Thursday - November 05, 2009

Run Away, Run Away

The United Nations said Thursday that it will send more than half its international staff either out of Afghanistan or into more secure compounds following last week’s deadly Taliban attack against U.N. workers — the most direct targeting of its employees during decades of work in the country.

About 600 nonessential staffers will be affected by the move, the U.N. said.

The U.N. is still reeling from the pre-dawn assault on a guesthouse in the capital that left five of its staffers dead.

The world body insists it remains committed to Afghanistan, but its actions show how much security has degraded in the country and raise questions about the future of its work if attacks continue.

The relocations follow a U.N. decision on Monday to suspend much of its work in the volatile northwest of neighboring Pakistan because of increasingly targeted attacks.

The 600 U.N. employees will be moved for three to four weeks to more secure locations both within and outside of Afghanistan while the world body works to find safer permanent housing, spokesman Aleem Siddique said. He said they did not know how many would actually be leaving the country.

“We are not talking about pulling out,” the head of the mission, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, told reporters. “We are not talking about evacuation.”

He said a number of options were being considered for those who have to leave the country, including Dubai — a typical destination for international workers in Afghanistan on rest breaks.

Just because they aren’t talking about it doesn’t mean that’s exactly what they’re going to do. UN staff runs at the first bullet. We’ve seen that before. And given the choice of a) staying on in the violent wasteland that is Afghanistan, or b) relocating to the party city of Dubai, which would you do? The staff gets paid either way; doing the job on site isn’t really a factor. They still believe in the task at hand; they’ll just be doing it from a safer location. Like Paris.

Well, maybe not. It turns out that they run on polling data, just like Bill Clinton:

“There is a belief among some that the international commitment to Afghanistan will continue whatever happens because of the strategic importance of Afghanistan,” Eide said during a news conference in Kabul. “I would like to emphasize that that is not correct. It is the public opinion in donor countries and in troop-contributing countries that decides on the strength of that commitment.”

Posted by Drew458     on 11/05/2009 at 10:37 AM   
Filed Under: • United-Nations • War On Terror •  
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Ruh Roh Shaggy!

Saudi Arabia has launched a large military incursion across the border into northern Yemen, using fighter jets and artillery bombardments to try to end a Shiite rebellion inside its troubled southern neighbor, Arab diplomats and the rebels said Thursday.

The northern rebels, known as Hawthis, have been battling Yemeni government forces intensively over the past few months in the latest flare-up of a sporadic conflict that has lasted five years. The Hawthis are based in northern Saada province, which borders Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi jets dropped bombs on a crowded areas including local market in the northern province of Saada,” Hawthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam told The Associated Press. “They (Saudis) claim they are targeting al-Hawthis, but regrettably they are killing civilians like the government does,” he added.

“The attacks were followed by hundreds of shells from the border,” Abdel-Salam said.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

Two Arab diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP Saudi Tornado and F-15 warplanes have been bombarding targets inside Yemen since Wednesday afternoon, inflicting significant casualties on the rebels. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talks to the media.

They said army units and special forces have been sent to northern Yemen, and that several Saudi towns on the border have been evacuated.

Neither Saudi Arabia nor their Yemeni government allies have confirmed the offensive. But if they do, this would be the first known Saudi incursion across the border in the five years of fighting the rebels.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading oil exporter, has been increasingly worried about extremism and instability in Yemen that could spill across the border. The Yemeni government is currently fighting on multiple fronts — the northern rebels and a separatist movement in the south. But the most worrisome is a lingering threat from al-Qaida militants.

The U.S. also fears the Yemeni fighting could spill over into Saudi Arabia. It concerned that Yemen, with its weak central government, could become a haven for al-Qaida militants hiding out in the impoverished nation on the tip of the Arabian peninsula.

“could become”? WTF? Yemen is where the bombers of the USS Cole came from. And when they were captured and jailed, they somehow mysteriously managed to escape. I don’t put much faith in the “could become” line.

But what are these “rebels” rebelling about? How could they not like living as simple muslims, religion of peace and all that, with the foaming at the mouth Wahhabi Saudis to the north and the nearly as crazy Sunnis to the south?

The Shiite rebels complain their needs are ignored by a government that is increasingly allied with hard-line Sunni fundamentalists, who consider Shiites as heretics.

So maybe Our Friends the Saudis are helping their neighbors do Allah’s Work, stamping out the infidels heretics. I wonder which is worse: not being a muslim or being a muslim of the wrong flavor?

Expect this action to cause the price of oil to jump. Seems like nearly everything that goes on over in sandland does.



Update: It’s muslim vs muslim in this exciting Pay Per View deathcage match up! And events inside Yemen - which haven’t been in the news AT ALL - are being described as an ongoing civil war. WTH?

Yemen civil war spills over border as Saudi official is killed in attack

Yemen’s civil war spilled into neighbouring Saudi Arabia for the first time yesterday when Shia gunmen shot dead a Saudi security officer in a cross-border attack. The Shia rebels, known as Huthis, have been backed up against the Saudi border by a Yemeni army offensive launched this summer. The rebels accuse the Saudis of allowing Yemeni troops to attack them from behind, using a military base in the Saudi town of Jebel al-Dukan. The kingdom’s news agency said that rebels had entered Saudi territory and attacked patrols.

“The infiltrators used various weapons to fire at the border guard patrols, causing the martyrdom of one security officer and wounding 11 others,” it said. Some Shia rebel sources claimed to have taken complete control of the town after defeating Saudi forces there.

They accuse Saudi Arabia, a conservative Sunni Muslim country, of backing the Yemeni army, fearing the emergence of a strong Shia militia similar to Hezbollah in Lebanon. In turn, the Yemeni Government in Sanaa has accused Iran, a Shia theocracy, of supporting the Huthi rebels as part of a campaign to spread Tehran’s influence across the region. The Government said last week that Yemeni troops had seized five Iranians on a boat loaded with arms in the Red Sea.

Yemen has denied receiving any support from Riyadh, but the tensions emphasised the increasingly fragile situation on the borders of the world’s biggest oil exporter. There are increasing signs that al-Qaeda — whose founder, Osama bin Laden, is of Yemeni origin — is using the strife in the country as a means of establishing a dangerous presence close to Saudi Arabia, where it has launched deadly attacks in the past.

Sanaa stepped up its efforts to crush the Shia rebels in August when it launched a land and air offensive that aid groups say has driven 150,000 people from their homes, as well as killing and wounding hundreds.

Oh hella yeah, this is going to cause a spike in the oil market. $3.50 a gallon gas, here we come again.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/05/2009 at 10:20 AM   
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JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF “RIGHTS” IN THE WRONG PLACE!

Just another daily example of how civil and human rights are seen in this place.  What a load of crap.
And take a look at the ugly smirking face of the vandal.

This sort of thing could so easily be turned around by the removal of say, one hand.  Or maybe break all the bones in one hand and rip a tendon or two.  Something that this creep can remember for a lifetime.  Wanna bet he’d never try again.  And if implemented nation wide, I’ll bet the rate of crime might go down too.  It’s really all a matter of the gremlins KNOWING they won’t get off scott free.  But I’m dreaming.  We know that isn’t gonna happen.
Look at that face and tell me he won’t repeat the same thing again.  The face of modern Britain?  One of em anyway. 
Meanwhile, young ppl his age are dying in some far off hell hole not earning what he has done in damage in a week or two.

Couple ‘named and shamed’ thug on boarded-up window… then police warned them it harms the vandal’s civil liberties

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:02 PM on 05th November 2009

A couple shamed a yob by writing his name in the shop window he smashed only to be told to remove it by police - in case it harmed his civil liberties.

Dennis and Christine Lusby wrote ‘Damage Done by Ben Hill’ on the boarded up windows of their village shop after he went on a drunken rampage - and they have decided to defy the police advice.

Hill, 20, caused £3,000 worth of damage during the spree which also saw him attack cars, homes, farm buildings and a football club.

Dennis and Christine ‘named and shamed’ Hill by writing his name outside their shop in thick black pen after he handed himself in to police.

The couple claim their local PC told them to remove the sign - in case it infringed the lout’s human rights.

Dennis, 60, of St Breward, Cornwall, has refused to remove the name of the well-known local yob and says it will stay there until the windows are replaced.

He said: ‘Even in the smallest villages in the country there is a thug problem. Our shop window was smashed to pieces.

‘The lad was caught straight away but people kept coming in to ask us what had happened and who was responsible.
Ben Hill was jailed for 74 days after his wrecking spree in Cornwall

‘Eventually Christine wrote his name up there on the window boards. We thought we’d let everyone know who had done all the damage.

‘But then we were warned by the police for writing it because they say it’s taking away his civil liberties What about our civil liberties? We chose to quietly ignore the police advice.’

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police yesterday said officers advised Mr Lusby to remove the sign in case it ‘inflamed’ the situation.

He said: ‘The officer felt that the offender had been dealt with and punished for the damage he had caused.

‘By publically naming him in this way could inflame the situation and possibly tempt one of his friends to carry out further acts of vandalism on the shop.

‘The beat officer knows the patch and his advice was given for the sake of the store owner.’

During his rampage on October 29, Hill caused £300 worth of damage by kicking open a football club door and smashed a window of a farm house.

He also caused £725 damage to a newly-laid floor at another property as well as damaging a Skoda to the tune of £600.

Hill threw a giant boulder of granite at another home before smashing the windows of Dennis and Christine’s car and their St Breward Stores.

He then handed himself in and was jailed for 74 days at Bodmin Magistrates Court after he pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon and three offences of criminal damage.

Dennis said Hill had been causing problems in the village for years, but his latest rampage was the ‘final straw’.

‘This village is a low crime area, but when anything goes wrong he is always mixed up in every bit of bother. He turns up in our shop quite often, being
rude, turning up drunk.

‘We shouldn’t have to tolerate it and I can’t see any reason why everyone shouldn’t know about what he has done.

‘We’re not completely intolerant but this is ridiculous - he’s terrorised the whole village.

SOURCE AND OTHER PHOTOS

Posted by peiper     on 11/05/2009 at 10:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • UK •  
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Amateur treasure hunter finds £1m hoard of ancient golden jewellery. AWESOME FIND !

This kind of thing is so mind bending.  IRON AGE and take a look at the workmanship. Look how intricate that tiny chain is.
I would never have thought they could do that in the Iron Age. And that little chain that hooks things together. My gosh, it’s up to date modern.
Be sure and see all the photos at the link provided.

HIS DAY JOB

On first time out with his metal detector, amateur treasure hunter finds £1m hoard of ancient golden jewellery

By SARAH BRUCE
Last updated at 12:27 PM on 05th November 2009

When David Booth bought himself a metal detector, he was looking for a new hobby – and perhaps the occasional old coin.
But on his very first outing with the device, he uncovered a £1million hoard of Iron Age jewellery that is Scotland’s most important find in a century.
Mr Booth, 35, found four gold necklaces – known as ‘torcs’ – buried just six inches beneath the surface in a field near Stirling.

Up until his amazing find, he had only switched the £240 gadget on to ‘detect’ knives and forks in his own kitchen as practice.

But just one hour into his first outdoor foray – and only seven paces from where he had parked the car – he became the country’s most famous finder.

The hoard – dating back as far as 300BC - has excited archaeologists so much, they say it changes the way we look at Scotland’s ancient inhabitants.
And under treasure trove rules in this country, the safari park keeper is set to get a reward equal to the market value of the find.

But a shell-shocked Mr Booth is finding it hard to come to terms with his imminent wealth – the father-to-be can think no further than ‘perhaps’ paying off his Ford Focus car loan with his riches.
He said: ‘I’d always fancied buying a metal detector, just as a hobby, and I decided to do it. It turned out to be a pretty good investment.

‘I was really only there because I had permission from the landowner, although I knew the area had some Iron Age history.
‘I just parked the car in the field, took my metal detector out and started looking – I just had a feeling about it.
‘It flashed to indicate that I had found gold about seven paces away from the car, and I started digging.  ‘I knew I had to be careful, so I dug quite a large circle around the spot with a garden spade.

‘I used a trowel when I got nearer. Six or eight inches down, I saw a glimpse of one of them, then uncovered the rest of the hoard. They were in a wee group. 
‘My first feeling was one of almost disbelief. I knew it was gold, and it did look old, but I couldn’t believe I could be so lucky.’
Mr Booth took the collection of muddy artifacts home on September 28 and rinsed them carefully to uncover a cache of glittering jewellery.
The find was in five pieces – three intact necklets and two fragments of another torc, all gold and silver alloy with a touch of copper.

Two of the pieces are ribbon torcs, twisted carefully from sheet gold with flattened ends. These are Scottish or Irish in origin.
The fragments are from a South-west French style annular torc, which would have been an enclosed circle with a hinge and catch.

But the piece that is really getting experts excited is a looped terminal torc with decorative ends, made from eight golden wires looped together and decorated with thin threads and chains. All the pieces date to between 300 and 100 BC.
The Stirling find appears to reveal links between local tribes — traditionally seen as isolated — and other Iron Age people in Europe.

The treasure spent the night in Mr Booth’s gun safe in the house he shares with girlfriend Carolyn Morrison, 28.  The next day, he took them to work and notified the National Museum of Scotland (NMS), who were at the door within hours of receiving an email and pictures of the find.

The museum’s principal Iron Age and Roman curator Dr Fraser Hunter was one of the first on the scene, and soon a dig was set up at the top secret location where the cache was found.
He said: ‘When I saw the pictures, I nearly fell off my chair.’
As the jewellery was analysed, the site of the find also yielded more information.

MORE ARTICLE AND LOTS MORE PHOTOS HERE

Man oh man LOOK at that thing!  Jeez! IRON AGE?  Good Grief.  What year was that?  1950?  Check out that link above.
LOVE this stuff.

Posted by peiper     on 11/05/2009 at 09:41 AM   
Filed Under: • Archeology / Anthropology • History • UK •  
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A singular and sad day for Brit military literally stabbed in the back. Is it time to go?

A day or two ago posted an article on the death of a bomb disposal soldier who was on his last days tour.  He was btw, a local fellow from our area, and so naturally there’s a bit more news and background on him.

Well, yesterday a group of Brit soldiers were murdered in an attack by what authorities are saying was a Taliban mole.  They were unarmed at the time having just returned from a patrol and took off their flak jackets and helmets and gathered for cold drinks and tea in what should have been a safe compound.

Not available on line and even if it were, are the photos and description of exactly what and how it happened have had a great impact in hard copy that just can’t be reproduced on line.

No point in my relating the entire story.  It’s all here in these two articles.  The question I have is, are we failing?  Are we, that is America and England and what few allies we may have, spitting into the wind?  Are we trying to seriously nation build and create a democracy in a place that will NEVER be ready or accepting of such notions?  And btw ...  just what sort of ‘democracy’ are we trying to implant?  Are we going to teach them pc as well? 

Look, I am not a military strategist.  I see history and I see results.  I might respect the fighting ability of the foe or at least try not to underestimate their ability to hit back in ways that work for them.  But I don’t understand how we’re making things safer for the west by fighting tribes in some god forsaken shit hole populated by life forms that are barely human.  If we need to destroy them fine. Then why can’t we just nuke the whole area?  We killed an awful lot of innocent people in WW2 without wanting to.  But we damn well won a war we HAD to win.  Them or us, and them lost! Period.

Surely with tighter border controls (the will has to be there) and increased security and a shoot to kill policy by security services, surely we can avoid terrorist attacks on our soil without spending lives in Afghanistan.  ????  I’m not saying I’m correct in that, but I am asking the question.

Of course, safeguarding our homeland would mean killing (literally) off the traitors and 5th columnists among us.  Until that’s seen to people, we’re just spinning our wheels and wasting good young lives.

Those Brit soldiers that were killed were done in by someone trusted by them. He was a policeman, as I understand it.  Brits have been training the police there as have we (USA).  These (from all I have read here) are not the most trustworthy ppl on the planet.  They are easily bribed and loyalty shifts from one paymaster to another with some frequency.  Ppl in that part of the world have something approaching ‘loyalty’ but it’s to the tribe they come from. Not the govt. they currently work for.

On the one hand, pulling out of Afghanistan sends a message to terrorists everywhere.  We’ll go away if you do this sort of thing a lot.
On the other hand, is that place or its life forms worth the price?  Will we gain anything long term to make it worthwhile?  If we did nuke em, who’d oppose us except our own 5th col.? Yeah, the euros would jump up and down and come up with some kind of anti American slogan. Scew em. Challenge them to a war and see how they stand. 

Patrick Cockburn: Deaths bring whole Afghan strategy into question

Analysis

Thursday, 5 November 2009

I was in an office in Kabul this summer being lectured by a mid-ranking official about the successful work of the government. “Completely off the record, what do you really think of this government?” I asked him, not expecting a very interesting reply.

“So long as you promise not to reveal my identity, I can tell you that this government is made up of killers and crooks,” answered the official with scarcely a pause. He gave some examples of government-inspired killings and corruption.

In this tradition of carefully calculated treachery, the shooting dead of five British soldiers by an Afghan policeman operating with them is hardly surprising. Afghan leaders have long been notorious for concealing their true loyalties and changing sides. But the potential political consequences are very serious. The US and British strategy to build up the Afghan security forces to as many as 400,000 may prove impossible because the state is too weak and too poor and commands the loyalty of too few Afghans.

The reputation of Afghans for always defeating their enemies is based in part on the speed with which they join the winner. The Taliban advances in the 1990s were notable less for military victories than local warlords defecting to them after receiving a large bribe. In the US war to overthrow the Taliban in 2001, the same process went into reverse as the CIA bought off the same warlords who then sent their men home without a fight.

Nor is this the first time that Western forces have been turned on by their Afghan colleagues. In Kunduz province north of Kabul earlier this summer, a policeman shot eight of his colleagues and turned his police post over to the Taliban. An American military trainer was shot and wounded by one of the men he was training when he drank water in front of them when they were fasting during Ramadan.

The shaky loyalty of the Afghan police and, to a lesser extent, the army to their own government undermines US and British plans to hold the line against the Taliban while a strong local security force is built up. US political leaders speak of a force of 240,000 soldiers and 160,000 police to be trained in the next few years. In reality, though, nobody knows the current size of the Afghan security forces.

The army is supposedly 90,000 strong, but this figure may be grossly over-stated. “My educated guess is that such an army simply does not exist,” writes Ann Jones, an American specialist on Afghanistan. “I knew men who repeatedly went through ANA [Afghan National Army] training to get the promised Kalashnikov and the pay. Then they went home for a while and often returned some weeks later to enlist under a different name.”

Even so, the reputation of the army among ordinary Afghans is much better than that of the police. Some of these are paid a pittance for a very dangerous job. They are often stationed in vulnerable outposts and checkpoints. Their training is frequently almost non-existent. Before the presidential election in August, policemen being trained by a US security firm who had been receiving eight weeks’ training saw this reduced to three weeks, so they could be sent to guard polling stations in southern Afghanistan.

More senior policemen can make money through aiding drug smugglers. General Aminullah Amarkhail, the former head of security at Kabul airport, who was sacked for his success in arresting heroin smugglers, says that the profits are such that jobs are bought and sold for large sums. “You have to pay $10,000 [£6,000] in bribes to get a job as a district police chief,” he says, “and up to $150,000 to get a job as chief of police anywhere on the border – because there you can make a lot of money.”

SOURCE

British soldiers murdered in Afghanistan by Taliban assassin: Killer back with us and safe, say insurgents

By DAVID WILLIAMS, IAN DRURY and LIZ HAZELTON
Last updated at 1:02 PM on 05th November 2009
Five British soldiers killed in Afghan attack named by MoD

UN announces temporary withdrawal of 600 staff due to security concerns
Manhunt continues for killer who fled on motorbike in wake of shooting

Taliban insurgents today claimed that the Afghan policeman who murdered five British soldiers was back with them and ‘safe’.

The assassin, identified as a man called Gulbaddin, had fled the scene of slaughter on a motorbike after the attack on Tuesday.
But despite a desperate search involving British special forces, MI6 officers and surveillance drones there has been no trace of him since.

If true, the Taliban’s claim would confirm suspicions Gulbaddin fled the area using well-trod drugs smuggling routes established by insurgents.
Back in Britain, Gordon Brown is under mounting pressure to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in the wake of the attack.

As government policy on the war-torn region was savaged by all sides, Downing Street announced that the Prime Minister would make a ‘major speech’ on the issue tomorrow.

There was no immediate information about its contents but sources do not believe it signals any change in policy.
Two former Labour ministers and a series of bereaved families have called for an end to the UK’s military involvement after the soldiers were cut down in a hail of machine gun fire.

Six others were seriously injured in the attack by a man they trusted as they relaxed and drank tea in a compound.

Former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle declared ‘enough is enough’, adding: ‘It is time we should bring our troops home from what is an impossible task.’

COMPLETE STORY HERE

Posted by peiper     on 11/05/2009 at 08:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists • UK • War On Terror • War-Stories •  
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   Wednesday - November 04, 2009

My Little Red Corner of NJ

I guess I picked the right county to live in here in NJ.

Here’s a link to the county-wide election results.

Nearly 60% of the voters turned out to vote for this “off year” election.

Republicans were nearly a sweep in every office, from Township Committee up to State Governor. Except for where the only candidate running was a Dem. And Lambertville, pop. 3744, elected a Democrat for Mayor.

In the Governor’s race, Christie got twice as many votes as Corzine and Dagget combined.

And not a single overvote or undervote. Funny, our voting machines always seem to work just fine. Always.

Warren County, the next county north, across the line into for-real rural NJ, did pretty much the same thing. With a much lower turnout, not even 50%. It seems a whole lot of folks up there decided not to vote on various things, and another big bunch had a fun time writing themselves in as write-in candidates. And nobody can spell ”Debra Natyzak Osadca”. Hey, that’s a tough one I guess. And yeah, they did elect 2 Democrats for the Alpha Borough Council (pop. 2500). But they also cast as many votes for Glen Beck for Governor as they did for Kermit The Frog. Oy vey.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/04/2009 at 06:59 PM   
Filed Under: • Politics •  
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HOW PARLIAMENT CEDES CONTROL TO BRUSSELS ……….

This was on the front page of the Telegraph but there isn’t any link so had to copy.

It’s quite interesting I think.  So, Lyndon. What do ya think?  Good deal?  (sneaky ploy to induce a rant from our friend Lyndon. Stay Tuned)

HOW PARLIAMENT CEDES CONTROL TO BRUSSELS

EU PRESIDENT
TREATY creates EU president who will be full time Brussels official.  He or she will serve two-and-a-half year term and will be chosen by Europe’s leaders to chair their summits, set EU agenda and act as ‘face’ of Europe.

FOREIGN MINISTER
EU Foreign Minister will also have title of ‘High Representative’.
Office holder will be able to make foreign policy under his own initiative without a full British national veto.  He will chair meetings of Europe’s foreign ministers.

EU ‘INTERIOR MINISTRY’
Standing Commitee on Internal Security (COSI), dubbed an interior ministry by critics, will centralise databases holding fingerprints and DNA.  Britain currently opts out of most EU home affairs policies.

THE END OF 40 VETOES
Forty national vetoes allowing Britain to block EU measures against the national interest - will be scrapped.  A ‘ratchet clause’ will mean national vetoes can be stopped without approval of a full summit of EU leaders.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
TREATY strengthens Charter of Fundamental Rights, a legal text that business leaders claim will give unions more rights and hurt the economy.  Ministers say a ‘protocol’ means it will not apply to Britain.

Posted by peiper     on 11/04/2009 at 09:37 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • UK •  
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Lisbon Treaty: more of Britain’s powers surrendered to Brussels. Gordon Brown cheerful.

Britain’s power to govern itself is to be surrendered increasingly to Brussels after the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty was finally ratified.

By James Kirkup and Bruno Waterfield

SOURCE, TELEGRAPH

The treaty, which will come into force within a few weeks, will create the first president of Europe, as well as a European foreign minister, and will end Britain’s right to veto new EU rules in more than 40 policy areas.

The treaty’s supporters say it will allow the EU to operate more efficiently and give it greater influence in world affairs.

But critics say it will cede too much more of Britain’s sovereignty to Brussels.

Vaclav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic, yesterday signed the Lisbon Treaty, ending eight years of resistance to its attempt to give more power to the EU.

The Czechs are the last of the 27 EU states to sign the treaty, and their move forced the Conservatives to abandon their pledge to hold a British referendum on Lisbon.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said it was “a bad day for British democracy”.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will today set out plans for an alternative Tory pledge to renegotiate several parts of Britain’s EU membership, trying to win back control over social and employment laws.

It is understood that one of Mr Cameron’s options will be to guarantee a referendum for British voters under a Tory government if any more national powers were in danger of being ceded to Brussels.

Mr Cameron’s retreat on announcing a referendum on the newly ratified treaty has led to accusations of breaking his promise and betraying the British people.

The Lisbon Treaty is based on the European Constitution, which started at a summit in Brussels in December 2001.

Gordon Brown hailed the Czech signature as “a historic step,” and European leaders said it will create a more powerful EU.

Despite the scale of the changes the treaty makes, the British people have never been directly consulted on the document, which was ratified in a Commons vote and signed by Mr Brown in 2007.

Labour won the 2005 general election having promised a referendum on the European Constitution but then dropped the pledge, arguing that Lisbon was a different document.

The Conservatives gave a “cast-iron” guarantee of a vote on Lisbon.

But after Mr Klaus signed the text, the Tories admitted that they will not offer voters a say on Lisbon.

Mr Hague said that once ratified, the treaty will cease to exist as a distinct legal document, meaning no vote can be held on it.

He said: “Now that the treaty has become European law and is going to enter into force, that means that a referendum can no longer prevent the creation of the president of the European council, the loss of British national vetoes, these things will already have happened, and a referendum cannot unwind them or prevent them.”

Daniel Hannan, a Tory MEP and leading Euro-sceptic said the signing was a step towards a European super-state. “The boot continues to stamp on the human face,” he said.

Mr Hague last night attempted to blame Labour for the treaty’s passage. He said: “People have never been consulted or voted in a general election for this.

“The British people have never even voted once, and we will not let people forget whose responsibility that is.”

Mr Brown insisted that the signing of the treaty was something to celebrate.

How in the world is signing away your sovereignty something to celebrate?
I guess to understand that, one would have to be a politician. 

Now here’s something from the Daily Mail, who are quoting something they got from the Sun, another daily paper.

Today I will give this cast-iron guarantee: If I become PM a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations.
No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum.

David Cameron

BUT WAIT!
Mr. Cameron has a get out in that he made clear he was referring to a treaty that had not yet been ratified.

okok ....  LYNDON (shouts peiper) HELP!  Explain this again.

Right now, Cameron is blaming Brown.  I get that part. I think.  But since Cameron did make that statement above, I’m still not clear on this.
So the treaty passes because they now have the number required. Do I have that right?
So then, because the UK is a member of the EU, and since the treaty is ratified, that means that the citizens here are STUCK with the EU like it or not.
Do I have that right?

Great so, where to from here?

Posted by peiper     on 11/04/2009 at 07:53 AM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • EUro-peons • UK •  
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Drunken yob got more than he bargained for when he challenges his betters.

The video runs three minutes, pretty frustrating at times cos it’s often hard to see what this article is describing. But you’ll still get the sense of things and what ordinary ppl are putting up with here, and especially in London.  Altho of course it isn’t restricted to that location.
See this LINK for the still photos.

This looks to have taken place around 6:20pm. Hell, I suppose any downtown city anywhere in the world can be a problem.  I get to feeling a bit guilty always hammering on about this sort of thing here in the UK.  I don’t mean to make it appear a unique thing to this culture and lord knows we have enough bad guys in the states. Right?  Maybe I need to read more USA based news and I’d find an equal amount. Ya think?  Cos honestly I have my doubts about that.  What I mean is, I doubt there’s the same kind of street crime in America on the same level.  Partly no doubt because so many are armed at home.  I don’t think we have the binge drinking all hours in the USA that they have here.  And we sure as heck don’t issue ASBOs, unless we do but under another name.  Our criminal justice system is surely just as fouled up. I know that.

Oh, btw ...  another poor soul was kicked to death this week by a gang of five men and two women, it has been reported.  That’s what I mean.
I have my doubts that kind of thing occurs in the USA with the frequency that it does here. If it happens at all and I’m sure it must given the nature of the criminal animal.

Caught on CCTV: The moment BBC presenter floors taunting yob with his karate expertise

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:41 AM on 04th November 2009

This drunken yob got more than he bargained for when he picked a fight with a BBC presenter who used to be an international martial arts champion.

Reporter Paresh Patel had been followed for half an hour through Manchester city centre by two youths, who subjected him to a barrage of abuse as he attempted to set up a live broadcast.

The North West Tonight journalist had been preparing a report in Sackville Gardens, central Manchester, when a group of drunken louts began harassing him and his cameraman Steve Capstick.
Watch the video below

He floored one of the unsuspecting thugs with a kick to the groin followed by a lightning-quick punch in the face.

The dazed victim can then be seen in CCTV footage scrambling to his feet just as police arrive to arrest the man as Mr Patel, dubbed the ‘BBC Bruiser’, calmly walks away.

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘The accused persistently followed the victim and told him not to call the police and a woman poured a pint over him at one point. 

‘The other two defendants continued to follow Mr Patel to Princes Street, where the victim was punched in the face and threatened with violence. 

‘One of them picked up a bit of street furniture and also threatened the victim - he tried to walk away but still he was followed by the suspects. 

‘Both had been drinking and appeared very drunk. But what they hadn’t realised was that the victim was a black belt in karate.’

Mr Patel can be seen in the footage punching one of them in the face before kneeing him in the groin after being attacked as he planned a live broadcast from the statue of Alan Turing in Sackville Gardens, following Gordon Brown’s decision to grant the computer pioneer a posthumous apology. 

Sean Brady, prosecuting, told Manchester Magistrates’ Court that when Mr Patel phoned his studio, two of the group John Nugent, 22, and David McKenna, 27, thought he was ringing the police and started swearing threatening him.

At the sentencing of the pair, Judge David Hernandez said: ‘He defended himself, he delivered a blow. I say good for Mr Patel.

‘He had no reason to be subjected to that level of abuse and threat by you.’

The CPS spokesperson added: ‘The defendants claimed that Mr Patel has threatened them and told had them not to “mess with him” because he was a “Thai boxer” and that he would “sort them out”.

‘They insisted they were just having a laugh. And that they only picked up the chair so that he could have a sit down.

‘Even when they were shown the CCTV footage they came up with the same explanation.’

Gee, what patience the BBC guy showed.  If I were fortunate enough to have his skill and training, I would not have waited that long before turning on the damn punks.

Posted by peiper     on 11/04/2009 at 06:36 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • UK •  
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   Tuesday - November 03, 2009

High Voter Turnout In NJ

UPDATE:
Republican Christie wins NJ Governor race. DSC funded “independent” Jarret - was he the anti-spoiler who cost Corzine the 5% “cheatability” margin?
Republican McDonnell wins Virginia by 58-41 margin; Republicans win VA Governor, Lt. Governor, State Attorney General slots
NY23 race still in early counting; Conservative Hoffman 5% behind right now

Dare we HOPE for some CHANGE ???

In NJ even the weather makes a difference. It wasn’t raining today, though it was seasonably cool and quite breezy.

The sun may be shining on Jon Corzine.

Forecasters predict mostly clear skies and moderate temperatures this morning as polls open in New Jersey’s hotly contested gubernatorial race, and political experts say the comfortable conditions could help the incumbent Democrat secure four more years in office.

“Nice weather generally favors Democrats. Part of that is because urban centers are where Democrats are strongest and that is where weather has the greatest impact,” Joseph Marbach, a political science professor at Seton Hall University, said. “In suburban areas people would normally drive to polling places, so it is a more comfortable way to get there.”

Temperatures should fluctuate between the upper 50s and low 60s in the state’s largest cities like Newark and Trenton, according to Dean Iovino, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly station.

Marbach said the favorable weather should increase voter turnout statewide, especially in urban areas that are long considered Democratic strongholds, where voters will likely have to wait in long lines and take public transportation to reach their local polling place.

Meanwhile Governor Corzine has his own ideas on how to get the vote out ...

Corzine enlists union workers to boost voter turnout for N.J. governor’s race

“We call it knock and drag,” said Jim Williams, general president and director of organizing of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, with about 3,500 members in New Jersey. “We knock on the door and drag ‘em out to vote.”

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine joined national union leaders on a get-out-the-vote bus tour throughout the state, while Republican challenger Chris Christie campaigned at diners.

With the candidates neck-and-neck in the polls, voter turnout is crucial for each party. The sunny weather traditionally favors Democrats, but an overall dissatisfaction for Corzine and unhappiness over property taxes that are the highest in the nation could hamper turnout in this traditionally blue state.

Labor union workers, many who said they were unemployed because there were “no jobs,” showed up at rallies in places like Bayonne in Hudson County to pick up packets with home addresses of members mapped out and campaign literature to distribute.

In the hall of the Boilermakers 28, Corzine rallied the workers, repeating a now-familiar theme that the election was about more than the names on the ballot, but about families, jobs and health care.

“I want to be a voice for labor,” the governor said to hoots, cheers and whistles. “I’ve got an opponent who says you guys are the adversary. You guys are no more the adversary than the man on the moon.”

Armed with the manila envelopes, workers are checking polling stations to see who had not yet voted, then target those members to vote.

“We’re going to do what we do best,” said Barry Kushnir, 39, the secretary treasurer of the Turnpike Employees Union Local 194.

Silly me ... I thought the rolls of who had voted or not were private. Well, it is government data, therefore at least semi-public. But I don’t think it should be released into union worker’s hands. “Knock and drag” huh? I can just imagine. “Weez from da union. We’re gonna help you vote. First, we’re gonna take you for a ride. A nice ride. To the votin, a cawse! Den yer gonna vote. Yer gonna vote da right way, right? Cuz after, we gonna take ya fer annuder ride, ya know. It could be a long trip, youse woulden wanna make no mistakes.”

And of course there’s the good old absentee ballot. The perfect vehicle for ballot box stuffing. Except this year, it’s Vote By Mail, for your convenience. We don’t have Absentee Ballots anymore. Now anyone can choose to just mail it in.

Of course, there were stories going around this morning about people who got turned away from the polls, since their paper ballots had already been received. Whether they had already voted, or someone had voted for them, remains to be seen. Anybody who feels disenfranchised can get a Provisional Ballot anyway ... another great idea for stuffing the old box.

Thousands more mail-in ballots will be counted today than in the 2005 general election, thanks to new legislation that says voters can use the vote-by-mail for any reason.
...
“It’s convenient for people who have busy schedules, long commuting hours or family obligations and find it difficult to get to the polls,” she said. “There was some effort to promote this opportunity.”

Voters can sign up to vote by mail for an entire calendar year or for every general election, she said. For this election, county clerks issued 185,000 mail-in ballots, and more than 136,000 have already been returned. That’s still far less than in last year’s presidential election, when 235,000 people voted by mail, Evans said.
...
Absentee ballots were replaced with the mail-in this year with the vote-by-mail system. Unlike absentee ballots, voters don’t need to give a reason for requesting a mail-in ballot.
...
This year, the number of mail-in ballots issued in Morris County was almost double compared to the 2005 race—just over 9,800, as compared to 5,400 ballots in 2005, said Adam Smith, an elections clerk. Similar numbers were reported in Union County, where about 9,000 mail-in ballots were sent out this year, compared to about 6,400 in 2005.
...
“All the feedback I’ve gotten so far is that not only is it not like last year, but even with the gubernatorial election, we’re not getting a big turnout,” said Jerry Midgette, the administrator for the Somerset County Board of Elections.

In Middlesex County, officials said they have not heard of any large turnouts or major problems at the poling places—only a few voters who wanted to know if they could vote despite having forgotten their mail-in ballots. They were told they could using provisional ballots.

In Essex, Union, and Morris, officials said they had not heard about the turnout by early afternoon, but in Hunterdon County, officials said it was busier than they expected.

Hunterdon County, where I live, is a deep red county. Turnout here is usually abysmal. When I went to vote today, my ticket number was more than 100 higher than usual. Maybe there’s a bit of grassroots movement going on. Or maybe everyone with a functional brain cell has figured out that today is a Now Or Never situation. But hey, even the Dems are pissed at Corzine. 

Take a map of NJ, and draw a big fat line from Philadelphia to New York City. Color it blue. That’s the Democrat corridor. The northwest and southeast counties are all Republican. Too bad that fat line will cover every major urban area in the state. Us Conservative types are the hicks out in the sticks.

Meanwhile, the talking heads on TV have been going on all day about “what this all means” ... because if NJ and VA go for Republican governors, and NY’s 23rd district takes an R, then it means something bad for Obama. Um, right. Except that Hoffman in NJ is pretty much a done deal, as is Virginia picking a R for a governor. VA always picks a governor from the party that isn’t in the White House. They’ve been doing it for over 20 years.

So the story outside the story within the story is that Obama ... Obama says it don mean nuttin’

White House downplays Election Day

Heated referendums over same-sex partnership laws in Maine and Washington powered voter turnouts today in an off-year election that included closely watched races in New Jersey, Virginia and New York.

Pundits were debating what the results could mean for President Obama, who campaigned for Democrats in governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia and in an upstate New York congressional race.

But the White House sought to put some distance between the president and the outcome.

“We don’t look at either of the gubernatorial races or the congressional race as something that portends a lot for our legislative efforts going forward or our political prospects in 2010,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at his daily briefing.

Which tells me that the White House figures the Dems are going to get their clocks cleaned in all 3 races, no matter what “extraordinary efforts” they make. Wait and see.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/03/2009 at 05:06 PM   
Filed Under: • Politics •  
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Pirates vs IslamoGangstas

Pirates face gun battle to hold Paul and Rachel Chandler

Somali pirates who kidnapped a British couple last month were preparing to defend their hostages from Islamist extremists, who they said were heading to the area with plans to seize them.

The captors of Paul and Rachel Chandler said that they believed the militants would try to take the Britons by force. “We heard that Islamists with battlewagons are on the way. I believe they will not succeed in confiscating the British couple,” Mohamed Shakir, a pirate commander, told The Times yesterday. A battlewagon refers to a pick-up truck with a heavy machinegun mounted on the back — the favoured fighting vehicle in the war-torn region.

The commander denied reports that there had already been a gun battle between rivals struggling for ownership of the Chandlers, who were seized ten days ago aboard their 38ft yacht, Lynn Rival, but added that preparations were being made to defend their human prizes in what threatens to become a deadly tug-of-war. Mr Shakir said that the hostages, who are aged 59 and 55, had been taken inland to Bahdo, a town 125 miles northeast of the notorious pirate haven of Haradheere, and that more pirates were on their way to the town to act as reinforcements.

“Armed pirates are flowing into Bahdo to defend against any Islamists’ attack,” he said.

So Somali thugs can fight Somali pirates, and that’s Ok. Over who gets to have the prisoners for ransom. But the armies of the world won’t step in and rescue them. This is messed up.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/03/2009 at 12:46 PM   
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •  
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A Day Off

Hooray, I’ve got the day off. Which means I’ve got about a million other things I’ve got to do. But I’m going to take a bit of time for myself. Probably have lunch out and go bowling.



Got some time to kill? hur hur hur. Here’s an online shoot ‘em up game for those of us with less than stellar reflexes and/or tired thumbs. It’s actually more of a strategy game, what’s called a Tower Defense game. Build the defenses and sit and watch them slaughter the invaders. In this case the invaders are penguins.

I beat the entire thing, but it takes time. Hours and hours in fact. A couple of hints: it’s hardly worth upgrading the machine gun nests at first. Buy flack guns as soon as you get the money. Trade them in for missile launchers when you can. Block the exits as much as you can and then build mazes around them with the machine gun nests. And you can move your missile launcher by selling it and buying a new one placed where you want it. Just put it far enough ahead of the enemy so that it’s there for a second or two before they get there. Spend your money on upgrading permanent defenses. For extra points at the end of the level, sell off all your weapons before you hit the Continue button.

Ok, first day off task of the morning is running some laundry. Woo hoo!

Posted by Drew458     on 11/03/2009 at 10:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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500 officers smash their way into thousands of safety-deposit boxes, could cost txpayers millions

OOPS ... Did someone get something wrong here?

How this story made its way to BMEWS might be a short story itself.

It appeared in our Sunday magazine section of The Sunday Mail on Oct. 25th. The magazine is called “Live.” But I didn’t see it.  The wife did. That evening before going upstairs she handed it to me and said I just HAD to read it. So I did. I put it aside where I could grab it next day and post.  Well, I can’t recall now if I was even on line the next day but things got kind of busy and I forgot it.  But I found it again today and intended to post BUT .... a bunch of my photos went missing after a Kodak EasyShare upgrade. Like 137 of them.  (I have problems after every upgrade Kodak issues) So after spending something like an hour and a half on the phone with Kodak, and NOT a free call as they don’t give away 800 numbers here, and getting NOTHING fixed, the tech guy decided to upgrade my problem and they’re gonna call back.
By that time, I had put the magazine somewhere and forgot about it again and with some frustration I went to check my mail and what do I find but a note from the Bmews Tiger with a link to this story.
So at very long last ... here it is.
It is edited due to its length, there are more photos at the link and I’d encourage everyone to read the entire story.  They make movies out of this sort of thing,
really and truly they do.

H/T Argentium Tiger

More than 500 officers smashed their way into thousands of safety-deposit boxes to retrieve guns, drugs and millions of pounds of criminal assets. At least, that’s what was supposed to happen.

Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark investigate
By ADRIAN LEVY and CATHY SCOTT-CLARK

The Finchley Road is one of the busiest thoroughfares heading out of London. It leads traffic north past Lord’s Cricket Ground and the multimillion-pound houses of some of the country’s richest hedge-fund managers all the way to the M1. At three in the afternoon it’s always pretty slow going, but on this particular summer Monday the traffic was almost at a standstill.

This was partly because the normal three lanes going north had been cut down to one. But it was also because of drivers slowing down to a crawl so they could gawp at the massive police operation unfolding on a busy corner of the road.

Police vehicles - both cars and menacing armoured trucks - jammed up two lanes. Dozens of armed officers in bulletproof vests were standing ready, waiting to be called inside an anonymous-looking building. From the sheer manpower and weapons on display it looked like the capital was under another terrorist attack.

But while this was the Metropolitan Police’s most ambitious operation in its 180-year history, it had nothing to do with national security. Only hours before, at a special briefing, teams from SCD6 (the Economic And Specialist Crime unit) and C019 (Specialist Firearms Command) hunkered down with technicians armed with angle grinders and drills. Also present were dog handlers, their animals trained to sniff out guns, drugs and explosives.

In all, more than 500 officers had gathered to receive orders to raid smart addresses in well-heeled parts of the capital. The locations included three of Britain’s largest and most well-established safety-deposit box depositories in Edgware, Hampstead and Park Lane as well as an office and the homes of the three directors of Safe Deposit Centres Ltd, which owned the vaults - two in Hampstead and one in Barnet.

For most of those at the briefing, arriving just before 3pm on June 2 last year, this was the first they had heard of the operation. Secrecy had been paramount and, with so many involved, keeping the operation ‘airtight’ had been one of the largest headaches in the pre-planning for what was codenamed ‘Rize’.

The police rolled through London in a convoy: scores of patrol cars, armed-response vehicles, outriders on their bikes, vans with their windows shielded by metal cages. With a Met film unit recording everything, detectives forced their way past startled security guards, demanding receptionists open the secure doors that led to the normally hushed strong rooms, which in the three centres housed 6,717 safety deposit boxes.

Over the next few hours, the three depositories were transformed into makeshift evidence-sorting centres, decked out with tables to bear the contents of the safety-deposit boxes that were soon to be forced open. Within a day, the first stage of the operation was finished but it would take over ten more to complete the next intricate and prolonged phase.

Investigators wearing gas masks and blue overhauls used power tools to chop away at the locked doors that protected the boxes themselves. They had rehearsed this bit for many hours, on mockups, trying numerous methods to get quickly and safely at the deposit boxes.

Forged passports found in deposit boxes
Diamond drill bits forced down into the locks proved disastrous, potentially damaging evidence inside. Instead, they settled on Makita angle grinders, with which they now effortlessly hacked at the hinges, allowing them to slide out the individual strong boxes, some as small as an A4 pad. Larger ones required a more bullish approach - strong-arm tactics that the police maintained were essential as key-holders would have been unlikely to co-operate.
As the first of the boxes was opened, detectives began probing the contents. Many were spilling over with bank notes and jewellery. Each was given a rough designation - for instance, ‘cash’ or ‘gun’ - and the words scribbled onto labels before they were placed in sealed evidence bags that were loaded into vans and given an armed escort to their final and secret destination, a secure counting house.
Here, every one of the thousands of boxes was to be intimately scrutinised. Not only did detectives have to itemise what they had found but match the contents to a person.
A few of the box-holders’ identities had been acquired through months of police surveillance. Others were revealed in vault registers seized by police during the raid. Some used aliases and would be hard to track down; more still would be identified by scrutinising the vaults’ CCTV cameras. Sixty officers would sift, analyse and count until November 2008 and beyond, racking up £1.4 million in overtime bills alone.

There was a lot at stake. Never before had the British police been granted a warrant as broad as this. The raids had been made possible under a controversial law, the Proceeds Of Crime Act (POCA), which came into being in 2002 and introduced an array of wide-ranging new powers to seek out and confiscate dirty money - the houses, cars and boats bought by criminals.
However, lawyers watching the police operation unfold were quick to warn that the strong-arming of these vaults and the crashing into each and every box was tantamount to the police having obtained permission to smash down the doors of an entire housing estate.

David Sonn, of Sonn Macmillan Walker, one of the largest criminal defence practices in London, says, ‘POCA was never intended for this. No one objects when criminals are caught and their assets seized - but shaking down everyone to get to them is specifically not what lawmakers wanted.’

When vice-squad detectives raided five premises connected to a southeast Asian businesswoman who had more than £100,000 in cash in one box, they found brothels worked by girls who had all potentially been trafficked to the UK, as well as a string of foreign bank transactions showing £800,000 flowing out of the UK. In the months after Rize there were more than 40 arrests and 11 prosecutions.

However, by talking to scores of box-holders, none of whom have spoken before, Live has uncovered a different version of Operation Rize, one that shows how the vast majority of those caught up in the raids were innocent. They have had their lives turned upside down over the past 17 months. Many have struggled to recoup their money and possessions, been forced into legal trench warfare with police lawyers and told they must prove how they came by the contents of their boxes.

This is also a story told through secret legal papers, including confidentiality agreements struck with some vault depositors whose cases threatened to topple the entire operation. Although the police told a judge that ‘nine out of ten’ of all of the thousands of box-holders were probably criminally minded, criminally connected or felons, the paper trail reveals that perhaps only as few as ten per cent of the boxes have any connection to serious crime.

More worryingly, according to eminent lawyers and barristers, Operation Rize has seen the Yard employ unethical tactics, driving a coach and horses through the new POCA legislation, leaving the Met facing a raft of legal actions that could potentially cost taxpayers millions of pounds.

LIVE MAGAZINE/SUNDAY MAIL FOR MORE PLUS PHOTOS

Posted by peiper     on 11/03/2009 at 09:51 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • UK •  
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   Monday - November 02, 2009

OH POOR ME. I WORK SO HARD AND PUT IN SO MANY HOURS AND I’M NOT MAKING ENOUGH.

I doubt much if even the liberals here would have used his example, pc as they are.  I’m particularly PO’d BIG TIME not just because this politician said something dumb.  They manage to do that everyday no matter the party they belong to.  What has me seeing red (again) is my previous and sad post on the death of that brave soldier.  That poor fellow wasn’t making a quarter of what his representatives were making while CHEATING on their expenses.
The bastards were caught red handed and the maddening thing about so much of what they did is, much of it was legal because THEY MADE THE RULES!  Some are refusing to pay back any money, some are paying back a portion, and many are crying the blues claiming they are being picked on.
Not all of them were cheating to be sure. Lets be very clear on that.  But you should hear the excuses and arguments many are making in an attempt to mask what they did or else make what they did appear on the up and up.  But this story today really set me off in light of that soldier’s death.
Maybe he should be sent to fight this war in that benighted place, on the same money the SSgt was making.  Yeah. We can all see that, right?

It is NOT his making a comparison with the Holocaust that set me off to be honest.  I don’t think he meant it the exact way it’s been taken. I think
I understand his theory, while I think he was pretty darn foolish to use that example.  .  No ... what bothers me so much is his complaint with regard to what he was paid as an MP and his gripe about hours worked and pay received being equal to “minimum wages.”

Tell that to the late Sgt., subject of my last post.

Cameron rounds on Tory MP for comparing expenses ‘witch-hunt’ with Nazi persecution of the Jews

By Claire Ellicott
02nd November 2009

The MP who compared the clampdown on expenses with the Holocaust was ordered to say sorry today.

In an astonishing outburst, Tory MP David Wilshire said the “witch-hunt” against cheats was akin to the politics that “led to Hitler’s gas chambers”.

His remark was branded “offensive and unacceptable” by Tory leader David Cameron who told the Spelthorne MP to withdraw it.

Mr Wilshire paid a total of £105,000 from his expenses into Moorlands Research Services, a firm owned by him and his girlfriend Ann Palmer.

The MP used his office expenses to write to all his constituents in Spelthorne, Surrey, defending his claims.

The two-page letters were printed on Commons notepaper and sent using taxpayer-funded envelopes funded by his office expenses.

When one constituent wrote back, Mr Wilshire replied: ‘The witch hunt against MPs will undermine democracy.

‘It will weaken parliament, handing yet more power to governments. Branding a whole group of people undesirables led to Hitler’s gas chambers’.

The Commissioner for Standards is expected to investigate whether he broke Commons rules that forbid MPs from entering into arrangements that ‘may give rise to an accusation’ of profiting from public funds.

The MP’s latest controversial comments come less than a month after he infuriated David Cameron by comparing his salary to the minimum wage.

He provoked fury by complaining about his salary and long hours in a Westminster meeting with trainee journalists.

He told them: ‘I work 60 to 70 hours a week some weeks. When you look at what I earn, it comes dangerously close to working out as the minimum wage.’

Mr Wilshire paid £3,250 of his office allowances to his own firm over a period of three years.

He claimed that the money was used to pay other suppliers for posters and office products.

The arrangement was highly unusual. Most MPs submitted receipts for office costs directly from suppliers and claimed them back.

The constituency offices of senior Conservative MP David Wilshire in Staines, Surrey. Mr Wilshire said his company was used to pay ‘suppliers’ for office services such as printing

Moorlands Research Services was never registered with Companies House. Mr Wilshire said the firm closed down last year.

Before that, details of his involvement with the company had been included in his entry for the Regis-ter of Members’ Interests.

Mr Wilshire insisted he had done nothing wrong and had not personally profited, calling the claims against him ‘deeply hurtful and unjustified’.

He said the arrangement had been approved in writing by the House of Commons Fees Office, the body accused of nodding through questionable claims for hundreds of MPs.

SOURCE

btw ....  That’s another thing that I have heard quite a bit of.  The MPs saying when all is said and done, they aren’t making all that much considering the hours they work.  OK. Maybe so.  But is anyone holding a gun to their collective heads and forcing them to become MPs?  Don’t think so.

Posted by peiper     on 11/02/2009 at 12:25 PM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Government • Corruption and Greed • UK •  
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