Monday - April 20, 2009
7th, maybe 6th
Phew. That one was too close.
We finished off Monday League tonight, bowling the 7th place team again. And we beat them 5-2, again. That means we fought our way up out of 8th place, into at least 7th. But if the 5th place team laid a 7-0 smackdown on the 6th place team, our 5 points will be enough to float us up to 6th. Either place is fine with us. This is only our first year together as a team, and we’ve really hit it off. Next year maybe we’ll be more competitive. Too bad that league’s Secretary had to go away for a wedding, so it will be several weeks until we get together again to pass out the awards and money.
I screwed the pooch in game one. We lost that one by 115, and at least 50 pins of that was my fault. I just couldn’t focus, because just being in the alley made me think about Saturday league, and I’m really pissed off about that. No, not my teammates. I’m pretty much used to their level of major suckage. One beer after getting home and I’m over their weekly fiascos. What’s got me cranked is that the way the rules in that league are written, an imbalanced situation exists, and that such a thing might be entirely legal. And that raises my Porcupine Quills Of Injustice into Slash Position. Seriously. I got into a very short and loud argument with the league VP last week, and was within a step of clobbering him. Real RCOB moment for me. Tables were knocked over, chairs kicked. That’s bad. I have an explosive temper. I’m usually the most easy going guy, but tell me something asinine and insist it’s the truth and interrupt me every two words without even listening when I try to give my opinion, “none of us like it but that’s the way it is” ... that’s pushing several of my big red buttons all at the same time.
I have contacted the USBC looking for clarification. See, this is the issue. This league’s rules consider a vacant position to be a regular team member. Because of that, they feel that a team that has one or more vacancies can never forfeit by absence. I think that’s a lot of hooie. If you don’t show up, screw you. You don’t win anything. The other team doesn’t automatically win, they have to earn their points by bowling against their own averages. That part at least is standard USBC policy. But under this league’s current rules, a team that has no vacancies can forfeit by not showing up. So one team can forfeit, but another team can’t? That ain’t right. But the rule is written “A legal lineup shall consist of two regular bowlers. A vacancy is considered a regular bowler.” “Aha!” I hear you saying, “that means that one person still has to show up anyway!” Ordinarily yes. But our team, the notoriously unreliable Team 5, has TWO vacancies. Actually at this point they have THREE, since the one guy hasn’t been seen or heard from in 5 weeks. So if vacancies are considered regular bowlers, then the first vacancy is one regular bowler, the next vacancy is another regular bowler ... and, ta da!, you have a nearly empty team that can never forfeit by not showing up, since the vacancy bowlers are “always there”. It’s total crap. And I debated against it back in August at our start up meeting. And it was the vice president who insisted that’s the way it had to be, or else he and his wife were quitting right then and there. So he got his way. And now 35 weeks later he’s telling me “none of us like it but that’s the way it is”? You ... you Democrat. You’re the one who absolutely insisted that the rule be written that way. Just you. And you wouldn’t listen to reason then either.
Since I’m the Secretary for this group, the keeper of all the scores AND the keeper of the rules, I realized the error early on, and I’ve run the whole season my way. I didn’t ignore their stupid rule, I just interpreted differently. Which is: no wins for no-shows. But I’ve been very flexible: if even one actual humanoid person on the team shows up, or pre-bowls, or even calls and says “I can’t make it, can I bowl later?"[nobody has ever done that one] then I don’t treat it as a forfeit. Many, if not most, leagues have rules about what they call a “starting lineup”: 2 out of 4, or 3 out of 5 of your team members had better either show up or pre-bowl, or else your team forfeits. Period. I set the bar as low to the ground as possible: one person. But I guess that wasn’t low enough. And I guess I’m a bit touchy at this point, having fronted this league $300 worth of software and supplies over the course of the season, having asked at least 10 times for some reimbursement and gotten none, having been called a “lyin cheatin mothafucka” to my face by one team because I was decent enough to point out their math errors because they couldn’t add 3 single digit numbers properly ... etc. It’s been a lot of work, since August, without any thanks at all. And now I’ve got some ornery drunk telling me I’m doing it all wrong, he who hasn’t done one single thing the entire year [tits on a shovel are more useful, and better looking, than a vice president of a bowling league. It’s not a paying job, and there is no work at all]. Bad move.
Even more aggravating is that he might be right. Well, too late now. I made the decision, that’s how I ran things, and they can do it their way next year. Even if I go back and change the rules in the software, I doubt if it will make a big enough difference to change who is in what place. But I don’t care. Even if I did the wrong thing. I’m the one doing every last bit of work here, above and beyond any expectation. So shut up and stay the hell out of my way. Now pay me my money, pay me my prize winnings, and I’m out of there. Find some other sucker next year, if you losers even have a next year.
So that’s what I had to get past tonight, and when I did I bowled Ok. Not great, but not awful. And that was good enough.
Woo hoo, summer league starts soon. And no Air Doug this year, because he’s too poor to spare the $13 per week. Good. And good riddance.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/20/2009 at 09:15 PM
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Permalink • I’m Miffed
The power keeps going out here today. It comes back on long enough for me to believe it’s going to stay on this time, so I run around and reset all the clocks and try and start the PC again, and I get halfway through a post and BLUUUUUueeeaa, out it goes again. So I’ll just stick something up real quick.
Obama sucks. He’s a commie.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/20/2009 at 03:25 PM
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Permalink • “Peace” Imam Calls for Extermination of Jews. Right, a moderate muslim of peace.
Sorry Charlie but I find I do NOT even trust the ones called moderate.
I can see past their oh so insincere smiles as they talk about peace.
I find it impossible to add anything here. I can’t find words and so will leave it up to anyone who wants to comment.
H/T Europenews.dk
“Peace” Imam Calls for Extermination of JewsFrontPage magazine.com 20 April 2009
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara CrookA Hamas cleric who once participated in an international conference of “Imams and Rabbis for Peace”—whose delegates vowed to “condemn any negative representation” of each other’s religions—has wholeheartedly espoused Hamas’s racist ideology in a recent Friday sermon on Hamas TV.
Ironically, this latest profession of Hamas’s genocidal racism was preached and broadcast at the start of the month in which the UN is meeting in the “Durban II” conference in Geneva to condemn Israel as being “racist.”
According to the Hamas interpretation of Islam, the Jews are inherently evil, seek to rule the (...)
Posted by peiper
on 04/20/2009 at 12:21 PM
Filed Under: • Israel • Racism and race relations • RoPMA • Terrorists •
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Permalink • 15 year old wonders what it might be like to kill, so the bastard tries and batters old lady …..
So often and maybe too often I report the crimes being done here, especially by the young.
This old woman wouldn’t have been any safer in the USA. Or would she? I don’t know. And since I only have so many hours in the day I can’t stay fully up to date with both places at once. So I spend most of the blog time with things relating to Europe and the UK. (Please note I separate Europe and UK by intention)
Well anyway ... this poor excuse for something human wanted to see what it was like to kill someone and tried.
I’m so convinced that much of this sort of thing has it’s roots in a culture that has been desensitized through “entertainment” for more then a generation. Bad parenting alone just can not account for the rate of really violent crimes I’m reading about almost daily. As well, there are NO ratios of risk to reward that might make a punk like this think 2wice. Even if this is his first offence, and I have to wonder about that, the fact that this totally worthless unredeemable pile of walking shit will maybe serve two years and then be out there in the land among us .... makes me shudder.
His lawyer Patrick Mason said the attack was ‘indefensible’ and did not offer any mitigation but said his client had inherited certain ‘personality traits’.
Certain personality traits? Bullshit! He has a lawyer? Why? He needs the lash, not a lawyer and as for the lawyer who would defend or represent this scum...use your imagination.
He should be beaten as he beat this old and helpless woman, and it should be done in the fashion as in the old Russian army. In fact, it wasn’t just the army.
A person could be sentenced to say a thousand lashes. Which would take months to complete. They would beat the prisoner and then let the wounds heal and then begin again . Most of the time the prisoner died if not from the beating itself then from infection.
In this case ... this total bastard deserves the same ... Yeah. I’m a fuckin barbarian.
Take a good long look at the photo and you tell me if two freekin years at txpayer’s expense is enough. NO WAY!
Schoolboy, 15, battered pensioner with her walking stick and left her for dead because he ‘wondered what it would be like to kill someone’
By LUKE SALKELD
Last updated at 3:30 PM on 20th April 2009A teenager brutally attacked an 83-year-old woman after he ‘wondered what it would be like to kill someone’, a court heard.
Joseph Phillips, 15, beat Kathleen Hutchings with her own walking stick as she lay defenceless in her bed.
She was left blind in one eye with a shattered eye socket and suffered a broken left wrist in the attack which happened after she woke to find the teenager in her home.
Joseph Phillips, 15, beat frail Kathleen Hutchins (pictured, right, before the attack) with her own walking stick after climbing into her flat through a windowThe great-grandmother was bedridden with chronic arthritis when Phillips climbed through the window of her ground floor flat.
She called out after hearing a noise from her living room, where the intruder was rummaging through her cupboards.
He then walked into her bedroom, picked up her walking stick from the side of her bed and used it to beat her senseless.
The court heard that just days before the attack he was overheard telling friends he had always ‘wondered what it was like to kill someone’.
Phillips even moved the pensioner’s telephone out of her reach before he fled, so she could not dial 999.
The pensioner was left so traumatised by the attack that after being discharged she was forced to move out of her private home and into a residential home
She was only discovered when her daughter-in-law Doreen visited the flat in Taunton, Somerset after her calls went unanswered.
Doreen Hutchings, 58, from Tiverton, Devon, said: ‘I will never forget seeing her lying there in bed muttering and covered in blood.
‘I was sure she was dead. My heart skipped a beat when I realised she was alive and dialled 999.‘Kathleen was so lively, and used to love sleeping with the window open to get some fresh air - which she will never be able to do again.
‘He left her for dead and I will never be able to forgive him.’
She continued: ‘This animal has taken away Kathleen’s life. Before, she was very switched on and clued up but has had her spirit taken away.
‘Now she is constantly confused, doesn’t know where I live and is forced to live in care because she can’t look after herself.
‘Her family were her life but she’s been left so confused since the attack she barely remembers where I live.
‘He’s taken away her freedom, because she’s since had to move into a residential home.’
Referring to Phillips, she said: ‘He told two friends he wondered what it was like to kill someone then days later climbed through her window and attacked her as she lay in bed.
‘There was nothing she could have done to defend herself and after the attack could not even phone anyone because he had moved her phone out of reach. I hope he is never released.’
Her mother-in-law, who is now 84, suffers from chronic arthritis and spent three months in hospital following the attack in October last year.
She was left so traumatised when she was eventually discharged that she was forced to move out of her private home and into a residential home, where she now has round-the-clock care.
Phillips’ own lawyer Patrick Mason said the attack was ‘indefensible’ and did not offer any mitigation but said his client had inherited certain ‘personality traits’.
The teenager pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent to steal at an earlier hearing and was jailed indefinitely, with a minimum two years.
He was living in care at the time of the attack and later told police he heard voices in his head.
Jailing him indefinitely at Taunton Crown Court, Judge Graham Hume took the unusual step of lifting the anonymity granted to minors because of the brutal nature of the attack.
If you think 1,000 lashes bad, the Arabs had and for all I know may still do, far worse. Much worse. This monster deserves NO compassion or understanding.
He is a bad seed that will grow worse in time.
And in a couple of years ..... “Coming to a neighborhood near you”
If the photo I have posted here isn’t big enough ... SCHOOLBOY WOULD BE KILLER
Posted by peiper
on 04/20/2009 at 09:32 AM
Filed Under: • Crime • Outrageous • UK •
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Permalink • French mayor blames Britain’s benefits system for immigrant problem. Does this mean war ?
Ya know for once I think the French may be quite right. And I bet a lot of Brits will agree.
This island will one day sink under the weight. If they don’t bankrupt themselves first. Not funny at all.
The mayor of Calais has blamed Britain’s asylum and benefits system for “imposing” thousands of illegal migrants on her town.
By Peter Allen in Paris
Last Updated: 11:34AM BST 20 Apr 2009In an angry attack in which she also called for millions in compensation, Natacha Bouchart said the UK was entirely to blame for the hordes of foreigners who use the French port as a staging point to get across the Channel.
Mrs Bouchart, who is a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party, said she was so disgusted by what was going on that she had refused to have any meetings with British government representatives.
Mrs Bouchart pointed out that the Calais Chamber of Trade was having to spend £12 million each year securing the port area – money she suggested the French government should pay back.
But it was Britain’s immigration system which was predominantly to blame for thousands of Africans, eastern Europeans and people from central Asia trying to clamber aboard lorries and trains in Calais to get to the UK every day.
“Requesting asylum is easier with them (the British) than in France,” said Mrs Bouchart.
“The asylum seeker is given accommodation and receives £31 to £40 a week according to their case, when the annual salary of the average Eritrean is around $200 (£136).“That seems enormous and it’s attractive, even if in some places it’s nothing.”
Calling for a “change in attitude”, Mrs Bouchart said the current build up of UK-bound foreigners was untenable.
She said the fact that Britain had not signed up to the Schengen agreement – which allows people in Europe to travel from one country to another without a passport – made life very easy for the UK.Although Britain has signed the Dublin Convention, which streamlined the application process for political asylum, France still had a duty to try and keep illegal migrants out of the UK.
Mrs Bouchart, who made her comments at a Calais press conference, said: “The British signed the Dublin accords but did not ratify Schengen. That places them in an easy situation.“Calais is a hostage to the British. That’s enough. It’s no longer tenable. It’s necessary to renegotiate these accords. We’re not here to do their job.”
She also referred to the shutting of the Sangatte refugee centre near Calais, which has acted as a magnet to thousands of illegal migrants before being shut as part of an Anglo-French agreement in 2002.
“Shutting the Red Cross Centre at Sangatte and the accords which followed were a good thing. But the situation has evolved. It is necessary to review the accords,” said Mrs Bouchart.French immigration minister Eric Besson is due to outline new policies for dealing with the worsening situation in Calais.
Some 2,000 UK-bound migrants are currently sleeping rough in the area, with around 800 in the town itself.
Mrs Bouchart has written to both Mr Sarkozy and Mr Besson – who visited Calais in January – calling for compensation in the name of “national solidarity” for the town’s plight.She said: “Each day the town of Calais finds itself under psychological pressure because of the presence of the migrants.
“That blocks our economic development. That stops some businesses from establishing themselves and that costs a lot.” Mrs Bouchart added: “The Minister Besson said he would return here at the end of April. But since his first visit the situation has changed.“If the migrants number 300 or 350 the situation is manageable. More than that and it becomes risky for the migrants themselves, the charities, the population, and businesses.
“Today there are 800 who can be seen in Calais itself, and that’s unacceptable. Each day I receive letters and calls from residents and businesses who complain about the situation.”
ARTICLE SOURCE
You folks especially in border states who have immigration issues can think yourselves s bit lucky. Believe me. Of course, much of the problem is somewhat self inflicted. Hand wringing lefties and those who aren’t but whose hearts are overly soft just will not do enough. Whenever a politician or anyone else for that matter says hey ... we need to curb or halt immigration .... the awful ‘R’ word is paraded out and that seem to end (for the moment) any discussion on the subject. Naturally I have the answer ... any surprise there?
If enough Brits get together and decide to save their country from any other invasions aside from the one that’s internal, and I have the answer for that too, then this country HAS to become a very DANGEROUS place to try and sneak into into. It just does. Things here have really and truly gotten to the point where it will not be long before there might not Always Be An England. And if that happens, who will the French blame for their problems? Germans too come to that. Not to worry ... for awhile at least there’ll be America to blame .
Last time I was in Calais must have been 20 years ago. Perhaps more. Things sure have not changed for the better. Except for immigrants legal and otherwise.
Posted by peiper
on 04/20/2009 at 07:28 AM
Filed Under: • Illegal-Aliens •
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Permalink • Sunday - April 19, 2009
Display it with pride
Posted by Drew458
on 04/19/2009 at 01:31 PM
Filed Under: • Tyrants and Dictators •
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Permalink • SAVE THE PLANET RHETORIC REACHES CRAZY HEIGHTS … AN EDITORIAL
I try and usually manage to post the musings of Christopher Booker, who does not buy the falling sky cries heard loudly from the left.
Naturally he gets flak because I guess he’s that damn nail sticking up that won’t be hammered down.
Save the planet’ rhetoric soars to crazy new heights
The terrifying threat of global warming is beginning to turn people’s minds, observes Christopher Booker.
By Christopher Booker
Last Updated: 9:52AM BST 19 Apr 2009How would you cope if faced with a GCSE physics paper? Have no fear. You don’t need to know anything about physics, so long as you’ve listened to enough environmentalist propaganda. Consider a question from one of last year’s papers. Candidates were asked which of these phrases - “acid rain”, “global warming”, “noise pollution”, “radioactive waste” – went into these sentences: 1. “Nuclear power stations produce…” 2. “Wind farms produce…” 3. “Coal-fired power stations produce sulfur dioxide which causes…” 4. “All fossil-fuel power stations produce carbon dioxide which causes…” So long as you agree with the Government on these matters, you will pass with 100 per cent.
Doubtless one of the teaching aids which might have guided you to the right answers would have been Al Gore’s famous Oscar-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth, which in 2007 our then environment secretary, David Miliband, ordered to be sent to every secondary school in the country. It was obviously inconvenient that in October that year a High Court judge should have ruled that nine of the claims made in that film were so scientifically absurd that the Government would be in breach of the law against teaching propaganda in schools unless the film was accompanied by material correcting its errors. But when last week I asked the Department for Children, Skills and Lifelong Learning (or whatever they now call the old ministry of education) for sight of that corrective material they never came back with an answer.
Does one not get the feeling that all this propaganda over the terrifying threat of global warming is beginning ever so slightly to turn people’s minds? Caroline Lucas MEP, the leader of the Green Party, last week agreed on television that flying to Spain was “as bad as knifing a person in the street”, because air travel like this is causing people to die “from climate change”.
Dr Richard Dixon, director of the Scottish WWF, was at the same time claiming that failing to ensure one’s home is “energy efficient” was a “moral crime”, as “anti-social as drink driving”, and “we should be having a discussion as to whether it should become an actual crime”.
This echoed the recent observation of Ed Miliband, our Energy and Climate Change Secretary, that opposing wind farms should be as “socially unacceptable” as not wearing a seatbelt. Meanwhile, no doubt encouraged by this kind of talk from ministers, 100 “climate campaigners” were arrested by the police, who feared they were planning to put out of action a coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire, to stop it continuously contributing to the National Grid 1,000 megawatts of electricity – considerably more than the average output of all the 2,400 wind turbines in the country.
This is the same grid, of course, 75 per cent powered by nasty, dirty, CO2 emitting fossil fuels, which Gordon Brown hopes will secretly power the electric cars he proposes to give customers £5,000 each to buy in order to help save the planet – even though his grants won’t be available until 2012. Meanwhile, as 17 of our major power stations are likely to close within six years, thanks to obsolescence and EU rules, Mr Brown shows remarkably little interest in how we are going to keep Britain’s lights on (although certainly no less, to be fair, than does Mr Cameron).
Truly these days, in more ways than one, are we moving towards a new dark age. Fortunately, however, the latest available data show the downward trend in global temperatures continuing, At least the one thing we don’t need to worry about, it seems, is global warming.
Explorers on the rocksThanks to sharp-eyed observers on the US science blog Watts Up With That, we see how Pen Hadow’s much-touted Catlin expedition to measure that disappearing Arctic ice is degenerating into farce. Despite claims by Prince Charles and a galaxy of warmist sponsors that Hadow and his two colleagues would provide “vital scientific data” to show how the ice could soon vanish, the loss of equipment through intense cold has reduced them to measuring the ice with an old feet-and-inches tape measure, Last week their website had to post an apology for providing misleading data, It seems increasingly unlikely the gallant trio will reach the Pole, despite rather more efficient satellite data confirming that the ice is considerably thicker than last year.
Posted by peiper
on 04/19/2009 at 12:27 PM
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •
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Permalink • THE PEOPLE SPEAK BUT … DOES ANYONE LISTEN OR CARE? NO! THE FREEKIN EU HAS SPOKEN! PERIOD.
Pisses me off as usual. Hell, I wasn’t even aware there were anymore left to buy? WHERE? Not in these parts.
Oh well, we still have a cabinet full. For now.
But the EU gweenie jellyfish have spoken and the UK must go along. Never mind only the tree huggers believe in this crap.
EU sneezes and UK catches the cold.
Hey ... don’t be tooooo complacent there back home. According to my embassy newsletter and listening to news here, BO wants to co-operate more with euro-peons and they are excited that the USA is “finally listening.” I don’t see that as a good sign.
You think you HATE the UN? Ha! Just wait till we sign on to the eu crapola.
Reminder to me ... quick. find source ... buy more 100w .... screw their carbon footprint.
what. me worry?
Customers buy up traditional light bulbs before switch to low energy alternatives
Householders are clearing the shelves of hardware stores by bulk-buying traditional light bulbs ahead of a looming EU ban.
By Alastair Jamieson
Last Updated: 11:14AM BST 19 Apr 2009Shopkeepers say customers are “panic-buying” armfuls of the 100 watt bulbs, which are becoming increasingly scarce since many supermarkets agreed to phase them out ahead of the end-of-August deadline.
The ban on sales is supported by the government, which wants consumers to switch to low energy compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to help meet its climate change targets.
CFLs typically cost more than four times as much as a traditional incandescent bulb – starting from £2 each compared to 50p or less – but use one fifth of the energy and can reduce electricity bills by £7 a year for each light in the home.
Many householders, however, believe the switch is unnecessary and say CFLs produce harsh and flickery light, while campaign groups blame them for triggering migraines and skin rashes. Most CFLs do not work properly in dimmer switches and those that are compatible can cost up to £12.
“Some shops have seen customers taking as many as they can carry, 20 or even 50 at a time,” said Mick Weedon, from the British Hardware Federation. “There has been mild panic-buying because it is becoming harder to get hold of the 100 watt bulbs now that the bigger stores are not stocking them.”
The 100w bulbs, as well as less common 80w bulbs, will no longer be sold after August 31. Frosted glass bulbs of all types will also be banned.
Many supermarkets and high street chains have already agreed not to replenish existing stocks as part of a voluntary agreement with the government. Traditional 60w bulbs will be allowed until the end of August 2011, with all phased out by 2013.
The trade body for light shops, the Lighting Association, says most consumers accept the need to adopt a more efficient form of lighting than the traditional bulb, which has changed little since it was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879.
However Brian Smillie, managing director of Edinburgh general store Gray’s of George Street, said: “A lot of our customers are not convinced that these new bulbs, which will end up on landfill sites, are any better and do not see why they should not have the choice to buy what they wish. We are selling lots of the traditional bulbs, sometimes at up to 50 at a time, and we keep having to scrap around to find new suppliers to restock the shelves.”
The charity Migraine Action has called for more research into the health effects of CFLs and said it was still receiving calls from sufferers who believe CFLs trigger their migraines. A spokeswoman said it was advising them to “stockpile the old type of incandescent bulb if you can”.
Argos, Tesco and Asda have already stopped replenishing stocks of 100w bulbs. A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said: “We have stopped selling incandescent light bulbs of 100w or over but we still sell 60w incandescent bulbs and have seen some bulk buying of these.”
Chris Gardiner, who runs three hardware stores in Cheshire including Vikings in Wilmslow, said: “We got 10,000 of the incandescent bulbs in stock because everyone was coming in asking for them. It tends to be older customers who prefer them and can’t get them anywhere else.”
Mr Weedon added: “The profit margins on a light bulb are tiny but independent stores are just happy to be seeing customers through the door at the moment and this rush to buy 100w bulbs has helped.”
Patrick Hodgell, managing director of online retailer Light Bulbs Direct said: “We have been taking large orders both from individuals and from shops. It is possible a lot of these bulbs will be turning up on offer at car boot sales once the changes take effect.”
The European Commission has admitted the bulb switch may lead to the loss of as many as 3,000 jobs in Europe because most incandescent bulbs sold in the EU are made there, while most integrated electronic lights such as compact fluorescent lamps are made in the Far East.
Posted by peiper
on 04/19/2009 at 10:29 AM
Filed Under: • Environment • EUro-peons • UK •
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Permalink • Mercy,mercy. Here we go again. DUTCH COMMANDOS FREE PIRATES. Yeah. Really.
What else might you expect from a country where a judge once ruled .... oh hell I’ve told that one at least 2wice. And not a joke.
Neither is this.
Double Dutch: Commandos capture Somali pirates and free 20 hostages ... but release the bandits because they’re not from the Netherlands
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:28 AM on 19th April 2009Dutch forces have freed 20 hostages whose vessel was hijacked by Somali pirates and used to launch an attack against a tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
The commandos briefly detained and questioned seven gunmen, but were forced to let them go because they had no legal power to arrest them under Dutch law.
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that a Belgian ship has been hijacked by Somali gunmen today.
The Dutch commandos on the HNLMS De Zeven Provincien rescued the captives after chasing the pirates back to the fishing dhow by following the smaller craft used in the attack.
The traditional Arab sailing vessel was being used by the pirates as a ‘mother ship’ from which to launch armed attacks on commercial shipping.
Its 20 captives were Yemeni fishermen, who had been held hostage since Sunday.
Nato Lieutenant Commander Alexandre Fernandes said: ‘We have freed the hostages, we have freed the dhow and we have seized the weapons.’
He explained the pirates were set free because under Dutch law they could not be held at sea under the circumstances in which they were captured.
Speaking from on board a Portuguese warship further north in the Gulf of Aden, Fernandes said: ‘They can only arrest them if the pirates are from the Netherlands, the victims are from the Netherlands, or if they are in Netherlands waters.’
Nato forces in the Indian Ocean confirmed that a Belgian ship with 10 crew members on board, including seven Europeans, was hijacked by Somali gunmen today.
Fernandes said: ‘A helicopter from EU naval force Operation Atalanta flew over and confirmed the hijacking visually.’
He said the Belgian ship, the Pompei, was carrying two Belgian, four Croatian, one Danish and three Filipino crew.
Enlarge Captain Richard PhillipsReunion: Captain Richard Phillips is hugged by his daughter today after being held hostage by pirates
Reports say there has been no communication with the dredging vessel, the Pompei, since it sent two alarm signals early on Saturday.
Sea gangs have captured dozens of ships, taken hundreds of sailors prisoner and made off with millions of dollars in ransoms in recent months.
On Friday five gunmen in a skiff neared a Danish cargo vessel, the MV Puma, in the Gulf of Aden, prompting U.S. and South Korean warships to send aircraft to the scene.
Last week, Somali pirates captured two more ships and opened fire on two others. A French naval frigate seized 11 gunmen on Wednesday, foiling yet another attack .
Posted by peiper
on 04/19/2009 at 08:52 AM
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •
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Permalink • Just can not let the subject go. Sorry. Here’s more ELF n SAFETY from the nanny club.
Well it ain’t gonna get a whole lot more schtupider den dis.
Cue the music for Laural and Hardy ...
If it’s getting dumber it’s also getting downright funnier as well.
Now BBC health and safety mandarins won’t let three of the world’s toughest men light a stove in case they have accidentBy Paul Revoir
Last updated at 12:41 AM on 18th April 2009They are among the toughest and most resilient of men, having survived in some of the most unforgiving places on the planet.
But that does not mean that BBC health and safety mandarins trusted them to be left alone to light a Primus stove - in case they had an accident.
Sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston revealed the ‘absurd’ rules he, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and war reporter John Simpson were subjected to on BBC2 adventure series Top Dogs.The three men went on gruelling trips to Afghanistan, around Cape Horn by boat and across the Canadian Arctic.
But the trio, each well-known for their survival skills in tough conditions, were all understood to have been taken aback by the health and safety rules.
This included a ban on lighting a Primus stove without supervision, and being given a ‘huge’ document warning them about hazards - such as tripping over.
Despite the fact that explorer Sir Ranulph, 65, was in the Army for eight years, he and Sir Robin, 70, were also sent on a ‘hostile environment course’.
And the trio were given guidance from an expert in Arctic exploration - even though Sir Ranulph has two medals for his polar expeditions.
Sir Ranulph was the first person to cross Antarctica by foot and has been described as the world’s greatest living explorer.
A stoveHe famously cut off his own frostbitten fingertips after a doomed attempt to walk unsupported to the North Pole in 2000.
Sir Robin, meanwhile, was the first man to sail singlehanded and non-stop around the globe, and in 1994 won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by yacht.
The comments from Sir Robin come days after similar remarks from Simpson, 64, who has been shelled in Afghanistan, bombed with poison gas in the Iran-Iraq war and dodged bullets in Tiananmen Square.
Simpson complained about the health and safety ‘nonsense’ surrounding the series, which ended last night, saying he was given a risk assessment form ‘the size of a telephone directory’ for one episode.
Sir Robin said: ‘Ran and I were told we could not light a Primus stove unless we were supervised. So that’s the kind of nonsense you get.
‘This young man came in and said he was going to supervise and we told him to clear off. Or words to that effect.’
The sailor added: ‘It was just absurd. What do you think we cook on in boats?’
He attacked the BBC’s insistence on giving the men an expert in Arctic exploration to make sure they kept safe. Sir Robin claimed: ‘He had about 10 per cent of Ran’s knowledge.’
He added: ‘When you read the health and safety document, it is ridiculous. You just read it and thought you have got to be joking. This is just to create paperwork.’
He added: ‘Ran’s view was very similar to mine.’
But Sir Robin did praise the training for their Afghan trip, which taught them how to deal with being kidnapped.
A BBC ‘general risk assessment form’ shown on the National Union of Journalists’ website provides a list of hazards including trip hazard, slippery surface, attacked by animal, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, lightning strike, laser light, noise, vibration, litter and stress.
On Thursday, the Daily Mail reported how health and safety rules meant BBC staff had to have a paramedic and a first aider watching over them when they changed a car wheel.
Producers had to fill out a risk assessment before the two BBC Radio Essex presenters each took off a wheel for a feature on programme about learning new skills.
A BBC spokesman said of Top Dogs: ‘The BBC takes its responsibilities for health and safety very seriously.
‘We knew that for each programme, one of the trio would be completely comfortable, operating in their own environment, but for the two novices learning the ropes, it was important that we minimised the risks as much as possible.’
Posted by peiper
on 04/19/2009 at 07:47 AM
Filed Under: • Health and Safety • UK •
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Permalink • Saturday - April 18, 2009
I hate my teammates
I hate my teammates. I’ve tried very hard not to, but I keep coming back to the same conclusion. I hate them. Not because they’re unintelligent low class physically repulsive poor people with behavior and substance abuse problems, because they are, but because I can only negatively rely on them when the competitive pressure is on. And by that I mean that when I need them to excel they will fall down. Every time. Without fail. Guaranteed.
We’ve got 1 more week of league after tonight before the playoffs. Tonight was really important. We really really needed to win to get back into the lead. My wife and I spent a bit of time this afternoon cleaning all the balls we might use, making sure our shoes were good, etc. We got there early so that we were ready the moment practice began. The other two didn’t show up until the last possible second, and got in only 3 throws total before the warm-up period was over. Then one proceeded to have pissy pouty fits whenever he’d miss a strike, and the other one got out her puzzle book and spent the evening doing crossword fill-ins when she wasn’t bowling. Such a team.
I bowled my butt off. I threw my best game of the year, a 220, in the first game. About 60 over my average. My wife thew 1 over her average. Those two together were 30 under. So we lost, by 3 pins. I was 17 over in the second game, which isn’t great but it sure doesn’t hurt, and we lost that one too. Finally, although I was flat in the last game, the two of them got their act together in the third game and bowled a bit over average, while our opponents were tired and threw 60 under. So we won that one, and won it enough to take wood for the night.
Team 5 seems to have disappeared again. With only 2 members, the more reliable one hasn’t been around in 2 weeks, while the unreliable one we haven’t seen in 5 weeks. If you want to quit, fine. Quit. But tell us. Because if we think you’re part of the league then we have to pay for your bowling, even when you aren’t there. It’s been a very rough ride for me, the league’s Secretary, with Team 5. This is the 3rd or 4th group of people we’ve had on that team this season. They just don’t last. We should have just said to heck with them back in September, and left them as the BYE team all year. Because it hasn’t been fair to the rest of us. One week they show up and bowl. And, of course, if they’re bowling well it means they’re bowling against us that week. The next week, they don’t show, and their opponents get the bye. The week after, who knows?
The former first place team - the folks with the fancy $110 bowling shirts - prebowled for tonight. Their scores were their worst effort this entire season. Did my team get to play them? Hell no. The up-and-coming Team 2 did, and bowled them into the ground, giving Team 1 their first 0-7 loss of the year, and pushing them out of first.
My team never seems to catch a break. Ever. And if we ever do catch one, I can rely on my teammates to screw it up. “Well, overall for the night, I bowled my average.” says the one, her with the 116 average. Gee, I’m really happy for you. The best contribution you could make was “well, I didn’t hurt anything.” Um, thanks. You suck, your attitude sucks, and your bowling is so pathetic that Obama can beat you, even if he gives you points. I’m sure you’re just bursting with pride that you won yet another 111 “shithouse score” award tonight, giving you the record breaking total of 6 of these so far this season. You get an entire pack of Charmin, not just a single roll of Scott. Oh, and nobody else has even come close to your “low ball” score of a whopping great 65 that you rolled back in the fall either. Thanks for nothing.
Pfhah, I’ll be over the grumpies by tomorrow. There have been nights when I haven’t done well either. But generally, as the season progresses, people get better. If they don’t get higher scores they at least get more consistent. It’s not like we’re all beginners. We’ve all been doing this at least 3 years now. Sometimes decades longer. As the end of the season gets here, people get competitive. That’s what it’s all about. And that’s what won’t happen for my team, and we’ll sink down to finish in 4th, out of 5 teams, after being in the lead or almost in the lead the whole rest of the season. I hate them.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/18/2009 at 10:39 PM
Filed Under: • Bowling Blogging •
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Permalink • Friday - April 17, 2009
What the MSM forget to mention
10 days from now is the 48th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. With just a little active support from the USA, the expatriate soldiers of Brigade 2506 could have taken the island back from Castro and communist tyranny. Instead, JFK chickened out and left them to die. Naval support was on hand and ready to fight. Air cover was on hand and ready to fight. It would have been a turkey shoot. And he chickened out.
Val Pietro over at Babalu Blog has more, and there is an excellent essay over at American Thinker.
As far as I’m concerned, we owe Cuba. Not the government in power there. The people. We owe them freedom. Is Obama going to give it to them by sending them cell phones and Kentucky Fried Chicken? Somehow I have my doubts.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/17/2009 at 03:52 PM
Filed Under: • Tyrants and Dictators •
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Permalink • It feels a little spooky
Horry Clap.
I just bought a pistol. On the internet.
Ok, calm down. Relax Drew. It’s just another internet transaction. You’ve bought everything under the sun online, from CDs to gun powder to car parts to diamonds. Never had a problem with any of it. And this is entirely legal and completely legit. Yeah, but ... horry clap. I just bought a pistol. On the internet.
Sure, there are a couple of extra fees. Shipping fee from the vendor. Transfer fee and NICS check from my local gun dealer. A 3% credit card surcharge because I want the thing shipped today. All the signing and stamping of my NJ Purchase Permit when it arrives. And while the asking price was a little high, it wasn’t crazy high in this crazy market. And even with all the fees the bottom line still came out $100 less than MSRP.
Yeah. And maybe I could have saved $50 if I got it via auction. And then saved another $13 by mailing in a money order instead. But maybe I would have lost the bidding too. Who can say? It’s a little spooky out there right now; the gun stores are empty. Nobody can promise delivery of anything.
But still ...
Horry Clap. I just bought a pistol. On the internet.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/17/2009 at 01:38 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
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Permalink • The risk of sexual abuse, by treating the victims’ discomfort with humour. ok but,,, DISNEY????
Not supposed to be here right now but hey. This just HAD to get itself posted.
It’s way over my head. At first I thought, oh what nonsense. Come on. But then another thought intruded on the first.
Hang on ... I’m not a parent. How can I judge this as nonsense when I haven’t any kids?
I guess my generation was lucky as was the one before when it came to this. We never thought in the terms expressed by this article.
Still though .... hard for me to accept. Come on. Pinocchio? Snow White? Robin Hood?
Is this really valid or just a few ivory tower types with time on their hands and nothing else in their collective minds?
Was Pinocchio was being ‘groomed’ by his cartoon pals?
Classic Disney cartoon films are giving children the wrong message about how to deal with “stranger danger”, psychologists have warned.
By Roger DobsonWas Pinocchio was being ‘groomed’ by his cartoon pals?
They claim films like Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Robin Hood contain scenes in which children receive “unwanted personal contact” or threatening approaches from adults, and that the victims fail to set a good example in the way they respond.
The study warns that the films also undermine efforts to teach children about personal safety and how to minimise the risk of sexual abuse, by treating the victims’ discomfort with humour.
In one example, the researchers found that the Pinocchio had been “groomed” by the adult characters Honest John and Gideon but that his response to the abuse resembled “victim blaming”.
The report says that some characters, like Mowgli, in the Jungle Book, and Alice, in Alice in Wonderland, are able to successfully handle to threats they face from adults, suggesting they could have a positive educational impact on children. However, it points out that they do so without telling a trusted adult.
It adds: “It is possible that viewing these scenes could influence children to believe that telling a trusted adult about a stranger’s advances is unnecessary because the film characters model successful independence.”
The research, published in the journal Child Abuse, was conducted by a team of psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists at Carleton University, in Canada.The academics wrote that they were “surprised to find depictions of children being touched, usually by adults, contrary to the expressed desires of the child”.
They studied 47 animated feature length Disney films, released between 1937 and 2006. In ten of them, they found examples of “unwanted personal contact” or scenes which show child characters in “risky situations”.In their analysis, six films – Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, The Sword in the Stone, and A Goofy Movie – depict children and adolescent characters experiencing unwanted personal contact.
A further four films – Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland and The Jungle Book – were found to show childlike characters in “risky situations” where strangers approach them with “hidden malevolence” and promise rewards in exchange for their compliance.
The films were reviewed several times, often using the pause and slow motion features to fully capture the content. Child characters could be human, fantastic or an anthropomorphised animal.
The child had to be under 18, and where age of the character was not specified, the researchers judged each on the basis of voice pitch, manner of speaking, stature, and behaviour.
Dr Wendy Hovdestad, the lead author, said: “The depictions of child and adolescent characters being grabbed and kissed against their will by adult characters is particularly problematic for the boy characters Wart (The Sword in the Stone), Flounder (The Little Mermaid), and Skippy (Robin Hood), because the context in the film is humorous.
“The treatment would probably be upsetting if it happened to a real child, and treating it as humorous is directly contradicting sexual safety education that teaches children that they get to decide who touches their bodies.”
The report concludes: “The findings raise questions about potential impacts on child audiences. Is the unwanted contact and risky situation content appropriate viewing for children, given efforts to teach children sexual safety?”
A Disney spokeswoman said, “As we have not studied the report we are unable to comment.”
Posted by peiper
on 04/17/2009 at 06:15 AM
Filed Under: • Colleges-Professors • Scary Stuff • Sex • Television •
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