Sunday - August 29, 2010
One-legged soldier denied disabled badge because he might ‘get better’
Although it wasn’t their intent, I got to feeling a bit guilty recently when I was reminded that a LOT of what I contribute here to BMEWS has very negative content where the UK is concerned. While that’s true, please know I don’t plan it that way.
I’d love to report on a story of a Brit doctor who discovered a pill to cure all cancers. Or even one of the many. The problem is, until proven otherwise,
I can’t help but feel this place is fallen apart and wonder how far down this path my own country might go.
What am I supposed to say when a former police chief openly said he was proud to be politically correct? That’s insane. I can’t imagine an American chief cop saying anything like that. That’s a very old story of course but it seems to be so damn typical. No way could I ignore that. And lets not even bring up Health and Safety. Good grief, what a nightmare that is. The descendants of the generation that Churchill promised would fight on the beaches and in the cities etc and never surrender, are now so risk adverse some folks wear those dweeb helmets when all they’re doing is walking. I can’t ignore that.
Here’s one for the books and more recent.
SOLDIERS NEED ANGER, SAYS JUDGE
A JUDGE refused to force a 21-year-old who glassed a man in the face to attend an anger management course – because he said soldiers need anger to do their jobs.
Probation officers had recommended the anger replacement programme for Richard Evers, of the King’s Royal Hussars, after he attacked a man, causing multiple cuts.
But at Gloucester Crown Court Judge William Hart dismissed the idea.
He said: “I do not see the need for that. Indeed, soldiers who don’t have any anger are probably of limited use.”
Evers, of Bodman Road, Springbank, admitted a charge of affray, but the judge gave him a lenient sentence designed to save him from being discharged from the Army.
Judge Hart had been told that even a suspended jail term or an order to do more than 100 hours of unpaid work would result in the Army throwing Evers out.
He accepted a defence submission that it would be better for the country for Evers to continue his military service – including a posting to Afghanistan in 2012 – rather than consign him to the dole queue.
Instead, he passed a 12-month community sentence.
The above comes from a Gloucestershire paper, on line. SOURCE, GLOUCESTER
I can appreciate the judge not wanting to wreck the guys army career, and we don’t know if he was defending himself or who did or said what. But come on, he glassed the other guy and it looks like he got off. And this isn’t just one example. You have no idea how many I just pass on.
But the real outrage this week and one that just can’t be ignored and should have huge screaming headlines in the hard copy of my three papers and doesn’t,
is this one.
You just have to wonder, what exactly is going through what passes for a mind among the bureaucrats who make these decisions.
A soldier who lost a leg fighting the Taliban was told he didn’t qualify for a disabled parking badge because he might “get better”.Daily Telegraph Reporter
On three separate occasions Lance Corporal Johno Lee has been turned down by his local council.
The 27-year old, whose heart stopped twice when he injured in Afghanistan, has now had more than £800 in parking fines for leaving his car in disabled bays.
And last month he was forced to hand over the money when a council bailiff arrived at his home threatening to take away his belongings if he didn’t pay up.To add insult to injury Nottinghamshire County Council told him he was “young and may get better” when he first applied for a “blue badge”.
“What do they expect – my leg to grow back,?” He said, “ I told them they’d didn’t quite understand the situation and it was unlikely my leg would grow back.”His right leg was amputated below the knee after he was caught up in an explosion in Helmand Province in 2008.
He has served two tours in Iraq with 2nd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment prior to deploying to Afghanistan.He was in a snatch Land Rover on a patrol around Gereshk when an explosion flipped it onto its side, catapulting him into a minefield.
He ordered his comrades not to rescue him until it was safe, so had to spend two hours in the minefield bleeding profusely while bomb disposal experts cut a path to reach him.He then “died” twice when his heart stopped on the helicopter taking him to Camp Bastion and on the operating table, but he was revived each time.
When he returned to his home in Coddington near Newark, Notts, he applied to the county council for a blue disabled parking badge,
But to his astonishment his claim was turned down – as were two further applications.
Posted by peiper
on 08/29/2010 at 10:55 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - August 28, 2010
Frogs To The Rescue?
Powerful new antibiotics developed from the skin of frogs could take the fight against superbugs to a higher level. Frog skin is known to have plenty of potent germ-fighting compounds because of the hostile surroundings they inhabit. But these substances are often poisonous to humans. Now a team at the United Arab Emirates University have thought up a way of altering the chemicals to remove their toxicity.
They have already identified 100 new antibiotics including one that could fight the hospital superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria.
Frog skin is an excellent potential source of such antibiotic agents,” said Dr Michael Conlon, a biochemist at the university in Abu Dhabi.
“They’ve been around 300 million years, so they’ve had plenty of time to learn how to defend themselves against disease-causing microbes in the environment.
“Their own environment includes polluted waterways where strong defences against pathogens are a must.”
Scientists are testing skin secretions from more than 6,000 species of frogs for antibiotic activity. They say they have purified and determined the chemical structure of about 200, leaving a potential treasure trove of antibiotic substances awaiting discovery.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Maybe those three old witches were onto something after all!
Posted by Drew458
on 08/28/2010 at 12:19 PM
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Permalink • Revenge of the Wetbacks
Oh boy, I can hardly wait! The latest action flick from Robert Rodriguez.
“They just fucked with the wrong Mexican!” Seriously, that’s the quote. Classy.
Starring Danny Trejo, the hardest working, most recognizable, most typecast ex-con in Hollywood, even though you may not know his name. Also starring every available Latino they could find - Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Cheech Marin, Carlos Gallardo, Ara Celi etc. - except for comedian Paul Rodriguez. And Robert DeNiro, Steven Segal, Don Johnson, Rose McGowan, and even Lindsay Lohan dressed as a nun with Stockholm Syndrome licking a big revolver.
Opening the first weekend in September, in the less used slot between summer blockbusters and end of the year Holiday Season releases, the latest blow ‘em up, chop ‘em up screen adventure from director Robert Rodriguez has guns, knives, explosions, Cadillacs with mounted artillery, flying motorcycles with blazing mini-guns, and all the pyrotechnic special effects they could squeeze into 90 minutes. Plus hot chix behaving badly in skin tight outfits and black leather eye patches. What more could you ask for?
Um, how about a non-leftist message for once?
Sorry, no chance of that:
Machete (Danny Trejo) is a renegade former “Mexican Federale”. He roams the cities, towns, and streets of Texas looking for work after a shakedown from a drug lord called Torrez (Steven Segal).
Machete has a run-in with Michael Benz (Jeff Fahey), a local businessman and spin doctor, who tells Machete that McLaughlin (Robert De Niro), a corrupt senator, is sending hundreds of illegal immigrants out of the country and that he must be killed. Benz offers Machete $150,000 to kill McLaughlin who quickly accepts the murder contract out of greed for the money.
Attempting to assassinate the senator at a political rally, Machete is double-crossed and is shot in the shoulder by Benz’s henchmen whom are soon revealed to be in league with Senator McLaughlin who orchestrated the entire attempted assassination with Benz as part of a false flag operation to gain widespread public support for McLaughlin’s harsh anti-immigration laws by setting up Machete as the patsy to make it appear that an outlaw illegal Mexican immigrant tried to assassinate the senator.
Now on the run from the law and being tracked not only by a ruthless henchwoman hired by Torrez, but Machete is also tracked down by Sartana (Jessica Alba), a persistent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with a special interest in the blade slinger. Machete goes after Benz and his men, as well as Senator McLaughlin, with the help of his only three allies; his “holy” Federale-turned-priest brother Padre (Cheech Marin) with a thing for pump-action shotguns; a saucy meat cleaver-wielding taco slinger named Luz (Michelle Rodriguez); and Benz socialite daughter April (Lindsey Lohan), whom Machete kidnaps and who soon develops a fascination for the blade-wielding fugitive since April has a penchant for guns. Machete rallies a group of illegal migrants together, and they all begin to hunt the people who double crossed him.
Trejo spent much of the 1960s in California prisons--Tracy (1963-65), San Quentin (1965-68), Soledad (1968-69). A child drug addict and criminal, Danny Trejo was in and out of jail for 11 years. While serving time in San Quentin, he won the lightweight and welterweight boxing titles. Imprisoned for armed robbery and drug offenses, he successfully completed a 12-step rehabilitation program that changed his life.
He and director Robert Rodriguez are second cousins.
Subtle like a box of sledgehammers dropped from an airplane, the other key line here is “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us!”
I wonder if this one will bomb just as hard as all the Hollywood movies that portray our troops as deranged psychopathic baby killers?
Directed by a Rodriguez, written by a Rodriguez, featuring several Rodriguezes, one token Asian babe, and all the white actors are the bad guys ... is it too un-PC to say this is hispano-sploitation? Why is the vocal track even in English? No word on whether La Raza gets 10% of the gross.
Remember, America is bad. All white people are evil. Buy your tickets now!
Posted by Drew458
on 08/28/2010 at 11:11 AM
Filed Under: • Hollywood • Illegal-Aliens and Immigration •
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Permalink • Friday - August 27, 2010
You Lie, You Fry
NJ Governor Chris Christie fires education commissioner Brent Schundler
Yesterday, I mentioned in passing watching NJ Christie give it to DC for their asshatted douchebaggery. And here’s the video, in an article over at The Corner that asks just how vindictive the Oblahblah Regime really is. Answer: very. Very very.
But Christie was a little bit wrong. He was wrong in that he said that Schundler had given the correct information verbally at one of these Race To The Top education grant grillings. Because that’s what Schundler told him had happened.
It turns out that Schundler “mis-remembered”. As the unapologetic and still douchebaggy US Department of Education was quick to point out, by sending in the videotape, Schundler and his team actually muffed that question, and had no answer for the committee during that earlier Q&A session.
But the fact still remains that the federal form wanted 2008 vs 2009 data, on one page of the 1000+ page application, and Schundler’s people provided 2010 vs 2011 data. Clearly labeled as 2010 vs 2011 data. And nobody down at the DC DOE could be bothered to pick up a phone. Christie asked “Does anybody in Washington have a lick of common sense?” Answer: No. Mindless drones checking boxes. Zero effort towards their jobs.
New Jersey lost the competition to Ohio by 3 points. That one bit of bad data cost them 4.8 points. $400 million down the hole. What was that old line, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”? Bull. Shit.
So here’s your Conservative version of Nuance: In his conference at the first link above, Governor Christie said he wasn’t going to fire anybody over a simple but unfortunate clerical mistake like this. That’s class. But when he found out that Schundler had lied to him about providing the correct data verbally - and let’s face it, it was a lie; put yourself in his seat at that session. You’re getting grilled left and right, providing answers, solving issues, helping your state compete for this grant. And then you and your team totally blow one of the questions. Not only don’t you know the answer off the top of your head, you don’t even have it written down anywhere. Big time muff. Mortifying. You KNOW you are going to remember this moment. - so when Schundler was caught lying, Christie asked him to resign. But Schundler wouldn’t do as asked. He would not resign. So after a few hours waiting, the NJ Governor got tired of it, and canned him. Now that Schundler has lost his $141,000 job, he says he asked to get fired so he could collect unemployment. Currently NJ pays a maximum weekly unemployment benefit of $584 for 79 weeks, which is barely 21% of the $2711/wk he was bringing in. But maybe top government jobs are scarce these days for Republicans. So maybe he will need the cash.
Don’t mess with Christie.
Gov. Chris Christie fired state education commissioner Bret Schundler this morning after Schundler refused to resign in the wake of the controversy over the state’s loss of up to $400 million in federal school funding.
“I was extremely disappointed to learn that the videotape of the Race to the Top presentation was not consistent with the information provided to me,” Christie said in a press release. “As a result, I ordered an end to Bret Schundler’s service as New Jersey’s Education Commissioner and as a member of my administration.”
But after Christie and other top officials on Thursday watched the video of Schundler and other officials’ presentation to the U.S. Department of Education, and the video contradicted Schundler’s explanation, the governor said, “He can’t lie to me,” the source said.
He directed Bagger to ask for Schundler’s resignation Thursday afternoon, but it took several hours for Bagger to reach the commissioner.
Then, Schundler at first said if the governor wanted his resignation, he would give it, according to the source.
By this morning the resignation had not been received, and word started circulating in Trenton that Schundler was resisting. Christie grew tired of waiting, and ordered Schundler fired, the source said.
Schundler said today he asked to be fired rather than resign because he said he needed the unemployment benefits.
Schundler has been an effective Conservative, serving as mayor of Jersey City and even running for Governor a few years ago. But the current NJ Governor won’t put up with dishonesty of any kind, not even CYA bullshit from his top people. I’m beginning to wonder if he could fill bigger shoes than just NJ Governor.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/27/2010 at 01:50 PM
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Permalink • And Down We Go Again
New economic report is out. To the surprise of everyone in government and the media, but no surprise at all to the rest of us, the economy bites.
Economic Growth Rate Downgraded to Anemic 1.6 Percent in Second Quarter
The Commerce Department is revising downward the economic growth from April to June to 1.6 percent—a decline from the original 2.4 percent forecast and much slower than the 3.7 percent of the first quarter 2010.
The barely-there number isn’t enough keep pace with population growth, which needs about 3 percent annualized growth just to break even each year and prevent unemployment, currently 9.5 percent, from rising.
The trade imbalance—the largest since 1947—took away nearly 3.4 percent from second quarter growth, the Commerce Department said.
The current quarter isn’t expected to show much improvement, with many economists forecasting growth of only 1.7 percent.
Economists say the number could be a taste of weakness to come—and fears of a double-dip recession are growing.
“The odds of the third quarter being negative look reasonably high,” said Kevin Hassett, senior fellow and director of economic policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “Fifty-50 chance.”
The economy has grown for four straight quarters, but that growth has averaged only 2.9 percent, a weak pace after such a steep recession.
Hassett put the blame squarely in President Obama’s lap.
“The policies have been so terrible that they sort of feel to me like the choices of an excessively arrogant, uninformed person, and his economic policy team doesn’t match that description, at least part of it,” he said.
But Josh Bivens, an economist for the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the massive $862 billion stimulus helped prevent the economy from declining in the last quarter.
“Without the stream of spending provided by the Recovery Act the economy would have contracted outright. This is most troubling, as Recovery Act money is almost spent and will provide no boost to growth going forward. The case for more action from policymakers to support the recovery and return the job-market to health is now overwhelming,” he said in a statement.
Business investment in new machinery, computers and software, increasing at 25 percent in the second quarter from the first, is credited with much of the growth last quarter, but the benefit is tempered by the fact that much of that spending paid for imported products.
Imports surged 32.4 percent, the most since 1984. That overwhelmed a 9.1 percent increase in exports.
A report earlier this week showed that business orders for capital goods fell in July, suggesting that business purchases will decrease this quarter.
Josh Bivens, an economist for the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said the massive $862 billion stimulus helped prevent the economy from declining in the last quarter.
“Without the stream of spending provided by the Recovery Act the economy would have contracted outright. This is most troubling, as Recovery Act money is almost spent and will provide no boost to growth going forward. ”
Oh horseshit. You can’t borrow insane amounts of cash to run the economy. Especially if the growth rates you can prove are attributed to it are less than the interest charges on the loans. Let’s face it, if this worked, I should be able to go out and max out all my credit cards, kite thousands in bad checks, and wake up a millionaire. Can’t. Get. There. From. Here.
But in typical La-La-Land liberal thinking, which means a complete disconnect with any actual reality, he wants to repeat the process. It’s not working, so do it again, harder. Because more than a trillion dollars in new debt per year isn’t enough. Let’s make it two trillion. Or five. What the hell, it’s only taxpayer’s money. It’s not like they have any right to it.
“The case for more action from policymakers to support the recovery and return the job-market to health is now overwhelming,” he said in a statement.
“support the economy” means another stimulus. “return the job-market to health” is a grand idea, but borrowing zillions to fatten up all the far-left groups and rainbow farting unicorn feeding projects isn’t going to do it.
Cut business taxes. To ZERO. Cut capital gains taxes. To ZERO. Throw out ObamaCare, throw out Crap & Traitor, beat the crap out of the EPA and loosen many of these severely restrictive regulations, eliminate the Department of Education and leave that to the states, cut the Department of Energy down to about 50 people, cut the federal government by 75%, cut state governments by 50%, put a $65,000/yr salary cap on every single unelected government job and make them pay a fat slice of their health insurance just like the rest of us, no unions anywhere in government, secure the borders and start shipping trainloads of illegals back across the border. Eliminate most of the H1- visas. Bring the troops home from everywhere but the DMZ in Korea - the administration won’t fight to win, so stop wasting our blood and treasure. Stop the utterly insane spending at the Defense Department. Not a dollar in foreign aid, anywhere. Let the world take care of it’s own for once. No more international disaster rescue efforts. Immigration moratorium for 10 years. Severe import tariffs? Not yet, but float the idea. Get some nationalism going; Buy American, even if that’s a Honda built here. Close enough. Drill our own damn oil, and start building nuke plants all over the place. And yes, we’re going to have to make severe cuts in unemployment benefits, welfare, Medicaid, and Medicare. Bush’s prescription drug deal has to go. We can’t afford it.
The business of America is business, and until the government gets out of the way, and gets rid of foreigners doing jobs Americans would like to do, we are going nowhere but down. We’d all be fat and happy if a third or more of our GNP didn’t go to China and Mexico. Cut the taxes and loosen the rules so that more things get made here. By our people. Bought by our people. For our people. So that we shall not perish from this earth.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/27/2010 at 10:26 AM
Filed Under: • Economics •
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Permalink • Some mid day eye candy of sorts and maybe a new crush. ?? Sorry guys, no bikinis. Maybe later.
Before today, I never heard of this lady. We don’t have a TV, by choice, and she’s one of many younger newer actresses or celebs I never heard of.
But, I happen to see her photo in a newspaper today. At first, I thought it was Elizabeth Hurley. I know who she is. I really like her. Or her image I guess. It was not these photos that made me think it was Hurley. It was one in the hard copy edition.
So anyway, I saw this lady, whose name is Holly Valance. I got curious and went to the net and found a couple of other photos and got kinda hooked.
Now as you plainly see, there isn’t anything particularly sexy about this shot, or the next one either. And even less so for the last one. But for some reason, I don’t know, can’t explain it, she isn’t my very favorite, I’m still in love with a young Bardot and Landsbury (in her early years). And Ann Margaret. Always Ann Margaret. Forever Ann Margaret.
But there was just something so appealing in these two shots I thought I’d post them. The hard copy has a really glamorous, sexy photo almost full page. But in very good taste.
Ok here ... you decide if I’m off the rails on this one. Don’t think so tho.
Don’t know what it is, but there’s simply something about her look or else a really great photographer.
And here it doesn’t even look like she has make up on but I’m sure she must have.
And here she’s made up for her role in an ITV series.
Wow ... big difference, huh?
Posted by peiper
on 08/27/2010 at 07:43 AM
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •
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Permalink • welcome to England. Speak English? No? Ah … Welcome aboard. Not many others do either.
Sometimes, that’s the way it seems.
I had to post this cos in a way, it has a funny side. It isn’t supposed to I know. And I think the paper played up the weird side when in fact the lady could ask her local council. BUT … she should NOT have to do that in the first place. Should she? If were me, I would not see any funny side to this. It has to be shared however.
OAP who wanted to see council electrical wiring report told she couldn’t have it - because it was written in Polish
By Rachel Quigley
A pensioner was left ‘fuming’ after she was unable to read the electrical safety report on her house - because she can’t speak Polish.
Two workmen arrived at 70-year-old Stella Sheen’s council house in Islington, north London, to check if her wiring was safe.
When the Polish electricians finished the job she asked them if she could have a copy of the safety certificate only to be told there was ‘no point’.
Mrs Sheen said she was ‘fuming’ when the council electricians told her that if she didn’t speak Polish then she wouldn’t be able to read the report on the work they had carried out.
She said: ‘I told them I wanted a copy of it but the contractor kept saying he couldn’t give it to me and to request a copy from the council.
‘He told me that if he gave me the report I wouldn’t understand it because it was written in Polish.
‘I said, “Hold on a minute, I don’t speak Polish. English is my first language”.
‘It’s a farcical situation that you can’t have the report in English.’
Chair of the Federation of Islington Tenants’ Association Brian Potter said: ‘It’s absolutely disgraceful that tenants are not being provided with electrical certification after works have been carried out.
‘If Polish workers are working in England their reports should be in English. It’s a comical situation.’
It is estimated that there are currently around half a million Polish people living in Britain with around 150,000 in London alone.
Many arrived after Poland joined the European Union in 2004. Initial official estimates suggested just a few thousand would take advantage of Britain’s open door policy on letting people from new members of the EU work in the UK.
READ MORE HERE
SOURCE, SORRY. NO SPEAK ENGLISH
Posted by peiper
on 08/27/2010 at 06:49 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - August 26, 2010
Target Marketing or Terrible Irony?
So I’m doing stuff in the kitchen just now, with Fox News going in the living room. They’re going on and on about how the USA is about to lose it’s AAA rating if the government doesn’t stop spending. Before that it was a 5 minute video of NJ Governor Chris Christie explaining politely about how NJ got cut nearly half a billion dollars in federal aid, because one piece of data on one page of the 1000 page application was from the wrong year, and labeled that way ... and some brainless button pushing douchebag in DC couldn’t be bothered to pick up the phone or send an email or make any effort AT ALL to get the right numbers and just failed the whole application. Of course Christie didn’t say it like that, but you could tell he wanted to dickslap the DC idiot but good. And keeping the fap-fap-fap theme going ...
Anyway, Fox cuts to commercial. It’s a new ad for Viagra. It shows some guy and his 1967-68-69 Camaro SS. Blah blah blah, ED, millions of men, blah blah blah, ask your doctor. Guy has the radio on in the car, and the music playing is by Jerry and the gang. And the tune ... is an old bluesy number called Smokestack Lightning. Smokestack? Lightning? I’m dying of laughter. Come on, like it was a coincidence that they picked that bit of roots music to push a product to make your tired old sock puppet shoot sparks again? In an ad with an old big block muscle car? Maybe something subliminal in there about excess power and burning rubber(s)?
Very subtle. Smokestack = erection. Lightning = well, you know. Subtle. Like a sledgehammer. But only if you’re old enough to recognize the tune and remember the title. Much better than two old codgers sitting in his ‘n hers bathtubs.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/26/2010 at 03:49 PM
Filed Under: • Humor •
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Permalink • Wednesday - August 25, 2010
I love cats
By now the whole world, even pre-historic headhunting tribes in the Amazon basin, must have heard of
The woman caught on video dumping a cat in a trash bin in Coventry, England
AKA: “ ‘That’ Woman From Coventry” (sung to the tune of My Woman From Tokyo by Deep Purple.) Yes, I’m showing my age and utter lack of taste in music.
I love cats. So idiocy like this tends to spin me up a wall.
Posted by Christopher
on 08/25/2010 at 08:33 PM
Filed Under: • Satire •
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Permalink • Guess The Party, Round 28,112
Ten states, Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands are all seeking waivers exempting them from complying with the new law—the Move Act—that requires all states to mail absentee ballots to overseas military voters 45 days before Election Day.
The federal government felt the need for a national Act to nudge the states along so that their men and women in uniform serving overseas would have a chance to vote, and to have those votes counted.
“It’s been very clear that some of these states were not going to be in compliance with the Move Act a long time ago,” said Eric Eversole, executive director of the Military Voter Protection Project. “And the Department of Justice, each step of the way, has simply not taken the actions to ensure that the Move Act would be implemented in each of the 50 states.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who co-authored the Move Act, wrote Attorney General Eric Holder last month to complain that a top Justice Department official had called the law “fairly general” with some provisions “an open question.”
“If a state is not in compliance with the statute,” Cornyn wrote Holder, “there is little room for ‘dialogue’ or negotiation, and (the department’s) Voting (Rights) Section should take immediate steps to enforce the law.”
Fox has been following this story for some time now, but the best they can tell us about those states and areas is
The states are: Hawaii; New York; Delaware; Virgin Islands; Alaska; Washington; Maryland; Washington, D.C., Massachusetts; Wisconsin; Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
Because, you know, Washington DC is a state, and so is the territory of the Virgin Islands. But leaving such nuanced journalism aside, what Fox has not told us is this:
[UPDATE: I fixed the Massachusetts data. html tables are a pain]
|
State Name | Party
of Governor | House
Majority | Senate
Majority |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Republican | Republican | Democrat | Senate coalition |
| Delaware | Democrat | Democrat | Democrat | |
| Hawaii | Republican | Democrat | Democrat | |
| Maryland | Democrat | Democrat | Democrat | |
| Massachusetts | Democrat | Democrat | Democrat | |
| New Hampshire | Democrat | Democrat | Democrat | |
| New York | Democrat | Democrat | Democrat | |
| Rhode Island | Democrat | Democrat | Democrat | |
| Virgin Islands | Democrat | Democrat | unicameral legislature | |
| Washinton | Democrat | Democrat | Democrat | |
| Washington DC | Democrat | Democrat | Mayor, and unicameral legislature | |
| Wisconsin | Democrat | Democrat | Democrat |
5 3 out of 34. Or 3 out or 33, because this Alaska coalition thing is hard for an outsider to understand. Even so ... sure seems like a whole lot of blue in there. And that’s not newsworthy.
(data source: Wikipedia)
Posted by Drew458
on 08/25/2010 at 07:16 PM
Filed Under: • Military • Politics •
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Permalink • Anecdotal ObamaCare?
I suppose it could have nothing whatsoever to do with ObamaCare…
As I delivered the mail to the Chevrolet (aka ObamaMotors) dealership on my route a large notice on the employee bulletin board caught my eye. It informed (and I don’t remember the exact wording) All Employees: Effective 9/1/2010 all employee dental plans are cancelled. It went on about contacting the HR office for details and options.
I thought it was an interestingly ominous notice.
Thatisall.
Posted by Christopher
on 08/25/2010 at 07:32 PM
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine • Obama, The One • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • BedBugs
Ick! I’ve spent the past several hours reading about the bed bug infestations around the country. New York City seems especially hard hit. Eww! And today there seemed to be bedbug articles everywhere!
Earlier this summer, the bedbug epidemic hit swanky Upper East Side apartment houses, then downtown retail shops in SoHo. Now, New York bedbugs--tiny, brown and bloodthirsty--have infiltrated the Empire State Building.
Employees reported seeing the dreaded bedbugs in an employee changing room in the Empire State Building basement last week, leading investigators to surmise that the bedbugs hitched a ride to New York’s most iconic landmark in workers’ clothing.
According to the CourierPostOnline, the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square received a number of complaints of patrons being bitten by bed bugs. The theater was closed overnight Tuesday and sprayed for infestation.
Another theater, the AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9 Theater received one complaint of a bed bug bite.
The Empire theater even went so far as to have all the seats in their facility removed, and brand new ones installed. Unfortunately the bed bug epidemic that has plagued retail stores and buildings in New York City this summer is wreaking havoc in these theaters as well.
...
When you think about the cushioned, comfy seats in a movie theater, it’s really a wonder this type of infestation hasn’t occurred during previous bed bug epidemics. Almost all movie theater seats are now upholstered and create the perfect hiding and breeding spots for bed bugs, which are carried via people and their clothing from the site of infestations to wherever they may “drop off” and take up new residence.
Bedbugs are more prevalent in New York City than anywhere else in the U.S., but it is the Buckeye State that appears to be the most bedbug-infested state in America, according to the findings of a new study conducted by pest-control company Terminix.
Behind the Big Apple on the list of the 15 most bedbug-infested locales are the cities of Philadelphia and Detroit, with fourth-place Cincinnati marking the first of three Ohio cities cracking the top ten. Rounding out the list is Chicago; Denver, Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Boston; Indianapolis; Louisville, Kentucky; Cleveland; and Minneapolis.
Bedbugs travel on clothing, in luggage, and in bags, and they can drop down and breed anywhere. They prefer crevices, cracks, and upholstery. As long as there are human beings around to feed on, they will be content. Bedbugs feed almost exclusively on human blood and can survive up to a year without a meal.
The secret of eradicating bedbugs is to kill the creatures wherever they are found. Bedbugs are much harder to eradicate than cockroaches, mice, or rats, the vermin that prompted current housing regulation and enforcement policy.
• Bed bugs feed almost exclusively on blood
• Bed bugs are not known to carry disease
• Bed bugs do not fly (it flies it is not a bed bug)
• Not everyone reacts to bed bug bites; about 30 percent have no reaction at all. Those who do react may suffer small red dots, or in severe cases large welts
• Bed bugs are hard to identify before the infestation gets quite large and becomes highly visible
• Bed bugs can be identified from their black markings, droppings and eggs, they are found on sheets, upholstery, and in crevasses and/or cracks such as baseboards
• Bed bugs go through five life stages, eliminating an exoskeleton at each stage, and requiring a blood meal to progress to the next cycle
• A newly hatched bed bug is semi-transparent, light tan in color, and the size of a poppy seed. Adult bed bugs are flat, have rusty-red-colored oval bodies, and are about the size of an apple seed.
• Adult females can lay 1-5 eggs per day, and up to 200-500 eggs in a lifetime
• Bed bugs are believed to be mostly inactive between blood meals, hiding in secretive resting places
• Bed bugs are not limited to the bed or the bedroom but instead will disperse throughout a dwelling, as long as there are humans to feed on in other rooms
• Bed bugs are very resilient and can easily survive from several months to a year without a blood meal
• The most common ways of getting bed bugs include luggage and clothing when traveling, used furniture, as well as from neighbors in a building when they migrate along pipes and wiring
• High heat laundering of clothing at 140 degrees F for at least 20 minutes will kill bed bugs
• If you discover bed bugs, do not be ashamed. Contact a reputable pest control company and notify your landlord and neighbors in order to stop them from spreading
• Until the city gets its own bed bug portal up and running, bedbugregistry.com tracks bed bug sightings throughout North America. Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, as well as New York show the highest share of the site’s 20,000-plus reports.
In what some call America’s most bedbug-infested city, a man named Frank reluctantly discussed the high cost of his bloodsucking guests.
“I had a bedbug-sniffing dog come out and then exterminator treatment,” he said. “I spent $350 for the stupid dog and a few hundred dollars to send my clothing out for cleaning. That’s more than $1,000 just to be safe.”
Now the bugs were taking another bite out of Frank. He contemplated the ceiling-high display of mattress bedbug barriers priced between $59.99 and $99.99 at a Manhattan Bed Bath & Beyond store.
I know it’s perhaps foolish to mention “do it yourself” and “New York City” in the same sentence, but for about half the price of one of those exterminator visits you can treat your own home, and have enough left over to retreat it once or twice more if necessary.
Some web sites have lists of remedies, rated for what works and what doesn’t. Pesticide supply companies are even putting together kits for homeowners, even one that meets New York’s rather strict pesticide rules.
I like the first kit linked to above, not that we have had any bedbugs here. That kit includes a bottle of the wonderfully named Cyonara, a 9.7% Lamda-Cyhalothrin (artificial pyrethrin) concentrate you mix with water and put in a Hudson sprayer to spray the outside of your dwelling’s foundation, doorsills, windowsills, and pipe and wire entrance points. Remember, don’t just spray the bottom of the foundation. 2 feet up and 2 feet out is the rule.
Other products exist. Good old Drione dust, the powder I posted about a few weeks ago, will kill these bugs. I use it to kill yellow jacket nests, and to keep spiders and stink bugs at bay around windows. 2 or 3 puffs from the puffer in the above kits gets the job done. It’s expensive, but the 1lb jug will keep your house bug free for years. Malathion and DDT will work too, but few of us have either of those old school poisons on hand any more. And you can’t use them indoors.
The above kits include a couple of spray cans of Bedlam, a residual insecticide that you can spray on mattresses. At $17 per can it is very costly, especially when it takes a 13 second spray per square foot to get the job done. Far more cost effective, and much more efficient, is the universal janitorial spray called Microban. This stuff is a trip. It is safe to spray on mattresses. You can spray it with a hudson sprayer or with a ULV fogger. Not only does it take down bedbugs, it kills fleas, ticks, lice, eliminates mold and mildew, bacteria, takes away sewage odors, and even removes the stink of rotting carcasses.
Microban Formula X-580 is an anti-microbial, bactericide, deodorizer, disinfectant, mildewcide, fungicide, germicide, insecticide and sanitizer.
Anti-microbial action kills allergy and disease-causing germs, bacteria, fungi, mold, and mildew. Provides long-lasting residual protection. Excellent product for treating sewage backups.
The insecticide in Microban kills ants, bedbugs, carpet beetles, centipedes, fleas, flies, gnats, hornets, lice, mosquitoes, moths and their larvae, pill bugs, roaches, silverfish, spiders, termites, ticks and wasps. Protects textiles against destructive insects for six months.
Effective in decontaminating the treated exposed surfaces of bedding, mattresses, textiles, drapes, upholstered furniture, rugs, carpets and in storage areas to control mold, mildew, fungus, insects and odors wherever they are a problem.
Excellent in water damage restoration and harmless to surfaces unharmed by water.
Yup, that’s the shiz alright. Kills all the bedbugs and their eggs on your mattress or your couch, and then you use the rest to spray your carpets. One gallon treats 1500 square feet. It works because it’s made from pyrethrins, just like Drione. Made from daisies. Flower power! Mix in a vial of Gentrol IGR to screw up the larval development of the little rotters while you’re at it. I do not think the stuff can be used on clothing that you are planning on wearing soon.
Once cleaned, it’s probably a good idea to get bug proof covers for your mattresses. The good ones are not cheap but they put a layer between you and any bugs the spray treatments missed. They stop dust mites too.
Now if someone could figure out a safe way to treat our clothes, this infestation could be stopped cold. Steam works, but who has a steam cabinet? Heat works ... so I guess wash and bake dry your clothes the moment you get home?
Bedbugs. Ick. Bleeeh! I’m going to go make some insanely hot curried chicken and try and get my skin to stop crawling from all the reading. And you betcha, I’ll be checking the mattresses tonight.
But on the other hand ... you know, I’m starting to like this bug killing thing. I wonder if Terminex is hiring?
Posted by Drew458
on 08/25/2010 at 02:59 PM
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •
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Permalink • RETRACTION ? IT MIGHT BE IN ORDER WITH LIMITED APOLOGIES FROM YOURS TRULY
Yesterday I went on a rant over something in our morning paper to do with grass cutting and Health and Safety.
I don’t take back what I said about the liberal left pinko bed wetting loony tunes who have ruined this country. I stand by that.
HOWEVER .....
The story I reacted to did not come from something like the Natl. Enquirer and it didn’t come from the Sun. It came from the Telegraph.
In retrospect, I suppose I could have tried to call someone. Never thought of it. And not being a journalist working for a paper, not much to guarantee anyone would talk to me anyway. That said .... This appeared in the letters column of that paper today. But I didn’t see any retraction from the paper.
So here .....
It’s safe to cut the grass
SIR – In response to your report about grass-cutting at Carlisle Castle (August 24), I can confirm that there is no guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that prevents it.
Organisations, such as English Heritage, have a responsibility to look after the health and safety of their staff. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t mow lawns. The HSE has not issued any new guidance on mowers recently in this sector.
Three people died at work using mowing equipment last year, and a number of sit-on mowers turned over on steep slopes. The risks are real, but with appropriate management of those risks, for example using a different type of mower, activities can continue.
A straightforward, sensible risk assessment would quickly show where real dangers lie, and what can be done to address them.
Graeme Walker
Head of Agriculture, Health and Safety Executive
Bootle, Lancashire
SOURCE, LETTERS PAGE, THE TELEGRAPH
Posted by peiper
on 08/25/2010 at 04:07 AM
Filed Under: • UK • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Tuesday - August 24, 2010
Building Permit
I recently submitted a building permit application for a new house.
It was going to be 100 ft. tall and 400 ft. wide with 9 gun turrets at various heights and windows all over the place and a loud outside entertainment sound system. It would have had parking for 200 cars and I was going to paint it snot green with pink trim.
The City Council told me to forget about it.
So, I sent the application in again, but this time I called it a Mosque.
Work starts on Monday.
H/T Patriot Humor.
Posted by Christopher
on 08/24/2010 at 11:17 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • DIVERSITY BS • Humor •
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