Monday - April 13, 2009

The Free World Bars Free Speech.

After years of international scorn, the United States can claim the high ground by supporting the right of all to speak openly about religion. Otherwise, free speech in the West could die with hope of little more than a requiem Mass.

That headline caught my eye this afternoon and I thought, hello.  Can it really be that bad outside a few places here and there?
Then I remembered the persecution of Bridget Bardot a couple of times for having the nerve to voice an opinion. And worse yet. She actually wrote a book giving her views on the world.

So I read the article here and while it may appear damned silly of me I must confess.  I had no idea it was quite this shaky.  I knew the UK was getting pretty bad in some areas. Mostly the usual PC BS.

This is from The Washington Post.  It’s quite long so I’m only posting a part of it. The rest of course can be found at the link.
As for the UN .... well nothing surprises me there and I do believe you all know how I regard the UN.

The Free World Bars Free Speech

By Jonathan Turley
Sunday, April 12, 2009; B03

For years, the Western world has listened aghast to stories out of Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations of citizens being imprisoned or executed for questioning or offending Islam. Even the most seemingly minor infractions elicit draconian punishments. Late last year, two Afghan journalists were sentenced to prison for blasphemy because they translated the Koran into a Farsi dialect that Afghans can read. In Jordan, a poet was arrested for incorporating Koranic verses into his work. And last week, an Egyptian court banned a magazine for running a similar poem.

But now an equally troubling trend is developing in the West. Ever since 2006, when Muslims worldwide rioted over newspaper cartoons picturing the prophet Muhammad, Western countries, too, have been prosecuting more individuals for criticizing religion. The “Free World,” it appears, may be losing faith in free speech.

Among the new blasphemers is legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot, who was convicted last June of “inciting religious hatred” for a letter she wrote in 2006 to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that Muslims were ruining France. It was her fourth criminal citation for expressing intolerant views of Muslims and homosexuals. Other Western countries, including Canada and Britain, are also cracking down on religious critics.

Emblematic of the assault is the effort to pass an international ban on religious defamation supported by United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann. Brockmann is a suspended Roman Catholic priest who served as Nicaragua’s foreign minister in the 1980s under the Sandinista regime, the socialist government that had a penchant for crushing civil liberties before it was tossed out of power in 1990. Since then, Brockmann has literally embraced such free-speech-loving figures as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he wrapped in a bear hug at the U.N. last year.

The U.N. resolution, which has been introduced for the past couple of years, is backed by countries such as Saudi Arabia, one of the most repressive nations when it comes to the free exercise of religion. Blasphemers there are frequently executed. Most recently, the government arrested author Hamoud Bin Saleh simply for writing about his conversion to Christianity. 

While it hasn’t gone so far as to support the U.N. resolution, the West is prosecuting “religious hatred” cases under anti-discrimination and hate-crime laws. British citizens can be arrested and prosecuted under the 2006 Racial and Religious Hatred Act, which makes it a crime to “abuse” religion. In 2008, a 15-year-old boy was arrested for holding up a sign reading “Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult” outside the organization’s London headquarters. Earlier this year, the British police issued a public warning that insulting Scientology would now be treated as a crime.

Sure, I’m aware that there’s a lot going on under the banner of free speech.  But some of what we’ve seen and heard over the years does give one pause for thought.  And one thought comes to mind is, where will it end?

Posted by peiper     on 04/13/2009 at 08:49 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • EUro-peons •  
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   Friday - April 10, 2009

EASTER SUICIDE SPECTACULAR BY MUZZIE VERMIN FOILED.

Grabbed the morning paper today and was greeted by:

The complete headline running across the top of the page says,

Latest News
Al-Qaeda ‘Easter terror plot’: more police searches
Terror raids in Earle Road, Liverpool: Al-Qaeda ‘Easter terror plot’: further addresses searched

Police investigating an alleged al-Qaeda plot to carry out an “Easter spectacular” of co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks on shopping centres in Manchester are continuing to search a number of addresses in Liverpool.

Al-Qaeda terror plot: searches continue over alleged plan to bomb Easter shoppers

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:37PM BST 10 Apr 2009

Eleven Pakistani nationals and one UK-born Briton were still being questioned at various locations in the UK in connection with the alleged plot.

The men, ten of whom hold student visas, can be detained for up to 28 days.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: “Twelve suspects remain in custody in various locations across the country.

“A further address on Highgate Street, Liverpool, is also being searched, bringing the total number of addresses being searched to ten.”

The police statement came as Downing Street revealed that Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, had spoken with the President of Pakistan about the threat from terrorism.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “The President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke by telephone last night.

“They agreed that the UK and Pakistan share a serious threat from terrorism and violent extremism, and committed to work together to address this common challenge.”

Mr Brown said: “We know that there are links between terrorists in Britain and terrorists in Pakistan. That is an important issue for us to follow through and that’s why I will be talking to President Zardari about what Pakistan can do to help us in the future.”

Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend.

Some of the suspects were watched by MI5 agents as they filmed themselves outside the Trafford Centre on the edge of Manchester, the Arndale Centre in the city centre, and the nearby St Ann’s Square.

Police were forced to round up the alleged plotters after they were overheard discussing dates, understood to include the Easter bank holiday, one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

“It could have been the next few days and they were talking about 10 days at the outside,” one source said. “We had to act.” Police are now engaged in a search for an alleged bomb factory, where explosives might have been assembled.

If such a plot was carried out, it would almost certainly have been Britain’s worst terrorist attack, with the potential to cause more deaths than the suicide attacks of July 7, 2005, when 52 people were murdered.

A plan to arrest the suspects in a series of co-ordinated raids yesterday morning had to be hastily brought forward to Wednesday afternoon after the country’s most senior anti-terrorism officer, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, of the Metropolitan Police, was photographed going into Downing Street carrying a briefing paper with top secret details of Operation Pathway in full view.

Mr Quick resigned after he was told by the Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, that he had lost her confidence and that of MI5.

As a result of his blunder, hundreds of police officers had to be scrambled to arrest the suspects, who were being monitored round the clock.

I need to explain this bit of Max Sennett, Keystone Cops “cock up” as the Brits might say.
Mr. Quick went to Downing Street and as he exited the car, he was photographed as people are who pay a call or are on official business. Nothing odd about that, except THIS ONE TIME.  The commish was carrying TOP SECRET papers that had to do with this case, loose.  That is, they were not concealed as in a brief case or a folder.  Just a bunch of papers with the very most secret right on top.
Now then, the camera caught that top secret page with names and MI5 plans etc.  While the plans weren’t published once seen as what they were, the police had to act sooner then they might have due to fear of exposure to the terrorists of those plans.  Which I think might be one reason why they are still looking for the bomb factory itself.
A photo of the commissioner with the papers was published but the sensitive parts were blurred out.
FINALLY ..... to end this tale with a groan from the Brit taxpayer.  The commissioner has resigned, as what else could he do? However,
starting at once his pension starts and it’s over $100,000 a year.  Well, I suppose he is entitled to a pension as he was working for the agency for a long time and at retirement one does get “pensioned off.” But that was a heck of a careless thing for a man in his position to do.

Now back to our regularly sched. program. 

Former police chiefs pointed out that rounding up suspected suicide bombers in public places in Liverpool, Manchester and Clitheroe, Lancs, had put other people at risk and could also have compromised the operation.

All but one of the men arrested were Pakistani nationals who came to Britain on student visas. This suggested a possible new tactic by al-Qaeda, which had previously used British-based extremists who travelled to Pakistan for trainin
g.

The issue of student visas represents a potential security nightmare for the police and MI5. There are 330,000 foreign students in Britain and around 10,000 such visas are issued every year to Pakistanis alone.

Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, has described the student visa system as “the major loophole in Britain’s border controls”.

Several of the suspects who were being questioned last night, were from the al-Qaeda heartlands in Pakistan’s border area with Afghanistan.

Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester, said police had been forced to act to protect the public. Asked about al-Qaeda involvement, he added: “We know what is the nature of the threat to this country and where it comes from.”

But he sought to reassure shoppers, and added: “I would like to say I would have no hesitation, or any of my family, in using any of those locations that have been mentioned.”

The security services suspect that several of the men arrested were trained at religious schools in Pakistan and sent to launch suicide attacks on the West.

They were suspected to have chosen Easter as the most significant Christian holiday for an attack.

Police believe the suspects may have smuggled bomb-making equipment into the country and were ready to launch their attacks.

Sources said police had arrested the man they suspected was the ring-leader, Abid Naseer, 22, at an address in Galsworthy Avenue in Cheetham Hill, Manchester.

He is said to be from the tribal areas of Pakistan where the Taliban and al-Qaeda have established their base.

The alleged members of the cell had signed up for a range of student courses, while two were employed as security guards at a new Homebase store in Clitheroe, Lancs.

Among the locations raided on Wednesday afternoon was the Cyber Net Café in Cheetham Hill, where it is thought the men communicated using emails.

Security sources suspect they received their instructions from al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistan.

The leader of the Pakistan Taliban is Baitullah Mehsud, who last week claimed responsibility for an attack on a police compound in Lahore and promised to attack the West. At least one of the arrested men is from Mehsud’s heartland of South Waziristan, sources in Pakistan said.

TELEGRAPH

Posted by peiper     on 04/10/2009 at 08:49 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • RoPMA • Terrorists • UK •  
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   Wednesday - April 08, 2009

Mother kills son with a bullet to back of head at Florida shooting range . Photo below.

It’s more then crazy. It’s also very sad.  How could someone get into this fix.
I generally have so much to say .... ??

I can’t think of anything and especially seeing this photo.
What’s happening to us?

Cameras have recorded the moment a woman shot her son at point-blank range and then killed herself in Florida.

by Our Foreign Staff
Last Updated: 1:55PM BST 08 Apr 2009

Police are investigating the bizarre murder-suicide inside a crowded shooting range.

Authorities said the woman, Marie Moore, 44, shot her son Mitchell Moore, 20, and then turned the gun on herself.

The mother who shot her son and then herself at the Shoot Straight shooting range in Casselberry yesterday left behind several notes that may partially explain her motive for the murder/suicide - she thought the end of the world was coming.

In a suicide note left for her boyfriend, whom she calls “King,” Marie Moore refers to herself as a “failed queen,” writing, “I had to send my son to heaven and myself to hell.” She also writes “Save yourself you go to heaven with Mitch.”

Casselberry Police say Moore left behind a 3 hour tape that she says would “explain everything,” but they say it’s mostly incoherent rambling.

In one note, Moore left instructions for her boyfriend on what to do with her truck. She also writes that she left him $7900 in cash. She warns him to save himself and go to heaven with Mitch - her son - and says that she is going to hell. She ends one of the notes by saying “I’m so sorry.”

In police reports Moore’s ex-husband says she was not supposed to be allowed in Shoot Straight because of a previous suicide attempt, but an attorney for the range says it’s simply not true.

TELEGRAPH

Posted by peiper     on 04/08/2009 at 10:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Daily Life •  
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   Tuesday - April 07, 2009

I used to think A Clockwork Orange was a violent fantasy. (Boys 10 AND 11 charged attempted murder)

As the saying goes, when seconds count the police are only minutes away.  Maybe that should be ‘hours away’ in the UK?

I used to think A Clockwork Orange was a violent fantasy.  Now it seems inevitable.  The rule of law is nearly dead there.
A Comment left by Guido at BMEWS

I use that quote again due to the nature of this crime. And it is that no matter the age of the miserable little bastards involved.
10 and 11 is old enough to know absolutely, right from wrong.

Police can’t name the kiddies due to age and the prosecuting atty. is saying they have to have a fair trial. A trial?  The little shits get a trial? WHY?
A trial is to determine guilt. No? 
This particular attack IS NOT THE FIRST BY THIS PAIR.  They are evil and should be burned at a stake with no more mercy then they show their victims.  There is no hope in heaven or hell that this pair of merciless turds will ever change.  They will just get better at what they do and learn over time how better to hide their violence.  Some day perhaps some good citizen will put an end to this pointless, worthless pair.  I won’t hold my breath.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ....

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said the attack did not mean children were becoming more violent.

That guy must outta his fuckin mind!

What I am posting here isn’t the entire article.  There is so much more and photos but no photos of the little darlings that caused this.
And the police questioning I want you to know, MUST be done with sensitivity. 

Brothers charged with attempted murder of two young playmates ‘slashed from head to toe’ with Stanley knife

By James Tozer, Jaya Narain and Fay Schlesinger
Last updated at 7:16 PM on 07th April 2009

Two brothers aged ten and 11 appeared in court today charged with attempted murder over an attack that left two young playmates with serious head injuries and knife wounds.

The boys were arrested after the victims, aged nine and 11, were allegedly slashed ‘from head to toe’ with a knife, burned with cigarettes and beaten with bricks before one was thrown down a ravine near Doncaster, on Saturday.

The brothers had been put in care by Doncaster Council, whose children’s services department was recently described as ‘chaotic and dangerous’ following the death of seven vulnerable youngsters. 

(too bad these two weren’t among them)

Today, South Yorkshire Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had advised South Yorkshire Police to charge the boys with four counts each of attempted murder and robbery.

The pair - who cannot be named for legal reasons - showed no emotion as they stood in the dock with three security officers at Doncaster Youth Court.

The older boy wore a red England shirt and his younger brother a grey Umbro T-shirt as the charges of attempted murder and robbery were read to them.

They were remanded into secure local authority care and will next appear in the same court on April 14.

The mother of the brothers has denied any responsibility for their alleged actions.

They had been living with foster parents after their mother told social services she could not control them. Yesterday, she told The Sun newspaper: ‘It’s got nowt to do with me - they weren’t even in my care.’

As the victims continued to be treated in hospital, the parents of a chorister set upon a week earlier claimed police had not taken the first assault seriously.

With detectives continuing to question the brothers over what Children’s Secretary Ed Balls condemned as a ‘barbaric’ attack, the role of the local council also came under scrutiny.

The aunt of the 11-year-old thrown in the ravine said: ‘They knew what the two attackers were capable of, but they did nothing.

‘Social services should have taken them into more secure care, not just let them roam the streets. If he had been found just half an hour later my poor nephew would have died.’
This aerial view shows where the 11-year-old was found, top, and where his nephew was found covered in mud and blood

Today, the parents of the 11-year-old thanked the people who helped the boys after the attack.

Issuing a statement through South Yorkshire Police, they said: “We would like to thank all the community for their help in finding our son and for all their continued support through what is a very traumatic time.

“We are hoping that our son will continue to recover from his ordeal and ask that the media will continue to respect our privacy.”

A police spokesman said the boy was currently “stable and improving” in Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

The younger boy is expected to have a further operation on his arm today.

Neither of the victims has yet been interviewed by detectives, the spokesman said.

He added that police were continuing to question the two boys in connection with the assault and officers were carrying out house-to-house inquiries.

Saturday’s attack in the former mining community of Edlington, near Doncaster, began when the two boys - who were riding their bikes - were set upon and ordered to hand over their mobile phones, money and trainers.

When they refused, both boys were slashed ‘from head to toe’ with a knife, burned with cigarettes and beaten with bricks, according to witnesses who saw their injuries.

During the assault, the older boy whispered to the younger ‘pretend you’re dead’ to try and scare off their attackers.

The 11-year-old victim, who is the nine-year-old’s uncle, was allegedly then pushed 30ft down a steep embankment, suffering a severe head injury, while the younger boy - himself covered in blood - bravely staggered to nearby houses to get help.

The Daily Mail can reveal that a week earlier, Callam Flett, an 11-year-old choirboy at St John’s Church in Edlington, had been lured to the same beauty spot, known as Brick Ponds, with the promise of seeing a giant toad.

There he was allegedly pounced on and beaten, knocked to the ground and kicked on the legs, chest and head.

‘I did nothing to them at all but they began beating me up,’ the traumatised schoolboy said yesterday.

‘They stamped on my chest and head and were going mad. I was really frightened. I was absolutely terrified.’

Callam fell into the pond and managed to escape only when a man out walking in the nature reserve came to his rescue. ‘He said he would hold them off for as long as possible and then told me to run quickly.’

The boy’s horrified parents, Ken and Kerry, immediately reported the attack. Mrs Flett said: ‘Callam was absolutely beside himself. He was shaking with fear and was totally terrified. He was black and blue, his lip was swollen and he had dreadful bruising on his cheek and on his legs and chest.’

A police officer came round the next day and took the attackers’ descriptions, but according to Mrs Flett ‘wasn’t very interested’.

The couple told another officer who had attacked Callam, but claim they were warned ‘we could get into trouble for bandying around their names’.

Finally, the following Saturday, the two brothers were questioned by police - just hours before they allegedly attacked again.

‘It is a total disgrace,’ said Mrs Flett, who lives in the village with her husband, a glazing foreman.

‘These two young boys could have been killed in this dreadful, violent attack. It was so preventable and if someone had only listened I think the police could have stopped it. The police ought to be ashamed.’

The couple are considering making a formal complaint. Officers took a videotaped statement from Callam yesterday - nine days after he was attacked - but South Yorkshire Police declined to comment on the claims.

Following this weekend’s attack, the elder boy was airlifted to Sheffield Children’s Hospital where his condition improved yesterday from critical to stable. He was taken off a ventilator and moved to a high-dependency ward, but it could be several days before police can speak to him.

His 16-year-old brother said: ‘He could hardly open his eyes in hospital. They were swollen shut with a slice cut running along the bottom of one eye. His face is covered in bruises and cuts. He looks like he has been battered in a boxing match. None of us can believe what’s happened. Kids get into little fights but this is something different. It’s horrible.’

The nine-year-old was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary where he had surgery on a severe cut to his arm.

The brothers being questioned over the attack cannot be named for legal reasons, but the Mail has established that they have spent time in the care of Doncaster council, recently condemned as one of the country’s worst authorities.

Detectives were yesterday granted another 36 hours to question them.

The interview process will have to be carried out in a ‘sensitive’ way because of the boys’ ages, with a parent or guardian present at all times.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said the attack did not mean children were becoming more violent.

HERE FOR THE OTHER PHOTOS AND STORY

Posted by peiper     on 04/07/2009 at 01:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Daily Life • UK •  
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EVERY HOMEOWNER’S NIGHTMARE. HOME INVASION BY VIOLENT GANG. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE FEAR.

As the saying goes, when seconds count the police are only minutes away.  Maybe that should be ‘hours away’ in the UK?

I used to think A Clockwork Orange was a violent fantasy.  Now it seems inevitable.  The rule of law is nearly dead there.
A Comment left by Guido at BMEWS

The following article, written by the homeowner is a long one. As a rule with something this long I copy part of it and direct you to the rest if interested.
But this is one of a couple that will be posted and I am including all of it. It’s pretty scary and fortunately this family came out of it in one piece.
As I read this I could but think, as many of you will no doubt, it could have been over in seconds had the homeowner been armed.

Due to a rash of stabbings and home invasions and general mayhem, the laws here have finally conceded a person’s right to defend home and family.
I don’t know how far that “right” extends however.

Just to give you an idea of the mindset of this populace, while many over the last few weeks have written in favor of gun ownership, most still have their heads well buried in the sand.  They say things like, “Oh please let us not go the route of America.” “No Guns” they cry ignoring the fact the thugs and brutes ARE armed themselves and care nothing for little things like, law and order.  Worse yet is that the thugs enjoy hurting. They get off on it.
It is rare indeed to find a home robbery where even after the owner is tied up and helpless to stop a robbery, that the thieves leave without beating up the helpless owner.  And heaven help the family with women involved and especially young girls.  You get the picture.

PLEASE read every damn word of this.  It isn’t often I ask that of BMEWS.

Every homeowner’s nightmare: A mother describes the terrifying night seven burglars tried to smash into her family home.

Last updated at 3:32 PM on 07th April 2009

Just before 11pm on a perfectly ordinary Sunday night four weeks ago, I locked the front door, turned off the lights and went upstairs.

My husband, Laurence, was in bed, our eight-year-old daughter, Rosa, and five-year-old son, Louis, were fast asleep and our tree-lined road in a middle-class suburb of North London seemed as safe and quiet as it always did.

Three hours later, just before 2am, Laurence leapt out of bed and tore downstairs, roaring like an animal. Immediately awake and aware we were in danger, I followed him, to find two masked men standing in our hall. It was everybody’s nightmare.

Without a word, the men walked out of the front door - which they had smashed open - and my husband locked it behind them with the only bolt still working.

For a moment, we thought that was the end of an almost surreal experience. Seconds later, we realised it was just the start.

The men weren’t alone, and they were in no hurry to leave.

Outside our house was a gang of seven or eight hooded men, probably in their late teens, wearing balaclavas. Fired up to the point of frenzy, possibly on drugs, they began smashing through the glass panels of our front door with iron bars and bricks, egging each other on.

The locks were already broken from when they’d first gained entry and soon the one remaining bolt, which Laurence had just secured, was smashed off.

All that was holding the door was my husband, a kind and gentle solicitor of 5ft 8in.

I stood behind him, shouting at them to leave, as Laurence pushed against what was left of our door to keep them out.

Glass was shattering all around him as an iron bar smashed through the door panels, missing his head by inches each time it came through the door.

The gang were already making enough noise to wake up several neighbours, and it dawned on me that being caught by the police wasn’t an outcome they seemed frightened by.

My husband yelled at me to call the police, but I didn’t want to leave him alone to face the mass of bodies that were throwing themselves at our door. All I could see of their masked faces was the hatred in their eyes.

Being seen by their peers to be chased out of the house by a middle-aged man in pyjama bottoms must have been unthinkable, and they were clearly bent on revenge.

Shouting ‘We’re gonna get you, you bastard’, they started inflicting as much violence and terror as they could.

At that moment, I was convinced nothing could stop them getting into our hall - and I had no doubts that if and when they did, they would set about Laurence with those bars and bricks and smash his skull. He was fighting for our lives.

My next thought was that if he couldn’t keep them out, what would these men do if they found me and our children defenceless upstairs?

After a minute or so - which, believe me, feels like an hour when someone is smashing your front door in - I rushed upstairs to call 999, convinced that I needed to be between those men and our children as it could only be seconds before my husband would be battered to the ground in our hallway.

As I listened to the operator slowly spelling out my address for the second time, I remember noticing how calm my voice sounded when I said: ‘I can’t stay on the phone to you. They’re breaking the door down now and he can’t possibly hold them off much longer.’

I heard my eight-year-old daughter, her voice shaking with fear, calling ‘Mummy . . .’ from her bedroom.

Still sounding bizarrely calm, I tried to reassure her: ‘I’ll come to you as soon as I can, darling, I just need to finish speaking to the police.’

Then I started imagining what I’d do if they killed Laurence. Surely he couldn’t still be fending them off.

How was I going to get downstairs to see if he was still alive without our daughter following me down and seeing him or his body?

In the next minute or so, while I was still on the phone to the police, the men gave up their assault and ran off - I’m still not sure why, perhaps because they knew neighbours would have called 999 and it could only be a matter of seconds before the police turned up.

Moments later, I could hear Laurence talking to the neighbours who had come out to see if we were all right.

Within seven minutes of my 999 call, two young female police officers arrived - one turned out to be 23 and the other was little over five foot.

For a moment, I was almost thankful they’d turned up after the gang had left and not before. Would they have been safe to get out of their squad car?

Our neighbours certainly hadn’t dared to come out while the yobs were still there - and I don’t blame them for a second. Confronting a gang like that wasn’t a risk I’d advocate taking.

When the policewomen arrived, the two young WPCs looked at us apologetically and with embarrassment as they began to receive repeated requests via their radios to leave us to attend to other incidents. It was clear the police were woefully under-staffed that night.

I was still feeling detached as I hugged my daughter, who was shaking uncontrollably, and listened as one of the WPCs explained into her radio: ‘This is not an ordinary burglary. It’s aggravated burglary and the house is a crime scene. We cannot leave these people - they’re terrified.’

Disbelievingly, I stared at our hallway, strewn with broken glass and bricks, as she explained that there should have been 30 police officers on duty in our area that night, but they were down to 15 and there was no budget for overtime.

They asked my husband if he’d fallen out with anyone recently. ‘Those aren’t the sort of circles I mix in,’ he explained quietly. ‘If I fell out with someone, they wouldn’t invite us to their dinner parties for a while.’

After almost an hour, one of the WPCs left to attend another incident. With broken windows and the bare remnants of our front door, there was no way of securing the house so, because the gang had threatened to return, the younger WPC stayed with us.

Laurence, miraculously unharmed bar a few minor cuts, was in a trance-like state and asked if we’d mind if he went to bed. He was oblivious to the blood and glass fragments that covered his head, body and feet. I suggested he have a shower first.

Thankfully, our son had slept through the violence, so I was able to put our daughter to bed and managed to cuddle her back to sleep while I tried to make sense of what had happened.

Laurence’s motorbike and our estate car were parked in the drive, and it struck me that the gang must have wanted the keys.

But the level of violence was beyond belief. Our ordinary terrace four-bedroom house in a suburban street was neither rough nor grand. It seemed an unlikely location for an extraordinary act of random violence.

As I soothed my daughter to sleep, the magnitude of what Laurence had done to protect us began to dawn on me. He is no macho have-a-go hero, but when our lives depended on it, he turned out to be so very brave.

I also knew we had been lucky, and I was aware of how easily the ordeal might have ended differently.

I didn’t want to leave the young WPC downstairs on her own, so I went back down to sit with her.

In the darkest hours between Sunday night and Monday morning, I listened to the numerous incidents coming through on her radio. There were two stabbings and a rape in our borough alone.

Forensics were also under-staffed that night. Because our house was a crime scene, I couldn’t clear up until someone had checked for fingerprints and run DNA tests on the blood on our door, some of which might have belonged to the gang, but no one was available.

The routine seemed all too familiar to the WPC, as she negotiated for a neighbouring borough to send over someone.

At 6.30am, a man came to bolt metal sheets on to our windows and door, and the WPC and man from forensics left.

When my five-year-old son woke up at 7am and wanted breakfast, I carried him downstairs and explained that someone had tried to steal Daddy’s motorbike.

The hall was dark because of the metal hoardings, the floor was littered with glass fragments and an iron bar in a police evidence bag was sitting on the table.

While the children ate their cereal, Laurence removed the bricks that had been thrown through the windows. I told him that what he’d done that night was the bravest thing I’d ever seen, but he insisted bravery had nothing to do with it.

‘I had no choice,’ he said. ‘There was never a decision to make. All I knew was that I had to keep them on the other side of that door.

‘The alternative was far, far worse. Can you imagine what they could have done to us?’

My husband isn’t the sort of man who readily tells me how much he loves me or comes home with flowers but, as he held me tightly that morning, I doubt any woman has ever felt more loved.

Both still in a state of shock, we felt dazed and detached rather than relieved or traumatised.

Laurence went to work as usual and I took the children to school before I could clear up, organise new locks, emergency glass and an alarm system.

Later that day, I began to wonder if I was deluding myself that we’d all survived the ordeal. I had to stop myself from phoning Laurence’s office and the school to check I really did have a husband at work and two children at school.

That afternoon, Laurence returned from work as two detectives from CID arrived. But they asked very few questions and by the time they’d left, Laurence and I realised the chances of any of the gang being caught were slim. Four weeks later, there have been no arrests. The blood tests for DNA still aren’t back from forensics.

Meanwhile, we are still trying to piece together the information to make some sense of what happened that night.

Local police told me that the gang had been on a spree that night and there had been other incidents nearby. Some neighbours told us they’d seen seven figures, another had counted eight.

Two neighbours had heard men shout ‘Get back in there and get the keys off the f***er’, so it seems likely they wanted keys to our car parked outside.

We’ll never have all the answers, but we know we were horribly unlucky the gang happened to pass our house that night. And we were lucky that, ostensibly, we are all right. But the experience has changed us.

My daughter Rosa talked about what happened for the first couple of days.

She repeated the information that she had found comforting. ‘I knew from the breaking glass that people were trying to get in, so I cuddled my duvet really tightly,’ she told me.

‘To block out the horrible noises, I kept saying to myself “Mummy will come to me as soon as she can - Mummy will come to me as soon as she can.” ‘

In some ways, she seems to have moved on from what happened in the same way she would after reading a book or watching a film.

In fiction, bad things happen but if you do the right things, it’s all right in the end and everyone lives happily ever after. So too in life, she thinks. For the moment, at least.

Having not talked about it for a fortnight or so, last night in bed she asked me why ‘bad people want to hurt children, kill people and steal things’. I told her that was a very good question and I’d been thinking about it a lot, too.

I’m waiting for her to ask me whether the police have caught the men who came that night. I’m not sure how I’ll answer that question.

Louis is finding night-times difficult, too. He dreams of ‘angry monsters who cut through buildings and people’s necks with sharp things as high as the sky’ and wakes up soaked in sweat with his heart pounding.

I find the nights hard, and lie awake analysing every sound. Is it inside the house or outside? Is it familiar or not? Is my son having another nightmare?

The scenes from that night still replay in my mind like a horror movie and I can’t help but wonder what does have to happen to people to make them capable of such hatred and violence.

I wouldn’t have blamed Laurence if he’d given up or run up the stairs after me. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t love him any less, although I suppose you never really know. But I do know that what happened that night has made me love him more.

For a week or two, I was so pleased he was still alive that I didn’t mind his socks on the floor, the unfinished washing up or even the snoring. Now, as normality slowly resumes, he jokes that being a hero didn’t last long.

I still see him differently, though. I know that when I needed him, he did what all husbands and fathers hope they’ll do - but fear they won’t.

He used every ounce of himself to stop our children’s lives becoming a tragedy. And I will always be grateful for that.

THE DAILY MAIL

Posted by peiper     on 04/07/2009 at 10:26 AM   
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nothing from me today

I’ve got family business to attend to today, so I’ll be out for the whole day.

Oh, and a small update on the gun shopping thing: I’ve found what I want, but I can’t find any. At this point I’m shopping online; the pistol that I would like to buy has been on the market for at least 13 years now, but they are sold out everywhere, and every gun shop and online retailer says the same thing: “They’re apportioned. Which means we will only get X of them this year, and those are already sold.” Son of a gun. Literally! Were I the gun company, I’d be running the damn factory 24-7 with guaranteed sales like that. 

Posted by Drew458     on 04/07/2009 at 08:50 AM   
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   Monday - April 06, 2009

Gang kicked dog in air and threatened to do same to owner.  The streets, the parks ,,,

The walks in front of your house are no longer yours to freely and safely use. If they ever were. But even less so now then ever.
And I suppose I should include your own driveway in the above list of things Brits no longer own.

This isn’t a recent story but I just came across it.  It’s just another in a very long line of examples of the defenseless nature of the people here.

Gang kicked dog in air and threatened to do same to owner
Lisa Kenyon
Accrington Observer

A DOG was viciously attacked by a gang of youths while walking through Milnshaw Park, Accrington, with its owner.

William Townsley, 66, was walking his 14-year-old partially-blind Cairn terrier Snoopy through the park at around 1pm on Monday.

RECOVERING from their ordeal ... William and Joyce Townsley with Snoopy, who was attacked while on a walk in the park.

As he was passing the children’s play area, William said a group of around 18 Asian youths racially abused him, shouting obscenities before kicking the defenseless dog in the face and ribs.

William, of Devonshire Street, Accrington, said: “I could hear them shouting racial obscenities but I ignored them at first and carried on walking towards the old tennis courts.

“As I turned around to shout Snoopy, a couple of the gang, who had broken off from the rest, kicked him in the ribs and then in the face before running back to their friends.

“I thought he was dead. The poor dog had been kicked into the air and was just lying on its side.

“As I walked off I could hear them shouting: ‘Carry on, we’ll do to you what we did to the dog’. I was in fear of my life.”

William said he picked his pet up and cradled it in his arms before making his way to the nearby Asda store to call for help.

He added: “I was so shaken up I could hardly talk. The woman I spoke to at Asda said Snoopy was the fourth animal to be attacked up there.”

William said he waited at the store for an hour for a police officer to arrive but then had to leave to get Snoopy to the vets. On his return home he contacted the police again and was assured someone would visit him soon. However, he was still awaiting a response.

Inspector Dave Mangan at Accrington Police Station confirmed the crime had been reported and apologised for the delay in dealing with it.

He said: “After the initial call was logged, another job came in with a high priority and the patrol had to be deployed there. Because we didn’t have a mobile number, we were unable to contact Mr Townsley

“We understand that to this man it was an important call, but unfortunately we don’t have limitless resources and we had to prioritise. We would like to be able to send someone to every crime as soon as it happens but it is not always possible.”

DOG

Can you just imagine how totally defenseless and hurt Mr. Townsley must have felt? Don’t be too critical of this old guy. There have already been countless beatings and killings of innocent people doing no more then walking home from a store or thru a park or as in this case, walking your dog in a park.  Another valid reason for armed citizens.  It won’t happen here of course.

Posted by peiper     on 04/06/2009 at 07:19 AM   
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   Saturday - April 04, 2009

Fireman who beat up pregnant girlfriend escapes jail after judge praises his work . HUH?

This is another one of those posts that just have to be shared for the sheer lunacy of it.
This one ranks right up there with the judge in Netherlands a few years ago, who ruled that a bank robbers gun was a legitimate business expense and so reduce the amount of his fine by the cost of the gun he used to rob the bank.

This fellow’s girl friend is carrying his offspring. Twins. He beats her up, kicks her, chokes her, but the judge thinks his job is so important that he shouldn’t serve time.
Great.  Wish I knew that kind of thinking was a pass jail ticket.  I could have become a firefighter (assuming I could pass muster and that’s open to doubt) and then gone out and beat the crap out of some left wing wanker working for the Brit equiv. of the aclu.

It’s beyond my ability to understand how a guy could be so abusive to a woman and especially to one who is pregnant.

A fireman who beat up his pregnant girlfriend has been spared a prison sentence by a judge because of his “valuable and important” job.

By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 6:51PM BST 03 Apr 2009

Jaime Nobbs, 33, attacked Karen Roofe, 41, a primary school head teacher, on three separate occasions and subjected her to a campaign of harassment. 

On one occasion he threw Miss Roofe, who was carrying his unborn twins, to the floor, kicked her, pulled her hair, tried to throttle her, and left her with nine-inch bruises.

During the attack, which started after she threw a glass of beer at him, Nobbs repeatedly shouted “Say sorry to the master”.

In another incident, after the relationship ended, he broke into the house and lay under her bed. She later discovered him and threw him out.

The decision not to jail him was criticised by a domestic violence charity, which said a position of responsibility should be seen as an aggravating factor not mitigation.

A spokesman for the Cambridge branch of Women’s Aid, who said: “Suffering violence at the hands of your partner is a deeply damaging experience.

“This experience is not lessened by the occupation of your abuser. It is my opinion that a man’s high social standing should be seen as an aggravating factor in a case, not a mitigating factor. Violence against women is an epidemic in our society.”

Nobbs, of Peterborough, pleaded guilty to three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of harassment at Cambridge Crown Court.

He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years, 100 hours unpaid work in the community, ordered to attend an integrated domestic abuse programme, and pay £500 costs.

Judge Gareth Hawkesworth told him he was spared an immediate prison sentence because of the valuable work he did as a member of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service.

He said: “You have performed a valuable and important part in the Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service which has enormous importance and benefit. It is largely for that reason I am not sending you to prison today.”

The court heard Nobbs and Miss Roofe, who are no longer a couple, met in August 2003 and moved in together soon afterwards.

In 2006 Miss Roofe fell pregnant but by 2007 the relationship had begun to deteriorate into increasingly frequent arguments.

Nadia Silver, prosecuting, described three assaults on January 21, May 18 and November 24 2007.

She said of the third assault: “He grabbed her by her throat, choking her for 15 seconds. Miss Roofe felt she was going to black out. The following morning her mother could see red marks on her daughter’s neck.”

Thomas Brown said in mitigation that Nobbs was of good character but his behaviour had gone beyond what was acceptable. “He is not a bad man who habitually behaves like this,” he added.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “An internal investigation has now begun. A member of staff has been suspended while this investigation is on-going.”

SOURCE

Not habitually a bad man?  Oh, only on three occasions.  I bet for the party on the receiving end those three times sure felt “habitual.” I can’t help but wonder if it were say the judge’s daughter or niece or some kin, would three times have been enough? Or would he had found a way to nail and jail the guy after once. 

Posted by peiper     on 04/04/2009 at 07:43 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Love-Marriage • News-Briefs • UK •  
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   Thursday - April 02, 2009

HERE WE ARE AGAIN, ANOTHER PERSON BEATEN TO DEATH BY PUNKS …. IT NEVER ENDS.

Here’s the headline and it may not be 100% accurate.

Father-of-two beaten to death by gang after police ignore six 999 calls from victim and neighbours

That’s what’s in the paper online. But the cops got there too late and maybe could have been earlier. You read this and make up your own mind.

Here’s a couple of totally worthless young thugs who do a thing like this while other young men are serving their country in the most difficult circumstances.  And lets be honest here.  Anyone actually believe that LIFE really means that?

Father-of-two beaten to death by gang after police ignore six 999 calls from victim and neighbours

By Jaya Narain
Last updated at 4:40 PM on 02nd April 2009

A father-of-two was beaten to death by a gang of drunken thugs just minutes after police told him they were too busy to help.

James Straiton, 59, and his neighbours dialled 999 six times after being threatened in their own homes by the gang.

But police operators said the force was experiencing a ‘high volume’ of calls and suggested they call a non-emergency number.

Tragedy struck when Mr Straiton, a taxi driver, decided to leave his flat and chase the thugs away himself.

Once outside in the street he was repeatedly punched, kicked and stamped on in an horrific and frenzied attack.

Two men, one 6ft 4in tall, jumped and stamped on his head leaving Mr Straiton unconscious on the ground with horrendous head injuries.

The father-of-two suffered a brain haemorrhage, damaged neck vertebrae, fractures to his face, arm, and three broken ribs.

He was found by police lying in a pool of blood and rushed to hospital before being transferred to a specialist neurology unit where he died two weeks later.

Today Joshua Spruce and 6ft 4in Nigel Goolding, both 20 of Northwich, wept when they were convicted of murder at Chester Crown Court.

Paul Blower, also 20, who was also at the scene but did not take part in the attack was acquitted.

The court was told a high-level inquiry had been launched into the police handing of the 999 calls on the night of the murder.

His brother, Edward Straiton, said: ‘I went to see him in hospital where he was so bad that I didn’t even recognise him initially.

‘He had never been an aggressive man. I had never known him to be in a fight, he was just always laughing and joking.’

In a statement his family said: ‘As a family we feel that this incident could have been avoided and is a sad indictment of the society we now live in whereby young men seem to think that it is perfectly acceptable to behave in this way after going for a night out, drinking too much, sometimes taking drugs, and ending the evening by beating someone unrecognisable.

‘Their selfish disregard for others has not only ruined our lives but also has far reaching effects on all the families involved in this pointless act of violence.’

The court heard the incident had happened on July 26 last year when the yobs walked home after attending a 40th birthday party in the Winnington Recreation Club, near Northwich in Cheshire.

They had each drunk between five and eight pints of beer and were staggering home making a lot of noise.

Mr Straiton, who lived alone, opened his window to ask them to be quiet but they rushed towards his window and began banging on it and hurling abuse.

Mr Straiton and neighbours then made six calls to Cheshire Police appealing for officers to come down and help.

One woman called 999 twice, the first at 1.11am telling the operator ‘Something quite nasty is going off.’

In another call she was audibly tearful as she said there was a disturbance adding: ‘I’m too frightened to look out the window. They’re trying to get into his flat or get him to come outside.’

Mr Straiton - known as Jock - then made two 999 calls saying the men had climbed over a fence into the apartment complex and telling the operator he felt threatened.

KILLER PUNKS

So the bastards cried? Oh boo-hoo. Feeling sorry for themselves although I’ve no idea why. They’ll get out of jail at a youngish age.  All their needs seen to and meals etc. Scum is what they are and the system here sucks.
Please go to the link for photos and the rest of the article.
BTW ... here’s what one Brit had to say in the comments section.  Interesting.

This is a despicable crime. How many more people have to die before we are allowed access to guns so that we can defend ourselves against violent thugs like these, especially when it’s clear that the police are no longer up to the job.

It stuns me that more and more people are dying from violent assaults and yet there are still individuals out there who believe that we should denied the means to protect ourselves in the best way possible.

They also seem to feel that leaving us defenceless is actually the best way of keeping us safe - how exactly does that work ?

Every person has the inalienable right to self-defence and nobody, and I mean nobody, has the right to take that away.

- Graham Showell, West Midlands, England, 2/4/2009 17:12

Posted by peiper     on 04/02/2009 at 02:30 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Daily Life • Outrageous • UK •  
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   Tuesday - March 31, 2009

Five-foot female fitness fanatic pins knife-wielding attacker to a wall. And she’s 50 too btw.

Man you do not wanna mess with this little lady.  And 5’ is little.
There is a rather grainy photo online at the link shows her and the gremlin.

Good story and bravo her.  Took some guts.

Five-foot female fitness fanatic pins knife-wielding attacker to a wall

By Jaya Narain
Last updated at 2:23 PM on 31st March 2009

When she saw a knifeman repeatedly stab a man in the face and neck before leaving him for dead in the street, Georgina Harmer was appalled.

But without a thought for her own safety, the feisty 50-year-old gave chase and grabbed hold of the thug.

Then she got him in a headlock, pinned him against a wall and valiantly held on for 10 long minutes until police arrived and arrested him.

Georgina Harmer pinning knife-wielding attacker Wesley Ogden to a wall. The 50-year-old held him there for 10 minutes until police arrived

Yesterday she was praised for her bravery as knifeman Wesley Ogden, 28, was jailed for the horrific attack.

The incident happened last August when Miss Harmer, a customer service advisor for O2, was enjoying a night out with friends Alan Keown, 48, and his girlfriend Pamela Nabb, 40.

The group went outside The Clarence pub in Bury, Greater Manchester for a cigarette where they were confronted by Ogden who had been earlier thrown out of the pub causing trouble.

He made a sexual remark towards Miss Nabb, prompting a verbal dispute with her boyfriend that turned into a scuffle.

Ogden then produced a knife and started to repeatedly stab Mr Keown in the face and body in a frenzied assault.
Wesley Ogden

Wesley Ogden repeatedly stabbed Miss Harmer’s friend in the face and neck

As 6ft 2in Ogden ran off down the road, Miss Harmer - who is just 5ft 4in tall and weighs eight stone - gave chase and tackled him outside a bank before pinning him to the wall in a headlock.

CCTV pictures from cameras located at the HSBC bank dramatically capture the bravery of her citizen’s arrest.

As she desperately clung on to Ogden, a doorman from a nearby pub came over and helped her restrain him until police arrived.

Last night she said: ‘I think I was just running on adrenaline.  It didn’t take me long to catch him. I pinned him against the wall, put him in a headlock.

‘It’s fair to say I applied pressure between his groin - that’s the polite way of putting it - and restrained him and he was wincing in agony.

‘He was denying that it was him that had done it, but I was saying “It’s you”. I struggled with him - but I wouldn’t let go of him until I knew the police had him.’

Miss Harmer, a former pub landlady from Radcliffe, said: ‘There wasn’t a lot going through my mind really, I just didn’t want him to get away - I wanted to go back and make sure Alan was alright. It was really serious, I think a few people thought it would be fatal - there was so much blood.

‘I do keep myself fit, I run an under-18s rounders team and I go power walking twice a week. I used to weight-lifting a long time ago, but I’m too old for that now. I’m very active although I don’t have a regime as such - but I think it did help.’

Mr Keown was rushed to hospital where he was treated for four serious wounds to his face and body, but his injuries were not life-threatening and he recovered.

Ogden of Oldham, was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grevious bodily harm and assault following a trial at Bolton Crown Court and was told he must serve at least three-and-a-half years behind bars.

Ogden, pleaded not guilty, despite the number of witnesses who saw the assault.

Detective Inspector Sarah Jackson, of Bury CID, said: ‘Ogden is an extremely violent and dangerous man who had the temerity to plead not guilty despite the numerous witnesses who saw this savage assault.

‘He belongs behind bars and I am glad that is where he will now be spending his foreseeable future.

‘While what the victim’s friends did was undoubtedly risky, I would like to praise their bravery. In particular, the woman who put her own safety at risk and chased Ogden through the town centre, detaining a very strong and dangerous man, was incredibly courageous and her selfless actions have helped put a violent man behind bars.’

Miss Harmer, who says a policewoman friend once gave her a few self defence tips, said: ‘I’m very pleased with the sentence - I hope this will be a deterrent to people carrying knives and give confidence to witness who have doubts about coming forward. They shouldn’t be scared.

‘If this guy wasn’t taken off the streets he probably would have done it again and it could have been a murder.’

PHOTOS HERE

Posted by peiper     on 03/31/2009 at 10:05 AM   
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Girl becomes youngest scout to scoop up all 33 badges… at the age of nine.

Now why the heck would I post this possibly boring article on a mostly political blog site?
Cause there’s so darn much out there about feral yoots even in her age group that it just plain feels nice to acknowledge this one kid.
And I bet there might be a lot more that are not little savages.

Anyway, hey. All those badges?  This kid was sure dedicated and single minded and had her eye on her target.

She’s also a little doll and I betcha a darn good student.

She’s eye-candy in the nicest possible way.  But gee ... I sure hope she doesn’t grow up and become a civil rights lawyer.
Whatever she does do, I’d also bet she will be a success at it.

So hats off and Kudos to this youngster.

Girl becomes youngest scout to scoop up all 33 badges… at the age of nine

By David Wilkes
Last updated at 1:07 AM on 28th March 2009

When Rebecca Hooper joined the Cubs, she was determined to be more than just one of the pack.

It took her little more than a year to earn all 33 available activity badges.

She has become the first girl in the country and, at the age of nine, the youngest Cub of either sex to achieve the feat. 

Rebecca, who was ten this month, has been saluted for her ‘determination and enthusiasm’ by the Scout Association after mastering activities ranging from astronomy to animal care and DIY to martial arts.

Girls have been allowed in the Cubs since 1991, and Rebecca chose them over the Brownies because she found their activities more appealing.

She set to work after a pack leader jokingly told her that she needed to ‘pass all the badges’ before she could achieve her silver Scouting award.

Rebecca, of Toft Monks, near Beccles, Norfolk, hopes to become a vet and particularly enjoyed looking after her family’s pets for the animal carer badge.

For the Air Activities badge, she took her first flight in a small private aeroplane, which was organised by her stepfather Mik Horn, an IT technician, who has a private pilot’s licence.

Other badges saw Rebecca also attend judo lessons, make a computer desk, cook her family a roast dinner, repair a puncture on her bicycle, visit a synagogue, learn how to read a map, sail a boat and tidy up her local churchyard.

Her mother Helen Horn, a teacher, said: ‘I am really proud of her. She has been really dedicated and has had to work very hard to achieve this.’

Rebecca’s passion for Scouting is in the blood. Her mother was a Queen’s Guide, the highest Girl Guide award in her day, and her grandfather ran a Scout troop.

Rebecca, a pupil at Glebeland Primary School, will join the Sea Scouts in September - and her next aim is to get all their 60 badges. Her brother Ben, 12, is in the Sea Scouts, who meet in the same hall on the same night as her Cub pack.

There is clearly something in the Norfolk air that inspires the Cubs - last year the Mail told how ten-year-old Ben Spratling, from Norwich, won all 33 badges along with Leon Johnson, also ten, from Stockport.

A WINNER

Posted by peiper     on 03/31/2009 at 06:13 AM   
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   Wednesday - March 25, 2009

Council ‘calls pensioners racists’ for objecting to cost of tidying up after travellers.

Well apparently all one has to do is suggest, question or be critical in any way of this newest racial group, and it’s automatic one is a bad person or anyway, a racist.  As labeled by the very left oh so freekin politically correct councils who live and breathe when actually they more deserve to be shot.  Or hung, which ever is cheaper. 

There’s a damn good reason so many people are against this group and if that means the big ‘R’ then screw it.  That’s fine.
Really tired of hearing how bad it is to be racist.  IT ISN’T!  There are often damn good reasons for it.

Especially in this case.

Oh and btw .... re. that tyrannical loon (John Prescott) who is mentioned late in this article. Just so ppl outside UK who are reading this know.
He was Deputy PM under Blair, who brought him ,Prescott, into govt to appease the far left wing of his party.
Prescott wanted to do all he could to “stick it to the well off and the comfortable.”

So called Travelers and others of their kind are a blight on the landscape!
I do not dislike them because of who they are, but what they do. 

Council ‘calls pensioners racists’ for objecting to cost of tidying up after travellers

By Dan Newling
Last updated at 4:50 PM on 25th March 2009

An elderly couple who suggested that Gipsies and travellers should contribute towards the cost of cleaning up any mess they make have been branded ‘racist’.

Pensioners Rita and Norman Brookhouse were told that their views - expressed in response to a public consultation - breached race laws and would be ignored.

However, rather than objecting to proposed new Gipsy and traveller camps, all the couple did was to point out that the planned sites might be messy.

They went on to suggest that any families living on the new sites should be asked to make a financial contribution towards their cleaning costs.

Angry: Pensioners Rita and Norman Brookhouse say they were effectively branded racists by their regional assembly.

The couple, from Havant in Hampshire, were shocked to receive an official reply which told them their views were based on ‘negative assumptions’.

The letter cited the Race Relations Act and concluded that their opinion ‘could be construed as offensive’ and would therefore be ignored.

The Brookhouses’ experience is just the latest example of how local authorities - under pressure from central Government to establish more permanent Gipsy and traveller sites - are using every possible legal tactic to do get their way.

Earlier this year Bedfordshire Police was branded ‘racist’ when it too was told that its official objection to a planned Gipsy camp ‘breached the Race Relations Act’.

The Brookhouses wrote their letter in response to a public consultation carried out late last year by the South East England Regional Assembly .

The unelected organisation - which coordinates the work of 76 local councils - wanted to gauge public opinion on plans to build 1,076 new Gipsy and traveller pitches across its area.

The authority placed advertisements in local libraries asking for views on the camps such as how they should distributed around South-East England.

In their response Norman Brookhouse, 73, and his wife Rita, 76, wrote: ‘Travellers use their current areas because they can find work and facilities available there.  Keeping most in the same area should be less expensive than starting mainly new areas.

‘Reasonable charges must be made for use of sites so that local people know the travellers are contributing to the community finances.

‘At present travellers give nothing to the community where they stay, indeed they create expense (rubbish clearance, etc. after they have departed).’

Catriona Riddell, Seera’s director of planning, wrote back to the couple.

She told them their letter ‘contains statements that are based on negative assumptions about the gypsy, travellers and travelling showpeople communities and / or could reasonably be construed as offensive to such groups’.

The letter went on: ‘While we appreciate that you may not have intended for your comments to be perceived as such, we and our legal advisers consider such comments to be of a discriminatory nature.’

Mrs Brookhouse, a retired scientist, today insisted that she is not racist.  She said she supports the idea of Gipsy and traveller sites that are properly managed.

She said: ‘We are not racist. We have friends from all different walks of life.  It doesn’t matter to me as long as people respect the area they live in and pull their weight.’

She added: ‘This country is supposed to be a democracy - we are all supposed to have a say in what happens.  To be told that they don’t like what you’re saying and therefore going to discount it is utterly ridiculous.

‘This assembly does not represent the country.  I’m a taxpayer in a town where the council has to spend thousands of pounds a year clearing up after travellers and we don’t get anything back.’

The Brookhouses’ Conservative MP David Willetts described Seera’s actions as ‘political correctness gone mad’.

He said: ‘It was a consultation on sites for travellers and the Brookhouses have drawn attention to widespread concern about the expense that’s created by having to clear up their rubbish after they depart.

‘This is basically a statement of fact.  There were no abusive or offensive remarks about gypsies or travellers as an ethnic group.  It is completely absurd to suggest it is and undermines the consultation.’

A spokesman for Seera revealed that it had rejected 147 of the 1,129 consultation responses it received for being racist.

Moira Gibson, chair of Seera’s Regional Planning Committee, said: ‘Under the Race Relations Act it is against the law for local councils or the Assembly to discriminate against anyone on the grounds of their race, colour, or ethnic or national group.

‘Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are legally recognised ethnic groups.  As such we have had to discount and return any responses that we and independent legal advisors reasonably considered to be of a discriminatory nature.

‘A vast majority of the responses we received were not discriminatory and have been taken into account.’

In 2006, John Prescott, then deputy Prime Minister, told local authorities that council provision for gipsies and travellers should be ‘significantly increased’.  Since then the number of new sites has doubled.

THE MAIL

Posted by peiper     on 03/25/2009 at 12:20 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Jack Booted Thugs • Nanny State • UK •  
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   Monday - March 23, 2009

The unspoken truth about our language.

Over the last few days I’ve been keeping up to date on the controversy surrounding the postmaster who refuses to serve people who either do not speak English or choose not to or come to his window without an interpretor.  He has taken to a country that’s given him opportunities not dreamed of where he came from.  Like many immigrants before him and in another age as well, he has become something of a patriot and says he and his wife will not speak any language but English at home and especially in front of their two children, who they want well grounded in the language of this country first. Which btw reminds me of my own grandparents who were bi-lingual.  It was English first and everything else after that. America first and there wasn’t anything else worth knowing about. But that’s another story and I only mention it here because I understand why they felt that way and became so dedicated to their adopted country.

So .... that brings me to the article that appear a day or two go ago by a lady named Jemima Lewis, who writes for the Telegraph.
She says a few things I had not seen in print before in just this way.
I thought you’d find her comments of some interest.

I might mention here that this may be my last post today as am having severe pc problems at the moment. Hope I can post this. we’ll see. We are also experiencing gale force winds at this time. If not, then it sure looks that way.

The unspoken truth about our language
The Sri Lankan postmaster who banned customers who could not speak English has taken an important stand, says Jemima Lewis

By Jemima Lewis
Last Updated: 3:13PM GMT 21 Mar 2009

Deva Kumarasiri has paid a heavy price for his patriotism. The Sri-Lankan-born postmaster has been forced to leave his job for refusing to serve customers who couldn’t speak decent English. His stance, he said, was partly a matter of principle. Mr Kumarasiri is passionate about his adopted country: he moved to Britain 18 years ago, has taken citizenship, taught his children the words of the National Anthem, and flies the Union flag in his front garden in Nottingham. “It’s about making the effort to be part of the community where you have decided to live,” he said.

It was also a practical issue – he didn’t want the queue grinding to a halt while each customer tried to make themselves understood.

Mr Kumarasiri, who is a Liberal Democrat councillor, feels it is his duty to say these things because the white, native-born Brits no longer dare. This, alas, is perfectly true. Living in east London, I often come across council officials or health workers whose English is so shaky, or so thickly accented, that it is impossible to have a meaningful conversation. But I am far too anxious not to seem rude, let alone racist, ever to complain.

When my son was born, we were visited a few times by a health visitor who spoke at length, in a kind of Bantu-cockney dialect impenetrable to all but the professional linguist, about how to avoid cot death. I nodded in what I hoped were the right places, then looked it up in a book. I have given up trying to get an appointment at the local GPs’ clinic because it is too embarrassing trying to make myself understood – repeatedly mouthing my request into the telephone as if it were an elderly dowager’s ear trumpet.

It’s not just a question of inconvenience; in some jobs, the inability to communicate effectively can be fatal. When my sister gave birth recently, she was attended by a midwife who could not speak English. My sister tried in vain to explain that she had been in labour for four days; that her waters had long since broken; that she knew something was wrong.

The midwife wrote some incomprehensible notes, and failed to pass on any of the relevant information. Both my sister and her baby almost died. Even then, no one was rude enough to complain.

TELEGRAPH

who is a Liberal Democrat counselor:  Not anymore as reported yesterday.

Posted by peiper     on 03/23/2009 at 11:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Outrageous • Racism and race relations • UK •  
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   Friday - March 20, 2009

false accusations of racism and religious discrimination at a primary school dominated by Muslims

I’m damn sorry she didn’t get a million. And I wonder if any of the jerks who didn’t support her got the sack.  Yeah. Don’t hold your breath.

Last post for the evening and will leave you with what I think is a very interesting story, but it won’t surprise any of our BMEWS regulars.
Shouldn’t surprise anyone else either.

This crap will continue at great cost till there are none of these left in our midst.  Or at least so few that they no longer present a problem to the rest of the civilized world.  And that won’t be in my lifetime.

A headteacher whose health and career were ruined by false accusations of racism and religious discrimination at a primary school dominated by Muslims has won £400,000 in damages.

By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:30PM GMT 19 Mar 2009

The High Court agreed that the Surrey County Council was negligent in not stepping in to support the head teacher

Erica Connor was forced into early retirement through stress after governors at New Monument School in Woking turned her into a scapegoat by claiming she was Islamophobic.

But the local education authority failed to help her as its “excessively tolerant” officers were more worried about complaints to the race equality watchdog than her suffering.

ACTUAL PHOTO OF A COUNCIL MEMBER

The High Court agreed that the Surrey County Council was negligent in not stepping in to support the headteacher, and ordered it to pay £407,781 in compensation. This includes damages for psychiatric injury, loss of income and pension, medical expenses and the premature end of the career she loved.

As she left court, Mrs Connor, 57, said: “The last five years have been a long haul at great personal cost to myself and my family, so I am thrilled that justice has prevailed.

“It is so unfortunate that matters have taken so long to resolve and at such a financial cost, but I finally feel vindicated in terms of the accusations of racism and Islamophobia against myself.

“For a protracted length of time I was subjected to dreadful pressure from a small group of individuals, unrepresentative of the local community, without the support I would have expected from Surrey County Council.”

The court heard that in 1998 Mrs Connor took over the school – where up to 85 per cent of pupils were Muslim and 90 per cent spoke English as a second language – and test results improved “very considerably” for the first few years.

However in 2003 two new members – Paul Martin, a parent governor, and Mumtaz Saleem, a nominee of the local education authority – joined its governing body and tried to take it over.

(KNOW YOUR ENEMY. THEY’RE NEVER FAR AWAY AND BELONG TO THE ROP LIKE MR. MARTIN, MENTIONED HERE.)

The judge, Mr John Leighton-Williams, QC, said: “I am satisfied that they sought to monopolise governors body meetings with a view to imposing their own agenda and were prepared to do so regardless of the interests of the school and anyone who resisted that agenda.”

While clearing Mr Saleem of harassment, the judge added: “Mr Saleem’s approach extended to offensive verbal attacks at governing body meetings.”

He said it was “not unreasonable” for Mrs Connor and the school’s staff “to consider that there was an agenda to convert New Monument to an Islamic faith school”.

Eventually Mr Martin was voted off the “dysfunctional” governing body but claimed he had been “removed for blowing the whistle on institutional racism” and “cited an old school document with pictures of seven children, only one of them dark-skinned”, the court was told.

An anonymous petition was circulated, “attacking Mrs Connor falsely and in vituperative terms”, it was claimed.

However the council failed to intervene or spot that Mrs Connor, who now lives in Abergavenny, was at risk of suffering stress. She was forced to take sick leave in late 2005, never to return.

The judge said that instead, council officers had shown “excessive tolerance” towards the two governors and displayed “misplaced sympathy for Mr Martin”, fearing that they were at risk of a complaint to the Commission for Racial Equality.

He added: “The lack of timely intervention in the governing body meant that Mr Martin’s and Mr Saleem’s conduct there had the effect of tearing apart the governing body.

“And these matters, together with poor response by the council, had as their effect two years of anxiety and low morale for the school staff, stress leading to a need for early retirement in some staff and Mrs Connor and disruption in the local community with, on the evidence, little, if anything, positive to show for it.”

ARTICLE SOURCE, TELEGRAPH

In the world we live in today, if we can cut the PC crap for a minute, it would be entirely unreasonable and unrealistic for a person NOT to be,
Islamophobic!

Of course we are, and with damn good reason.

Definition, “PHOBIA”

Posted by peiper     on 03/20/2009 at 02:05 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Education • RoPMA • UK •  
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