Saturday - July 04, 2009

Prize Winning Headlines

Does the UK give out prizes for headlines? They ought to. Here’s a contender ...

One of Britain’s most historic cities, Canterbury, has been told it is sufficiently gay – after a complaint sparked a two-month investigation costing thousands of pounds.

A government watchdog decided that Canterbury in Kent does enough to promote homosexual culture, rejecting a complaint by local activists.

The Local Government Ombudsman – who asked for the city’s council to provide evidence of how it supported the gay community – said it was satisfied the pink pound was being catered for.

As part of the investigation, the council had to prove its inclusiveness by giving details of “touring plays and musicals, for example, which would be of interest to the LGBT community”.

And it had to show that it had “put forward suggestions for small events that it might help fund, as well as proposals for other events such as exhibitions”.

Rob Davies, spokesman for the council, said: “Obviously we’re delighted with the outcome of the investigation.

“We feel we do a great deal for the gay community in Canterbury and we have always tried to support various gay events and promotions.”

Yet another instance of a group demanding “equal rights” when what they really mean is “extra special rights that are more than equal”. Barf. But I just adore the headline.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/04/2009 at 10:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Gay Gay Gay! • UK •  
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Another Bad Aroma

A civil rights group advised by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in the 1980s brought several discrimination lawsuits that sought to scrap the results of job tests because too few Hispanics scored well, according to new documents that are fueling GOP criticism of the judge.

The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund represented Hispanic sanitation workers in New York City who wanted to stop white employees from getting promotions because, they argued, the qualifying exam unfairly disadvantaged minorities. The case unfolded as Sotomayor chaired the organization’s board of directors’ litigation committee, although there is no evidence that she had any role in the group’s decision to participate in the lawsuits, or in formulating or drafting any of their legal arguments.

Still, the case bears strong similarities to a much-discussed case Sotomayor ruled on last year as a federal appeals court judge, which involved the reverse discrimination claims of white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., who sued after the city threw out its promotion test because too few minorities qualified. A panel she joined ruled against the white firefighters in the case, Ricci v. DeStefano. The Supreme Court reversed the decision last Monday.

The sanitation workers’ case and similar ones—including a series of lawsuits against the New York City Police Department that ultimately resulted in the department consulting with a PRLDEF expert in drafting its job tests—are detailed in hundreds of pages of new material the group sent the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday. The documents were placed on the committee’s Web site.

The job discrimination suits, which are a staple of most minority legal advocacy groups’ work, have drawn outrage from Republicans who allege they prove that Sotomayor has endorsed an agenda of reverse discrimination and racial preferences for minorities.

Well, you know how it is: “Court is where policy is made.” Methinks little Sonia is far more activist than we’ve been lead to believe. And I already thought she was plenty activist to begin with.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/04/2009 at 09:51 AM   
Filed Under: • Judges-Courts-Lawyers •  
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   Friday - July 03, 2009

Continuismo

Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth. The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a coup d’état.

That is nonsense.

In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law.

These are the facts: On June 26, President Zelaya issued a decree ordering all government employees to take part in the “Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly.” In doing so, Zelaya triggered a constitutional provision that automatically removed him from office.

Constitutional assemblies are convened to write new constitutions. When Zelaya published that decree to initiate an “opinion poll” about the possibility of convening a national assembly, he contravened the unchangeable articles of the Constitution that deal with the prohibition of reelecting a president and of extending his term. His actions showed intent.

Our Constitution takes such intent seriously. According to Article 239: “No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.”

Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says “immediately” – as in “instant,” as in “no trial required,” as in “no impeachment needed.”

Octavio Sánchez, a lawyer, is a former presidential adviser (2002-05) and minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/03/2009 at 08:58 PM   
Filed Under: • Tyrants and Dictators •  
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Sarah Palin To Resign

Palin Quits as Alaska Governor

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday that she is stepping down at the end of the month, setting up a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

[Ok, maybe. But is that wishful thinking or what?]

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shocked the political word Friday by announcing that she will step down at the end of the month and transfer power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

Palin made the announcement from her home in Wasilla, flanked by her husband, Todd, and family and state commissioners.

The announcement came on the same week that one of her top public health officials says she was forced out of office because Palin felt she wasn’t in step on social issues.

Palin’s decision now allows her to avoid the difficult task of running for president while serving as governor.

Todd Palin told FOX News that his wife will concentrate on “doing the things for Alaska and the country” that she is passionate about and can not do as governor with the limitation and constant opposition she deals with within the state.

Maybe she is gearing up for a Presidential campaign. I guess Wait & See is the only thing we can do.

Lots of speculation over at Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, and The Anchoress, to name but a few.

“I know when it’s time to pass the ball for victory,” soon-to-be-former Governor Sarah Palin says at a press conference with her family, standing before a picturesque river and seaplane.

She says she’s looking forward to the swearing in of Lt. Governor Sean Parnell. “All I can ask is that you trust me with this decision,” she says. “I cannot millions of dollars and time go to waste just so I can remain as governor of Alaska.

“This decision has been in the works for a while. It comes after a great deal of prayer and deliberation.”

She said when she put the decision to her family, the vote was four “yes"es and one ‘Hell yeah.’ She mentions the family’s reaction to the mockery of Trig.

She said her decision was “fortified during her visit to the troops in Kosovo.”

“It hurts to make this choice, but I’ve given my reasons.  I’m reminded of a sign on my parents’ refrigerator, ‘Don’t explain; your friends don’t need it, and your enemies won’t believe you anyway.’”

Read the rest here, including The Official Announcement:

Governor Sarah Palin announced today that she will not seek a second term as Governor of the State of Alaska and will relegate the power of governor to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell in order to serve Alaska’s best interests.  Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will move into Parnell’s current role.

“People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing’s more important to me than our beloved Alaska,” said Governor Palin.  “Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.”

Standing outside her home in Wasilla, Alaska, Governor Palin reflected upon some of the administration’s accomplishments for Alaska as she approaches her final year in office.

“I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path,” said Governor Palin after the announcement.  “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose.  It is my duty to always protect our great state.  With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.  I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence.”

Posted by Drew458     on 07/03/2009 at 03:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Politics • Republicans •  
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A fresh bowl of Crowder

Posted by Drew458     on 07/03/2009 at 01:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor • Politically-Incorrect •  
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HEY .. YOU FIND SOMETHIN’ DUMBER THEN THIS, LET US KNOW. COZ THIS REALLY IS DUH.

Doesn’t matter what I think but the fact is, I am not surprised.  I’ve seen a ton of things as dumb and one or two even dumber the first year I was here.
EVERYTHING is RIGHTS!RIGHTS! and more of the same. So this falls into line with the PC, warm and fuzzy thinking here.  Not by all of course. Some are trying to fight the stupidity.

At the moment though it looks like a losing war.

DOES IT GET MUCH DUMBER THEN THIS? 

Prisoners on run cannot be named ‘due to privacy rights’
Prisoners on the run from Holleseley Bay prison cannot be identified because it would breach their rights to privacy, the Ministry of Justice has said.

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Published: 2:52PM BST 03 Jul 2009

Civil servants have refused to name inmates who have fled prison even though individual police forces will often identify them if they pose a risk to the public.

They say releasing their names would breach obligations under the Data Protection Act.

It echoes a row in 2007 when Derbyshire Police refused to release pictures of two escaped murderers.

The latest development emerged in response to Freedom Of Information requests to name inmates on the run rom the prison near Woodbridge, Suffolk.

The open prison which has sea views and once held Tory peer Jeffrey Archer is known as Holiday Bay because of its easy-going regime.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed 39 prisoners had absconded from Hollesley Bay between January 1, 2007, to March 31, 2009.

It also provided a general list of crimes they were sentenced for and confirmed that 16 involved violence.

The offenders included nine robbers, two serving sentences for attempted robbery, one for wounding and four others for grievous bodily harm.

But the ministry refused to say how many - if any - had been recaptured, saying their identities had to be protected from third parties.

John Gummer, the Suffolk Coastal MP, said he was aghast at the decision and promised to raise the matter in parliament with Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary.

He said: “It’s intolerable and entirely unacceptable. There is no sense in which a prisoner’s identity is a private matter. In my view he sacrifices that when he becomes a prisoner.

“This annoys me very much indeed. We have gone mad if this is what we are doing.

“What I will be doing is putting down a question to the Justice Minister on Monday to ask for the information. I shall insist this is information that should be in the public domain.

“I think this will prove Hollesley Bay has ceased to be treated as an open prison in the historic way, but is now receiving prisoners who would not have been sent to it 10 years ago.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Whilst it is in the public interest to be aware of offenders who have escaped from custody as they may help in identifying the absconders thereby enabling the police to detain them; it is not in the public interest to prejudice any enquiries or operations the police may be conducting into apprehending the absconder.

“It is the general policy of the Ministry of Justice not to disclose, to a third party, personal information about another person.

“This is because the Ministry of Justice has obligations under the Data Protection Act and in law generally to protect this information.”

In January 2007 Derbyshire Police refused to release pictures of two convicted murderers on the run from jail. Chief Constable David Coleman said Jason Croft and Michael Nixon posed “no risk’’ and the force had to consider the Human Rights Act and data protection laws when asked to publish photographs. The force later denied human rights had been a factor.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? YEAH. I CAN.

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2009 at 11:11 AM   
Filed Under: • Insanity • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK •  
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After nearly six months in office, some of the gloss is starting to wear off the President’s image .

Thanks to The Telegraph who with their usual carelessness has omitted the editorial on line that really should be here, I am posting a very interesting
piece by one of their reporters on this subject.

Judging by the cartoon, it looks like Garland who was never a fan of Bush, but who I think loves The One, sees Obama as leader who might show the way forward.  At least on this issue.

The editorial by Mr. Coughlin contains this line;” Even some of his most dedicated supporters have been disappointed by the concessions he has made to the Democrat-controlled Congress.”

While listening to the radio the other night, I heard some stupid loud mouthed jerk who should know better, make the claim that the use of The Bomb on Japan was an act of “Criminality and Terrorism.” “A war crime” she said.
That has absolutely NOTHING at all to do with this post.  I’m just sharing it because I’m still pissed off even after 24 or more hours. Frustrating cause I couldn’t punch her and couldn’t toss the radio. So I turned it off but stayed PO’d.  I HATE hearing that sort of bilge, and especially coming from someone who I mistook to be reasonably conservative. 

I don’t quite understand how when typing in their own bloody headline, the Telegraph search which is powered by Google, doesn’t recognize the headline. I see something that says there is no such document found which is odd coz I’m looking at the hard copy.

OK , so here.  This is a good read. 

Afghanistan ‘surge’ will test Obama’s military muscle
President Obama hopes Operation Khanjar will finish off the job in Afghanistan that under-funded British forces have failed to do.

By Con Coughlin

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the launch of the “surge” against the Taliban in Afghanistan. And to judge by the enormous firepower Nato commanders have deployed for Operation Khanjar, or “sword strike”, this time the Americans mean business.

Four thousand US marines, supported by a further 650 Afghan troops and supplied with the best equipment the American military can provide, have moved into the lower Helmand river valley with the intention of eradicating, once and for all, the threat posed by the Taliban.

This is, of course, precisely what the British have been trying to achieve for three years. But a lack of sufficient troops and suitable equipment, such as helicopters, or vehicles that offer effective protection against roadside bombs, has severely hampered the mission. Despite engaging in some of the fiercest hand-to-hand combat since the Second World War, and taking heavy casualties in the process, the Taliban remain as much a threat to the future stability of Afghanistan as they did when the British first deployed in force in the summer
of 2006.

If British commanders had got their way, an extra 2,500 of our troops would have been sent to Afghanistan this summer to do precisely what the Americans are now doing – taking the fight into the heartland of the insurgency. But Gordon Brown, who has consistently failed to provide effective leadership on this issue, refused the request on grounds of cost. As a consequence, British forces find themselves in the humiliating position of having to watch as the Americans do their job for them.

From now on, then, we should regard Afghanistan as Mr Obama’s war, for the US offensive represents the American President’s first military initiative since entering the White House. Its outcome will have a significant impact on how his presidency is perceived by friends and foes alike.

During last year’s election campaign, Mr Obama made much of the fact that Afghanistan, not Iraq, should be the main focus of Washington’s campaign against Islamist-inspired terrorism – or the War on Terror, as it was known to the Bush administration. He promised to reallocate resources from Iraq, and committed himself “to finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban”.

And, since coming to power, Mr Obama has been as good as his word. An extra 17,000 US troops have been deployed to support a “mini-surge” similar to the one that finally subdued the Iraq insurgency in the summer of 2007.

The President has also taken the drastic step of replacing General David McKiernan, the commander of Nato forces, with Lt Gen Stanley McChrystal, a counter-insurgency specialist who commanded the special forces unit responsible for tracking down Saddam Hussein.

Having made military success against the Taliban and al-Qaeda one of his foreign policy priorities, Mr Obama is well aware that he will be judged by the American military’s ability to deliver tangible results. The offensive certainly comes at an important moment for him: after nearly six months in office, some of the gloss is starting to wear off the President’s image as a man who can revolutionise American politics.

HERE FOR THE REST OF THE EDITORIAL

Posted by peiper     on 07/03/2009 at 10:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists • War On Terror •  
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   Thursday - July 02, 2009

Letters From Littleton

Now, I fully expect our British readers to be quite wound up about this, as it’s a major scandal in their government. I’ve been trying to follow it, as Peiper has sent me several clippings on this before. But frankly, I just don’t get it.

The English have Parliament as their Legislative Branch. I don’t know why the word has that extra “a” in it, but I have figured out that Parliament meets in London. And since the MPs - not the Military Police, but the Members of Parliament (think Congressmen) have to go to London to sit on their benches in Parliament (no chairs, but they have front benches and back benches), they’re allowed to get a house or an apartment there. It’s too far to drive. England is a large country, about the size of Missouri or Alabama (or Idaho or Michigan if you include Scotland and Whales and that bit of Ireland to make up the whole UK), this means the MPs need a place to stay while Parlia-ment is in session. And that costs money!

To offset that added expense, MPs are given an expense account. Each one of them - and there are lots of MPs, something like 659 of them, possibly 644 - gets the cash, and those expenses are going to ad up. But not really. You see, each MP is allowed £23,083 per year for expenses. That’s $37,834. About the price of a Nissan Maxima. MPs are already paid an extraordinary salary that averages £64,766 ($106,174). Compared to a US Senator’s mere $162,100. Compared with the $110-175,000 a low/mid-level executive would earn in the American corporate world. The entire bill for all the expense accounts, what they call the ACA (for Additional Costs Allowance) comes out to about $21 million per year. Which is about how much it costs New Jersey to put in a toll booth, or repave 17 miles of highway. Heck, California spends that much just to “rehabilitate” 3/4 of a mile of highway. So we are talking about quite a fortune here.

Ok, that’s just a bit of background. Now on to the scandal: the public over there is in a tizzy fit because ... get this ... the MPs are submitting expense claims in amount up to, but not over, their expense account level. And it’s rocking the nation. The nerve! The gall! The cheek, that these rotters have gone and spent the money that we said they could spend!

HUH???

Granted, some - many! - have put in for reimbursements that don’t actually wash. Like mortgages that don’t exist. And some have put in some rather egregious claims, like having the moat cleaned (must be from the House of Lords) or for the cost of building a floating duck house. Or buying extra manure for their gardens, 28 tons of it actually. Some even put in for some cash to get the mole catcher in for a visit, or for the bug man to come and spray for wasps. Outrageous! Those things have nothing to do with the cost of running a home at all! If the mole catcher’s bill is allowed, then the next thing you know they’ll want money to hire a kid to mow the lawn!

But the bottom line is that these law makers are allowed to claim this much per year, and quite a number of them are actually doing just that!! So heads are rolling on both sides of the aisle. Several have already stepped down in shame, and many have declared that they won’t seek re-election.

There are times when I just don’t get the British.

You may read all about it, in amazing detail, right here.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/02/2009 at 03:41 PM   
Filed Under: • UK •  
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Rare copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence found gathering dust in BRITAIN’S National Archive

Hey ... How about this.  What a find.

Here’s some reader comments from The Mail.

Contrary to what many think, the declaration was not signed on July 4. The first public reading was on July 8. It was not engrossed until 7/19, and ordered to be signed. The signing did not start until Aug 2. Happy 233rd birthday!

- Terrie, Houston, USA, 02/7/2009 15:15

Declaration of Independence found gathering dust in BRITAIN’S National Archive

By Tom Kelly
Last updated at 4:45 PM on 02nd July 2009

An original first print of the United States Declaration of Independence has been discovered gathering dust in Britain after nearly 250 years.

The poster size proclamation, which is in perfect condition and is said to be worth £5million, is one of only 26 surviving initial copies of the document that changed the course of history.

It was found by complete chance by an American antiquarian bookseller carrying out unrelated research in the National Archives in Kew, West London.

The manuscript was hidden among files of correspondence from U.S. colonists that had been intercepted by the British in the 18th century.

The Declaration of Independence was mainly written by the U.S. Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, and is described by historians as ‘America’s birth certificate.’

It was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776 which announced that the thirteen American colonies that were at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.

It includes the then extraordinary assertion: ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal,’ which sent shockwaves through the hereditary European monarchies, and paved the way for the French Revolution 13 years later.

The document was finalised and approved in Philadelphia on July 4 1776 and the 200 first copies were made by printer John Dunlap that night and distributed throughout the colonies the following morning to be read aloud to the colonists and their militia.

It is not certain how the newly discovered copy came into British hands, but it is likely to have been captured by the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War which continued for seven years after the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The last discovery of a Dunlap print was at a flea market in 1989, and it sold at auction in 2000 for £4.94million.

Despite its value, the National Archives said it will not be selling the print, although it might be loaned to former foes in the U.S.

‘The Americans are very excited by it,’ said a spokesman.

‘We do often loan out our key documents and I’m sure if an American institution wanted to borrow it, we would consider lending it to them.

‘It’s amazing that it has been lying here for so long undetected. It just shows how many documents we have.’

Edward Hampshire, the diplomatic and colonial specialist at the National Archives, said it was an incredibly exciting find.

‘It is likely that only around 200 of these were ever printed, so uncovering a new one nearly 250 years later is extremely rare, especially one in such good condition’.

The National Archives already has two other copies of the Declaration of Independence, one of which it keeps on display.

The Declaration was signed by 56 delegates from the colonies including two future presidents, Jefferson and John Adams, prompting church bells to ring over Philadelphia.

In the U.S. July 4 is marked by a public holiday, known as Independence Day.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 07/02/2009 at 01:28 PM   
Filed Under: • FREEDOM • Patriotism • UK •  
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A Post For Mom

I’m fine, don’t worry. We’re uphill from all this mess. The roads are open and dry.



For everyone else who is not Mom:

I live about a quarter mile away from the Spruce Run reservoir. The surface of that lake is pretty much the same elevation as the foundation of my building, and there is a small valley between my place and all the water. So no flooding here. Heck, it isn’t even raining here. Right this minute, but the clouds are lowering. But it did rather pour last night. Again. As always. It’s rained here just about every day since the 4th week in May I think.

It’s not the reservoir that’s the issue. It’s the river, and the river is boiling. Downtown Clinton sits about 4 or 5 feet below the level of the spillway by our world famous Red Mill. And the water is starting to flow over the edge of the gabion wall. If the river rises another 4” it will flood the town.

My man Apu at the Kwiki-Mart says the water was higher late last night. The river runs behind his store on one side, and a big feeder stream comes in behind him on the other side. So he’s concerned, but hasn’t had to get the mops out. Yet.

Flood warning issued for South Branch of Raritan River for Clinton, Stanton, Three Bridges and Neshanic
by Terry Wright/Hunterdon County Democrat
Thursday July 02, 2009, 8:44 AM

The South Branch of the Raritan River was predicted to flood this morning, with Clinton, Stanton, Three Bridges and Neshanic in Branchburg, Somerset County among the areas expecting high water.

“A surge of water was moving down” the river south of High Bridge around 7 a.m., according to the flood warning from the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly.

River gauges indicated that some minor flooding was likely along the South Branch from south of High Bridge to Branchburg, NWS said. A flood warning means that flooding is imminent or has been reported.

The flood came after heavy rainfall overnight, coupled with rain earlier in the week. More than six-tenths of an inch of rain fell in some parts of Hunterdon early today.

Excessive runoff from heavy rainfall was the cause flooding of small creeks and streams, highways and underpasses, besides the river, the weather service said in announcing the warning, in effect until 10 a.m.

Central Jersey also faces a “slight risk of severe thunderstorms” later today, the NWS said. Scattered thunderstorms this afternoon and evening could produce damaging wind gusts and large hail, as well as frequent, dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning and heavy rainfall which could cause localized flooding.

Meanwhile, in downtown Clinton, at the millpond below the reservoir ...

I live about 3/4 mile to the NW of downtown, and it’s a good 15 feet uphill from the millpond dam. The reservoir itself lies about 35 feet above the town though!



Water rages over the dam at our famous Red Mill, right on the edge of town.
The water wheel is turning, and it’s not even connected. That never happens!



The town end of the damn, by the art museum. Note the water pouring over into the parking lot



Water coming over the gabion wall at the museum. Downtown is off camera to the left.



another view of the beginnings of a flood. If the river rises another couple inches, downtown is done for

Posted by Drew458     on 07/02/2009 at 12:31 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life •  
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I’MSORRYI’MSORRYI’MSORRY … WTF is it with these retroactive apologies?

Don’t you just hate this BS.
Get a load of this.

David Cameron has publicly apologised for Section 28 the law introduced by the Thatcher government banning local authorities from promoting homosexuality

Just so you folks back home know, Mr. Cameron is more then likely to become the next PM and he is the head of what passes here for, the Conservative Party, known as Tories.

No pun intended here but I guess he’s sucking up to this crowd for what else?  VOTES!  That’s my guess anyway.  Why in the world is that necessary to begin with?  It was the 80s and he wasn’t in power.  (Lyndon?  What was he doing back then?)
I just see red every time somebody not connected by generation or authority makes these sucky apologies. 

David Cameron says sorry over Section 28 gay law
David Cameron has publicly apologised for Section 28 the law introduced by the Thatcher government banning local authorities from promoting homosexuality.

By Andrew Pierce

The Tory leader, speaking at a Gay deviant pride event, went much further than before in apologising for decisions taken by the party when Baroness Thatcher was leader.

Mr Cameron, the first Tory leader to speak at a Gay queer pride event, said: “I am sorry for Section 28. We got it wrong. It was an emotional issue. I hope you can forgive us.”

Aagghhhh gak.  What the hell is this hope you can forgive US?  US?  Jeez, I bet ya none of the tories in office today were even involved with that decision.
And if any were, so what?  So this is what the Tories and the UK have come to.  TINOs!

Section 28, which became law in 1988, banned local authorities from portraying homosexuality in a positive light. It became a totemic issue for Conservative modernisers. In 2003, when it was abolished by the Labour government, Mr Cameron voted for only the partial lifting of the ban.

Mr Cameron was speaking at an event in London to support Margot James, the Tory candidate for Stourbridge, who is the party’s only openly gay woman candidate. If she wins Stourbridge, one of the party’s key target seats, she will be only the second out gay woman in the House of Commons.

Mr Cameron said: “It is remarkable to have a Conservative leader standing on a gay pride queer platform. Five years ago not many gays would have turned up. Five years ago not many Tories would have turned up either.”

He said one of his “proudest” moments as Tory leader was telling the annual party conference in 2006 that they had a duty to support a “commitment to marriage” among men and women, between a “man and a man, and a woman and a woman”.

Mr Cameron and the shadow cabinet have been on a

(kiss -kiss)

charm offensive with the gay community as new polling research indicates for the first time since 1988 they have moved ahead of the Labour Party.

A survey published today by Jake, gay professionals networking organisation, had Labour on 20.7 per cent, the Lib Dems, on 27.6 per cent, and the Conservatives ahead on 38.2 per cent.

Last year Michael Gove, the shadow schools secretary, said that the party had got it badly wrong on gay issues. ‘I think we indulged prejudice in the 1980s and missed the point,’ he said. ‘It’s not gay men who are abusing women and abandoning children – it’s straight men.” he said.

While Tony Blair said that the introduction of civil partnerships was one of his proudest achievements as Prime Minister Gordon Brown did not attend the Commons to vote in favour of any of Labour’s pro-gay legal reforms. Votes which he missed include the Government’s equalisation of the age of consent, gay couples being able to jointly adopt, civil partnerships, the Equality Act and the abolition of Section 28.

Mr Cameron voted against gay couples adopting but did vote for the introduction of the Civil Partnerships Act, which introduced a form of ‘gay marriage’.

Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall the gay rights organisation, said: “This is something people have waited on for many years. It is a remarkably positive step forward. Without any doubt the legacy of Section 28, even after it was repealed in 2003, has been a great deal of electoral damage to the Conservatives among a significant number of people who would otherwise have been natural supporters.”

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 07/02/2009 at 11:32 AM   
Filed Under: • Politics • UK •  
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Math for Breakfast

In one of my posts the other day I mentioned that I had to do a bit of cleaning up here at the blog, and that I was keeping an eye on space limits. Peiper wrote me about it, so I jokingly replied that he should stop uploading those 20GB pictures of Carla Bruni.

He wrote back with a bit of confusion about megs and gigs and file sizes, so I started writing another one of my computer education email replies back, when I realized, WTH, make a post out of it. So here goes.

Strange, but every number related to computers is done in Base 2, since the heart of a computer is the simple transistor, which is either on (1) or off (0). This leads to some really large, odd looking numbers when you’re talking about larger values, so people have come up common words to express those numbers. These words, prefixes actually, have become common in our language and are used by everyone, even though most people round them off to the nearest power of ten. But computers are very exact, so we won’t do any rounding in this discussion.

8 bits to the byte. 8b = 1B. 1/2 a byte is called a nibble, but nobody uses this term anymore. Nobody hardly even thinks of bits anymore either. Bytes are the common unit of data. All a single bit is, really, is an On/Off switch. You can store some meaning in a byte, but not much. 8 bits limits you to 2⁸ numbers, a mere 256 of them, with the values 0-255. A 32 bit “word” of 4 bytes, or a 64 bit “word” of 8 bytes, is more realistic, but for now we all use bytes as the common size measurement. Units of bits are written as Xb, units of bytes are written as XB. Nuance! Moving right along ...

2¹⁰ bytes = 1024, which is 1 kilobyte, also called 1KB or 1K. For everything other than computers, 1K = 1000.
2²⁰ bytes = 1,048,576, which is 1 megabyte, 1MB. 1M for the rest of everything = 1 million.
2³⁰ bytes = 1,073,741,824, which is 1 gigabyte, 1GB. 1G in common use = 1 billion.
2⁴⁰ bytes = 1,099,511,627,776, which is 1 terabyte, 1TB. 1T of anything else = 1 trillion.

Yes, that’s the American billion. And trillion? Sorry, but I didn’t write the rules. The next larger unit is the petabyte, 2⁵⁰ bytes, 1PB. what we over here call a zillion. This is a number even larger than the total US National Debt. You may insert your own “PETA bites” joke here.

Still with me? Great. Today’s LCD computer monitors are usually in the 16:9 format, which is the width to height ratio. For a 22” diagonal screen of that ratio, this gives you a screen 19.17” wide and 10.79” tall.

The human eye can only distinguish about 3780 x 2485 pixels, which equates to the 1 arcminute (1/60th of one degree) resolving power of the eye on a screen that size. Right now, it looks like Toshiba has a wicked expensive high resolution 22” monitor that does 3840 x 2400 pixels, which is right at the limit of human perception. Awesome. And about $18,000.

Let’s assume price is no object, and that Toshiba has the ability to stitch several of these together to make an ultra-resolution “JumboTron”. Ok. Now let’s assume dear Carla is quite tall, so we’ll need a screen a bit over 6 feet wide to display her life-size, lying down. That means our “UltraTron” monitor would be made from 12 of these smaller ones, 3x4, to give a screen size 32.37” tall and 76.68” wide. I’ll leave it to you to build the graphics card. Anyway, this display would have a resolution of 15,360 x 7200. 110, 592,000 pixels. Call it 110.6Mp.

“Full color” graphics currently means “32 bit color”, which means a pixel can be any one of 2³² colors. 4,294,967,296 colors, to be exact. A 32 bit color bitmap file of a 110.6Mp image works out to a file size of 17,623,131 bytes, which is 16.41GB. Run that file on the quarter million dollar monitor described above and you can look at Carla as large as life and in a level of detail you couldn’t tell from real life.

So, unless you’ve got some larger than life, ultra-detailed photos to upload, don’t worry about it. BMEWS has a mere 1.5GB of storage space, which is plenty enough for the time being.

My first computer was upgraded (!!) from a 10MB to a 32MB hard drive. A good old Seagate ST-4096. It was HUGE! Plus I ran a Perstor card on it, which converted the drive to over 120MB!!!  Beyond massive in those days. 20 years later, right now, for about £55, you can buy a 1TB drive. A terabyte hard drive. For $90. Horry Clap! 1TB is 32,768 (32K) times bigger than 32MB. And the price is a third what I paid back then for the ST-4096, plus the money itself is worth less than half as much. Amazing.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/02/2009 at 11:08 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Science-Technology •  
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The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S. ..

I hate seeing that but am not surprised one bit.

I’ve been following this subject for awhile and have been aghast at the rate of crime, and the nature of same, in a country I once thought of as among the safest.

I clearly recall some 25 years ago, being able to walk streets quite late and seeing others do the same with no fear.  Try that today. I dare ya.

There isn’t any real honest to gosh penalty to discourage the bad guys and sadly now, women as well in greater numbers. And many not yet women but young girls.  ASBOS are not the answer and neither is giving ppl a break. 

Just yesterday the headlines told us about Bernie Madoff getting 150 years for the biggest ponzi scheme in history.  Good. The bastard deserves to be in jail. But wait a damn minute please.  Why not the same for rapists and killers?  What kind of punishment is deserving of ‘yoots’ who set their victims on fire?
Oh… screw with large amounts of money and it’s jail for life and no time off.

For a long time ppl here kept pointing to my country every time a horrid crime over there was reported. Almost as though they have it better here.
Well, they do not. If they ever did and they may well have , that’s all ancient history.

Was a time here when even many criminals would not carry a gun.  That’s because the penalty was so high.  And the thought of shooting a policeman wasn’t an issue. Well, mostly it wasn’t. Seemed to be some kind of unwritten rule or law about assaults on cops and especially with guns.  But that’s no longer the case.
The UK has something else to worry it that perhaps 25 years ago was only in the far future.  Foreign and illegal criminals and and many who can’t be deported.
So the bottom line is ... a totally defenseless law abiding public.  And I will confess that at my age, that’s a worry more now then ever.

The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S.

By James Slack
Last updated at 10:34 AM on 02nd July 2009

Britain’s violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it is revealed today.

Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries.

The figures comes on the day new Home Secretary Alan Johnson makes his first major speech on crime, promising to be tough on loutish behaviour. 

The Tories said Labour had presided over a decade of spiralling violence.

In the decade following the party’s election in 1997, the number of recorded violent attacks soared by 77 per cent to 1.158million - or more than two every minute.

The figures, compiled from reports released by the European Commission and United Nations, also show:

* The UK has the second highest overall crime rate in the EU.
* It has a higher homicide rate than most of our western European neighbours, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
* The UK has the fifth highest robbery rate in the EU.
* It has the fourth highest burglary rate and the highest absolute number of burglaries in the EU, with double the number of offences than recorded in Germany and France.

But it is the naming of Britain as the most violent country in the EU that is most shocking. The analysis is based on the number of crimes per 100,000 residents.

In the UK, there are 2,034 offences per 100,000 people, way ahead of second-placed Austria with a rate of 1,677.

CHECK THIS LINK NOW

Catch that link above and see the charts as well as more of the story.
What a sad state of affairs.  If you read the comments by Brits that follow the article, it’s plain the people know the system is screwed and they know why. And they do have answers.  But the powers that be are deaf. I swear they must be. Or else their attitude is much like the late MIL and this isn’t meant to be a joke.

The old lady used to say, “ I hear what I want to and ignore all the rest.”
I think that must be how politics work.  How else would anyone explain where we are now and how we all got here.

Posted by peiper     on 07/02/2009 at 09:44 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Daily Life • UK •  
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SOME IMPORTANT JULY BIRTHDAYS ….

Of course our birthday is July 4th.  Everybody knows that.

But July has a few other birthdays as well and they belong to BMEWS people.

For example .... I believe today is the birthday of :

CMBLAKE

HAPPY JULY BIRTHDAYS ALSO GO OUT TO:

PIXIE, who remains forever young and whose birthday is July 15.

RANCINO has a birthday this month too.  It’s July 23rd.

Hope our members will mark the dates and wish our BMEWS friends well on the day. 

I do realize I’m ahead of things with this but living outside my own country, I insist on being forgiven for wishing ourselves a Happy 4th, prematurely.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA .......

Posted by peiper     on 07/02/2009 at 03:34 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff •  
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