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Sarah Palin is the other whom Yoda spoke about.

calendar   Wednesday - April 25, 2012

Obama Lite, Already

Mittens: Tax The Rich!



rolleyes  Already? Couldn’t the Heir Presumptive at least pretend to be a Conservative for a week? If not huff and puff and shoot dragon fire and brimstone, couldn’t he at least blow a little smoke up our ass until the primaries are over? rolleyes


At this point even Elmer Fudd would be better than Obama, and many of the Republican voters have been willing to overlook much of Romney’s shortcomings with the belief that despite Mitt’s inability to be conservative at his core, at least the guy is trying to pull us back from the brink Obama has been pushing us towards at break-neck speed. . .

And then Romney reveals that the anti-Romney folks may have a point by providing his own “Tax the Rich” plan.

Gee wonderful. This is where I stick in that I’m a firm believer in equality under the law, and therefore in favor of a flat tax? 12% for everybody, no deductions. 5% once the federal government gets cut down to it’s proper size, and a complete lack of deficit spending. And if you can’t wean the nation immediately from Progressive taxation, then set up a 4 tiered structure starting at 8%. Earn $100, owe the feds $8. Nobody rides for free. 8%, 12%, 18%, 27%. Something like that, but no escaping the bottom tier. And the whole thing flattens out in 15 years.

Not that this will happen in my lifetime. Or ever. No, the Old Boys Club said it was Mitt’s TURN, and that was decided before any candidates even announced. And that’s exactly how it will turn out, and exactly NOTHING WILL CHANGE in government. It may merely slow down, just a tiny bit, for a couple of years.

Romney is not naturally conservative. The strong conservative showing in the primaries have nudged him a little to the right, and that is good. But folks have been hoping, for the sake of turning things around, that Romney isn’t just a Republican version of Barry Obama. But when at that fundraiser Romney talked about eliminating deductions for the rich, and creating special plans for the rich, women, and Hispanics, it makes one realize that identity politics and class warfare lives and breathes in Romney’s skull. He has bought into the liberal lies, and he’s trying to appease those that have somehow made him feel guilty about being rich.

...

The liberal left says we must soak the rich, but that is a communist concept. A progressive tax rate is the second plank of the ten planks of communism in the Communist Manifesto. Why would we want to hammer on the producers at the time of economic difficulties, anyway? Have you ever gotten a job from a poor person? Is it anyone other than the wealthy that produces goods and grows our economy? How insane is it to go after those that makes our economy work?

...

Romney has bought the liberal lie hook, line and sinker, and I think he is embarrassed over his wealth.

...

Personally, he should tell them to take the guilt and shove it! Mitt Romney needs to shed the liberal skin he’s got clinging to him and be happy about being rich. Say to us, “Yep, I am successful, and you can be too!” His wealth was not ill-gotten. He’s not a criminal. Therefore, his wealth is the result of what America is all about.

...

Equal protection under the law, right? So why do the democrats believe the rich should not be equally protected, but that they should somehow be targeted, and made to pay? Liberty does not work that way.

No kidding. Preaching to the choir in an empty church. Nobody who doesn’t already believe this will read this essay or hear the message. An essential truth, but a waste of breath. The first comment is nearly as long as the essay, and lays out - again, for the millionth time - just how bent the tax rates are, but doesn’t mention the Leona Helmsley Clause: taxes are for suckers. The truly rich, smart, successful, or perhaps merely dishonest, don’t pay anywhere near what the official rate is. They have deductions, exemptions, tax credits for things the rest of us can’t even conceive of, plus teams of accountants to hide the money in all sorts of special nooks and crannies all over the world. Look at the Obamas ... in the news just a couple of weeks ago ... “earning” nearly $900,000 and paying 20% when that income bracket is already way up at the top rate level (38%?); he’s paying only about half of his “fair share”.

Flat rate, no exemptions. And the same rate for businesses. It’s your choice to own a home, and it’s your choice to send your kid to college. It’s also your choice to elect fiscally responsible representatives who understand both how to balance a checkbook and what good value means. A little understanding of the Constitution wouldn’t hurt either.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/25/2012 at 07:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Republicans •  
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calendar   Tuesday - April 24, 2012

OMG

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Tea Party billboard along Highway 31 in Plymouth Indiana. Sponsored by We The People of Marshall and Fulton Counties.

Sent in by reader Thor. Outstanding.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/24/2012 at 03:57 PM   
Filed Under: • Obama, The One •  
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Granny Get Your Gun

Unlike the dickless UK, us’n ‘Mericans have a simpler solution



Take That, Ya Durned Polecat Varmints!

Georgia Grandmother Blasts Two Muggers

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Georgia granny thwarts 2 would-be robbers in shootout

Authorities in Georgia say a grandmother foiled a robbery attempt by two armed men by getting into a shootout with them, injuring one man.

Police told The Telegraph that Lulu Campbell just dropped off her grandson at her daughter’s house early Saturday morning when someone demanded money outside her car, threatening to shoot her.

Campbell says the man fired at her, missing. The 57-year-old fired back, striking him in the chest. Her truck sustained eight bullet holes in the hood, one in the grill. Both front side windows were destroyed. The second man fled after she shot at him.

Campbell, who owns convenience stores and gas stations, always is armed.

Police say 32-year-old Brenton Lance Spencer has been hospitalized and was charged with aggravated assault and attempted armed robbery.

That’ll teach ‘em to pick on poor defenseless old ladies!

My hat is off to Miss Lulu. Stood her ground and returned fire accurately while the perps blazed away without effect. Outstanding.

And she’s a successful business person, owning a string of stores. A regular All American in my book.

But to be fair, at only 57 she probably doesn’t look a thing like Granny Clampett. She probably looks more like this lady, only perhaps minus the hat.

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See More Below The Fold

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/24/2012 at 11:11 AM   
Filed Under: • CrimeGuns and Gun Control •  
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genius at work …. take a look at this. how do ppl do it? lots of patience to start

If you see nothing else today, you have to see this, with much thanks and H/T Doc Jeff.

There are enough great photos and info to keep you busy for awhile. This is really outstanding and I’d say genius at work.

A miniature functioning replica 1932 Duesenberg that took ten years to build, and it runs guys. He made the engine too. WOW!
Yeah, the date says 2011 but hey .... it’s the very first time I’ve seen or heard about this so maybe it’s your first time too.
One of my favorite cars from the past.

A multi-year project in process to build a complete 1932 Duesenberg in 1/6 scale

Louis Chenot
Joe Martin Foundation Metalworking Craftsman of the Decade, 2011

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Every year for the past five years or so at the NAMES show in Detroit and now Toledo, one of the first things many people who attend the show each year want to see is how Lou Chenot is coming along on the Duesenberg project. Most of us, therefore, see the project in one-year jumps with new major components showing up each time. We have to keep in mind it took a year of work on Lou’s part to bring the car to the next stage. As the project continued to take shape with the engine near completion and the bodywork beginning to take shape, we thought it would be fun to bring the rest of you up to date on Lou’s work and then to follow along as he completes this ambitious project.  Like the other projects featured in the “Model Engineering Masterpieces” section, this is not just a model car, but rather a complete car in miniature. The engine has now been successfully run and just about every feature that worked on the real car will work on the miniature version. A project like this requires the mastery of so many skills that we have created a special category for them.

2011 UPDATE: The tiny straight eight, 32-valve Duesenberg engine ran for the first time in March, 2010 and the model was declared finished. All that remains is to re-install the engine in the chassis. Read on to see what it takes to create a miniature masterpiece that is quite possibly the finest model automobile ever built..

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The bodywork is all metal, not fibreglass. Here is the car in Lou’s shop before the brass coachwork was primed or painted. Lou is not adverse to remaking a part that doesn’t meet his standards. He started over on the especially difficult brass radiator shell nine times.

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See this link for a huge amount of info and tons of photos and the story of this project.

http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/chenot.htm


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 04/24/2012 at 08:45 AM   
Filed Under: • OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT •  
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your dog’s home may not be its doggy castle after all. or yours either

Came downstairs early, opened front door to collect the morning papers and it was very cold. Still is.

I got my first shocking wake up call while bringing in those papers because I was looking at headlines in one of them on my way to the kitchen for coffee.
Never made it all the way cos I stopped to read the article first.
I couldn’t believe this headline and you might not either.  But keep in mind, this is not a logical place and so looking for that long lost ideal isn’t a great idea in this haven of PC.

Owners could face jail if dogs attack burglars under new plans

Homeowners could be prosecuted if their dogs attack burglars under Government plans to force people to take responsibility for their pets.

By Tim Ross, Political Correspondent

Courts could jail dog owners for up to two years or impose a £5,000 fine if animals cause injuries while “dangerously out of control” in their homes.
Owners also face bills of up to £40 to fit all newborn puppies with microchips, while dangerous breeds seized by the police will be allowed home on “bail” until court cases have concluded.

Announcing a consultation on plans to extend criminal offences in England to cover dog attacks in private dwellings Jim Paice, a minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said he aimed to target “a minority of irresponsible dog owners”.
But officials admitted burglary victims would not be “immune” from prosecution if they allowed their pets to savage intruders.

Caroline Kisko, from the Kennel Club, said it would be “unrealistic” to ask a dog to judge if it was using “reasonable force”.

source


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 04/24/2012 at 07:55 AM   
Filed Under: • AnimalsGovernmentStoopid-PeopleUK •  
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t’was not a gentleman’s war

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1942

When was the last time an American car was spoken of with such devotion and pride?

I haven’t posted one of these in a long time.  The Telegraph runs a block on a page daily, reporting on the war as if it were happening now, with articles taken from the pages of the paper then.  Makes for interesting reading.

If I live long enough to ever get home again, one of the things I will greatly miss are Brit newspapers.  And Tesco and Waitrose and Sainsbury and Morrisons markets. If only they could divorce this political correctness they’re married to ......

AMERICAN TANKS THERE

American tanks have been in action in Burma for weeks past.
A young captain who brought some of them through seven road blocks under machine-gun fire and shell-fire, said: “They are the best in the world.”

They have all the fire power one can want, and are mechanically perfect.  They are just like American cars: you put in the petrol and they go.
We blew up two enemy tanks 400 yards beyond what we consider the effective range of our guns, said the captain.

HEAVY ENEMY ATTACKS ON ALL BURMA FRONTS

“First trick by treachery”

A British general on the front summed up his view of the Burma situation in the words: “The enemy has taken the first tricks by treachery and surprise; we will take the last.”
“Japanese sneak tactics made it impossible to hold the line in the jungle.  Japanese wearing Burmese clothing would slip from tree to tree, calling to the Indian troops in Hindustani, ‘Don’t shoot. friend,’ until they infiltrated behind lines, laid ambushes and built road blocks.
We are definitely superior when we meet the enemy face to face, although he is good when up a tree or sniping from ambush and built road blocks.”

Reading this here in 2012 and with a few other wars behind and one ongoing, that general seemed upset that the Japanese were not fighting a gentleman’s war. 
It would be comic except for what the troops actually had to endure for so long. And who also learned a few tricks of their own when it came to ambush and sniping etc.

Something else found while looking for things.
This really surprised me as I had always been under the impression that Burma was primarily a jungle war.  Not so, apparently. Ya live and learn.
Take a look.

SOME JAPANESE TACTICS OBSERVED IN BURMA
The Japanese apparently make a practice of using various types of defensive positions, according to the terrain, the time available for construction, and the strength of the enemy. On Guadalcanal and parts of New Guinea, they frequently established their defenses on low, jungle-covered ground, in preference to high ground. In Burma, where less jungle is encountered, the Japanese usually established their positions on terrain heights and near the crests of heights.

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/jp-tactics-burma/index.html


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 04/24/2012 at 05:59 AM   
Filed Under: • War-Stories •  
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calendar   Monday - April 23, 2012

H & H Monday

No, not this kind, unfortunately:

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This kind:
Hollande, and Holland



h/t to Doc Jeff


Government Falls In Holland

PM Resigns, Cabinet Out

Refusing to spend pension funds to bail out Greece, MP Geert Wilders drops support for “austerity” budget, minority government collapses.

Euro stock market in chaos, US market DJI down 150 so far


Saturday -

The Netherlands was headed for early elections after coalition talks on a fiscal austerity package broke down on Saturday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.

Seven weeks of negotiations fell apart after the minority rightist coalition’s far-right parliamentary ally walked out, saying it “could not live up to” European Union demands.

“I have to inform you today that the three parties have failed to come to common answers,” a visibly upset Rutte told reporters in The Hague. Elections now seemed likely, he added.

Rutte said he had phoned Queen Beatrix to inform her of the latest developments and would consult with his cabinet on Monday on how to proceed.

The austerity package at the centre of the row included a slight raise in Value-Added Tax (VAT), a freeze on civil servants’ wages and a cut in spending in both the health and development sectors, ANP news agency reported. It cited Stef Blok, the leader of the parliamentary group of Rutte’s VVD party.

The idea was to cut 16 billion euros ($21 billion) off the budget.  A number of economists contacted by ANP suggested that the collapse of the talks and early elections could cost the Netherlands its triple A credit rating.

Revised data from the country’s central planning bureau forecast last month that the 2013 public deficit would rise to 4.7 percent of domestic gross product under current conditions. But the EU deficit ceiling is 3.0 percent of GDP.

The figures were a blow to the government, which had insisted that countries in breach of European Union deficit rules had to be rigorous in correcting public finances.

In a separate press conference at the Dutch parliament, far-right leader Geert Wilders expressed regret that the talks had failed but insisted that the suggested cuts were unacceptable.

“It is a package that will damage economic growth in the coming years and that will allow unemployment to grow.  “It will severely effect the spending power of many people, especially pensioners. “We cannot live up to the demands Brussels is putting on us. Money is being taken from the wallets of pensioners.

“That’s not right, just because Brussels wants to take away the economy built up by the elderly,” he said.

Wilders called for elections as soon as possible.


Today -

European markets crashed on Monday as Socialist candidate Francois Hollande beat President Nicolais Sarkozy in the first round of the French presidential election. A breakdown in Dutch government coalition also led the indices down.
...
“If Hollande becomes president it would be the biggest change so far,” Roland Nash from Verno Capital told RT . “So far French less and Germans in particular pushed for austerity measures for this part of the world. If Hollande becomes president it will be shift to less austerity more spending as a way out of the crisis.”



3.07pm: It’s official, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has offered his cabinet’s resignation following the collapse of talks over its austerity budget

The decision means that Rutte becomes the latest eurozone leader to fall victim to the eurozone crisis.

From Associated Press:

The Dutch government information service says that Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Cabinet have resigned after failing to reach agreement on reducing the country’s budget to meet European guidelines.

The information service said Monday that Rutte had met with Queen Beatrix and she had accepted his resignation, asking him to tend to pressing matters of state with a caretaker government for the time being.

According to Reuters, Rutte has said that Queen Beatrix asked the cabinet to remain in place in the meantime—and to “do what is necessary for the country’s good”.

2.59pm: Important developments in Iceland in the last few minutes—Reuters is reporting that former prime minister Geir Haarde has been found guilty of one charge relating to the financial crisis.

Follow this link for a live blogging update of the situation.


U.S. and European markets sold off on Monday as traders worried about renewed eurozone political instability and a round of weak economic data.

As of 11:00 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 142 points, or 1.1%, to 12888, the S&P 500 dipped 17 points, or 1.2%, to 1362 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 51.7 points, or 1.7%, to 2949.

The selloff on Monday was broad. Every Dow component besides Microsoft (MSFT: 32.10, -0.32, -0.99%) was in the red, with Wal-Mart (WMT: 59.68, -2.77, -4.44%), Bank of America (BAC: 8.23, -0.13, -1.56%) and Caterpillar (CAT: 106.56, -1.17, -1.08%) taking the heaviest losses.

Looking at the broader markets, basic materials, industrial, energy and financial companies fell by the sharpest margin. The number of shares trading hands in advancing shares outpaced that of declining shares by a ratio of more than 18-to-one on the New York Stock Exchange, according to data compiled by FOX Business.
...
Markit’s eurozone PMI gauge suggested the 17-member currency bloc’s economic output contracted at the swiftest pace in five months in April. The measure came in at 47.4, down from 49.1 in March. Readings above 50 point to expansion, while those below indicate contraction.

Germany, Europe’s powerhouse economy, saw activity in its important manufacturing sector contract at a the swiftest pace in 33 months. Meanwhile, France’s key service-sector activity slumped to a six-month low.

“Germany’s economy continued to rest on a knife edge of recession in April, with modest service sector growth only just counterbalancing the escalating manufacturing downturn,” Tim Moore, a senior economist at Markit said in a note accompanying the data.

Also on the European front, talks aimed at bringing the Netherlands’ deficit in-line with a fiscal compact agreed to by all members of the eurozone broke down. As a result, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his cabinet tendered their resignation, according to multiple media reports citing the country’s Government Information Service.

The developments in the Netherlands “not only threatens early elections in the Netherlands, but also poses a significant threat to the effective ratification of the fiscal compact, the central plank in (German) Chancellor Merkel’s strategy for addressing the eurozone crisis,” analysts at Nomura wrote in a note to clients.



So, do we blame elections in France (Hollande) and Wilders (Holland) for this whole mess? Not hardly. The entire EU has been tap dancing on the thinnest of ice for months and months now. The socialist model is collapsing, simply because there aren’t enough people working to put enough cash into it so that all the pigs may feed at all the troughs. And the whole thing then falls apart, because you can only borrow money for so long. It doesn’t matter if the people protest or riot for their daily bread and circuses. If there is no money, there is no money. And it looks like they’ve finally run out of other people’s money.

As you know, the Dutch government is a minority government. It can only survive in parliament with support of the opposition. That usually is the PVV (Geert Wilders’ party), but not always. On several occasions the government was able to get a majority with support of the left opposition.

For several weeks the coalition partners were negotiating what budget reductions were going to be implemented. As the budget has to be cut in a major way. That is no news. Each partner — VVD (liberals), CDA (Christian Democrats), and the PVV — have their own items they want to be careful about.

The VVD doesn’t want mortgage interest to be taxed. The CDA doesn’t want cuts in development aid. The PVV doesn’t want too many cuts in social security, and certainly does not want to make our pensioners pay for the comfy retirement of Greek pensioners.

This is what caused Wilders to withdraw his support for this cabinet. He did not agree with almost zero cuts to the development budget, nor with letting old age pensioners pay for the party.

As you can imagine, the media are having a ball right now. Their wet dream has come true: the conservative cabinet (first on since 1908!) has collapsed and — joy of joys — Wilders did it.

Is Europe finally figuring out that Socialism just doesn’t work? God, I hope so. It’s only taken them about a century to come to that conclusion.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/23/2012 at 10:27 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons •  
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eye candy for monday

Never heard of this beauty before, didn’t know who she was but saw a photo of her and thought it worth sharing.

Anyway ....  Maybe I beat Drew to the eye candy category today.

JULIANNE HOUGH
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Now then .... the photo below the fold is for our viewers who are lovers of fine art.
Especially those from NJ

Hey ... if I suffer you do too. ha. image

See More Below The Fold

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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 04/23/2012 at 08:11 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
Comments (1) Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

the very model of a modern politician

Couldn’t resist the this story of two days cause it’s so good.
Borrowed from the Scottish Sun.
Enjoy.

Police are dummy twits as they nick mannequin in vote fraud probe

ARRESTED:  the agent who put a dummy up for council election

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“The dummy is innocent in all this. The person who put her up to it is to blame.”

Outrage erupted in Aberdeen yesterday as it emerged the self-styled “voice of the silent majority” had become a “political prisoner”.

Helena — famously banned from standing in the local elections — was seized by cops probing claims of electoral fraud by her agent Renee Slater.

Last night, as the mannequin spent her first night in custody, The Scottish Sun backed a campaign to free her.

And defiant shopkeeper Renee, 63, vowed Helena will not give in, adding: “All the police have done is transform her into a martyr.

“The support has been stunning. People are furious at how they’re treating someone as humble as Helena. She never says a word out of place.”

Cops took Helena and campaign agent Renee, both of Aberdeen, in for questioning on Thursday.

Renee was grilled for six hours after having pictures, fingerprints and DNA samples taken.

Her plastic pal has been detained INDEFINITELY at Grampian Police HQ. But onlookers said the dummy showed no signs of emotion as she was bundled into the back of a cop car — thankfully without handcuffs.

It now appears she’ll be held behind bars until the council elections are over to avoid her having any influence over the vote.

Last night North-east Tory MSP Alex Johnstone said: “The police have got this seriously wrong.

Aberdeen councillor Willie Young — who is standing in the election — said: “I think politicians can sometimes take themselves too seriously.

“This was a bit of fun and some people have reacted more strongly than they should have.

“If we can’t see the humour in someone putting a dummy up for election then it says more about us than it does about anyone else.”

Police turned up out of the blue at Renee’s home on Thursday morning to haul her in for questioning, before she was charged under the Representation of the People Act 1983. But her worst fears were realised after she got home — when another cop car turned up to seize Helena.

Renee said: “I have no idea how she’s going to cope in a jail cell. It’s going to be difficult for her.

“I just hope the police treat her with the dignity she deserves. They were a bit rough with her when they put her into the car.”

Helena was put forward as a candidate in the elections by Renee.

But she spent just 24 hours on the ballot for the Ashley, Hazlehead and Queens Cross ward before unamused officials discovered she was a mannequin.

The dummy was wiped off the list and a police probe was launched into claims of electoral fraud. Renee insisted she had no word from the authorities until she was arrested.

She’s been told she will appear in court in mid-May — and has demanded Helena be in the dock next to her. It’s unlikely the mannquin will be freed before the hearing — meaning she won’t be around for the elections on May 3.

Distraught Renee said: “Helena doesn’t deserve this. She’s done nothing wrong.

SCOTTISH SUN SOURCE FOR MORE


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 04/23/2012 at 07:40 AM   
Filed Under: • HumorPolitics •  
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Only In France

French Elections:

Strong Showing By Conservative Candidate Opens Door For Socialist Victory?





We Americans always complain that our two party system seems too limiting. In France they have political parties by the bushel; so many in fact that they have to run a two step election. The winners of the first round face off against each other in the second round to see who wins. As I understand it, there were 10 candidates running for president in this first round of elections. 5 of them didn’t pull down enough votes to even merit mention in the press, but the vote split among the top 5 candidates has lead to a seeming contradiction.

The top players and their vote percentages, politically left to right:

practically a bomb throwing commie: Jean-Luc Melenchon, 11 %
the Socialist, even by French standards: Francois Hollande, 28 %
in the middle of the middle: Francois Bayrou, 9 %
in the middle, slightly right: current President Nicolas Sarkozy, 26.9 %
the “far right extremist”: Marine Le Pen, 19 %

The surprise result was that Ms. Le Pen got as many votes as she did, which really took votes away from Sarkozy. The result is that for the first time in ages - if ever - a sitting president in France has not triumphed in the first round sweeps. The race is now between Hollande, who is campaigning on the (does this sound familiar?) Hope and Change slogan le changement c’est maintenant (now is the time for change ... the change is now), and Sarkozy, who has been in charge while France has suffered a major economic downturn. And people think he’s kind of a snob. Imagine that, the fwench think this guy’s a snob. Mon dieu!

France is the 5th largest economy in the world, so yeah, it matters.



It was the first time a sitting president seeking re-election had been beaten into second place in the first round. But Sarkozy backers at his campaign headquarters chanted “We are going to win”, interpreting Le Pen’s score as more significant than Hollande’s narrow lead over the incumbent.

Before voting, opinion polls had suggested a comfortable win for the Socialist in the second round.

Le Pen, who took over the anti-immigration National Front in 2011, wants jobs reserved for French nationals at a time when jobless claims are at a 12-year high. She also wants France to abandon the euro currency and restore monetary policy to Paris.

“This first round is the start of a vast gathering of right-wing patriots,” she told cheering supporters at her campaign headquarters, without endorsing either of the finalists.

“Nothing will ever be the same again.”

Le Pen’s unexpectedly high score reflected a surge in anti-establishment populist parties in many euro zone countries from the Netherlands to Greece as austerity and the debt crisis bite.

Voter surveys show about half of Le Pen’s supporters would back Sarkozy in a second round and perhaps one fifth would vote for Hollande, making her a potential kingmaker in the runoff.
...
Sarkozy, 57, has painted himself as the safest pair of hands to lead France and the euro zone in turbulent times, but Sunday’s vote appeared to be a strong rejection of his flashy style as well as his economic record.

If Hollande wins on May 6, joining a small minority of left-wing governments in Europe, he has promised to lead a push for a bigger focus on growth in the euro zone, mainly by adding pro-growth clauses to a European budget discipline treaty.

The prospect of a renegotiation of the pact is causing some concern in financial markets, as is Hollande’s focus on tax rises over austerity at a time when sluggish growth is threatening France’s ability to meet deficit-cutting goals.
...
France’s sickly growth, along with its stubbornly high unemployment, are major factors hampering Sarkozy’s battle to win a second term, despite an energetic campaign against the blander but more popular Hollande.

Melenchon, whose clench-fisted call for an anti-capitalist revolution made him the most colorful figure on the campaign trail, called on left-wing voters to fight back and make sure Sarkozy is ousted next month.

“I call on you to come out on May 6 and beat Sarkozy without asking for anything in exchange. I urge you: don’t drag your heels, mobilize as though it were me you were sending to victory in the presidential election,” he said.

Firebrand leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon vowed to break up the Franco-German “Merkozy” leadership duo with conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel which he said had imposed austerity on the people of Europe.

He also said France should emulate Latin America’s left-wing revolutions and nationalize oil company Total, as Argentina said this week it would do with its main energy firm.

The revolutions in Latin America are a source of inspiration for us,” he told foreign media at his headquarters in a disused shoe factory on the eastern edge of Paris.

Melenchon said his party’s priority was to get Sarkozy out of power and then pull an Hollande government to the left.

“I appeal to you, left-wing comrades who are listening and hesitating, come and help us not just overtake the extreme-right but raise the demands of the left,” he told a campaign rally on Thursday. Clenching his fists, he joined hands with Communist leaders to sing the socialist anthem the Internationale.

Oh brother. Despite everything that the US did for France from WWII through the Cold War, despite all the revelations that have come out of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union about just how much it sucked, the Communists have always found a lot of sympathetic ears in France. I guess they took that “fraternité” aspect of their national motto a little too seriously?


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So now what? The deep red commies will join up with the pale red socialists and push for the leftist Hollande, and probably get a third to half of the wobbly centrists. Sarkozy is left with no other choice than to try to hang onto the centrists while amping us his Conservative rhetoric. He has to shift his message more to the right, more against pisslam, more against unchecked open immigration, more towards fiscal restraint, more towards pumping up the economy and pushing french products for the world to buy.

President Nicolas Sarkozy hammered home pledges to get tough on immigration and security on Monday as he sought to win over record numbers of far-right voters and whittle down Socialist Francois Hollande’s narrow first-round election lead.
...
After five years of leading the world’s fifth economy, a nuclear power and activist U.N. Security Council member, Sarkozy could go the way of 10 other euro zone leaders swept from office since the start of the crisis in late 2009.
...
“Today, I return to the campaign trail,” Sarkozy said in a statement. “I will continue to uphold our values and commitments: respect for our borders, the fight against factories moving abroad, controlling immigration, the security of our families.”

... and from stage left ...

Opinion polls on Sunday said 57-year-old Hollande, who has vowed to change the direction of Europe if elected by tempering austerity measures with greater social justice, would likely win the decider with between 53 and 56 percent of the vote.

What will happen? Who knows? It’s France, so anything is possible. Meanwhile, the far-right is making a Tea Party move, trying to gain seats in Parliament.

In setting a record score for the far right in Sunday’s French presidential election, Marine Le Pen has set the stage for her National Front to try and break into parliament at a legislative election in June.
...
Doing better than her father’s 2002 score now gives Le Pen a solid base to move forward on her core targets - June’s parliamentary election and, in the longer-term, the 2017 presidential race.

Describing herself as the candidate of “popular revolt”, she has said her focus this year is to destroy Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party, the latest political heir of the postwar Gaullist tradition, and create a new, broad movement of the right.

There are already signs of in-fighting in the decade-old UMP, which like predecessors in France’s ever-shifting party system, could fall apart if he loses the presidency. A rightist faction might break the Gaullist taboo on electoral alliances with Le Pen if UMP lawmakers feel their seats are threatened.

“What we can see tonight is the great cacophony between the left and right. At the legislative elections, the French will have a definitive choice of a new right,” said Louis Aliot, National Front vice-president and Le Pen’s partner.

The party believes it can win seats in parliament seats for the first time since 1986, when a brief experiment with proportional representation gave it 35 seats. Since the return of a two-round system of constituency voting, the National Front has so far failed to secure a majority in any district.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/23/2012 at 06:46 AM   
Filed Under: • FRANCEPolitics •  
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calendar   Friday - April 20, 2012

Bring On The Dancing Itos

Remember the never ending circus of the OJ Simpson trial? Remember Leno and his Dancing Itos (2:14 mark). Well, here we go again ...




Zimmerman testifies at his bail hearing

George Zimmerman can be released on $150,000 bail as he awaits trial for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a judge ruled Friday during a hearing that saw Zimmerman apologize to Martin’s parents for the teenager’s death.
...
The bail for Zimmerman was announced shortly after he took the witness stand, telling the parents of Martin, “I am sorry for the loss of your son,” but standing by his claim that he killed the teen in self-defense.

George Zimmerman stunned a Florida court today by taking the stand and apologizing to the parents of Trayvon Martin, who were sitting in the courtroom during Zimmerman’s bond hearing.

“I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. I did not know if he was armed or not,” Zimmerman said addressing Martin’s family directly.

The defendant testifying at his bail hearing? WTF?? This is pretty much unheard of. Merely the opening act of the circus to come. And it gets better, quickly ...

The hearing took place just hours after ABC News released an exclusive photograph that claims to show the bloodied back of Zimmerman’s head. The photo, reportedly taken three minutes after Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, appears to support Zimmerman’s claim that Martin had bashed his head against concrete.

“taken three minutes after Zimmerman shot and killed Martin”? Who else would have been on the scene other than the police and the paramedics to take such a picture? And this means that the cops would have had this picture since Day 1, as would the prosecutor. Ain’t that pee-cule-yar? ‘cuz it didn’t show up in the affidavit sworn against him ... oops. Big time oops.

Dershowitz: Not Only Immoral, But Stupid

... the question becomes whether Angela Corey, the prosecutor in the case, had access to the photo before charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder.

The arrest affidavit did not mention the photograph, or the bleeding, gashes, and bruises on Zimmermans’ head. Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School stated upon release of the arrest affidavit that it was “so thin that it won’t make it past a judge on a second degree murder charge … everything in the affidavit is completely consistent with a defense of self-defense.”

After the release of the photo, however, Dershowitz went much further, telling Breitbart News that if the prosecutors did have the photo and didn’t mention it in the affidavit, that would constitute a “grave ethical violation,” since affidavits are supposed to contain “all relevant information.”

Dershowitz continued, “An affidavit that willfully misstates undisputed evidence known to the prosecution is not only unethical but borders on perjury because an affiant swears to tell not only the truth, but the whole truth, and suppressing an important part of the whole truth is a lie.”

... hiding the evidence could get Corey fired, disbarred, and possibly arrested herself. And the charges dropped? Could this be why the cops didn’t arrest Zimmerman on the spot? Could it be why the DA took a month and a half to bring charges, and why nobody took this to a grand jury in the first place? Evidence of his injury, along with witness statements that Martin attacked him ... there is no case here, period. So this is all just bread and circuses for the howling mob?

And still nobody mentions how little baby Trevon was trespassing on the private side of an 8 foot tall fence around that gated community. What the hell, the media can’t see that illegal aliens are illegally trespassing either. Not that such is a reason to get killed. But it does show that the victim was not where he ought to have been, and breaking the law being there.

And this is just the pre-trial stuff. A mere taste of things to come. 


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/20/2012 at 03:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime •  
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climate change a feminist issue?  and keystone kops let thieves go worried bout their safety

It was only minutes after 6pm when I sat down to write this. I had no plans to boot today and although 6pm is quite a bit early to most people, to me it may as well have been the middle of the night.

As regulars at this site know, my wife is suffering from particularly bad case of Shingles.  Had they been able to catch it in the first 48 to 72 hours, it would not have been as severe as it became.
There were none of the usual signs to alert her doctor, who misdiagnosed what she saw in my wife’s eye as a scratched cornea. She was immediately sent to an eye clinic late in the day in another city with specialists who agreed the cornea was scratched.  And so, for several days that’s what she was treated for, all the while the pain building and a quick call made to the duty doctor who after hearing what was going on re. pain, said he was certain she had Shingles but suggested I bring her in and he’d fit her in as soon as she got to the practise. There are 12 doctors at that office.  He took her as soon as we checked in and sure enough …. she had it. 

Her doctor has been checking her every week and increasing the dosage of the one drug they claim fights this damned painful infection.  So, her meds were increased today and she’s now on 600mg three times a day with something called Gabapentin, plus three other drugs.  200mg of Tranadol 2wice a day and then another pain killer as needed.  Plus something called Omeprazole once a day in the mornings to avoid the stomach troubles that can happen with these drugs.  In between all that, I keep frozen wash cloths she uses as needed which is often.  At least her eye must be healing because she says the itching is driving her nuts, and she wishes she could take out the damn eye and really scratch behind it.  So as you might correctly guess, I’ve kinda had my hands full.  I can’t describe the pain she has because lets face it, I don’t have it and so can only guess by what I have to see everyday. And it ain’t nice.
Which brings me to, just why the heck did I boot anyway.  It really wasn’t to tell you all of that.
Nope.  It was an article in a newspaper as usual.  I read this thing and I thought, if I go upstairs and go to bed with my book, I’ll feel guilty that I didn’t boot this machine and share what I saw.  Because I doubt you will have seen it back home in the states. Or who knows, maybe you have and I’m late.
Whatever, take a look at this.  And this is my only post for this day.  It can’t get too much crazier.
Can it?  Actually, it not only can but it did this week with another story but I’ll get to that another time.

Women are at greater risk from global warming than men, claims MEP in ‘bonkers’ EU row
By TAMARA COHEN
A bizarre row has broken out among EU politicians over whether climate change is a feminist issue.

Members of the European Parliament will vote today on a report by a French Green party MEP who claims global warming ‘is not gender neutral’.
Women, claims Nicole Kiil-Nielsen, ‘consume more sustainably than men and show greater willingness to act to preserve the environment’ as they tend to organise household consumption and childcare.

She said that discrimination against women could be made worse in the developing world if climate policies do not take gender discrimination into account.
She was yesterday subjected to a withering attack from Marina Yannakoudakis, a Tory MEP for London, who called her motion ‘bonkers, baseless and bad for women’.

The report – Women and Climate Change – calls for a 40 per cent female quota on all EU delegations in climate negotiations and on the committees that allocate climate aid from member states. Funding is set to reach £62billion a year by 2020.

The report also calls for new EU-funded initiatives to help women’s groups get involved in climate policies, and for the EU to start gathering data on the ‘gender sensitive’ effects of climate change on women.

Mrs Yannakoudakis said: ‘This is the kind of thing that gets the EU in general – and its Women’s Rights Committee in particular – a bad name.
‘Where on earth they got the idea that climate change affects women in any way differently from men I have no idea. It would be comical if the people behind the report were not so earnest and its proposals not so patronising to women.

‘Global warming is not some male plot to do women down. The climate is the same for males and females so far as I know. When it rains we all get wet.’
Mrs Yannakoudakis and Miss Kiil-Nielsen are both on the EU’s Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee that voted to adopt the report into law by a majority of 47 to 7 in January.

source

Now then for more lunacy, here’s something else that just could not be passed by. 
Look at what has become of our world. 


Police give up chasing thieves who stole kayak on quad bikes because culprits weren’t wearing crash helmets and could be injured

By RICHARD HARTLEY-PARKINSON

Cops let a gang of thieves escape after they abandoned a chase over fears for the health and safety of the crooks.

The gang, riding quad bikes, were allowed to flee with a £700 kayak because they had no crash helmet and could have crashed and injured themselves.

After she saw them snatch the boat, owner Rebecca Jones and her boyfriend Mark Skirrow called police and ran off tracking the thieves across fields.

Within minutes police arrived on the scene at Harlington, near Doncaster, so Miss Jones and Mr Skirrow let them take over.

But minutes later the pair watched in dismay as the cops gave up and let the them disappear with the boat before admitting they had abandoned the pursuit because the thieves were not wearing crash helmets and were driving erratically.

see all the rest here


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 04/20/2012 at 01:07 PM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINEDaily Life •  
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Me and the Plancius

Out In The Cold, Dead In The Water



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Antarctic Cruise Ship stuck in the middle of nowhere with busted engine, going nowhere fast.

Oceanwide Expeditions’ cruise ship ‘Plancius’ anchored off South Georgia, after repeated propulsion failures, awaits relief ship

Trouble started 12 days into a 31-day journey from Ushuaia, Argentina, one of the southernmost cities in the world, to Ascension Island, an isolated volcanic island near the Equator.

After returning from a small island, the ship suffered a complete power failure. Ship’s engineers were able to fix the problem and course was set for Tristan de Cunha heading north in order to avoid a fierce storm system. En route, the ship suffered another engine failure.

It was thought the ship could complete the cruise around the islands, but the situation took a turn for the worse when the engines could no longer reach full power. The ship then returned to Grytviken in the South Georgia Islands where it currently sits in the harbor.

I guess it’s all part of the adventure when you take one of these exploration cruises out in rough seas to the middle of nowhere. And it truly is the middle of nowhere. The town of Ushuaia is south of the Straits of Magellan, on the south coast of Tierra del Fuego, alongside the Beagle Channel. Land of cold, wet, and windy. But it’s paradise compared to South Georgia Island, which is about 800 miles east south east of the Falklands Islands, smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean halfway between South America and Africa, and pretty much south of both of them. Not quite utter desolation; South Georgia Island is inhabited, kind of. It’s just so far off the beaten track that it’s nearly invisible, with only a half dozen or so ships visiting per year.

Right now the Plancius is docked at the fisheries research station at King Edward Cove in GrytViken South Georgia, hardly a mile from where the great Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton is buried. Eventually a rescue ship will get out there and bring the passengers to Uruguay. Meanwhile everyone is safe, although probably quite bored, and a bit cold. It’s currently a balmy 42°F there with 15mph winds blowing. A lovely fall day.

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not the ideal vacation spot, but at least it’s land




I personally feel dead in the water because both my bowling teams got sorely beat this week. And this week was the semi-finals in both leagues. Damn.

We managed to win the first game in Greed League, which clinches us for 3rd place. But the 4th place team we bowled didn’t make it easy. Heck, they beat the daylights out of us, their 5 guys rolling a 1250 score in the first game with their anchor guy AJ throwing a 300. And we won that one, by a paper thin 12 pins. Game 2 was just as high scoring, and they got that one by 18. Come game 3 we thought they’d be worn out, but no. They rallied even harder, AJ threw ANOTHER 300 (he had an 835 for the night), and they clobbered us by more than 100. So we went 2-5. Not that it matters; they can’t climb past 4th, we can’t fall past 3rd, and since the 1st place team slammed the 2nd place team 5-2 and locked up the win, the 2nd place guys remain only 2 up on us. So we have to face them next week, and we’ll have to win 5 to steal 2nd from them. Two games and wood. Which is going to be tough, because they’ve slaughtered us all year. At least I bowled well in that league. Nothing special, a 557 series, all games in the mid 180s, 10+ over average. So I’ve got to do what I can to try and get some life back in my old ball.

Things went worse in Cheap League. One of our guys couldn’t make it and didn’t request post bowling, so we had to use his absentee score, 10 off his average. And we played the ringer team and had to give them 24 pins handicap. That’s so wrong. So we’re down 34 to start. Naturally both their guys threw awesome games, 50 or more over their paper averages, and on par with how they can actually bowl when they want to. I threw for crap, not even making a 500 series. My old ball is mostly dead, and the helpful guy who runs the alley was having me use loaner balls. Thanks, that’s nice, but trying out 2 new balls in the play-offs is about the last thing you want to do. So I sucked, and we went down 2-5. OTOH, it would have gone 2-5 even if I’d made my average. They creamed us in the first two games. Since 1st is now locked in this league, as well as 2nd, we’ll play these same guys again next week. Thrills. So we might drop to 6th or something if they flail on us again. Not that it matters in Cheap League; there is only a tiny bit of prize money for 1st. Everyone else gets ice cream. Hey, we rose up from 9th, knocked these guys out of 1st which they’d held for 15 weeks, held onto 1st ourselves for 4 weeks, and we’ll finish in the top half or better. Good enough. Can I have extra fudge sauce with that ice cream?

I’ve got the new ball I want all picked out, almost. It’s either going to be a Storm Frantic or a Storm Fringe, very little difference between them aside from oil conditions, and I can get either one of them at a huge discount when summer league starts up ... 3 weeks after these leagues end. Rats.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/20/2012 at 12:12 PM   
Filed Under: • Bowling Bloggingplanes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •  
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calendar   Thursday - April 19, 2012

Love thos fiesty grannys

An elderly lady was walking on the golf course on the island of Martha ‘s Vineyard. She slipped and fell.

Obama who was behind her by chance, helped her to get up promptly. She thanked him and he answered

“It was a pleasure to help you. Don’t you recognize me? I am your president. Are you going to vote for me in the next election? “

The elderly woman laughed and replied:

‘’You know ... I fell on my ass ... not on my head!”


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/19/2012 at 02:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
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