Thursday - February 26, 2009
AT LONG DARN LAST, LAW AND ORDER ON THE MARCH IN ONE PART OF THE UK.
I have the utmost respect for BMEWS readers and those who post comments here. So much so that I even asked Wardmom to marry me in another life but she refused, offering me instead the role of president of her fan club. That’s good too. I can do that.
The thing is while I respect everyone here I also know you’re an envious bunch and so the news I post here today will I just know turn you green with envy.
Why, after reading this you will all most likely start to badger your police departments to learn how to do their job better. Just like here.
And I do know with certainty that BMEWS readers are not fans of disorder, unless they are causing it.So ... see what ya think of this and try (it’ll be hard I know) not to be discouraged by this example of stalwart, hard nosed take no prisoners law enforcement.
And it’s about darn time.
A DISPERSAL ORDER ON ROWDY YOUTHS Feb. 26, 2009
WOO-HOO That’ll show em.
In an article from our amateur weekly local, The Hampshire Chronicle reports a “crackdown” has been launched against “youths” who have been intimidating people outside a row of shops in Winchester.
Hey folks … BIG ANNOUNCEMENT here.
Winchester police have now received the authority and powers that will allow them to break up packs of unruly yoots who cause trouble outside shops in a place called Wavell Way, Stanmore. Whatever and wherever the heck that is. No fooling BMEWS.
It’s true. Every word of it.Police have (finally) secured a six months dispersal order until August 23, for the area in front of five shops, which means that now they can actually tell yobs and punks who are causing problems, like threatening shoppers and spitting at them when they refuse to buy booze or cigarettes for them, “TO MOVE ON.”
If you do not live in the area, the officer can ban you from returning to the location for up to 24 hours.
OH MAN I FREEKIN LOVE LAW AND ORDER!
Now then, what happens if the yoots don’t obey? In that case ppl, out come the heavy guns . Get this BMEWS. Youths can face a three month jail term or fines up to almost $9,000.00. Of course, these kids have that kind of money tucked away safely in their mattresses at home. And as we know, they’re all working and paying taxes.
Now then, this makes the second time such a restrictive and harsh order has been made at the very same location against civilian kids just having a spot of fun, in gangs of 20. One of their harmless pranks is to smear faeces on shop doors.
It’s my understanding after reading the article that the dispersal order was “very effective” when it was used last.
Of course it was. The question not asked in the article is, so after they’re dispersed, just where are the little bastards going.
Ah well … for the answer to that you’ll just have to,
Stay Tuned.
Posted by peiper
on 02/26/2009 at 09:41 AM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Humor • UK •
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Permalink • Monday - February 23, 2009
BT suspends 30 call centre staff for circulating ‘harmless’ Irish joke by email. JEESH!WHAT NEXT?
BT - British Telecom.
What a sorry state we’re in when a silly joke based on misused words can get people sacked.
Or maybe they’re canned because the joke wasn’t really funny. Whatever. What the hell is the world coming to?
Yeah,yeah. I know. Just do not wanna face it.
The joke really wasn’t funny so much as it was silly. See for yourself.
But I guess it only takes one officious oaf to bitch about something for a company to, “take appropriate measures.”
Had an almost sleepless night and a long morning what with legal stuff and starting probate and just normal stuff right?
Then see an article with a really dumb move by a company being pc and it just raises hackles because there really isn’t any need for this kind of thing.
ONE STOOLIE COMPLAINS, MOMMY,MOMMY . 30 SUSPENDED FROM JOBS!
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:11 AM on 23rd February 2009BT has suspended 30 of its call centre staff after they were caught forwarding an email joke poking fun at the Irish.
Bosses at the telecoms firm did not see the funny side of the story, which involves four Irishmen, and an investigation is under way.
But the probe was today branded a waste of time and money, and a cynical ploy to axe staff during the recession.
One worker said yesterday: ‘Either BT have no sense of humour whatsoever or the bosses are deliberately trying to get shot of people without having to pay any redundancy money.
‘The joke was sent around the office as a bit of fun. Everyone is worried about their jobs but we all try and cheer each other up.
‘It was light-hearted but one person complained and suddenly managers were grilling people about the joke saying it was offensive and could be interpreted as a racist slur on Irish people.
‘I’m a quarter Irish and I didn’t think it was offensive. BT are being ridiculous and morale here has hit an all time low.’
John Midgley, of the Campaign Against Political Correctness said: ‘I sincerely hope that common sense is brought to bare on this and that political correctness does not cost these peoples’ jobs especially in the present economic climate.’
The Joke involves the death of three Irishmen. The first leaps with a budgie thinking he’s budgie-jumping; the second kills a parrot thinking he’s parrot-shooting and the third leaps off with a hen, believing he’s hen-gliding.
It was circulated around staff working at the BT call centre in Leicester - which employs 340 people - two weeks ago.
Managers suspended every worker who had forwarded the joke to someone else and warned them they face disciplinary action.One suspended worker said: ‘The joke was harmless fun and the sort of thing millions of office workers send to each other up and down the country.
‘I received it and forwarded it to a colleague without thinking about it.
‘The next thing I knew managers were demanding to look at my computer to see who I’d emailed the joke to.
‘The fact I could now lose my job over this is really scary and I’d leave if I could afford to but there are no other jobs anywhere.’
This month, BT saw its share price plummet to an all-time low of 7.8 per cent to 97p.
It also emerged that the firm is paying 1,000 workers to do nothing while operations are scaled back to save cash.
A BT spokesman said: ‘A complaint was made about a joke which could be offensive to some people.‘BT takes these matters seriously and will investigate any allegations.
‘We cannot comment on any investigation that may be taking place internally at the moment. These matters are treated in the strictest confidence.’
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), the UK’s largest union in the communications industry, blasted BT for suspending the call centre workers.
A spokesman said: ‘It’s incredible BT can spend this money on such a petty, meaningless investigation with customers very likely picking up the bill.’
The Leicester Irish Society also defended the employees, claiming BT bosses had lost their sense of humour.
A spokesman added: ‘The Irish are famous for their sense of humour but it appears BT have lost theirs.
‘The English and Irish communities have a long history of taking the micky out of each other.
‘The Irish probably have just as many, if not more jokes, about the English but they’re all meant in good spirits.
‘Suspending staff over a little joke is stupid and it would be funny if it wasn’t so serious for the people whose jobs are on the line.’
Posted by peiper
on 02/23/2009 at 11:19 AM
Filed Under: • Big Business • Daily Life • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK •
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Permalink • Saturday - February 14, 2009
You cannot do anything british in Great Britain any more!! AN UPDATE TO EARLIER STORY.
Earlier this week I posted this story.
Row over Cambridge University’s ‘insensitive and offensive’ British Empire ball.
Row over Cambridge University’s ‘insensitive and offensive’ British Empire ball
By Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 3:49 PM on 09th February 2009Cambridge University has been accused of advocating slavery and racism yesterday by hosting a glamorous ball to celebrate the excesses of the British Empire.
Emmanuel college is hosting the ‘Empire’ ball in honour of ‘the Victorian commonwealth and all of its decadences’ priced at £136 per head.
But there was outrage from anti-racist groups as students were urged to ‘Party like it’s 1899’ - the year the Boer War started and concentration camps were used for the first time.
Well just to update BMEWS on the story and let everyone know.
The miserable spineless and cowardly wimps who are the powers that be at the college, have caved in to the self appointed leftist bastards who know nothing of their own history or distort what little they do know. The authorities at the institution for politically correct thought have changed the name as DEMANDED by the self styled “anti-racist” groups. Apparently their pretended “outrage” impressed the people in charge of the college enough and so the ball will go on but with another name.
So, another win for the thought police and the left.
I think I now see clearly why Brit officialdom have an aversion to and strict ban on guns in this country. Makes sense ya think about it.
It’s to stop ppl like me from using protest groups as target practice! Which I would be sorely tempted to do. I mean really tempted.
Their continued breathing offends me.
Posted by peiper
on 02/14/2009 at 10:19 AM
Filed Under: • Colleges-Professors • Commies • Daily Life • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Stoopid-People • UK •
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Permalink • Thursday - February 12, 2009
Teenage handbag thief outpaced by 72-year-old ex-sprinter. (way ta go grandma. kudos.)
It’s great to share a story like this. Pity there aren’t more although there are a few.
No comment, just wanted to share this.
She must be in great shape. I’m only a year younger and can no longer walk the miles I used to, never mind run. Forget that entirely. Can’t.
A teenage thief picked on the wrong victim when she tried to run off with a bag belonging to pensioner Jean Hirst - a former championship sprinter.
By Paul Stokes
Last Updated: 6:24PM GMT 12 Feb 2009The schoolgirl was surprised to discover her victim, a former All England Schools championship sprinter, still had a turn of pace - at the age of 72.
As Mrs Hirst gave chase, she soon began to close on the culprit who was forced to throw down the bag in her desperation to escape.
The retired teacher had allowed three teenage girls into her car to help her with directions after getting lost on the way to a theatre.
She was straight out of the starting blocks again, however, when one of them took advantage and tried to make off with her bag.
Mrs Hirst said: “Suddenly I felt 18 again. The adrenaline just kicked in and I seemed to turn back the years.
“She had a head start but I covered 70 yards in about 15 seconds and was within two strides of her when she looked over her shoulder and saw me.
“She probably thought I was an easy target but she shouldn’t have judged a book by its cover. The look on her face was one of sheer amazement and she just threw my bag aside.”
Mrs Hirst, a widow, from Mansfield, Notts, was able to stop and pick up the bag which she described as containing her “whole life”, including her purse, keys and address book.
As a 17 year old, she was the Nottinghamshire County Schools 100 yards champion and qualified for the final of All England Schools Championship in Ashington, Northumberland.
Her latest unscheduled sprint was from the car park of the Duchess Theatre, in Long Eaton, Derbyshire.
She had stopped to ask the three girls, who were aged around 15 or 16, if they knew the way and they insisted on getting into the car to take her there.
When they arrived one of the girls asked for 20 pence and Mrs Hirst realised her bag had suddenly disappeared with one of the back seat passengers who was calling for the others to go with her.
“Then she started running and that’s when the fun began. I was not as out of breath as I thought I would be at my age,” she said.
When Mrs Hirst returned to the car, the other girls apologised for their friend’s actions and she decided against calling the police.
She added: “I just told them to choose their friends more carefully. There was no way I could detain them and at the end of the day I was just glad I had my bag back.”
Mrs Hirst, who has two grown up children, was later rebuked by her daughter who told her the girl could have had a knife or turned aggressive.
She added: “I didn’t think of my safety, but I did pay for it a little the next day. I was covered in aches and pains and my daughter turned to me and said it was because I didn’t warm up properly.”
Posted by peiper
on 02/12/2009 at 02:14 PM
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Permalink • Thursday - February 05, 2009
Golly: now we know what’s truly offensive. (an interesting editorial on yesterday’s subject)
I was happy to see this editorial today following the big deal the BBC has made over a PRIVATE comment by Carol Thatcher recently.
Of course, the man writing this is a well known conservative which means he really does believe in freedom.
“those who are forced to fund it” Translation for Americans who might not know about this, the taxpayer over here, who must pay a yearly fee for having a TV set.
Over a certain age and the fee is waived. I don’t know what age that waiver kicks in but expect something from the agency that oversees this sort of thing to notify us that we have something to pay, since the mil passed away and we still have her TV here. And btw ... we haven’t watched the darn thing in years. It was in the old lady’s room and we’ve no desire to see whatever is being shown.
I suppose we’ll most likely have to rid ourselves of the TV. But it isn’t any great loss to be honest. We can catch show afters broadcast right on the computer, for 7 days after original broadcast, if something appears in our paper or TV schedule in the paper. The only time I have done that is recently with BBC radio on the bio of Gene Krupa.
Amazing how little we miss TV.
I will confess that were it not for computers and You Tube and loads of books, well. Who knows. I might look to TV for the odd thing.
In sacking Carol Thatcher for saying ‘golliwog’ while off air, but allowing Jonathan Ross to remain in his job, the BBC has revealed its contempt for those who are forced to fund it , says Charles Moore.
By Charles Moore
Last Updated: 11:47AM GMT 05 Feb 2009
Throughout Carol Thatcher’s childhood, the Golliwog was a popular toy Photo: The Advertising ArchivesCommenting on the BBC’s decision to sack Carol Thatcher from The One Show because she described a tennis player as looking like a “golliwog”, a spokesman for the corporation said: “The BBC considers any language of a racist nature wholly unacceptable.”
This raises a few questions. First, how can he/she be so sure that the remark was “racist”? All through Carol Thatcher’s childhood – indeed, until into her thirties – golliwogs were popular toys. Robertson’s jam marketed itself with a golliwog, which appeared on every jar. You could collect golliwog stickers and send them off, and then you got a smart metal golliwog badge.
Carol Thatcher liked the jam and she liked the golliwog. When she said that the mixed-race Jo-Wilfried Tsonga resembled a golly, she was making a friendly joke, rather as someone of the same generation might say, “Ooh, he looks just like Rupert Bear” (or Captain Pugwash, or Noggin the Nog).
To get the measure of how Carol talks and thinks, you need to understand that she is not at all like her mother – except that both women speak their mind. Carol is not full of opinions or highly conscious of politics or deeply serious. She is a friendly, spontaneous, amused person, who, for someone who has been so close to power, is attractively unsophisticated. She is certainly not politically correct, but nor is she determinedly, fiercely, politically incorrect, as her father, Denis, was. She is, for want of a better word, normal. The idea that she feels racial malice is absurd.
If Carol used the supposedly shocking word “golliwog”, you can be quite sure that she used it without malice – indeed, with good will. The worst that you could possibly say about her was that her choice of words was thoughtless.
But, before you say that, you come to the second question. Since when has the BBC decided that what is said off screen, in the studio, is a matter of career life or death? I have spent more hours than I care to remember sitting in BBC studios, and the remarks I have heard in them, often delivered by household names, have frequently strayed – I am putting this politely – from the standards supposedly demanded by the BBC on air. I have heard racism (usually against Americans), sexism (usually against Carol’s mother), blasphemy, obscenity, rage, bias. If I had decided to profess myself “shocked” (as Adrian Chiles, the presenter of The One Show, did), and if I had then sneaked to the authorities, would the speaker have been thrown out of his job? Should he have been?
A BBC executive might argue – though I would disagree – that the word “golliwog” is so offensive that it should never be broadcast. As an experienced broadcaster herself, Carol Thatcher might be expected to be aware of that sensitivity and be careful about it. But she was not broadcasting. She committed no offence, professional or moral – not even, since the person she described was not in the room, an offence of manners.
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, the “telescreen” compulsorily present in every house is not only a television broadcasting from the outside, but a sort of CCTV camera, observing the people in the room, shouting at them if they fail to meet the standards ordained by the state of which Big Brother is the dictator, always watching them. The BBC would appear to have adapted this concept for everyone who comes under its roof.
A third question arises for the corporation. We have it from its spokesman’s own lips that any racist language is “wholly unacceptable”. How does that square with its fervent commitment, constantly repeated in the affair of Jonathan Ross, to “cutting edge” comedy?
The justification of being “edgy” is that offence is necessary to “push the boundaries” of creativity. It is thus considered appropriate to use the F-word, sometimes as much as 25 times in one programme, although – or rather, because – that word, when used in public, upsets millions of people. The word “golliwog”, on the other hand, is so unbearably wicked that its user must be punished, even when only a few other people, who happened to be sitting in the room, actually heard it.
You and I might think that the joys of “edgy” comedy are overrated, but if we are to have it, wouldn’t it be edgier to have words like “golliwog” scattered about as well? Why not antagonise Disgusted of Brixton, as well as Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells?
Jonathan Ross asked David Cameron, on television, whether he ever masturbated about Lady Thatcher. For this, and similar sallies of consummate edginess, Ross is paid £6 million a year, which is more than any other employee of the BBC in the whole of its history.
(David Cameron is the head of the conservative party here. The Tory Party. Referred to as Tories.)Since his return, he has encouraged a man on his radio programme to go and have sexual intercourse with a woman in her eighties who has Alzheimer’s.
Even when Ross rang up Andrew Sachs, a 78-year-old Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, and left obscene (broadcast) messages about how Russell Brand had slept with his granddaughter, his punishment was a mere three months’ suspension. But of course he would never do anything really nasty, like use the word “g------g” in private. Ross stays, and gets rich. “Wholly unacceptable” Carol is out.
So this affair enables us to understand better what the BBC is really up to when it pays Jonathan Ross so much money to swear and talk on screen about bodily functions and sex with octogenarians for hours on end. It is not engaged in a brave, if misguided, attempt to challenge the conventional opinions of viewers in general in order to shake them out of their complacency and strike a blow for artistic innovation. If that were the case, it would also insult homosexuals, the prophet Mohammed, President Obama, racial minorities, and anyone else who qualifies for the strangely assorted club of those who earn special deference from our modern elites.
No, what the BBC is doing is the cultural target-bombing of people who are very numerous, but whose attitudes do not accord with those of its senior executives – old people, white people, Christian people, monarchist people, people who value politeness, conservative people, provincial people, suburban people, rural people – many people, I suspect, who are reading this article.
As bombing campaigns go, the BBC’s culture war is unique in history, because it makes the victims pay for its attacks. Pay £139.50, and Ross is dropped on you from a great height. My feeble little form of passive resistance, as I cower in my shelter, is to refuse to pay for the privilege.
Just after the Second World War, the Left-wing firebrand Aneurin Bevan called the Tories “lower than vermin”. Conservatives, fired up, started a Vermin Club, with badges, to boast of their defiance. Thousands signed up. The young Margaret Roberts (soon to be Thatcher) was a member. Carol could claim a much nicer symbol than a rodent. I think she should start a Golliwog Club to defy the BBC, and I think we should all join.
Posted by peiper
on 02/05/2009 at 07:38 AM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • UK •
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Permalink • Tuesday - February 03, 2009
Just In Time Auto Repairs
I was having a bit of a problem with my car’s exhaust system a couple months ago. The Check Engine light kept coming on when I hit rough roads, and the engine code that caused that to happen implied there was something wrong with the oxygen sensors in the exhaust system. Since the sensors and everything, even the muffler, are factory original and the car is 13 years old, I figured I’d have to get a whole new exhaust system. I looked up what I could on the Internet, joined a couple Saturn forums, and nosed around as much as I could, and it looked like the sensors ought to be replaced once every 5 years. It also looked like I might have to find a shady mechanic, since my New Jersey registered car was actually built as a California emissions compliant vehicle ... and California changed it’s emissions laws, retroactively of course, just last month, so a lot of the aftermarket repair parts that were California legal in December are no longer certified now that it’s February. And my car has this big DO NOT sticker under the hood: DO NOT EVER put any parts on this car that aren’t California Air Research Board (CARB) certified. Even if the car has never been further west than Harrisburg PA.
I got my car inspected last week and it failed. Not for emissions, but because they said there was an exhaust leak. Which was no real surprise, since I’ve had the muffler hanging from metal straps and bailing wire for the past few years. So I went down a the local garage which I happened to know was a bit, um, flexible; I figured it was going to be a big $$$ hit. I’d already worked out a parts list from Walker (largest exhaust parts company in the country) and found a source for every last part of the exhaust system. If I had to, I could have cut off the old pipes, put on a new catalytic with new sensors and a new downpipe, then gone back to the shop with a “uh, my muffler fell off, hur hur hur” and they’d be ... flexible ... and finish the job while not noticing that I had a 49 state legal cat under the car. This turned out to be unnecessary. While my muffler was shot, I only had a leak in the downpipe. My catalytic converter was fine. But how can you tell? The inspection guys didn’t use that tailpipe sniffer thing, so how do I know that the emissions levels are Ok? According to Slippery Jim, my mechanic, the OBDC-II sensors built into my car are more sensitive than the old tailpipe sniffer system. I guess that’s why NJ automatically fails any car that shows up for inspection with the Check Engine light on. And not just on! They told me that the OBDC-II system has a bit of memory, and that it can tell you if the codes were recently cleared. So you can’t just use your own OBDC tool ($50, I own one) to turn off the engine codes. The thing remembers that they were recently on, and that memory will also get you an automatic FAIL. But since my Check Engine light wasn’t on, ipso facto my emissions system was fine, thus my catalytic converter was fine. I had the shop put in a new muffler, and I had them weld on a new flexible section to the downpipe. Good to go.
While I was there I also had them check the brakes. The old Saturn hasn’t been stopping too well lately. It still stops, but the brakes just didn’t seem to work as good as the ones in my wife’s SPEC-V. The guy pulled off the front rim and started laughing. All the other guys in the shop had to come over and see, so they could have a laugh too. I had about 124,000 miles on this set of brakes. My pads were so worn that the bearing surface was barely as thick as a fingernail, and the rotors were worn almost right down to the central vents. There was literally almost nothing left of them. Paper thin. They told me I had maybe another 50 or 100 stops left, maybe a lot less than that, at which point the rotors would have caved in and probably torn the front wheels off the car. Phew!
So I wound up spending the same amount that I had figured I’d spend in new exhaust parts, but I came away with brand new brakes and rotors. Plus the car is quiet again and will pass inspection. Not bad.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/03/2009 at 04:03 PM
Filed Under: • Adventure • Daily Life •
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Permalink • Sunday - February 01, 2009
There’s an old expression that says “It never rains but it pours.”
As regulars here know, my wife’s mother passed away recently, and so there’s much to do and probate of course but you won’t be interested in all that.
Well, now a new bombshell has been dropped in our lap. Actually mine for the moment.
I have to break the news to the wife that her brother has undergone surgery (in Australia) for a “high-grade tumor meaning that it is very aggressive and will keep coming back.” You couldn’t make this up.
“He has totally lost his left field of vision – which no surgery can repair. The tumor has grown to such a size that the brain has shifted in his skull causing pressure and swelling, they have been giving him steroids to reduce the swelling.”
He has always been one of these hang gliding walk 20 miles just because could and loved ripping through the countryside on motorcycles and camping etc. Not a health nut but always had a healthy lifestyle.
He woke up one morning on the floor beside the bed, had no memory of falling, and found his limbs unresponsive. and no vision on the left side. He hadn’t been ill or had any sick days outside of the routine common cold. And I don’t know what year that was.
My little personal problems have become so much smaller.
Except how to gently break this news to the wife who is just getting over a nasty cold.
stay tuned
Posted by peiper
on 02/01/2009 at 09:32 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - January 31, 2009
I’m not actually blind
My wife works in an eye doctor’s office. So I tend to hear a lot more about eye diseases and eye problems than the rest of you. There’s this thing called macular degeneration where the eye becomes less efficient with age.
I’ve been having problems driving at night. I just couldn’t seem to see the side of the road as well as I used to. I was having a hard time picking out the stripes on the lanes, especially when they were well worn and a bit glopped over with road salt. Oh gosh, must be getting old, maybe it’s time to get a Buick and a pair of those ultra sunglasses like all the blue haired grannies wear.
Instead I bought a new set of headlights for the car. The last set was about 7 years old. Looking at the blurb on the package, it says headlights get dimmer with age. Really? So I picked up a set of the best and brightest and slapped them in. My car uses the socketed bulbs, so the whole 4 light job took all of 5 minutes. Much easier than changing the old sealed beam lights cars used in my younger days.
And what a difference. Wow. I’m not blind after all.
I did not get a set of those retina burning blue bulbs that some cars have. These are just “regular” bulbs, but the blurb says that they burn at a higher light temperature, 4000K. And that means the light is less yellow. And they are. Nice white light that throws a beam that’s crisp right out to the edge. I’m happy.
These bulbs cost about $34 a pair, but there is an online coupon good for a $10 rebate that’s good until the end of February. My car uses 2 pair, but you only get one rebate per address.
I did a bit of online research on these, and there are some reviews that say the SilverStar bulbs don’t last. Sylvania says the SilverStar Ultras last 25% longer than the regular SilverStars, which are the red colored package sold in Wal-Mart. For $39. For a lower price, you can get the better bulb online, and still get the rebate. If these last 2-3 years I’ll be happy. Because I can see again.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/31/2009 at 11:10 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - January 22, 2009
Responsible Drinking
Peiper sends me things in the mail. Often it’s an envelope full of clippings from the English newspapers, writing about the knife crime, the nulabor government’s latest silliness, etc. Sometimes it’s the real estate section, showing all the gigantic old manor houses up for sale. And so forth; all interesting bits. Sometimes he gets wise and sends me vacation guides to fwance, where they have figured out that they can make money touring groups through all the local wineries, letting them buy bottles by the case right at the source, and even giving the tour in actual English!
A few weeks ago he sent me some coffee. English coffee. I know, that sounds like an oxymoron; England is famous for wonderful tea and God-awful coffee. But what he sent was so ... quintessentially English. “Lazy Sunday”, a blend from Taylor’s of Harrowgate [a-oh my!], a coffee blend made just for reading the Sunday paper and doing to crossword puzzle. And I thought we had specialization here in America! It was very nice, and very light. I noticed the bag was marked “a fair trade product” but didn’t look into that. I wrote back that while it was enjoyable, I usually drink a far stronger blend, more of a “Frantic Monday” than a Lazy Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, the Taylor’s of Harrowgate blend was very tasty. And I adore the brand name. I went around the house for days, playing at being English, saying “Ahye ahm dring-king Tay lawrs ohv Hahro gate” until my wife threw a pillow at me. [yes, I am easily amused.]
So this time, along with another fabulous greeting card, he sends me a little sack of Douwe Egberts. I’d never heard of him. Or it. Douwe Egberts. A brand name that sounds like they should be selling pipe tobacco. This is a much stronger blend, nearly as rich and potent as my usual grind. I like it. But the coffee isn’t sold because it’s good strong coffee. No. This coffee is sold because of the way it’s procured. Really! The blend line is called “Good Origins”, and the selling point of this “Utz Kapeh certified responsible coffee” is that it is “Traceable from farm to cup”. And it is! I hit the company web site, read the spiel, clicked on the links, and found that my beans were grown on the Fazenda Johá farm and picked by João Faria da Silva. Amazing. This is Liberal Guilt gone mad.
Fazenda Johá is part of the coffee project Terra Forte. This is the biggest coffee project in the world set up around the passion for quality coffee. The worldwide biggest single producer under the management of João Faria da Silva and the and Grande Leste Agropecuaria have joined their efforts to achieve professional management, production and commercialization of specialty coffees. The philosophy of the project is to invest in agricultural techniques, social and environmental projects, provide efficient logistic. Terra Forte is known for its quality coffee and high productivity as well as their social and environmental responsibility.
A little more exploration made me feel ever so much better, knowing that the poor exploited native worker’s lives are actually improved by their long days bending over the coffee bushes picking beans.
Impact on our organization
There was a change in the way we think and act. The farms have become well organized and managed. The workers have received extensive training and can conduct their work much more safely. The environment is respected and protected adequately.
Yeah. Extensive training. And adequate protection. “Jose, pick the red beans, not the green ones! But first you spray the bush with some poison to kill off the spiders and lizards. Then you pick the beans.”
And it’s not just Douwe Egbert doing this. I gather there is a whole worldwide - or at least Europe-wide - movement to better the lives and working conditions of the poor downtrodden natives who grow and pick the coffee. And it’s all “sustainable growth” with “natural fertilizers” that “minimize global impact” because ... the coffee bushes take several years to mature and can produce for a number of seasons, so you don’t just rip the plants out of the ground and shake off the beans. And you have to put all that donkey shit somewhere, so you may as well hide it under the bushes.
Yup, it’s a whole movement. “UTZ certified”:
UTZ Certified Responsible coffee growing
UTZ CERTIFIED is a global non governmental organisation which operates a mainstream certification programme for sustainable coffee based on pillars of economic, social and environmental well being.
Together with UTZ CERTIFIED, we are helping farmers look after their workers, their families and the environment in which they live and work. UTZ CERTIFIED certification assures that:
* Workers and their families have access to healthcare, clean water and decent housing
* Children have access to schooling
* Fertilisers and agrochemicals are used minimally and controlled
* Workers are trained and their labour rights are protected
* The use of water and energy is minimised
* Environmental pollution is reducedUTZ CERTIFIED certification is renewed annually so you can be sure that it is up to date and continues to adhere to the UTZ CERTIFIED Code of Conduct – a set of criteria for responsible coffee growing practices and efficient farm management.
The UTZ CERTIFIED certification does not dictate or guarantee coffee prices, rather it enables farmers to achieve a better price for their coffee themselves and gain more competitiveness in their market.
You can explore this entire amazing, wonderful, guilt reducing world through the Douwe Egberts portal. I never knew. I never cared, or even knew I should care. Or knew that I should feel bad because I didn’t know that I didn’t know or care.
I’m off to the grocery store to pick up some hamburger. Now that I am enlightened, I’m going to ask the butcher what the cow’s name was, and if she was happy.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/22/2009 at 12:29 PM
Filed Under: • Big Business • Daily Life • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Fine-Dining • International • Nature •
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Permalink • Thursday - January 15, 2009
Darn
Ricardo Montalban has died. He was 88.
Actor Ricardo Montalban, star of the hit TV series “Fantasy Island,” died Wednesday in Los Angeles, a family spokesman said.
Montalban, 88, was in deteriorating health over the past several days but “died peacefully” at 6:30 a.m. at his home, son-in-law Gilbert Smith said.
He understood “it was his time,” Smith said. The cause of death was not given.
Montalban rose to prominence as one of the most visible Hispanic actors in post-war Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s. But his star grew as he took on television roles as the mysterious host Mr. Roarke on the hit drama “Fantasy Island” and as Captain Kirk’s archnemesis Khan Noonien Singh in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”
Posted by Drew458
on 01/15/2009 at 05:18 PM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Hollywood •
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Permalink • taxpayer monies to protect gypsies from hearing abuse from motorists.
I had something else of a horrid nature to post first today, and then ran across this. The usual lunatic loony tune kind of thing that had this person post a comment on the Mail’s comment page. “Daftland” How appropriate. Hard to understand how grownup and educated people can be so ?? I’m looking for something beyond stupid.
Hey ... why the heck should I worry? As I keep on saying, the Brit taxpayer is a wealthy individual with tons of cash to throw away.
If they aren’t, someone needs to inform the folks who spend their money of that fact. Cause I don’t know too many Brits who feel very wealthy. The town and city councils that spend taxpayer money must believe they are at the rate they come up with new things to spend on. Ho-hum.
Hey .. talk about the enemy within.
Another one from Daftland,keep them coming they are hilarious the next one sillier than the ones before
- Rose Howard, Bucks, 15/1/2009
Council wants £500,000 to erect sound barrier to stop gypsies hearing abuse from motorists
By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 2:34 PM on 15th January 2009A council is planning to spend up to £500,000 building a noise barrier beside a dual carriageway after a group of travellers complained about the sound of passing vehicles and abuse from motorists.
Around 50 people who have moved onto the camp beside the A14 near Milton in Cambridgeshire say their lives are being made a misery by the constant rumble of traffic.
(uh huh. And just who decided to set up camp and live on that site? )
They also claim they are being victimised by passing lorry drivers who are beeping their horns, flashing their lights and shouting obscenities.The barriers could be installed when the dual carriageway is improved during a major project beginning next year.
But Tory-run South Cambridgeshire District Council insist the travellers shouldn’t have to wait that long in such an ‘uncomfortable place to live’.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance yesterday branded the plans ‘a farce’.
Spokesman Mark Wallace said: ‘Given that the residents of this site are self-declared travellers, it is amazing that they do not simply move on somewhere else if they don’t like the fact they are living next to a dual carriageway.
‘There is very little reason why taxpayers should bear a massive bill because of the surroundings people have chosen for themselves.
‘If you choose to buy a house next to a dual carriageway then you know what to expect. It should be no different in this case.’
The camp, known as Blackwell, was opened as a transit site for travellers in the 1970s but became an official council-run facility in 1993 and home to a settled community.
The A14 is situated on a grassy embankment above the site.
The council has already secured a £15,000 grant to widen and improve the entrance to the camp but is applying to the Government for more money to build the barrier.
Nick Wright, the councillor responsible for planning, said: ‘It’s such a noisy place to live. When you go down there it’s almost a job just to have a conversation.
‘Their homes obviously don’t have any double glazing or sound proofing. The travellers hear everything as truckers hurl abuse from their windows and blow their horns.
‘They can’t always distinguish what is being shouted but they know it’s negative.
‘I just hope this publicity does not encourage the lorry drivers who do not blow their horns to start hooting them as they pass.’
Sebastian Kindersley, the leader of the Lib Dem opposition, admitted if the noise barrier was installed this year it would only be a temporary measure until the start of the A14 redevelopments.
And he hinted the council would dip into its own reserves if it failed to win a grant for the project.
‘If the Highways Agency says our demands are impossible we will tell them to get knotted,’ he said.
‘The travellers live between a motorway and a rubbish dump - it must be pretty desperate and something should be done urgently. They are entitled to their privacy.’
The National Romani Rights Association(CORR) blamed the council for choosing a poor site in the first place.
Chairman Basil Burton said: ‘As far as I’m concerned it’s disgusting that the local authorities have placed a gypsy site next to a busy motorway in the first place. But this barrier should be better than nothing.’
Three years ago it emerged South Cambridgeshire District Council had spent close to £1million on attempts to evict travellers from Smithy Fen in Cottenham, one of the country’s biggest and most notorious illegal camps.
Homeowners in the area have complained of soaring crime, threats and anti-social behaviour.
DANCE GYPSY,SING GYPSY, GO AWAY GYPSY
Posted by peiper
on 01/15/2009 at 10:18 AM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • UK •
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Permalink • Wednesday - January 14, 2009
Robbery trial collapses after judge finds victim ‘too believable’ .
I have had a very busy 24 hours and couldn’t even boot yesterday. Seems kind of strange having my life back.
I did however manage to read three newspapers yesterday and two today.
I think I should quite reading them. They only send my blood pressure up. Seems like people have managed to reach new highs (or should that be lows?)
in the stupid sweepstakes.
What have I misunderstood here? Must be something that got by me.
The judge is afraid the jury will believe the victim rather then the evidence despite the fact that she was able to ID the bad guy.
So, the FACT that she could ID the robber was NOT fact enough. ?? I have a problem understanding that. The guy was in her car.
It’s really all too much for a simple mind to grasp.
Robbery trial collapses after judge finds victim ‘too believable’
A man accused of robbing a driving instructor has been found not guilty after a judge found that his alleged victim was ‘too believable’ in her evidence.
By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 9:23PM GMT 13 Jan 2009Denise Dawson, 36, was given a £250 award by Judge Jamie Tabor QC, for her courage, and was praised by him for being “honest, utterly decent and brave”.
However, the judge said her identification of Liam Perks, 20, the man accused of robbing her as she gave a driving lesson, was not enough for the case to proceed.
The judge feared she might sway the jury in a case where the evidence fell short, and he directed that Perks, of Henbury, Bristol, should be found not guilty. He had earlier stopped the trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Judge Tabor said: “Denise Dawson was a particularly impressive witness because she showed courage, clarity of thought and was undoubtedly honest.
”The jury may lend more weight to her evidence than her facts allow. You cannot be sure she got it right ... had this been the Archbishop of Canterbury’s son, would I have allowed (the trial) to go on? The answer is no.”
After the case collapsed, Mrs Dawson said: “The judge was absolutely wonderful. He was fantastic, but I am not happy with the system. I feel Liam Perks got a better deal out of it than I did.”
She added: “I feel very upset. How much more evidence can I get? I cannot sit there with a camera.
”I positively identified someone from a video ID parade and was prepared to risk everything by going to court but it is still not enough.”
Mrs Dawson, who has two teenage children, was attacked as she took a driving lesson in Southmead, Bristol in December 2007.
Her student Jodie Dickinson, 26, was practicing hill starts when a gang surrounded her car.
The gang smashed her rear window with a brick, reached in and grabbed her Hewlett Packard laptop before running off.
Mrs Dawson, who still runs her driving school, chased him and asked for her computer back but he clutched it in his arms and walked away.
She then returned to her car after she spotted one of the youths rifling through her glove box. She was punched twice, and later identified Perks as one of the robbers, the court heard.
But when police later interviewed Perks he said: “I know I ain’t been involved in no robbery.”
Judge Tabor ruled that Mrs Dawson’s evidence alone was not sufficient for the case to proceed.
At the conclusion of the case the jury was told that Perks had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle for his involvement in a gang which stole and sold on motorcycles and prestige cars.
He will be sentenced for that offence on a date to be fixed.
Posted by peiper
on 01/14/2009 at 12:20 PM
Filed Under: • Crime • Daily Life • UK •
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Permalink • Monday - January 12, 2009
And Then There Were Ten
Bill Stone, one of Britain’s last surviving World War I veterans has died aged 108, the Ministry of Defense said Monday. Stone is the last known veteran in Britain to have fought in both World War I and World War II. He was one of just three World War I survivors who took part in last year’s services to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.
The Ministry of Defense said Stone died Jan. 10 from a chest infection.
William Stone was born in Devon, in southwest England, on 23 September 1900, the 10th of 14 children. He followed his three older brothers into the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday — he had wanted to join when he was 15 but his father refused to sign his papers. He joined the coal-fired battle cruiser HMS Tiger just weeks before the Allies declared victory. He stayed with the Royal Navy after the end of the war, sailing all over the world, from Cape Town to Jakarta.
He was working as chief stoker on mine sweeper HMS Salamander when World War II broke out and he took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, making five trips to the beaches to rescue exhausted Allied soldiers.
According to Wikipedia, worldwide there are perhaps 10 surviving veterans of this conflict. Possibly as few as 5, if you keep a tight lid on the definition.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/12/2009 at 03:34 PM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Military •
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Permalink • Friday - January 09, 2009
Peiper will be taking a few days off
After a long and slow decline, Peiper’s mother in law has passed away. She was 93. He and his wife cared for her at home, and with some help from visiting caregivers they did their best for her. But time runs out for all of us eventually. I have no details at this point, and I am not expecting any, but I gather the frail old dear just went to sleep and slipped away. In a way that’s a blessing. God rest her soul.
So I am expecting we won’t be hearing from him for a bit. Well, he ought to, he’ll be busy enough, but you never know. He might have the urge to blog for a bit of an escape, one that he’s fully entitled to IMO. But if I were he, I’d stay off the PC for a few days.
JD, I’m sorry for your loss. My condolences to you, and especially to your wife.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/09/2009 at 02:00 PM
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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