promoting your religious views which contained discriminatory comments regarding a person’s sexual orientation”. The action had been taken “to safeguard both residents and staff”, he was advised.

Mr Booker, an evangelical from Southampton, who is being advised by the Christian Legal Centre, now faces an enquiry and a disciplinary hearing.

It comes just weeks after a Christian nurse suspended for offering to pray for the recovery of a patient was reinstated. North Somerset NHS Trust suspended nurse Caroline Petrie for failing to show a commitment to equality and diversity after she offered to pray for the recovery of an elderly patient. The patient did not complain.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “This case shows that in today’s politically correct, increasingly secularised society, even consenting reasonable discussion on religion between two employees is being twisted by employers to discriminate and silence the Christian voice and freedom of expression.”

THE TIMES

Do any of you reading this get the feeling as I did, that the guy was set up?  I’m thinking that the person who engaged him in this conversation and already knew his views, knew what answer she’d get and so then shopped him. Just a theory.

Posted by peiper     on 04/24/2009 at 01:03 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • Religion • Stoopid-People • UK • work and the workplace •  
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ANOTHER BATTLING BRIT PASSES.  R.I.P.  Flight Lieutenant Walter Morison.

That generation and especially the men and women who saw action of one kind or another in WW2, are sadly passing.

Last month, my wife’s Uncle Ray, aged 89, proud member of the RAF and wore his patch with pride, passed away.  There aren’t any war stories connected with him. No dramatic escape from a POW camp as he was never in one. Fortunately.  I only bring up Uncle Ray, a tough old guy to the very end and much loved, because he too was a part of that generation who made sure I survived and the rest of you don’t have to speak German.  Or Japanese.

Well, this post is to honor and say RIP to one hell of a brave airman of that period, Flight Lieutenant Walter Morison.
This proud Yank is sure glad you were on OUR SIDE.  Thank You.

Flight Lieutenant Walter Morison, who has died aged 89, escaped from Stalag Luft III in June 1943 when he and a colleague attempted to steal a German aircraft to fly to Sweden; their audacious effort was thwarted at the last moment and he soon found himself imprisoned in Colditz Castle, where he remained for the rest of the war.

Morison’s path to captivity had begun on the night of June 5/6 1942, when he took off in his Wellington to bomb Essen. As he crossed the Dutch/German border his aircraft collided with another bomber. He was the only member of his crew able to parachute to safety, but on landing badly damaged his shoulder.

After a few weeks in hospital he arrived on July 28 at Goering’s “show camp” on the outskirts of Sagan, 100 miles south-east of Berlin. He soon discovered that the principal pastime was attempting to escape, and he described it as a game that was “like an English field sport played by the rules, which both sides understood”. These rules were to endure until March 1944, when, after the Great Escape, the Germans shot 50 prisoners.

By the spring of 1943, the escape organisation at Sagan had been placed on a formal footing under the control of Squadron Leader Roger Bushell (known as “Big X"), one of those who would be shot a year later. Morison became a member of the “Gadget Factory”, making tools, ventilation systems and pumps to be used in the tunnels for the Great Escape. He and his team saw themselves as “subcontractors”.

He also hit on the idea of building a glider, and convinced Lorne Welch, a colleague who shared the same hut and had an excellent and imaginative engineering brain, that it was a feasible project. They approached Big X, but before the plan could be put into action, there was an opportunity to escape.

Welch and Morison were chosen to escape by “borrowing” a German plane, and homespun Luftwaffe uniforms were run up for the purpose. On June 10 they were among 22 prisoners who shambled out of the compound “guarded” by two of their number, both of whom spoke German and were dressed in the bogus uniforms. Once out of the camp, the party dived into the surrounding woods, where Morison and Welch exchanged their clothes for the Luftwaffe uniforms before heading for a nearby airfield.

While all the other PoWs were quickly recaptured, Morison and Welch made it to an airfield near Kupper after living rough for a week. Overnight they shaved and tried to make their uniforms presentable. The following morning they picked the lock of a security gate and strolled on to the airfield.

There they found a small training aircraft, a Junkers W34, parked by the control tower. They got on board, only to discover that it had to be started by an external handle. While Morison remained in the cockpit, Welch was about to start the aircraft when the rightful crew appeared.

The two RAF flight lieutenants saluted the approaching Germans, who assumed that they were ground crew and ordered them to start the aircraft. As soon as it had taxied away, Morison and Welch made themselves scarce. The following day they returned to the airfield and found a small biplane. But as they tried to start it, the pair were apprehended; the game was up. A few hours later they were welcomed back to Sagan by the commandant, who rewarded them with six weeks in the “cooler”.
Walter Morison (right) and Lorne Welch in their Luftwaffe uniforms

They were threatened with a court martial and execution for wearing German uniforms and for espionage. Instead they were transferred to Colditz.
Walter McDonald Morison was born on November 26 1919 at Beckenham, Kent, and educated at Stowe. After a year at Trinity College, Cambridge, he volunteered for the RAF on the day the war broke out. He was already a glider pilot, and was soon accepted for pilot training. After being commissioned, he joined No 241 (Army Co-operation) Squadron in February 1941, flying the Lysander.

Morison’s time with No 241 was short, as he was transferred to a bomber training unit as an instructor on Wellingtons before joining No 103 Squadron in May 1942. His second operation was on Bomber Command’s first “Thousand Bomber Raid” when 1,046 aircraft attacked Cologne on the night of May 30/31. Six nights later he took off for Essen on his third and final operation.

The basic qualification to be in Colditz was to be a member of the “Prominente”, or an inveterate escaper. Morison’s escaping activities, however, were over, and he took on the job of running the canteen, participated in theatre productions and studied for accountancy exams. Compared to Sagan, he found Colditz a relatively comfortable place and the guards friendly; he did, though, express irritation at the incessant patter of the bridge players.

Finally, in April 1945, the American Army arrived and Morison and his fellow prisoners were freed. A few days later he was flown back to England, and in July was released from the RAF.
Morison qualified as a chartered accountant, and in 1960 he became the senior partner in Morison & Stoneham, where he remained until his retirement 21 years later.

Like many of his breed, Morison was quintessentially unassuming. When asked what he had done in the war he replied: “Not a lot. Taught some people to fly. Dropped some bombs. Taken prisoner. Escaped. Tried to borrow an aircraft from the Luftwaffe. Caught. Sent to Colditz. That was all there was really. A very ordinary war.”

He wrote about his wartime experiences in Flak and Ferrets – One Way to Colditz.
Walter Morison died on March 26. He met his wife, Joan Devas, a physiotherapist, shortly after returning from Colditz. She died in 2005, and he is survived by their two sons and two daughters.

Posted by peiper     on 04/24/2009 at 09:54 AM   
Filed Under: • Heroes • UK • War-Stories •  
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World’s first electric car built by Victorian inventor in 1884.  ??  That’s what it says.

I wouldn’t know about the other claims he made.  Does anyone have information on the claim: 

He also claimed to have invented the spark plug, monoblock engine and the carburettor.

Still, an eye catching and interesting article.

This picture shows what may be the world’s first electric car - built by a Victorian inventor in 1884.

Last Updated: 11:24AM BST 24 Apr 2009

Thomas Parker: He is in the light suit in the front of the car

Sitting aboard is Thomas Parker, who was responsible for innovations such as electrifying the London Underground, overhead tramways in Liverpool and Birmingham, and the smokeless fuel coalite.
Last week the government announced it wanted to create a mass market in electric cars in order to cut down carbon emissions.

Parker claimed he had invented the electric car as early as 1884, and he also had a hand in refining car batteries for petrol-powered models.
He also stood unsuccessfully for Parliament for the Liberal Party in the 1892 General Election, where he earned the name of “honest Tom Parker”, and was interested in establishing a metric system of weights and measures and even decimal coinage.
He died in December 1915.

The photographs of the electric car are kept by his great-grandson Graham Parker, a 76-year-old former BBC Look East weatherman.
Mr Parker, who lives in Eaton, near Norwich, said he still marvelled at the range of ideas his great-grandfather had.
“He was into anything really,” he said. “Anything on four wheels was quite a novelty, people were terrified of the things and someone with a red flag had to walk in front of it.

“Electricity was even more terrifying because it was something you couldn’t see or touch, there seemed to be quite a lot of resistance to it.”
But with the French working on a rival petrol driven engine, the inventor soon turned his thoughts to other forms of mass transport.
“I don’t think all that many were made because he was more interested in trams and tramways,” he added. “He was one of the early people thinking about pollution.

“People in London were fed up sitting in the smoke. He went down to London to oversee the electrification process.”
For the Parkers inventing was almost a family business with both grandfather, Thomas Hugh Parker, and father, Howard Edward Parker following in the tradition.
In fact Thomas Hugh Parker shared his father’s flair for design and innovation, even building a steam powered car in 1901 before later working on modern car features such as hydraulic brakes and four wheel steering.

He also claimed to have invented the spark plug, monoblock engine and the carburettor.
The tradition lives on through Mr Parker’s oldest son, Alun, who is also an engineer who has worked on projects ranging from the West Coast mainline to the Panama Canal, and Crossrail.

“It’s interesting how history repeats itself,” Mr Parker said. “But it stopped when it got to me - though somebody once commented that as a weather forecaster, I was the biggest inventor of the lot.”

Posted by peiper     on 04/24/2009 at 09:22 AM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • UK •  
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   Thursday - April 23, 2009

Crowder on Perez

Anyway, this person Perez Hilton is a gossip blogger of the lowest kind. And he has tantrums all over the internet whenever he thinks his Gay Issues have been offended. Or whenever anyone says something nice about Bush or Cheney.

So the Miss USA people got him to be a celebrity judge. And he asks Carrie Prejean, Miss California about gay marriage. And she says she doesn’t believe in it. And he loses it. At least he did later on his blog. I didn’t watch the pageant and I rarely visit his blog. But millions and millions of people do every day, and he’s making a fat income, a really FAT income, off the ad revenue.

Did Miss Cali win? Beats me. She’s stunning to look at ...

No. I looked it up. She was “first runner up” which is pageant-speak for “2nd place”.

Ah, I get it now. She lost because of his vote because her answer didn’t mesh with his All Gay PC mindset? What an ass-weasel.



And it’s been the BIG STORY ever since. Fox even got Grrrrrrreta to do a piece on it. And I channel flipped past Perez on Larry King the other night. Oh brother.

If she isn’t one yet, I think we’ll soon be able to add Ms. Prejean to that “Republican Women vs. Democrat Women” picture that floats around the internet.

I can’t really say that her ambitions were thwarted by a moment of honesty in a PC world. The entire planet (except me, under my rock here until just now) knows her name. And the winner? Who?

Posted by Drew458     on 04/23/2009 at 08:24 PM   
Filed Under: • News-Briefs •  
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Tuning The Ruger SP101, Chapter 1

When I brought my little Son of Gun home the other day, it was pretty stiff. Fresh from the box the action was kind of rough. No jerky spots in the trigger pull, but you could both feel and hear the internal bits rubbing on each other. This is not at all uncommon for Rugers. They tend to be a little less polished inside than they could be, but most of that goes away with a bit of use.

For the past couple of days it’s been Click Central here. The little gun sits by the couch, unloaded of course, and my wife and I take turns “shooting” at the TV set. Not only is it good exercise - my trigger finger is tired, I’m beginning to get my shooter’s callous back again, and my forearm muscles are getting ripped - it’s also very good safety practice. Every time either of us picks up the pistol we open the cylinder and check that it’s unloaded. Of course we know it is, but we’re trying to force a habit to become automatic. And then it’s back to click click click. Hey, I can pull that trigger 110 times in about 50 seconds before my hand gives out.

Dry firing is never going to harm this pistol. Besides the fact that it is a Ruger, and thus built like a tank ought to be built, it has a transfer bar between the hammer and the firing pin, so no excessive wear is going on. My guess is that that trigger has been pulled about 2000 times by now. And the action has smoothed out tremendously. So it’s time to start the tune up in earnest.

Sorry, no pictures of this process. I’ll try to remember to take pics when putting things back together.

Step 1 - Disassemble and Clean

part a) Read the manual. Read the manual. Read the manual, read the parts list, learn to identify all the bits. There is one of those very useful exploded diagrams in the back. Learn it.

part b) Find a clean area to work in. Turn on all the lights. Get hold of a paper clip and the proper size screwdriver. Now take the gun apart.

part c) Really take the gun apart. Down to the last screw, pin, and spring. It comes apart easily. First you take off the grip by removing the screw, then the grip panels, then knocking out the little aluminum dowel in the bottom of the grip. Slide the grip off. Cock the hammer. Put an end of the paper clip through the hole in the mainspring bar. Pull the trigger and let the hammer fall forward. The mainspring is now compressed against it’s slider by the paper clip, and it just falls out as a unit. Snick the left side of the hammer retaining pin with your finger and that pin falls out. Turn the gun over and the hammer falls out. Set all these bits aside.

part d) The trigger mechanism is a module that snaps to the underside of the frame. Take a narrow screwdriver and by going in through the little hole in the back of the mainspring housing, push it’s retaining peg in. It’s a strong spring so this takes a good firm push. When you’ve got that compressed, give a little pull on the trigger guard and the whole bottom of the gun pops off. Be smart and have your thumb and forefinger ready to ride up the side of the middle of the mechansim, because two long steel arms are sort of attached to things. Don’t drop them.

part e) Take the trigger mechanism apart as much as possible. There are a couple of springs here, hiding in hidden pockets, ready to leap for freedom, so be careful.

part f) Disassemble the cylinder crane. I left the cylinder lock pin assembly in place because it takes a special split bladed screwdriver to unscrew it, and I don’t have one. No big deal. But the ejector rod comes off easily once you figure out that a tiny allen wrench can be used to get down in that odd deep hole and depress the locking pin.

part g) Clean everything. You’ll need paper towels, a couple of Q-tips, some gun cleaner, and some alcohol. Get off all the dirt and the factory oil.

part h) Lay all the bits out in groups. Hammer group, trigger group, cylinder group, mainspring group, etc. Now take a picture, and it’s time to move on to step 2.

part a) I keep reading online how rough Rugers are inside. Filled with burrs and rough edges. Not mine. Sharp edges, sure. But no burrs to speak of. Still, I checked everything by hand. Every last part with the edge of my fingernail. On close inspection, I could see that the hammer has about 1/64” of lateral slack in it. And I could tell from the grease marks where things are rubbing against each other inside the frame. And to my amazement, an extra hammer dog spring and spring plunger fell out of the action. What the hell? And where was it hiding?

Ok, so I was armed and ready, with my 400 grit sandpaper, my ceramic sharpening rod (removes burrs really well) and a very fine whetstone. And I found nothing to use them on. So on to part b.

part b) There is this goo out there called Militec-1. While it looks like a quart of motor oil, it’s actually a heat activated dry film lubricant. You rub it into a bit of metal, then heat the metal up gently in the oven, then rub on some more, heat it again, then wipe it dry. And it fills in all the nooks and crannies in the metal, so things just slide right by each other. 2 coats is usually enough, but you can do 4 if you have all day. I didn’t have all day. This stuff actually works. Do it on a brand new gun, and it will last for years. They say you can do the inside of the barrel, but I’m not sold on that one. That’s what the TSI-301 is for. I’ve been using TSI for decades, since I used to drive past the factory in Northvale NJ every night on my way to work the night shift at the Grand Union in Closter NJ. Which was ... 28 years ago. Crap. Life just flies by! Anyhoo, TSI works great. Buy a pint can and it will last forever. It’s even better than Kroil Oil, that essential orange can of foul smelling stuff that all shooters wind up with eventually. But right now I’m talking about Militec-1.

So I coat all the internal bits with Militec-1 and set them in a foil lined pan. I’ve got the oven on low, and I’ve been diddling the dial until it’s stabilized at just under 150 °F in there. I did NOT coat the outside of the pistol, and I did NOT put any of the springs in the oven. I could have done both, but I’m playing things safe. Well, as safe as I can, considering a totally took this pistol apart and then put it in the oven to bake for an hour or two. I used perhaps a half tablespoon of Militec, but most of that got absorbed by the Q-tips. And even after all that cleaning, going over things with the Militec took off even more dirt.

part c) After about 80 minutes you take them out, rub them down, and apply a second coat while the metal is hot. Another hour, then you let things cool. Wipe dry. Don’t drop any parts.

part d) Carefully apply some well shaken TetraGun oil to all the pins and at all the contact and bearing points, and put the gun back together. First, we’ll see if I can do that. Second, we’ll see if that really was an “extra” part. Lastly, I’ll let you know if all this work has made any difference at all.

And in another few days I’ll have the spring kit, and I’ll take the gun apart again and swap in a couple of lighter springs. Than it’s off to the range. Well, as soon as my new membership card comes in. I let it expire last year because I was hard up for money.



The Morning After UPDATE: All the king’s horses and all the kings men ...


... would never get a job working on the Ruger assembly line. I, however, was able to put the little pistol back together again in about 10 minutes. The trigger mechanism is a bit fussy and it’s difficult to do because it goes together under spring pressure. The answer is to remove the frame catch plunger, which releases the tension. Then everything falls together in seconds. Pretty neat. And it’s a bit of a zero gravity maneuver to get the trigger module back in properly. You have to turn the gun upside down and lean it to the left, so that the transfer bar (which is a loose fitting part in the frame) falls to the left when it slides up into the hammer slot. Otherwise it tends to get stuck in the pawl lever slot.

I got out my GP100 manual and compared the parts diagrams of the two guns. They are extremely similar, except for one minor difference. The cylinder on the GP100 is held to the crane axle by two tiny ball bearings. They work as detents and keep the cylinder from falling off when you open the gun to reload. The SP101 does not have anything at all to keep the cylinder on it’s axle. When you pull the crane off the frame during disassembly the cylinder falls right off. The only thing that keeps the cylinder attached during reloading is this precision machined steel wart that sticks out from the left side of the frame. Cost saving? I don’t know. It looks like the wart has at least 4 machining operations done to it during production to carve it to shape. Versus the cost of 2 tiny ball bearings. And it is rather unsightly. I nearly freaked when I took delivery of the pistol, because I didn’t know the wart was suposed to be there. The gun dealer said don’t worry, they’re all like that. He’s right. But it is a bit of ugly on an otherwise pretty little revolver. And the idea works just fine. It should make for easier cleaning too; I’ve never been able to actually remove the cylinder from the crane axle on my GP100. I was never able to figure out how to depress the detents. Heck, I can’t even see them, since they’re inside the assembly.

The two applications of militec did wonders. The action functions much better now. I took the gun apart once more, added 6 drops of TetraGun oil in strategic places, and put it back together. Works great.

Anyone who has one of these pistols and wants to do a full disassembly take note: the hammer dog spring and plunger look identical to the pawl lever spring and plunger. These are very small parts. the only difference that I can see is that the hammer dog spring is one coil shorter. They are probably interchangeable, but why take the chance?

Posted by Drew458     on 04/23/2009 at 04:28 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
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NO! It sure isn’t eye candy or porn. This is froma main stream paper and a consrv. one at that

You will NEVER see something like this in a main stream paper in the US.  Or at least I doubt it.
This woman BMEWS, is Jacqui Smith, a high ranking govt. official. She is the home secretary here.  I am fairly sure that would translate in the USA as Attny. General.  So we’re not talkin’ small potato here. She’s major league.  She’s also in a bit of hot water and ppl calling for her to resign. Just little things like raking it in by the handful while claiming her sister’s house as her second residence and so $$$$. Or in her case. ££££

Here, take a look.

Jacqui Smith faces inquiry over housing expenses
From The Times
February 19, 2009

Neighbours have alleged that Jacqui Smith stays at her London home for as few as two nights each week, despite claiming this is her ‘main home’ for expenses purposes.
The Home Secretary was put under increasing pressure yesterday when an investigation began into claims that she is misusing her parliamentary housing allowance.
Jacqui Smith has been criticised for designating her sister’s house in London as her “main home”, allowing her to claim more than £20,000 a year for her “second home”. She has claimed at least £116,000 in second-home allowances for her constituency home in Redditch, Worcestershire, where her family live.

Aw shucks folks ... that’s ain’t nothin’ .... well actually it is a heck of a lot but there’s so much more to the lady.
Here. Take a look.

She’s paid for by the taxpayer but Jacqui Smith’s cleaner hasn’t had a pay rise for five years
By Daniel Boffey
Last updated at 1:13 AM on

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith faced fresh criticism last night for failing to give her cleaner a pay rise for the past five years.
Leaked expenses claims show that Ms Smith has paid the same sum each year since 2004 in return for cleaning services at her ‘second home’ in Redditch, Worcestershire.

Despite an increase of around 14.5 per cent in the national average wage in the same period, it appears that her payments to her domestic help have failed even to keep up with inflation.

Ms Smith is paid a salary of £141,866 and in the past five years has enjoyed annual wage rises ranging from 2.7 per cent to last year’s 3.9 per cent.
With the wage hikes that have come with her promotion through the Government benches, Ms Smith’s total pay packet has risen by a staggering 49 per cent since 2004, when she earned £95,281 as Minister for Women.

The Home Secretary also employs her husband, Richard Timney, as a parliamentary adviser on a salary of £40,000 a year.
Last night Ms Smith refused to reveal the identity of her cleaner, whether the money is paid cash in hand or the nature of the work carried out.
A source close to the Home Secretary simply insisted that the cleaner did exist and that ‘she is a very nice woman’.

Ms Smith did not need to provide receipts for her cleaner under the rules for second-home allowances but had to fill out a form giving details of how much has been paid and to whom.
The Home Secretary submitted her bill for cleaning services as part of a £157,631 claim for second-home expenses since 2004.

The leaked documents show that she has paid out exactly £2,400 – or around £46 a week – each year for the past five years.
Last night Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said: ‘The Home Secretary appears to have taken Gordon Brown’s directives of prudence to an extraordinary degree.’

Ms Smith, 46, has faced a barrage of criticism in recent months, leading to speculation that she will be removed by the Prime Minister in the next Government reshuffle.
She was under more pressure last week after prosecutors decided that Conservative MP Damian Green and civil service whistleblower Chris Galley acted in the public interest in providing leaked documents to the media.

Mr Green blamed Ms Smith for a six-month ordeal starting when anti-terror police arrested him and raided his Commons office.
The Home Secretary is already reeling from the embarrassing revelation earlier this month that she claimed expenses for two £5 adult movies viewed at her home, where her 46-year-old husband and sons James, 13, and Michael, eight, live.

She apologised and offered to pay the money back, saying the claim was made mistakenly by her husband.

Now guys come on and give her a break.  She’s only doing what all these politicians do. Taking advantage of every loophole and or opportunity to screw the taxpayer. But they don’t see it that way.  To them, it’s one of many god given rights to slurp at the public feed station.
Anyway ... Here. Take a look.

The Home Secretary is a walking disaster
The preposterous Jacqui Smith is a disgrace to the office of Home Secretary.

By Simon Heffer
Last Updated: 1:07PM BST 18 Apr 2009

I know that people like me are supposed to write newspaper columns because we have a certain command of the English tongue. However, there are times when even the most experienced of us is forced to struggle. How, after all, can one describe Jacqui Smith, our Home Secretary? The adjectives come thick and fast, but all seem insufficient to describe this ambulant catastrophe. Preposterous, corrupt, dim, incompetent, sleazy, incapable: none of them is quite the job.

Miss Smith began by looking corrupt, when it was revealed that she was occupying a room at her sister’s house and charging for it as her main residence. She then looked sleazy, dim and preposterous when it emerged that her husband, incarcerated at what was allegedly her second residence, was watching porn films and charging them to the taxpayer. Incompetence and incapability can now be added to the charge sheet following her role in the raiding of the office of Damian Green, a Conservative MP and the party’s immigration spokesman: and perhaps one other adjective too – disgraceful

I would HIGHLY recommend a full reading of Mr. Heffer above.  He has so much more to say on this subject. And he says it all so well.

Posted by peiper     on 04/23/2009 at 01:50 PM   
Filed Under: • Politics • UK •  
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YES !!!

Looks like we FINALLY caught a break on Monday league ... our team finished in 6th place out of 18. I wasn’t expecting that to happen but I knew it could. It means Hampton Pizza beat The Barber Shop 7-0, which opened the door for us to rise up 2 positions. So not bad, not bad at all. Maybe next year we’ll be a touch more competitive and try for 5th. Maybe do some of that Tactical Bowling stuff. Or maybe I’ll learn to get my thumb out of my ass ball, and keep a better zen state on my emotions.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/23/2009 at 11:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Bowling Blogging •  
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The Cover Cover Up

Breaking news from the “Aw jeez, what next?” category ...

Soldiers Call for Army to Drop Berets

They’re hot, sweaty and do nothing to keep the sun out of your eyes during a long formation.

Those are just a few of the reasons the Army should stop making soldiers wear wool berets outdoors, a group of delegates said Friday at the 8th Army’s annual Army Family Action Plan conference.

“Everyone is affected by the beret,” said Sgt. Brad Stuckey, spokesman for a group that studied family-support issues. “This is an issue that your average soldier feels very strongly about.”

The group recommended that soldiers be required to wear lighter, cotton-nylon blend patrol caps instead. They block the sun, absorb sweat and are somewhat water resistant, Stuckey said.

Soldiers had a list of complaints about the black beret. Among them:

* It doesn’t match the Army Combat Uniform, which has no black in its pattern.
* It has to be shaved, washed and dried on a lampshade or hat stand to hold its shape.
* It can cost nearly twice as much as a patrol cap, and there’s no standard way to wear it.

“You have seven people wearing it seven different ways,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jon Butler.

He said people have complained about the beret since it became part of the uniform in 2001.

My father in law, who was Super Soldier back in the early 60s (Airborne Ranger and Green Beret and went from Private to Captain in two hitches and took several tours in that jungle) is cranky about the whole subject. In his day the beret - any beret - was a mark of distinction. Now that it’s common issue he feels the symbolism has been defiled. Sure, it makes the wearer look special. But there’s special, and then there’s special, like you have your own duct-tape safety harness to wear on the short bus. And I gather the thing is impractical as all get out, to the point where the Army has to run a special class just to teach people how to care for the thing. So I don’t really see the point. But I’m just a civilian, so what do I know?

I saw a young soldier in McDonald’s the other day wearing one of these things. I doubt if she was as old as 22. With her short cut head of sunny blonde hair, polished black boots, and the baggy cami uniform which still somehow managed to accent her perky bottom and other girlie bits, she had on this huge black beret at a rakish angle. I swear it was as big as a frying pan, and probably 5” tall. And yet ... she looked adorable. And she knew it too, and enjoyed the hell out of the attention it got her. Um, you don’t think the Army would issue a special hat just so soldiers would look cute? That doesn’t seem like a very military idea to me.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/23/2009 at 10:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • Military •  
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Obama intelligence official says interrogation provided ‘high value information’.

So then, just what is the savior of the world up to with his looney tune release of top CIA documents?

I don’t think I need to post the entire article.  In fact, you can read it in papers at home no doubt.
What I want to post instead is this other bit that appeared this morning.
Naturally there’s one part that sticks out ....

President Barack Obama’s top intelligence official sent a memo to his staff saying “high value information” was obtained during interrogations using controversial techniques.

TOBY HARNDEN in WASHINGTON

Last Updated: 12:51AM BST 23 Apr 2009

Adml Blair’s original note to his staff last Thursday said “high value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al-Qaeda organisation that was attacking this country”.

The memo is an embarrassment for Mr Obama because the conclusion reached by Adml Blair, who oversees the CIA and 15 other US intelligence agencies or departments, undermines a central plank of the White House argument – that the harsh techniques did not work.

Personally, I thought the article was of interest, especially as O’s own man claims info gotten from terror scum was valid.

Now for another bit of news from Mr. Harnden, in Washington.

Q&A: Barack Obama and the CIA ‘torture’ memos
What was the purpose of the memos?

By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 6:19PM BST 22 Apr 2009

The four memos, written by Justice Department officials Jay Bybee, John Yoo and Steven Bradbury in 2002 and 2005, describe the harsh interrogation techniques that they judged to be legal and available for use by the CIA against al-Qaeda suspects.

What were the methods?

They included depriving prisoners of sleep for up to 11 straight days, keeping them in a dark, cramped box, placing them in “stress positions” and putting insects into the box to exploit their fears. The most controversial method is “water-boarding” - a type of simulated drowning, used since the Spanish Inquistions and prosecuted by the US as a Japanese war crime after the Second World War.

Were these methods torture?

Most now judge that they were, particularly when used in combination for extended periods. Some former Bush administration officials maintain, however, that the arguments in the memos were essentially correct because the prisoners suffered no long-term damage. The methods have not been authorised since 2005.

Were they effective?

Opinion is sharply divided. Former CIA chief Michael Hayden maintains they were, as does Vice President Dick Cheney. Even Mr Obama’s own intelligence chief, Admiral Dennis Blair, says that “high value information” was given up. Critics, however, say that prisoners will say anything when tortured and information is therefore unreliable as well as morally tainted.

Why did Mr Obama release the memos?

He was responding to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, though he could have resisted. The White House said that most of the details had been leaked anyway and that making the memos public was a way of getting all the information out and “moving on”.

Could this backfire on Mr Obama?

Yes. The issue shows no signs of going away and congressional investigations could turn into a political circus. CIA operatives say that the saga has torpedoed morale and will lead to spies avoiding taking risks for fear of prosecution - thereby making America more vulnerable to another terrorist attack.

AMERICA VULNERABLE

Posted by peiper     on 04/23/2009 at 09:53 AM   
Filed Under: • Commies • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Obama, The One •  
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MUSLIM GANGS ON UK STREETS … ?  THAT’S THE WAY IT READS …

H/T TheOpinionator

This is four days old at this posting. Thought it should be viewed anyway. Even if only half is true, it sure ain’t a good sign.

LINK TO THE HEADLINES BELOW FOR FULL STORIES.

Street Jihadists attack in Blackburn UK

Further evidence of muslim violence against the kaffir. This incident of ‘Street Jihad’ in the UK, ususally involves muslim gangs, quickly gathered together via cell phone calls, using weapons to brutally beat - a lone victim or small group of British men or boys.  Several of the past blogs regarding this are:

MUSLIM THUGS CONTINUE TO TAKE OVER EAST END LONDON

DISABLED ELDERLY MAN LATEST VICTIM OF BRITAIN’S “STREET JIHAD”

12 & 13 YR. OLD PAPERBOY BROTHERS ATTACKED & BEATEN BY MUSLIM GANG

MUSLIM STREET JIHAD LEAVES BRITISH MAN BRAIN DAMAGED

MUSLIM GANG USES IRON PIPES AND CLUBS TO BLUDGEON 14 YR OLD ENGLISH BOY

RACIST MUSLIM GANGS ATTACK & RAPE BRITISH WOMEN

The local newspaper reports “three” incidences of street violence that occurred this past Saturday.

The first case involved between 10 and 20 muslim (Asian) men using baseball or cricket bats to assault four white/British men.  It is crystal clear that the first incident was an intentional and malicious assault by a large gang of muslim Street Jihadists on a much smaller group of British men = typical MO of Street Jihad. Note too how the first part of the article makes it sound like both groups were armed - yet further on it appears to say that just the muslims were armed. One wonders if this constituted Kuffarophobia?? No arrests made.

The second so-called assault has an Asian man/ muslim being given ‘a slap’ by a couple of British men. No armed gangs of British men beating up a lone man. No indication that this was in retaliation to the gang assault. Yet unsurprisingly - an arrest was made.

The third so-called “act of violence” was vandalism on a mini cab (likely owned by a muslim therefore the perps must be non-muslim British - right???) Perhaps the Blackburn police didn’t get the memo stating that car vandalism is no longer considered a crime - nevermind a “violent crime”. Perpetrators of such car crimes will likely never be prosecuted.

The article is unspecific as to what neigborhoods were receiving personal “reassurance from the police” - shall I venture a guess?

Article in full:

Weapon Gangs Come To Blow in Blackburn

POLICE have acted to calm fears in the Little Harwood area of Blackburn after groups of white and Asian men carrying weapons came to blows early on Saturday morning.

Police are investigating three incidents which occured at about midnight between the junction of Tintern Crescent and Laburnum Road off Whalley Old Road.

The first incident involved an assault on four white men by a group of Asian males who were seen to be carrying either cricket bats or baseball bats.

Witnesses put the number of Asian males at between 10 and 20.

Police are also investigating an assault on an Asian male by two white men, and criminal damage to a Mini parked in Whalley Old Road.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the assault on the Asian man, but police would not release any further details at this stage of the enquiry.

During the weekend Neighbourhood Policing Teams have been to the area conducting house-to-house community reassurance measures.

Officers are also looking at CCTV footage from the area.

Posted by peiper     on 04/23/2009 at 09:36 AM   
Filed Under: • Jack Booted Thugs • RoPMA • Terrorists • UK •  
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Czech troops in Afghanistan seen as cowards.  Refuse to fight leaving Brits to do it.

FROM, THE HINDUSTAN TIMES.

Czech troops in Afghanistan seen as cowards:

Agence France-Presse
Prague, April 22, 2009
PLEASE MR. CUSTER. I DON’T WANNA GO

Czech soldiers in Afghanistan have let their British command down by refusing to fight terrorists several times, the Czech daily DNES wrote on Wednesday. When asked by the Britons to attack Afghan rebels, the commander of a special operations unit (SOG) said “we’re not going to, it’s dangerous,” then ordered his men to get in trucks and return to the base.

On another occasion, an SOG commander decided that the task the Britons had set ran counter to the unit’s mission. Yet another time, a commander said he could not help as his soldiers were on vacation. “I find it hard to recover from the news I get about this unit. It harms the reputation of the army,” Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova told the daily.

Her ministry is now investigating the commanders of the SOG unit of up to 35 soldiers, currently deployed as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Logar province in eastern Afghanistan. The daily said SOG should not be confused with an acclaimed special unit of 100 soldiers serving in the southern Kandahar province within the Enduring Freedom operation.

The Czech army, which has lost three soldiers in Afghanistan since 2007, has another 275 people working in the Logar provincial reconstruction team, serving under ISAF. The SOG commanders argued that Czech laws did not say clearly whether their unit, trained to free hostages, should also help fight terrorists or protect humanitarian convoys.

The daily added the army was looking into the relevant law, but it was too late to mend its reputation now that that the Britons had started to work with Danish troops instead, leaving the specially trained Czech soldiers to serve as ordinary guards or bodyguards for diplomats.

A Czech soldier who was left guarding the base recalled how the Britons and Danes “left to fight and only laughed at us with contempt.”

Posted by peiper     on 04/23/2009 at 09:18 AM   
Filed Under: • Health and Safety • War-Stories •  
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A 400-year-old mummified cat has been found in the walls of a house.

They do have some very olde houses here.  This musta been somewhat creepy to uncover. Looks like the poor thing was alive when it went in.

A 400-year-old mummified cat has been found in the walls of a house that was being renovated.

By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 2:28PM BST 22 Apr 2009

The cat, which is in recognisable shape and still has its claws and teeth, may have been placed in the walls of the house in Devon, to ward off evil spirits.
Richard Parson, a funeral director, who owns the house in Ugborough, near Plymouth, said: “The builders were stripping one of the bathrooms upstairs and this little fellow came to light.

“It is quite scary looking and is a lot bigger than a normal domestic cat.  “I cannot throw it away so we plan to put it back on completion of the building work. But my wife is not all that keen on it, as she says she will have bad dreams.”
He added: “Apparently 400 years ago people put cats behind walls to ward off witches. It clearly works as, since we have lived in the village, we have not seen sight or sound of any witches.”

Mr Parson said neighbours have told him the cat was previously found behind the wall 20 years ago, but was put back by another resident.
He added: “There has been a local myth, a legend, that there was a cat buried in the house but of course we had no idea where that was.
“We were also told about a child’s boot left in the house because it was once used as a cobblers’, and was supposed to bring luck.

“I am not a superstitious man but the cat is a little bit of village history and adds charm to the property.”
Marion Gibson, a witchcraft and folklore expert, from Exeter University, said: “Cats were often put into walls as some kind of good luck charm. It seems to have been quite a widespread practice across the European continent.

“They seem to have been designed to keep away witches, the evil eye, bad luck, vermin, or anything that can be seen as a threat to the house.”

MEOW

Posted by peiper     on 04/23/2009 at 08:17 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals • UK •  
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ALL IS WELL AS THE HEALTH AND SAFETY MOONBAT CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN.

I’ve banged on enough in the past about this topic but far from through sharing the lunacy.
So without further ado lads and lassies .... eers to yer elth ...

What a joke! Now health and safety bans circus clown from wearing his big, floppy shoes

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:00 AM on 23rd April 2009

Roll up, roll up! The health and safety circus has come to town.

And it has made one clown very sad indeed.

Valerik Kashkin has been told by his bosses that he can no longer wear his giant comedy shoes because they are a health risk.

Mr Kashkin was performing in Britain with the Moscow State Circus a week last Saturday when, while wearing the shoes, he fell from a 10ft-high wire, hurting his left foot.

He continued with the show in Liverpool’s Sefton Park but was still in pain and when he went to hospital later that evening he was told he had broken his metatarsal bone.

After a week’s recovery he returned to the circus but was told by management that his size-18 clown shoes compromised his health and safety and would have to go.

In his routine, Mr Kashkin - who has been described as a Buster Keaton-type performer - dresses himself first while walking on a wire, then within a hoop of fire, and plays a drum-kit, trumpet and double-bass all at the same time.

The 40-year-old, from Temruk, in Russia, said: ‘The shoes are an important part of my costume, and I was disappointed to be told I couldn’t do this part of my act.

‘I feel fine, and think I could do it in the shoes - the impact might be lost on the audience now.

THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Posted by peiper     on 04/23/2009 at 06:08 AM   
Filed Under: • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK • work and the workplace •  
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   Wednesday - April 22, 2009

It’s a plumb job

I get to work as a plumber today. And as a display case builder. Hey, anything for money. I’ll be back later.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/22/2009 at 12:56 PM   
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •  
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