Friday - May 22, 2009
Hero cruise ship Britons fight off armed Somali pirates with deckchairs and tables.
Well done OAPs. (Old Age Pensioners)
But I do have a huge problem with this BS re. “warning shots” What the hell is that all about?
As long as those vermin don’t believe you’re “DEADLY” serious, look for more of the same, and maybe with not so nice an ending.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:01 AM on 22nd May 2009British pensioners on a cruise ship bravely fought off machine gun-armed Somali pirates by hurling deckchairs and tables at them.
The holidaymakers were enjoying a midnight Mozart concert onboard MSC Melody when pirates armed with Kalashnikovs attempted to board it using grappling hooks and ladders.But passengers forced them back to their boats by throwing chairs and tables over the stern of the ship as Israeli security guards onboard the cruise liner fired warning shots.
The ship was a week into a 22-day cruise in the Indian Ocean, 180 miles north of the Seychelles, when it came under attack from pirates in speedboats.
Maureen Gawthrop, 66, from Barnsley, said: ‘We were enjoying a classical concerto on the pool deck when everyone heard a cracking sound.
‘The applause for the musicians died down suddenly and someone came running in from the open deck and shouted “pirates”.
‘Crew members acted quickly to evacuate passengers into their cabins and told them to lock their doors.
‘We went to our cabin and we could hear bullets whizzing and clanging as they hit the ship.
‘I saw a white speed boat riding alongside on the wake of the ship about 15 yards away. There were eight men dressed in green camouflage who turned and fired at us.
Husband Roy, 66, added: ‘We later learned what we witnessed was the aftermath of the incident. The pirates had tried to get on board the ship with short rope ladders and failed.’
Ian Moakes, 62, from Forest Town, Mansfield, said passengers were terrified as the hijackers began shooting at the ship.
He said: ‘We were told to go to our cabins, lock the doors and not to answer the door to anyone and they would let us know what was happening.
‘A lot of the crew were elderly and very frightened because they didn’t know what was going on.
‘I was very frustrated because there was no news coming through and I was stuck in the cabin.’
The ship’s captain ordered security guards to fire two warning shots to scare off the attackers, but many of the passengers did not know the full extent of the attack until 36 hours later.
‘There were a lot of angry people on board as a lot of misinformation was given out.
‘Only when we got off the boat at Aqaba did I realise that it could have been a lot nastier - there were bullet holes in the side of the ship from their Kalashnikov rifles.’
Wife Jessie, 61, said the ordeal had no put her off travelling abroad.
‘It was not until after the incident that I realised how serious it was,’ she said.
‘It ruined our holiday but we will go again - just not to the Indian Ocean, it is far too dangerous.’
Owner of MSC Cruises, Gianluigi Aponte, said the ship’s crew took all necessary precautions to avoid the attack, which happened in April.
He said: ‘We are very proud that our crew proved to be able to promptly tackle the emergency.
‘At the moment of the attack, the ship was 600 nautical miles from Somalian coast, in an area that is not considered dangerous, and 180 nautical miles from Seychelles.
‘All security measures adopted worked perfectly. Captain Ciro Pinto followed all security protocols provided, guiding the ship out of danger with a sequence of evasive manoeuvres.’
Pirate attacks on ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean have soared this year, with attacks nearly doubling between January and March.
Posted by peiper
on 05/22/2009 at 01:28 PM
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Permalink • Ronald Reagan to be honoured with a London statue. I am so proud and happy about this.
I don’t need to add anything.
Yes I do.
I’m pleased and proud and wish he were still around so I could vote for him again. And again. I believe truly he was an honest man. Not saying perfect. Who is?
He did us proud, and I believe that.
Former US president Ronald Reagan is set to be honoured with a statue in central London.
Last Updated: 3:42PM BST 22 May 2009
Westminster City Council granted planning permission for the sculpture to be erected outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square.
To allow the statue to go ahead, the council has changed its usual policy of allowing memorials only to people who have been dead for 10 or more years.The application was made by Jennie Elias, the London-based president of the Reagan Memorial Fund Trust.
Steve Summers, chairman of Westminster City Council’s planning applications sub committee, said: “Regardless of politics, nobody can dispute that President Reagan was a true ally of this country.“During his presidency the term ‘special relationship’ reflected not just the close working partnership of our respective governments, but helped reinforce Britain’s unquestionable cultural and historic ties with the United States.
“Subsequent presidencies have continued that unique bond between our countries so it is only right and proper we exempt President Reagan, as a former head of state, from the usual rules on statues.”Mr Reagan died in 2004 at the age of 93. He served as the US president between 1981 and 1989.
His presidential era coincided with the end of the Cold War, with Margaret Thatcher saying he had “a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty and he did it without a shot being fired”.
THE TELEGRAPH
Posted by peiper
on 05/22/2009 at 12:05 PM
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Permalink • A man gives DNA swab, is fingerprinted, photographed, then placed in a cell. Brit version of DMV?
MoT is Ministry of Transport. The equivalent of our DMV.
So, I found this yesterday but again, couldn’t locate the story on line and so called the paper. And what a story this is, short though it is.
Maybe I have it wrong but gosh, did they have to take him to the pokey? And all the while the poor schnook wasn’t guilty of anything.
There had to have been a better way to check it out surely. And they also wanted his DNA? Jeesh.
But what do I know? Not much I guess.
21 May 2009 DAILY TELEGRAPH Page 15 (DTN) Edition 1C (282 words)
Motorist held for three hours over ‘too pale’ MoT certificate
By Paul StokesA DRIVER attempting to renew his tax disc was arrested, fingerprinted and held in a police cell for three hours because his MOT certificate was the “wrong” shade of green.
Michael Cook, 49, joined the queue at his local Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency [DVLA] centre with his two-week-old MOT certificate and the one issued the previous year in hand.But shortly after passing them over the counter a policeman arrived and Mr Cook, a self-employed roofer, was taken into a side room..
He was told that staff at the centre in Gosforth, Newcastle, believed his new MOT certificate to be a fake because it was a lighter colour than the old one.He was taken to a police station where he had to give a DNA swab, was fingerprinted, photographed, then placed in a cell.
Mr Cook, a father of two, from South Shields, said: “I was stunned and could not believe what was happening.
It was so embarrassing.“I had to be interviewed and they were asking all sorts of questions about where I had the MOT done.
“I was there for quite a few hours until they proved it was a genuine certificate.” He later returned to the centre and was finally issued with a new tax disc. Mr Cook said: “I think I deserve a proper apology for what they put me through.” A spokesman for the DVLA said they sympathised with Mr Cook and would be contacting him to apologise.“In a situation where there is a potentially fraudulent document presented, it is our procedure to contact the police,” said the spokesman.
Northumbria police confirmed that no crime had been committed and no further action was taken..
Copyright: Telegraph Group Ltd
no link available
Posted by peiper
on 05/22/2009 at 10:42 AM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Government • Outrageous • UK •
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Permalink • NO WORK FOR TWO YEARS AND DRAW FULL PAY? SURE. ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE THRU TAXPAYER!
This is more of the same regarding public monies but not the scandal stuff I’ve been sharing. It’s weird enough though.
Lyndon will correct me if I have it wrong I’m sure, but I heard figures that the UK PAYS £4million A DAY to the EU. ???
I have no idea what this country gets back for that. I hear a lot of grumbling and people saying they want out. Their critics then say those folks are living in another world and not a logical one as the EU has a lot of positive benefits. ?? I’m out of my depth on that EXCEPT where I actually see and read about laws passed in Brussels that apparently have to be obeyed here in England. Again ... ???
I do know cuz I’ve been here long enough to have seen this, that where the people vote on the issue, the powers that be in the EU say whoops. You didn’t really mean that NO Vote, so we’ll give you another chance to correct the first voted mistake by the little people.
And it look like the Irish are going to vote all over again.
So I guess a vote here on this issue at least is almost meaningless.
There isn’t a link to the source for this article in this morning’s paper. I spent a good bit of time talking to folks at Telegraph today because this wasn’t in their on line version. So I got the library to email this to me. The same for the story that will follow on a different subject.
22 May 2009 DAILY TELEGRAPH Page 22 (DTN) Edition 1C (482 words)
The £6m MEPs with no work to do
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
EIGHTEEN “phantom” MEPs will be elected on full pay and perks next month despite not being able to start work for up to two years due to Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.
The extra candidates will be chosen in the European Union elections on June 4 despite the treaty, which increases the number of MEPs from 736 to 754, remaining unsigned.
Amid confusion over when and how they will take up their seats, the European Parliament will give the extra MEPs “observer” status from next year. The deal will mean they can draw full salaries and allowances at an annual cost of more than £6million without any legislative duties.
The 18 MEPs, from 12 EU countries, including the West Midlands, will be paid more than £76,000 a year, with staff and office allowances worth £210,000.
They will also be entitled to tax-free allowances of £255 for every day of their limbo existence in Brussels and can claim back business class travel.
Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, said: “Welcome to virtual politics.This has to be the political expenses scandal to end all expenses scandals. The perfect politician for today’s elite — one that takes wages and does no work at all.” Ireland votes again on the Lisbon Treaty this autumn with the intention that it can come into force in January next year but an additional legal “protocol” allowing the MEPs to assume full duties could take another two years.
The Irish vote could also reject the treaty again, throwing the EU into a political crisis and freezing the size of the parliament.
Richard Corbett, the Labour MEP who guided the Lisbon Treaty through the European Parliament, defended the arrangement to make them “observers”.“This is straightforward and there is no need to make a fuss,” he said. “They can do all the work of an MEP except taking part in votes. This is a way of making a smooth transition and has been done before.” Spanish ministers argued that there would be an “imbalance” between the EU institutions if the 18 MEPs could not take their seats until the end of the new parliament in 2014 due to Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. They were seeking a deal under which the extra MEPs would take their seats as soon as the treaty came into force.
One option was to include a clause in an EU entry treaty for Croatia in 2011 but Spain wanted to force all countries to agree a deal in their national parliaments next year.
Andrew Duff, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, suggested that the slow process of ratifying the move could mean that the MEPs remain observers for years.“From January 2010, a legal instrument is going to have to be ratified in each national parliament. We know that can take a long time,” he said..
Copyright: Telegraph Group Ltd
Posted by peiper
on 05/22/2009 at 09:53 AM
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Permalink • Conservative MP who claimed more than £11,500 on a phantom mortgage is facing more questions
BMEWS readers will I hope forgive me for banging on about the current political scandal that has rocked this country for more then two weeks.
And it is FAR from over. It seems there new revelations every day but that shouldn’t be surprising. There are over 600 MPs and of course not ALL have been accused of wrong doing. Quite the contrary. There are a few so far who have passed the integrity test.
As I have mentioned before, because it’s personal, by July the wife and I have to come up with a pile of cash to pay inheritance on this very old house.
Fair enough I suppose. You live on this island, you pay your taxes. And damn well on time btw. Inland Revenue here not a whole lot different from our own IRS back home. If you’re caught cheating the law will come down on your head like a ton of bricks. You folks all know well there is very little if any leeway when it comes to ... oops. I made a mistake on the tax form. Sorry. Fine, but you will also PAY for that mistake. If you aren’t fined or jailed for intentional cheating, if the mistake is indeed an honest one, you will still have to pay a hefty interest charge for late payments to the tax man.
UNLESS YOU ARE A POLITICIAN of course in which case normal proceedures apparently do not apply.
LyndonB gave us this very excellent link that covers the subject well and I would recommend it to anyone with even a little interest in understanding the subject. It’s not a boring tutorial thing at all. Here. Check it out. Thanks Lyndon.
Now then, all of the above brings me to this story (one of so many) which really bothers us a lot. (wife and I) Especially facing the circumstances we do and we’re luckier then many. See what you people make of this.
Bill Wiggin, the Conservative whip who claimed more than £11,500 on a phantom mortgage is facing more questions over the location of his second home.
By Martin Beckford
Last Updated: 6:55AM BST 22 May 2009Mr Wiggin filled in 23 consecutive monthly forms nominating his constituency house as his second home for the purposes of his parliamentary expenses, even though he and his wife owned it outright.
After The Daily Telegraph disclosed his claims , he took to the airwaves to insist it was all an “honest mistake” from which he had not profited.He said he had mistakenly written the address of his property near Ledbury, Herefordshire, as his second home on the forms instead of his townhouse in west London.Mr Wiggin, the MP for Leo minster and former shadow Welsh secretary, said: “I haven’t taken public money wrongly and I don’t like being lumped in with other MPs who have.
“I think people need to realise we are but human. I am sure plenty of people have got forms wrong.”
But when questioned further by this newspaper, he admitted he only spent weekends and holidays in the country, where he breeds prize-winning cattle, and the rest of the time in London. Both Mr Wiggin and his wife are registered as secretary and director of her former PR company with Companies House under their London address. The law states company directors must register their “usual” address.
It suggests that his London home is his main home, which would mean he would be ineligible to claim expenses on it.
MPs are only supposed to use public money to cover the cost of running a second home away from their constituencies or Westminster, not their primary residence.As The Daily Telegraph disclosed , Mr Wiggin used to nominate his London address as the home on which he claimed the Additional Costs Allowance.
But in May 2004, just after he and his wife bought the £480,000 property near Ledbury, he started writing the new address on his expenses claims forms.
He submitted monthly mortgage payments on the property for two years, even though he had not taken out a loan on it. He claimed £11,514 in mortgage interest payments after filling in 23 consecutive handwritten forms.
In December 2006, the Commons fees office asked him to provide an up-to-date bank statement and he then changed his second home address back to London.
David Cameron said: “It is a bad mistake but it looks like it is an honest mistake and he was not claiming money that he was not entitled to.
“If he was, that would be totally different and he would be out of the door.”
Alright. I understand people make mistakes. I make em every day. So do you. But do you make the same one 23 times? Over how long?
Hey look. If you are filling out HAND written forms, aren’t you paying a bit more attention to what you’re doing and saying?
And then there’s this to consider. As a lawmaker, how closely are you reading the bills and things that come before you? Because what you do doesn’t impact you at all. But it does millions of others who don’t have your perks and free ride on our collective back.
And speaking of collective backs, my next post will cover in small detail an amazing bit of squander and monies ill spent in Ireland on MEPs. translation,
Member of European Parliament
Posted by peiper
on 05/22/2009 at 05:45 AM
Filed Under: • Economics • Government • UK •
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Permalink • Thursday - May 21, 2009
Weekly Crowder
Sure sounds tempting!
Here’s Steve ...
Posted by Drew458
on 05/21/2009 at 09:48 PM
Filed Under: • Humor • Politically-Incorrect •
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Permalink • YouTube Interactive
Ok all you studly playas. Get into some interactive reality show programming and see if you have the stuff to score with Miss Thang here.
Tip: she’s more than a bit on the wild side, so don’t hold back. Each response takes you to another little video ... and if you get lucky ... well, you get to go “FTW” [that’s For The Win, Peiper].
Granted, it’s a bit stupid. But hey, I didn’t even know you could embed hyperlinks in videos. I guess it’s a layering schema.
h/t to Neil Boortz!
Posted by Drew458
on 05/21/2009 at 09:40 PM
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Permalink • I’d Call It Blue Dragon Stadium
The Japanese architect Toyo Ito planned the ultra-modern stadium in accordance with the ecological requirements of a “Green Building”. 8,844 solar panels on a surface area of 14,155m2 are integrated into the roof construction of the sports facility. The unique solar roof, which emulates the form of a flowing river, can, depending on the strength of the sunshine, cover 75% of the energy needs of the stadium which can hold 55,000 spectators. On days when no competitions are taking place, the electricity generated is fed into the grid. The new stadium is the main venue for the competitions of the World Games 2009. International athletes from more than 90 nations will be competing against each other next June under the impressive roof construction that is simultaneously a solar power station.
Construction work on the main stadium for the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung is ahead of schedule, an executive of Fu Tsu Construction Co, which won the bid to build the stadium, said on Monday. Fu Tsu vice chairman Laio Nien-chi (廖年期) said the project was now 16.17 percent complete, slightly ahead of the scheduled progress of 16.08 percent.
The stadium, which covers 19 hectares, will cost NT$5 billion (US$150.6 million). It will have a seating capacity of 55,000. The stadium will be the world’s first multi-functional stadium powered by solar energy. Its solar generators will supply 1 million kilowatts of electricity a year.
The generators will meet the stadium’s power needs for lighting and air conditioning during the Games. When it is not hosting a sports event, the surplus electricity could be sold to Taiwan Power Co and net NT$5 million per year for the city government, officials from the Kaohsiung City Government’s Public Works Bureau said.
The project is scheduled for completion by January 2009, allowing enough time to prepare for the World Games, which will be held from July 16, 2009, through July 26, 2009
If this is true, then income from the excess solar power could pay for the place in 30 years. Pretty neat. Lots more excellent pictures over at Deputy Dog’s blog.
Somebody is going to have a helluva job keeping all those panels clean. Job? Phooey. That’s a lifelong career, probably for a small army of squeegee dudes. And for no reason at all, because I can’t think of a decent segue, here’s poor little Paloma, caught outside in the cold rain. Very cold rain!
Posted by Drew458
on 05/21/2009 at 01:29 PM
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Permalink • Old lady spent 23 years single-handedly dismantling her house brick by brick and rebuilt 100 mi away
Amazing.
BMEWS Readers, if you look at nothing else online today, you just HAVE to see this story and the photos. You can’t make up this sort of thing. I can’t even rewire an electrical plug for gosh sake. Or at least, I don’t trust myself to. Never mind doing what this one woman did.
This is worth the read AND the photos. LOTS OF PHOTOS and THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.
Moving house: How a little old lady spent 23 years single-handedly dismantling her cottage brick by brick and rebuilding it 100 miles away.
By ZOE BRENNAN
Last updated at 2:07 PM on 21st May 2009For a labour of love, it was the DIY job of the century. Brick by brick, the gutsy little old lady demolished her precious home, pulling each medieval nail from its ancient oak beam.
Dressed in a workman’s apron, her greying hair tucked beneath a headscarf, she single-handedly piled high the thousands of hand-made Hertfordshire peg tiles from the roof.
Huge timbers were loaded onto a lorry, alongside Tudor fireplaces and Elizabethan diamond leaded glass, for a rebuild that would consume the rest of her life.
Shell of a house: May started to demolish her home timber by timber
For May Savidge was determined to beat developers and planners who threatened to crush her historic cottage under a road-building project.Long before conservation became fashionable, she decided to move her home lock, stock and barrel from busy Ware High Street in Hertfordshire to a Norfolk backwater 100 miles away.
And move it she did, in a 23-year labour of love, during which she battled the authorities, deathwatch beetles, rats and her failing health, accompanied only by her faithful dog, Sasha.
Now, her incredible story has been told for the first time by her niece, Christine Adams, in a book which is a heartbreaking tale of love lost, stoical determination and a poignant secret.
So who was May Alice Savidge and why did she move 15th-century Ware Hall House from one county to the next?
Born in Streatham, South London, in 1911, May was just ten when her father died of heart failure, plunging the family into poverty. She had to go out to work, becoming a draughts-woman for the Ministry of Aircraft Production team.
At 16, May met an older man, Denis Watson, a gifted Shakespearean actor. They planned to marry, but he died prematurely in 1938.
May never recovered from this cruel blow and wore his signet ring on her wedding ring finger for the rest of her life. She retreated into herself and it was in 1947 that she bought a house to restore.
Number 1 Monkey Row, Ware, Hertfordshire, had been built around 1450 for a wealthy monk as a ‘hall house’, a medieval arrangement in which the living space is attached to an open hall overlooked by a minstrel’s gallery.
A self-taught home improvement enthusiast, May exposed the heavy oak beams that bore the marks of medieval carpenters and lifted crumbling lino to reveal wide, hand-cut floorboards.
She employed a builder to repair the roof, but all the rest of the work - including brick-laying, carpentry, re-glazing and stripping plaster from the ceilings and 20 layers of paper from the walls - she did with her own hands.
Then, in 1953, the council told her the house was to be demolished to make way for a road - an act of vandalism unthinkable today, now that ancient properties are listed and protected.
Battle began. May dug her heels in and resolved to save the building. For 15 years, she fought the council’s plans, writing to them: ‘If this little house is really in the way, I would rather move it and re-erect it than see it destroyed.’
In 1969, when she was 58, the bulldozers reached her gate. Her response was to number each beam and pane of glass so that her home could be reassembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Dismantling the heavy oak timber frame, held together with tapered wooden pegs, was both difficult and dangerous. A team of local demolition contractors helped May. She traced over a sample of brickwork using greaseproof paper and crayons so that she would know which bond to use and how thick to lay the mortar.
She continued to live in the house as it was taken down, sleeping beneath the stars in the freezing cold.
‘I just won’t have such a marvellous old house bulldozed into the ground,’ she said. ‘I’ve got nothing to do all day, so I might as well do the job myself.’
Strangers sent money to help her - and many became life-long friends. ‘Yours is the spirit that once made Britain great,’ wrote one.
She found a site in the seaside town of Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, and obtained planning permission and laid foundations. A lorry made the round trip to Norfolk 11 times to carry every part of the house.
So began a life of hardship. She had no electricity and worked by the light of Victorian paraffin lamps. She used an alarm clock to set herself targets each day, noting how many nails she extracted from oak beams per hour, as she dismantled the house and prepared for rebuilding.
A caravan was her home while she began the new work. It was often unbearably cold, but, as she told the Fakenham Ladies Circle Club in 1971: ‘My mother brought us up on the maxim that there is no such word as “can’t”.’
Two years later, the framework was fixed to the foundations by a local carpenter and May started to infill the brickwork. She had no experience of brickwork, but was determined to lay every single brick perfectly.
It would be another eight years before the roof tiles were put in place and the property made watertight.
By the time she was into her 70s, however, May had moved in and the house stood proudly in its new gardens, each old oak beam in place, the brickwork nearly complete and many of the walls plastered.
Despite her age, she continued to build, climbing scaffolding to reach the top windows. In 1986, the Queen recognised her pluck, inviting her to a Buckingham Palace garden party.
and take a look at how it finished.
Posted by peiper
on 05/21/2009 at 01:16 PM
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • UK •
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Permalink • Video: US police beat suspect after car crash. GOOD for the cops. They should have killed the scum!
Take a look at this guys. Or maybe those of you in the states have already seen it.
The cops here should get a medal, NOT suspension.
Ppl like the scum in the speeding car should never be seen as human, and so whatever the cops do should always be okay in these kinds of circumstances. It’s pure luck and nothing else that this guy didn’t kill someone on that ride.
Posted by peiper
on 05/21/2009 at 12:33 PM
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Permalink • Another Model Suicides
I just don’t understand this. Another up and coming model/actress. Young, fit, beautiful. And with steady work. No apparent drug problem. No anorexia. You would think the world would just about be her oyster, on a silver platter. So she kills herself. Because a friend in England killed herself? That’s just twisted.
‘Spider-Man 3’ Actress Commits Suicide in Paris Home
A promising young English actress was found dead in an apparent suicide in Paris just days before her 29th birthday. Lucy Gordon — who appeared in “Spiderman 3” — was found dead by her boyfriend in her central Paris apartment yesterday.
...
A spokesman for the Cannes film festival, currently underway on the French Riviera, described Miss Gordon as “a hugely promising young actress.”“We are devastated by this news,” he said. “All those attending the festival had been hugely impressed by Lucy’s work. She was a star in the making.”
An officer described the scene as “absolutely horrific.”
...
The man told police that Miss Gordon had been deeply affected by the recent suicide of a friend back in Britain. The aspiring actress — who also worked as a model — had recently finished filming a movie in which she stars as Jane Birkin, the wife of iconic French singer Serge Gainsbourg.
Neighbours around the £2000-a-month two bedroom flat she rented in the bohemian 10th arrondissement of Paris said she was seldom home, always out working or socialising. Her career was flourishing, so detectives said they would be interviewing close friends and family about her personal life in an attempt to establish a motive. Agents for the actress confirmed she had “ended her own days”.
Friends said Miss Gordon was deeply affected by the recent suicide of a friend in the UK. A local said: “She was an adorable girl. Two days ago, we were chatting over a drink. You think people are stable and then ...”
The actress appeared in a dozen films, including as reporter Jennifer Dugan in the third instalment of Spider-Man. She made her debut in 2001 in the film Perfume, which follows a group of characters at a New York modelling show.
12 films in 8 years, plus modeling. Sounds like regular employment to me. And that isn’t exactly a low rent apartment either. She was doing Ok, at least financially. Very sad.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/21/2009 at 12:28 PM
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Permalink • Women in battle against Taliban in Swat. Hey, if true it’s good news. Macho Talis gunned down
Taliban gunned down by the women of a village. Kudos to them.
Women joined villagers in a revolt against the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley where a major military offensive against fundamentalist fighters has been launched.
By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad and Emal Khan in Peshawar
Last Updated: 3:31PM BST 21 May 2009An attempt by the Taliban to infiltrate Kalam village was repulsed in the first sign that the army’s action is encouraging residents to stand up against the militants. Kalam’s deputy mayor, Shamshad Haqqai, said that about 50 Taliban fighters tried to enter Kalam on Wednesday but that locals had fought them off.
The militants had come to the village to collect arms, ammunition and food.
Muhammadi Room, a Kalam resident, said the Taliban visited the house of a local elder, Mehar Rafi in the Bijlee Ghar area of Kalam but, as there were no men inside the house, the women climbed to the rooftop of the house and opened fire. Five Taliban were killed at the scene.
A doctor from the area, who did not want to be named, said a group of Taliban entered his clinic before taking him to a place were several fighters were injured. He said he treated the Taliban, numbering around six or seven, before being asked to leave.
Locals said the Pakistani security forces, which are involved in operation against the Taliban in Swat, had not yet reached Kalam to assist the revolt.
The army claims it has killed more than 1,000 militants and won back swathes of territory in Swat. But it faces stiff resistance and has ventured no prediction of when the Taliban will be defeated.
Authorities say the clashes have prompted about 1.9 million people to flee their homes, creating a humanitarian crisis that could sap popular support for the drive. Locals said an outflow had also started from South Waziristan amid predictions of a Swat-style operation in the stronghold of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
At a donors’ conference yesterday in Islamabad, Pakistan’s allies promised $224 million in aid for people displaced by the offensive.
Posted by peiper
on 05/21/2009 at 12:14 PM
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Permalink • Jihad In The Bronx
N.Y. Police: Terror Suspects Wanted to ‘Commit Jihad’
Four men sought to wage a holy war against America when they plotted to bomb two New York City synagogues and shoot down military planes in upstate New York, authorities said Thursday.
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters that James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen of Newburgh, N.Y., “wanted to commit Jihad” and were angry about Muslims being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by U.S. military forces.
The men allegedly planned to detonate a car with plastic explosives outside the Riverdale Temple, a Reform synagogue, and an Orthodox synagogue called the Riverdale Jewish Center, located a few blocks apart in the Bronx.
They also intended to shoot military planes at the Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y., with Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles, authorities said.
“They stated that they wanted to commit jihad,” Kelly said at a press conference outside the Riverdale Jewish Center. “They were disturbed about what happened in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that Muslims were being killed.”
The men were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after placing a 37-pound device they thought was an explosive in the trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat of a car outside the Riverdale Jewish Center, authorities said.
Police blocked their escape with an 18-wheel truck, smashing their tinted SUV windows and apprehending the unarmed suspects.
The four were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
The arrests came following a nearly yearlong undercover operation that began in Newburgh, about 70 miles north of New York City.
Cromitie, David Williams and Onta Williams are native-born Americans; Payen was born in Haiti and is a Haitian citizen, according to authorities.
Kelly said he believed the men knew each other through prison. They had long rap sheets for charges including drug possession and assault. Three of the men are converts to Islam, an official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.
Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, issued a statement praising law enforcers “for their efforts in helping to prevent any harm to either Jewish institutions or to our nation’s military.”
“We repeat the American Muslim community’s repudiation of bias-motivated crimes and of anyone who would falsely claim religious justification for violent actions,” the statement said.
Gosh. 4 jihadis right here in New York. All of them black. All of them jailbirds with rap sheets a mile long. All of whom converted to pisslam while in jail. All eager to blow stuff up and kill people. Pawns much? Hey, isn’t jail, our jails, the same place Obambam wants to send all those terrorists from Gitmo? Maybe he’ll get smart and bring them across in a standard Cuban Refugee boat. They all tend to turn turtle and sink a few miles off shore.
And, oh so sorry, Kneehigh Asswad, I doubt your sincerity even more than I doubt your patriotism. I want to be hearing that repudiation every day from every mosque, all over the world. And I am not. It’s only after a bunch of your dupes get snagged that you make such a statement. And that don’t wash none too well.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/21/2009 at 12:08 PM
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Permalink • Law ‘will force churches to employ gay staff’
“Christians are sick to the back teeth of equality and diversity laws”
Yeah well, Christians aren’t alone in that feeling. And as one who is neither religious or Christian, I see this as yet another means to push attitudes and diversity BS on churches who clearly are being taken advantage of.
Of course, I can’t imagine why anyone who knows that their company isn’t welcome, still wants to come to the party. Why?
I guess to prove a point of some kind and in many cases simply to do something to advance their own agenda. Whatever.
People who are not haters but simply see the homosexual lifestyle as outside normal behavior and believe religiously that it’s wrong, should not be forced to accept them inside their environment. That is, the church and employees. But it appears that for now anyway, religion loses.
Again.
all hail multi culture and diversity. the new religion.
Churches will be banned from turning down gay job applicants on the grounds of their sexuality under new anti-discrimination laws, a Government minister said.
By Matthew Moore
The TelegraphReligious groups are to be forced to accept homosexual youth workers, secretaries and other staff, even if their faith holds same-sex relationships to be sinful.
Christian organisations fear that the tightened legislation, which is due to come into force next year, will undermine the integrity of churches and dilute their moral message.
It comes amid growing concern that Christians are being unfairly targeted by discrimination laws, following a number of high-profile cases of courts finding against believers who stand up for their faith.
Religious leaders had hoped to lobby for exemptions to the Equality Bill but Maria Eagle, the deputy equalities minister, has now indicated that it will cover almost all church employees.
“The circumstances in which religious institutions can practice anything less than full equality are few and far between,” she told delegates at the Faith, Homophobia, Transphobia, & Human Rights conference in London.
“While the state would not intervene in narrowly ritual or doctrinal matters within faith groups, these communities cannot claim that everything they run is outside the scope of anti-discrimination law.
“Members of faith groups have a role in making the argument in their own communities for greater LGBT acceptance, but in the meantime the state has a duty to protect people from unfair treatment.”
Under existing equalities legislation, any roles deemed to be necessary “for the purposes of an organised religion” are excluded from gay rights protection.
But the Equality Bill, which is currently passing through parliament, for the first time defines this as applying only to those who lead the liturgy or spend the majority of the time teaching doctrine - essentially just ministers, bishops and their equivalents in other faiths.
A spokesman for the Christian Institute, a religious charity, said that many churchgoers had deep concerns about how the bill would be enforced and accused politicians of hypocrisy.
“It would be absurd to pass a law demanding that the Labour Party employ card-carrying Conservative members, but that is effectively what churches are being told to do. We just want the same exceptions as political parties,” he said.
“Christians are sick to the back teeth of equality and diversity laws that put them to the back of the queue. We are quite prepared to accept that people will take a different view to use on moral and ethical questions, but that should not mean we have to withdraw from public life.”
Recent cases including the nurse suspended for offering to pray for a patient and the British Airways worker sent home for wearing a visible cross have left many believers afraid to go public with their faith at work.
Neil Addison, a Roman Catholic barrister and expert on religious discrimination law, said that the new legislation would leave churches powerless to defend the fabric of their organisation.
“This is a threat to religious identity. What we are losing is the right for organisations to make free choices,” he said.
A spokesman for the Church of England said that while it supports the broad objectives of the Bill it “retains some concerns about the practical application of some specific aspects”.
The Equality Bill, which was introduced to the Commons by Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women and Equality, will also strengthen laws against gender, age and disability discrimination.
A Government Equalities Office spokesman said: “The Equality Bill will not force a church to accept someone as a priest regardless of their sexual orientation or gender.
“Churches, synagogues, mosques and others will continue to have the freedom to choose who they employ in jobs which promote their religion. But where they provide services to the public they will have to treat everyone fairly.”
Posted by peiper
on 05/21/2009 at 11:40 AM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • UK •
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
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- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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