Friday - December 11, 2009
interesting site blogging on guns and self defense. Israel.
Another one of those blogs I ran across a while back, made a note and never returned. Yeah I know. Stupid cos it’s well worth a peek especially as it come from Israel and apparently the guy knows something about weapons.
Now then. Here’s the embarrassing part. I REDISCOVERED this site thanks to .... yeah. Him again.
THEO SPARKS ..... with thanks.
Also, there’s a short story to go with this photo .... which could not be copied and pasted. Sneaky. The young ladies are triplets.
The site is dedicated to guns and self defense. I tried posting the link here but had lots of trouble with loading. So, go to Theo’s, find the girls shown and try to access the site to Israel blogger from there. For some reason it worked better. I’ve no idea why.
OKAY ... Thanks to our BMEWS TIGER, and I don’t know how ... here’s the text I wasn’t able to copy/paste earlier. ???
Thanks Tiger.
DOUBLETAPPER: ("Blogging from Israel on Guns, Self Defense, and whatever else I feel like blogging about"):
IDF Women“The concept of ‘one for all and all for one’ can get pretty absurd,” wrote the late columnist Sam Orbaum about his identical triplet daughters 14 years ago.
Orbaum, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 46, wrote about life as a father of identical triplets.
Not only did he sometimes mix them up, Orbaum wrote in his well-known wry, comic style, but he was also constantly impressed by their tight bond - when for example they stood up for one another in fights in the school sandbox.
The three blond 19-year-old sisters are still sticking up for one another, although this time not on the playground but in the IDF Air Corps, in which they all enlisted a few months ago, making history.Odelia, the oldest (born a minute before her two sisters), serves as a control officer ; Nomi is an air traffic controller; and Donna is currently in training for a different position. All three plan on attending the IDF’s pestigious Office Candidate Course and extending their service for at least an additional year.
Nomi Orbaum says, “[Serving In the IDF ] is what characterizes the state.”
“He supported us in everything we did until he passed away when we were 12,” Donna said on how their father would feel about their serving in the IDF . “This is the seventh year since he passed away and I think about him all the time and see his smile and know that he would have been proud of us.”
All of Israel is proud of the Orbaum Triplets!
Posted by peiper
on 12/11/2009 at 12:14 AM
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Permalink • An Obama Christmas
H/T Theo Sparks
I don’t know how this guy finds the stuff he does. Lots of surfing I guess.
Posted by peiper
on 12/11/2009 at 12:00 AM
Filed Under: • Humor • Obama, The One • USA •
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Permalink • Thursday - December 10, 2009
Scam Alert
No this one isn’t about deposed Nigerian princes needing to transfer their wealth. This one is about a village in Kenya that’s missing it’s idiot. And some of his ideas.
Ignore all the gas crap and just look at how the stupid car buyer got taken to the cleaners:
If you traded in a clunker worth $3500, you get $4500 off for an apparent “savings” of $1000.
However, you have to pay taxes on the $4500 come April 15th (something that no auto dealer will tell you). If you are in the 30% tax bracket, you will pay $1350 on that $4500.
So, rather than save $1000, you actually pay an extra $350 to the feds. In addition, you traded in a car that was most likely paid for. Now you have 4 or 5 years of payments on a car that you did not need, that was costing you less to run than the payments that you will now be making.
But wait; it gets even better: you also got ripped off by the dealer.
For example, every dealer here in LA was selling the Ford Focus with all the goodies, including A/C, auto transmission, power windows, etc for $12,500 the month before the “cash for clunkers” program started.
When “cash for clunkers” came along, they stopped discounting them and instead sold them at the list price of $15,500. So, you paid $3000 more than you would have the month before… (Honda, Toyota , and Kia played the same list price game that Ford and Chevy did).
So let’s do the final tally here:
| You traded in a car worth: | $3500 |
| You got a discount of: | $4500 |
| -------- | |
| Net so far: | +$1000 |
| But there are taxes on the $4500: | $1350 |
| -------- | |
| Net so far: | -$ 350 |
| Amount the price was jacked up that month: | $3000 |
| ---------- | |
| Actual Real World Net: | -$3350 |
Oops. And it’s too late now.
We could also add in the additional taxes (sales tax, state tax, etc.) on the extra $3000 that you paid for the car, along with the 5 years of interest on the car loan, but let’s just stop here.
So who actually made out on the deal? The feds collected taxes on the car along with taxes on the $4500 they “gave” you. The car dealers made an extra $3000 or more on every car they sold along with the kickbacks from the manufacturers and the loan companies. The manufacturers got to dump lots of cars they could not give away the month before. And the poor, stupid consumer got saddled with even more debt that they cannot afford.
Obama and his band of merry men convinced Joe consumer that he was getting $4500 in “free” money from the “government” when in fact, Joe was giving away his $3500 car and paying an additional $3350 for the privilege.
Think this was stupid for those who were crazy enough to swallow this wonderful scheme?
Just wait until we get health care with no additional costs over what most of us now pay for health insurance and the best medical care in the world.
Think that scheme might be designed by the same people who came up with Cash for Clunkers?
This scam alert brought to you by Rancino. Thanks guy!
Posted by Drew458
on 12/10/2009 at 11:30 PM
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Permalink • Taken For A Ride
Meet the Wiliest of all coyotes: Hit by a car at 75 mph, embedded in the grill, rode for 600 miles—and SURVIVED!
When a brother and sister struck a coyote at 75 mph they assumed they had killed the animal and drove on. They didn’t realize this was the toughest creature ever to survive a hit-and-run. Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender—and very much alive.
Daniel and Tevyn East were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside on October 12. When one of the animals ran in front of the car, the impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping. “Right off the bat, we knew it was bad,” Daniel explained. “We thought the story was over.”
After the incident around 1:00 a.m., they continued their 600 mile drive to North San Juan—even stopping for fuel at least twice. But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9:00 a.m. did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained. At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome. “Daniel saw fur and the body inside the grill,” Tevyn East said. “I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote—it didn’t register it was the whole animal.”
Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life. “It flinched,” Tevyn East said. “It was a huge surprise—I got a little freaked out.”
“We knew it was bad!” Tevyn East, who was in the car when it hit the coyote, bends down to take a look at the fur poking through the fender.
Fur Pete’s sake: What Mr. East spotted as he bent down to inspect the damage to his car—the body of the coyote poking out through the radiator.
Wily coyote: The animal’s head can be seen as rescuers took apart the front fender to save it after it was struck by the car at 75 mph.
Miracle escape: As the animal struggled, wildlife protection officials put a loop around its neck to prevent it from further injuring itself. The front of the car is completely taken apart as the coyote begins to wriggle free.
Viola! Lucky, the toughest coyote ever, rests in a cage after its ordeal—which it survived with just some scrapes to its paw.
Had this been an actual cartoon and not real life, as soon as they let him go it would have been ...
Posted by Drew458
on 12/10/2009 at 11:15 PM
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff •
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Permalink • CrowderTime
This week Steve considers war ...
Posted by Drew458
on 12/10/2009 at 08:05 PM
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Permalink • Hard Crack
Impress your friends and relatives this season with home made candy. It’s easier than you think. I just made this batch of peanut brittle in a little more than half an hour, including clean up.
It tastes almost as good as See’s Candies product, which goes for $10/lb plus tax and shipping. Mine cost less than a third as much to make. This recipe will properly fill an American sized baking sheet (11” x 17"). So here you go:
2 cups sugar
1 cups light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter - 1/2 of a stick - softened but still in it’s wrapper (ie get the butter out an hour ahead of time and leave it on the counter)
2 slightly rounded teaspoons of baking soda
extra butter
2 cups of salted peanuts. Cocktail peanuts are fine. If using plain peanuts, use a bit more salt. Dry Roast peanuts are Ok too. Buy the party size can of peanuts at Walmart for $4.
1 11” x 17” no-stick cookie sheet of average weight. Not the ultra heavyweight kind.
1 8 quart saucepan - the “pasta for two” pot
1 12 quart saucepan mostly filled with water
Teakettle with boiling water in it
1 medium heat resistant mixing spoon. Wood works fine, or use one of those silicon ones. Just make sure it can handle 350 °F
2 or 3 cup glass measuring cup
candy thermometer
Set the 12 quart pan of water to heating. Turn on the oven and get it warm ( 175°F ). Generously butter the no stick baking pan and put it in the oven. Turn off the oven.
Half unwrap the butter and slightly squash it down. Sprinkle the baking soda on it evenly.
Measure the sugar and pour it in the 8 quart pan. Add the salt. In the same measuring cup you used for the sugar, measure the corn syrup and pour it in. Now pour 3/4 cup of the boiling water from the kettle into the measuring cup. Mix it around so it dissolves any leftover sticky, then pour it into the 8 quart pan. Start heating the 8 quart pan. Set the heat to a bit less than half, and stir. Keep stirring. When the sugar mixture gets hot enough it will start to bubble, and the sugar might cake up a bit. Stir it vigorously and use the spoon to scrape free any stuck bits. When all the sugar is dissolved and you have a nice clear liquid, turn up the heat. Stop stirring. Get out your candy thermometer and keep an eye on the temp. It will take a good while to hit 225°F, but will take only a couple of minutes to reach 275°F. Stir it a little. Around 300° the sugar will begin to brown. Hey, you’re making caramel here. When the liquid hits 305-310 it will be nicely brown. Take the pot off the heat. Toss in the butter and stir it around. The baking soda will cause the mixture to foam up a bit. Stir it for about a minute until you get a nice creamy looking mix. Stir in the peanuts. You get a mixture about as thick as hot asphalt. Open the oven and pour it all onto the cookie sheet while moving the pot around. Scrape out as much as you can. Try and push the mixture around so it’s even on the pan, but it won’t move much. Return cookie sheet to warm oven.
Put the 8 quart pot back on the stove. See that hardened brown mess in there? And look at the crust on the spoon! How the hell are you ever going to get that clean? Ha. Take the 12 quart pot of water, which should be boiling by now, and pour in enough to mostly fill the smaller pot. Stir it around with the same mixing spoon. The boiling water will soften the hardened caramel and most of it will dissolve. Once you’ve loosened all the chunks, pour out the steamy water and you’ll have a clean pot and a clean mixing spoon. Pour some more boiling water into your glass measuring cup. Stir, dump. Goo? Gone!
Take the cookie sheet out of the oven and let it cool. Give the sheet a little twist and the peanut brittle will come loose and break into nice sized pieces.
You can make endless variations on this recipe. You can use pecans, almonds, mixed nuts, whatever. Make your first batch for yourself, then adjust the recipe. Some people like more nuts, some want less. Some want it saltier, some want it a little foamier - which is where the brittle part comes from - so they add a bit more baking soda. Some even dust the cookie sheet with baking soda as well.
The batch I just made was done with half cocktail peanuts and half dry roast peanuts. I did not add any salt, since the peanuts were already salted. I took the mixture off the burner at 315°F. While my experimental guinea pigs neighbor ladies downstairs raved about it, I think I can do better next time. A bit more butter, and go with the salt. Use straight cocktail peanuts and then press a couple handfuls of dry roasted ones into the mixture once it’s on the cookie sheet. Maybe butter up the rolling pin and roll it down a little. This batch came out finger thick, with a serious Brazilian tan, the exact color of a Kraft Karamel; what I wanted was more of a honey blond. So I’ll take the next batch off the heat just when it hits 300-305°F. And perhaps try just a smidge less baking soda. But either way, there won’t be anything left of this batch by morning.
This recipe is so easy that a child could do it. But be careful; the sugar mixture gets much hotter than boiling water, nearly as hot as fry oil. So you can get badly burned. Therefore I recommend that you make sure your kids are past the klutzy age, say around 30, before letting them make this without supervision.
PS - “hard crack” is the candy maker’s term for sugar solutions heated to 300-310°F. Even just a tiny bit hotter than that and caramelizing starts to take place. With peanut brittle you want things to just start to caramelize, and that’s it. I think my cheapo $3 candy thermometer reads a little low too. My mom has had her commercial grade candy thermometer longer than I’ve been alive, and it still works great. Expensive? As if - it’s less than $9.
Posted by Drew458
on 12/10/2009 at 04:04 PM
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy • Fine-Dining •
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Permalink • Straight ahead men …. I’ll be right behind you. CHAAAARRRGE
Morten Morland
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/cartoon/
I’m thinking the cartoonist meant it one way. But I kinda see it another way. Either way .... it’s worth a peek.
UPDATE on Water heater and things that go ZAP. 6:03pm and nothing so far. Cept for the call 6 hours ago. Our street has no lighting, maybe he drove by. Very dark out there. If I wander into the kitchen to make coffee or grab a bite and at the same time he were to arrive, I’d never hear cos you can hear nothing from the kitchen. So I’m here in the front room. Oh well. At least it’s warm. Drat!
Posted by peiper
on 12/10/2009 at 12:57 PM
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Permalink • I am Joe The Plumber
Or at least I will be this weekend.
I have to repair an ADA compliant bathroom sink for one of my doctor customers, and he wants the little sink in the second exam room replace.
ADA compliant sinks are the long ones that are made for wheelchair access. It’s a great heavy piece of porcelain hung from a wall mounted bracket. To be fully compliant it needs to have an offset P trap underneath and levers on the faucet. His sink is sagging and is held up with cheap metal legs. That’s a no-no. Can’t get a wheelchair under there if there are legs in the way. And his has a regular P trap. Plus plain old knobs. Putting in faucet levers and the offset P trap is just a matter of finding the parts and screwing them on. Getting the sag out could be a different story entirely. These sinks are about 30” long. They stick out from the wall twice as far as regular sinks and weigh about 60 pounds. So that’s at least double the amount of torque applied to the wall mount bracket. And what happens when a big guy like me leans on the front of the sink? I might have to get not one new bracket but two, and double them up. I might have to go into the wall and replace the stud support with a double 2x8 or one made of oak. Instead, maybe I can find or fabricate a seriously heavy duty angle bracket to sneak under the front edge of the sink to support it from the sidewall. Less work for me, but it should be a good fix. Any way you look at it, it’s a pretty big job. $$$. Yay me!
The little sink in the second room is a total oddball. It’s about 10"x24", a shallow bowl enameled model with a low rise faucet mounted on the right end. Strangest little sink I’ve ever seen. It’s mounted to a 30” countertop back in a little nook. Dark, cramped, and hard to get to. And IIRC, the plumbing underneath is pretty strange too, with some kind of electric pump on it with a valve because that pipe is actually below grade. I’m not sure such a funny size sink is even made any more. It might be easier and cheaper to just replace the whole bit of countertop and put in a standard stainless bar sink with a medium gooseneck faucet. It’s never the easy jobs I get, like sorting out Peiper’s electric.
Both jobs together look like the better part of 2 days of labor to me. Cool, I’ll take it. You can hire me for $250 a day, and I’ll do whatever you want, as long as it’s mostly legal. Parts extra.
Posted by Drew458
on 12/10/2009 at 12:57 PM
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • A world blighted by a ‘conservative political ideology’ and a rigid class system. ok. yawn.zzz
OK moms and dads. Now you’re going have to vet kiddie books to make sure your offspring aren’t being fed any anti-pc stuff in the form of sexist toons and books.
You couldn’t make this one up. Only a libtard, leftist idiot with plenty of extra time and no real job could come up with this one.
Thomas The Tank Engine is sexist?
Jeesh!
(Due to a temporary tech problem, I am unable to post photos here at this moment. It isn’t BMEWS, problem is at my end. Hope to fix soon. see more and photos at the link below. thanks.)
- UPDATE on our water heater problem and electric zap thru water. After an hour and ten minutes I called em back. Again. You’ll recall from an earlier post, they were to have called, GUARANTEED, in 25 to 30 minutes. Uh huh. Well they didn’t. So, I called and raised some hell and asked if when they said 30 minutes they meant in this century er what? Said a few other things as well. So finally did get a call after my rant. Seems somewhere along the line they couldn’t find details of coverage and oh by the way, the water heater itself and the immersion element are NOT covered. Only the electric that leads to them. OK fine, all we want is hot water again. But since they thought that my policy had expired when in fact I bought a newer one from them before the other two policies expired and combined the two, well. For a time we didn’t exist. Fun huh?
Electrician is coming tonight. GUARANTEED. (he called us once he got their message)
A short while ago the plumber called to ask what the problem was with the water heater, and so I had to explain everything to him. But he won’t come out till the electrician looks at things, and so he’s gonna call us at 9am tomorrow morning. GUARANTEED.
Meanwhile ..... they are cutting paving tiles, thick ones, next door. The noise (and HUGE clouds of grey dust) is maddening but that’s progress.
PC controller gets steamed up over Thomas ‘the Sexist’ Tank Engine
By David Wilkes
10th December 2009If you thought the television tales about Thomas the Tank Engine were merely light-hearted fun, think again.
In fact, they portray a world blighted by a ‘conservative political ideology’ and a rigid class system which stifles self-expression. And they are sexist.
That, at least, is the view of a female academic who took the trouble to analyse 23 episodes of the programme inspired by the books of the Rev W V Awdry.
According to Professor Shauna Wilton, women are under-represented in the stories and what few female characters there are tend to have ‘secondary’ roles or be bossy.
What’s more, she has warned that such negative messages about society subconsciously gleaned from the show might even drive its young fans off the rails in later life.
The learned professor was inspired to carry out her study after watching Thomas videos with her three-year-old daughter. While the child was enthralled, her mother was dismayed.
She was left feeling ‘uncomfortable’ by the way the colourful steam engines are punished if they show initiative or try to change their rank or role.
Her research also highlights the class divide, with Thomas and his fellow engines including Percy and James at the bottom of the social ladder and the Fat Controller, Sir Topham Hatt, at the top.
Any attempt by the downtrodden workers to show initiative or dissent is met with punishment, she found.
In one episode, for example, Thomas whistles impatiently at a police officer and is replaced with a different engine as a punishment for showing dissent.
Professor Wilton, from the department of political sciences at Alberta University, Canada, wants tighter controls on what is broadcast-to children.
She said: ‘We tend to think of children’s TV shows as neutral and safe, but they still carry messages.
‘Eventually these children will attain full political citizenship, and the opinions and world outlook they develop now, partially influencedby shows like Thomas, are part of that process.’
Laura Midgley, of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, described the research as ‘ unbelievable nonsense’.
She said: ‘I cannot believe anyone has the time and energy to do such a study. I’m surprised she hasn’t singled out the Fat Controller as an example of fattism too.
‘Children should just be left to enjoy the innocent fun of Thomas without the politically- correct brigade stoking the fires and ruining their enjoyment.’
Yeah. Take a look at what mz Shauna (?) thinks will derail the kiddies in later life. Pay attention parents. She’ll be testing later. effin idiot!
Posted by peiper
on 12/10/2009 at 08:30 AM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Personal • Stoopid-People •
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Permalink • France in the news. State secret uncovered. French obsession with the bottom revealed
ooh lala. Oh those French ....
(and 50 minutes still counting. Obvious time in this country means something different. Like maybe the clock is metric or something? or 30 minutes really means, when the little hand is on ...)
Where was I ? Oh right. Still in La Belle France ...
France’s obsession with the bottom is laid bare this week in a major new documentary and book charting how “les fesses” have shaped history.
By Henry Samuel in ParisThe highbrow study claims to demonstrate the huge contribution the “derrière” has made to civilisation, mixing the views of top psychoanalysts, philosophers, scientists and artists.
The role of “les fesses” in human evolution has been overlooked, claim the experts, while they have been prominent at every turning point in society and art history – from the ancient Greeks to Grace Jones.
“They are every present in daily life and yet they have never been considered a serious subject of study in their own right,” claim the authors of La Face Cachée des Fesses (The Hidden Side of the Bottom). “They speak of the foundations of our society – in the literal and metaphorical sense – of its taboos and desires. When we talk about ‘les fesses’, we’re talking about ourselves.”
The film claims that the bottom line is that without our Gluteus Maximus, humans would never have come down from the trees.
Claudine Cohen, science historian at Paris’ Higher School of Social Sciences said: “The gluteal muscles are unique to humans, enabling bipedal locomotion – on two feet. (Their) size and strength developed to fulfil an essential human need, erect posture and walking.”The importance of this change even escaped Darwin’s notice in his theory on human evolution. He made no mention of the fact that once humans gave up moving on all fours, males no longer knew when a female was fertile. This led to the rise of breasts and buttocks and the art of seduction.
While we all have them, “fesses” is a uniquely French word, claims the documentary – broadcast tomorrow (Thursday) night on the Franco-German channel Arte. An accompanying book will be on sale in all French museum shops starting this week.Edward Lucie-Smith, an art historian, pointed out there was no exact translation for the word covering the thighs, the bottom and the loins.
“There’s no word in English which means quite the same thing. English words reduce it to the backside,” he said.As for French artists, the documentary claims they have marked history above all others with their talents for depicting the derrière – through painters such as Courbet, Boucher, Toulouse-Lautrec, Ingres, Matisse and Degas.
“We have a special relationship with this party of the body,” said Allan Rothschild, co-director of the documentary. This was best summed up by Brigitte Bardot in the film Le Mépris (Contempt), when she asks, naked: “Et mes fesses? Tu les aimes, mes fesses?” (And my bottom, do you love my bottom?).” Buttocks have also played a key political role, in particular baring them as a protest gesture – favoured by punks and environmental activists. .
They also were instrumental in giving birth to feminism, which grew out of the misogynist and sexist late 19th century. “Les fesses” were exaggerated by making women wear “faux-culs” – literally “false butts” – huge bustles with a tiny waist and corset that actually enlarged their posteriors.
Philippe Comar, morphology professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts said: “The faux-cul reduced the woman to a sexual object. It is not surprising feminist movements took flight at this time.” While buttocks marked important phases in art, this was also true for photography, film and advertising.
In 1972, Michel Polnareff, a popular French singer, stuck thousands of posters of himself dressed as a woman and baring his behind with the slogan: “I’m a man”. The posters were banned and France was shocked.The number of expressions and synonyms for the posterior in French is a tribute to its importance in society, and it can be found in many French songs, from Serge Gainsbourgh to Georges Brassens.
Mr Rothschild, who co-directed the film with Caroline Pichon, said that the French were more obsessed than ever with the behind. “They are on billboards, in pharmacy windows everywhere.” But he regretted recent changes in French tastes. “Only a few years ago, large ones were in fashion. Now they must be small, almost androgynous – there’s almost no difference between male and female. It’s rather a shame.”
The prospect of the in-depth fesses study will come as welcome light relief to the French, who are in sombre mood.
As one internet commentator noted, “Between swine flu, minarets, Sarkozy and the debate on national identity, here at last is a subject that gives pleasure.”
Posted by peiper
on 12/10/2009 at 04:26 AM
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • FRANCE • Fun-Stuff • Humor •
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Permalink • France in the news as Nicolas Sarkozy defends Swiss minaret ban. Good for Sarko but …
Did he have the more liberal minded wifey dear Carla’s permission to say that?
Whatever ..... Kudos to Sarko. There aren’t many EU politicians speaking out on behalf of those evil minded Swiss who after all, are making a small attempt to keep their country Swiss. Why ... the nerve of them. Where did they ever get the idea that they had some sort of civil or human right to think that way? The european convention on human rights clearly DOES NOT cover that subject.
Vive la France ...
OH right. UPDATE on our zapping water.
Wife got a call late last night, I never heard the phone, that someone would be out here today between 1 and 6pm. Great. Ya think?
Have another thunk.
A little over half an hour ago I got a call from the folks who cover us to say that the “engineer” had an emergency call where someone had a broken line or pipe and their house was being flooded and it would be an all day job. Could we reschedule? What? They only have ONE person they can call on?
Anyway, I explained (to the fifth person since this all started yesterday) that there was electric shock hazard and for the umteenth time I went thru the story blah,blah,blah. Oh says person number five .... what you need is an ELECTRICIAN. DOH. ya don’t say. Hello? Has anyone been listening? OK says Number 5, I will have someone get back to you in 25 to 30 minutes. Really, I smartly replied. Let me tell you what happened yesterday when someone told me I would get a call within the hour. Yadda,yadda 2hours 45minutes. No,no says number 5. You will be called in 25 to 30 minutes. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz We are now approaching 40 minutes. Still no call. Still no use of hot water. Still no idea where the problem is. Keep in mind BMEWS readers. This is England which no longer swings in the sense of that old song. It’s more like hanging by a weak thread. Not to worry. I’m sure someone might call before Christmas. Or maybe not. Coming up on 45 minutes.
Stay Tuned
Now where the heck was I? Oh yeah .... In France ...
Nicolas Sarkozy has defended Switzerland’s ban on building minarets with a warning that religious groups should refrain from “ostentation and any provocation”.
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 6:35PM GMT 08 Dec 2009The French president made the remarks as he sought to justify his own, controversial, “great debate” on France’s national identity, which critics say is alienating mainly Muslim immigrants.
In an opinion piece in Le Monde, the president said that while he regretted the “painful misunderstandings” created by the referendum, the vote should be respected.
“Instead of irrevocably condemning the Swiss people, let’s also try to understand what it sought to express and what so many peoples in Europe, including the French, feel,” he said.
“What happened has nothing to do with the freedom of religious practise, or freedom of conscience,” he wrote.
He asked all believers to avoid “ostentation and provocation” and instead show “humble discretion”.
“The peoples of Europe are welcoming and tolerant: it’s in their nature and in their culture. But they don’t want their way of life, their mode of thinking and their social relations distorted,” he added.
His comments came as Eric Cantona, the French footballer, joined the debate, deriding “stupid” nationalist approaches to the issue of national identity.
“Being French, does that mean having to speak French, sing the Marseillaise? That’s just stupid,” said the retired France and Manchester United striker who is a son of Spanish and Italian immigrants.
“Being French means being revolutionary.”
France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim minority and where Islam now ranks as the nation’s second religion.
Next month, a parliamentary inquiry will produce a much-awaited report on whether to ban the burka, or full Islamic veil, which Mr Sarkozy has said “has no place in France”.
Despite several local campaigns by the French far right, dozens of mosques are due to be built in France, including a Grand Mosque in Marseille that will have an 82ft minaret.
The government has ruled out a minaret construction ban but says that mayors have the final word on building new mosques with towers, which is a matter for “urban planning”.
France’s six million Muslims congregate in fewer than 2,500 mosques and prayer houses, many in basements. France has 64 mosques with minarets.
Mr Sarkozy’s words were published hours before the French parliament began a debate on national identity, after weeks of town hall meetings on the issue.
A government website on the subject has received 40,000 comments, though up to 10 per cent have been removed for being “racist or xenophobic”.
The French Left has accused the president of igniting the issue to woo far-right voters ahead of regional elections next March.
Although Mr Sarkozy has called it a “noble debate”, detractors – some from within his own camp – warn he is playing into the National Front’s hands.
“How can one be surprised at the success of extremists when one doesn’t take into account the suffering of voters?” he asked yesterday.
Posted by peiper
on 12/10/2009 at 03:52 AM
Filed Under: • FRANCE •
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Permalink • Wednesday - December 09, 2009
Stretching The Hypocrisy Envelope
Obama Pitches Jobs Program, Points Finger at GOP for Economic Mess
President Obama used his speech rolling out a stimulus-style jobs program Tuesday to point the finger at Republicans for allegedly facilitating the economic crisis and then foisting it off on his administration to solve.
While praising his own team for pioneering “ambitious” financial reform and “sweeping” economic recovery initiatives, the president took some pointed shots at Republicans who are now blasting the latest package as a spend-crazy “stimulus two” that will drill deeper into the deficit.
“We were forced to take those steps (to jump-start the economy) largely without the help of an opposition party which, unfortunately, after having presided over the decision-making that had led to the crisis, decided to hand it over to others to solve,” Obama said, starting his address with a history lesson on the roots of the recession.
Republicans, however, slammed Obama for dipping into the federal piggy bank once again to finance a jobs program that might or might not work.
“This is stimulus two. They won’t call it a stimulus,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said.
“The policy of this administration is if you’ve got it, spend it,” said House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence, R-Ind.
Obama said the crisis was caused not just by economic weakness but the “weakness in our political system”—one corroded by the “bitterness of partisanship,” and the “endless campaigns focused on scoring points instead of meeting our common challenges.”
What a cocksucking little douche bunny this guy is. Get him a job in the movie theater because he’s a total projectionist. Get him a job in the Greek orchestra because he’s the greatest lyre playa ever. Get him a job with the EPA doing supersite cleanup on all the toxic waste he spews. Get him a job anywhere doing anything. Just get him out of the White House.
Yes, the Republicans are partly to blame for this mess. So are the Democrats. Home Slice has been in power for a year now. It’s long past time to STFU about Eviiil Boooosh.
No, I’m not putting in the link. It’s on Fox. But it’s SSDD, and let’s spend another $50 billion. Same ol’ same ol’. Why even bother?
Posted by Drew458
on 12/09/2009 at 12:07 PM
Filed Under: • Obama, The One •
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Permalink • A LADY IN NEED OF SOME HELP …. AND EYE CANDY TOO.
It’s 4:50p, it’s dark, I’ve been busy all day and this might be my only posting. ?? Reason being that it sure caught my eye and so I thought ok.
Maybe I need to post this just to keep me sane. Also cos I think it kinda looks nice too . Hey. Old doesn’t mean dead ya know.
Meanwhile we are waiting for a repair guy, they’re called “engineers” over here, for our water heater.
Get this BMEWS .... when the hot water heater is turned on, it started giving a mild zap when running the tap. Ever hear of such a thing?
What I mean is, you got the zap when you hand is in the water. Not from touching the tap itself.
I knew there was something weird going on by the oddball noise the damn thing omitted a week ago. Like rushing water. But no leak anywhere. Then the noise went away and seemed ok. But today the zap thing happened. Now as it happens, I had a repair (engineer) sched. for sometime Friday anyway to take a look at the thing, thinking there might be a problem with the immersion element. So I went thru two or three calls to our insurer, was told someone would call back within the hour. So two hours and 45 minutes later I got a call saying someone would be out here by 6 this evening.
So we’re waiting. Groan. This is a very old place and I wish I could move into the new one being built next door.
So here. This makes things sort of okay. Well not really but I like to kid myself. lol.
This is SARAH JESSICA PARKER and she seems to be having a hell of a problem with this dress.
Posted by peiper
on 12/09/2009 at 11:49 AM
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy • Humor •
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Permalink • Stimulus is another way to spell payback and corruption
Mark Penn’s two firms got $6 million from stimulus for PR campaign
By Alexander Bolton - 12/09/09 12:00 AM ETNearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.
Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.
Burson-Marsteller won the contract to work on a public-relations campaign to advertise the national switch from analog to digital television. Nearly $2.8 million of the contract was issued to Penn’s polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, according to federal records.
The article goes on to mention the dickless Republicans, doing too little too late. As usual. But look! Something new!
The GOP senators highlighted the direction of the stimulus funds on the same day Obama outlined a new series of proposals for creating jobs that Republicans view as another stimulus measure. The proposals include tax cuts for small businesses, tax incentives for employers to hire new workers and infrastructure spending.
The need for additional measures has raised questions over the efficacy of the stimulus package passed earlier this year.
Oh, I get it. Now that Fearless Reader and his underling the Wicked Witch have paid off all the unions, all the left wing racketeers like ACORN, provided fat cash to all their pals, given massive paybacks to all of their political contributors, and built an unvetted cabal of communists, anarchists, pedophiles, and raving socialists at the very top of the government, NOW they can step back a little and start putting classical Conservative measures into place that have been proven time and time again to be the only things that actually stimulate the market.
Because taking care of all your pals, and making sure that they’re all nearly drowning in cash is far more important than helping the nation recover. That’s merely an afterthought.
Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said the three jobs saved at Burson-Marsteller represented a poor value for taxpayers.
“It illustrates a very poor way to create jobs,” Kyl said. Kyl said the appropriateness of Democratic strategists receiving funds “depends on whether they exerted some influence.”
The digital television advertising campaign ranked as No. 3 on the list of 100 projects that GOP senators on Tuesday highlighted as “pure waste” in the billions of stimulus funds spent this year.
Senator Kyl is just as clueless as that other Arizona Senator. He’s drunk the Kool-Aid, and buys into the “jobs saved = jobs created” mantra. Idiot. AND he’s implying that it’s OK for this PR firm to get such a payback IF they had influence? Influence where Kyl baby? With the Hildabeast? Well, no shit. With the effectiveness of their ad campaign? Double idiot! The government never should have spent one red cent on such a campaign to begin with. Getting that analog to digital TV message out was the responsibility of the TV networks. Not the government. And please ... we all knew it was coming years ago, to the point that we all just shook our heads when the switchover was delayed yet again last time. Everybody knew, and was beyond sick of hearing about it. So NO: forking out a truck load of cash to her PR firm to run such a info campaign less than 2 months before the instantiation date was a total waste. That too was a payback.
We are so screwed.
Posted by Drew458
on 12/09/2009 at 11:12 AM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Obama, The One •
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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