Monday - June 18, 2012

NOT SIMPLY ANOTHER TRAVELLER OUTRAGE. HERE’S AN UNEXPECTED TWIST. COPS HELP.WTF?

Yeah I know. Some time ago I said I was tired of the traveller stories and wanted to stop posting about them. Boring. Now I’m not sure when I see a story like this one.
These folks are always a curse.  But this one really has a bizarre twist in that the cops trusted a few and now look.  Why oh why can’t people grab some guns or any weapons they can find and simply wipe the lice away? 

The Germans never invaded this country but these days a different kind of invasion has occurred, and the natives are helpless.
It won’t be long before these scum start digging up this playing field and what a mess that will be. But they don’t care.  What? Me worry? 

I just can’t believe this but it’s so.

Take a look.

Gypsies ask police to open up field so they can reverse their caravans - and then park up and stay put

Officers asked for height restriction barriers to be removed at field entrance so travellers could turn round and stop blocking a street
But 15 caravans drove in and are refusing to move leaving the council to begin court action to evict them

By Emily Allen

Police have been labelled ‘naive’ after a group of gypsies seized the opportunity set up camp in a field officers had opened up to allow their caravans to turn around.

The officers asked for height restriction barriers to be removed at the entrance to some playing fields in Fareham, Hampshire, to allow the group to manoeuvre after they were blocking a street.

But the group simply drove in and pitched up and now they’re refusing to move.

Initially four caravans were parked on the Cam Alders playing fields, but now there are as many as 15.

Fareham Borough Council will have to begin court action to evict the group.

Council leader Sean Woodward today said the restriction barrier had been in place to stop travellers using the fields and described the police’s actions as ‘ridiculous’.

He said: ‘A group crowded into the road in their caravans and blocked the road.

‘I would have left them to it but the police came along and demanded the council open the height restriction barrier to allow the caravans to go in and turn round.

‘It was the most ridiculous thing. OK, they couldn’t turn round in the road but that’s the police’s problem.

‘The police told the council to open the height restriction barrier, which was in place to prevent exactly what was happening.

‘And that, of course, let them on. They didn’t turn around, they moved in.’

He added: ‘How naive can you be?’

The travellers had been criss-crossing their way across Gosport and Fareham for several weeks.

On Saturday the council sent in bailiffs to remove the group after they pitched up in Stubbington.

The caravans then blocked up a street close to the playing fields in Fareham and it was here that police ordered barriers to be removed so the vehicles could turn around.

Cllr Cllr Woodward said if police wanted to clear the highway they should have made the travellers uncouple their caravans from their vehicles and turn them round.

He is now ordering an inquiry in to what happened.

He said: ‘I’m sure they (the travellers) are finding it hugely amusing. They moved on with police assistance. They are having a laugh because of the police but at our expense.’

Hampshire police said council officers were not ordered to open the gates, it was ‘a request’.

A spokeswoman for the force said: ‘The issue was the highway there was blocked by all of the caravans.

‘The only way to sort that out was to let them into the ground to turn around and let them out again.

‘There were already caravans on the ground anyway so action will have to be taken to move on ones already there.

‘It was not an order to open the barrier, the council were prepared to open it and it was the most practical solution at the time.’

Fareham Borough Council has been left to clear a huge amount of rubbish left by the travellers, including builders rubble and an old caravan.

And they have now had to put up large boulders and tree trunks around all public open spaces in a bid to stop any more encampments.

Deputy leader Councillor Graham Burgess said: ‘We’re doing everything possible to stop them getting access to our land in the interests of all the residents of the borough because travellers cost money.

‘We’re being proactive in our enforcement of our green open spaces.’

Councillor Sean Woodward is also fighting to have trespass made a criminal offence.

Currently, it is classed as a civil matter courts and authorities must go through the courts or employ bailiffs to remove them from public land.

Cllr Woodward said: ‘I have taken this up with the Prime Minister directly. Trespass should be made a criminal offence. As soon as they step on public land police would be able to arrest them.’

SOURCE FOR VERMIN TRAVELLERS

Posted by peiper     on 06/18/2012 at 02:42 PM   
Filed Under: • Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters • UK •  
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Can they really do this? Is it legal?

The wife saw this in a paper called simply, i. Yeah. With a small i. So I read it and thought many here might relate to it.

i*spy
TRENDING

We’re used to seeing irritating surcharges when we’re shopping online. Unexpected sales taxes, inflated postage costs and spurious handling fees are an

integral part of the shopping basket. But technology retailer Kogan has come up with a novel way to inflate costs – and, what’s more, it’s making a noise about it: a 6.8 per cent tax on anyone completing their purchase using Internet Explorer 7 (IE7).

Anyone using the much-maligned browser is greeted with a pop-up window containing the following message: “It appears you or your system administrator has been in a coma for over five years...” along with recommendations for alternative browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Safari – that sidestep the tax.

The company head, Ruslan Kogan, is known for his publicity-grabbing announcements. Not long ago he offered free HDMI cables to anyone buying a telly from John Lewis or Currys as a protest against their cable pricing.

But he’s making a good point. Web developers spend a lots of time ensuring that websites work in old browsers – particularly IE, which was renowned for its bugs and layout discrepancies. And many of us are upgrade-phobic – scolding, haranguing and gentle persuasion have no effect. But slap a £40 tax on a £600 purchase? Pass me that Chrome installer, pronto.

By Rhodri Marsden

i.co.uk

Posted by peiper     on 06/18/2012 at 01:35 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Germany Does Away With Itself.

Following a story when I ran across and got all kinds of involved reading this blog site I tripped over today. Take a look.

I saw a line that said Germany does away with itself and stopped to read and found myself connecting with various links.

I found this over there and thought it was good for a laugh. At least, I think it might be funny. Hmmmm. I wonder if I need to rethink that.
You decide.

Oh yeah I forgot. I was talking about Germany. You think we have problems in the USA? Sheesh.  Germans have it worse. They’re in this awful position of having to watch everything they say beyond what other western countries do or say.  The left of course has seen to it that any German anywhere who speaks his or her mind on things like, oh, islam for example, might be future Nazi extremists who need jailing. They are very sensitive to accusations of racism of any kind and go to great lengths to prove they aren’t. Including stepping on their own feet.  Living down the Nazi past can’t be easy for a generation born after everything came to an end. Many can’t understand why they should pay for something they had no part in.  I’m only trying to say that Germans seem to have an extra weight of some kind and now muslims aren’t making things any easier. If they complain too much, they’re Nazis. You can see the problem.  So many just shut the heck up and grit their teeth, I have been told by a German acquaintance who tells me that, when he does say anything and gets stared at, he always has to go on and explain that he’s Jewish for god’s sake but he is also a German. Or he was.  And this is a sample of what Germans, like us, can see on their streets. And they do NOT like it.
Can you blame them?

German President Joachim Gauck recently said in a newspaper interview that Muslims living in Germany are a part of the country, but that Islam is not. Not everyone agrees, unfortunately. How about asking the people who have to put up with the arrogant, anti-assimiliation Muslims in their neighborhoods?
Gatestone Institute The comments — Gauck is the ninth prominent German politician to voice an opinion about Islam — have sparked a new round in the on-going debate over the role of Islam and Muslim immigrants in Germany.

Gauck continued, “I would have simply said that the Muslims who are living here are a part of Germany,” but that religion should not be the defining mark for immigrants there. “Anybody who has come here,” he said, “and does not just pay their taxes, but also likes to be here, partly because there is a level of justice and freedom not available in their country of origin, they are all one of us; so long as they adhere to our basic rules.”

The 72-year-old Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor, also said he could understand people who might ask, “Where has Islam made an impression on this Europe? Did it experience the Enlightenment, or even the Reformation? … I am highly anticipating the theological discourse about a European Islam.”

HOW GERMANS SEE MUSLIMS

The leader of the environmentalist Green Party, Cem Özdemir, a German of Turkish descent, told the daily newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten that he could not understand Gauck’s differentiation between Islam and Muslims. “When the president states that Muslims who live here belong to Germany,” Özdemir said, “then of course Islam it part of Germany too.”

Alexander Dobrind, however, the general secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU), a conservative political party based in the southern German state of Bavaria and a partner in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right ruling coalition, said, “Gauck has clearly found the right words. Germany is a country with a Christian character, a Christian history and a thoroughly Christian value system.”

In April 2012, German parliamentary spokesman Volker Kauder, in an interview with the newspaper Passauer Neue Presse, said: “Islam is not part of our tradition and identity in Germany and it therefore does not belong to Germany.”

All photos were taken from Bare and Naked islam. Strongly recommend this link. Clever poster boards re. Israel and the left wing media.

H/T http://barenakedislam.com/

Posted by peiper     on 06/18/2012 at 10:56 AM   
Filed Under: • muslims •  
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Why do we always do America’s bidding?

This guy isn’t usually pro American and in fact, he is even less so here.
I do read him from time to time but it isn’t a habit.  However, the headline grabbed my attention as of course it was meant to do.
Something in the same vain appeared about a week ago, which I just ignored. 
I can not help but wonder if I’m in self denial.  Could it be true but I simply do not want to believe it? Why would someone lie about that if they could be easily exposed? 

I bet if any of us could be a fly on a wall in the corridors of power in both our countries, even though we may be skeptics anyway, we’d still be shocked by what we might hear.  But I find it hard to see how President Bush could have removed a Conservative Brit politician by whatever means.

Americans who are reading this should be aware that among very many here in the UK, the feeling is that the governments here whether Tory (Cons) or
Labour (Left/liberal), are under the control at worst or influence at least, of America.  And that is not just among those left leaning anti American Brits.
There are those here who genuinely like America and like Americans, but have reservations about our govts. and policies towards them.

On the other hand, for gentlemen like this journalist, we can never get things right.  And he always manages to find the proof which in this case is a diary.
Read on.  No matter where you stand on the issue or whether or not it’s true, I think you will still find this an interesting read.

From Vietnam to the Iraq war, why Britain’s leaders must always toady to Uncle Sam

By PETER MCKAY

Why do we always do America’s bidding, whichever party is in power here or there?

Our prime ministers usually defer to their presidents — even when ours are Labour, and supposedly Left-wing, and theirs are boilingly Right-wing Republicans.

Former Tony Blair spokesman Alastair Campbell neatly illustrates this disappointing truth in his latest volume of diaries.

He recalls how President George W. Bush was told by Mr Blair, in March 2003, that his support of the president’s planned invasion of Iraq was causing him difficulties.

Bush tells Blair not to worry about the Tories because ‘we will get rid of them’. He said he wouldn’t talk personally to the then Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith — whom he refers to as ‘Iain Duncan Baker’ — ‘but he’ll know my message’.

Clearly Mr Bush’s implication was that the Tory leader isn’t important. Only Blair is important.

And did Bush really think the Tory leader’s name was Iain Duncan Baker? Or, did he get it wrong deliberately to comfort Blair by suggesting that he (Bush) considered IDS so far down the pecking order that he couldn’t be bothered getting his name right?

When plucky Blair says he is ‘fighting on all fronts’, Bush replies: ‘Attaboy!’ (‘A bit too patronisingly for my taste,’ comments diarist Campbell.)

The president assures the PM: ‘I’m not going to let you down. Hang in their, buddy. You are doing great.’

Would Blair have sent British troops to fight in Vietnam if he — and not Harold Wilson — had been Labour’s prime minister in the Sixties? Wilson was broadly supportive of America’s escalating war against the North Vietnamese, but he wouldn’t commit British troops, as requested by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

As a result, the ‘special relationship’ — our supposed ‘favourite nation’ status — suffered. Indeed, Johnson wouldn’t receive Wilson in Washington for a time.

Plain-spoken LBJ told an aide: ‘We got enough pollution around here already without Harold coming over with his fly open and his p*cker hanging out, p****g all over me.’

There were hints by some U.S. politicians that America’s support for the weakening British pound might be conditional on our involvement in Vietnam — ‘$1 billion for a brigade,’ was one suggestion.

But LBJ discouraged such talk, saying his case in Vietnam would be damaged if it ever was made public.

Wilson had to tough out his position of broad support for U.S. aims, which were to prevent a communist insurgency from the North.

The Labour Party was in uproar over this. There was a near-riot in 1968 when mounted police charged protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square.

Did Labour lose its appetite then for questioning US policy?

Some will take a relaxed view about the newly revealed Bush-Blair exchanges and Blair’s decision to support Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

Even those who now concede that removing Saddam might have been a pointless, bloody exercise — based on lies about weapons of mass destruction — argue that it was ‘right at the time’.

As a people, we do not support the U.S. unequivocally in everything it does abroad. But our governments, Labour and Tory, have done so since the Vietnam debacle. Why this disconnect between the public and politicians?

The answer is: Britain’s security. America has helped bail out our economy in the past and might do so again in the future. Our defence arrangements — particularly our nuclear deterrent — are controlled by the U.S..

America helps our politicians punch way above their weight internationally. Tony Blair hasn’t become a multi-millionaire by lecturing foreigners about the mysteries of democratic governance. He’s done it by being recognised as a major player by America.

David Cameron, likewise, is elevated by his contacts with Washington. He, too, may find them useful when he ceases to be Prime Minister.

As for Ed Miliband, he is said to be enthusiastic about America, but he hasn’t been received by President Obama at the White House since becoming leader of HM Opposition in September 2010.

However, there is an interesting line in his CV which says: ‘In 2002, he took a 12-month unpaid sabbatical from the Treasury to be a visiting scholar at the Centre for European Studies of Harvard University for two semesters.’

Were they checking Ed out to see if he was their kind of British leader?

It’s an article of faith among Oxbridge dons that America’s CIA gives the once-over to all aspiring young politicos while they are at university, and follows it up with invitations to take up sabbaticals.

So, like every prime minister for almost 50 years, Ed looks a safe bet for America if he’s in power when they need our support.

MCKAY SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 06/18/2012 at 04:29 AM   
Filed Under: • Politics • UK • USA •  
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   Sunday - June 17, 2012

New To Me, Part 2

Something new for lunch for me. I had no idea what I was getting, nor getting into. I just pointed at the menu and said “bring me this”. And it was awesome.

We decided to give ourselves a little break on the way down to spend another day tending to my ailing mother in law. Let’s have lunch out. There is a new tapas grill right on the main drag, let’s give it a try. Oh no, it’s Father’s Day, the place is a zoo, and the only they’re serving is the buffet until 4pm. At $25 a person, this was more food and more cash then we wanted. So now what? Down the street to our favorite old Thai place? Meh, I dunno. Don’t really feel like having that today. Hey, there’s the Japanese/Korean place on the corner, we could get sushi! Ok, but that’s not really ringing my bell either.

So we go to the place, a little joint called Kimchi Hana, and I felt daring and ordered something Korean. Gob Dol Bab. Hot and spicy it said. I asked our waiter what it was, and he tells me it’s dolsot bibimbap with gochujang sauce on the side. Oh, gee thanks, that helps. No seriously, what is it? Hot pot with rice and vegetables, with some beef and egg. Ok, I’ll try it.

We like this place because a) the food is good, b) it’s authentic enough that we’re usually the only Caucasians in the place, and c) they totally spoil you by bringing about a dozen little plates of appetizers to the table while your food cooks. Bean sprouts in sauce, kimchi, seaweed salad, a bowl of miso soup, potatoes in sesame oil, daikon with spicy sauce, and so on. Fun. So we nibble on that for a couple minutes, and then my food arrives.

It isn’t often that you can hear your meal arriving before it gets to the table. The waiter put a gigantic stone bowl in front of me, it must have been 10” across and 6” deep. And it was hotter than hell. The food inside was cooking. Sizzling. Practically jumping up and down in the bowl, letting off clouds of steam. Oh sure, you’ve done the fajita thing that comes on a hot iron platter. Forget it. Ten times more sizzle. It roared. This was a massive chunk of fresh lava with food inside. Dangerous meals; I love it. The bowl had to weigh 8 pounds. And it was filled with prepared vegetables, and on top of all of it, in the middle, was a raw egg. Frying itself. While sitting on top of the vegetables. Wild. That’s how much heat was in the bowl.

And it was fantastic. I was a bit skeptical, because I’ve tried Korean food before, and I guess I picked the wrong dishes ... the best one up until today tasted like a plate full of burned dirt. Now I stand corrected.

You can read all about dolsot bibimbap here. Mine was fancier; it had 12 different kinds of veggie thingies in it. I gather I was supposed to lay on the hot sauce and mix it all together? I didn’t. I ate a little of this one, a little of that one, dip a chopstick full in the hot sauce, share a taste of this and that ... and by the time I got down to the bottom - about half an hour later, and I’m a big eater - not only was I quite full, but the stone bowl had finally cooled off enough so that I could touch it, and the rice at the bottom ... how can I explain this ... the darned meal comes with incentive: finish all your vegetables and you can have the desert at the bottom. The rice had been flavored with something a bit sweet, and had fried itself into crispy golden slabs while I ate my way down to it. What a fantastic idea.

Ok, it was a little shy on meat. They could have stuck a few bits of spicy pork barbecue around the sides, or maybe some of those pre-chewed stewed beef roll-up things they do. But between the dozen dishes of appetizers and the red hot salad bowl of different veggies, I was plenty full enough. And gochujang sauce? It’s a little hot. It’s rather thick, nearly gritty. I think it would make a great barbecue sauce for grilling ribs. But from a Thai food junkie’s perspective it wasn’t hot at all. Why, it hardly made my head sweat. Much. And it didn’t sting my mouth at all.

A tiny bit of net research shows me that the art and science of cooking in super hot stone bowls is right up there with maturing the seasoning on your cast iron skillet so that it makes perfect cornbread. Neat. I will be having this dish again, but I might wait until the heat fails on a cold winter day. A couple bowls of this around the table will warm up the whole room for half the night.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/17/2012 at 09:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining •  
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sharing a rant of sorts

A note or two to share.

Some of you might be fans of the Olympic games, which I have long thought lost their way.  Yeah, opening ceremonies and closing sometimes very impressive. Might even be the highpoints of the event. For me personally, skating aside, it’s a gigantic money making bore.  I hope some of you are getting the news about things here and the preparations and the money for the fat cats and, the special driving lanes for the VIPs which will mean a bit of crowding for the natives. But heck. Screw them. Right?

Well, the silly looking Olympic torch which you might already know is not one torch travelling the length and breadth of the land but many, many of them.  In fact, there will be it is claimed, 8,000 torchbearers, accompanied by a convoy and police and other secutity personal.

People have paid for the privilege of running a few yards or a few miles with this object, lighting the next torch which is carried a few yards or maybe miles to yet another torch which then passed ….. you get the picture.  Some of the torch bearers have already put theirs up for sale on eBay.  Oh btw, those awful looking outfits they wear go with it. They’re on sale too. 

The Olympic Torch is not actually being carried through the whole route. After passing through each designated area it will be made secure inside a vehicle and then moved by road to the next point.  And that vehicle is part of a convoy.  I can not remember exactly how many cars are in the convoy.

I know I’ve been a bit long winded here. I have some things of a moonbat nature to share and had to lay out the background.

All those police who are involved with these Olympic activities will, when it’s all over, be eligible for counselling.  Yup.  What the papers all said was, that after the high of being a part of the Olympics, some might not be able to face coming back to normal duties very well. There will be disappointment and stress most likely say the caring folks who always, feel your pain.  I guess they have in mind the kind of down say, a fighter pilot might have returning to civies after a heart stopping tour of duty shooting down ME 109s.  Something like that I guess.

I think I’m on a bit of a rant due to what I am reading and what my previous two post were about.  Perhaps you can see my frustration and understand it.
I posted stories about exceptional people in life and death situations.  Then I read about counselling for cops on duty guarding a torch.  But wait. There’s more.

Bus drivers are threatening a strike next week, because they want a Games bonus of £500.
That works out to $786.00.  I believe I also read somewhere that the subway folks want more too.

There are a lot of Brits who say they wish their country had not gotten the games.
They are sorry they say, that the French didn’t get them.
Oh boy, are they sorry the French weren’t stuck with it. 

Finally to your possible relief I bring this to an end and leave you with a bit of bizarre moonbattery, that could only be tolerated by the kind of people too many Brits have become.  In better times, this ass-wipe wouldn’t even dare think of this much less try and bring it to a court. 

Check this out.

Immigrant to sue the UK for £11 million - for making him UNHAPPY

· Daniel Kiunsi says the Government’s decision to seize his passport caused him ‘great unhappiness’
· The Tanzanian believes the UK should pay for his basic needs including food, rent and council tax
· He cites human rights laws relating to ‘torture’ and’degrading treatment’
· UK Border Agency vows to challenge his claim robustly in the High Court

read it all here

Posted by peiper     on 06/17/2012 at 02:10 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • UK •  
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the nanny state in the USA. wish I could say it ain’t so Joe

too good to pass and glad I managed to check my inbox tonight. discovered a ton of mail.

H/T Doc Jeff for this one.

It has been in the news here btw. Even interviews on BBC. What a crock. And the NY mayor the chief crock. What’s with that guy. So then, what’s to stop anyone from buying two smaller sizes to get the amount they want.  Or is Big brother bloomer gonna ban that? Sheesh. Ridiculous nanny type interference.
Surely there must have been a time in the USA when, if a mayor tried on something like this in NY, he’d have been hounded from office.  Or, was a time no NY mayor would have suggested it to begin with.
There’s the signpost up ahead.  Next stop. Cameras inside everyone’s home.

Posted by peiper     on 06/17/2012 at 12:51 PM   
Filed Under: • Big Brother • Politically Correct B.S. • USA •  
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his war decorations to go on sale. the derring do of one battling brit

Gosh what a story. And look at the war decorations this guy earned.

I think it’s sad that his son is selling all the memorabilia.  Maybe I’m just dumb about stuff like this.

My late hero uncle (to me he was always that, even when we didn’t agree on other things) gave me a few item he flew with, including the headset he wore on missions.  Lost now in a move somehow. I can’t even find the crew photo with the plane anymore. Those little items still bother me. So it’s a sure bet I wouldn’t sell the medals if I had them.  Who knows. If I couldn’t hold onto the two I did have after 40 some years, I might have lost these also.
Anyway, this is one impressive story. He even looks the part. Have you noticed how often the guys looked like the dashing heroes they were?

Take a look.

Medals of the ace who never knew he was beaten

Squadron Leader Mike Stephens was climbing out of his burning Hurricane high above the Western Desert. He had been injured in both feet and much of his fighter’s engine and half the cockpit had been shot away by an enemy aircraft.

Group Captain Mike Stephens’s Distinguished Service Order; Distinguished Flying Cross, with two bars; 1939-45 Star, clasp, Battle of Britain; Air Crew Europe star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Defence and war medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953 and a Malta, 50th Anniversary Medal 1942-92 Photo: BNPS

But when the Luftwaffe pilot who had attacked him flew past, Stephens climbed back into his plane and shot the enemy Messerschmitt down.
It was only then that he jumped to safety, and by that stage he was on fire himself. He beat the flames out as he parachuted to the ground, landing just 300 yards from the German front line. He hobbled towards friendly lines in the Western Desert before being picked up by Polish troops.
Stephens was awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his heroics. He was just 22 years old.

The action, in December 1941, over Acroma, Libya, was one of many acts of bravery carried out by the “ace” who shot down an estimated 22 enemy aircraft during the war.
As well as the DSO, he won the Distinguished Flying Cross with two bars.

His medals, as well as other mementoes including his log book, photographs and a flying helmet with oxygen mask are being sold by his son, and are expected to sell for £50,000 at the Dix Noonan Webb saleroom in Mayfair, London, on June 27-28.

Stephens, who went on to become a group captain, holds a special place in wartime aviation because he was admitted to three informal “clubs” for RAF pilots.
They were the Caterpillar Club, for those who bailed out with a parachute; the Goldfish Club, for those who bailed out into water; and the Flying Boot Club, for those who came down in the desert and had to walk to friendly lines.

David Erskine-Hill, of Dix Noonan Webb, said: “The remarkable wartime career of Mike Stephens epitomises the sustained gallantry displayed by the young pilots of Fighter Command.
It was a career encompassing several hundred combat sorties and the award of four decorations for gallantry – only 15 airmen received the combination of a DSO and DFC with 2 Bars in the 1939-45 war.”

Stephens graduated from RAF Cranwell, Lincs, in 1939 and was posted to France where he was quickly in the thick of the action, shooting down enemy planes.
Returning from his final sortie in France he had 6in shot off one of his propeller blades but landed the unsteady machine at the airfield.

When told that he could not take off with the propeller damage and the plane would have to be destroyed, he had 6in taken off the other end of the propeller and flew it back to Britain.

He saw service in Turkey and north Africa and, in October 1942, volunteered to go to Malta where he came close to death again, as his logbook records.
He wrote: “Squirting 109 good and proper, got him smoking when a Spit (Stead) pulled up in front of me, so had to stop. Shot the port wing off another at 7,000, then later was bounced by a 109 who damaged my engine. Flew on a little way and then had to bail out. Trouble with dinghy, picked up after 3 hours. Moral – know your dinghy drill!”

He did not add that the dinghy operation was made especially difficult by the fact that he kept his left hand in the air throughout because he was wearing a watch that his parents had bought him and he did not want to break it.

In May 1943 Stephens was awarded his third DFC and returned home and saw no further action. He retired from the RAF in 1960 and worked in the aero-engines division of Rolls-Royce in Paris.
He retired with his wife Violet to the south of France before they returned to live out their days in Britain. She died in 2000 and he died in 2004, aged 84.

SOURCE, TELEGRAPH

Posted by peiper     on 06/17/2012 at 11:07 AM   
Filed Under: • UK • War-Stories •  
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obit …. an extraordinary woman

An extraordinary woman during an extraordinary time with an extraordinarily odd name.
But nothing at all odd about this former true blue Brit eye candy of another age. And can I add heroine as well? She wan’t alone in that of course. There were many other ladies who risked life and limb for their cause.

She flew Spitfires, Mustangs, and Wellingtons to the front line.

Maureen Dunlop de Popp (RIP)

Maureen Dunlop de Popp, who has died aged 91, was one of a pioneering group of women pilots who flew the latest fighter and bomber aircraft with the wartime Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). She achieved national fame as a cover girl when a Picture Post photographer captured her alighting from a Barracuda aircraft.

Maureen Dunlop’s arrival in England from her home in Argentina coincided with a huge increase in aircraft production which led to an urgent need to expand the almost exclusively male ATA – irreverently dubbed “Ancient and Tired Airmen”. Already a qualified pilot, she joined in April 1942, one of a small pool of women ATA pilots, and rose to be a first officer.

It was the task of the ATA pilots to deliver aircraft from factories and maintenance units to front line squadrons. Only during early-morning briefing did pilots discover what type of aircraft they would be flying and to which airfield they would go. The organisation had its own airborne taxi service, piloted by fellow ATA pilots, to deliver or collect those detailed to ferry an aircraft.

Initially Maureen Dunlop flew with No 6 Ferry Pool at Ratcliffe near Leicester, but later moved to Hamble near Southampton, which was an all-female pool. It was there that she delivered many Spitfires to squadrons. On one occasion, just after she had taken off, the cockpit canopy blew off – she made a successful landing. On another, the engine of her Argus aircraft failed and she was forced to land in a field where she discovered that a piston had shattered.

With all ATA pilots flying the same aircraft and facing the same risks, Sir Stafford Cripps arranged that the female pilots should receive equal pay with their male colleagues and this small group of women rightly considered themselves as pioneers of sex equality. Many, including Maureen Dunlop, wished that they could have flown in combat, but this was considered a step too far and was forbidden.

“I thought it was the only fair thing,” she remarked. “Why should only men be killed?”

She was one of 164 female pilots and, during her three years with the ATA, she flew 38 different types of aircraft, among them the Spitfire, Mustang, Typhoon and the Wellington bomber. However, when asked which her favourite was, she immediately responded: “The Mosquito”.

The ATA had been founded in September 1939 by Gerard d’Erlanger, an air-minded merchant banker and director of British Airways. But, with the end of the war, it was disbanded overnight. Its 600 pilots had delivered 308,567 aircraft and many felt that they were “The Forgotten Pilots”. Maureen Dunlop was one of the few female pilots to secure a flying job when she left the ATA.

The second daughter of an Australian who managed 250,000 hectares of sheep farms in Patagonia, Argentina, Maureen Adel Chase Dunlop was born on October 26 1920 in Quilmes, near Buenos Aires. She held dual British and Argentine nationalities and, though she was educated at an English school in Buenos Aires for a short time, she received most of her education from a governess.

Growing up surrounded by animals, she became an expert horsewoman and would often gallop alongside trains and wave to their drivers as they crossed the vast spaces of Patagonia.

During a holiday in England in 1936 she took flying lessons and then, when she returned to Argentina, backdated her year of birth in order that she could legally continue her flight training. During the First World War, her father had travelled to England to join the Army, and with the outbreak of the Second, Maureen saw no reason why she should not follow his example. She travelled to England with her sister, who would work for the BBC.
After the war, Maureen Dunlop qualified as a flying instructor at RAF Luton before returning to Argentina, where she worked as a commercial pilot. She instructed and flew for the Argentine Air Force, as well as having a partnership in an air taxi company, continuing to fly actively until 1969.
Her other great love was horses and she was fascinated by Arab ponies. After the war, she bought her first Arab and later built up a large breeding operation known as Milla Lauquen Stud.

Maureen Dunlop de Popp, born October 26 1920, died May 29 2012

A BIT MORE HERE

Posted by peiper     on 06/17/2012 at 05:17 AM   
Filed Under: • OBITITUARIES • UK •  
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top model six years in a row earns $45,000,000

Outside of national debts, til last year or the one before, I had no idea how much money that models earned. When I became familiar with the name Kate Moss, cos her face and figure were everywhere, I also learned she made millions. OK.
Then last year I saw something on line about the top 10 models and what they all made, and was really blown away. Most especially by the figure (in money terms) of this lady. And now, this mommy of soon to be two, is again and for the 6th straight year, the top money earner, with $45,000,000. But it gets confusing because the story date say it’s for 2012. How can that be right when 2012 has many more months to go? 

So here’s a link to a list of the ten top models. 

And here’s our top earner again.  Loads of photos at this link but I have to say it. I’m puzzled cos I’ve think I’ve seen prettier.

The Girl from Ipanema

1. Gisele Bündchen
Made: $45 million

How: Bündchen is the world’s highest paid model by a country mile. Currently rumoured to be expecting her second child with husband Tom Brady, she holds onto her first place spot for the sixth consecutive year, equalling her earnings from the previous year. She currently holds endorsemant deals with Pantene, Esprit and Versace, and also has her own line of sandals named Ipanema. Bündchen and Brady were named the world’s highest paid celebrity couple last year.

Posted by peiper     on 06/17/2012 at 04:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
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British World War Two propaganda artworks

Retrieved the mornings papers from the porch but still working on a few things from yesterday. Have some catch up to do.
Well, as I was trying to link to a very interesting story, I ran across this and let myself get sidetracked.

(whoops. washing machine done but the sun now gone. Kinda looks like rain.)

Anyway ... some Brit WW2 posters have come on line.  Brit and USA propaganda and especially the posters were top notch.  Keyboard problem again. Thought
I had fixed it. Guess not.

British World War Two propaganda artworks released on Wikipedia

And there’s more here.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/9333793/British-World-War-Two-propaganda-artworks-released-on-Wikipedia.html?frame=2249328

That last poster has some meaning for today.

The news is full of stories with regard to police authorities who want access to emails and web visits etc and oh yes, phone communications as well. Will post.

Posted by peiper     on 06/17/2012 at 03:30 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • History • UK •  
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   Saturday - June 16, 2012

When Science Geeks Marry

Fans of Big Bang Theory will enjoy this.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/16/2012 at 06:53 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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Afternoon Bluegrass Break

Posted by Drew458     on 06/16/2012 at 06:45 PM   
Filed Under: • Music •  
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Unreal News

Showing you once again how unimportant you are, and how far, far more the world spins around the elite, Fox News leads this story in their Entertainment column. This is national, even international news.


Lost Cat: Kurt Cobain’s daughter offers $5G reward for missing pet

The daughter of late music legend Kurt Cobain, Frances Bean, has been left heartbroken after her little cat ran away.

Cobain, with her fiancé Isaiah Silva, has been scouring her West Hollywood, Calif., neighborhood and posting missing flyers. She’s even taken to Twitter to appeal for locals to find her kitten, named Zero.

Cobain, 19, is so desperate to find her pussy cat that she is even offering a massive reward.

How much?

$5,000!

Describing her beloved fur child as “a skinny black cat,” the daughter of the late Nirvana frontman said she raised Zero since she was four weeks old.

Blah blah blah, and let’s add that daughter and her nasty ass dope fiend mother Courtney Love don’t get along too well and use Twitter to trade barbs.

Horry Clap. What a sorry mess Fox News has become. On the other hand, I didn’t even know this girl existed until I saw this bit of “news”.

Mother, daughter, and the lost $5000 pussy.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/16/2012 at 08:13 AM   
Filed Under: • News-Briefs • Outrageous •  
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