BMEWS
 
Sarah Palin's presence in the lower 48 means the Arctic ice cap can finally return.

calendar   Sunday - February 28, 2010

How to report the news

I’ve been saving this for a while. No, I’ve been too damn lazy to post it.


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Posted by Christopher   United States  on 02/28/2010 at 07:56 PM   
Filed Under: • News-Briefs •  
Comments (4) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

SNOFU

Yep. Situation Normal, Obama F*cked UP.

If I ever needed any single proof that Professor Obama is clueless about the real world, this is the proof I would offer. He has no idea of the purpose of insurance.

Did you get it? The ‘Acme’ insurance ‘laughed’ at him for one reason. He, I assume, only bought liability insurance. Maybe they teach something different in Ivy League schools, but reputable financial advisors all say buy only the insurance you need. Beat-up clunker=liability only.

In my case, I carry more than the legal minimum insurance. Why? Despite the fact that I do drive a 15-yr-old clunker, I personally have acquired other assets over the years. I don’t want those assets targeted in case I’m at fault in an accident. Note: this is liability insurance. I don’t carry collision or other. It’s not about getting my old car fixed. That’s why the guy that rear-ends me better have insurance. It’s his liability.

Insurance is sold for one, and only one, reason. It is an attempt to indemnify yourself against catastrophic financial liability. It is NOT sold to fix your beat-up clunker, or your sick child. Insurance can’t do that. It just transfers money to the insured from others who’ve paid into the same insurance pool. It is hoped that your insurance company can recoup such payouts by getting the money back from those responsible for the loss. In the event that the company can’t recoup the losses, your premiums go up.

Most people understand this.

What really pisses me off is that The One thinks that the American people are dumb enough to believe Him.

Sadly, I’m afraid He’s right. 


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Posted by Christopher   United States  on 02/28/2010 at 10:39 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat LeftistsEconomicsObama, The One •  
Comments (12) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Saturday - February 27, 2010

a hole boring post

You could read that as “a whole boring post” if you aren’t into a bit of basic tool porn.

I did a bit of handyman work for a woman this afternoon. Along with some drywall repairs and fitting a new door sweep, she wanted 8 hand carved walnut pulls attached to the oak drawers on some antique dresser she has.

I used the proper long shank, square drive, washer headed screws, and after a whole lot of measuring and calculation and layout with painter’s tape, I put them in, using a #8 tapered drill bit to make the pilot holes.

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I’ve never used tapered bits before, and now I’m kicking myself in the somewhere for that lapse. These things are awesome. The drawer fronts were 7/8” clear oak. The bits went through them like they were butter. Smoothest thing I’ve ever seen. No tear out. No walking centers. The bits come to a nearly needle sharp point. Just set it on the wood and the weight of the drill is enough to make a centering mark. Zip. Done. Easiest thing ever. And they cut a tapered pilot hole, so you get more bite on the front threads of your screws than you would with a standard blunt tipped drill bit. And that matters when your screws are only going 1/4” into the next piece of wood, as was the case for me today with those pulls. They were an odd design, which required me to use 4 screws each so that they wouldn’t lift up when pulled. Got the job done, and it came out perfectly. Measure thrice, get the customer’s approval, drill once. I didn’t even need to float the screws in oversize holes. Nice work Drew. Here’s some money. I didn’t use the countersink part, but that looks like it works pretty well too.

Tapered bits probably suck for punching holes in sheet metal. Who cares? But they make super holes in wood. Fast, clean, and smooth. You can’t ask more than that, unless the job you’re doing calls for a Forstner bit. Which is a horse of an entirely different color.

Next tool porn purchase will be a handful of quality square drive bits. I’ve got a “universal” one with a stepped taper on it that tries to be both a #1 and #2 drive. It works, but it isn’t elegant. And it’s all glanked up from being used as a “rescue” driver when the heads tear out on garbage phillips head screws.

Oh, and it was a nice change using quality American screws for a change too. The washer head long shanks are made just for attaching knobs to drawers. With their self-boring points they probably don’t even need a pilot hole when you screw them into pine. Well made stuff. And they took a nice load of torque without ripping, stripping, or snapping. Which is more than I can say for the Chinese crap screws sold at the home centers. Go American, it’s worth it.

She’s going to have me back to do some electrical work, and probably to lay a tile floor in her kitchen. Good work leads to more work, and another good reference.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/27/2010 at 09:18 PM   
Filed Under: • work and the workplace •  
Comments (3) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

the us supreme court MUST order a retrial … says the Times of London. I say, FUCK YOU Times!

It’s late, I’m tired and I had shut down about two hours ago. I need to be off this damn thing, BUT ....

I made the mistake if reading a Times editorial while having a snack before going upstairs.  Nothin’ like something to piss one off to wake one up.

RCOB ....  Commit a crime in my country and pay the price.  Of course in this case the prisoner is not only Brit says the Times, she’s also a minority member.
Ah, must be why she got the death penalty.

Look, till tonight I knew nothing of this case.  It’s too much and too late for me tonight to go and research it. I’ll leave to others and do it as well tomorrow or Monday.

So here’s the editorial. All of it.

February 27, 2010
Undue process

The US Supreme Court must order a retrial for the Briton who stands on death row

Friends must sometimes agree to disagree. Britain forbids capital punishment; the United States supports it. But above all, good friends must honour their word. An Anglo-American agreement requires Britain to notify the US if it takes legal action against an American citizen, and for the US to do the same if a Briton is to stand trial in America.

So the case of Linda Carty — who was born in St Kitts, which qualifies her as a British citizen — is especially galling. Carty now waits on death row in Texas. In a last attempt to avoid her becoming the first black British woman to be executed in more than a century, the British Government has now presented an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court urging it to reconsider the case.

Carty’s story raises disturbing questions on several levels. First, the case represents a gross abuse of British trust. The British Government — quite rightly — seeks to defend any Briton who stands accused of a capital crime abroad. Other countries may kill their own citizens if they must; where possible we try to prevent them from killing ours. But the Texan authorities made no attempt to discover Carty’s nationality when they arrested her, and the same lack of curiosity and responsibility afflicted the lawyer they appointed to represent her. Hence Britain was effectively precluded from involvement in the case until the death penalty had already been issued.

And speaking of trust, wanna tell us about that muslim slug t binmanmoohamed you rescued from Gitmo and who is now suing YOU guys?  And the documents made public in spite of our intel agencies requesting otherwise. But oh no. Our guys were only trying to cover up torture. And binman isn’t even a Brit. Never ever was.

It is impossible to be certain of Carty’s innocence. But the original trial was clearly a farce. Carty faced the death penalty because her three co-defendents testified against her to avoid execution themselves. Meanwhile, Carty’s lawyer conducted a woefully inadequate defence. He talked to his client for just 15 minutes, blaming her for refusing to talk to him until he “bribed her with a bar of chocolate” — an extrememely unlikely version of events given that Carty is allergic to chocolate. It is also alleged that the lawyer neglected to visit St Kitts even though he had been granted funds by the court to do so. Had he bothered, he would have discovered that the island’s prime minister was willing to testify on Carty’s behalf.

Outrage at the nature of the legal defence provided for Carty extends far beyond critics of the death penalty. Baker Botts, a law firm that has often represented the Bush family, has taken up the case pro bono. Michael Goldberg, the defence attorney now representing Carty, is a supporter of the death penalty. He was simply appalled by the abuse of justice.

America’s execution policy is becoming a source of ridicule. Last autumn Romell Brown lay strapped to the gurney for an hour, sobbing while his executioners failed to find a suitable vein to adminster a lethal injection. In time, it is to be hoped that the United States reconsiders its outdated attitude towards justice and mercy.

More urgently, America should consider its responsibilities to its allies. When the US needs British support, it makes a great deal of the special relationship. British soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq die every month serving the Anglo-American alliance. But friendship cuts both ways. The Supreme Court must demand a retrial. And America should remember that it owes Britain the obligations of trust as well as Carty the right of justice.

America has a responsibility to its citizens BEFORE any responsibility to you or the UK where a crime is done in our country. You don’t like it? Screw you. Go start another war with the Krauts.

America’s execution policy is becoming a source of ridicule? To whom?  To anyone that counts?  And even if it does. F---Off. Ridicule over the DP is not exactly the number one worry of most of us I would guess and I think I guess correctly.
Or, maybe we should follow you ass wipes at the Time and the libtard left. Sure.  We can see how well the UK has done crime wise since you banished the DP
and disarmed your citizens. And turned your country over to the EU or damn near close enough.

OK, now I’m shutting this thing off.
Good night and Cheers to everyone.  Except the Times.  Jerks!

MONDAY MORNING

I just realized I skipped this bit when I did this post last week.

Romell Brown lay strapped to the gurney for an hour, sobbing

And we’re suppose to care about that?  Hey Times idiots, anyone wonder if his victims were sobbing too?
F$~#in Jerks!


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/27/2010 at 01:41 PM   
Filed Under: • CrimeDemocrats-Liberals-Moonbat LeftistsEditorialsUKUSA •  
Comments (7) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

weekend women around the world

CELEBRATING YOUTH AND BEAUTY AND THE FEMALE FORM AROUND THE WORLD. How damn sad it refuses to last in spite of all demands to do so.  Mom Nature won’t be fooled.

One Brit journalist has described this gorgeous American beauty as, A Black Goddess.  I believe I agree from what little I’ve seen.

U S A

TARA BANKS

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BROOKLYN DECKER (hey, that’s her name folks.)
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POLAND

MARLENA
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A thousand years ago when I was really very young, I very much yearned to be a Japanese male coz of course, they had all the Japanese women.  I wanted one also. I’ve just always been attracted to those ladies.  As years went by not a lot changed except for the fact that I wanted to be many other nationalities too. And for the sames reasons.  My first wife who I did love dearly once got a bit frustrated with me for some comment I made with regard to Japanese women. I don’t even recall what I said about them, I just recall her being upset and asking me, “If You Love Japanese Women That much, Why Didn’t You Marry One Of Them?” Without giving it any thought my immediate reply at the time was one I will never forget.  I don’t think she would either. I said,
“Because I couldn’t find one that would have me.” I only meant it as a joke.  I wasn’t looking for a Japanese girlfriend for gosh sake.  Well, not then I wasn’t.
I think that marriage might have been doomed from that point on.

JAPAN

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ENGLAND

TV Personality ...

HOLLY WILLOUGHBY

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image WAIT A MINUTE, THAT’S NOT ALL FOLKS.  The left overs are below the fold.

See More Below The Fold

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Posted by peiper   United States  on 02/27/2010 at 08:25 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
Comments (6) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

how do you promote a product with dropping sales? produce a girlie calendar. vive la France

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No it isn’t a new version of weekend women but .... how could I possibly resist posting this?

First I want to let you know that I did the best my software and DELL scanner could, on the scan of the newspaper photo. Unfortunately, the nice pix in the hard copy were not what was on line. I used different settings and DPI etc.  Suggestions for improvements are welcome. There is a setting for scanning news print but to be honest, I can hardly tell the difference if there is one.  It isn’t that the scan is bad but I think it could be better. Maybe not.
Anyway, the French say that the calendar produced to promote their product is made up of ladies who ALL work in that industry.  Do you believe that? Doesn’t matter. None of em are exactly bow-wows.

So .. To the French we go.

Charles de Gaulle famously bemoaned the difficulties involved in running a country with 246 different types of cheese.

By Peter Allen in Paris
The Telegraph

But it seems world famous Gallic varieties including camembert, roquefort and brie are increasingly falling out of favour.

Although the average Frenchman still eats almost a pound of cheese per week, making the country the second biggest consumer of the food in Europe after Greece, it is increasingly likely to be a processed foreign variety.

Veronique Richez-Lerouge, of the AFT, said: “The French have forgotten what real cheese is like. Buying cheese has become like buying a box of washing powder.”

Snacks such as pizza and panini, which are invariably made using cheeses such as mozzarella, are particularly favoured by office workers who have adopted Anglo-Saxon eating habits.

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MORE HERE AT THE SOURCE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/27/2010 at 07:26 AM   
Filed Under: • FRANCE •  
Comments (6) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Gaddafi calls for jihad against Switzerland. The idiot is very serious. Lets hope it comes to naught

This is not exactly how I planned to start the day of posts but, events or in this case that and articles like this one decide for me.

My guess is you may have already heard this on your nightly news. ? 

While I think we all agree and hope it comes to nothing, nothing is certain about ‘those people’ except that they will embrace any excuse to the west harm.

This guy truly is a number one grade ‘A’ wack job of the first order.  He and his chest full of funny looking medals. Phony looking more like.
The guy has no class, he is beneath contempt and I can’t find the words I need to describe the rest.  He’s also very cunning but still manages to be a total jerk.
Take a look.

World powers react with outrage? Uh huh. And what else?  Rhetoric. That’s the ticket. Words and all empty like the threats to do what exactly? Yeah. Like words won the last major war in the 40s.

World powers have reacted with outrage to a call by Colonel Gaddafi of Libya for holy war on the “obscene, infidel” state of Switzerland.

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Col Gaddafi took a long-running and personal feud with the historically neutral European country to new heights with a speech in which he attacked the ban on new minarets on mosques approved by a Swiss referendum last year.

“Those who destroy God’s mosques deserve to be attacked through jihad, and if Switzerland was on our borders, we would fight it,” he said. “Jihad against Switzerland, against Zionism, against foreign aggression is not terrorism.”

He called for a boycott of Switzerland by the Islamic world. “Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against Mohammad, God and the Koran,” he said.

“The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbours and prevent any Swiss ships docking, inspect all shops and markets to stop any Swiss goods being sold.”

SOURCE AND MORE

“Those who destroy God’s mosques”
Just shows he’s only looking for an excuse to attack the Swiss someway, somehow.  If he’s really any kinda serious and honest muslim which I doubt, he’d know those minarets are not a religious icon and aren’t even in his koran, according to islamic specialists. Another case of another muddled , mudhead looking for trouble.


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/27/2010 at 06:35 AM   
Filed Under: • Middle-EastOutrageousRoPMAStoopid-PeopleTerrorists •  
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calendar   Friday - February 26, 2010

Another hole in the clouds

We’re getting a temporary reprieve in the weather, but we’re not getting our hopes up. The system is pretty much stalled off the southwest coast of Long Island, and it’s a tight little spiral that just keeps going around and around. Right now the “pump” is out there over the ocean, and the “dump” is up over Albany. But the system spins counter-clockwise, so it could sweep back down into southern NY and our chunk of NJ in a few hours. And let’s not forget the rest of the system out over Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, just waiting to be pulled into the mixer. It ain’t over yet. Crap.

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The good news is that when it isn’t snowing, and the clouds open up, the sun comes through and the temperature goes up to the mid 30s, letting stuff melt off quickly. We got about 2-3 hours of that late this afternoon, but as night fell it started snowing again.

graphic from weather.com


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/26/2010 at 06:46 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
Comments (5) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

How’s that hopenchange working for you now UK?

Remember a year and a half ago, before Onumbnuts was elected, how the UK was absolutely gaga for him? It wasn’t even their election, yet they were all having shuddering orgasms left and right over Buraq’s utter brilliance, his stupendous intellect, his magnificent ideas, and all that rot.

And as soon as he got into the White House, the dissing started. Priceless bust of Churchill? No, we don’t want that, take it home with you. Hey Queenie, give me five, here’s a hug from my wife, and some special priceless gifts - an iPod full of O’s speeches, and an armload of DVDs from the K-Mart bargain bin that won’t even play on UK machines. Oh, and let me tell the world that Great Britain, our #1 ally for over 100 years, is nothing special. And, oh so sorry, he was just too tired to greet your PM. Yours is just another country, no better than Rhaggedhola or Turdistan. Diss, diss, diss, and a bitch slap. Consider yourselves lucky that he didn’t send Brown out the backdoor with the trash, like he did the Dalai Lama.

Hope folks are waking up over there. Suckas. Hey, here’s another smack upside the head for y’all ...

US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute

Washington refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands yesterday as the diplomatic row over oil drilling in the South Atlantic intensified in London, Buenos Aires and at the UN.

Despite Britain’s close alliance with the US, the Obama Administration is determined not to be drawn into the issue. It has also declined to back Britain’s claim that oil exploration near the islands is sanctioned by international law, saying that the dispute is strictly a bilateral issue.

This is what we call “voting Present”.

Senior US officials insisted that Washington’s position on the Falklands was one of longstanding neutrality. This is in stark contrast to the public backing and vital intelligence offered by President Reagan to Margaret Thatcher once she had made the decision to recover the islands by force in 1982.

“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality,” a State Department spokesman told The Times. “The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”

“Longstanding neutrality”? Yeah, since about January 20, 2009.

And here’s another funny thing. That little tinpot marxist thug down in coca land, Hugo “blame the joos” Chavez, just shot his mouth off about the Falklands the day before.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has demanded Britain’s Queen Elizabeth return the Falkland Islands to Argentina.

The president made a direct plea to the UK during his weekly television and radio show ‘Alo Presidente’, in which he encouraged South America to rally behind a campaign to give the islands - a British overseas territory located off the South East Coast of Argentina, called ‘Las Malvinas’ in Spanish - to Argentina.

He said: “Look, England, how long are you going to be in Las Malvinas? Queen of England, I’m talking to you. The times for empires are over, haven’t you noticed? Return the Malvinas to the Argentine people.”

Sovereignty of the Falklands was contested in 1982 when the islands were invaded by Argentine forces, sparking a war against the British, which was resolved by June 1982 when the British reclaimed the islands.

Hugo later added to the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “The English are still threatening Argentina. Things have changed. We are no longer in 1982. If conflict breaks out, be sure Argentina will not be alone like it was back then.”

Huh. Imagine that. The POTUS echoing the views of a puffed up little south of the border socialist dictator.  Who would have ever expected that?

Who would have ever expected the POTUS to turn his back on both our #1 and #2 allies?

I expected it. Hate to say “I toldya so”, but ... there it is. And you know what makes it even worse? He’s likely one of your citizens, not ours.

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I bet you guys are really thrilled to have all your troops over in Afghanistan, helping America fight her wars, what what?


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/26/2010 at 05:45 PM   
Filed Under: • Obama, The One •  
Comments (9) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

now here’s a man wid a plan and a role model for todays yoots.

I want to say something clever or funny or both. Can’t honestly think of a thing.  Been at the puter all day and on the phone where we get disconnected while trying to talk to ATT. What a nightmare.  Get this, when they ask me for a phone number they want a 10 digit number. HA! How’s that gonna happen when in order to call us here from the states, you would need to first dial in 5 digits even before our area code of four digits and then our 6 numbers. Making 15 in total.
And not fun when you get that one person with an accent that really doesn’t understand what ur trying to tell em. Fergit it.

Anyway ... I was about to quit for the night.  I am shot. Then I saw this as I was closing. Had to share it.  They never really do learn or reform. Do they? Maybe the odd one and that is odd all by itself.  Still, I am tempted to buy the book.  ??  Don’t know.

Reformed’ criminal who wrote The Art of Armed Robbery jailed - for armed robbery

By RHIANNA KING
Last updated at 7:41 PM on 26th February 2010

A ‘reformed’ armed robber who penned a book on the ‘art’ of his crimes has been jailed for at least 12 years for robbing security guards while they filled cash machines.

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Terry Smith, 51, describes himself as ‘Britain’s most infamous armed robber’ and wrote a book in prison titled The Art of Armed Robbery.

In the book, published in 2003, he boasted about an ‘audacious’ escape from custody and said he was responsible for some of the most daring robberies ever seen in Britain.

Despite claiming he had reformed after a previous prison sentence, Smith was jailed for at least 12 years today for planning a string of armed robberies between 2006 and 2008.

He was found guilty of conspiring to rob and conspiring to possess firearms with intent to rob after a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The court heard Smith had used ‘literary research’ as a defence for the crimes.

His brother Len, 52, of Dagenham, was found not guilty of the same charges by jurors.

Both men had denied any offence.

Prosecutors alleged that the brothers were involved in attacks on security guards delivering cash to hole-in-the-wall machines in east London and Essex.

Detectives estimated that £250,000 was stolen and during a raid in 2007, at Rayleigh, Essex, commuter Adam Mapleson was shot and injured when he tried to intervene.

Mr Mapleson was gunned down by another gang member, Brian Wall, 63, who has already been jailed.
Jurors were told that Smith, of Canvey Island, Essex, had previous convictions for armed robbery and had written a series of books in prison.

MORE HERE WITH PIX

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/26/2010 at 04:30 PM   
Filed Under: • CrimeUK •  
Comments (3) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Giethoorn. Village Without Streets. Holland

A Village in Holland wherein you can’t find a single road…

all transportation is done by boats along the river.... perhaps making it even more beautiful!

Nothing I should add to this. The photos speak for themselves.

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 02/26/2010 at 02:47 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography •  
Comments (6) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

INSIDE THE EU …..OH BOY. THIS IS GOOD. THANKS LYNDON

I read about this in the morning paper but didn’t know there was actually a video of the attack (verbal) on the EU honcho.

The fellow doing the harangue is a UKIP member. That’s a small but vocal party here in the UK and it is the UK Independence Party. Now then, Mr. Farage who is doing all the shouting is the head, or the former head of UKIP.  UKIP is somewhat to the right of the conserv. Tory party but I don’t think as far right (or is that left?) as the racist BNP Party. One thing you folks in America will appreciate about this fellow, he wants a BAN on Al Bore’s film shown in schools. He may have lost that battle.  Outside of that, I know little of him.

So then ...H/T LyndonB for the link to this YT video.  It just never occurred to me that there would be any video of his “tirade.”

MEP and UKIP leader Nigel Farage on Wednesday delivered another major tirade against EU President Herman van Rompuy during a plenary debate in the European Parliament. Farage highlighted the undemocratic fashion in which van Rompuy came to power and the effect he’s had on Europe since.
He noted, too, that Greece has been reduced to nothing more than a “protectorate.” Farage added that Van Rompuy had the “charisma of a damp rag” and the appearance of a “low-grade bank clerk” and asked by what process he could be removed from office.

Don’t forget that van Rompuy led statements leading up to the Copenhagen climate summit in hailing “global governance”: “2009 is also the first year of global governance, with the establishment of the G20 in the middle of the financial crisis. The climate conference in Copenhagen is another step towards the global management of our planet.”


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Posted by peiper   United States  on 02/26/2010 at 09:47 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peonsUK •  
Comments (2) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

calendar   Thursday - February 25, 2010

health care summit

No, I can’t be bothered to cover this. I can recognize a steaming cow pat when I step in one. The whole thing is bull. Kabuki theater as Malkin puts it.

Coverage can be found at Michelle Malkin’s, or over at Vilmar’s, or at Right, Wing-Nut. And I share their opinions. Empty noise, posing for the cameras, and Obama being a snotty little dictator.

Don’t waste my time. Flush the bill and figure out how to lower taxes to get the country back to work. The Dems have the majority, and can use the dirty trick called Reconciliation to pass whatever they want. But they know that doing so is a suicide pact. And that about covers it all.

from Contentions, who did a great job live blogging the whole thing:

Question: Why is the 2,400-page legislation Representative Cantor brought with him a “prop,” in the words of Mr. Obama? Answer: Because any argument the president disagrees with is “illegitimate” or a “distraction” or a “talking point” or relies on “props.” Like many others, I have watched Barack Obama quite closely for much of the last two years. And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him more agitated and condescending. He is, in fact, imperious. One can tell he is used to being coddled for much of his life. He’s used to being referred to as the “Black Jesus” by his aides. He’s used to being told he’s God’s gift to humanity. He’s been told those things and he’s internalized them. And so when he’s challenged — especially when he’s challenged in a forceful and respectful way — he gets upset. He becomes preachy and scolding. And he becomes dismissive.

I am quite surprised by how poorly Obama is coming across. I thought this summit would be essentially worthless. In fact, it is serving quite a useful purpose. It is unmasking Barack Obama. And what we’re seeing isn’t a very pretty sight.

Having been exposed to the president’s actions and rhetoric for close to six hours now, I better understand one of the most interesting facts of recent American politics: the more Mr. Obama speaks, the more unpopular his cause becomes. He is a man who talks a lot — and who has very little to show for it.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/25/2010 at 09:59 PM   
Filed Under: • GovernmentHealth-Medicine •  
Comments (7) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

He Killed The Wabbit

Apologies to Elmer Fudd and that old Bugs Bunny cartoon “What’s Opera, Doc?”, but I couldn’t help thinking that sad thought when I heard this story.

The little town of Denville NJ is about 20 miles east of us, and about 20 miles north. The most northwestern corner of New Jersey really is the sticks. Or highly rural. Or a nearly unspoiled forest wilderness. All depends on how you look at it, but the area north of Route 80 and west of Route 287 is sparsely populated and very woodsy. Denville is right at the inner southeast corner of that zone, so it just barely qualifies. Think of it more as “ex-urbia”, an outer suburb town like mine.

That area may be sparsely populated with people, but it’s chock full of critters. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! At least black bears, that’s for sure. Once upon a time they were just about gone, but they’ve come back just fine, almost to the nuisance level. Maybe beyond the nuisance level. And they can’t be hunted here. Not 100% sure of that last statement - the state tries to get a bear hunting season going every year, but the PETA folks and their cousins, the loony left, throw a huge hissy fit and a big protest, and vow to run around in the woods causing problems, etc. I think they have a bad case of Pooh-ism, or Bambi-itis. They don’t see bears as the big, scary, frightening predators that they really are. Large aggressive animals to whom your pets and your children look like snack food. Sooner or later, somebody is going to get killed.

And every year when the hippies have their protest, the news folks trot out some “expert” who tells us how we bad humans are encroaching on the animals domain. Bull-oney. That may have been true 100 years ago or more, when most of the state was farmland. But the farms gave out, and the forests came back. And animals don’t live that long anyway. No, the truth is that they adapt just fine. Especially now that there is so much less pollution than there was back in the 60’s. And so much less hunting, and so many more protected species. That same expert usually tells us that black bears rarely grow past 150 pounds. More BS. Bears in the 300-500 pound range are not that rare at all around here. And a quarter ton of bear is a whole lot of critter. And Mr. Expert will trot out the tired old canard that only baby bears can climb trees. Guess again.

My mom lives up in outer-suburbia across the border in NY. Nice little town, but it’s fully built up. No room for any more homes or roads or office buildings. Fully developed. They have bald eagles hunting squirrels in the middle of town. She sent me pictures of what looks like an otter slide in the snow in their backyard. We figure it’s fishers. Fishers. Vicious woozles!! The folks in the next town or so over from hers, right along the Hudson river, had to call in a game tracker because they thought they had a jaguar. No, it was “merely” a mountain lion, the jag’s first cousin ( although some folks said it was just a big dog ). You can see Manhattan from the riverbank there. 65 miles to the southwest, I’d like to borrow their pumas for a while. We are drowning in deer here. And geese. And we have lots of foxes. And hawks. And vultures by the millions (official state bird ya know). And skunks, and ‘possums, and rackety-coons. And coyotes. And bears. Oh my.

So don’t feed me that “encroaching on their habitat” BS. Wrong. They are encroaching on our habitat. Because it’s easy living in the ‘burbs. And that is starting to pose a danger to us people.


NJ police kill bear that ate pet rabbit

DENVILLE, N.J.—Police in northern New Jersey shot and killed a 400-pound bear after it ate a pet rabbit.

Joe McCabe says the bruin ripped through the screened porch of his Denville home and devoured his 11-year-old daughter’s rabbit, named Blackie.

McCabe also says the bear had rummaged through his garbage that had been left outside.

Police found the bear in a tree near McCabe’s home and shot it.



That’s all the story that seems to be on the internet. But from what I’ve heard, the family has bears running around in their yard frequently. And I heard that the cops came and shot the bear half a dozen times, at which point it climbed a tree, hung out, then fell down dead. And that the little kid witnessed the whole event, from beginning to end, and is now strongly traumatized. And that a conservation officer came along with the cops, and was starting to write the guy a ticket for exposed refuse in his yard, when he realized that all the mess was caused by the bear tearing up the back of this guy’s home and yard.

This little story is running on lots of web pages, and in the comments therein most people are taking the bear’s side. After all, killing bunnies is what bears do. And they’re blaming the father for leaving garbage around, “attracting” the bear.

Two counter-points to the commenter criticisms:

1) Bears are quite smart, and they learn quickly. Do you want a bear running around your neighborhood that has learned how to smash it’s way through house walls and windows to find the yummy tasty treats inside? Do you really think your house, exterior walls made of 1/16” thick vinyl siding over 1/2” chipboard, interior walls made of 3/8” drywall and 2 coats of paint, is going to even slow down a 400 pound bear with the munchies? Hardly. And I guarantee you they can bite through 2x4 studs too, and quickly.

2) I survived family camping as a child. I’ve written about it before. One of the last places we ever went to, we had our campsite ravaged by a pack of bears one night. All night long. While we huddled in a thin canvas tent. Such fun!! The bear troop came by every night. The garbage cans at that campground were genuine Beetle Bailey army surplus. The nearly bulletproof kind, made out of super heavyweight welded steel straps. We’d put the garbage out in the evening, and then put the biggest boulder we could lift on top of the lids. It didn’t make any difference at all. Every night ... wham!! ... and that can got knocked right across the dirt road and the contents eaten. Big bears can knock over a 5 cubic yard dumpster. Just how do you go about making your household garbage cans truly bear proof?


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/25/2010 at 08:20 PM   
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