Sunday - October 26, 2008

Television producers say swearing reflects “the way we live” - but so does the production of sewage.

Not so long ago there was a brief discussion here at BMEWS on the subject of bad language.

I got to thinking about it at the time.  Sometimes you know things can get so frustrating you can’t find the words you want and so you let fly with bad language.  Makes one feel a fraction better once in awhile.  But not always.
The thing about TV in this case however, is bad language used in place of anything else.  It’s simply gratuitous.
I’ve been away from American TV for four years now, so don’t know how much it’s changed there.  Heck, I don’t even know what shows are on and popular.  But unless it’s cable, I don’t think we go quite as far as these folks do.  So, I thought you might be interested in the argument on that subject here.

Empty out the swear box

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 26/10/2008

Listening to a constant succession of swear-words is almost always depressing and unpleasant. We associate them with personal animosity and aggression. So why have television programmes, after the “watershed” of 9pm established by the regulations, become full of people who seem to do little except compete with each other in the production of offensive language?

We have yet to hear a good answer to that question. Television producers say swearing reflects “the way we live” - but so does the production of sewage, and no one thinks that is a reason for putting the process on TV every night. As the statistics we have gathered show, swearing has become so commonplace on television that it has long ceased to have the desired effect of shocking the audience. The response of those responsible for TV schedules seems to have been to increase the amount of bad language, on the principle that if one swear word does not upset the audience, 20 surely will. Thus one episode of Gordon Ramsay’s cooking programme had him use the f-word 80 times in 50 minutes.

No one benefits from the cascade of obscenity. It is time for television to grow up, and to stop thinking that there is something “cool” about swearing. In an ideal world, there would be a moratorium on bad language. That is too much to hope for: but a significant cut in the amount of pointless obscenity would be an enormous benefit, and it is eminently achievable.

Television has a responsibility to set standards, and in tolerating, indeed encouraging, expletives of the most obscene kind, it is failing to meet that responsibility. It is not merely children who need to be protected from constant swearing. Most of the rest of us are bored, irritated and offended by switching on the telly and being assaulted by the crudest, crassest and most vulgar language. Is it too much to ask that writers and producers exercise some self-restraint?

http://preview.tinyurl.com/55m2et

TV has set standards.  All ya have to do to see them is open your eyes and look down.

   Thursday - October 23, 2008

New Ann

Dear Miss Coulter pulls both triggers on her double barreled keyboard. One shot for the press, and one shot for the Ivory Tower leftists. Damn shame that no one outside of the right wing blogosphere will hear the gunfire.

Back before the media realized it needed to lie about Obama launching his political career at Ayers’ house, the Los Angeles Times provided an eyewitness account from a liberal who attended the event.

“When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. They were launching him—introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.”

The Times has now stripped this item from its Web page

Any other profession would have banned a person like Ayers. Universities not only accept former domestic terrorists, but also move them to the front of the line. In addition to Ayers, among those once on the FBI’s most-wanted list who ended up in cushy college teaching positions are Bernardine Dohrn (Northwestern University), Mark Rudd (a junior college in New Mexico) and Angela Davis (History of Consciousness Department, University of California at Santa Cruz).

While others were hard at work on Ph.D.s, Susan Rosenberg was conspiring to kill cops and blow up buildings, and was assembling massive caches of explosives. This put her on the fast track for a teaching position at Hamilton College!

Left-wing radicals swarm to free foundation money, where they can give gigantic grants to one another and they will never have to do a day’s work. That’s exactly what Obama and Ayers did with Annenberg’s money.

None of the Annenberg money went to schoolchildren. It went to Ayers’ left-wing crank friends to write moronic papers that we hope no one ever reads.

Instead of teaching students reading and writing, Ayers thinks they should be taught to rebel against America’s “imperialist” social structure. In 2006, Ayers was in Venezuela praising communist dictator Hugo Chavez, saying, “We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution.”

Nice work Ann, as usual.

Maybe what she writes here answers my question in my previous post. Perhaps the reason that the US has been so soft on terrorism is that half our population actually supports them? That’s a nauseating idea ... but look around you.  Socialism is on the ascendancy. Socialists control the media agenda and the education system. Ultra leftism is popular, and any means necessary to further those goals - even violent or unscrupulous ones - seem to get a pass. 

   Monday - October 20, 2008

Colin Powell backs Barack Obama: Endorsing change, THE WORLD AWAITS AND LOOKS FORWARD TO OBAMA

NOTHIN’ TO SAY.

AND IF I DID, IT’D ALL BE SOUR GRAPES.  BAH! BUT WAIT. WE AIN’T LOST YET. AND YA NEVER DO KNOW FOR SURE TILL AFTER THE FAT LADY SINGS.

Colin Powell backs Barack Obama: Endorsing change

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 20/10/2008

In endorsing Barack Obama, Colin Powell did not give the impression of a man carried away by his emotions. His manner was measured, analytical, even-handed. But in the end, he was clear. Senator Obama, he said, “has met the standard of being a successful President, being an exceptional President. I think he is a transformational figure.”

To understand why that verdict matters, consider a survey carried out by Fox News in August. American voters were asked whether their impressions of President Bush’s former Secretary of State, as well as Senators Obama, Clinton and McCain, were positive or negative. Despite his inglorious involvement in the build-up to the Iraq war, Powell swept the board. In the same poll, 35 per cent of America’s voters (and 37 per cent of independents) suggested that a Powell endorsement would make them look more favourably on the Democratic candidate.

Even if that figure is an exaggeration, the announcement was very good news for Senator Obama, already buoyed by record fund-raising last month. The support of such an experienced military man undercuts the claim that Obama lacks the experience to lead and will be weak on national security. Yet the more interesting thing is what Powell’s decision says about the Republicans, to whom the bulk of his thoughts were devoted. Powell voiced his regret over what he saw as the Rightward shift of his party, its negative campaigning tactics, its attitude towards Muslims, its selection of the underqualified Sarah Palin, and more.

The election itself is still more than a fortnight away, and Senator McCain may yet pull off a victory. But their abandonment by one of the few Bush appointees with any reputation remaining speaks volumes about the state of the Republicans. There is a growing sense that this election is the Democrats’ to lose.

http://tinyurl.com/5f5olf

MUDSLIMES RAISE A FUSS, SONY MAKES NICE AND APPEASES. AS USUAL.

This article leaves a bit wanting or is just me?
It doesn’t say exactly what the lines were or why there was a perceived insult.  Maybe there was but I think most of us might doubt that.  These followers of the ROP always manage to find insults everywhere they look.  I’d find it hard to believe that politically correct Sony would allow an intentional insult to be included in any of their products.

Anyway .. just another case making nice to the muzzies.  Good muzzy, nice muzzy, here’s a bone muzzy.

Sony Playstation game Little Big Planet delayed after anti-Muslim claims.

A “revolutionary” video game that Sony hopes will revive the fortunes of its Playstation console has been delayed after Muslims objected to its soundtrack.

By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 7:33AM BST 20 Oct 2008
Little Big Planet: The Sony Playstation game has been delayed after anti-Muslim claims about its soundtrack
Sony has not yet confirmed a new release date

Millions of copies of Little Big Planet have been withdrawn from warehouses after lines from the Koran were found to be included in the accompanying music.

The game, which was due out on Friday, will now be re-programmed without the offending song – a track by Mali-born singer Toumani Diabate that contains two lines from the Islamic holy book.

The costly recall is a blow for Sony, which has made Little Big Planet the centerpiece of its Playstation 3 Christmas sales push.

Sackboy, the rag doll star of the British-developed game, is being promoted as a “face” of the Japanese electronics firm, similar to Nintendo’s Mario character.

“We’ve never really had an icon before. That was a deliberate policy of the early days because we did not want to be pigeon-holed,” a Sony spokesman told The Times.

“It’s psychologically telling that this, arguably our first mascot, is fully customisable. You can make him anything you want him to be.”

Little Big Planet, which allows players to design their own levels in detail and share them with friends, has been lauded by critics.

Steve Boxer, the Telegraph’s games reviewer, said that it was “so deceptively simple, and its conception is so immaculate, that it has the power to turn all of us - gamers and non-gamers - into game developers”.

Little Big Planet was developed by Media Molecule, a small games designer based in Guildford, Surrey.

Sony has not yet confirmed a new release date, but the postponement is expected to be a matter of weeks rather than months.

http://tinyurl.com/62njw3

   Sunday - October 19, 2008

Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for White House .

This is how the story reads here, less then half an hour ago.  Guess it doesn’t matter where it reads or how.  The news could be a lot better.

On to 2012 people. 

Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for White House
Colin Powell, a Republican who once aspired to be the first black United States president and later became one of the faces of George W. Bush’s Iraq war, has endorsed Barack Obama for the White House.

By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 4:32PM BST 19 Oct 2008
Colin Powell, a Republican who once aspired to be the first black United States president, has endorsed Barack Obama for the White House.
Powell said Obama had met the standard to lead his nation Photo: AP

In a major blow to John McCain, a fellow Vietnam veteran whose campaign is based largely on his military and patriotic credentials, Mr Powell, a former four-star general who led US forces in the Gulf war, announced his decision on NBC’s “Meet the Press” programme.

Both Mr Obama, the Democratic nominee, and Mr McCain, his Republican opponent, have avidly courted Mr Powell. The former US Secretary of State, who has indicated he would like to return to public life, is a possible Pentagon chief or diplomatic envoy in an Obama administration.

Mr Powell, 71, said that the young Illinois senator had “met the standard” to lead his nation “because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America”.

Should Mr Obama, 47, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, win on November 4th then “all Americans should be proud, not just African-Americans”, Mr Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants, said. “It would not just electrify our country, it would electrify the world.”

He continued: “Obama displayed a steadiness. Showed intellectual vigour.

He has a definitive way of doing business that will do us well.”

A former national security adviser to Ronald Reagan who also served President George H. W. Bush before becoming his son’s Secretary of State from 2001 to 2004, Mr Powell said that Mr Obama would be a “transformational president” and added: “For that reason I will be voting for Senator Barack Obama.”

Mr Powell was the first black man to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the uniformed head of the US military. He publicly toyed with the idea of running for the White House in 1996, when early opinion polls indicated he would have had a strong chance of unseating Bill Clinton.

His wife Alma, frightened that he might be assassinated, is understood to have played a key role in dissuading him. Mr Powell a now notorious presentation to the United Nations in February 2003 advocating the invasion of Iraq and citing intelligence information that was subsequently discredited.

Mr Powell said he was disappointed by a “rightward shift” by Mr McCain and by his selection of Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his vice-presidential running mate, whom he said was not ready to be president.

He criticised Mr McCain, 72, a long-time friend to whose primary campaign he donated the maximum permissible $2,300 last year, for being inconsistent in his approach to the Wall Street meltdown. “"Almost every day he had a different approach to the problems we were having.”

The former general also lambasted the Arizona senator for focusing on Bill Ayers, the former Weather Underground domestic terrorist with whom Mr Obama worked in Chicago. “Senator McCain says he’s a washed-up old terrorist.

Then why does he keep talking about him?” A disappointed Mr McCain sought to play down the potential impact of the endorsement. “It doesn’t come as a surprise,” he told Fox News. “I’m very pleased to have the endorsement of four former Secretaries of State, well over 200 retired generals and admirals. I’ve admired and continue to respect Secretary Powell.”

http://tinyurl.com/6mz3pb

Iran to stop executing children.  (hmmm. not sure if we should be happy about this)

Iran to stop executing children
Iran’s judiciary has pledged to stop executing children after six were hanged this year alone.


By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor

No other country is believed to have imposed capital sentences on people under the age of 18 as frequently as Iran. These hangings, which are routinely carried out in public, have become far more common since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hardline government won power in 2005.

But a statement from Hossein Zabhi, the assistant attorney for judicial affairs, pledged a moratorium on the execution of children. When juveniles are convicted of the most serious offences, judges should now refrain from imposing capital sentences and instead send them to jail for life or terms of 15 years.

But the death penalty for juvenile offenders remains part of Iranian law. The judiciary appears to have decided on a unilateral moratorium.

“An end to child executions in Iran is greatly welcome but long overdue,” said Kim Manning-Cooper of Amnesty International.

“Iran has a long history of executing juvenile offenders. It is the only country in the world to have executed a child offender this year. We now urge the authorities to follow up this announcement by implementing it as soon as possible, so that we can quickly see an end to the execution of juvenile offenders.”

Amnesty International called on Iran to amend its criminal law to abolish the death penalty altogether. Some 25 children are presently believed to be awaiting sentence for crimes that could carry a capital sentence.

http://tinyurl.com/67tj5j

Short article and doesn’t tell us what the charges are. Not that it’s our business. Under 18s doesn’t mean much either. What? 12? 17?  Then too I can’t help but see the stories and the photos of the monsters home grown here in the UK who commit all kinds of unspeakable crime.  I’d happily see those little turds hang.
So I can’t get too excited about this except that if Amnasty is in favor of something, I just naturally have to be on the other side.
If the kids mentioned in that article are anything even close to the UK brand of “juvenile” thug, I can understand and heartlessly approve.  (yeah, heartlessly)

Now then, this little headline is a job for either Christopher or Drew.  I don’t know where I’m going wrong, but when I see something that says the following,

BROWN:  I’LL CURB CAPITALISM ....  well you just know I have to blog the damn thing and share it. Right?  Well not so darn fast bunky.
No matter how I do it, no matter what words I enter into a search field, this is just one of those items that get away from me.
The headline comes from The Telegraph, and it’s pretty much the norm for that paper to make things hard to find or not at all.
Sometimes I can Google the headline and up pops the article I want.  Other times there’s some sort of pay only service and finally somebody like the two mentioned come to the rescue.  And I still haven’t a clue how they find the same thing and I can’t.  Especially when we often use the same source.

So, the author of the article is the Political Editor, Andrew Porter. Now wouldn’t think The Telegraph would have his blurb online?

Gloom and Doom ....
Just saw a headline says Colin Powell endorses Obama .... oh bloody great.  Funny thing however.  I’m not surprised but I don’t know why.

What I learned from watching Kelly’s Heros

You really have to wonder . . .

The war was won by individual choices made on the spot.

Face it folks, the free market wins in war or peace.

In this fictional example, self-interest (not greed) won the day.

Note that the ‘central planners’ had no idea of where the front was!

   Saturday - October 18, 2008

Gun Show review

Meh. What a let down. There must have been 300 vendors at this show out in Allentown PA today, and my guess is 2000 guys walking around looking at stuff. And about 11 women, 7 of whom were working behind the vendor tables. And 1 who was a rentacop. Not one vendor had any new reloading supplies. Very few vendors even had new rifles or pistols for sale. The only ammo available was out of code milsurp stuff by the wooden case full, which is great if you have a milsurp rifle to feed.

Aside from the one vendor who did beautiful engraving, and the one vendor who had some first class antique rifles in A-1 condition for sale, this show was more like a flea market than a gun show. Sure, there were lots of guns for sale. Every rotted and rusted old double barrel shotgun in America. Those odd little Stevens single shot .22s from the turn of the previous century were there in abundance. I saw more Spencer carbines than I think were ever produced. And a lot of forged Trapdoor Springfields. I happen to know that rifle inside and out, and can spot the fakes and the ones built up from spare parts a mile away. And I saw so many old rifles that had been molested. I’d like to say raped. People get some old gun and try to “fix ‘er up” by sanding all the patina off the stocks, sanding them down to bare wood, then slapping a coat of spar varnish on them and spray painting the barrels gloss black. Shudders. Horrors. Then they think the thing has collector value because it’s old but still “looks good” and they slap on a premium price tag. No, sorry. I won’t give you a dollar for that thing now. I lost count of how many M1s I saw that had been subjected to this, and worse - there were more “tanker” Garands at this show than ever saw production. Forgeries folks. Somebody took a hacksaw to a fine battle rifle and produced this abortion, just in case a sucker came along.

I saw one really great deal, a Ruger GP-100 .357 with a 4” barrel with the full underlug for $395. I forget what I paid for mine when I bought it new 10 years ago, but I think it was more than twice that amount. So there may have been some good deals on pistols, if you knew your product and knew your prices. But I still don’t think Markarovs or any of the Soviet bloc WWII rifles or handguns that the reds have dumped on the market by the millions have any collector value, and never will. That’s why they make good $150 pistols, not $800 investment pieces. Same goes for SKS rifles. It’s a cheap chicom POS trunk gun. That’s all it will ever be. $175 tops, $120 on average. Not $600. No. Flicking. Way. The only good Moisin-Nagant rifles with collector value are the ones made in America and shipped over for the tsar way back in the day, and those have been snapped up ages ago. The 1943 version of that clunky rifle is just another trunk gun.

And I saw a very bothersome amount of WWII Nazi gear. Table after table after table. What up with that? No, I don’t want a “genuine” SS overcoat. Nor a reproduction Hitler Youth dagger. And if you have a nice K-98 Mauser for sale, fine. The ones made pre-war are superb guns. But the absolute last rifle on earth I would spend money on would be one with a proven provenance that it was built for the SS in a concentration camp. No. Never. Not in my worst nightmares. That one has evil built in, and I wouldn’t want it in my town, much less my own home. And besides, Mitchell’s Mausers has the same rifle in mint condition, for a much better price, without that “wonderful and amazing” provenance. So it was no real surprise to me that most of the guys were just walking around, not lining up to buy stuff.

I met one of my readers. How about that? Since all of my NRA shirts are at the dry cleaners (yeah right) and my McCain Palin gear wasn’t clean, I wore my only other firearms related shirt, my IMAO Top 10 Gun Safety Tips one. Some guy behind a table looks at me and says “I know that blog!” and we get into a short conversation. I told him that I run the Barking Moonbat Early Warning System blog. “Hey I read that one sometimes. You’re that guy from England?” (Peiper has minions, damn his hide!!) No, I’m Drew458. I sort of own the place. And he tells me his user name. And I forgot what it was. Sorry guy!!

I saw many many McCain Palin signs, shirts, and stickers. The ONLY Obama things I saw were signs around, say a Barrett .50 BMG rifle, that said “Buy it now before Obama makes it too late!”

It sure was nice having a visit with America for a few hours. Now I’m back in New Jersey. Time for lunch, laundry, and getting the weekly papers together for bowling league. At least I’m mostly over this damn cold by now. Yay drugs, better living through chemistry!

   Thursday - October 16, 2008

News From The North

Russia Doubles Timber Tariff, Exports Shrink To Nothing

In a move that was supposed to increase domestic timber production, Russia has doubled the export tariff on “round timber”, ie tree trunks. But it turns out that Russians have plenty of round timber thank you, and the export tax has dried up foreign purchases. Oops. Government Mentality seems to be a world wide pandemic.

The boost in Russian export tariffs on round timber has not resulted in more domestic processing, as intended by Russian authorities. On the contrary, major parts of the Russian forestry processing industry experiences decline and are threatened by crisis.
Russia this year introduced a major increase in export tariffs on round timber in a bid to boost domestic processing. By next year, the export tariff will amount to 50 EUR per cubic meter, a 100 percent increase compared with last year.

Now, figures from the Republic of Karelia—one of the former main timber export regions – show that processing is not flourishing as intended by Moscow, but rather experiences negative growth.

According to Regnum, regional First Deputy Minister of Forestry in the Republic of Karelia confirms that timber processing in the region is falling and that the negative growth is expected to increase in the period ahead.

While pulp and paper production in the region the first half of the year increased 1,9 percent, the growth has been reduced to only 0,3 percent seen over the last nine months. The situation is worse in timber processing where the decline amounts to 16 percent year-on-year. The drying-up timber exports to Finland might now put the regional industry in crisis. A major part of the industry remains hesitant towards extend operations in Russia. As a matter of fact, a number of companies are strongly against the higher export tariffs imposed by Moscow.

Of course, for every border there’s a way to get across it, and for every tariff and law there’s somebody willing to look the other way ...

The World Wildlife Fund says Finland is one of Europe’s biggest importers of illegally felled timber. Most of it comes from Russia.
The WWF says that in 2006, 10.4 million cubic metres of illegal or suspect timber was exported from Russia, and nearly half of this passed through Finnish mills, Yle News reports.

Finland is currently in a heated debate with Russia over the latter’s strong increase on export tariffs on round timber. The Finnish pulp industry is highly dependent on the Russian raw materials.

PEOPLE, AS LONG AS BIG BROTHER KEEPS DOING STUPID THINGS I’M COMPELLED TO SHARE THE LUNACY.

NOW WHAT DO YA MAKE OF THIS LATEST BIT OF MOONBATTERY?

Council bans man from tending his front garden - because it is too tidy
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:21 PM on 16th October 2008

Brian Hubbard has been banned from gardening by his local council because his lawn is too tidy

A dedicated gardener has been banned from trimming the grass outside his house - because it is TOO tidy.

Brian Hubbard, 72, has been mowing, weeding and edging the verge outside his home for the past eight years.

But now Herefordshire Council have ordered him to stop because he is encroaching on council-owned grass.

Mr Hubbard, who worked as a civil servant for 40 years, has served as a parish councillor in his home district of Belmont, Hereford, with special responsibility for green surroundings.

Mr Hubbard was sent a letter from the council’s parks, countryside and leisure development service, giving him 28 days to return the area to its original state.

The letter ordered the removal of garden tools and furnishings, path and bed covering material, and all vegetation not in keeping with the surrounding area.

It warned if there was still a problem after that period, works would be carried out and re-charged to him.

Mr Hubbard branded the council’s warning as absurd. ‘The council said it sent me this letter after noticing that my grass verge was tidier than the other ones on the street’ he said.

‘All I have done is cut the grass and keep it as tidy as possible.

‘I was told to stop doing it and somebody from the council said it was because that if it was too tidy people might not feel they could walk over it.

‘It is absolutely ridiculous, I am just trying to help the council with what their job is.

‘If I was a timid or nervous type of person I might feel rather threatened by the letter, which I think is utter nonsense.
‘The contractors that cut the grass verges use heavy duty sit on lawn mowers.

‘I’m going to ignore the letter - they won’t stop me.’

Belmont district councillors have reacted with disbelief at the council’s actions.

Independent councillor Glenda Powell believes that the pensioner should have been praised for his work. ‘I think it’s absolutely ridiculous’ she said. ‘Whether it’s a piece of council ground or not if it’s a bit untidy we should be commending people who help clear it up.

Mr Hubbard, whose local council has banned him from gardening, says he will ignore the warning

‘It is barmy, I think it’s absurd and I don’t understand the logic to what they have said to Brian.
‘I have been to his home many times and his role on the council was actually to look after all the trees and bushes in the community.
‘I know Brian well and he used to be a parish councillor and has a great reputation.’

Councillor Heather Davies said Mr Hubbard and his wife should be congratulated for taking pride in the area.

She said: ‘When I was on my way to see them, the road looked a mess because the grass had been cut but the cuttings left.

Local councillors are shocked at Herefordshire council’s treatment of Mr Hubbard

‘Mr Hubbard should be thanked for picking his cuttings up.

‘If more people were like that, the area would look really nice. We should be supporting him because its brilliant what he does - not sending him letters like this.’

A spokesman for Herefordshire Council said it apologised if Mr Hubbard thought the letter was too strongly worded.

He said: ‘We are aware of Mr Hubbard’s endeavours to tend the land next to his home in Dorchester Way and commend him for his public spiritedness.

‘Public open spaces are there for everyone to enjoy and in Herefordshire we have 1,400 which are maintained by the council’s contractors.

‘These contractors are paid out of the public purse and have a responsibility to meet standards laid out in the contracts which govern their work.

‘If anyone feels a public open space is not being cared for as it should, please contact the council and we will speak to our contractors.

‘We apologise if Mr Hubbard feels the letter he received from us is heavy-handed. We are happy to meet Mr Hubbard to discuss the issue.’

http://tinyurl.com/4szycm

   Wednesday - October 15, 2008

JOBLESS COUPLE WITH 10 KIDS ON THE DOLE, UNHAPPY.  THEY WANT MORE BENEFITS!

Can’t find the words to fit the story here.  Pretty certain bet that the offspring will follow in parents footsteps.

The jobless couple with 10 children who rake in £32,000 a year in benefits.. and who STILL aren’t happy
By NEIL SEARS
Last updated at 5:41 PM on 14th October 2008

Tracey Crompton has never had a job, and her husband Harry has been out of work for 15 years.

Yet the couple live for free in a seven bedroom house with their ten children and receive £32,656 in benefits a year.

They even have their own vineyard in their 270ft long garden.

In fact, they receive so much in handouts that they have already bought and wrapped £3,000 worth of Christmas presents, and plan to buy more.

The couple say they are enjoying the credit crunch because it has forced down the price of luxury goods like TVs and computer games, but do have two gripes.
Firstly, they want even more benefits.

Secondly, that their neighbours have nicknamed them ‘Britain’s Biggest Freeloaders’.

Mrs Crompton, 40, moaned: ‘I’m not satisfied with the benefits we get - I want more. I haven’t been able to work because I’ve had to bring up the kids and Harry’s got health problems.’

Fortunately their benefits do stretch to a £250 weekly shop which usually includes 50 packs of crisps and ten litres of fizzy drinks.

Mrs Crompton went on: ‘If the kids need something I go and get it. I rarely go without things either. If I need something, like a new pair of shoes, then I’ll get it.’

The couple and their children Michael, 20, Robin, 19, Matthew, 17, Sarah, 16, Samantha, 14, Harry Andrew, 12, Alex, 11, Kristian, nine, Jesse Lee, seven, and Joshua, six - live in Hull in two semis knocked into one.

As both are unemployed, their weekly £120 rent is paid by housing benefit and they receive another £628 a week in income support, disability and carer’s allowance and other payments. Mr Crompton, 50, says he is unable to work due to angina and irritable bowel syndrome.

Mrs Crompton said: ‘We don’t have money worries. We don’t go without things and I think that’s because we are self-sufficient. We grow our own food. I don’t see why others should have money worries.’

Sadly, others do not always understand. ‘Every time I walk down the street, people shout “scroungers”,’ said Mrs Crompton.

And it seems that she does not have the time for housework.

The walls of her home are dirty and peeling and the floor is covered in videos and magazines.

‘I don’t have much time for cleaning since I started a college course in catering,’ said Mrs Crompton.

‘I’m really nervous about what will happen at the end of my course. I’ve never worked and so it would be scary to think I would have to get a job. It would have to be very well-paid to pay more than the benefits.’

http://tinyurl.com/4fnb2e

Sarah Palin dives in poll ratings, and msm in USA are not biased, reports The Telegraph.

And ya read it here.  Unless you caught it all back home in US.

It may hurt but there’s no way to ignore this reporting on American elections from the Brit side.
Honestly, and yes I know I’m being cowardly, I so far have avoided watching the other parodies of Mrs. Palin. I saw the first and yes it was funny.
I might get the nerve to see the others. Not really sure I want to.  It’s nice and warm and secure here in the sand.

Sarah Palin dives in poll ratings as Tina Fey impersonates her on Saturday Night Live
It has broken Sarah Palin’s spell and could decide the next president. As Obama and McCain square up for Wednesday’s final debate, Neil Midgley explains how US TV entertains, informs and influences voters in a way that would be unthinkable in Britain.

By Neil Midgley
Last Updated: 9:05AM BST 15 Oct 2008

Three weeks from now, Sarah Palin may be the Vice-President elect of the United States of America. But today, few people would call her the most powerful woman in American politics.

Arguably, that honour doesn’t go to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi either. Today, the most influential woman in America is probably Tina Fey – a television comedienne.

Since Palin’s nomination as Republican John McCain’s running mate for the White House, Fey has mercilessly and relentlessly impersonated her on NBC’s late-night satirical show Saturday Night Live (SNL).

Fey’s physical resemblance to Palin is uncanny, and Fey has an equally spooky knack of replicating the Alaska governor’s near-Canadian accent.

In public, Palin has taken Fey’s mockery in good part. But Palin’s poll ratings are telling a more devastating story.

In a Newsweek poll in September, voters were asked whether Palin was qualified or unqualified to be president. The result was a near dead-heat. In the same poll this month, those saying she was “unqualified” outnumbered those saying she was “qualified” by a massive 16 points.

Some of Fey’s best satire has come straight from Palin’s own unforced errors.

At the end of last month, Palin was interviewed by Katie Couric, the main news anchor for the CBS television network.

Couric asked Palin whether the $700 billion for the Wall Street bail-out, which had at that point not been approved by Congress, might be better spent helping out middle-class families.

Palin replied: “That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out.

“But ultimately what the bail-out does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Helping the – it’s got to be all about job creation too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track.

She went on: “So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans and trade – we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today – we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity.”

That babbling response was a gift for Couric, but an even bigger one for Fey the following Saturday. Repeating Palin almost verbatim gave Fey her most powerful line so far.

Thanks to Fey, SNL is defying gravity. While other television shows continue to lose viewers, its ratings are up 50 per cent this autumn – despite the fact that it is now in its 34th season. It currently commands 10 million viewers – a creditable figure for a primetime drama, let alone a late-night sketch show.

NBC has given it an extra slot on Thursday nights. And its success in feeding off serious anchors such as Couric highlights just how powerful a force television has become in deciding this presidential election.

Other satirical shows, such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, are also enjoying record ratings, as well as influence far beyond their own viewers.

Stewart’s combination of comic monologue, fake news reports and genuine celebrity guests (such as Michelle Obama and Tony Blair) has gained him a cult following both in the US and here, where the show airs on the digital channel More4.

Even bigger than Saturday Night Live have been the presidential and vice-presidential debates. Sarah Palin’s set-to with Joe Biden on October 2 attracted nearly 70 million viewers – a record for a vice-presidential debate and the highest-rated election debate since 1992.

Presidential candidates Obama and McCain only managed 63 million, but even that is a massive number. To put it in context, this year’s American Idol finale – one of the highest-rated shows in the calendar – had 32 million viewers.

It is impossible to imagine a similar level of engagement with political television in this country. Gordon Brown and David Cameron would not only have to debate each other on TV – an unlikely scenario in itself – but pull in an audience bigger than the finals of Britain’s Got Talent and Strictly Come Dancing put together.

American networks do have some advantages over the BBC and ITV in planning and executing their political coverage.

Presidential elections happen on a rigid four-year timetable, avoiding the unholy scramble when a British general election is called at a month’s notice.

That allows the networks to engage with the process much earlier on – not least with their Sunday morning political talk shows.

“Two years ago, the then-potential candidates were making their pitstops on [NBC Sunday morning show] Meet the Press,” says Brian Stelter, a media reporter for the New York Times and the lead contributor to that newspaper’s TV Decoder blog. “In some ways, those shows are really try-outs.”

British TV channels also labour under Ofcom’s impartiality requirements, which bar the kind of opinion-led political shows that litter America’s cable news channels.

Every weeknight, there is a primetime battle between Fox News’s legendary conservative Bill O’Reilly, and firebrand liberal Keith Olbermann, whose show airs on NBC’s cable news spin-off channel MSNBC.

Olbermann calls O’Reilly “Billo the Clown”; O’Reilly glories in the fact that Fox gets higher ratings than MSNBC.

The BBC News channel and Sky News could never engage in such playground antics, no matter how entertaining – not least because they could distort the outcome of elections.

“I think we’re learning what it means to have opinion journalism in this country on such a grand scale,” says Stelter. “It’s only in the last six to 12 months that those lines have hardened between Fox and MSNBC. I think the [ratings] numbers for cable have surprised people.

“Cable, which is a niche offering, is in some cases beating some of the big broadcasting networks. I think that shows that people are looking for different stripes of political news.”

American political TV certainly is polarised. When Governor Palin attacked the media in her speech at the Republican convention last month, the crowd chanted “NBC”.

Gwen Ifill, a respected anchor on the non-commercial channel PBS, who moderated the vice-presidential debate, saw her impartiality attacked because she is writing a book about African-American politics that mentions Obama in its title.

Yet despite the Wild-West flavour of some shows, America’s networks comprehensively outstrip this country in both volume and quality of political coverage.

All three major US networks – ABC, CBS and NBC – offer a large amount of serious (and unbiased) political coverage, both in their evening network newscasts and in their morning equivalents of GMTV. All three have Sunday morning political talk shows.

(and here we conservative folks have been thinking how biased those innocents are. silly us. )

By contrast, ITV has almost abandoned politics, and Channel 4 offers precious little political coverage outside Channel 4 News (and, occasionally, Dispatches).

The BBC still wheels out politics on Sunday mornings, but Andrew Marr’s show is very soft and The Politics Show, with its heavy regional component, often seems like a box-ticking exercise by the corporation.

Michael Portillo and Diane Abbott, BBC1’s late-night political Punch and Judy, would seem dangerously flippant among NBC’s line-up of heavyweight political pundits.

Even more worryingly, political television gets no support from Ofcom’s ongoing review of public service broadcasting (PSB), which will likely mutate into government policy early next year.

The regulator appears so obsessed by preserving regional news on ITV, and so charmed by Channel 4’s bid for public funding, that it will allow the broadcasters’ coverage of national politics to drift.

Unlike science, arts, and history, political television does not get a separate mention from news and current affairs in Ofcom’s definition of PSB; the word “democracy” did not appear once in the regulator’s latest 155-page report.

Impartiality and the public service ethos hardly characterise Tina Fey’s performances. Tonight’s presidential debate forms part of a series driven largely by commercial networks, not publicly funded channels. Neither Fox News nor MSNBC was set up as a sop to a regulator.

Yet if Lord Reith were alive today, he’d see more education, information and entertainment about politics in US television than on the BBC.

Can we learn something from our American cousins? As Sarah Palin erself might say, “Darn right, doggone it, you betcha!”

http://tinyurl.com/3nygoz

That link will also take you to all the Tina Fey parodies. 

   Monday - October 13, 2008

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS IS FOR REAL. BUT NO, I CAN. HAS ANYONE HEARD THIS YET. LISTEN, PLEASE!

HT/Jim Miller

It’s about 3am in NJ as I post this.  It’ shortly after 8am here. I received it from a trusted source.  My former neighbor.
There is no video. This is radio.

And these folks vote?  You bet your ass. And our country’s.

Taint Funny McGee.

http://www.bpmdeejays.com/upload/hs_sal_in_Harlem_100108.mp3

   Sunday - October 12, 2008

A BRIT BORN HOLLYWOOD HO OFFERS HER OPINION ON MCCAIN/PALIN.

Barack Obama remained unfazed

By Joan Collins
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 12/10/2008

The second presidential debate was a no-brainer. The lisping, obdurate McCain, who looks progressively unhealthier, did what I thought impossible - he made George Bush look human. Obama, meanwhile, was statesmanlike, youthful yet mature enough to project gravitas.

McCain even pointed a spiteful finger and referred to him as “that one” - how rude! But the cool Obama remained unfazed by that and many other slights thrown at him.

McCain’s demeanour was one of over-excited desperation. Behind Obama’s back he grinned maniacally with his newly whitened teeth, shuffling about impatiently while his opponent was speaking. He couldn’t possibly be president, but he’d make a superb garden gnome.

This was a view echoed by most of the distinguished guests at the Reubens’ party, who were extremely worried about the future of the US and how it will affect the rest of the world.

I am also troubled for the American people, for whom I feel a great affinity, and would be sorry if they had to endure four years of McCain and Palin - the Odd Couple.

Save your “great affinity” slag and please, hurry up and DIE!  We don’t need you or your affinity. 

OK, NOW I NEED DREW OR SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW, TO REPLACE THE NAME IRAN AND SIMPLY PUT IN islam. Or better yet.  muslims. either will do.
oh yeah,, the map should be europe and show the UK as well.  that’d be an accurate picture.

Drew - Ok, I “fixed” your map. I understand your idea: you want a world map, sort of like the RISK gameboard, only with roaches instead of armies. And all the roaches are heading outwards from Iran and Saudi Arabia. Big pile of them in UK and fwance, some up around Detroit, a handful in Norway, another pile in Holland and Belgium, a huge pile down in Indonesia. It’s a good idea, I like it. Heck, I’d leave the “RISK” label right on it too, maybe change it to BIG RISK.

---

---

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 © 2004-2008 Domain Owner