Sunday - August 22, 2010

Snipers kill 10 Brits ….. Brits kill snipers hired by the Taliban …

Taliban snipers who killed ten British soldiers die in air strike.

By Christopher Leake

Four deadly foreign mercenary snipers hired by the Taliban have been killed after being tracked down by British Special Forces in Afghanistan.

They were among at least three pairs of crackshots recruited by the Taliban from Pakistan, Egypt and Chechnya.

The mercenaries – who can kill troops at a range of up to 650 yards – are understood to have shot dead up to ten British soldiers in recent weeks.

The victims include Sapper Darren Foster, 20, from Whitehaven, Cumbria. He was picked off from long distance by a single shot which went through a gap just 9in wide in a protected look-out post in Sangin valley, Helmand Province.

News of the Taliban deaths came as a British soldier was killed during a firefight with insurgents yesterday as he provided security for a meeting between Afghan elders and Nato forces.

The soldier, from the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, was killed during an exchange of fire in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand.

MORE HERE

So then, while American and Brit servicemen and women too, are returning home in body bags or else coming back disabled and minus limbs and various body parts, some will be be pleased to know that there’s a game due out where you can be the Taliban and kill and maim Americans and Brits.

Somehow, I don’t see that as a healthy thing while this war is continuing.
Due to the mess I’ve made here and papers strewn hither and yon, I have misplaced the article. I can’t even remember which paper I saw it in.
If I find it I’ll post the link here later. Anyway, I think it’s a sick idea.
Speaking of sick ... Ch. 4 TV here is going to air a show called Beauty and the Beast wherein they will pair a normal or very good looking person with someone who is badly disfigured, and see how they interact.  SICK!
That’s like a throwback to the days when ppl went to placed like Bedlam to laugh at the sick. Or freak shows.  Why would anyone want to watch that kind of thing?  What next?  Bear bating? 

‘Tasteless’: Defence Secretary’s fury at Taliban video game where players shoot dead British soldiers

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:44 PM on 22nd August 2010

Defence Secretary Liam Fox has slammed a computer game which allows players to kill British troops as a Taliban insurgent as ‘tasteless’.

Mr Fox called for the game to be banned and said the idea of recreating Taliban attacks on allied soldiers was disgusting.

The latest version of the Medal of Honor game, published by Electronic Arts, allows gamers to opt to play the role of insurgents in a multiplayer mode and receive points for killing allied soldiers.

MORE AT SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 08/22/2010 at 12:34 PM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists • War On Terror •  
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The ObaMosque at Ground Zero

You know, I kinda hope they do build a mega-mosque at Ground Zero. It’ll be a great target! 

H/T Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller

Posted by Christopher     on 08/22/2010 at 12:03 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • DIVERSITY BS • Obama, The One • War On Terror •  
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Just a Common Soldier

My old high school buddy flapjawman sends me stuff constantly. I’m still about 100 emails behind. He sent this poem a couple of days ago, complete with apology:

(sorry, no reference, someone emailed it to me)

I’ve chewed him out several times for sending me stuff w/o references or links.

Here’s the poem as sent:

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And ‘tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.

But we’ll hear his tales no longer,
For ol’ Bob has passed away,
And the world’s a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.

He won’t be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won’t note his passing,
‘Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician’s stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end.

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier’s part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he’s here to hear the praise,
Then at least let’s give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
“OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY.”

Now, I did find a source for this. I ‘binged’ the first verse. (I use Bing instead of Google these days.) Bing returned the following hit:

Just a Common Soldier

© 1985 A. Lawrence Vaincourt

A. Lawrence Vaincourt (WW II Air Force veteran) wrote this poem in 1985 for his newspaper column and it was reprinted in his 1991 book RHYMES AND REFLECTIONS (available from its publisher at http://www.dialogue.ca).  For information regarding reprints or to contact Larry, please e-mail vaincourt@canada.com.

Veteran’s Day will be coming soon. This would be perfect for recitation at any Veteran’s Day event.

I’m also hoping that Mr. Vaincourt won’t be too upset. After all, I did some research and found the proper person to credit. This is apparently making the email rounds sans credit.

Posted by Christopher     on 08/22/2010 at 11:24 AM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism • USA •  
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   Saturday - August 21, 2010

TRAVELLERS LEAVE VILLAGE CLAIMING RESIDENTS WERE RUDE. DUH. WONDER WHY.

Travellers flee serene Southwold less than 72 hours after setting up camp… because the locals were ‘unfriendly and rude’

By Daily Mail Reporter

A group of travellers have fled one of Britain’s most exclusive seaside towns after claiming residents were unwelcoming and rude.

A dozen families set up camp in Southwold, Suffolk, causing a stir among locals.

The genteel resort is a favourite of celebrities such as Michael Palin, Chris Evans, Rowan Atkinson, Simon Mayo and Gary Lineker.

The travellers took over part of the town’s common on the edge of the resort last weekend - but within 72 hours they had packed up and left complaining that locals were ‘unfriendly and ill-mannered.’

Good for the locals!  About time.  Kudos to the folks in Southwold.

The local council was preparing to launch expensive legal action to get the group moved on when the travellers suddenly departed.

Before they harnessed up their caravans to vans and expensive four-wheel drives, including a Range Rover, one woman said: ‘They are supposed to be posh people here but they are just ignorant.

‘They said rude things to us and called our children names. We have as much right as anyone else to have a holiday but they have been saying awful things about us and we will never come here again.’

“we will never come here again” Gee, I bet the folks in the town are all heartbroken but .... I bet they hope you keep your word.
Of course, how much is that worth?

Another traveller, Bill Lee, 39, said: ‘We haven’t been welcomed here with open arms - the local community seemed a bit scared of us but we only came here to bring the kids to the seaside for a holiday break.

‘But we have been hassled from the minute we got here.’

John Miller, chairman of the Southwold Common Trust that looks after the 140-acre common left to the people of the town by a 17th century benefactor, said: ‘We were just relieved to see them go - the common is the wonder of Southwold.

‘We did not want them there - they were breaking by-laws that forbid any vehicles on the common.’

A rare win for the good guys.

MORE HERE

Posted by peiper     on 08/21/2010 at 02:32 PM   
Filed Under: • Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters •  
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MEIN KAMPF - the sequel - Peiper - -vs—the blockhead pharmacy system

Another adventure in the exciting series of Peiper vs the evil Brit pharmacy system, or, ?

Ok, I have a slight problem here. I can’t think of any proper words that apply without using very bad language, so I must ask the reader to dig into your memory and mentally play the theme music for either Lorel and Hardy or the Three Stooges.
The exception will be that “it ain’t funny McGee.” (old radio)

Our regulars at BMEWS are already familiar with my rants of last year, with regard to how a doctor’s prescription is filled in this blighted place.  For those who aren’t aware and missed it, they have a system in place here that is as screwed up as a soup sandwich.  The freekin idiots have built themselves a submarine with a screen door.

For example, you can buy aspirin here like you can anywhere else.  But … you need a doctor’s Rx for safety coated aspirin.  Ever hear anything so stupid? Tis true, every word.  I should know. I have to take them.

Our latest adventure is a repeat of a problem that’s happened before.  The pharmacy somehow lost not one, but two of my wife’s prescriptions, as we discovered today when visiting the pharmacy to pick them up.  Earlier I said three but I was mistaken.

For newbies to my humble self I will tell you I am an American married to a Brit these past 40 plus years, and have been living here since April of 2004.  It has not all been bad I confess.  But it has been maddening for the reasons that, as my very Brit wife has said many times when I tend to question the sanity of this system, “if there’s a difficult way to do a thing, and an easy logical way to do the same thing, we English seem to prefer the hard way.” Not that my wife does.  She has lived in America far too long.  She knows about screens on windows and central air cond., and most cars with auto transmissions. Not that you can’t have em here, but in our area, not too easy.  As we discovered.
She knows about getting an Rx filled right then, right there at a pharmacy without having to wait for two days to a week.  Longer if the courier delivers to the wrong pharmacy or they simply lose it.

Courier?  Right. I’d better explain that.  There might be as many as 6 pharmacies in our general area.  Could be more, I really don’t know.  I am aware of five but am also certain there has to be more.  Now then, many of those will be part of the same chain owned by a company called Boots. Very old and very well known.  There are also pharmacies in two major chain supermarkets.

Every day a courier or perhaps there’s more then one, goes to all the doctor’s offices picking up prescriptions to be delivered to all the pharmacies.  At the front desk in every doctor’s office there will be bundles of Rx’s and they will be placed in separate baskets or bags marked with the name and address of which pharmacy the Rx’s are to go to. 

The following only applies to refills.
If you reader, as a patient, hand in an Rx on a refill order to the pharmacy, your medication will (should unless lost) be ready to pick up in one week.  Now that’s on a refill already approved by your doctor.  But you see, the pharmacy sends that Rx back to the doctor to be reviewed (WHY?) and then goes back to the pharmacy and the process takes a week.  OR … you can email the doctor’s office and request a refill, and that will only take two days to get.  Unless the incompetent idiots lose it.
Well, the wife had instructions from her doc to call and report if there were any side effects on the Lipitor she was given, because the doctor wanted to increase the dosage by degrees.  She also has high blood pressure and takes medication for that. 
She spoke to her doctor on a Friday, and also requested an additional Rx for something else, and her doctor said she’d fax the Rx directly to our pharmacy downstairs. (photo) Fine.  It would be ready the next day but something happened and I’ll be darned if I remember what, and we never got to the pharmacy Sat.  Weather was miserable and wife not feeling 100%, I don’t drive and there isn’t any bus to where we’d need to go.  Just as well because the brain dead fools didn’t have them anyway.
That is, two prescriptions.  Poof.  Gone with the wind.

We finally made it in Friday morning because I had an Rx to pick up myself, and as luck would have it, the duty doctor I spoke to on the phone gave me a smaller amount then I require and there wasn’t any way to undo that.  (hey, they’re on the ball here)

So while there to get my Rx I also asked to pick up the wife’s two rx.  Blank looks as they couldn’t find them.  So this sour faced woman behind the counter says with authority, well.  It takes seven days.  Not on a new Rx it doesn’t.  Not when the doc calls or faxes it in.  Only on refills.  But even so, I informed her that the Rx was faxed from upstairs on the 13th, and this was the 20th so … lets see.  How many days is that? 

Staff looked but couldn’t find and so I went up to the top floor where the doctor’s office is and spoke to the front desk.  Who informed me that they were sent on the 13th and that the folks there should have it by now. 
So I went downstairs again but this time I took the elevator cos I was getting tired by then, and told the ppl downstairs what the ppl upstairs said.  Nope. Sorry, nothing here.  However, they would call upstairs between 1 and 2 and if I could call them back later they would have an answer and the Rx for us.  So I called about 2:30 and I tell no lie, the phone rang for a continuous 4 minutes before anyone answered.
That happens all the time with that place.  But we got the Rx although they have no idea what happened.  They usually blame the folks in the doctors office who usually shake their collective heads and shrug it off as there isn’t much they can say or do.
Well, there sure is but this being England, they do not know there is something they can do. 

Finally, and I have saved this for last.  Here’s an example of the mindset of at least one person at that pharmacy.

The wife often visits weekly, an old family friend and friend of her late mother.  The old woman has some form of leg or skin cancer, her legs are wrapped in some sort of gauze, not pretty to look at poor lady as they often leak.  She is pretty much housebound most of the time.  She is 80 years old, and has no family.  So my wife visits her for an hour or so every week and also picks up the odd bits of groceries for her. 

Because of her age and condition, she can have her prescriptions delivered to her.
My wife told her about the problem we had with her Rx and the old woman preceded to tell the following which occurred this past week.

She had asked for medication and had it called into the same pharmacy. When nothing came after a few days, she called the blockheads to find out where her Rx was as she’d expected it days ago.
Oh, it’s here and ready to be picked up she was informed.  But says she, it is supposed to be delivered.

Oh yes says the person she was speaking to.  It’s marked that way. It says deliver, but we thought you might come by for it and so held it here in case you decided to come in.

I just haven’t any more words and especially for that last. I don’t know what to say, and so I’ll say good night and … Stay Tuned

Posted by peiper     on 08/21/2010 at 01:04 PM   
Filed Under: • Personal • Stoopid-People •  
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ADD or PC?

Ex-fighter pilots and relatives of war heroes joined commemorations as Sir Winston Churchill’s stirring ‘’so much owed by so many to so few’’ speech was read out, prompting tears in the crowd.

The actor Robert Hardy began reading out the speech at 3.52pm, exactly 70 years after the wartime prime minister delivered it in Parliament.
...
Speaking afterwards, Dame Vera, the singer of We’ll Meet Again, said: ‘’It brought it all back.

‘’So much was owed to so few - and it is wonderful that some of those brave men are here.’’

Lady Soames, 88, said: ‘’It is very moving because 70 years ago I was in the House of Commons to hear my father deliver the speech.

‘’For me it has particular meaning but I find it wonderful that I look around this crowd and for all of us somehow the speech rang a bell.’’

The crowds waving Union flags cheered as the world’s oldest Spitfire and a Hurricane fighter emerged over the trees to fly low over London’s Government buildings.

For veterans it brought back ‘’vivid’’ memories of the Battle of Britain, which began on July 10 1940 and ended on October 31 that year.

More than 2,900 British, Commonwealth and Allied aircrew took part and successfully fought off the Luftwaffe.

The triumph helped wreck Hitler’s plans to invade Britain and lay the foundations for Allied victory five years later.

It was celebrated in Churchill’s speech of August 20 1940, when he told MPs: ‘’Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’’

Phil Reed, director of Churchill War Rooms, said: ‘’In this speech Churchill epitomised his ability to capture in the most stirring way the spirit of a nation fighting for its existence, as Britain stood firm against the Nazi war machine.

‘’Now part of the general folklore of the battle, the speech is today considered a defining moment of the conflict and one of Churchill’s most emotive and stirring pronouncements.’’

The Spitfire, a Mark IIa, flew in the Battle of Britain, and crashed in October 1940 in a dogfight. It was repaired and saw service throughout the war but still carries the marks of bullet holes in the left wing.

The Hurricane was the last to enter service with the RAF – ­joining the fray on New Year’s Day 1944. It was flown by Polish pilots and even went on to have a career in the cinema, appearing in the films Reach For The Sky and ­Battle Of Britain.

The conflict became a turning point in the war, because the RAF prevented Hermann Goering’s Luftwaffe winning the air superiority Adolf Hitler needed for an invasion.

And Churchill’s speech summed up the mood of a nation that was standing alone against Hitler and facing the threat of becoming the next victims of the Nazis’ terrifying Blitzkrieg.

Video of the speech can be found in the Times here, and another video of the fly over can be found here.  An even more heavily edited video can be watched here in the Express.

From what I can gather, the 5 planes in the flyover included only one original Spitfire and only one original Hurricane. Two other modern built replica Spitfires took part, along with some sort of thoroughly modern propeller driven airplane. I can accept that; there are just about none of these old warbirds left. And the very very few that there are, the ones that can reliably fly, tend to charge very much for their presence.

Nor was this a national ceremony. This was a commemoration at the Churchill War Rooms, a museum. Limited funds and all that. But why such a severe chop job on the great man’s words? The original speech, given old Winnie’s flair for the dramatic, probably took nearly half an hour to deliver. Hardy’s rendition took less than 6 and a half minutes. Because he only recited a quarter of the speech at most. Go figure.

This speech and that battle are the pivotal moment in modern British history. True grit, hope, defiance and courage at their very darkest hour. How would you feel if you went to a special anniversary gathering to hear Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and it was cut down to just “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth a government that shall not perish from the earth.”? You’d be rightly miffed, that’s for sure. Now consider how you would feel if nobody in the press bothered to point this out.

The original text of Churchill’s speech are here and here, among others.  You can try to read along while you listen to Hardy make his rendition at the first link above, but he leaves so much out that it’s difficult to follow. So I copied the speech on the overleaf, with Hardy’s meager words highlighted. I don’t get it. Does all of Britain suffer from ADD these days? Has the speech been trimmed for non-violence, political correctness, anti-Americanism, and pro-EU-ism? Could be. Your guess is as good as mine, and welcome in the comments.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/21/2010 at 11:59 AM   
Filed Under: • History • UK • War-Stories •  
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The subject is Ground Zero … a segment on BBC radio Friday night, worth listening to …

It’s only 9:30 here on another misty - mildly humid and wet Saturday morning.  Our morning papers have just been delivered and I have three plus the magazines to read this day.  I also have something I want to post later, time permitting. Well, not so much time as energy.  We have to go out and pick up wife’s medication at the pharmacy, something we tried to do yesterday except the jerks couldn’t find them.  Yeah. Them. As in, THREE Rx’s gone missing. Duh, we never got them says pharmacy.  Why? The doctor’s office is only upstairs over the pharmacy.  IDIOTS! So you know I have to post about that.  Pissed off cos it isn’t the first time.

Ok so .... I have to give you folks the opportunity to listen to this program.  I honestly hope enough of you will.  It’s called Any Questions.

Topical discussion in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience. From a different location each week

It’s generally an interesting program when there are NO politicians on the panel.  And I do not say that in jest.  It’s true.

You don’t need to listen to all 50 minutes unless the mood takes ya.  The ONE part of particular interest for Americans has to do with the the plans for building near ground zero.  I hope you’ll listen to this debate.  On my computer, I could fast forward to 8 minutes 39 seconds into the program to listen to the debate on ground zero.  I caught the whole program last night while in bed and just knew I had to share this.  I suppose I could have stuck an old cassette player in front of a speaker and then tried to record it to the pc, but hey.  That seemed rather convoluted and so I though the link and info would do.

One of the panelists is a “former” radical muzzie.  Uh huh.  He was arrested by the authorities in Egypt and spent time in jail and was adopted by amnasty intl. So naturally I don’t like him. I wouldn’t if he turned out to be Santa Clause himself.
If you listen to this segment, you will hear him as the only one on the panel who interrupts one of the other members who is not a muslim apologist or appeaser.

The segment question is if President Obama made the right decision in giving his okay to building in ground zero.
Listen to the debate on this one. Especially ....

DOUGLAS MURRAY is director of the Centre for Social Cohesion and a bestselling author. He writes for the Spectator and the Daily Telegraph. He is an outspoken critic of the British government’s response to radical Islam preferring pluralism over multi-culturalism. He believes “Islam is screwed” and that the idea of building a mosque near Ground Zero is “stupid and offensive”. 

I’m not sure I’d trust anyone whose name I can’t pronounce. Right. I’m being narrow and mean spirited. So sue me. I’m not a fan and don’t believe a word he says.

MAAJID NAWAZ is co-founder and co-director of counter-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation. He was formerly a leading light in the global Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir and stayed with the party for almost 14 years, founding branches in Denmark and Pakistan. While on a gap year from university in Egypt, he was imprisoned for four years for being a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir which was outlawed there. During his trial, Nawaz was adopted by Amnesty International as a “Prisoner of Conscience”. While in prison his view changed and on his release in 2006 he renounced the Islamist ideology for mainstream Islam

Lives in an ivory tower for all her experience. And ... she writes a feature in the Guardian?  Guardian?  As in far, left loony bin teach the world to sing one song?

ALEX VON TUNZELMANN is a historian and writer. Her first book Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire - a new account of the end of the British Empire in India and Pakistan was published in 2007 and is currently in development as a feature film. She is currently working on her second book, which is about the Cold War in the Caribbean. She writes a film column for Guardian online.

Don’t know the lady, never heard of her before but she is pretty sharp.  Well, she’d have to be. She also doesn’t fawn over muzzies and kiss butt so I respect that.

BARONESS DEECH is one of Britain’s leading family lawyers, chair of the Bar Standards Board, a professor of law at Gresham College, London and a crossbench peer. Ruth Deech was nominated for a peerage in 2005 by the appointments commission, set up by Tony Blair to find non-party political people for the House of Lords. A former governor of the BBC.

I have edited all the bios for space but just wanted to give you an idea.

8:39 is the start of Ground Zero segment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qgvj

No foolin BMEWS, this is worth lending an ear to.  Not all these these folks are fooled or dupes or weenies.  It’s just that the freekin left makes so much more noise.  I guess.  And there really are so many of em. Is it any different at home?  For gosh sake look who got elected Democratic US Senator for Minnesota.
Can anything be more embarrassing to us then that? 
I leave it to you as always ....

Posted by peiper     on 08/21/2010 at 03:26 AM   
Filed Under: • UK •  
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   Friday - August 20, 2010

YOU MIGHT ENJOY THIS SHORT VIDEO …. HOPE SO COS, YOU HAVEN’T MUCH TIME TO LIVE …

It’s BBC so there isn’t any embed ... runs less then 2 minutes
Have fun ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004tddt

Posted by peiper     on 08/20/2010 at 12:20 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • UK •  
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PAT CONDELL ON GROUND ZERO

I’m not sure how many of you have seen this.  I don’t think it’s been posted at BMEWS and it’s two months old.  But the subject is very current.

I have nothing to add because this guy says it all.  And if not all, then almost all.

Posted by peiper     on 08/20/2010 at 11:21 AM   
Filed Under: • Religion • Terrorists •  
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   Thursday - August 19, 2010

DAS BOOT …….. H/T Drew for the inspiration … th th th that’s all folks …

Drew posted some lovely boats I enjoyed seeing.  They also qualify as eye candy.

Well, I’m not trying to upstage friend Drew BUT ....  this was in the paper and I admit while I am attracted to the canoe these folks have, I kinda like the lady a lot too. OK, I think she’s really pretty and maybe even prettier then the boat.  But they go together you see.

What a catch she was for this guy.  Read on and see the link for more.

What a catch! Humble British fisherman lands billionaire Canadian boss’s daughter and returns on bride’s £100m superyacht

By Luke Salkeld

Before he left his home town, he worked on a little old boat taking holidaymakers on trips to catch mackerel.

Guy Barnett returned in style aboard a £100million superyacht.

The 35-year-old sailed into Dartmouth on the 247ft Northern Star and invited old friends to celebrate his best catch yet.

Mr Barnett, who left Devon to work as a deck hand for a Canadian billionaire, ended up marrying the boss’s daughter and heiress.

He and his bride, the former Sarah Risley, are honeymooning on board the six-deck yacht, which was chartered by her father John as part of their wedding present.

The couple hosted lunch for 30 guests in Dartmouth harbour, followed by an evening party when another 50 arrived on board.

It is eight years since Mr Barnett went to work for 62-year-old Mr Risley, owner of the largest fishing fleet in North America and known as the ‘Rockefeller of the North’.

And hey folks .... how’s this for a dining room ....

The couple then flew to Europe for the wedding celebration on the Northern Star, which is based in Gibraltar and costs £533,000 a week to charter.

Father of the bride John Risley, 62, a native of Nova Scotia, started his career with a small lobster shop in 1976 and went on to become the founder and director of Clearwater Seafoods.

The firm operates a large fleet of vessels and processing plants throughout Eastern Canada.

Mr Risley’s empire also includes a telecommunications firm which operates in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as a fisheries research and development business.

So we bid fair well to the happy couple with good wishes for the future and the hope that an unbreakable prenuptial agreement is in place.  Failing that, then daddy has excellent mafia connections.

Click on the happy couple to see more at the source.

Posted by peiper     on 08/19/2010 at 03:55 PM   
Filed Under: • Adventure • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •  
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Healthcare ‘monovision’ cr@p

It’s that time of year again; time to scramble and get all those little annoying health items attended to, paid for, and file the refund claims on your healthcare flexible spending account.

That’s the bad thing about FSA’s: You guess what your out-of-pocket medical expenses will be for the next year––that much is withheld from your paycheck––if you don’t use it, you lose it. The government just keeps your money. I wish I qualified for a plain medical savings account. Then what I don’t use just rolls over.

I’ve had an healthcare FSA for the last six years. I/we have used it all every year.

But this year I’m worried: I increased my ‘guess’ at our out-of-pocket health expenses this year. My goal was to goad my wife into getting a full physical, with the attendant co-pays and deductibles. My mistake...I know how she feels about doctors...she’s never had a full physical in our 20+ years of marriage. It’s not for lack of my encouragement either: whenever I suggest a physical it starts a figh...er...an argument. So, I still have a full FSA to spend…

Today I decided to take care of one of the little items I’ve neglected: new glasses/contacts.

I was shocked! The expense...was...far cheaper than I’d expected. So today I got an exam for both glasses and contacts. I ordered two pairs of bifocals, and walked out with a test set of contact.

That’s right. Contact. Only one. In my __ eye.

( __ eye = ‘dominant eye’. In the interest of identity protection, you do not need to know which of my three eyes is ‘dominant’. )

I’d never heard of this before. It’s called ‘monovision’. The doctor knew which of my eyes was ‘dominant’. I never knew eyes were ‘dominant’ or ‘submissive’. When I questioned him about how he knew which eye was dominant, he handed me a small box, told me to hold it like a camera. ‘Now, put it to your eye like you’re looking through the viewer’. Guess what? I do use my __ eye for that. I started remembering...it is indeed my __ eye I use when star-gazing through my telescope. Who knew?

(The Doctor Knows...mwhahahahaha!)

With the ‘monovision’ option, he’s just putting one contact in to correct my dominant eye to see far away (I’m near-sighted). The other eye is still free for reading and other close work. My other option was bifocal contacts, which are more expensive. The downside is (and this I got off a Wikipedia article when I got home) some disorientation due to loss of depth perception (particularly in the uncorrected eye).

BTW, this is all out of my own pocket. No health insurance coverage for this. (maybe the insurance would cover some small part of the eye exam itself, but it’s so small as to not be worth the time to file, or even the envelope and postage stamp.)

ObamaCare went entirely the wrong way.

Ideally, I’d have a medical savings account that I fund with my own money. This would be for out-of-pocket expenses. What I don’t spend this year would roll over. I’d also shop around for medical insurance to cover me/wife/us for something catastrophic. These would get the same tax-breaks that employers get for providing health insurance. This would mean freedom. This means I can shop around for the best and/or cheapest medical service. And…

!

It would save the government money by removing healthcare from the Federal budget. Period!

Posted by Christopher     on 08/19/2010 at 04:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • Editorials • Health-Medicine • Personal •  
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Today In Weather History

Today in weather history ...

August 19, 1896

The famous Cottage City (Oak Bluffs) waterspout occurred off Martha’s Vineyard, MA.  The vortex was 3,600 feet high, formed three times, and was well photographed.

Martha’s Vineyard is a small island just off the coast of Massachusetts, right by New Bedford and Newport. It’s south of the Cape Cod peninsula, 60 miles south east of Boston and about 80 miles east of the end of Long Island Sound. Not exactly the kind of place you’d expect tornadoes. But they had one once, and it was a big job. Martha’s Vineyard is also where Chappaquiddick is, and the whole Kennedy compound. This waterspout never touched land, thus no Kennedys had the chance to be sucked into the vortex.

Waterspouts are like little tornadoes that form over water. Most are of the non-tornadic variety, but some can form the same way from thunderstorm clouds that a regular tornado can. Generally they are not dangerous, winds about 30mph, and rate a 0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.



Speaking of small tornados and thunderstorms, we have a new member. Well, actually a very old member who went away and has now come back. Banned, but now unbanned. Guess who?

Posted by Drew458     on 08/19/2010 at 02:29 PM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Climate-Weather •  
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photo shop eye candy and the real thing with Bardot, just for fun.

I thought it might be fun to post this.  Nothing special as in WOW factor.
Except there may be some wow in a nod to technology and photography. 

In the case of Scarlett Johansson, I don’t understand why they need to make over a woman who’s so naturally beautiful anyway.

In the case of Georgia May Jagger, yeah. That Jagger.  Mick Jagger’s daughter, if you look at the very last photo at the link, I think she looks pretty darn awful. They should have photshopped her lips.  However, in the shot of her and the guy together, she almost could pass for a young Bridget Bardot.

Taking a break from the usual mayhem ...

Scarlett Johansson may be have been blessed with stunning looks but clearly when it comes to selling cosmetics, there is no such thing as natural beauty.
And it looks as though after digging up last year’s campaign, D&G bosses decided to adopt the more is more attitude to airbrushing.
Scarlett, the face of the Italian fashion label, has been subjected to heavy retouching for the new beauty collection ad, as her Gothic purple lips and smoky eye make-up render her almost unrecognisable.

FULL LENGTH SCARLETT

...Here’s Georgia May Jagger

and a young Bardot.

Both of them even have a gap, only very slight in Bardot, in front teeth.

Always loved Bardot. 

Posted by peiper     on 08/19/2010 at 11:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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It’s funny. Trust me. It’s stupid, but it’s funny …

I’m not sure if it can get any dumber but if there’s a way, these nanny staters will surely find it.  Outside of that, I really can’t think of anything to add to this. Not that it needs it.  It speaks for itself.

‘Nanny’ bosses issue guidelines on officers’ underwear

By Daily Mail Reporter

Police chiefs came under fire today, after they issued a dictat advising officers what kind of underwear they should wear beneath their uniforms.

West Midlands Police has issued a warning that requires underwear to be ‘an appropriate colour’ and ‘inconspicous’ beneath their uniform.

The strict guidance was issued as part of a revised uniform policy to present a ‘professional and corporate appearance’ to the public.

But officers in the force have accused their superiors of ‘nannying’ and slammed the warning as ‘outrageous’.

One experienced police constable, who did not want to be named, told Police Review magazine: ‘It is ridiculous. They are basically telling us what underwear to wear to work.

‘A couple of sergeants have jokingly been saying there would be spot checks. It is outrageous.’

Another police constable said: ‘Any chance they could run a piece on tying shoelaces or how to use toilet paper?’

The uniform guidelines also warn officers to wear their protective stab vests at all times when patrolling the beat which includes Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and Wolverhampton.

One sergeant from the force told Police Review: ‘We are not a scouting organisation made up of young children who need nannying.

‘As we are all adults, personal pride should drive folks to maintain that professional appearance by shaving before going on duty, having clean boots and tidy uniform.’

Another police constable said: ‘Rather than spending time on sending pointless messages out concerning the way we look when doing the job, the force should concentrate more on letting us do the job of a police officer and trying catch criminals.’

The warning appeared on the police ‘message of the day’ section on the force intranet last week.

The message was: ‘Underwear should be of an appropriate colour to be inconspicuous underneath uniform.’

Other dictats include warnings that baseball caps should only be worn by officers working in certain units such as dogs and firearms.

All officers on operational patrol duties must also wear their stab vests at all times.

The force has warned officers and staff who are working together should be similarly dressed.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: ‘There is no new force policy on underwear, but all officers and staff who come into contact with the public are asked to adopt a common sense approach when choosing what underwear is worn when on duty, so they remain smart.’

Assistant chief constable Sharon Rowe said: ‘All supervisors, at whatever level they are in the organisation, have a clear mandate to challenge inappropriate dress.

‘The adoption of standard, corporate, professional uniform and equipment is crucial to how we are viewed by members of the public.’

DAILY MAIL

Posted by peiper     on 08/19/2010 at 11:23 AM   
Filed Under: • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK •  
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