Sunday - April 19, 2009
Display it with pride
Posted by Drew458
on 04/19/2009 at 01:31 PM
Filed Under: • Tyrants and Dictators •
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Permalink • SAVE THE PLANET RHETORIC REACHES CRAZY HEIGHTS … AN EDITORIAL
I try and usually manage to post the musings of Christopher Booker, who does not buy the falling sky cries heard loudly from the left.
Naturally he gets flak because I guess he’s that damn nail sticking up that won’t be hammered down.
Save the planet’ rhetoric soars to crazy new heights
The terrifying threat of global warming is beginning to turn people’s minds, observes Christopher Booker.
By Christopher Booker
Last Updated: 9:52AM BST 19 Apr 2009How would you cope if faced with a GCSE physics paper? Have no fear. You don’t need to know anything about physics, so long as you’ve listened to enough environmentalist propaganda. Consider a question from one of last year’s papers. Candidates were asked which of these phrases - “acid rain”, “global warming”, “noise pollution”, “radioactive waste” – went into these sentences: 1. “Nuclear power stations produce…” 2. “Wind farms produce…” 3. “Coal-fired power stations produce sulfur dioxide which causes…” 4. “All fossil-fuel power stations produce carbon dioxide which causes…” So long as you agree with the Government on these matters, you will pass with 100 per cent.
Doubtless one of the teaching aids which might have guided you to the right answers would have been Al Gore’s famous Oscar-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth, which in 2007 our then environment secretary, David Miliband, ordered to be sent to every secondary school in the country. It was obviously inconvenient that in October that year a High Court judge should have ruled that nine of the claims made in that film were so scientifically absurd that the Government would be in breach of the law against teaching propaganda in schools unless the film was accompanied by material correcting its errors. But when last week I asked the Department for Children, Skills and Lifelong Learning (or whatever they now call the old ministry of education) for sight of that corrective material they never came back with an answer.
Does one not get the feeling that all this propaganda over the terrifying threat of global warming is beginning ever so slightly to turn people’s minds? Caroline Lucas MEP, the leader of the Green Party, last week agreed on television that flying to Spain was “as bad as knifing a person in the street”, because air travel like this is causing people to die “from climate change”.
Dr Richard Dixon, director of the Scottish WWF, was at the same time claiming that failing to ensure one’s home is “energy efficient” was a “moral crime”, as “anti-social as drink driving”, and “we should be having a discussion as to whether it should become an actual crime”.
This echoed the recent observation of Ed Miliband, our Energy and Climate Change Secretary, that opposing wind farms should be as “socially unacceptable” as not wearing a seatbelt. Meanwhile, no doubt encouraged by this kind of talk from ministers, 100 “climate campaigners” were arrested by the police, who feared they were planning to put out of action a coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire, to stop it continuously contributing to the National Grid 1,000 megawatts of electricity – considerably more than the average output of all the 2,400 wind turbines in the country.
This is the same grid, of course, 75 per cent powered by nasty, dirty, CO2 emitting fossil fuels, which Gordon Brown hopes will secretly power the electric cars he proposes to give customers £5,000 each to buy in order to help save the planet – even though his grants won’t be available until 2012. Meanwhile, as 17 of our major power stations are likely to close within six years, thanks to obsolescence and EU rules, Mr Brown shows remarkably little interest in how we are going to keep Britain’s lights on (although certainly no less, to be fair, than does Mr Cameron).
Truly these days, in more ways than one, are we moving towards a new dark age. Fortunately, however, the latest available data show the downward trend in global temperatures continuing, At least the one thing we don’t need to worry about, it seems, is global warming.
Explorers on the rocksThanks to sharp-eyed observers on the US science blog Watts Up With That, we see how Pen Hadow’s much-touted Catlin expedition to measure that disappearing Arctic ice is degenerating into farce. Despite claims by Prince Charles and a galaxy of warmist sponsors that Hadow and his two colleagues would provide “vital scientific data” to show how the ice could soon vanish, the loss of equipment through intense cold has reduced them to measuring the ice with an old feet-and-inches tape measure, Last week their website had to post an apology for providing misleading data, It seems increasingly unlikely the gallant trio will reach the Pole, despite rather more efficient satellite data confirming that the ice is considerably thicker than last year.
Posted by peiper
on 04/19/2009 at 12:27 PM
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •
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Permalink • THE PEOPLE SPEAK BUT … DOES ANYONE LISTEN OR CARE? NO! THE FREEKIN EU HAS SPOKEN! PERIOD.
Pisses me off as usual. Hell, I wasn’t even aware there were anymore left to buy? WHERE? Not in these parts.
Oh well, we still have a cabinet full. For now.
But the EU gweenie jellyfish have spoken and the UK must go along. Never mind only the tree huggers believe in this crap.
EU sneezes and UK catches the cold.
Hey ... don’t be tooooo complacent there back home. According to my embassy newsletter and listening to news here, BO wants to co-operate more with euro-peons and they are excited that the USA is “finally listening.” I don’t see that as a good sign.
You think you HATE the UN? Ha! Just wait till we sign on to the eu crapola.
Reminder to me ... quick. find source ... buy more 100w .... screw their carbon footprint.
what. me worry?
Customers buy up traditional light bulbs before switch to low energy alternatives
Householders are clearing the shelves of hardware stores by bulk-buying traditional light bulbs ahead of a looming EU ban.
By Alastair Jamieson
Last Updated: 11:14AM BST 19 Apr 2009Shopkeepers say customers are “panic-buying” armfuls of the 100 watt bulbs, which are becoming increasingly scarce since many supermarkets agreed to phase them out ahead of the end-of-August deadline.
The ban on sales is supported by the government, which wants consumers to switch to low energy compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to help meet its climate change targets.
CFLs typically cost more than four times as much as a traditional incandescent bulb – starting from £2 each compared to 50p or less – but use one fifth of the energy and can reduce electricity bills by £7 a year for each light in the home.
Many householders, however, believe the switch is unnecessary and say CFLs produce harsh and flickery light, while campaign groups blame them for triggering migraines and skin rashes. Most CFLs do not work properly in dimmer switches and those that are compatible can cost up to £12.
“Some shops have seen customers taking as many as they can carry, 20 or even 50 at a time,” said Mick Weedon, from the British Hardware Federation. “There has been mild panic-buying because it is becoming harder to get hold of the 100 watt bulbs now that the bigger stores are not stocking them.”
The 100w bulbs, as well as less common 80w bulbs, will no longer be sold after August 31. Frosted glass bulbs of all types will also be banned.
Many supermarkets and high street chains have already agreed not to replenish existing stocks as part of a voluntary agreement with the government. Traditional 60w bulbs will be allowed until the end of August 2011, with all phased out by 2013.
The trade body for light shops, the Lighting Association, says most consumers accept the need to adopt a more efficient form of lighting than the traditional bulb, which has changed little since it was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879.
However Brian Smillie, managing director of Edinburgh general store Gray’s of George Street, said: “A lot of our customers are not convinced that these new bulbs, which will end up on landfill sites, are any better and do not see why they should not have the choice to buy what they wish. We are selling lots of the traditional bulbs, sometimes at up to 50 at a time, and we keep having to scrap around to find new suppliers to restock the shelves.”
The charity Migraine Action has called for more research into the health effects of CFLs and said it was still receiving calls from sufferers who believe CFLs trigger their migraines. A spokeswoman said it was advising them to “stockpile the old type of incandescent bulb if you can”.
Argos, Tesco and Asda have already stopped replenishing stocks of 100w bulbs. A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said: “We have stopped selling incandescent light bulbs of 100w or over but we still sell 60w incandescent bulbs and have seen some bulk buying of these.”
Chris Gardiner, who runs three hardware stores in Cheshire including Vikings in Wilmslow, said: “We got 10,000 of the incandescent bulbs in stock because everyone was coming in asking for them. It tends to be older customers who prefer them and can’t get them anywhere else.”
Mr Weedon added: “The profit margins on a light bulb are tiny but independent stores are just happy to be seeing customers through the door at the moment and this rush to buy 100w bulbs has helped.”
Patrick Hodgell, managing director of online retailer Light Bulbs Direct said: “We have been taking large orders both from individuals and from shops. It is possible a lot of these bulbs will be turning up on offer at car boot sales once the changes take effect.”
The European Commission has admitted the bulb switch may lead to the loss of as many as 3,000 jobs in Europe because most incandescent bulbs sold in the EU are made there, while most integrated electronic lights such as compact fluorescent lamps are made in the Far East.
Posted by peiper
on 04/19/2009 at 10:29 AM
Filed Under: • Environment • EUro-peons • UK •
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Permalink • Mercy,mercy. Here we go again. DUTCH COMMANDOS FREE PIRATES. Yeah. Really.
What else might you expect from a country where a judge once ruled .... oh hell I’ve told that one at least 2wice. And not a joke.
Neither is this.
Double Dutch: Commandos capture Somali pirates and free 20 hostages ... but release the bandits because they’re not from the Netherlands
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:28 AM on 19th April 2009Dutch forces have freed 20 hostages whose vessel was hijacked by Somali pirates and used to launch an attack against a tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
The commandos briefly detained and questioned seven gunmen, but were forced to let them go because they had no legal power to arrest them under Dutch law.
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that a Belgian ship has been hijacked by Somali gunmen today.
The Dutch commandos on the HNLMS De Zeven Provincien rescued the captives after chasing the pirates back to the fishing dhow by following the smaller craft used in the attack.
The traditional Arab sailing vessel was being used by the pirates as a ‘mother ship’ from which to launch armed attacks on commercial shipping.
Its 20 captives were Yemeni fishermen, who had been held hostage since Sunday.
Nato Lieutenant Commander Alexandre Fernandes said: ‘We have freed the hostages, we have freed the dhow and we have seized the weapons.’
He explained the pirates were set free because under Dutch law they could not be held at sea under the circumstances in which they were captured.
Speaking from on board a Portuguese warship further north in the Gulf of Aden, Fernandes said: ‘They can only arrest them if the pirates are from the Netherlands, the victims are from the Netherlands, or if they are in Netherlands waters.’
Nato forces in the Indian Ocean confirmed that a Belgian ship with 10 crew members on board, including seven Europeans, was hijacked by Somali gunmen today.
Fernandes said: ‘A helicopter from EU naval force Operation Atalanta flew over and confirmed the hijacking visually.’
He said the Belgian ship, the Pompei, was carrying two Belgian, four Croatian, one Danish and three Filipino crew.
Enlarge Captain Richard PhillipsReunion: Captain Richard Phillips is hugged by his daughter today after being held hostage by pirates
Reports say there has been no communication with the dredging vessel, the Pompei, since it sent two alarm signals early on Saturday.
Sea gangs have captured dozens of ships, taken hundreds of sailors prisoner and made off with millions of dollars in ransoms in recent months.
On Friday five gunmen in a skiff neared a Danish cargo vessel, the MV Puma, in the Gulf of Aden, prompting U.S. and South Korean warships to send aircraft to the scene.
Last week, Somali pirates captured two more ships and opened fire on two others. A French naval frigate seized 11 gunmen on Wednesday, foiling yet another attack .
Posted by peiper
on 04/19/2009 at 08:52 AM
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •
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Permalink • Just can not let the subject go. Sorry. Here’s more ELF n SAFETY from the nanny club.
Well it ain’t gonna get a whole lot more schtupider den dis.
Cue the music for Laural and Hardy ...
If it’s getting dumber it’s also getting downright funnier as well.
Now BBC health and safety mandarins won’t let three of the world’s toughest men light a stove in case they have accidentBy Paul Revoir
Last updated at 12:41 AM on 18th April 2009They are among the toughest and most resilient of men, having survived in some of the most unforgiving places on the planet.
But that does not mean that BBC health and safety mandarins trusted them to be left alone to light a Primus stove - in case they had an accident.
Sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston revealed the ‘absurd’ rules he, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and war reporter John Simpson were subjected to on BBC2 adventure series Top Dogs.The three men went on gruelling trips to Afghanistan, around Cape Horn by boat and across the Canadian Arctic.
But the trio, each well-known for their survival skills in tough conditions, were all understood to have been taken aback by the health and safety rules.
This included a ban on lighting a Primus stove without supervision, and being given a ‘huge’ document warning them about hazards - such as tripping over.
Despite the fact that explorer Sir Ranulph, 65, was in the Army for eight years, he and Sir Robin, 70, were also sent on a ‘hostile environment course’.
And the trio were given guidance from an expert in Arctic exploration - even though Sir Ranulph has two medals for his polar expeditions.
Sir Ranulph was the first person to cross Antarctica by foot and has been described as the world’s greatest living explorer.
A stoveHe famously cut off his own frostbitten fingertips after a doomed attempt to walk unsupported to the North Pole in 2000.
Sir Robin, meanwhile, was the first man to sail singlehanded and non-stop around the globe, and in 1994 won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by yacht.
The comments from Sir Robin come days after similar remarks from Simpson, 64, who has been shelled in Afghanistan, bombed with poison gas in the Iran-Iraq war and dodged bullets in Tiananmen Square.
Simpson complained about the health and safety ‘nonsense’ surrounding the series, which ended last night, saying he was given a risk assessment form ‘the size of a telephone directory’ for one episode.
Sir Robin said: ‘Ran and I were told we could not light a Primus stove unless we were supervised. So that’s the kind of nonsense you get.
‘This young man came in and said he was going to supervise and we told him to clear off. Or words to that effect.’
The sailor added: ‘It was just absurd. What do you think we cook on in boats?’
He attacked the BBC’s insistence on giving the men an expert in Arctic exploration to make sure they kept safe. Sir Robin claimed: ‘He had about 10 per cent of Ran’s knowledge.’
He added: ‘When you read the health and safety document, it is ridiculous. You just read it and thought you have got to be joking. This is just to create paperwork.’
He added: ‘Ran’s view was very similar to mine.’
But Sir Robin did praise the training for their Afghan trip, which taught them how to deal with being kidnapped.
A BBC ‘general risk assessment form’ shown on the National Union of Journalists’ website provides a list of hazards including trip hazard, slippery surface, attacked by animal, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, lightning strike, laser light, noise, vibration, litter and stress.
On Thursday, the Daily Mail reported how health and safety rules meant BBC staff had to have a paramedic and a first aider watching over them when they changed a car wheel.
Producers had to fill out a risk assessment before the two BBC Radio Essex presenters each took off a wheel for a feature on programme about learning new skills.
A BBC spokesman said of Top Dogs: ‘The BBC takes its responsibilities for health and safety very seriously.
‘We knew that for each programme, one of the trio would be completely comfortable, operating in their own environment, but for the two novices learning the ropes, it was important that we minimised the risks as much as possible.’
Posted by peiper
on 04/19/2009 at 07:47 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - April 18, 2009
I hate my teammates
I hate my teammates. I’ve tried very hard not to, but I keep coming back to the same conclusion. I hate them. Not because they’re unintelligent low class physically repulsive poor people with behavior and substance abuse problems, because they are, but because I can only negatively rely on them when the competitive pressure is on. And by that I mean that when I need them to excel they will fall down. Every time. Without fail. Guaranteed.
We’ve got 1 more week of league after tonight before the playoffs. Tonight was really important. We really really needed to win to get back into the lead. My wife and I spent a bit of time this afternoon cleaning all the balls we might use, making sure our shoes were good, etc. We got there early so that we were ready the moment practice began. The other two didn’t show up until the last possible second, and got in only 3 throws total before the warm-up period was over. Then one proceeded to have pissy pouty fits whenever he’d miss a strike, and the other one got out her puzzle book and spent the evening doing crossword fill-ins when she wasn’t bowling. Such a team.
I bowled my butt off. I threw my best game of the year, a 220, in the first game. About 60 over my average. My wife thew 1 over her average. Those two together were 30 under. So we lost, by 3 pins. I was 17 over in the second game, which isn’t great but it sure doesn’t hurt, and we lost that one too. Finally, although I was flat in the last game, the two of them got their act together in the third game and bowled a bit over average, while our opponents were tired and threw 60 under. So we won that one, and won it enough to take wood for the night.
Team 5 seems to have disappeared again. With only 2 members, the more reliable one hasn’t been around in 2 weeks, while the unreliable one we haven’t seen in 5 weeks. If you want to quit, fine. Quit. But tell us. Because if we think you’re part of the league then we have to pay for your bowling, even when you aren’t there. It’s been a very rough ride for me, the league’s Secretary, with Team 5. This is the 3rd or 4th group of people we’ve had on that team this season. They just don’t last. We should have just said to heck with them back in September, and left them as the BYE team all year. Because it hasn’t been fair to the rest of us. One week they show up and bowl. And, of course, if they’re bowling well it means they’re bowling against us that week. The next week, they don’t show, and their opponents get the bye. The week after, who knows?
The former first place team - the folks with the fancy $110 bowling shirts - prebowled for tonight. Their scores were their worst effort this entire season. Did my team get to play them? Hell no. The up-and-coming Team 2 did, and bowled them into the ground, giving Team 1 their first 0-7 loss of the year, and pushing them out of first.
My team never seems to catch a break. Ever. And if we ever do catch one, I can rely on my teammates to screw it up. “Well, overall for the night, I bowled my average.” says the one, her with the 116 average. Gee, I’m really happy for you. The best contribution you could make was “well, I didn’t hurt anything.” Um, thanks. You suck, your attitude sucks, and your bowling is so pathetic that Obama can beat you, even if he gives you points. I’m sure you’re just bursting with pride that you won yet another 111 “shithouse score” award tonight, giving you the record breaking total of 6 of these so far this season. You get an entire pack of Charmin, not just a single roll of Scott. Oh, and nobody else has even come close to your “low ball” score of a whopping great 65 that you rolled back in the fall either. Thanks for nothing.
Pfhah, I’ll be over the grumpies by tomorrow. There have been nights when I haven’t done well either. But generally, as the season progresses, people get better. If they don’t get higher scores they at least get more consistent. It’s not like we’re all beginners. We’ve all been doing this at least 3 years now. Sometimes decades longer. As the end of the season gets here, people get competitive. That’s what it’s all about. And that’s what won’t happen for my team, and we’ll sink down to finish in 4th, out of 5 teams, after being in the lead or almost in the lead the whole rest of the season. I hate them.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/18/2009 at 10:39 PM
Filed Under: • Bowling Blogging •
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Permalink • Friday - April 17, 2009
What the MSM forget to mention
10 days from now is the 48th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. With just a little active support from the USA, the expatriate soldiers of Brigade 2506 could have taken the island back from Castro and communist tyranny. Instead, JFK chickened out and left them to die. Naval support was on hand and ready to fight. Air cover was on hand and ready to fight. It would have been a turkey shoot. And he chickened out.
Val Pietro over at Babalu Blog has more, and there is an excellent essay over at American Thinker.
As far as I’m concerned, we owe Cuba. Not the government in power there. The people. We owe them freedom. Is Obama going to give it to them by sending them cell phones and Kentucky Fried Chicken? Somehow I have my doubts.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/17/2009 at 03:52 PM
Filed Under: • Tyrants and Dictators •
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Permalink • It feels a little spooky
Horry Clap.
I just bought a pistol. On the internet.
Ok, calm down. Relax Drew. It’s just another internet transaction. You’ve bought everything under the sun online, from CDs to gun powder to car parts to diamonds. Never had a problem with any of it. And this is entirely legal and completely legit. Yeah, but ... horry clap. I just bought a pistol. On the internet.
Sure, there are a couple of extra fees. Shipping fee from the vendor. Transfer fee and NICS check from my local gun dealer. A 3% credit card surcharge because I want the thing shipped today. All the signing and stamping of my NJ Purchase Permit when it arrives. And while the asking price was a little high, it wasn’t crazy high in this crazy market. And even with all the fees the bottom line still came out $100 less than MSRP.
Yeah. And maybe I could have saved $50 if I got it via auction. And then saved another $13 by mailing in a money order instead. But maybe I would have lost the bidding too. Who can say? It’s a little spooky out there right now; the gun stores are empty. Nobody can promise delivery of anything.
But still ...
Horry Clap. I just bought a pistol. On the internet.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/17/2009 at 01:38 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
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Permalink • The risk of sexual abuse, by treating the victims’ discomfort with humour. ok but,,, DISNEY????
Not supposed to be here right now but hey. This just HAD to get itself posted.
It’s way over my head. At first I thought, oh what nonsense. Come on. But then another thought intruded on the first.
Hang on ... I’m not a parent. How can I judge this as nonsense when I haven’t any kids?
I guess my generation was lucky as was the one before when it came to this. We never thought in the terms expressed by this article.
Still though .... hard for me to accept. Come on. Pinocchio? Snow White? Robin Hood?
Is this really valid or just a few ivory tower types with time on their hands and nothing else in their collective minds?
Was Pinocchio was being ‘groomed’ by his cartoon pals?
Classic Disney cartoon films are giving children the wrong message about how to deal with “stranger danger”, psychologists have warned.
By Roger DobsonWas Pinocchio was being ‘groomed’ by his cartoon pals?
They claim films like Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Robin Hood contain scenes in which children receive “unwanted personal contact” or threatening approaches from adults, and that the victims fail to set a good example in the way they respond.
The study warns that the films also undermine efforts to teach children about personal safety and how to minimise the risk of sexual abuse, by treating the victims’ discomfort with humour.
In one example, the researchers found that the Pinocchio had been “groomed” by the adult characters Honest John and Gideon but that his response to the abuse resembled “victim blaming”.
The report says that some characters, like Mowgli, in the Jungle Book, and Alice, in Alice in Wonderland, are able to successfully handle to threats they face from adults, suggesting they could have a positive educational impact on children. However, it points out that they do so without telling a trusted adult.
It adds: “It is possible that viewing these scenes could influence children to believe that telling a trusted adult about a stranger’s advances is unnecessary because the film characters model successful independence.”
The research, published in the journal Child Abuse, was conducted by a team of psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists at Carleton University, in Canada.The academics wrote that they were “surprised to find depictions of children being touched, usually by adults, contrary to the expressed desires of the child”.
They studied 47 animated feature length Disney films, released between 1937 and 2006. In ten of them, they found examples of “unwanted personal contact” or scenes which show child characters in “risky situations”.In their analysis, six films – Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, The Sword in the Stone, and A Goofy Movie – depict children and adolescent characters experiencing unwanted personal contact.
A further four films – Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland and The Jungle Book – were found to show childlike characters in “risky situations” where strangers approach them with “hidden malevolence” and promise rewards in exchange for their compliance.
The films were reviewed several times, often using the pause and slow motion features to fully capture the content. Child characters could be human, fantastic or an anthropomorphised animal.
The child had to be under 18, and where age of the character was not specified, the researchers judged each on the basis of voice pitch, manner of speaking, stature, and behaviour.
Dr Wendy Hovdestad, the lead author, said: “The depictions of child and adolescent characters being grabbed and kissed against their will by adult characters is particularly problematic for the boy characters Wart (The Sword in the Stone), Flounder (The Little Mermaid), and Skippy (Robin Hood), because the context in the film is humorous.
“The treatment would probably be upsetting if it happened to a real child, and treating it as humorous is directly contradicting sexual safety education that teaches children that they get to decide who touches their bodies.”
The report concludes: “The findings raise questions about potential impacts on child audiences. Is the unwanted contact and risky situation content appropriate viewing for children, given efforts to teach children sexual safety?”
A Disney spokeswoman said, “As we have not studied the report we are unable to comment.”
Posted by peiper
on 04/17/2009 at 06:15 AM
Filed Under: • Colleges-Professors • Scary Stuff • Sex • Television •
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Permalink • Thursday - April 16, 2009
Even Fox News Missed The Big Picture
Nice headline, but ...
They are probably off by an order of magnitude. I went out to one “official” tea party site and counted more than 800 confirmed, registered events held across America. How many more happened that weren’t registered with this one site? How many happened on college campuses? How many more were impromptu happenings? Word of mouth get togethers that didn’t make it to Facebook? My guess is that there were easily a 1000 tea parties yesterday. Maybe a lot more than that. And only some of the bigger ones got press coverage. 3000 folks at this one, 8000 folks at that one, 2500 here, 4000 there. 300 at my own county courthouse, and not only was it a chilly wet day, I live in a rather sparsely populated county with almost no unemployment.
Chants like “Give me liberty, not debt” and “Our kids can’t afford you” were heard across several U.S. cities Wednesday as anti-tax “tea party” protesters took to the streets to voice their opposition to big government spending.
Thousands of protesters—some dressed in colonial wigs with tea bags hanging from their eyeglasses—showed up in states from California to Kentucky to Massachusetts, holding signs and reading speeches lambasting the Obama administration’s tax-and-spend policies.
“I have two little kids and I know we are mortgaging their futures away,” one protester at a rally in Austin, Texas told FOX News. “It makes me sick to my stomach.
In Lansing, Mich., outside the state Capitol, another 4,000 people waved signs exclaiming “Stop the Fiscal Madness,” “Read My Lipstick! No More Bailouts” and “The Pirates Are in D.C.”
More than 1,000 protesters gathered outside a downtown federal building in Salt Lake City despite the rain and snow. Kate Maloney held a cardboard sign that read “Pin the tail on the jacka$$” with a picture of Obama on a Democratic donkey.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/16/2009 at 06:35 PM
Filed Under: • Taxes •
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Permalink • If this were April first, you’d say I was making this up as a gag. Health and Safety at work again.
Right. It just keeps getting crazier and crazier and ....
Here’s another elf n safety laff from the UK version of what I like to refer to as, The Keystone Kops. Which in my usage does not always mean police.
Just so we’re clear on that.
Now then .... away we go .... Barmy: It took two presenters, a paramedic and first aider to change a tyre
And for Yanks not familiar with the term, a presenter is someone on TV (or radio) who presents stuff. Like our newscasters would be presenters. A DJ is a presenter.
How many BBC staff does it take to change a spare tyre?
Two radio presenters, a paramedic and a first-aider - transported by private ambulance - was the answer delivered by BBC bosses thanks to ‘barmy’ healthy and safety rules.
Producers at BBC Radio Essex had to fill out a risk assessment form before a pair of presenters were allowed to feature on a programme about learning new skills.
BBC bosses ruled that medical staff had to be present in case the pair suffered any mishap as they were dealing with ‘unfamiliar equipment’.
A request was made to St John Ambulance to provide personnel to supervise the activity in the studio car park in Chelmsford, Essex.
The charity sent along two women volunteer staff - a paramedic and a first-aider - in a private ambulance to provide medical cover.
Garage owner Caroline Lake, who gave on-air instructions about how to change a wheel, said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them.
‘All we were doing was taking off a couple off wheels, yet we had to have medical experts there in case something went wrong. It was just barmy and so silly.
‘It would be different if we were taking out an engine - but all we were doing was taking off a wheel.
‘A corner of the car was only being jacked up one inch off the ground to get a wheel off. There wasn’t anything that could have gone wrong.
‘I carried out all the normal safety checks and we had proper tools and disposable gloves. I also made sure the handbrake of the car was operating properly.
‘We live in a society so obsessed with health and safety that people soon will not be allowed to do anything.’
Miss Lake, 37, who runs Caroline’s Cars in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, was invited on the show because of her experience running car maintenance courses for women.She said: ‘I had to teach the woman presenter what to do because she had never changed a wheel before.
‘Then we had to time her and a male presenter, separately taking off a wheel and replacing it so we could see which was quicker.
‘The female presenter appeared looking nervous and I reassured her that there was nothing to it and she would be fine with a few minutes training.
‘The producer then arrived and said, ‘Great. It looks like we’re ready to go. We’ve just got to wait for the paramedics.
‘I looked at her and laughed, thinking she was joking. But just at that moment an ambulance arrived with two female staff.
‘It pulled up less than a metre from our car and they took up position alongside it.
‘I was unable to believe what I was seeing and I told them, “You must be having a laugh”.
‘The producer then told me how BBC health and safety rules meant she had to fill in forms and have the staff in attendance.
‘I replied that the world had gone mad and even the paramedic said she thought it was all a bit much.
‘But they also said they didn’t mind being there because they had never changed a wheel before and were hoping to learn something.
A BBC spokeswoman said: ‘The presenters featured in this outside broadcast which was part of the BBC ‘s Big Skill Initiative were working against the clock using unfamiliar equipment.
‘As a basic precaution a couple of voluntary St John’s Ambulance first-aiders were just on standby to administer any basic first aid requirements.’
Richard Bloomfield, a spokesman for St John Ambulance in Essex, said: ‘We have a very close relationship with the BBC in Essex.
‘They contacted us to ask us to send a couple of first-aiders and we were delighted to help.
‘It is a question of how they felt. They obviously felt there was a need for it just in case there was an accident.
‘One of the women we sent was a qualified paramedic and the other was a first-aider.’
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Donkeys forced to fight for the enjoyment of the kiddies and adults.
Well, he was ‘ass-king’ for it: Boy who forced donkeys to fight goes bottoms up
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 5:14 PM on 16th April 2009Rearing up on their hind legs, these donkeys have been cruelly forced to fight one another for entertainment.
But, as these images show, the young Afghan boy who pitted them against one another soon received his just punishment.
Losing his grip on his donkey’s back, the boy falls hard to the ground.
In fact he does not appear to have fallen all that hard. Too bad he didn’t land on his head. Now that would have pleased me.
These are poor dumb animals and pretty helpless ones at that. This article says a lot about that culture. Look at the faces of these kids.
They are absolutely enjoying the grief these dumb beasts are being put through. So ok. I just happen to like animals. No, don’t want a donk for a pet or anything. And don’t much care for them but I surely wouldn’t go out of my way to hurt one. Come to think about it, I wish the Dems would drop the donkey symbol as it does those poor things a disservice. The Donkeys, not the Democrats.
The unnamed boy forced the animals into a fight outside the German armed forces Bundeswehr camp in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, today.
Donkey-fighting is not particularly common in Afghanistan - a country far better known for dog-fighting.
However in a country that loves to fight, anything goes - and fights featuring cocks, camels and goats are also all common sights.
The Taliban outlawed dog-fighting, believing it was un-Islamic.
But since the U.S. invasion and the Taliban’s fall, the grim sport has been making a comeback - especially in the capital of Kabul.
Now competitions are held twice a week there, drawing thousands of male spectators. Winning purses have been known to reach up to $50,000.
The link above has more photos.
Posted by peiper
on 04/16/2009 at 01:22 PM
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Permalink • if you had the money, would you spend about $20,000 to look like your children? She did.
When I first saw this, and I’m still not convinced there isn’t a mistake in the photo caption, I was going to pass it by as just more fluff and go for more serious stuff. But then I read the caption and thought HUH? Can’t be.
Is it me or do any of you find that the daughter actually looks more like the mother in age appearance. And the mom looks better. ????
LOOK HERE FOR BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS.
The 50-year-old mother who has spent £10,000 on surgery to look like her daughterBy Katherine Knight and Kelly Strange
Last updated at 8:22 AM on 16th April 2009
With their flowing blonde hair, hourglass figures and slender, toned legs, they could easily pass for twins. Both look fabulous in their matching polka dot dresses and, as Janet and Jane Cunliffe happily recount, potential boyfriends often struggle to tell them apart.
the boyfriends struggle to what? guys are smart huh? you bet. what male is gonna tell his girlfriend he thinks she’s her mom. it’s like when a lady asks you how a dress looks on her or do you think she’s a bit heavy. the answer is ALWAYS, the dress looks great because you make it look great. and heavy? NO WAY. do I look okay? ABSOLUTELY! you look great. she won’t believe a word you say but its what she wants to hear. i have this sort of silly theory which of course I can not prove. we guys were put here to make women happy and yeah spoil em too if it comes to that. why the heck not? so if a small fib will make em happy or pleased about themselves, aren’t they damn well worth it? i think they are.
Photo Removed By Owner’s Request” name="Photo Removed By Owner’s Request” width="418" height="418" align left/>
Hardly surprising, as both weigh in at 8st and, save for a couple of inches in height (at 5ft 6in, Jane is two inches taller) and different eye colours (Jane’s are brown, Janet’s are blue) they are virtually identical.
But Janet and Jane are not twins. They aren’t even sisters. They are mother and daughter. And, in what many will see as a depressing indictment of today’s youth-obsessed society, Janet confesses to having spent more than £10,000 on plastic surgery in a desperate effort to bridge the 22-year age gap between herself and her daughter.
In this image-conscious age, it is a bittersweet moment for many mothers to confront the fact that their daughter’s beauty eclipses her own.
It is a rite of passage that most women, while far from thrilled, are pragmatic enough to accept as a part of life.
But not 50-year-old Janet. She views the small matter of being in her sixth decade as a mere technicality.
She is amused and proud that friends jokingly refer to her and her daughter as Paris and Chantelle after the platinum blonde socialite and the equally platinum former Celebrity Big Brother contestant.
Some might see this as empowering for a woman who is well into middle age. Others might take the view that it is contrary to the laws of Mother Nature - not that Janet has much truck with her anyway.
‘Who wouldn’t want to look like my daughter?’As she told the Mail this week: ‘It might sound barmy that I had cosmetic surgery to look like my daughter, but she’s gorgeous. Who wouldn’t want to look like her?
‘The way I see it is that she got her looks from me in the first place - mine have just faded with age.
‘Seeing how attractive Jane is made me want to get my looks back. Now instead of mum and daughter we look more like twins. I had good genes and good skin, but I needed a helping hand to make me feel better about myself.’
Certainly Janet wasn’t always such a head-turner. Just a few years ago, she was a size 14 redhead and felt, she says, dowdy and unattractive.
Not, she insists, that she was ever vain. ‘I didn’t have time for vanity in my 20s as I was too busy bringing up Jane and her brother, Pete,’ she says.
‘I didn’t pay much attention to myself.’
That changed as she entered her 30s and became increasingly disconsolate with her changing figure.
‘Like any woman who’s had children, gravity had started to take its toll on my breasts,’ she says.
Oh right. Almost forgot. The MOM is the one on the LEFT. Daughter on the right , who I first thought was the mom.
Posted by peiper
on 04/16/2009 at 11:09 AM
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Permalink • THE LAW ABIDING FORCED TO WATCH HELPLESS AS GREENBELT LAND TAKEN BY OUTSIDERS.
I’ve brought this issue up a couple of times in the past. This is yet another (new) article about the happenings over the Easter holiday. When authorities away and offices are closed. And it’s those times especially when Gypsies (travelers? a rose by any other name) are active at their most efficient. They also do this on weekends.
I read about this sort of thing and can’t help but think, the ONLY answer is firepower. Kill a few hundred and the problem might go away once they and their sponsors understand they will be met with deadly force. Because short of that, it won’t be long before this island has no greenbelt left at all. And that is not out of the realm of possibility.
Think of these vermin as land pirates and you begin to see the problem.
Travellers invade quiet village and turn green belt land into illegal development as helpless villagers watch
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:53 PM on 16th April 2009A group of travellers sparked outrage after they invaded a quiet village and transformed green belt land into an illegal development.
The 60-strong group brought in diggers and 1,000 tones of hardcore to convert the land into an illegal travellers’ site while local council staff were on their Easter break.
(This is an old ploy used by these verminous bastards. But the fault really is with the authorities who won’t use force. These people only play by their own rules while the law abiding suffer the consequences. There is nothing in place nor has there ever been, to make things unprofitable for this scum.
Indeed, the very opposite is closer to the truth.)
Helpless villagers in Blackmore, Essex, were forced to stand by and watch as lorries transported tonnes of hardcore to the three-acre site.
Angry villagers said said the travellers had not followed the correct development procedures and that the site was in a conservation area.
The travellers, who brought the £130,000 plot of land moved in with diggers at 7am on Good Friday and had laid down hardcore - chunks of concrete used as the basis for foundations - by Easter Monday.
The move comes a month after gypsies, who set up an illegal camp close to the country retreat of Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, were told they could stay on the site for the next four years.
The group had moved onto the site in countryside on the outskirts of Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire.
The site is a quarter of a mile from the luxury home owned by David Mills, the estranged husband of Olympics Minister Miss Jowell.
The Blackmore development was carried out over the Easter break which meant the borough council could not act until staff returned to work on Tuesday.
But by the time this happened the traveller site was complete.
Hazel Town, 73, a retired shop keeper and parish councillor said the travellers must have acted when they did because they knew it was a bank holiday and staff were powerless to act against it.
‘They had a convoy of about 20 caravans and diggers and and 50 huge lorries of hardcore came through the village,’ she said.
‘It was a farmer’s field, a green field but by about noon it was covered in hardcore.
‘The travellers say it’s only six families but that can included grandmothers, great grandmothers and who knows who else.
‘I’ve had streams of people coming and asking me what’s going on, we are law abiding people this is a conservation area.’
Mrs Town said the travellers should have gone through the normal rules and processes as everyone else when it came to new building developments.
The development is about three quarters of a mile outside the main village and next to another illegal traveller camp which had three static caravans on it.
Roger Keeble, 60, a shopkeeper, parish and borough councillor said the group had come from sites in Epping and Upminster where their children attended school.
He said: We couldn’t get an injunction because of the Bank Holidays.
MORE PHOTOS AND MORE OF THE STORY HERE
Posted by peiper
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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.
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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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