Wednesday - April 15, 2009

I’ve been joking for awhile about how much money Brits have. Well, won’t Brits be surprised.

Alright maybe less surprised then sick.  Very, very sick! 
In fact, it might even sicken BMEWS readers and viewers.

Cast your eyes ‘n’ ears on this.
While you’re watching this I’ll be deep breathing in a paper bag to get over it.

Maybe it’s time to quit the money gags re. Brits but hearing this .....  jeesh.

H/T and thanks to:
BEERNSANDWICHES BLOGSPOT

Visit this blog ... good site. imho.

Posted by peiper     on 04/15/2009 at 09:35 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • UK •  
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TERROR THAT STALKS ENGLAND IN THE 21ST CENTURY

H/T theOPINIONATOR

Good article and worth site visit for extra links to this article.

Apparently and sadly, the UK may face a further terror threat from those other kill happy folks in the land of Shamrocks and the Blarney stone.
Ppl calling themselves the real ira, I refuse to use caps, they don’t deserve it, are threatening action against this place. Great. Just what people here need.  With all there is worth living for in the 21st century, there are many who like to call themselves an army and go out and kill mostly the UNarmed.

With regard to “students” coming to the UK from places like Pakistan. Many of these so called colleges are no more then false fronts or in many cases buildings in some industrial park that of course aren’t colleges at all.

Oh this poor island .....

More Evidence of the Student = Al Qaeda Terrorist Connection in Great Britain

TheOPINIONATOR 14 April 2009
By Caroline Grant

Yet another story about a “gentle boy & student” being arrested for being a member of an Al Qaeda cell planning a terrorist attack against innocent British men, women and children. Mohammed Ramzan was supposedly in Great Britain studying for an MBA. Ramzan is one of eleven Pakistani nationals that is tied to the Al Qaeda Easter bomb plot to blow up Manchester shopping centres.

One would expect that post Graduate education and professional positions would prove effective against muslim choosing to become terrorists - the exact opposite appears to far too frequently to be the truth as evidenced by the “bomb factory” medical doctors who tried to blow up a West End London nightclub with nail bombs. When this effort failed, they launched a suicide bomb attack Scotland’s Glasgow Airport. It is appalling and frightening that three of the recently arrested Easter bomb plot terrorists actually worked at Manchester airport.

Recently it was shown that lax student visa regulations used to enter the UK from Pakistan have definitive ties to & have facilitated terrorists entering Great Britain. Thus, British Universities have become hotbeds of terror cells—with professors often shielding the perpetrators. Despite the fact that a large percentage of muslim students, in British universites and colleges, support killing in the name of Islam, ------ lecturers, etc. have refused to notify law enforcement of muslim extremists on campuses. It must be heartwarming for the British people to know that their schools of higher learning place the safety of Al Qaeda/muslim terrorists over the public.

Thus we have another planned act of terrorism - brought into Great Britain courtesy of the inept Labour government, British universities and colleges and lax immigration laws. Fortunately for all - this latest terrorist murder plot was halted prior to execution.

Also interesting ----- three more “Asian” men were arrested in Liverpool, on Easter Sunday, as part of a “dramatic swoop”:

“Sniffer dogs attended the scene and a thorough search of the inside and underneath of the vehicle, using mirrors and metal detectors, was carried out.A flat, situated above a cafe just yards from where the car was pulled over, was also searched by forensic experts. Following the arrests, a spokesman said the incident was not linked to the counter-terrorist raids across the North-West.”

Not linked to the counter terrorist raids?? The police have got to be having a laugh and think we are dumber than a brick to swallow that statement. With the UK veritable spilling over into the sea with throngs of illegal immigrants - who law enforcement seems to regularly ignore - why on earth would these men be so important if they were not suspected of terrorism? - plus the Liverpool/Easter Sunday terror plot connection is obvious.

Let’s hope those sniffer dogs were wearing booties as the British police must always be mindful to tip toe around and appease muslims - even if they could be terrorists.

Posted by peiper     on 04/15/2009 at 08:47 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • UK •  
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   Tuesday - April 14, 2009

Read This And Be Angry

Homeland Security just reissued a document very similar to the one the Missouri Police recently put out and then denounced. You know the one: you’re a terrorist if you have a Ron Paul bumpersticker. Hand, cookie jar, camera: looks like our benevolent government has been caught in the act again.

If you can’t find it elsewhere, then download it from me. It’s 2MB big, it’s an Acrobat .pdf file, and I’m not leaving this thing up for too long. It eats up too much of my disk space.

This is your government, classifying YOU as a threat to national security because you might believe something different than the leftist pap coming from Teh One. Therefore you are an extremist, therefore you are a hater, probably racist, therefore you, and those kill-crazy psychotic returning soldiers (which almost every episode of NCIS reminds us that they can never fit back into society and are almost guaranteed to go on a murderous frenzy) are likely planning violent acts. Don’t forget the soldiers in the streets when that mass shooting law enforcement situation arose in Samson Alabama last month.

At least Fox News is all over this one pretty quickly this time. Sean Hannity has a 15 second bit going as I type this. But don’t expect the outrage to go further than that on the TV set. The only feedback or discussion you will ever find will be here, on the VRWC blogosphere.

Push the reset button. Push it one last time at the ballot box. We’ve been on the soap box for years, and nothing is happening.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/14/2009 at 11:02 PM   
Filed Under: • Government •  
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This Fits My Idea Of Recycling

She was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

She is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. A ship that will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship’s bow section.  When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, ‘those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,’ recalled Navy Capt . Kevin Wensing, who was there. ‘It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.’

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the ‘hair on my neck stood up.’ ‘It had a big meaning to it for all of us,’ he said. ‘They knocked us down. They can’t keep us down. We’re going to be back.’

The ship’s motto? ‘Never Forget’

USS New York (LPD-21), the fifth ship in the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New York. The ship was designed to deliver a fully-equipped battalion of 700 Marines.

Shortly after 11 September 2001, Governor of New York George E. Pataki wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England requesting that the Navy bestow the name USS New York on a surface warship involved in the War on Terror in honor of September 11’s victims. In his letter, the Governor said he understood state names are currently reserved for submarines, but asked for special consideration so the name could be given to a surface ship. The request was approved 28 August 2002.

The ship will also incorporate the latest quality of life standards for the embarked sailors and Marines, including the sit-up berth, ship services mall, a fitness center and learning resource center and electronic classroom with the flexibility to accommodate mixed gender sailors and Marines as part of the crew and embarked troops. The design team also incorporated hundreds of suggestions and recommendations from more than 1,000 sailors and Marines in the Design for Ownership process to ensure that this ship will meet their needs throughout the first half of the 21st century.

I think she looks great. It’s just too bad they didn’t give it some means of cost effective shore bombardment. Say, like a bow turret mounting a brace of 127s or 155s. After all, with a draft of only 23 feet, this “transport dock” is nearly a littoral craft. And “transport dock” is such an ignominious name for a fighting ship.

h/t to Sam O. Thanks! Maybe he can explain why the “anchor holes” look so much bigger in some of these pics than in the others.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/14/2009 at 09:50 PM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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A Bad Time To Call

So I’m sitting here at the computer, with half a dozen .pdf forms open, trying to get my taxes done, hoping that I can get my bottom line small enough so that the check I mail in won’t bounce.

And the phone rings. It’s this guy from the Republican Party, who wants me to send them some money. “Oooh, now we’ve got Michael Steele and how much they need my support what with the crazy budgets the Democrats have rammed through and ... “

I cut the mother off at the knees. Bad time to call dude.

I gave him both barrels, and told him everything that was wrong with the GOP going all the way back to Nixon. All the broken promises, from Reagan getting rid of the Department of Education, to the failed Contract With America (anybody remember term limits?) right up to weak foreign policy and through the greed, corruption, and pork barrel spending of the current crop. How today’s Republicans aren’t Conservatives by any stretch, and shut up already with the abortion issue you’re never going to overturn Roe, how they’re all actually Democrats who only appear conservative because all the Democrats are now Socialists. And so on and so on. I apologized to the guy, because he’s just doing a job, but I let him know that if the ‘pubs wanted another dime out of me that they’d better man up and git ‘er done. And then I told him just what “‘er” meant, from border security to lower taxes to a greatly smaller federal government that stayed within it’s constitutional bounds to overturning Kelo to thinning out the crazy amount of stupid laws to better tax policy to responsible spending and accounting practices to keeping the damn Democrats the hell out of our primaries, which is what gave us Juan Fucking McAmnesty (yes, I said exactly that) who isn’t even a Republican much less a Conservative, oooh, I’m a Maverick!, sure I’m proud of his military service but that was a long time ago and I won’t forget how he sold Sarah Palin down the river and ran the most limp dick campaign since Bob Dole. And, yippity fuckin yahoo, we’ve got Michael Steele, a black guy. Why is it that he’s almost the only black guy in the party, when it was the Republicans who were founded to eliminate slavery, it was the Republicans who got the 14th and 15th Amendment passed when every last Democrat voted against them, it was the Republicans who forced through the Civil Rights Act etc etc, right up to Bush and his No Child Left Behind which should have raised the education standards all over the country even in the ghettos but all we ever heard was that he didn’t fund it, even though he did even though funding education is none of the federal government’s damn business and the wishy washy GOP has allowed themselves to be demagogued as the party that only cares about big business and doesn’t like black people, hell it was said they even sabotaged the levies in the 9th Ward so they’d all drown, and not one of them had the guts to say what a crock that statement was?

He was laughing his ass off on the other end of the phone. I apologized again, and told him he was going to have an awful lot of responses like mine. He said that part of his job was to pass comments along. So I told him that when the Republican party got over being Upper East Side Gentlemen and started fighting fire with fire against the Democrats - who lie, cheat, steal, rig elections, plus the whole corrupt ACORN mess, AND the financial breakdown that is heavily their fault and thieves like Dodd are getting away with it scot-free, and they have brainwashed generations of technically savvy young people into mindless leftist minions - THEN maybe I’d think about it. But only after I saw some REAL PROGRESS against some of my outlined issues. And I’m not seeing any progress at all on any of them, AND I didn’t see any of it when Bush was in the White House, EVEN WHEN the GOP had control of the House and the Senate. Find me a stand up guy who can talk the talk and walk the walk and get things done, hey maybe Bobby Jindal?, then they’d see some money from me. Until then, save yourselves the cost of a phone call and don’t bother me.




Well, I feel better now.

Remember, Buy A Gun Day is tomorrow. If you can find one to buy. My wife did her taxes and can rationalize buying a nice piece. All I have left in my bank account is some of Obama’s loose Change.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/14/2009 at 04:42 PM   
Filed Under: • Republicans • Taxes •  
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MOM SMACKS HER KID, MOM HAS KID TAKEN AWAY AND FACES ARREST.

OK BMEWS, what do ya make of this?

Doesn’t sound like she beat the little brat. More like a tap with a brush.  Who knows?

There have been cases of late where parents have actually killed babies.  Kids have been very badly abused and social services missed the clues and so have come under a lot of fire.  I guess they now aren’t taking any chances.  Some parents have been accused of child abuse, lost the kids and then been found innocent.  Sticky situation. 
This case has been in the news for a couple of days. 

Mother whose son, 8, was taken into care after she hit him with a hairbrush defends parental right to smack children

By David Wilkes
Last updated at 4:51 PM on 14th April 2009

A mother whose eight-year-old son was taken into care after she smacked him with a hairbrush for refusing to get ready for school has defended her right to punish him.

Speaking for the first time about the incident, she said today: ‘Every parent should be able to bring up their child as they think is best. If they don’t respect you it’s hard to know what to do.’

The 42-year-old single mother says she snapped and ‘saw red’ after months of disobedience by her son and stress over her battle with breast cancer.

A mother whose son was taken into care after she smacked him with a hairbrush has defended her right to punish him (file picture)

She was holding a hairbrush at the time and struck him twice on the shoulder then apologised with a cuddle. The boy told his teachers at school and was immediately taken into protective custody by socials services.

Last week his mother pleaded guilty to assault and could now permanently lose custody of her son when she is sentenced later this month.

At her home today she told of her anxiety over what may happen.

‘It’s been nearly two months now and we still don’t know what’s going on,’ she said. ‘I know he wants to come back and I would love for us to be together again.’

She added: ‘I was hit as a child and I’m still here. At the end of the day me smacking him with a hairbrush isn’t half as bad as what you see mothers doing to their children in supermarkets.’

A single mother, her illness has resulted in her undergoing a mastectomy. She has been receiving help from social services for monts as she juggles her cancer fight with controlling her disruptive son. Neither of the pair can be named for legal reasons.

She said: ‘Working with social services is like treading on eggshells sometimes.

‘I know what they’re trying to do but I know my son better than they do. Not everything works with him, he can be very stubborn.

‘Social services are helping me with strategies to help him go to school but at the end of the day some children are more difficult than others.

‘I’ve been under so much pressure with my illness. The whole thing has been a nightmare.’

She said that on the morning of the incident, February 5, they were running late after oversleeping.

‘He needed to have a bath but he just sat on the landing outside the bathroom door and said he wasn’t going to school,’ she said.

‘He went into a huge sulk and just refused to move. I had just woken up myself and was trying to get ready. I had a hairbrush in my hand and I just saw red and hit him in a moment of madness.

‘He is a problem child but that morning he was a total nightmare and refused to do anything I asked.

‘I didn’t hit him hard at all but I felt awful for doing so. As soon as I did it I realised what I had done. said sorry and gave him a cuddle.’

She was arrested days later and hauled before South Somerset Magistrates’ Court in Yeovil when she pleaded guilty to assault by beating.

She is due back at the same court for sentencing on April 30, when the long-term future of the boy will be decided. She currently only has two hour access to him per week.

David Taylor, director of children’s services at Somerset County Council, said the incident was a culmination of a number of issues following a ‘stressful two years’ for the mother.

He said: ‘We are working with the mother in this case. It would be our intention to return the child to her as soon as possible.

‘We always try to work in the least restrictive way we can, and do not remove children unless we have to. We want to work with the mother in a positive manner and are talking to her about how best to support her.’

CHILD ABUSE?

Posted by peiper     on 04/14/2009 at 04:02 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • Nanny State • UK •  
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POLICE BRUTALITY …. YEAH, RIGHT.  GO AWAY.  GO FAR AWAY.

Alright people, am I seeing this incorrectly?

It appears to me that the woman in the video is crowding that officer. He turns away but back she comes.  Then she tells him he can’t hit a woman.
Oh really?  In this kind of situation, why the hell not?  That’s like saying she can do anything she pleases and there should be no price to pay for her own actions.  I don’t buy that.  There has been and continues to be a ton of criticism leveled at the cops during the recent G-20 meeting.  A minority of the mob were abusive, breaking windows, breaking into a building, throwing missiles at the police and name calling and spiting at the cops.
So, folks are saying that’s what cops are trained for. No.  They aren’t trained to be used a spitting targets. Far as I am concerned, if you abuse anyone in that manner, they have a right to break-a-you face!

Now it is also true that during these “demonstrations” a totally innocent (we think) man had a heart attack as a result of being hit by cops. They say he was trying to get out of the area.  But he was also a heavy drinker, living in a shelter and having little or no family contact due to his drinking problem.
Now suddenly they miss him and no doubt will sue.  But I’m getting off track with that.

Take a look at the video and listen to the ITV reporter.  Does the action really match what she is reporting?

You decide.

Met investigates new claims of policeman hitting G20 woman
The police watchdog is to investigate a fresh claim of alleged police brutality after new video footage emerged showing a woman being hit by an officer during the G20 protests.

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 8:07PM BST 14 Apr 2009

The new incident, which appeared on the website You Tube, is another blow for the Met which has already faced intense criticism over Mr Tomlinson.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has already received around 120 complaints about police actions during the G20 protests.

The Met police were last night trying to trace the officer in the latest incident, although images on some campaigners websites appeared to show him clearly.

The fact he is not showing his police ID number is reminiscent of the Tomlinson incident where the officer in question also failed to have his number on show.

There was also an online appeal by activists to track down the woman involved.

TELEGRAPH

Posted by peiper     on 04/14/2009 at 02:39 PM   
Filed Under: • UK •  
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All world’s Bengal tiger types reared at wildlife centre.  Pussy Cats..

I really go ape over this sort of stuff but most especially when it cats. Big cats.  Hmm, like small ones too but this is special you have to agree.

A wildlife centre has raised a collection of the rarest tigers on the planet, including the only known complete group of all four varieties of Bengal tiger.

Last Updated: 4:09PM BST 14 Apr 2009

Loka, a 2-year-old female, Royal White Bengal Tiger, and Sundari, a 2-year-old female, Snow White Bengal Tiger Photo: BARCROFT MEDIA

The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.), in South Carolina, has animals of the Royal Standard Bengal (which is orange and black), the Royal White Bengal (white with black stripes), the Snow White Bengal (all white or with ghost stripes), and the Golden Tabby Bengal (red to pale orange cream stripes and saddle).
The wildlife education organisation, which hand-rears its tigers, has 67 at its base in Myrtle Beach, which it claims is the largest group of ‘working’ tigers in the world.

Matsu, a 2-year-old female Standard Royal Bengal Tiger, and Karupa, a 2-year-old female Golden Tabby Bengal Tiger Photo: BARCROFT MEDIA

Dr Bhagavan Antle said: “Standard Bengal tigers are found throughout India, Loas, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, where there have been an enormous drop in populations and there only a few thousand remaining.
“It is thought thousands of years ago tigers originally came from Siberia, where they were orange and black. But during the last Ice Age tigers were forced to migrate south as far the island of Bali and west to the Caspian Sea.

“During this great migration, tigers went through many adaptations in order to fit into very specific environments.
“Over time they became smaller in size and unique colour changes helped them adapt to specific ecological niches.”

There are now only around 300 to 400 Royal White tigers left in the world, which all live in captivity; only 30 Golden Tabby tigers; around 10,000 Royal Standard Bengal tigers left in captivity with two to four thousand in the wild; and around just a dozen Snow White tigers, four of which are at the centre.
Dr Antle said: “Historically all of these tigers started disappearing at the turn of the century. So there have been only sporadic reports from explorers and locals who saw these animals in the wild.

“These types of tigers were always in very small numbers and found throughout south east Asia in specialised niches.
“But in previous centuries, these types of Bengals were seen in India, North Korea, throughout south east Asia and even up to Iraq and Iran.”

Dr Antle added: “Like human photographs, you can see the difference in their age as some of them look a little more grizzled and haggard than others.
“Tigers do have a tendency to stay pristine generally for the first seven or eight years of their lines.
“After this point they start to get more character as gravity takes effect.”

HERE KITTY,KITTY

Posted by peiper     on 04/14/2009 at 12:54 PM   
Filed Under: • Animals •  
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Taliban executes 14-year-old girl for planning to elope.  Oh those Tali-Killers .. always on the job

And these are the slugs that the authorities in Pakistan have allowed, by agreement, to keep sharia law in their province.
True, this story doesn’t come from Pakistan.  I’m simply pointing out they are the same merciless, stone age ignorant bastards.

A 14-year-old girl and her boyfriend have been executed by a Taliban firing squad after being caught eloping.

By Ben Farmer in Kabul
Last Updated: 1:24PM BST 14 Apr 2009

The pair were shot dead in front of their village mosque as their villagers looked on in south western Afghanistan, a district official said.
Hashim Noorzai, head of Khash Rud district of Nimroz province, said the girl, called Gulsima, had been unhappily engaged to marry when she fell in love with Aziz, aged 17.

The pair attempted to escape the village of Lokhi and planned to head to Iran and marry, but were captured by villagers and dragged back.
After two days of deliberation, a council of elders had been unable to decide how to resolve the dispute, Mr Noorzai said.
Half the elders favoured some way of allowing them to marry, while the other half favoured execution.

As the council was deadlocked, local Taliban militants stepped in, overruled village religious leaders and declared the lovers must be executed, he said.
Ghulam Dastageer Azad, governor of the province, said the execution was an “insult to Islam”.
Nimroz, a sparsely-populated, desert province on the borders of Iran and Pakistan has little or no Afghan government or foreign presence.

Taliban militants rule large swathes of the province with impunity and dispense justice based on their own interpretations of Sharia law and tribal code.
Abdul Jabar, police chief of the province, admitted he had no police stations in the district and said and many of the fighters who summarily judged cases were themselves often no more than 18 or 19.

Across the border in Pakistan, a deal to allow Sharia law in the Swat valley has seen Taliban militants hold public executions.

Mobile phone footage appearing to show a 17-year-old woman being publicly flogged for adultery in the valley sparked international outrage earlier this month.
Under Pashtunwali, the tribal morality code in southern Afghanistan, relations between unmarried or unrelated members of opposite sexes are strictly regulated.
Extrajudicial “honour killings” are also practised by families who believe a relative has brought them shame, including by refusing to marry a chosen partner.

The Taliban swept to power in the mid 1990s by offering strict justice and Islamic order after years of chaotic rule by predatory and rapacious warlords.
Their travelling justice commissions continue to settle disputes in much of the lawless south where the government has no power and traditional tribal power has been eroded by decades of war.

EXECUTION

Posted by peiper     on 04/14/2009 at 12:35 PM   
Filed Under: • Jack Booted Thugs • RoPMA • Terrorists •  
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Not Enough Gun

Here’s a news story that begs for Snopes.com to verify ...

This story comes to us from the eternally cold and icy land of Brazil, where folks have to bundle up in heavy layers of wool and leather just to survive. NOT!! [ I’m pretty sure Brazil is one of those “clothing optional” countries. I’ve seen some of the pictures from Carnival, and even the sequins are small. Forget modesty. Hell, forget clothing. ]

Bra saves woman’s life in robbery shooting

Local media reported that the woman was travelling on the bus on Saturday in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia when it was held up by two armed men. The incident took place in Bahia’s capital, Salvador, where 58-year-old Ivonete Pereira travelling to her summer home in the nearby town of Lauro de Freitas.

Because of frequent bus attacks in the region, she hid 150 reals (£45) in 20 and 10-real notes coiled inside the left cup of her bra. When the bus passed through the Boca do Rio neighborhood, the robbers suddenly announced their intention. A shoot out ensued with a police officer on the scene and a stray bullet hit Miss Pereira.

Her bra was stuffed with just enough cash to absorb most of the impact, although she still had to be taken to hospital to have the bullet removed. A retired police sergeant was shot dead during the clash with the assailants, who managed to escape.

I’m just pointing out that this is an odd bit of news, and it’s pretty obvious that one of the reporters wasn’t doing such a good job of actually getting the whole story. Which isn’t exactly news either.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/14/2009 at 11:55 AM   
Filed Under: • News-Briefs •  
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   Monday - April 13, 2009

FLYING SCHOOL APPLIES FOR PLANNING PERMISSION. BUT CITY COUNCIL IS LAUREL AND HARDY,

The Goons ...
Abbott and Costello
THE KEYSTONE COPS ....

This little blurb appeared last week in a Richard Littlejohn column. Sorry, no link so am copying. It’s funny but it’s stupid too and shows how much thinking does not go into a council’s decision. Jeesh.

A FLYING school at an airport in Essex applied for planning permission to build an accommodation block for trainee pilots.

They were initially turned down because they didn’t have a bathroom with disabled access.  EVEN THOUGH THEY PROTESTED THAT THE FLIGHT DECK OF A BOEING 737 wasn’t wheelchair compatible, the council insisted.  So now they have a huge bike storage room complete with disabled toilet.

HOW DID DOUGLAS BADER MANAGE?

I should explain for Yanks who may not know.  Bader was a highly decorated RAF fighter pilot in last war.  Had no legs.  Check out the link below. This guy was Unbelievable.
He was shot down by Germans, escaped and was captured and tried again.
The Germans so admired his bravery, they allowed an artificial leg to be air dropped at POW camp.

DOUGLAS BADER - “personification of RAF heroism during the Second World War.”

Posted by peiper     on 04/13/2009 at 01:51 PM   
Filed Under: • Heroes • UK •  
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WELL NOW, IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY …. PIRATES.

Mary Beard is a wickedly subversive commentator on both the modern and the ancient world. She is a professor in classics at Cambridge and classics editor of the TLS.  (That’s what it say on the site where I found this.)

Help me here guys.  Is she being “wickedly funny” or just plain dumb? 

Am I not reading her correctly?  But then, she’s a professor. So that could explain it. 

Pirates? Try the Pompey-the-Great solution?
By, Mary Beard
Times Literary Supplement

Exactly who is to count as a “pirate” as such will always remain a matter of opinion and dispute. for ‘pirates’ are no more objectively defined than ‘terrorists’. To most of the world, after all, Sir Francis Drake was a dreadful pirate, to the British he still somehow manages to qualify as an ‘explorer’.

But however you define them, the Romans had plenty of trouble with criminals sailing around the Mediterranean. It must sometimes have seemed hard to decide which was the greater danger of a sea voyage in antiquity: shipwreck or kidnapping by one of the many gangs of thugs looking to make quick money by getting ransom for the wealthy individuals they captured (or alternatively by selling them into slavery).

The most famous victim of this was the young Julius Caesar, who fell into pirate hands in the 70s BC. The story of this crime was almost certainly later embellished to make it a nice prequel of Caesar’s later character and career. It is said that when the pirates told him that they were going to demand 20 talents ransom money (a hefty sum), Caesar replied that he was worth much more than that —and insisted that they double it.

Some of his party went off to get the cash, leaving Caesar to live for a month or so with this captors. He is supposed to have treated them as servants, telling them not to make too much noise when he wanted to rest, making them listen to him practising his oratory, and threatening that when he was released he would have them crucified. When the ransom arrived, he was set free—and indeed, in due course, he did crucify the lot of them.

But it was Caesar’s great rival Pompey the Great who had greatest success against the pirates, with a rather more liberal approach.

By the early 60s BC, pirates had become such a menace to Mediterranean shipping that in 67 Rome gave Pompey a “special command” and vast resources to try to get rid of them. It was great opportunity for this general ‘on the make’ to demonstrate his military genius. So he divided the sea into separate operational regions and, using loyal subordinate officers, he swept the pirates off the waters in just a few months.

But Pompey was smart enough to realise that, unless they were given some other form of livelihood, they would soon be back. (This is basically the Afghanistan problem: if they don’t make their money out of the poppy crop how ARE they going to survive.) So in a wonderful, early ‘resettlement of offenders’ initiative he offered the pirates small-holdings near the coast, where they could make an honest living for themselves.

In fact Servius, the late Roman commentator on the works of Virgil, was convinced that his poet had given one of these reformed characters a walk-on part in the Georgics (4, 125ff): a old man, living near Tarentum in South Italy, peacefully keeping bees, his days of piracy long behind him.

Might this not be a better solution than a shoot out for the Somali pirates?

TIMES

Posted by peiper     on 04/13/2009 at 11:59 AM   
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •  
• Comments (7) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Dear DoD Wonk: You’re Fired

Defense officials said the U.S. military is considering attacks on Somali pirate bases on land and aid for the people there to help stop the hijacking of ships off Africa’s coast, Bloomberg.com reported.

The plan would include helping Somalia create their own coast guard and train security forces, the officials, who requested anonymity, told Bloomberg.com.

Officials said the plan would be submitted to the Obama administration as they decide how best to tackle the increase in pirate attacks off the Somali coast.

The only way to make shipping routes safe from pirates would be to disrupt their support network on land, security analysts have said.

Any actions against the pirates, defense officials said, would require the support of the Somali people, who are usually not in favor of foreign intervention.

First up, ass biscuit, the Somali government, or whatever passes for it these days, said months ago that anybody in the world could do whatever they wanted to the pirates. So, you are fired because you have ZERO awareness of what’s going on.

Next, when the ships of one nation attack and hijack the ships of another nation, it is an act of war. Go back and read your books; I think this one is on page 2. Do you have the slightest idea what a proxy is? Or a cut-out? Since the “official” Somali navy consists of 3 hungry kids with slingshots floating on a log, and Somali forces have done EXACTLY NOTHING to stem these pirates for several years, then they are actually, de facto, supporting and encouraging the pirates.

Do I need a “Thirdly”? Doctrine of hot pursuit? This is why we have Marines? Ever hear of Tripoli? Don’t Tread On Me? Being the World’s Policeman? Remember Mogadishu? Revenge? War On Terror?

You are a wiener. Go get a job with the Sierra Club. You have no business working for, or being a spokesman for, the Department of Defense. You’re fired.

The rest of the dickless dribble can be read here. Send them food! Send them aid! Send them money! Help them rebuild! Blame America! Understand their problems and provide a multi-billion dollar cure!

NO. Kill them. In quantities unseen since Dresden and Hiroshima. Without warning. Find 50 of their ships at sea and sink them. Burn everything that floats up and down their entire coast, then leave them to suffer. Scare the living hell out of the entire world. Then find another bunch and do it again. Send the message, Chicago Boy. That’s the Chicago Way.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/13/2009 at 10:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Military • Pirates, aarrgh! • Politics •  
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Canada’s Green Party urges U.S. booksellers to ban hate material.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Oh good grief.  Do people actually believe that to be the truth, the whole truth and nothin’ but?  I know the answer before you tell me.
Unfortunately, yeah.  It is mind boggling that anyone today with all the research at hand, would still buy that out and out forgery. Even worse is the fact that if looked at rationally, it isn’t even logical. Ah, never mind.  The issue is censorship.  The kind of people who want to buy that, along with The Turner Diaries, already have their minds made up.  These books merely confirm for them what they already believe.

I have another issue though.  It’s The Green Party. My take on them is that they’re very left and I have this (I admit it) propensity to be against anything they are for.  And if they’re against it, well. There may be times I have ta be for it. 

They say (as does the Simon Wiesenthal Center) that the book sellers are “distributing hate material.” I say, NO THEY ARE NOT.  They are selling to individuals who are looking for and buying that material.  But I question the idea of distribution as it has connotations (to me anyway) of some sort of official agency of the govt. responsible for seeing to it that material is “pushed” on the public.  It’s commerce.  All the bans in the world will not stop people from reading what they want to.  Ban it and all ya do is build a conspiracy theory with people saying, ah ha. I knew it. They don’t want me to have any information. Why? Because it’s possible that it’s all true.

I think the Wiesenthal Center was correct in asking (ok, they demanded) that the seller in question also post a notice that the Protocols were a forgery.  Of course, that won’t make any difference to those buying the book who already “know” the truth.  Not to make light of a serious subject but I’m even surprised that so many of those folks can read at all. 

But I believe they were dead WRONG to insist that “Mein Kampf"not be sold in Germany.  It’s an over long and thoroughly boring book.  I tried to read the damn thing once in a school project.  Couldn’t finish it.  Have since read extracts and it’s still a bore and still badly written. The point is, I do know those who have read the whole damn thing (? How?) and they weren’t turned into raving anti-Semitic sword waving Nazis.

Honestly I don’t even think the ban that some countries have (Germany,Austria,France) on Nazis or on Nazi art and memorabilia and the Nazi salute (which we once used in America when pledging to our flag in school long before the NSDAP), I don’t believe that ban has any effect on those who are already predisposed that way.  On the other hand, perhaps their experience is different enough from ours, that is the USA, that they fear if allowed to be open then the hate mongers will again gain the upper hand.  I suppose because I am American and because all those things are easily available in the US, and so far we haven’t turned ourselves into a Nazi state, I guess I have a hard time understanding the extent of that censorship.

Or to put it another way, and pardon me please if I have to quote a Nazi to do this but it is appropriate in this case.
When the NSDAP (Nazis) were banned once, Dr. Gobbels issued the following line.

TROTZ VERBOT, NICHT TOT.

BANNED BUT NOT DEAD.

April 13, 2000 2:00 PM PDT
Canadian group urges U.S. booksellers to ban hate material
By Troy Wolverton
Staff Writer, CNET News

Leading Internet bookstores are under fire again for selling hate literature abroad, this time from Canada.

The Green Party of Canada has accused Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com of violating Canadian criminal and customs laws by selling racist and anti-Semitic books such as “The Turner Diaries” and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in the country. Party leaders say that although they notified the companies in February, Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com have not yet responded.

“It’s important that they take responsibility for what they are distributing out into the public,” Green Party spokesman Richard Warman said. “They have to respect the laws of other countries.”

But Canadian officials expressed doubts about whether the sale of such books over the Internet by foreign companies constitutes a crime.

“This is not straight cut,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Paul Marsh said. “It’s not straight-forward when you look at the sections.”

Representatives for Amazon were not available to comment. A Barnesandnoble spokesperson declined to comment.

The controversy is the latest incident in which an e-commerce player has been taken to task for carrying hate-related merchandise. Last month, Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com agreed to post a statement from the Anti-Defamation League calling the “Protocols of Zion” an anti-Semitic forgery.

Earlier this year, online auction giant eBay bowed to pressure from outside groups and banned the sale of items that promote hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation.

And last August, Amazon, Barnesandnoble and Borders Online came under fire from the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center for selling Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” in Germany. The companies later banned sales of the publication in the country.

Canada prohibits advocating genocide or publicly inciting hatred via spoken or written words. The country also bans the importation of hate propaganda.

The “Turner Diaries” and the “Protocols of Zion” are on a list of books that the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency consider illegal to import into the country, agency spokesman Michel Cl?roux confirmed. But with $1 billion worth of goods crossing the border from the United States into Canada every day, the agency cannot check every package that comes over the border, Cl?roux said. In any case, if the agency intercepted a shipment of banned books, it would contact the Canadian importer, not the U.S. exporter, he said. He added that the agency did not have authority to regulate the actual online sales of the books.

“Electronic commerce is outside our jurisdiction as customs officers,” Cl?roux said.

Complying with scores of complex international laws is a “classic issue” of doing business on the Internet, said Maureen Dorney, an attorney with Palo Alto, Calif.-based Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich. Amazon and Barnesandnoble could have some criminal liability for the sales of banned books even if they don’t have a presence in the countries they are shipping to, she said.

“If you are willing to make your products available internationally, you are potentially subject to the laws of all those jurisdictions that you are shipping to,” Dorney said.

Regardless of whether the sales are illegal, Green Party officials said the companies had a moral obligation to refrain from profiting from the sale of hate literature.

“We would like to express our general concern about the decision by Amazon.com to carry works that are self-evidently racist,” the party said in a letter to the leading e-tailer. “We do not doubt the right of these individuals to hold racist ideas, but we do question the moral and ethical basis of Amazon’s decision to profit from their distribution and how this reflects upon Amazon’s presumed desire to be a responsible corporate citizen.”

CNET NEWS

Posted by peiper     on 04/13/2009 at 09:46 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Economics • Editorials • Racism and race relations •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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