Friday - June 05, 2009
Good News, Bad News
The Royal Navy overpowered ten pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns in the Gulf of Aden but was later forced to set the men free because of rules of engagement.
The HMS Portland detected two skiffs by radar and, suspecting that they were not merely fishing vessels, the frigate approached the skiffs and spied weapons and ammunition.
In a daring raid, Royal Navy teams approached the skiffs in inflatable boats, boarded the boats and disarmed the pirates as helicopters hovered above with snipers.
But because of rules of engagement, which stipulate that pirates can only be arrested if they are caught in the act of attacking a vessel, the men were eventually set free. The Royal Navy confiscated the men’s weapons, destroyed their smaller, faster skiff, and gave the men enough fuel to carry them back to Somalia in the larger boat.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/05/2009 at 10:55 AM
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Permalink • Anthropic Reasoning, Part 1
Winter exists to bring us snow. Snow exists so that otherwise useless, nasty little weasels like the Russian Sable grow lovely luxuriant pelts. Those pelts exist to make hats, coats, and boots for gorgeous women to wear. And that makes them happy. And when they’re happy, they wear the sable, and play in the winter snow, and smile all over. I don’t see a problem here at all. Screw PETA.
In a related vein, I’m thinking of taking up lepidoptery. Live-capture, of course.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/05/2009 at 10:40 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - June 04, 2009
Let’s be honest, there are losers and winners in this world.
Not only does this lady put things well, she is drop dead beautiful in the few pix I’ve seen of her.
But even if she weren’t that ... she is still a darn good word smith.
Last post for me for the night.
Cheers all.
Cambridge’s decision to let students know about their exam results in private is the latest evidence that we are bent on breeding fragility into the young, says Celia Walden.
By Celia Walden
The TelegraphThe young, it appears, are becoming fragile. For the first time in 300 years, exam results at Cambridge are to be sent privately to students, to curb the “fear” and “humiliation” of finding out from the board outside the university’s senate house that you got a 2:2, while standing next to someone you despised who got a first.
Meanwhile, Sir Ken Robinson, who is advising the Government on education, thinks we should do away with the whole exam thing, and leave children free to daub primitive murals along school walls. He didn’t say that, but he did insist that we have to “develop children’s creativity”, and once the c-word has been mentioned pretty much anything goes
Have you tried saying “creativity” without screwing up your face and affecting a peevish whine? It’s impossible, and it’s a whining, cloying, self-righteous word used by people who appear convinced that rigorous learning and a flourishing imagination are incompatible.
Nothing in history suggests that this is true. Great painters studied the Old Masters to learn their craft: Turner, for one, worked at the Dutch masters as a preliminary to developing his freer, original style.
Those were the days when artists painted pictures rather than “creating art”. Now, trendy educationalists would play down the nasty business of spelling, grammar and academic rigour, leaving us all free to emote. Yet many a parent would welcome some hard academic graft in state schools, when an increasing number of the most successful painters, actors, playwrights, musicians and even pop stars seem to have benefited from a more demanding education in the private sector.
In other areas, we seem bent on breeding emotional fragility into the young, from the egg and spoon race with no winners, to the diplomatic announcement of exam results, to produce a generation of brittle – but oh-so-"creative" - little souls.
The Senate house, where anxious students will no longer have to assemble for their results Photo: PAAND ON ANOTHER SUBJECT SHE REPORTS ...
* This time last year, women were all at it: planting great big kisses on each other’s mouths at parties and political conferences nationwide. This year, it’s the men who are grasping each other in headlocks, grappling full-frontally like sumo wrestlers – and even kissing on the lips.
At Tuesday night’s Glamour magazine awards, the man-tussle was rife, with presenter James Corden making a grab at every male guest, in a display so primal we needed David Attenborough to do the voice-over. “What’s it all about?” he would wonder. “Women have always had the greet thing to themselves,” Corden tells me. “It feels good to say hi with a big old man-hug – everyone’s doing it now – and actually, it proves how straight you are.”
Formula One driver Jenson Button, who spent the evening deflecting man-tussles, disagrees. “I don’t care if it does prove how straight you are – if it’s man-on-man action I ain’t doing it.”
More, including one NSFQT ( Not Safe For Queasy Tummies )
Posted by peiper
on 06/04/2009 at 11:48 AM
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Permalink • Chavez says US sought to assassinate him. this belongs in the , “oh if only” catagory.
If memory serves, didn’t he make this claim a few years ago also?
2009-06-04 Caribbean-Latin America
Chavez says US sought to assassinate him
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has charged that he eluded a US intelligence plot to kill him, in a move likely to pile new pressure on already uneasy ties with the United States.Chavez, appearing on state media Tuesday for the first time since walking out in the middle of his own television marathon days earlier, claimed he ducked an assassination plot in El Salvador where he was to have attended the swearing in of its new president. “The information was very specific. It was all ready to take place, they were going to carry out an attack against me on arrival in San Salvador,” Chavez charged.
He insisted the alleged plan aimed to launch “one or several missiles at the Cubana jet that was readied for the trip” in Caracas. Chavez, the closest regional ally of communist Cuba, said he received information on the plot from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
He did not immediately elaborate. But he claimed “Venezuelan coup plotters went to San Salvador two weeks ago. I know them. They are the ones who have sworn they would kill me.”
CIA: Chavez did not accuse US President Barack Obama personally, saying US intelligence activities operate outside the president’s authority. “I am not accusing Obama. I think the American president has good intentions,” Chavez said. “But over and above Obama, there is the CIA, and all of its tentacles.
I have no doubt US intelligence services are behind this.” Referring to a Venezuelan fugitive, Chavez claimed “Luis Posada Carriles’ people” also were behind the alleged plot and urged Obama to extradite him.
Posted by peiper
on 06/04/2009 at 11:02 AM
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Permalink • Not exactly fighting city hall but close … A socialist nanny state is never logical.
BMEWS to the rescue.
It’s of little note to anyone but me, however I want to mention and say thanks to Wardmom for the heads up on the connection between a persistent cough and milk. Who wouldda thought that? While it ain’t a total cure all, her advice has sure gone a long way to ease the problem.
I wonder if I should mention that to the hacksaws I’ve been seeing who never asked me if I consumed much dairy. Which I did. Notice the past tense. Have doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. I might mention it. But from what little I’ve seen so far with the docs I’ve seen, I doubt they’d be interested as they already know everything there is to know about everything.
Might not be a fair comment but I’m not in a fair mood. Grumble!
So now on to an aggravating episode in the continuing drama of the nanny state and getting an Rx.
Some will recall (I do hope) the complexity of this as described by me sometime last year. I’m almost tempted to re-post the darn thing for newbies here who missed it.
Yesterday I did a brief errand for the wife. I went into the pharmacy in the next village to pick up an Rx for her.
We’ve been using that place for five years now but never mind that. Once the nanny state decrees a rule it’s writ in blood and chiseled in stone.
I had no idea it was a controlled drug when I went in, but good fortune I was carrying some ID in the form of my local bus pass and more important at the time, my Calif. drivers license.
Well, the lady at the counter (who saw me only the day before) asked for an ID. OK. Showed her my bus pass and she had me sign for the meds. No problem. Then she asked me if that was a drivers lic. I showed her, as she didn’t see any signature. As it turns out, a bus pass doesn’t have one. She wanted something with a photo and my signature. Or a passport. Oh sure I carry the f**!in thing on me everywhere I go. I always go out with a passport. Don’t leave home without one.
The reason I’m steamed a bit and making a big deal out of this is because these folks aren’t really consistent.
When I was in before she asked for a photo, and asked for my signature upon receiving the medication. Nothing about both on one document. But she informs, it’s the law and out of their hands. They can’t allow a controlled drug out unless they see something with both signature and a photo.
The fact that I’ve been in and out over five years and that they have our address on file and that before handing over the Rx they always ask for your address to confirm something or other, counts for little.
And she could not have been looking close when she did look at my signature on the CA. lic., because had she really looked closely she would have seen how different was the signing on my license, from the signature I scribbled on the form she’d given me to sign.
Not too sure how I’ll handle things when my Calif. license expires next year, as I’m sure I’ll get static from them on an expired license, as if my signature also expires on the same date. I would not bet against that.
The Labor govt. here has managed thru it’s many laws and rules and regulations, and red tape, to produce a very illogical mind set with NO wiggle room for common sense among many people here. I’d go so far as to claim they have produced a sheeple like folk almost, dare I say it, almost Germanic in the rule of, follow exactly what’s in the book and make no allowances for possible and logical side issues.
But ya know what? The problem is mine and not theirs.
I’m just used to the common sense way we do things back home when getting an Rx filled. And FASTER back home as well.
Or have things changed there as well since I’ve been here?
Posted by peiper
on 06/04/2009 at 09:27 AM
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Permalink • Wednesday - June 03, 2009
Laundry and then to bed. Again.
Me so tired. Wiped out. Heel pain. Hand cramps.
10 hours on the job today, playing hide ‘n go seek with the rain all damn day long. Spent more than half the day working inside, sweating gallons. Hotter than blazes. “Oh, we only turn the AC on when it gets really hot. We just stay downstairs until then.” Gee, thanks.
I’ve made a lot of progress, but I would have thought the job would have been done by now. First, the weather is just not cooperating. Pretty stupid being up on a ladder during a thunderstorm. So when it isn’t raining the humidity is a mere 99%, so I’ve been sweating buckets. Next, these windows are imported directly from Hell. 1920s vintage double hungs. Paint flaking, putty turning to dust, wood frames disintegrating from rot. Pollen and dust buildup enough to make the glass milky. Opaque! But the glass is clean now! But only after a major effort. Cleaning windows is one of those unwritten Labors of Hercules. And this crop is a problem child.
I just don’t get it. I use the best tools and the best cleaning solution, and I know what I’m doing. I follow good procedure, change my water often, rinse the scrubber often, put a new clean dry one on twice a day, new rubber in the squeegees, low dust paper towels, etc. And yet, I try to wipe these windows dry (good luck with that in this kind of humidity) and they smear. Paint dust? Did some fool use oil based putty? So I scrub them again. And again. And use Glass Perfect. And wipe, and follow with microfiber clothes. And maybe this time they won’t smear. Maybe they will.
I managed to get only 15 sides done today, plus a 50 pane french door. Pathetic. But those sides (one side = the inside of a double hung, all panes top and bottom plus it’s more modern storms, or the outside of a double hung plus it’s 1920’s hung from iron loops and nailed in place storm). were cleaned, scraped [ whoever painted, whenever, left all sorts of splatter ], cleaned again, usually recleaned, then wiped, polished an reinstalled. Oh, screens brushed and sills and surrounds scrubbed too.
Face the truth Drew: the only people who call in the professional window cleaners are the people whose windows are a cast iron bitch. Everybody else just uses Windex.
I have to learn to call it good enough, clean enough, and move on. It’s too easy to become really obsessive compulsive. Must fight that!
Posted by Drew458
on 06/03/2009 at 07:29 PM
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Permalink • An Israeli woman’s attempt to commit suicide by lying on railway tracks has been caught on video.
Is it April first in Israel?
I watched this but I can’t believe it. Can you?
Even laying between and not on the track, is it possible no to be caught by the smallest thing under a train?
See what you think. Hard to believe.
The amazing CCTV footage comes from the Israeli Railroad Company and shows crossing in northern Israel.
On Sunday the woman, circled in red, approached the tracks and a railway guard to the right of the screen tried to signal to her. She then appeared to lie down on the tracks as a high-speed train hurtles over her for several seconds.
Incredibly after the train passed, she appeared to get up and walk away.
The footage was broadcast on the Israeli TV network Channel 2. According to the station, police later caught up with the woman and escorted her to a local hospital were she received minor medical treatment for bruising to the head, and then was moved to psychiatric hospital in Northern Israel for further evaluation.
Posted by peiper
on 06/03/2009 at 11:21 AM
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Permalink • Murdered Briton: why is Abu Qatada still in the UK?
This is an editorial comment on the news of the murder of a Brit by al-Qaeda terrorists.
It is well worth reading.
TELEGRAPH
By: Philip Johnston
Jun 3, 2009A British man, Edwin Dyer, being held hostage by al-Qaeda terrorists in Mali, has been murdered, Gordon Brown has announced.
The group that killed him said it did so because the UK refused to release Abu Qatada, an extremist cleric being held in prison in this country. It is right that the British government did not bow the knee to terrorist demands, however hard that may be for those captured and their families.
But there is another issue here. What was Abu Qatada still doing in this country in the first place? He is a Palestinian who is wanted for crimes allegedly committed in Jordan. His deportation has been ordered but he has waged a lengthy legal battle against removal on human rights grounds. His lawyers say he will be ill-treated if returned to Jordan; therefore the UK would fall foul of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Yet in 2007, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) ruled that Qatada could be deported. It said assurances received from Jordan about his treatment were enough to override human rights obstacles.
Mr Justice Ouseley, the chairman of Siac, said there was “no real risk of persecution” of Qatada on his return. A trial in Jordan would “not involve a complete denial of the right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial body”, the court said.
Siac said Qatada’s presence in the UK was “not conducive to the public good”. His deportation would make “the lives and well-being of those resident here safer”.
So why is he still here?
In January this year, the House of Lords, the highest court in the land, again ruled that it would be legal to return Qatada to Jordan.
So why is he still here?
If he had been deported, as the Government said he would be, then the British hostage might not have been kidnapped and murdered. It is, of course, possible, that the terrorists would have used some other excuse; and there was a ransom demanded as well. But it is clear, as the courts have repeatedly conceded, that Abu Qatada’s continued presence in this country is placing the lives of British citizens in jeopardy.
Bizarrely, Qatada was even re-arrested and sent back to prison last December after being released on bail because he apparently tried to leave the country. The Government feared he might try to join Islamist fighters abroad and wanted to ensure his proper extradition to penal authorities in Jordan.
So why is he still here?
Gordon Brown has denounced the killers of Mr Dyer and said they would be brought to justice. That is unlikely. But one thing his government could have done was to fulfil its duty to protect British citizens from those who would do them harm. Ministers say they want to deport foreign terrorists and usually maintain that legal obstacles make deportations impossible; yet these have been removed where Abu Qatada is concerned.
If he is not on next plane to Jordan, will Mr Brown explain why not?
The Prime Minister said: “This tragedy reinforces our commitment to confront terrorism.”
He could demonstrate that by getting rid of Qatada from these shores. Today.
SOURCE
Those disgusting lawyers who made sure the filthy, lice infested, dirty unwashed looking bastard stayed here deserve the worst that could happen to them.
They knew damn well what and who this scum is. They damn well knew his ties to the terror network. But oh boo-hoo. They play the human rights game and afford him all the benefits of a society he wants to destroy. And just so ya know in case you don’t. This puke is wanted in more places then just Jordan.
It all happens from within. Doesn’t it? And that will be our undoing eventually.
Posted by peiper
on 06/03/2009 at 10:51 AM
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Permalink • Al Qaeda beheads British tourist kidnapped at African music festival.
Hard to find words that don’t all run together starting with eF.
The photo (at the link) may not be bloody but it is not a pretty one. Hard to imagine what the poor guy had to go through first.
No point in repeating the old mantra re. The Bomb” and let god sort it out. We all feel that way but we all know it just ain’t gonna happen.
I don’t understand why anyone would have been in that part of the world anyway. What’s there to see except crude living barely human life forms anyway?
Be sure of course that if by some odd chance, and it would be a very odd chance, that if any of these sub-humans were caught, most likely some effin’ do-gooder will insist their uman rights not be violated.
By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE
Last updated at 12:44 PM on 03rd June 2009
A Briton kidnapped in Africa has been beheaded by Al Qaeda terrorists demanding the release of radical cleric Abu Qatada from a London jail.The terror group’s North African section said on its website that it had killed Edwin Dyer, adding that disbelievers would be ‘smitten in the neck’. Gordon Brown said the Government had ‘strong reason to believe’ the claim.
The statement said terrorists ‘killed Dyer on May 31, finding that Britain is unresponsive and does not seem to care for its citizens’.
It added: ‘The British captive was killed so that he, and with him the British state, may taste a portion of what innocent Muslims taste every day at the hands of the Crusader and Jewish coalition to the east and to the west.’
The kidnappers blamed the British government for Mr Dyer’s death, claiming that ministers had failed to negotiate a deal.
Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM), the North African branch of the group, had threatened to kill Mr Dyer if extremist cleric Abu Qatada was not released from a British high-security prison.
The Briton, who spoke fluent German and had been working in Austria, was kidnapped in Niger along with three other Europeans after visiting an African festival in January.
He was seized along with a German woman and two Swiss citizens after armed Tuareg rebels shot out the tyres of two cars they were returning in from the Anderamboukane Festival over the border in Mali.
Ironically the biennial festival celebrates Tuareg culture, music, crafts and sport. Three other tourists escaped unharmed in a third car through a hail of bullets.
The party’s cook, who also escaped, later told how the kidnappers had staged a ‘show execution’ by firing a gun an inch away from his head.
The tribesmen then sold their captives on to the terror cell led by Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, a leading figure in AQIM. Also held were two Canadian diplomats seized by a different group.
A Swiss man, Werner Greiner, is still being held by the Al Qaeda cell. All the other hostages were released previously. Other European countries are believed to have paid ransoms, and Al Qaeda announced last month that it had secured the release of four Islamist fighters in exchange for hostages.
However, the UK has a no-exceptions policy against making deals with terrorists.
AQIM had vowed to kill Mr Dyer if the British Government did not free Jordanian Abu Qatada, jailed in 2005 and currently fighting deportation to Jordan. A multi-million-euro ransom is also thought to have been demanded.
Despite refusing to meet that demand, secret negotiations involving the Malian government and others - reputedly including Sayf al-Islam al-Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader - had been taking place in a desperate bid to secure Mr Dyer’s freedom.
‘I utterly condemn this appalling and barbaric act of terrorism,’ Mr Brown said.
Qatada, named as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe by Spanish judges, is in solitary confinement at Long Lartin, Worcestershire.
In his statement today Mr Brown warned Mr Dyer’s killers: ‘This tragedy reinforces our commitment to confront terrorism. It strengthens our determination never to concede to the demands of terrorists, nor to pay ransoms.
‘I want those who would use terror against British citizens to know beyond doubt that we and our allies will pursue them relentlessly, and that they will meet the justice they deserve.’
HERE FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AND THE PHOTOS
Posted by peiper
on 06/03/2009 at 10:29 AM
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Permalink • Tuesday - June 02, 2009
THERE’S A DARN GOOD REASON PPL CALL THIS PLACE, “THE NANNY STATE.” HERE’S JUST ONE EXAMPLE.
Naturally there are others but this one caught my eye this evening.
What a load of BS. Like kids won’t get their candy fix anyway. Take a look.
BTW ... for Americans. A translation. Crisps are what we would call potato chips.
Chips here in UK are what we call French Fries.
Must say though. When I was going to school, the school we went to had no cafeteria. We all went home for lunch, school was in our area so we’d walk to and from. In those far away days, kids weren’t bused across town just to meet some screwed up racial mandate or quota. A community school was just that. Close enough to walk and only a few needing rides. In fact, we didn’t have a school bus for the Sarah J. Rawson school. Generally called the Holcolm St. School cuz that’s were it was. Kids living further afield brought food to school I think. If we had a cafeteria I sure wasn’t aware of it.
Candy? Nope. Didn’t have much of that either except as a treat at home. But there wasn’t any health restriction on it. And Hershey bars were five cents and they were bigger then they are now.
That entire neighborhood has changed of course. Some 25 years ago I went home for a visit and saw chain link fences in the old hood. Most of the houses didn’t look like the lawns were tended ( same for those once nice houses) and the old school had a chain fence around it. I wonder if the name was changed. ??? Probably the Saint Martin Luther King school by now. The area is ugly now. No surprise of course.
Grammar school pupils face suspension for selling sweets to sugar-starved friends amid junk food ban
By JAYA NARAIN
Last updated at 3:22 PM on 02nd June 2009Smuggling contraband sweets into school and selling them to classmates is an enterprise that will be familiar to generations of schoolchildren.
But now pupils at a top grammar school have been warned they will be kicked out the classroom if they continue to deal sweets.
Entrepreneurial youngsters have set up a ‘black market’ at their school selling everything from fizzy drinks, sweets, crisps.
But the pupil-run enterprise is a direct contravention of strict rules banning junk food, sweets and pop at the school and pupils smuggling in the contraband sweets have been told they will be suspended.
The warning comes after the ‘sweet ‘racket’ was foiled by staff at top-rated St Anselm’s College in Birkenhead.
The tuck shop entrepreneurs are just the latest in a long line of retaliatory responses to the Government’s drive to promote eating in schools. The handful of culprits were also caught selling fizzy drinks and sweets to pupils travelling to school on the bus.
Headteacher at St Anselm’s, Simon Duggan, fears the practice is encouraging fights and thefts at his school.
In a strongly worded letter to parents at the 450-pupil school, Mr Duggan warned those caught will be excluded from school and ‘their ill-gotten gains’ confiscated.
He added: ‘Sweets are not allowed to be sold in schools under food regulations and we will not let any student subvert these necessary rules.
‘The governors and I expect the full co-operation of parents in this matter. It is simply an issue of common sense.
Tuck shop entrepreneurs: The boys were caught selling sweets to fellow pupils
He said the ‘sweet racket’ was a small scale problem involving only a few of pupils but said he did not want it to grow.
Mr Duggan said the sweet dealing was at odds with the school’s healthy eating push and hard work aimed towards a balanced diet. He added: ‘We are keen to develop budding entrepreneurs but not if it involves doing something on the margins of legality.’
Anti-obesity campaigners today said they were fully behind the school’s stance - citing fizzy drinks as a major cause of dental problems and obesity.
Dr Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said: ‘If he is trying to promote healthy eating he would become frustrated by what’s gone on and decide this is his only course of action.’
The health drive was launched in 2006 after TV chef Jamie Oliver brought the media spotlight to focus on the issue.
He embarrassed the Government into action over tougher food standards and ensured school meals have got healthier.
But in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, mothers passed their children Mcdonald’s burgers, crisps and chips over the school fence after teachers banned junk food.
A primary school was accused of running a ‘mealtime Gestapo’ after insisting on inspecting children’s lunchboxes for unhealthy food.
If pupils are found to have sweets, chocolate, fizzy drinks or full-fat crisps, teachers confiscate them and hold them in the staffroom.
The snacks were seized at Danegrove Primary School in Barnet, North London and were then returned at the end of the day if parents asked for them.
In 2007, Standish High School in Wigan banned pupils from leaving the school grounds at lunchtime, stopping them from going to fast food outlets.
Some children phoned a local sandwich delivery man who came to the school and passed the food through the gates. Teachers complained and the sandwich seller was asked to move on by police.
Posted by peiper
on 06/02/2009 at 02:35 PM
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Permalink • Damned inconsiderate liberal moron put a ding in our car. I’m just assuming it was a lib. Don’t know
Since I never saw it happen I wouldn’t know but it somehow feels better to blame a libtard.
A few days ago I wrote about the feeling of going one step forward and two back. Never finished the thought or the post I wanted to do.
So doing it now.
A few week ago our old car gave up the ghost. Head gasket went and the block most likely cracked. Frankly I was glad. I don’t drive here and so the wife has the extra burden and the old car was hard to steer. No P.Steering on the thing and very hard to pull the wheels when parking, caused a lot of problems for her not to mention pain due to back problem. So here was a great opportunity to get another (used) car but one with power steering but not auto transmission.
It’s a 2001 Rover with 40,000 miles on it. Local car.
We’re kind of lucky in that for many years, the cars owned by MIL were always serviced by one guy, and a right nice chap he is. He comes to the house and does the work here, that is, things like oil changes and general services.
If he has to bring the car to the service station, he leaves his in our drive and takes our car in. Over the years he’s been the one to find cars as needed so that the wife’s mom didn’t have to submit to used car salesmen and be cheated more then likely. That was her personal feeling anyway. That a lone woman and aging as well, was always at the mercy of unscrupulous sales ppl.
Work is done in what spare time he has, and he never asked for a set fee. Unbelievable isn’t it? He wouldn’t set a fixed price but would trust the mil and later the wife, to pay what they felt was reasonable. The car that died btw wasn’t picked out by him. It was an old banger owned by the wife’s late uncle. The car before that failed the MOT, which is the yearly test that must be done much like the smog test you guys get done every year. Except this MOT thingy a lot more involved and ya have to pass to get the car re-registered. Well, the old car had lots wrong after all the years and it was rusted underneath and so my wife got her uncle’s car. Which lasted about two years.
Funny (but not as in ha,ha) thing about that car. Nigel, that’s our mechanic, picked it up and brought it in to the place where the MOT tests are done and the car passed, at a cost of £50.00. I think it was 50 anyway. As I said, I don’t drive here but due to wife’s back problem and also how cramped that old garage is, I usually back the car out of the garage for her and she’s okay after that.
I’d noticed something not right about the old thing and on occasion, on startup, it didn’t sound right. At one point I simply thought it might be timing but I am not a mechanic and so called on Nigel. Once he told us what he found, we asked him to hunt for a car for us and nursed the old one along for a couple of weeks.
So, the day came and on a bright Sat. morning at 10:20 he brought over this Rover for us to view.
We both liked it and it fit our needs and we agreed to buy it.
It needed service and a new battery and since he couldn’t do it that day, we agreed to buy and he took it away and returned it waxed and new battery and all in order on the following Saturday.
Five days later when we parked downtown due to a doctor’s appointment, that’s when we got it.
Our first dent and naturally we weren’t there when it happened.
A total careless jerk who more then likely shouldn’t be on the road to begin with, must have either pulled out or someone pulled in, who knows. It isn’t a huge dent or anything but it is big enough for me to see every time I get in on the passenger side. It’s at the top of the door just about in line with the outside mirror. Damn good thing we always remember to fold those in when parking. Couldda been worse I guess.
How come we never seem to catch these inconsiderate slobs? Yeah I know. Get over it. There’s worse then that in this world. They’re called liberals.
I’ll bet that’s who crashed into our car. (it was a crash to me) A liberal must have done it.
Posted by peiper
on 06/02/2009 at 02:02 PM
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Permalink • Worker who suffered racial discrimination at refugee charity wins £65,000. Another wronged negr
They’re everywhere.
So ok. Maybe he’s telling the truth. Although I don’t believe him. Which counts for less then nothing I know.
See what gets me is all this BS talk about flashbacks to where he’d lived before.
Born here but parents took him back to the dark continent when a baby and so he grew up there. But times got bad for mammy and old black joe and so back to the UK they came as fast as their donkey could carry them. Article says they came back due to the war and killing where they were. Right. More likely they wanted Brit largess which more then likely put this guy thru law school. Oh wonderful. Another black lawyer.
How’d he handle the stress there must have been studying and taking tests. Of course, we don’t actually know if the tests he took were the very same ones, others took. I mean, maybe his civil and human rights required he have an easier test. ??? Well hell. I don’t know. I just see that old RCOB when ppl start suing for “hurt feelings.”
He suffered psychiatric trauma
he suffered flashbacks to the Nigerian Civil War
He suffered disabling depression
His mind always wandering
He became very resentful of white women, who he feels have been given work in preference to him.
He felt demotivated
And all because he thought he was being discriminated against. Well, perhaps he was. But how is it determined that race was the reason? Oh right. I forget.
Any time a person of color raises that issue, the door is closed to anything else.
There has been a total failure by the respondent to offer any form of apology to him at any time.’
Well duh ... would that make a difference? Sure it would. It would be an admission of guilt and besides. What if they don’t think there is anything to say sorry for? What if race really had nothing to do with it? But of course, it had to. De black dude says so and ya can’t deny it by sayin’ , it ain’t necessarily so.
Black immigration worker who suffered racial discrimination at refugee charity wins £65,000By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 3:43 PM on 02nd June 2009A black man who was made redundant by the British Refugee Council, leaving only white people at the immigration centre where he worked, has been awarded more than £65,000 compensation.
Emmanuel Obikwu, 45, was unfairly singled out when his unit was earmarked for closure, an employment tribunal ruled.
While he and a Tanzania-born colleague lost their jobs, white colleagues were moved on to new posts.
Mr Obikwu, who has two British Masters degrees in law, suffered stress, anxiety, sleeping disorders, depression, and flashbacks to his own time as a refugee as a result of his treatment.
He has now been awarded £65,475 for unfair dismissal, racial discrimination, injury to feelings, psychiatric injury, and loss of earnings.
The payout follows £30,000 awarded in January to a former colleague, Tanzania-born Zaina Ukwaju, who also lost her job.
Speaking yesterday after the tribunal’s judgement was published, Mr Obikwu accused his former employers of racism.
‘This was a charity that I believed was dedicated to equal treatment of its employees and committed to human rights and the welfare of refugees,’ he said.
‘All I had ever wanted from the British Refugee Council was to be treated equally and fairly.
‘The racism and unfairness meted out to me by this organisation affected my health and damaged my well-being psychologically and psychiatrically.’
Mr Obikwu was born in London but his Nigerian parents returned with him to their homeland when he was a baby.
They came back to the UK a few years later after fleeing the country’s brutal civil war.
Mr Obikwu was educated in Britain and went on to work as an asylum support advice worker at the Oakington Immigration Centre, near Cambridge.
He lost his job in May 2006 after plans to close the unit at the Home Office-run centre were announced.
But he was horrified to learn later on that his white colleagues had been allowed to take jobs elsewhere.
During the eight-day hearing last year, the tribunal was told the council had failed to follow its redundancy rules in ‘the most extreme way’.
It was alleged by Mr Obikwu and Miss Ukwaja that the operations manager Anne-Marie Leech was ‘consciously biased’ when selecting members of staff to be made redundant.
They highlighted the fact that no one who attended a party at her home had lost their job.
The tribunal rejected this claim but said it was likely Ms Leech ‘subconsciously’ favoured colleagues she was friendly with - particularly those at the party.
Bury St Edmunds Employment Tribunal in Suffolk ruled Mr Obikwu deserved compensation for his psychiatric trauma and refused to accept the council’s claim that he would have lost his job regardless of his skin colour.
In their judgement, the three-man panel commented: ‘We are quite satisfied that the ill health which the claimant suffered was caused by race discrimination for which the respondent is responsible.
‘There has been a total failure by the respondent to offer any form of apology to him at any time.’
After losing his job, the tribunal heard, Mr Obikwu took a post as a night project worker with the Salvation Army. But he left in May last year as his psychological problems mounted.
A psychiatric report published with the judgement said he suffered flashbacks to the Nigerian Civil War.
It said: ‘These are pictures coming into his mind, certainly two or three times a week, of them moving from place to place.
‘He was also doing some studying but found his mind always wandering back to what happened at Oakington. He felt demotivated and it was pointless to study.’
A GP’s report added Mr Obikwu’s attitude to employment had also suffered.
‘He has had a major change in his attitude towards colleagues, particularly becoming very resentful of white women, who he feels have been given work in preference to him,’ it said.
‘This depression has been a disabling condition, particularly affecting his motivation and concentration, but also his attitude to work and relationships within the family.’
The British Refugee Council yesterday insisted its managers had acted ‘in good faith’.
A spokesman added: ‘We have reviewed our procedures to ensure that all staff are treated equally and fairly. We regret the distress the process has caused Mr Obikwu.’
Posted by peiper
on 06/02/2009 at 12:04 PM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Racism and race relations • UK •
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Permalink • THE COMRADES IN CHARGE OF TRUTH MINISTRY ADVISE AGAINST PUTTING OPINIONS INTO WORDS.
I know this story or one like it was covered only two months ago. Maybe less.
So this is either an update or a new story. Doesn’t much matter frankly as it’s clearly a window into what this place has become.
Farmer branded racist for telling the truth about travellersBy Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 12:28 PM on 02nd June 2009Having lived next to a community of travellers for 30 years, Bryan Lee thought he had valuable insight into plans to give them a permanent home.
But when he objected to transforming a field into a new settlement, his input was ignored - and he was even branded a racist.
Mr Lee, 65, was warned he could face legal action from the police and equality watchdogs if he dared to continue with his ‘racist representations’.
Yesterday, the retired dairy farmer spoke of his outrage at being labelled a bigot by officials at Mid Devon District Council.
Their response came after he wrote in March to disagree with plans to turn a field half a mile from his home in Silverton, Devon, into two pitches for travellers.
The father of two outlined the problems he had faced with another travellers’ site and said the application was ‘inappropriate for the area’.
He wrote: ‘The number of families at any one time on the permanent site was an ongoing problem for the local authority, as was the nature of business carried out on the site.
‘This included vehicle wrecking and various small-scale livestock ventures.’
He continued: ‘Horses were turned into my fields regularly. The police were regular visitors, usually to trace stolen property but also to break up fights with traveller families from other sites.’
When staff eventually responded, Mid Devon District Council said it would take ‘no account’ of his letter and warned he may be investigated under race laws.
Officials wrote: ‘It is policy on planning and building proposals to take no account of representations of a racist nature.
‘If the council receives any more racist representations from you, this matter will be referred to the Commission for Racial Equality or the police.’
Yesterday Mr Lee, who lived next to a camp in Broadclyst, Devon, before moving to Silverton, said: ‘This extreme reaction would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic and damaging to my character. It is absolutely outrageous. I am not a racist.’
He insisted his letter over the proposal was ‘a factual report of my own first-hand experience’.
He continued: ‘I spent 30 years living next to a travellers’ site and it was hell.
‘ I had lots of my farming equipment stolen. If my property wasn’t bolted down, it would disappear overnight.
‘The place was a complete tip with rubbish everywhere. I also witnessed some very aggressive and unpleasant behaviour. I wasn’t suggesting all travellers acted in this way - of course they don’t.
‘I was simply pointing out what happened in my personal experience. I was within my rights to oppose the application, especially after what I’ve been through, without being accused of racism by some jumped-up official.’
He added that the council withdrew the plan after being flooded with 50 complaints from residents.
A spokesman for Mid Devon District Council said: ‘I appreciate that planning applications for gipsy and traveller sites can be quite sensitive.’
She added that the authority had a ‘clear policy’ meaning that officials would not take into account comments ‘where they could reasonably be considered to be racist’.
reasonably be considered to be racist’.
Reasonable? I don’t even see where that enters it here. Do any of you? I couldn’t find anything in what he said that could be taken that way. Except by the shitheads on that council who want to read it that way. And btw, where exactly does race enter into this anyway?
Seems like the asswipes in power simply make up a race and after that whatever group they so designate is beyond criticism.
WAY BEYOND!
Words, all words and all meaningless. Blow off steam, the pc crowd keeps chugging along making things worse and nobody with a gun to stop the shits.
There is loads of honest evidence in plain view from the victims to police reports and people living in a general area near these vermin. They are trouble wherever they land. The laws here mean nothing. The green belt means less when they pave over and settle that. They are a law unto themselves and will damn well do whatever they please so, up yours native and other law abiding citizens. You can stick your clawless laws where the sun don’t shine.
Now move it citizen, we have some more property to destroy.
Posted by peiper
on 06/02/2009 at 10:34 AM
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Daily Life • Outrageous • Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters • UK •
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Permalink • Monday - June 01, 2009
Blogging Break
I won’t be around much for the next two or three days. I’ve got a nice big window job over on the other side of the state. So I’ll be off making money ... which will flow right through my checking account and out the other side to pay some bills. That’s life!
Since I’ll be getting up around 5am tomorrow to be on the job site well before 7am, and I’ll probably be working until 6:30, then trying to zoom back across the state in time to vote in the primary ... I won’t be bowling this week on my Tuesday night summer league. Instead I went and pre-bowled this afternoon. And I took a pretty big chance: I used a “new” ball without throwing any practice games with it. But it isn’t completely new, just suddenly different. Even after I had it resurfaced, my Ebonite Total NV was still going really long, so I had the alley guy drill a balance hole in it. A balance hole can actually be more like an “unbalance hole”, because it takes a bit of weight off the lighter side of the ball, which makes the heavy side relatively heavier, which makes it hook more. [ While bowling balls are round, they are not evenly balanced. These days they have computer designed weight blocks in them, which gives the ball an asymmetric balance ... which means it turns to the inside when you roll it. And if you put a bit of turn on it yourself when you roll it ( what bowlers call “rev” ) then it’s going to turn quite abruptly at some point in it’s roll. You want that to happen! ] So I took 4 practice throws with this ball, 2 per lane, and got 4 strikes in a row. Good enough! So I did my pre-bowling with the NV, and threw 182-226-198 for a 606. Which means I threw my 2nd 600 series in a row, after last week’s 660. Which I have never, ever, never done before. Pretty cool I think. And, since last week’s series shot my average up to 183, my hope is that this 19 over average, on average, series will be enough of a boost so that my team can beat the other team this week, in at least 2 of the 3 games. We’re playing that group of drunken college girls, back for another year of boys, booze, and bowling. And even though they are quite cute they still rather suck, which is why my team is giving them a 179 pin handicap, even though we have a vacant position on our team. Go team!
In other toothsome news, I never thought it was possible for any of these “internet models” to do their schtick, sans fabrique total, and not lose their innocence. I think I’ve been proven wrong. Yum. Talk about cute! It doesn’t get much better than this.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/01/2009 at 06:00 PM
Filed Under: • Bowling Blogging • Eye-Candy • work and the workplace •
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