Friday - January 15, 2010
Too much for me
That’s a heck of a big job for 6 guys. I’d call it lifetime employment. Especially since the ropes would wear out before they were finished even once. Splat. Hanging from a rope 2200 feet up, not even a boatswain’s chair, no shade and everything wet and slippery is not my idea of a good time.
And, of course, long before they were done they’d half to start all over again.
Looks to me like they’re using the deionized water method. It works great, but it uses a whole lot of water, and it’s mighty expensive. Given this building’s location, they’d want to heat the water up to around 130-140°F so as not to stress the sun heated glass. And that means a pretty large built in system. So I’m fairly amazed that the Burj Dubai didn’t build in an automatic cleaning system like other modern buildings use; they’ve already got the hard part installed.
I wonder what the glass life on that building is specified as? All that sand blowing around. Maybe they’ve put in some special coating or something? I have no idea.
Oh, and the naughty little music hall ditty was done by George Formby, recorded in 1936. I think I should learn the words, especially the more risque verses not sung in this recording. I didn’t even know there was a window cleaning song!
Posted by Drew458
on 01/15/2010 at 12:17 PM
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Permalink • Up to the eyeballs in multiple projects and dog tired when this was put under me nose.
So naturally I had to stop what I was doing so I could share this with anyone interested.
Hey ... I thought the Brits had the first one. Or at least they and us at about the same time. Apparently it was Germans.
Why am I not surprised even a little bit?
Anyway, as the kids say, this is cool. Ah, the kids still do say that, don’t they?
Hey guys. 1894. They wouldn’t have had rubber tires back then. Would they? Curious and no time to hunt. When was rubber first used on cars or bikes with an inner tube?
From The Times
January 15, 2010Rare Hildebrand motorcycle set to fetch £60,000 at auction
An original 1895 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller motorcycle
Staff reporter
An 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller, thought to be one of the world’s oldest motorcycles, is set to fetch up to £60,000 at auction in April.
The first machine to be named “a motorcycle”, the twin-cylinder, water-cooled, four-stroke was developed by the German brothers Henry and Wilhelm Hildebrand in collaboration with Alois Wolfmüller and his mechanic Hans Geisenhof. Its 1488cc engine developed only 2.5bhp.
After being patented in January 1894, the machine was also licensed in France as La Petrolette, but production in Germany and France stopped in 1897. It is believed that only about 800 Hildebrand bikes were produced. The machine for sale in Stafford was owned by an American family and last used on the road in the 1930s.
“This is one of the forerunners in motorcycle design,” said James Stensel, motorcycle specialist at Bonhams. “To see one in the metal is unbelievable. They are so, so rare.”
It will appear at the Classic Motorcycle Show in Stafford in April.
Posted by peiper
on 01/15/2010 at 10:38 AM
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Permalink • EU LAW CHIEF SAYS BRITS MUST PAY BENEFITS TO FAMILY AND WIVES OF TERRORISTS.
Betcha many Brits would just love to whack this bleeding heart. Hell, I’m not a Brit and I’d like to. I kinda doubt the Brit govt. bad though it is, will go along. But who knows? The govt. is one of the left and nothing they do would surprise anyone anymore.
Just another nail in coffin of the UKs sovereignty if they approve this opinion.
Yes I know I keep banging on and repeating myself on the subject but .... Keep ur eyes opened America, and clean ur ears. There are folks at home who are very happy to give up some American sovereignty in exchange for what they think is world harmony and peace etc. You won’t find em on the right so that should narrow the field a bit.
Meanwhile txpayers, chew on this excerpt from my embassy newsletter.
New USAID Chief Dr. Rajiv Shah, Sees U.S. Forging Deeper Partnerships Overseas
Shah says the U.S. government now wants to give foreign countries more control over how American aid is spent. But, he also says measures will be in place to make sure that money is used wisely. “As we, and if we, give up control to some extent in order to support country leadership, we should have high standards and we should have strong ability to track outcomes to monitor resources and how they flow and to ensure that we’re generating real results in a sustainable way for American taxpayers,” he said.
USAID currently provides $20 billion in annual aid to development projects around the world. The Obama administration plans to expand that to $50 billion a year by 2012 for healthcare, education and agriculture.
By William Ide
VOA News
The U.S. Agency for International Development has sworn in a new administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah, at a ceremony January 7 in Washington. In an exclusive interview with Voice of America, Shah talked about the Obama administration’s plans to deepen its partnerships overseas and listen more to the countries the agency serves.
A 36-year-old medical doctor by training, Shah comes to USAID with expertise in agriculture. He previously served as the director of agricultural development with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and later in a top post at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But, he says, the mission of USAID is his passion.
As a son of Indian immigrants, Shah says that he started visiting India and other parts of the world at a young age and saw firsthand the kind of extreme conditions of poverty and human suffering that exist across the globe. “The opportunity to join an agency that has as its core mission working on that problem, working in a way that it’s respectful of the people who live in those environments and learns from them, is a great, great honor,” he said.
As head of USAID, Shah says he plans to hire several hundred new development experts and individuals with technical expertise to expand the agency’s work capacity.
Very busy next several hours so I’ll leave you with this article I just found in our paper. Madness! Lunacy! MOONBATS everywhere.
WIVES OF TERRORISTS MUST GET THEIR BENEFITS BACK: IT’S A HUMAN RIGHT, SAYS EURO LAW CHIEF.
By James Slack
Last updated at 7:02 AM on 15th January 2010Wives of suspects who Britain says have links to Osama bin Laden have appealed against Treasury restrictions
Europe’s law chief wants Britain to reinstate the payment of tens of thousands of pounds in State handouts to the wives of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban fanatics.
Ministers have halted benefit payouts made to the families of suspected terrorists to prevent the money falling into the hands of banned groups.
The Treasury says the power is a vital weapon in the war against terrorism. It stems from a crackdown on terrorist financing launched in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
However, the senior advocate of the European Court of Justice, Paolo Mengozzi, yesterday declared the decision to stop the payments was unfair on the grounds of human rights.
His opinion is likely to prove crucial when Europe’s highest court considers three test cases brought by the wives of British-based terror suspects later this year.
In eight out of every ten cases, the court has agreed with the Advocate General - making it highly likely the UK taxpayer will soon begin forking out hundreds of pounds a week to the families.
Whitehall officials have refused to name the families involved in the test cases - but all three of the husbands are foreign nationals on the United Nations list of international terror suspects.
They have been linked by security officials to Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban
The payouts to their wives include income support, child benefit and housing assistance worth ‘several hundred’ pounds a week.
Last night, campaign groups said it would be outrageous for the European courts to once again water down Britain’s anti-terror laws.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘It is absurd that this unaccountable European court is trying to dictate to the British Government how we spend our own money. British taxpayers are already sick of bankrolling the lifestyles of people who preach hate against our country, and there is no way that they should be able to fund their activities or their families through milking the welfare system.
‘Whether you agree with the judgment or not, it is a choice that should be made by our country, not these lawyers who are answerable to nobody.’
Under the Treasury’s rules, social security payments cannot be made available ‘directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of’ anyone who is on the UN terrorism sanctions list.
This has been applied to the wives of as many as ten terror suspects, who have been hit with licences restricting their access to state funds.
In the case due before the EU court, the three women claim this amounts to a violation of their human right to a family life.
Their first appeal was rejected. But in a second appeal to the House of Lords, Britain’s highest court, judges had concerns about how the law was being applied.
In April 2008, they asked the European Court of Justice to provide a ruling.
Any decision by the European court, which is expected to issue a final judgment in three to six months, will be binding on the House of Lords and on courts throughout the EU.
In advance of this decision, Mr Mengozzi issued a 26-page written opinion in which he argued the phrase ‘directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of’ suspected terrorists was very widely drawn.
He acknowledged that the payments made to the wives could benefit their husbands, but disputed whether those benefits could easily be converted into funds to finance terrorism.
Mr Mengozzi advised the European Court of Justice to rule that the extra restrictions were unjustified and violated the right to respect for family life.
Earlier this week, the European Court of Human Rights dealt a separate blow to UK anti-terror policy when it ruled the stopping and searching of suspects without grounds for suspicion was unlawful.
The searches had been a key plank of policing for over a decade.
Posted by peiper
on 01/15/2010 at 06:48 AM
Filed Under: • Economics • EUro-peons • Insanity • International • Obama, The One • UK • USA •
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Permalink • People (?) in Haiti protest and block roads because aid is too slow in coming. WTF
Now these are clearly dumb-heads of the first degree but fine. Let em block the roads with rotting bodies (as they are doing) because they somehow thought that relief was permanently stationed off shore just in case Haiti needed help.
I can’t say as I blame them if that’s what they really think altho I made that part up all by myself. See the thing is, those folks have been getting handouts from the world at large (and especially the USA where they think money grows on trees) for so long, that they think all they have to do is hold out their hands and the help is immediate. Well it usually worked that way in the past.
So there they are, protesting by blocking the very limited roads they have where help might come through. Smart thinking. doh.
The upside of what some will see as tragedy, is that there are now far fewer who will breed. Of course that’ll change very fast and they’ll double the lost number in short order.
Downside? You betcha.
I M M I G R A T I O N !! And where oh where will they be headed to? Oh let us see. Gee whiz this is a hard one. Now let me think. Hmmmm
Haiti earthquake survivors blockade roads with piles of corpses in protest at lack of aidBy Liz Hazelton
Last updated at 11:09 AM on 15th January 2010* Hundreds of criminals on the streets after prison collapses
* 7,000 corpses are dumped in Haiti’s first mass grave
* Aid workers pour on to island as emergency fund launched
* Fears for British woman Ann Barnes who worked in collapsed building
* Reports of looting as situation spirals out of control
*Britain pledges £10m in aid as Brown describes ‘tragedy beyond imagination’
Desperate Haitians have set up roadblocks of corpses in Port-au-Prince to protest at the lack of emergency aid reaching them after the catastrophic earthquake.
Although billions of pounds has already been pledged to the devastated country, help is only just beginning to trickle through.
Rescue efforts have been blighted by poor infrastructure and lack of heavy lifting equipment - as well as the damage wrought by the disaster.
Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.
‘They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It’s getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help,’ he said.
You probably have this on TV 24/7 so I’m keeping it short. Below is the link to the article source.
Posted by peiper
on 01/15/2010 at 06:11 AM
Filed Under: • Animals • Border Security • Daily Life • Environment • International • Stoopid-People •
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Permalink • This idea isn’t new to me, but I hadn’t seen it on this scale before. Take a look.
Fancy living in a Church? This old church in Kyloe, North Cumberland, England was purchased by a couple. They invested lots of money to keep the outside and inside as it was but the outside stayed the same.
They restored instead of renovated (3 times less money)
The couple did their best to recreate the inside like a regular home.
Here I am living in this country and these were sent to me from America by a dear friend there. Ain’t the net the most wonderful place?
I’ll say one thing about this sort of living environment.
YOUR NEIGHBORS ARE NOT NOISY! EVER!
H/T Lynne P. from email.
I’d love to have in the bank what these folks might be paying in electric and or gas bills. That isn’t a warm part of this country.
It is pretty though.
Posted by peiper
on 01/15/2010 at 05:28 AM
Filed Under: • Architecture • Daily Life • Miscellaneous • News-Briefs • OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT • UK •
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Permalink • Thursday - January 14, 2010
Al Qaida Airlines
Terrorists have been running their own airline back and forth between South America and West Africa. Cocaine comes east. Who knows what or whom goes west? You can pack so damn much cocaine on a 727 that you can write off the cost of the airliner, and just set it on fire out in the bush, as was recently done in Mali. And these jet liners fly all over South America, dropping off and picking up. And then fly east from Hugo’s house, where he sends up his air force to dissuade our P3 radar surveillance airplanes from tracking them.
The aircraft hopscotch across South American countries, picking up tons of cocaine and jet fuel, officials say. They then soar across the Atlantic to West Africa and the Sahel, where the drugs are funneled across the Sahara Desert and into Europe.
Didn’t we have this big discussion a few years ago about the terrorist/cartel link down around the 3 Corners border area down in Brazil? By that big waterfall? Anti-terrorist efforts in North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and even in Australia and Indonesia. So where are the terrorists getting their money from? South America.
And they laughed at Bush’s folks who said that the War On Terror WAS the War On Drugs.
LOTS MORE at the link. I have to hit the hay now.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60C3E820100113
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 10:26 PM
Filed Under: • War On Terror •
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Permalink • One From Carol
No, I haven’t forgotten you. And you send me great emails. I’m just utterly behind on them again. As usual. So let me put up your latest.
Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He’s now 82 years old and has a new book, ‘Where Have All The Leaders Gone?’. He was, and still is, a brilliant businessman. Often we need to be reminded of Iococca’s words. They’re just as true today as it was when his book first came out.
Lee Iacocca says:
‘Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage with this so called president? We should be screaming bloody murder! We’ve got a gang of tax cheating clueless leftists trying to steer our ship of s! tate rig ht o ver a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers program without losing $26 billion of the taxpayers’ money, much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘trust me the economy is getting better..’
Better? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned, ‘Titanic’. I’ll give you a sound bite: ‘Throw all the Democrats out along with Obama!’ You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore..
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs ... While we’re fiddling in Afghanistan, Iran is completing their nuclear bombs and missiles and nobody seems to know what to do. And the liberal press is waving ‘pom-poms’ instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of the ‘ America ‘ my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?
I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have. The Biggest ‘C’ is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C’s of leadership, with crisis being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with thumb up your butt and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here’s where we stand:
- We’re immersed in a bloody war now with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. But our soldiers are dying daily.
- We’re running the biggest deficit in the hi! story of the world, and it’s getting worse every day!
- We’ve lost the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.
- Gas prices are going to skyrocket again, and nobody in power has a lucid plan to open drilling to solve the problem. This country has the largest oil reserves in the WORLD, and we cannot drill for it because the politicians have been bought by the flea-hugging environmentalists.
- Our schools are in a complete disaster because of the teachers union.
- Our borders are like sieves and they want to give all illegals amnesty and free healthcare.
- The middle class is being squeezed to death every day.
These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: ‘Where have all the leaders gone?’ Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point..
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened. Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping the government will make it better for them. Now, that’s just crazy ... deal with life.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when ‘The Big Three’ referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, look what Obama did about it!
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving theenergy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the Chicago gangsters in Congress. We didn’t elect you to turn this country into a losing European Socialist state. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on NBC or CNN news will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough? Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America . In my lifetime, I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America ‘s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises: The ‘Great Depression,’ ‘World War II,’ the ‘Korean War,’ the ‘Kennedy Assassination,’ the ‘Vietnam War,’ the 1970’s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years since 9/11.
Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It’s our country, folks, and it’s our future. Our future is at stake!!
I’m not bothering to check this out with Snopes. I don’t care if it’s actually from the old man himself. “Fake but accurate” sometimes works, and this is a darn good message.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 05:16 PM
Filed Under: • Editorials • FREEDOM •
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Permalink • Holy Cow, Boy
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so many hits at one time. I’m too busy right now to check the specs for an analysis, so I’m betting I have a whole passel of visitors here for the Cowboy Action post.
Welcome aboard folks, there’s cornbread in the oven and a few cold ones on ice out in the back.
I guess I could write more on this topic from time to time! It sure is more fun than another darn go round of politics in Washington DC.
So, tell me, if a whole bunch of visitors from Instapundit is an Instalanche, does a big group of cowpokes riding in qualify as a Stampede?
Thanks for stopping by!
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 04:45 PM
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Permalink • New Champion of a new sport
Most BMEWS readers will recognize the above as the title of Col. Jeff Cooper’s book. Half of you probably own a copy. It’s a book about being a sheepdog not a sheep. It’s a book about learning to use your guns and become a “shottist”. It’s a book about situational awareness. And so many other things. I’m borrowing the title because it boils down almost the entire cowboy ethos into 8 short words. Words which show that being called a “cowboy”, or referencing “cowboy diplomacy” is a great compliment, not the insult various euro-wienies think it is.
There is a sport played with guns called Cowboy Action Shooting. That’s right. A sport. Played. With guns. And bullets!! Actually, it’s a whole series of competitive events, dreamed up by, and organized by, the Single Action Shooting Society. You have to wear cowboy style clothing, use cowboy style firearms, go by a cowboy alias, and you compete in several kinds of cowboy styled shooting, like fast draw, long range buffalo hunting (using a steel buffalo), defending the stagecoach, or robbing the bank. Great fun is had by all.
I don’t do this sport. I’ve got nothing against the costume aspect, or the firearms used. I’m a little let down by their use of extremely low powered ammunition, or even blanks for some events, but safety has to be paramount. And before today, I was only aware of one “mounted” competition, in which the folks fired off shotguns while atop a barrel “horse” up on blocks. That just didn’t sit right with me. How the heck can you be a cowboy, even a modern weekends-only just for fun kind, without an actual honest-to-God horse?
Turns out I was under-informed. There is a competition that requires horses. It’s called Mounted Shooting. It’s a cross between barrel racing and target shooting. Ride your horse around a course and shoot 10 balloons as fast as you can, with a single action six-gun in each hand. The pistols are loaded with black powder blanks, but the blast from each shot is enough to burst a balloon from 10 to 20 feet away. Sounds like great fun, and it’s probably a big hit at rodeos too! (What do I know from rodeos? I live in New Jersey. Around here the only thing ever called a rodeo is a big flea market or used car sale.)
The sport is cut up into gender, age, and skill divisions, but they have an overall championship at the end of the season. And the overall champion for 2009 ... is Kenda Lenseigne from Ellensburg, Washington.
One perfect run.
That’s all that separates Kenda Lenseigne from something extraordinary: a world championship.
She waits to enter the arena and can almost hear the tension crackling in the air.
The crowd holds its breath, waiting for her.
It’s October and this cowgirl from Sultan is one run away from beating last year’s reigning world champion in mounted shooting.
Shooting from a horse has been around since the invention of guns.
This particular cowboy skill didn’t become a sport until 15 years ago. That’s when a few modern-day cowpokes found a safe way to combine horseback riding and shooting.
It would come to be known as Cowboy Mounted Shooting and it looks like this: Competitors riding a horse on a timed course lined with 10 balloons, shooting the targets as they go. Two pistols, five shots each.
Jim Rodgers, a dedicated rider from Arizona and the father of the sport, thought up the idea of shooting blanks at balloons. That bit of inspiration made it safe for a cowboy to ride at top speed in an arena around a series of barrels, while rapidly unloading two .45 caliber single-action revolvers.
Rodgers and his friends started putting on competitions and demonstrations at rodeos. Pretty soon there were clips on cable television shows and feature stories in Western Horseman magazine.
The sport caught on quickly, says Brady Carr, one of those riders who discovered the sport in its early years.
He’s now the executive vice president of the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association, a national organization based in Tennessee that oversees and administers the sport. “Raw Horsepower, Hard Ridin’, Straight Shootin’” the association’s Web site boasts. In 2003, the association had 2,000 members. Today, membership is close to 10,000.
The sport is a natural companion to other popular Western events like roping and barrel racing, with a ready-made base of cowboys with the skills to give it a try.
“We laughingly call it ‘cowboy cocaine,’” Carr says. “It’s an adrenaline rush.”
Read the rest of Debra Smith’s well written piece at the Everett, Washington Herald right here, which also has a nice bird’s eye view animated graphic of the event, and then jump over to my pal Mo’s blog (he’s the guy who casts those enormous lead bullets for me) to see the video from the championship.
If you can’t be a 17th century pirate, you might as well be a cowboy. Or at least live by the Cowboy Way. And that’s as good as it gets. Congratulations Kenda!
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 11:37 AM
Filed Under: • Adventure • Guns and Gun Control • Sports •
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Permalink • Teach Your Children Well
Playmobil toys depict real-life settings, and not always cheery ones, like a police station, hospital and animal clinic. But one, the Security Check Point, took that philosophy too far for some parents.
The set — which includes armed airport security officers, a metal detector and an X-ray screening machine — has drawn nearly 50 biting customer reviews, and scores of comments to those reviews, on Amazon dot com.
“The whole premise behind Playmobil toys is to familiarize the child with the realities of life through play,” Ms. Winfrey said. “If you’re taking a child for a first flight to Florida from New Jersey to visit grandparents, you say, ‘This is what the terminal looks like, and when we get here we have to take our shoes off and walk though security.”
“When you think about toys, the last thing you’d think someone would create is the most miserable traveling experience you could have,” said Mr. Sack, who shares his Playmobil collection with his sons, ages 2 and 4 (and who confirmed that the traveler’s shoes in the set are not removable). “It’s like having a tax collector toy — for my first audit.”
I wonder if Playmobil has a UK add-on for their Happy Town playset that allows kids to put a CCTV camera on every corner?
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 10:39 AM
Filed Under: • Big Brother •
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Permalink • Two More Dirty Lefty Hypocrites
Former chief UNSCOM weapons inspector, anti-war Bush critic busted AGAIN for underage sex chat
A former chief United Nations weapons inspector is accused of contacting what he thought was a 15-year-old girl in an Internet chat room, engaging in a sexual conversation and showing himself masturbating on a Web camera.
Scott Ritter of Delmar, N.Y., who served as chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991-98 and who was an outspoken critic of the second Bush administration in the run-up to the war in Iraq, is accused of contacting what turned out to be a Barrett Township police officer posing undercover as a teen girl.
The police affidavit gives the following account:
Officer Ryan Venneman was posing as 15-year-old “Emily” in an online chat room when he was contacted by someone using the name “Delmarm4fun.” This person, later identified as Ritter, told “Emily” he was a 44-year-old male from Albany, N.Y.
“Emily” told Ritter she was a 15-year-old girl from the Poconos, at which point Ritter asked for a picture other than the one “Emily” had posted on her account. Ritter then sent her a link to his Web camera and began to masturbate on camera.
“Emily” asked Ritter for his cell phone number, which he provided. Ritter again asked “Emily” how old she was. Told she was 15, Ritter said he didn’t realize she was 15 and turned off his webcam, saying he didn’t want to get in trouble. Ritter told “Emily” he had been fantasizing about having sex with her, to which she replied: “Guess you turned it off ...”
Ritter then said: “You want to see it finish,” reactivated his webcam and continued masturbating and ejaculated on camera.
EEEWWW. And now it turns out that he didn’t have a “happy ending” after all.
This is not the first time Ritter has been in such trouble. According to reports, Ritter was charged in a June 2001 Internet sex sting in New York, but that case was dismissed.
He had been charged with attempted child endangerment after arranging in an online chatroom to meet what he thought was a 16-year-old girl at a Burger King restaurant. The girl turned out to be an undercover policewoman. Ritter said the criminal charge was a smear campaign in response to his criticizing U.S. policy in the Middle East.
The New York Post reported Ritter had been caught in a similar case involving a 14-year-old girl in April 2001, but that he was not charged.
In 1998, Ritter resigned from the United Nations Special Commission weapons inspection team and has been the most outspoken critic of U.S. policy toward Baghdad.
Gun Control Senator/Lawyer Indicted For Shooting Former Client
State Sen. R.C. Soles Jr., North Carolina’s longest-serving lawmaker, was indicted Thursday in connection with an August shooting at his Tabor City home. Soles, 74, a Democrat, faces a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious bodily injury. A conviction could result in a prison sentence of up to two years.
Soles shot Thomas Kyle Blackburn, 22, in the leg during an incident at Soles’ home Aug. 23. His lawyers, Joseph Cheshire and Bradley Bannon of Raleigh, reiterated Thursday what Soles has maintained all along: that the shooting was self-defense.
“We are disappointed with the indictment of Senator Soles and maintain that he was acting in defense of himself and his home,” the lawyers said in a statement.
The indictment was expected because last month a Columbus County grand jury found probable cause to move forward with charges.
District Attorney Rex Gore, who has long-standing ties to Soles, had recused himself from the case earlier, and the state Attorney General’s Office is handling the prosecution.
Last week, Soles announced he would not seek re-election to the state Senate, the latest in a string of Democratic legislators leaving open seats in competitive districts.
Soles’ decision not to run again could give Democrats a better shot at keeping that seat because Soles’ troubles were sure to be a major hindrance in a political campaign in the district in southeastern North Carolina.
Blackburn’s wounding was the most recent in a string of encounters between Soles and young men who were former law clients.
Ok, at first this doesn’t look like much. It looks like the Senator was defending himself against a felon and former convict trying to break into his house. But it turns out that the guy Blackburn was once represented by Soles, and had been to his house several times before. There is a whole lot “read between the lines” here if you run down the links, and Google up some more:
http://www.wwaytv3.com/node/20292
http://www.wwaytv3.com/node/19818
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090823/ARTICLES/908239980/-1/stormpost02&tc=email_newsletter
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/national/article/74-year-old_n.c._state_senator_shoots_wounds_intruder_at_his_home/287987/P10/
http://www.wwaytv3.com/node/9774
http://www.topix.com/city/tabor-city-nc/2009/10/another-man-accuses-state-sen-r-c-soles-of-sexual-assault
http://wilmingtonshame.blogspot.com/2008/09/rc-and-moonpie.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2305001/posts
I don’t want to commit outright libel, but it appears to me that some people have the idea that Senator Soles has a long history of both transient gay dalliances and a long history of gay dominance relationships with his legal clients that in any other context would be called sexual harassment. I don’t live in North Carolina and I never even heard of Senator Soles before today, but that’s my read of all these articles. I was originally just going to post this one because of the “guns for me but not for thee” nature of the story of a gun control legislator shooting one of his former clients, but then the whole thing just blossomed when I started looking stuff up.
h/t to Moonbattery for both these sordid tales.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 09:57 AM
Filed Under: • Crime • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Guns and Gun Control •
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Permalink • Dead Heat In MA Special Election
The Massachusetts’ special U.S. Senate election has gotten tighter, but the general dynamics remain the same.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley attracting 49% of the vote while her Republican rival, state Senator Scott Brown, picks up 47%.
Three percent (3%) say they’ll vote for independent candidate Joe Kennedy, and two percent (2%) are undecided. The independent is no relation to the late Edward M. Kennedy, whose Senate seat the candidates are battling to fill in next Tuesday’s election.
Coakley is supported by 77% of Democrats while Brown picks up the vote from 88% of Republicans. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, Brown leads 71% to 23%. To be clear, this lead is among unaffiliated voters who are likely to participate in the special election.
All polling indicates that a lower turnout is better for the Republican. The new Rasmussen Reports poll shows that Brown is ahead by two percentage points among those who are absolutely certain they will vote. A week ago, he trailed by two among those certain to vote.
To overcome the enthusiasm gap and help generate a larger turnout, national Democrats are getting involved in the race. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is reportedly spending more than half a million dollars in the final days of a campaign that Coakley has long been the heavy favorite to win. Senator John Kerry in an emergency fund raising letter for Coakley today says the race is “a dead heat,” and he and former President Bill Clinton plan to campaign in the state on Friday.
Brown raised over a million dollars on Monday and appears to have narrowed the financial gap so far. Coakley has gone negative in the second television ad of her campaign, one that includes Brown in front of a picture of conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. She also sought to link Brown to former President George W. Bush during the debate.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of likely voters in Massachusetts have a favorable opinion of Brown, and 58% say the same about Coakley.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters think Coakley will win the election, while 33% expect a victory for Brown.
Brown is getting lots of small donations by citizens. Coakley is being funded by the SEIU, Big Pharma, and the Democrat’s Congressional election fund. The election is in 5 days. “Massachusettes” is overwhelmingly Democrat. Registered Republicans are something like only 19%. Or was it 9%? Michelle Malkin et al are all over this campaign and the leftist shenanigans.
Electing Brown will tip the balance of power in the Senate. Which is why the left is frantic to try and get the health care idiocy passed right the hell now! And, of course, their back-up plan of not allowing him to be seated until after the vote should he win. Stuff and nonsense, but that’s how dirty politics is in DC. Brown is worth electing for this reason alone, but it’s a long, long uphill battle in dark blue Massachusetts.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 09:17 AM
Filed Under: • Politics •
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Permalink • Obama Does Something Right
Myth Of The Anti-Muslim Backlash
By PAUL SPERRY, Investors Business Daily
The Council on American-Islamic Relations warns that making an issue of Islamic terror incites “hate crimes” against innocent Muslims, but federal data disprove that. And commendably, the Obama administration is ignoring the Islamist pressure group’s latest bluff.
The White House has added top CAIR donor Saudi Arabia to a list of 14 mostly Muslim nations whose travelers will undergo extra airport-security screening in the wake of the Christmas Day airliner attack by a Muslim passenger. CAIR slammed the new policy as “across-the-board profiling” and griped “Muslims will pay the price for this one.”
That’s standard post-Islamic-terror bluster by CAIR, which remains under a cloud of terror suspicion itself following its 2007 federal designation as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror finance case in U.S. history. The group is quick to argue that increased security only serves to demonize innocent Muslims and put a bull’s-eye on their backs.
But it’s a red herring, and one that can have the dangerous effect — designed or not — of taking authorities off the scent of radical Muslims.
Not only are anti-Islamic hate crimes way down, but they’re a fraction of overall religious hate crimes. FBI data show the overwhelming majority of such crimes target Jews, something CAIR and other Muslim groups don’t seem all that concerned about.
In 2008, a whopping 67% of religiously motivated attacks were against Jews, while just 7% targeted Muslims — even though the Jewish and Muslim populations are comparable in size. Even Christians, at 9%, account for a higher share of victims.
What’s more, anti-Islamic hate crimes are actually declining. In the most recent year, they totaled 105. While just one anti-Muslim hate crime is one too many, that’s a 9% decrease from 2007, a 33% drop from 2006, and a 78% plunge from 2001.
And again, the number is minuscule compared with the 1,013 offenses against Jews, up 5% from 2007. For every attack on a Muslim in this country, there are 10 against a Jew — attacks such as the recent fatal stabbing of a Jewish professor by a Muslim graduate student at New York’s Binghamton University.
• Sperry, formerly IBD’s Washington bureau chief, is a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of “Infiltration.” His latest book is ”Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America.”
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 08:47 AM
Filed Under: • Obama, The One • RoPMA •
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Permalink • Same Shiz, Different Decade
Dry Bones comic from 25 years ago seems to apply to us right now:
Posted by Drew458
on 01/14/2010 at 08:12 AM
Filed Under: • Humor •
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Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
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- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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