Monday - May 18, 2009

THE TAXPAYER OWES ME …. I AM ABOVE THE RULES THAT GOVERN THE LITTLE FOLK.

I can’t remember what newspaper I cut this out of.
Tried finding it in the three weekend papers online but some newspapers don’t make everything easy to find.
Anyway ... No matter what country you’re in as you view this, I’d be willing to bet it could apply there as well.

At the moment here in the UK, there is a great outpouring of very real anger as over the last nine or so days, the papers have exposed a scandal in govt. of staggering proportions.

I did a post of only a few things a few days ago, there just is no space here to post all of it.
MPs (Members of Parliament) have been caught fiddling their expenses and doing something called “flipping” homes.  Buy a home with taxpayer money, use taxpayer money to fix it up, then sell for profit and keep said profit.  That’s the easy as I can make it explanation.  And that’s the least of it all.

In one case, a member claimed £125,000.00 for his office.  EXCEPT ....  his office turns out to be ....

HIS GARAGE!

One member had the moat (YES, MOAT) cleaned at his country estate. The taxpayer picked up the tab.

The list is loooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggg.
There’s even a charge that some may have employed fictitious staff.
One member spent £8,000.00 on a fancy TV.  Do the math people.  What’s the current dollar pound ratio. You’ll get dollars for a better picture if you don’t think eight thousand pounds sounds large enough. On a freekin TV.  Like the taxpayer should have to buy his TV to begin with.

Understand this also folks .... not EVERYTHING they did was illegal because THEY WROTE THE RULES.  Unknown to the public. And many are now saying that hey, maybe we overstepped a bit but we weren’t breaking the rules.  The public isn’t buying that, nor should they.

One Asian member built a house in her homeland (I think it was India) and was also claiming expenses for an empty home here she never used.

Another thing.  Ministers here are entitled to homes that are called ‘Grace and Favor’ residences.  They do not actually have to use them if they’d rather have something of their own. BUT ... if they aren’t willing to live FREE of charge in homes provided for them, then they should damn well pay for the homes oif their choice with their own damn money.  Not the taxpayers.

Something else to think about as well and I should mention it as well.  An awful lot of these people are very,very wealthy in their own right.
So the idea that if we have really wealthy folks at the top, there might be less temptation for them to fiddle public monies, then someone who is poor and hungry.  Yeah well, better have another thunk.  Greed is greed is greed.

Tell ya what the real shame of it all is too.  These MPs and ministers actually believe they have things coming to them. They honestly believe they are, entitled.
The most telling reaction from most of them isn’t necessarily shock.  No.
They are truly surprised and stepping all over themselves saying sorry.  But it’s clear they’re only sorry they were all caught.
This is not over yet by a long shot.
Stay Tuned.

   Friday - May 15, 2009

Shenanigans in the Sunshine State

From the NRA/ILA, courtesy of several BMEWS readers:

Legislators Raid CCW Trust Fund - Try to Intimidate Governor

DATE:  May 11, 2009
TO:  USF & NRA Member and Friends
FROM:  Marion P. Hammer
USF Executive Director
NRA Past President

In a last minute sneak attack on gun owners, the Florida Legislature raided the concealed weapons and firearms licensing trust fund.  This not only effects resident CCW license holders, but non-resident Florida license holders as well!

They took $6 million from the Division of Licensing Concealed Weapons and Firearm Trust Fund that is intended, by law, to be used solely for administering the concealed weapons and firearms licensing program. (Read background information below)

Please Call, Fax, or Email Governor Charlie Crist IMMEDIATELY, and ask him to veto the $6 Million trust fund sweep from the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Division of Licensing authorized under Section 59 of the Conference Report of SB-2600.

Please send your email today!!

And/or please contact the Governor’s office by phone or fax ASAP.

Phone number: (850) 488-4441 or (850) 488-7146
Fax number:  (850) 487-0801

Send your email to the Governor at this address: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com



BACKGROUND:

Right now, the concealed weapons and firearms licensing program is backlogged and overloaded, due in part, to the refusal of budget officials and the Legislature to allow the Division of Licensing to use its own trust fund money to hire more employees and expand/upgrade equipment.

Crates of unopened mail containing license and license renewal applications sit in storage. The backlog of mail sitting unopened, at times, has extended beyond 90 days while existing licenses are expiring because renewal applications haven’t been opened and processed.

Currently (although the Division of Licensing has been working weekend shifts to clear the backlog), it is taking 13-14 weeks to process a “perfect” application once it has been opened. That is an unequivocal violation of the law that requires issuance or denial of a license by a specific time –– a violation of law that legislative leaders are condoning by their actions.

THE LAW REQUIRES THE DIVISION OF LICENSING TO ISSUE A LICENSE WITHIN 90 DAYS OF RECEIPT OF THE APPLICATION—or deny the license “for cause”, based upon the criteria set forth in the law.  Theft of operating funds by the Legislature is not “just cause” for failure to issue licenses or renewals within 90 days.

While applications sit gathering dust, legislative leaders took $6 million of approximately $8 million held in the trust fund.  That $6 million is supposed to be used to pay employees, buy upgraded equipment, upgrade or replace computers or software and to otherwise administer the concealed weapons and firearms licensing program.

BUT, feigning a desperate need for funds for education and health care, legislative leaders recklessly and ruthlessly confiscated trust fund money.  Why?  Because they were building a so-called “working capital” fund for the 2010-12 legislative term, reported now to be in the neighborhood of $1.8 BILLION DOLLARS. This so-called “working capital fund” is for the use of future legislative leaders.

They didn’t take that money for education.  They didn’t take that money for health care.  They didn’t take that money to save jobs.  They didn’t take that money to avoid pay cuts, or budget cuts—they took the money to help build their own fund.

While Senate leadership reportedly fought to stop the ruthless raids on trust funds, in the end, they simply caved and let the House of Representatives prevail.

The bad behavior doesn’t end there.

Obviously fearing the Governor would use his line-item veto to stop trust fund raids, proviso language was inserted in the bill in a clear attempt to intimidate the Governor.

The proviso language, states that if any portion of the moneys swept from this and other trust funds does not become law (meaning it is vetoed), that portion of the money shall be deducted from the EDUCATION BUDGET.  This is clearly designed to keep the Governor from vetoing trust fund sweeps, and prevent trust fund money from being taken back out the House leadership’s so-called “working capital” fund.

Money in the concealed weapons trust fund came from gun owners. No money to administer and run the concealed weapons and firearms licensing program has ever come from general revenue, or any other state fund or revenue source.  The taking of these gun owner user fees is an unauthorized tax on the exercise of the Second Amendment.

AGAIN, Please call, fax and email Governor Crist IMMEDIATELY, and ask him to veto the $6 Million raid on the Concealed Weapons & Firearms Trust Fund!

Send your email to the Governor at this address: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com

Please send your email today!!!!!

You may also call the Executive Office of the Governor at: (850) 488-7146.

If I were a citizen of Florida, I’d be on my bully pulpit calling for the recall of every last legislative maggot who put their names on this piece of crap. But hey, if you live in Florida, you know that this is just business as usual. “Trust Fund” monies set aside AREN’T. Florida raids the environmental cleanup trust fund all the time. Same goes for the Transportation trust fund. What the hell, why not? The federal government does the same thing with Social Security. [Al Gore and his famous “lock box”. It may have been the only smart idea he ever had!]

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Charlie Crist (R) has announced he is running for the 2010 Senate. So expect him to be focused on campaigning from now until November. Just what a state in perpetual fiscal crisis mode needs.

It’s no different anywhere else. I heard on the news last night that California may have to declare bankruptcy. Um, can a state even do that? I don’t think so. But not a single one of them ever cuts back on state run programs, the size of state government, or anything. They just tax and spend and borrow and tax and spend and borrow. And never pay the piper.

   Sunday - May 10, 2009

PART TWO, THE SCREWING OF THE TAXPAYER but NO FOREPLAY.

This bit of sleaze and greed won’t go away too soon. Be interesting to see what turns up tomorrow.  This has become a very major story over here, and with good reason.

Oh, and this is rich. HaHa.
The MINISTER for TOURISM, Barbara Follett, yes. That Follett. She’s the wife of author Ken Follett.
Anyway ... The minister of Tourism has claimed almost $50,000.00 for Security because, get ready folks;

SHE DOES NOT FEEL SAFE IN LONDON!

Does that say something about the state of order dis-order here?

FOLLETTE STORY HERE

By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor
Last Updated: 8:15AM BST 10 May 2009

What are the rules?
In claiming taxpayer-funded expenses, MPs must abide by a parliamentary document known as the Green Book, which says that their claims should be “above reproach” and that there should be “no grounds for a suggestion of misuse of public money”.

Among the expenses MPs can claim is Additional Costs Allowance (ACA), for second-home expenditure including mortgage interest payments, utility bills as well as furniture, electrical goods, refurbishments and food.

The rules say the spending must have been “wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred for the performance of a Member’s parliamentary duties”. For 2008/9, MPs with seats outside inner London could claim up to £24,006 in ACA.

Are the rules being broken?

The vast majority of MPs are not breaking the letter of the rules – although some are.

However, MPs use a variety of questionable techniques to “milk” the system – including “flipping” the designation of which of two properties is their “second home”, buying goods for the “wrong” home, charging for stamp duty, avoiding capital gains tax, renting out a second home, moving up the property ladder by selling second homes, charging for trivial items, overspending on food or renovations, and doing up properties just before standing down from parliament.

Why is this scandal happening now?

A year ago the High Court backed an earlier ruling by the Information Tribunal that full details of MPs’ expenses, including receipts, should be made public.

Since then MPs have been accused of dragging their feet and playing for time. Full details are slated to be published in July but with some crucial details – such as addresses of second homes – blacked out. An investigation by the Telegraph has uncovered the full files.

What happens now?

MPs face pressure to release the full details earlier than planned – a move called for by Alastair Campbell, the former director of communications at Downing Street, and Charles Clarke, the former home secretary.

The revelations have unleashed a tidal wave of public anger against MPs who play the system. Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, will face further calls to liaise with other party leaders and introduce urgent changes to the system, particularly regarding the ACA.

TELEGRAPH UNCOVERS

Now get this one. 

MPs’ expenses: Sinn Fein claimed £500,000 for second homes
The scandal of how absent Sinn Fein MPs have milked the Parliamentary second-home expenses system for nearly £500,000 can be revealed.

By Andrew Alderson, David Barrett and Alastair Jamieson
Last Updated: 12:07PM BST 10 May 2009
The five MPs, who represent the political wing of the IRA, have not even taken up their Parliamentary seats and yet they have rented three London properties from the same family at rates well above the market norm.

The party’s two best-known figures, Gerry Adams, the party leader, and Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, jointly claimed expenses of £3,600 a month to rent a shared two-bedroom flat in north London. A local estate agent, who knows the properties, said a fair monthly rent for the flat would be £1,400.

HERE FOR THE REST OF STORY

POLITICAL PERKS AND THE SCREWING OF THE TAXPAYER. BUSINESS AS USUAL.

It’s very doubtful if any American reading this will care a hoot about the ppl in power here and what they are up to.
But I have a personal stake, in a manner of speaking, in the financial side of things as after all, I live here.

Humor me on this people, ok?  Go on and read the article I copied from this morning’s paper.  If you read it slow like, even if not familiar with Brit doings, you’ll catch on to what’s going on and this is just one person. There are a 100 others.

Very soon, in fact by the end of July, the wife and I must come up with a ton of money for the inheritance tax on the house left to wife by her late mother. 
We have to pay the Inland Revenue (IRS in American terms) a sum of almost but not quite, $20,000.00 by July. 

There isn’t any loophole to crawl through, as you guys know at home, when dealing with income tax etc. There are just some things that can not be fought and won.  There are things that make us grit our teeth but we must simply move on. We can not make our own rules.
But seeing how govts. spend our money is always going to be a bit ulcer producing.  And what really frosts us is the current scandal exposed by The Telegraph in an exclusive brought about by leaked papers. And this thing is BIG.  As in HUGE.

Starting yesterday they have been publishing and have continued today, how the politicians here are claiming for expenses. And the sums are truly staggering.  In many cases the expenses are not necessarily illegal at all. 

THEY ARE MOSTLY ALL WITHIN THE LAW.  AH ...HERE’S THE CATCH.

THE BASTARDS HAVE WRITTEN THEIR OWN RULES.

HERE’S JUST ONE EXAMPLE AND THERE’S WORSE YET. BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT ARE ENSNARED IN THIS NET. BUT THEY’LL FIND A WAY OUT. THEY ALWAYS DO.

Here are a few translations from Brit to American usage.
Flat:  an apartment
MP:  Member of Parliament
MEP:  Member European Parliament
Inland Revenue :  IRS
Commons (House of): 
Actually, the House of Commons would be equivalent to the US House of Representatives, while the House of Lords’ counterpart would be the US Senate.  H/T with thanks to Macker for correcting me re. Commons.

CGT:  Capital Gains Tax

Politician: both countries. = lying, thieving,sneaky, conniving individuals working for themselves. Mostly. Might be exceptions but the sightings are rare indeed. Usually to be found in bloated condition after visit to public funds. Which is often.

The Communities Secretary, facing fresh questions over flat sale in row over MPs’ expenses
Hazel Blears is facing fresh questions over the tax arrangements surrounding the sale of a flat in South London she had designated as a “second
home.

By Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite
Last Updated: 9:35AM BST 10 May 2009

Miss Blears sold the property in Kennington, south London, in August 2004 for £200,000, making a profit of £45,000. She admitted last night that she did not pay capital gains tax (CGT) on the profit from the sale because “no liability” had arisen.

The admission suggested that Miss Blears declared the flat as her primary residence for tax purposes while at the same time telling the Commons authorities that it was her second home, a designation that enabled her to claim hundreds of pounds in parliamentary expenses.

See guys and ladies, here’s the trick.  It’s perfectly legal under the rules THEY WRITE, to say one thing to the Commons and another to the tax ppl.

CGT is liable to be paid on the profit from the sale of any property that is not classified with HM Revenue & Customs as a “main residence”. At the time of the sale Miss Blears had informed the Commons authorities that the Kennington flat was her second home, enabling her to claim mortgage interest payments on it at £850 a month. The Telegraph’s investigation into MPs’ expenses established that Miss Blears had claimed for three properties in a single year at taxpayers’ expense.

In March 2004 she stated to the Commons that her second home was a property in her Salford constituency, which she has owned with her husband since June 1997. During March 2004 she bought an £850 television and video recorder and a £651 mattress for this home.

In April 2004 she redesignated the Kennington flat as her second home with the Commons. After selling it four months later she spent taxpayer-funded nights in hotels in London, including the Zetter in Clerkenwell, where rooms cost £211 a night.

In December 2004 she bought another London flat with a mortgage of more than £1,000 a month and claimed it as her second home. Over the next four months, she claimed for groceries, furniture worth £4,874, a bed at £899 and £913 for a new TV.

Miss Blears’s spokesman said last night: “Hazel has complied with the rules of the House authorities and the Inland Revenue. No liability for CGT arose on the sale of her flat in Kennington.”

Tax experts said it was possible for Miss Blears to have designated the flat differently for the Commons and for HM Revenue & Customs.

Mike Warburton, a tax accountant at Grant Thornton, said: “The Inland Revenue rules work entirely independently of the parliamentary arrangements. It is open to anybody to elect which of their homes is their principal residence for capital gains tax. They will then not pay tax on the profit.”

LOOSE EXPENSES RULES FOR MPs; TIGHT ONES FOR TAXPAYERS. TELEGRAPH WITH MORE ON SUBJECT

   Saturday - May 09, 2009

Back On The Shelf, For Now

California Ammo Rationing & Taxing Bill Pulled From Consideration



This is a bill that got yanked from committee. It never made it to the California legislature for a vote. But it is frightening for two reasons nonetheless. First, because the bill has only been tabled; it can come up again, although likely that will not happen this year. Second, because it shows the rabid mindset of the anti-gun crowd. They will explore every channel, every last nook and cranny, to find some way to deny you the Right To Keep And Bear Arms. And any bill not killed will rise up again, like a vampire.

This latest 2A end-run sought to ration how much ammo you could have, and to tax the daylights out of it as well. Good riddance, but only for the time being.

Horrific ammo bill put in ‘suspense file’ by state Assembly

One of the worst pieces of anti-gun owner legislation in a number of years effectively has been tabled by the California legislature when Los Angeles Democratic Assemblyman Kevin De Leon’s AB962 was put in the Suspense File by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Wednesday this week.

While the bill can be revived, it is likely dead for this year.

The bill would have stopped the private transfer of more than 50 rounds of ammunition per month between individuals or by stores to individuals. It would have licensed and taxed anyone selling ammunition commercially and forced these stores to get background checks on anyone selling ammunition. It would have required a thumbprint from anyone buying handgun ammunition (and a costly bureaucracy to manage those thumbprints) and it would have banned all mail-order ammunition sales.

The stated intent of the bill was to stop felons and gang members from getting ammunition. If you can figure out how those provisions would have somehow stopped that, give me a call and explain that to me.

Since the so-called intended targets of the legislation would have easily avoided its requirements, it became clear the legislation was all about harassing, taxing and discriminating against legal gun owners and those in the business of selling ammunition.

Also in that article is news about a new lawsuit that challenges California’s Handgun Roster. California has a list of special guns that it has declared legal for sale in their state. In theory it’s because those guns have been tested and proven safe. In practice, nearly any well made pistol can get on the list if the manufacturer is willing to pay California a big fat annual fee. CA enhances the level of this graft by demanding that each and every submodel of a given pistol gets its own listing, even if the only difference between the models is the color of the finish. Or the cartridge that it’s chambered for. Or whether it’s got wood grips or rubber ones. You catch my drift. It’s another way to keep guns off the market in that state, and now that bit of harassment is being challenged in court. And it will lose.

Idea for Increased National Bi-Partisan Harmony: Democrats: lay off the gun thing. Republicans: lay off the abortion thing. 

   Monday - April 27, 2009

They Never Stop Trying

These gun hating leftist Socialists are just like the Swiney Hini flu. They don’t quit. Ever. And when they lose in the legislature they try for the courts. Maybe if we had a really really big jug of Clorox ™?

N.J. Supreme Court considers limits on gun sales

The state Supreme Court will tackle gun control today when it considers whether cities and towns may enact laws limiting the sale of firearms.

The justices will hear arguments on Jersey’s City’s attempt to limit handgun purchases to one per month. An appeals court last fall overturned the 2006 ordinance, saying the city had overstepped its bounds because state law already monitors those sales.

The lower court said municipal governments don’t have the power “to act in the field of firearm regulation and control.” New Jersey residents need a permit to buy handguns, but state law does not limit how many permits a person may request.

New York is the only city with a handgun purchase limit—one every 90 days. The city also prohibits purchases of more than one rifle or shotgun every 90 days.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said towns and cities should be allowed to set their own laws, adding that he and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg decided to establish local laws that would be a “good start in the right direction at stanching the flow of illegal handguns.”

Healy said the biggest problem in Jersey City is “straw purchasers,” those with clean records who buy guns for gang members.

Scott Bach, president of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, which is involved in the case, said restricting purchases within a city or state’s limits will not prevent criminals from buying handguns out of state.

He said most gang members are less likely to go through the strict permitting process that’s required for legal gun purchases in the state.

“The notion that criminals and their surrogates submit to police fingerprinting and background investigations, wait six months for permits, only to turn around and sell them illegally is absurd,” Bach wrote in an e-mail.

While the Supreme Court decides a town’s right to enact such a law, lawmakers in Trenton are debating its merits. A bill (A339) to limit handgun purchases to one every 30 days—with the exception of retailers and collectors—stalled in the Senate earlier this year, after passing the Assembly.

But lawmakers who represent gun enthusiasts said such a law would curtail Second Amendment rights. State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Hunterdon) said she has constituents who buy more than one gun at a time in New Jersey because it can take months to get a permit cleared.

“I have constituents who wait over 90 days for permits,” Karrow said.

Craig Levine, a lawyer for the New Jersey Institute of Justice, also involved in the case, said Jersey City’s ordinance—or a statewide law—would really mean that a person could buy 13 guns per year.

“What does someone need that many handguns for, other than to sell them out of the trunk of their car?” said Levine.

The state issued more than 33,600 handgun permits in 2008, said State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones. But Jones said that’s not the actual number of handguns bought last year, because permits could have expired before some could make a purchase.

The left just does not let up. Ever. It doesn’t matter how many times their stupid ideas get shot down, they keep coming back. That’s the “reality based” community for you: they will never stop trying to impose their Marxist Fantasy onto actual reality.

   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.

   Thursday - April 02, 2009

Drew, bulk mail, and the Post Office

Instead of replying to each post on Drew’s article “San Francisco Passes “Do Not Mail” Resolution” (especially since Drew decided to not respond to any of my points in his response to my response…) I decided to just write an op-ed.

First, the USPS is losing money. Last year was bad. Each time the gas price goes up 1¢ the USPS shells out another $1 million/day. Unlike our competitors, like FedEx, UPS, etc, the USPS is not allowed to own their own aircraft. Without its own airfleet, the USPS cannot contract for ‘bulk’ fuel. USPS contracts with private airlines to carry mail. Add in gassing up the semi-trucks, and even my own route van, you’ve a huge cost right there.

And, yes Drew, when you and I were children postage was five cents. Gas was also 19¢. And back then, postage was subsidized by the taxpayers. Postage rates haven’t been taxpayer-subsidized since 1983.

There is no reason on earth why the Post Office should essentially underwrite commercial advertising.

The Post Office does not underwrite commercial advertising. The Post Office and its customers negotiate bulk rates, as all businesses do. Bulk rate mail gets discounted in a variety of ways:

Volume discount.
Reduced service. Bulk mail is not forwardable, for instance.
Longer time-frame for delivery. Delivery is not guaranteed within _ days.

Unlike Drew, who seems to,

…think of the trees, etc

I think of trees as a crop. We can always plant trees. In fact, the lumber industry does just that. The lumber industry wants a crop to harvest in the future. Trees are truely a ‘renewable resource’. So attacking bulk business mail on that front is ridiculous. Rather like ‘think of the grass’ each time you mow your lawn.

If you have a problem with receiving bulk mail, it’s probably not the Post Office you have the problem with. It’s the marketers who sell their customer address lists to each other. That’s right, businesses sell your personal info, such as–Name, Address, Phone #, Buying habits–without your permission.

This can be stopped now. No laws necessary. All you have to do is contact the Direct Marketing Association, either by phone (212.768.7277, ext. 1888) or on their website (https://www.dmachoice.org/dma/static/learn_more.jsp).

The fact is, business mail, bulk or otherwise, is important to the economy. The Direct Marketing Association says this:

Why Do Not Mail Bills Are Bad Public Policy

To many consumers and policymakers, Do Not Mail bills may sound like an idea whose time has come. However, learning even a little about advertising mail and direct marketing quickly reveals the many problems that Do Not Mail registries would create.

* Advertising mail is a large and diverse economic engine creating $686 billion of economic activity annually that would be adversely affected by even just one bill becoming law. Businesses both large and small rely on advertising mail to provide consumers with information, announcements and savings opportunities. Additionally, millions of jobs are dependent on advertising mail and direct marketing - from copywriters in ad agencies to rural letter carriers in remote corners of a sparsely populated state.

* Advertising mail provides consumers with a convenient marketplace and an easy connection to local goods and services. As well, it provides significant necessary revenues that help fund the services offered by local post offices.

* Advertising mail often can level the playing field between large and small business. It offers a cost-effective entry into new markets for small businesses looking to introduce themselves to local customers. These businesses would be seriously disadvantaged without access to advertising mail to reach potential customers. Further, advertising mail offers larger businesses, who often bring jobs to small towns and rural areas, a way to reach broader audiences.

* Legislation is not needed to provide consumers with options for removing their names from marketing lists. Consumers have a variety of choices ranging from contacting an individual company, to registering their name with DMAchoice.

Keeping a strong and vital postal system is a great advantage to consumers by maintaining competition in the package delivery market. On-line commerce is reliant on package delivery and a competitive postal system helps keep shipping rates affordable.

Keep in mind that we are currently in a recession, though el presidente Hussein seems hell-bent on causing an actual depression. With that in mind, let us not hamstring businesses from advertising the cheapest way possible.

Or get government out of the private sector entirely and let UPS or somebody else do the job ... faster, and for less.

The Constitution authorizes Congress to ‘establish Post Offices’. Now, I daresay that Congress could do a better job IF they ignored the politics. Example, the Post Office has just eliminated/restructured many of it’s ‘districts’. My district was one that was eliminated. Doesn’t effect me as a ground-pounder, but does effect several mid-upper level management positions. Well and good, until you read the fine print. Seems that those districts that most needed to be eliminated had very strong congressional support for keeping them. Therefore, the inefficient, bloated districts are staying put.

Congress could also repeal the private express statutes. These are the laws that effectively make the Post Office a monopoly. They basically say that, yeah, it’s your mailbox, but the Gov’t owns the space inside it. Therefore nobody but the Gov’t mailman can put mail in your mailbox. These laws date from the 1880’s.

The plus: competition in mail delivery. Better service!? Maybe.
The minus: numerous. From having however many private mailmen walking across your lawn, to, well:

Example. The USPS was experimenting with ‘contracting out’ mail delivery to private companies a couple of years ago. This was in high volume big cities like LA and Miami, FL. The private companies bid for the contracts and the low bid won. So far, so good.

Then the private companies turned around and hired people off the street to do the mail deliveries. These ‘street people’ not only failed to deliver the mail in a timely fashion, many times they didn’t deliver it at all. Several of these ‘temporary hires’ were video-taped dumping the mail. Several have been charged and convicted of identity theft. Several more were illegal aliens. Sometimes they were the same.

It’s easy to bash the Postal Service because who else can you bash? You don’t hear about the FedEx screwups. Why? Because I (the USPS mailman, who’s there every day and knows the people by name) usually flag down the FedEx (or UPS) driver and tell them that ‘Hey, you left a parcel at a vacant house.’ Or ‘Hey, you left a package for a person who moved last month.’

Even more frequent are customers who try to refuse/return a FedEx or UPS parcel to me. I tell them to call whichever company delivered it. If I take it, they’ll have to pay postage. The fact is, Drew, that I, as a mailman, have over 700 deliveries a day, every day. UPS drivers don’t even come close. They just deliver parcels. If they had to go door-to-door each day it would cost them, and therefore you and me, just as much. And UPS charges a premium for Saturday delivery. I don’t know about FedEx.

Now, let me tackle the so-called cheaper e-commerce. Yes, I suppose it is cheaper to receive and pay your bills over the internet. Or is it? The ability to do that involves a large initial capital outlay, and indeed a constant monthly outlay. In otherwords, you have to be able to purchase a computer, and purchase internet access. Just using myself as an example, my initial capital outlay was $1600. This bought an iMac and an inkjet printer. The printer immediately decided to clog up. Sigh.

Now, for internet access I need either a landline phone, which I have at $22/mo, or a cable connection. I don’t have cable because of its humongous cost vs. benefit. So landline it is. Adding broadband to my landline was another $25/mo. Total, just for internet access PER MONTH is $47. See, I’d can the landline since the wife and I have cellphones now. But I can’t if I want internet access.

Now, that’s me, and no doubt the average BMEWS reader. I can afford it. Note that I’ve not even mentioned, until now, ‘the poor’. Can ‘the poor’ afford the initial capital outlay and the monthly internet bill? Without some sort of government subsidy?

The answer is no.

Also, e-commerce presupposes things like electricity being available and relatively cheap.

Availablility: The remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through Dayton last year and caused much damage. Parts of the city were without power for over three weeks. Can’t pay your bills online without power.

Cheap: el presidente Hussein is going to ensure that power is forever out of reach with is Gorbal Warming Cap-&-Trade policies. I daresay that part of Hussein’s goal is to shut down dissent on internet sites like BMEWS by making power too expensive to maintain a blog.

Miscellaneous items:

SwedeBoy mentioned

Stopping Junk Mail is only part of the Problem.

The Local Fishwrap has a “Shopper” hand Delivered.
There is no way to Stop it.
They will not comply with requests to discontinue Delivery.
The Bundle is Dumped on your driveway and Piles up if you are on Vacation.
I view this as a Security Issue as Much as a Waste Issue.
All the Burglars just look for the Piles to know you are Not at Home.

Indeed. This is one of the problems that third-party mailers discovered back in the early 90s. Several magazines like Time, Newsfreak… er… Newsweek, etc, got together to find a cheaper way of delivery. They contracted with private firms, who hired day workers to deliver the goods. I can’t tell you all of the times I remember stepping over a plastic bag with several magazines laying in the middle of driveways and lawns. My guess is that many customers were not enthused either.

I have much the same problem with our newspaper. All I ask is that they get it on the porch. Not on the driveway, not in the flowerbeds, not in the bushes, not on the sidewalk, etc. Yet, at least once a month I have to call up the newspaper and threaten them: “I’m a mailman, how would you like it if I just threw your mail in the yard, driveway, bushes, flowerbeds, sidewalk? All I ask is that you get it on the porch!”

And, at this time of year, don’t forget those phone books that are thrown on your driveway, in your bushes, in your flowerbeds, etc. I’ve several vacant homes that have multiple years of phonebooks on the porch. These same homes have been ransacked for copper piping, used for drug dens, etc.

Peiper, the Forever stamps came out a couple of years ago during a past postage increase. The Forever stamps say Forever on them and have a picture of the Liberty Bell. They are ALWAYS good for the one-ounce First-class letter rate, regardless of the current postage rate. You buy Forever stamps today at 42¢ and a hundred years from now they (theoretically) will still be good for the going rate of $42.

My bottom line is this. There are two Constitutional duties of Congress, the Military, and the Post Office. There is massive fraud and waste in both. That is the fault of Congress.

Now, if I were President, the first order of business would be to abolish all government unions…

   Wednesday - April 01, 2009

Appropriate Timing?

April Fool?
Justice Department throws out corruption case against Alaska Senator Stevens, months after his conviction


Huh? Um, what?

The Justice Department has dropped its case against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a department source told CNN on Wednesday.  Stevens, 85, was convicted in October on seven counts of lying on mandatory financial disclosure forms. Stevens hid “hundreds of thousands of dollars of freebies” he received from an oil field services company and its CEO, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said. Many of the alleged free services were given as part of the renovation of Stevens’ Alaska home.

Stevens maintained his innocence even after the conviction, and his sentencing has been delayed amid charges by an FBI agent of prosecutorial misconduct.

Stevens also lost the senatorial election last November to Democrat Mark Begich—who had been the Anchorage mayor.

Um, why would they do this? Isn’t the guy guilty? Wasn’t he convicted of taking bribes? Well, yeah, but ...

According to Justice Department officials, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to drop the case against Stevens rather than continue to defend the conviction in the face of persistent problems stemming from the actions of prosecutors.

The judge in the Stevens case has repeatedly delayed sentencing and criticized trial prosecutors for what he’s called prosecutorial misconduct. At one point, prosecutors were held in contempt. Things got so bad that the Justice Department finally replaced the trial team, including top-ranking officials in the office of public integrity. That’s the department’s section charged with prosecuting public corruption cases.

An angry federal judge held Justice Department attorneys in contempt Friday [2/13/2009] for failing to deliver documents to former Sen. Ted Stevens’ legal team, a rare punishment for prosecutors in a case where corruption allegations have spread to the authorities who investigated him.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said it was “outrageous” that government attorneys would ignore his Jan. 30 deadline for turning over documents.

Last month, Sullivan ordered the Justice Department to provide the agency’s internal communications regarding a whistle-blower complaint brought by an FBI agent involved in the investigation into the former Alaska senator. The agent, Chad Joy, objected to Justice Department tactics during the trial, including failure to turn over evidence and an “inappropriate relationship” between the lead agent on the case and the prosecution’s star witness.

Sullivan said after the government turns over the documents he’s demanded, he will hold further hearings to hear arguments about whether the case was so damaged that Stevens deserves to have his conviction thrown out and a new trial take place.

During Friday’s hearing, Sullivan repeatedly asked three Justice Department attorneys sitting at the prosecution’s table whether they had some reason not to turn over the documents he asked for. They finally acknowledged they did not, and Sullivan exploded in anger.

“That was a court order,” he bellowed. “That wasn’t a request. I didn’t ask for them out of the kindness of your hearts. ... Isn’t the Department of Justice taking court orders seriously these days?”

Judges rarely hold prosecutors in contempt. The most notable recent case occurred in September 2007, when a North Carolina judge jailed prosecutor Mike Nifong for one day on a contempt charge for lying during the rape case against Duke lacrosse players.

But sanctioning federal prosecutors is even more unusual. A Washington bankruptcy judge did so in 1987, ruling that the Justice Department unlawfully tried to put a financially troubled computer firm out of business. In 1995, a federal judge in Texas held a prosecutor in contempt for refusing to provide him information that had been sealed by another judge.

In his complaint turned over to the court in December, Joy accused prosecutors of mishandling evidence, covering up information and trying to keep a subpoenaed witness from testifying.

He also said the lead FBI agent in charge of the investigation, Mary Beth Kepner, had an inappropriate relationship with witness Bill Allen, the Alaska millionaire at the center of the investigation. Joy said he once saw Kepner entering Allen’s hotel room alone. Joy also said Kepner told him she wore a skirt during her appearance at the Stevens trial as a “surprise/present” for Allen.

Joy accused Kepner of developing close personal relationships with other witnesses — inviting them to dine at her home, revealing details of FBI investigations and accepting gifts from them, including a job for her husband as a security guard at the Port of Anchorage, Alaska.

The Justice Department attorneys have given conflicting information about whether Joy has been given whistle-blower status to protect him from retaliation, which is why Sullivan demanded internal communications on the matter.

NPR reports that Holder “wanted to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated.” Also, according to the NPR report, Holder “is said to have made his decision because of Stevens’ age.” [Stevens is 85]

So to catch a supposedly dirty Senator, the feds had to use a dirty prosecution, hid evidence, and used a honey trap to procure favors? Nasty. And the new AG, Eric Holder, isn’t going to stand for that kind of monkey shines. Well, good. But Holder is basing his decision to dump the conviction because of Steven’s age? That sounds like BS to me. Stevens is a Republican. Holder would put him in jail if he was 104. He tossed the case because it was dirty from top to bottom, period.

That’s about all I can take away from this.

UPDATE (because Macker saw the obvious conclusion!):

Yup, it’s looking more and more like this was a kangaroo court:

Attorney General Eric Holder decided to abandon the case due to prosecutorial misconduct—one Justice Department source called the stunning turnaround a “black eye” on the department and the FBI.

Stevens was convicted last year of lying on a Senate disclosure form in order to hide $250,000 in gifts he received from an oil company executive and friends.

Only after the conviction did allegations of FBI misconduct come to light. The judge in the case has repeatedly delayed sentencing Stevens, and at one point he held prosecutors in contempt. Justice Department officials later replaced the trial team.

Stevens sought to dismiss the case, and Wednesday’s action in effect supports his request. A hearing has been set for April 7.

In a written statement released Wednesday morning, Stevens suggested he would have fared better in his losing November election had it not been for the “unfair” case against him.

“I always knew that there would be a day when the cloud that surrounded me would be removed. That day has finally come,” Stevens said. “It is unfortunate that an election was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair. It was my great honor to serve the state of Alaska in the United States Senate for 40 years.”

Holder said he would not seek a new trial.

“After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial,” Holder said in a statement released shortly after the motion was filed Wednesday.

“The misconduct of government prosecutors, and one or more FBI agents, was stunning. Not only did the government fail to disclose evidence of innocence, but instead intentionally hid that evidence and created false evidence that they provided to the defense,” said attorneys Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. and Robert M. Cary.

Funny, Senator Stevens is a Republican. And this whole thing took place during the Bush administration. Now, no one would ever think that Bush would throw a high ranking politician to the dogs (right Scooter?) or allow for a total miscarriage of justice (like those two Border Guards?), so it’s just inconceivable that this kind of behavior would ever get his approval. But this case seems to be 99% politically motivated, if the drive to convict at all costs was so strong as to cause the FBI and the fed gov to hide and falsify evidence. Let’s find out who were the “motivators” behind this case, all the way up to the top, and see what party (Democrat) they belong to. Then hang them. Yeah right, as if ANY Democrat will even get as much as a scowl for any wrong doing, past or present, in this administration.

Given the level of corruption, greed, pork, etc that passes for normal in DC, somebody must have had the world’s biggest hard-on for Stevens. All this for a quarter million in house repairs [now rumored to be “merely” $80000; another bit of FBI untruth and witness hiding]? Pfha! William Jefferson had a third as much in CASH in the ice box. Marked bills too. And no trial or indictment for him has EVER been made. What gives? It’s not like he’s Martha Stewart, who needed to be publicly flogged to keep the rest of us from undertaking any financial impropriety. [I’m choking on that last one, given Fannie and Freddie etc]

   Saturday - March 28, 2009

Left free to attack 71 women, number may reach 100 while another case as high as 200.

I have another reason for posting these crime stories beside the fact of awful blunders by what I now call The Keystone Kops.
I have always had this respect and you might even say a certain amount of awe, for people doing such an impossible job.  Not one I would ever want and if I did I wouldn’t have made the grade. 
Maybe it also stems from having kin (uncles) who were firemen and police.  But that was so long ago. That was in an age when calling a cop a name was NOT the accepted thing and could earn you a sharp clout.  And it would be deserved too.

But that was then and this crap is now.  More paperwork then ever before and criminals with more rights (it always seems) then the victimized public.
And blunders like this but it’s okay because the police said, “whoops, sorry.” Sorry.  Always sorry.  I have read that and heard that so often now that it’s lost all meaning.  It’s just something people are programed to say.  “Sorry.”
Now having said that, it still is not the entire reason for this posting.

Kirk Reid: serial sex predator left free to attack 71 woman after catalogue of blunders

Serial sex attacker

Kirk Reid preyed on at least 71 women in a prolonged campaign of terror after police blunders meant he remained a free man years after being named a suspect.

By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent and Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 9:25AM GMT 27 Mar 2009

Reid roamed the streets of south London late at night for 12 years, hunting down and pouncing on single women as they made their way home.
Scotland Yard was forced into making a rare apology for its failings as the case was passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission - the second of its kind to be referred in two weeks.

Detectives had Reid’s DNA profile on file from 2001 and were soon given the make and registration of his car, linked to an assault.
But despite being alerted to the 44-year-old football referee three times, officers failed to piece the clues together for four years - meaning that dozens of women were attacked because of their inaction.

One long-serving Met police officer said: “These are impermissible failings. There is a lot of soul searching as we ask ourselves why and how this could have happened.”

In January 2008, the case files were finally passed to a Scotland Yard murder detective, who solved in three days the investigation that had faltered for eight years in the hands of a local rape unit in south London.

Police now fear Reid, a chef and referee in local Wandsworth leagues for children, women and men, could have attacked hundreds of women who have yet to come forward.
He now faces a lengthy prison sentence after being found guilty at Kingston Crown Court of
sexually attacking 25 women since 1995, two of whom he raped.

Timeline of missed opportunities
Here is a timeline of the missed opportunities to catch serial sex attacker Kirk Reid.

Aug 2000 - Sept 2002: Police are put on alert over a serial sex attacker after linking 26 assaults on women in the borough of Wandsworth, south west London.
Nov 2002: DNA recovered from two of the attacks is linked to give a profile of the suspect.

Dec 2002: Kirk Reid is stopped by a police officer after following a woman in the street. He is let go and not formally questioned. The police officer records that no crime was committed but submits an intelligence report on Reid.

Jan 2004: A member of the public gave police Reid’s car and licence plate details after claiming to have witnessed a sex attack in central London but the report was not followed up.

Feb 2004: Reid was stopped in the same car tooting at a woman. He became an official suspect in the sex attacks but no further action was taken to interview him or take a DNA swab.
2004-2008: Reid attacks at least 20 further women, taking the total amount to more than 70.

OH WE’RE NOT DONE YET ...CHECK THIS OUT.
Another Keystone Cops Case and more blunders.

btw, Black Cab here is a taxi.  Used to be (might still. ?) the very top in cab service and the men who drove them took tests and in fact there were special courses.  Especially those driving in London.  A driver had to prove he really knew the city.  Wasn’t simply a matter in years past of just “getting a license.” I don’t know about now.  And the cabs themselves are really kind of special.  Not just an ordinary car with a meter. Very roomy and comfortable. And VERY clean.

Scotland Yard’s failure to catch serial sex attacker Kirk Reid until four years after he was identified as a suspect is one of a number of bungled investigations by police.

By Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 7:03AM GMT 27 Mar 2009

Just two weeks ago, it emerged that police had arrested and released black cab rapist John Worboys seven months before he was finally caught in February 2008. He was arrested in July 2007 after he had driven a 19-year-old student back to Greenwich University and attacked her.
Even though the police had a statement from the victim and CCTV footage placing Worboys at the scene, officers decided not to proceed with the case.

He went on to attack at least another seven women and it is feared he could have targeted as many as 40 women during that period. In total he is believed to have attacked more tham 200 women.

Like Reid, the Worboys case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to see what lessons could be learned.
Earlier this month, 22-year-old Karl Bishop was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the Harry Potter actor Rob Knox.

It transpired that unemployed Bishop had a history of violent conduct stretching back to primary school and was known by police as a “habitual knife carrier”.
He served two years of a four-year sentence for slashing two men across the face with a knife and murdered Rob nine months after his release.

Two months before the killing, Knox was named as the suspect in a burglary and a knifepoint robbery but never arrested. The investigation was still “live” when he killed Rob.

The dead boy’s father Colin Knox said: “They admit they made a mistake.”
Last December, the police were forced to apologise to Colin Stagg after they finally convicted the right man for the murder of Rachel Nickell who was killed in 1992 on Wimbledon Common.

A female police officer had posed as a sexual deviant who tried to get Mr Stagg to confess in a “honey-trap”, which he failed to do.
The case against him was later thrown out by the judge who condemned police tactics.

It emerged that Miss Nickell’s life might have been spared had police tracked down the real killer, paranoid schizophrenic Robert Napper, several years earlier.

In 1989, Napper’s mother phoned police to tell them her son had confessed to raping a woman on Plumstead Common, but police never spoke to him or took a blood sample.

He was questioned over a number of suspected rapes shortly after Miss Nickell’s murder but again did not provide a blood sample which could have solved the crime.

Police are to investigate MI5 over torture allegations

   Thursday - March 26, 2009

Honestly, he ain’t Abe

This doesn’t sound like the Barry I see on TV every day at all!





Thanks Carol!

   Friday - March 20, 2009

City Council forced to give squatters a list of all its empty properties.

Now this is really bizarre with a large ‘B.’

It just seems that as time marches on and new breakthroughs are made in medicine and technology and as life gets easier for many, (maybe too easy?) people are becoming more and more demanding and dreaming up new ‘rights’ and often if not mostly, at the expense of a hard working majority. The taxpayer.

I am totally lost on this dumb ass issue. I do not understand English law.  I do not understand why it takes so long and so many court visits to remove people who are in a place where they don’t belong to begin with.

As screwed up as things may be in the USA in all matters where libtards have a say, and they have far too much as it is, I can’t see this sort of stupidity working in the states.  Europeans scoff at us on the gun issue BUT .... since we have the means to protect our property and would be squatters know that, it’s unlikely these creeps could pull this sort of thing off with any prospect of success.

Ah but over here .... things are way different.  Here’s a comment on what I’m posting and ranting about.

“They may not want to be part of the system but they certainly know how to play it - this is disgraceful and about time squatting was made a criminal offense instead of civil! A friend came back from a break to find his home (his only residence) now contained squatters and they had changed the locks so that he couldn’t get in and there was nothing the police could or would do about it!” - anne, Feltham, 20/3/2009 13:02

I can not imagine the police doing nothing about it anywhere in the USA.  Or ... have I been away from home for too long?

Council forced to give squatters a list of all its empty properties

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:45 PM on 20th March 2009

A council has been forced to give details of every empty home in its area to squatters because of a legal loophole.

Lambeth in South London had to hand over the list after squatters submitted a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request.

The Labour-run borough provided details of an estimated 800 properties despite council officers’ fears that the move could lead to a marked rise in squatting in the borough.

Critics will ask whether the coup could be used as a precedent by other squatters’ groups.

They accuse the local authority of ‘incompetence’ in the way it handled the request from the Advisory Service for Squatters, submitted in September last year.

An advisory service for who? They have an Advisory Service for Squatters?  WTF?  Should that not be “burglars? What the hell is the difference? 

Liberal Democrat opposition leader Ashley Lumsden said a senior council source told him that housing officers had earlier committed ‘a grave error’ by publishing a list of all vacant properties in the appendix of a council document.

When the squatters presented their demand, the information was already in the public domain so the request could not be denied.

But the council said it had been forced to give out the information because of a legal precedent set by another council.

A spokeswoman for Lambeth Living, which manages the borough’s council housing, said: ‘When responding to FOI requests we have to operate within the letter of the law.

‘A legal precedent had already been set in response to a similar FOI inquiry to Bexley Council.

‘On challenging the request, they were instructed by the Information Tribunal that they had a legal duty to provide the address details of empty properties which were not owned by individuals.’

She added that the number of Lambeth properties with squatters had fallen over the past six months from 49 to 45.

The incident is not the first major embarrassment for Lambeth in its struggle with squatters.

Four empty blocks of flats at Limerick Court on the border of Streatham and Balham were occupied by more than a hundred people for six months until they were evicted last summer.

Two years ago at least 100 armed police officers used stun grenades in a huge raids on a property in Kennington which had been used as a squat for decades - finding several kilos of cannabis, crack cocaine and six rounds of live ammunition.

Councillor Lumsden said the Freedom of Information incident was in a long line of blunders by the housing department that has seen it overspend by an estimated £23 million, and the number of empty council homes double since 2006 to close to 900.

He told the Streatham Guardian: ‘The administration seems hell-bent on destroying public housing in Lambeth through a mixture of brain-numbing incompetence and sheer bloody-mindedness.’

HERE FOR MORE PLUS PHOTOS

Please understand my irritation and rant on this sort of thing doesn’t include those who through misfortune or health or something they honestly couldn’t avoid. Sometimes there are folks who really are in dire straights and simply find themselves “squatting” in some god forsaken building or under a bridge in a box. I am thankful I’ve been so lucky as to not know first hand what that must be like.  I have to wonder about the many I’ve read about who choose that lifestyle.  It’s just beyond my imaginings. Who in their right mind would want to live like that?

But there are people and the number grows if I can believe what I read, who are simply leeches. You can see them on street corners almost anywhere with hands out.  Some actually have apts. or even houses to go back to after a hard days mooching.  And others simply enjoy the idea of squatting anywhere they please and daring anyone to do anything about it.  To make matters worse, in todays legally advanced times there are those who pander to them and find “loopholes” to make things easier for them to carry on with this kind of activity.

I don’t blame the squatters half as much as I do the idiot left wing types who make it so easy.  And the lawyers who work on their behalf under the cloak of “rights” of any kind they can dream up. BAH!

Posted by peiper     on 03/20/2009 at 09:25 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Editorials • Government • UK •  
• Comments (0) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Well-meaning ‘snoops’ are being recruited by the Government . It’s for our own good.

I had posted something the other day to which our Dr. Jeff said;

“Gawd, monitoring the trash.  What will they think of next?  Re-educating people who like soda pop?  Too much sugar is bad for you, can’t have that going on.

Well Doc, as it happens .......
Your question could not have been timed better.

‘Snoops’ to nag their friends to live healthier lives
Well-meaning ‘snoops’ are being recruited by the Government to nag their colleagues, family and neighbours into living healthier lives.

By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 8:18AM GMT 20 Mar 2009

Public health “mentors” will be enlisted by the NHS to offer ‘on the spot’ advice in their local neighbourhood when they see people smoking, eating or drinking too much.

The Government hopes that the volunteers will help to get across its messages on healthy living in a new and influential way but the plans have been criticised as evidence of the creeping ‘nanny state’.

Speaking at the Royal Society of Arts yesterday , Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, said mentors could be “amazingly successful” and that he hoped that they could revolutionise the nation’s health.

The mentors, who as volunteers are not paid, are expected to work to influence the people around them, offering advice to workmates, family and friends about how they should change their unhealthy habits.

Eating a third fried breakfast of the week in the office canteen, having a drink ‘for the road’ at your local pub or chain-smoking another cigarette while waiting for the bus could all see the mentors spring into action to offer the Government’s advice.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that it was hoped that mentors would spread the word among “people they come in contact with on a daily basis, including their friends and neighbours, and also be able to point them to NHS services, such as smoking cessation services”.

Ministers are concerned that some people are turned off by its traditional methods of advising on public health, including large-scale advertising drives such as the recent £75 million Change4Life campaign.

But critics warned that the public was increasingly being “nannied” over their health. The latest example of this was a nursery in Essex where toddlers were told to badger their parents to stop smoking.

The same NHS trust has also been accused of using taxpayers’ money to bribe pregnant women into giving up cigarettes, offering them £100 if they stop smoking.

Martin Dockerell, from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the anti-smoking charity, said: “If you get the mentoring scheme right and if you manage to turn things around so it seems that healthy behaviour is not abnormal then that can be very powerful.

“If, however, you are trying to be the only mum on the estate whose kids don’t go to McDonalds, or the only 19-year-old who doesn’t drink in the park, then that is not going to work.”

MORE RIGHT HERE

Posted by peiper     on 03/20/2009 at 08:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Government • Health-Medicine • UK •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Tuesday - March 17, 2009

Households to face ‘re-education’ visits for producing too much rubbish, says Big Brother.

And you think that things are hinky in NJ?

Minds a blank right now. Maybe up too long? This really floors me. No kidding.

Alright I do understand there are damn sloppy ppl about who are pretty careless. But overall, “re-education visits?”
That just smacks of Chairman Mao and little red books and Comrade Stalin and every other sort of mind control and more social engineering.
See, I do NOT see it ending there.  Once they can easily do one thing, why not a host more of other things? 

Remember Red Buttons, for those old enough?

“STRAAAAANGE THINGS ARE HAPPENING”

What?  Ya think not?

Knock, knock: it’s the council bin snoops
Householders face ‘re-education’ visits for producing too much rubbish after microchipping of two million bins.
Steven Swinford
HOUSEHOLDERS are facing “re-education” home visits for producing too much rubbish after figures released under freedom of information laws revealed that councils have quietly microchipped 2m bins.

The chips can be used to record the amount of rubbish families are throwing away. Those recycling too little will be sent warning leaflets, then visited by council officials who will advise on cutting waste.

Details of the scheme resurrect the long-term prospect of a pay-as-you-throw bin tax, which many thought had died when councils failed to take part in government trials.

Councils in Oxfordshire hope to escape controversy by using the technology to educate rather than charge residents. But officials admit it could eventually pave the way for a full-blown bin tax.

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils have put microchips in 100,000 bins as part of a new £8m waste contract in which bins will replace sack collections from June.

The councils have also invested in sensors and weighing equipment that have been fitted to the back of each rubbish lorry.

As the bin is raised, the chip passes across an antenna fitted to the lifting mechanism that reads a serial number assigned to each property. The bin is weighed and information downloaded to a database that allows officials to see how much waste and recycling each household is putting out.

Officials will then use the data to target errant streets and households. They are also considering publishing league tables of the best and worst roads for recycling. The councils hope to increase recycling rates from 43% to 60%.

In June last year a similar trial of microchipped bins in South Norfolk failed after a series of computer problems and a 250% increase in fly tipping. South Oxfordshire, however, remains undeterred.

David Dodds, the council’s member for environmental services, said: “This will enable us to work out where recycling is happening the most and target people who are recycling less.

“Our teams will go out and leaflet first of all and in the end will call and say, ‘Are you recycling as much as you can, can we give you some advice on what you can do better?’ We’re about trying to do the best for the whole community.”

Some were worried about intrusive technology. “This is the kind of thing you’d expect from a communist state,” said Ann Midwinter, an independent councillor.

“I accept that recycling is important but does the council really need to go to these lengths?”

A survey of 200 local authorities using freedom of information laws found that 42 town halls have installed 2m microchips in their bins.

TIMES ONLINE

Posted by peiper     on 03/17/2009 at 01:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Environment • Government • UK •  
• Comments (8) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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On: 03/20/21 07:00

meaningless marching orders for a thousand travellers ... strife ahead ..
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[...] RTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPL [...]
On: 07/17/17 04:28

a small explanation
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On: 07/09/17 03:07

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DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner

GNU Terry Pratchett

Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.