Saturday - November 15, 2008
Can’t call this one racist
I know, I know ... here we go again. This story is all over the internet, from the DU to the freepers, and at a zillion blogs in between, but the only “official” news site carrying the story is over at World Net Daily.
From the American Independent Party website:
Presidential candidate Alan Keyes, AIP leaders sue in CA court to obtain Obama citizenship proof, stop Secretary of State from certifying Electors
Fenton, MI – November 14, 2008
Presidential candidate Alan Keyes, vice-presidential candidate Wiley S. Drake, and the Chairman of the American Independent Party, Markham Robinson, have filed suit in California Superior Court in Sacramento seeking to bar Secretary of State Debra Bowen from certifying to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the names of Electors, and from transmitting to each presidential Elector a Certificate of Election, until documentary proof is produced and verified showing that Senator Obama is a “natural born” citizen of the United States, and does not hold citizenship of Indonesia, Kenya or Great Britain.
In addition, they have asked that the court issue a peremptory writ barring Senator Obama’s California Electors from signing the Certificate of Vote until such documentary proof is produced and verified.
In response to questions about why the suit was being filed, Ambassador Alan Keyes commented, “I and others are concerned that this issue be properly investigated and decided before Senator Obama takes office. Otherwise there will be a serious doubt as to the legitimacy of his tenure. This doubt would also affect the respect people have for the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. I hope the issue can be quickly clarified so that the new President can take office under no shadow of doubt. This will be good for him and for the nation.”
Former Reagan administration official Ambassador Alan Keyes and Wiley S. Drake were the 2008 presidential and vice-presidential nominees of the American Independent Party, which is the California affiliate of the new national America’s Independent Party.
Mission Viejo, California attorney Dr. Orly Taitz and United States Justice Foundation Executive Director Gary Kreep are representing the plaintiffs in this case.
The wonderfully named blog, Obama Waffles, provides a link to the actual submitted petition, which is hidden in the back office files of some investment web site. Go figure. The Obama Waffles blog also has Mooseburger Helper for sale. Go figure again. Snopes has no mention on this at all.
The .pdf document of the writ does match, word for word, the text that reader DSD sent me. I think this is the key paragraph:
There is a reasonable and common expectation by the voters that to qualify for the ballot,the individuals running for office must meet minimum qualifications as outlined in the federal and state Constitutions and statutes, and that compliance with those minimum qualifications has been confirmed by the officials overseeing the election process. Heretofore, only a signed statement from the candidate attesting to his or her meeting those qualifications was requested and received by SOS, with no verification demanded. This practice represents a much lower standard than that demanded of one when requesting a California driver’s license. Since SOS has, as its core, the mission of certifying and establishing the validity of the election process, this writ seeks a Court Order barring SOS from certifying the California Electors until documentary proof that Senator Obama is a “natural born” citizen of the United States of America is received by her.
There have been 17 lawsuits so far over Obama’s birth situation. Several have been dismissed, but several are still pending. This latest effort may be too little too late; Obama can still get the prize even if California’s 55 electoral votes are tied up in court. Keyes would need a similar suit in at least 2 of the other big states to actually block the electoral ballot casting results.
Posted by Drew458
on 11/15/2008 at 12:21 PM
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Permalink • Monday - November 03, 2008
Man gets stuck to public lavatory and is rescued with,, ah. Seat attached.
And so with this little item I’m gone for the night.
Man gets stuck to public lavatory
Monday, November 3 2008, 12:06 GMT
By Sarah Rollo
A man who became stuck to a public lavatory had to be rushed to hospital while still attached to the seat.
It is thought a prankster had covered the rim of the stainless steel toilet with super glue.
An ambulance crew and a rapid response team were called to the cubicle in Brierley Hill, near Dudley, at the weekend but were unable to free the man, reports The Telegraph.
An ambulance service spokesman said: “Despite best efforts it was not possible to remove the 35-year-old local man from his position so, with the help of a local authority and the fire and rescue service, the man was removed from the cubicle still attached to the stainless steel toilet.”
The man was taken to hospital where he was freed with the help of special chemicals. “He appeared to be none the worse for his ordeal other than being understandably somewhat embarrassed,” the spokesman said.
Man gets stuck to public lavatory
Posted by peiper
on 11/03/2008 at 02:09 PM
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Permalink • Saturday - October 25, 2008
French accuse English of war crimes and exaggeration over Agincourt, (593 years ago. ahhhhhh)
OKAY ... BACK TO SCHOOL TO LEARN THE FRENCH VERSION .... ANY BRITS LURKING OUT THERE? NAUGHTY BRITS. NAUGHTY. SAY SORRY TO THE FRENCH IMMEDIATELY. LOL BRITS STILL GET UP FRENCH NOSE AFTER ALL THIS TIME. THEY’LL NEVER FORGIVE YA WATERLOO EITHER.
French accuse English of war crimes and exaggeration over Agincourt
The French are using the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt to accuse England’s men of acting like ‘war criminals’.
By Peter Allen and Nabila Ramdani in Agincourt
Last Updated: 6:19PM BST 24 Oct 2008
Exactly 593 years after King Henry V’s legendary victory, a revisionist conference will be held at the scene of the triumph.
Academics will suggest that the extent of the feat of arms was massively exaggerated, with claims that the English were hugely outnumbered a lie.
More controversially still, they will say that the foreign invaders used numerous underhand tactics against an honourable enemy.
These included burning prisoners to death and setting 40 bloodthirsty royal bodyguards on to a single Gallic nobleman who had surrendered.
‘There’s been a distortion of the facts and this conference will attempt to set the record straight,’ said Christophe Gilliot, a distinguished French historian who is director of the Medieval History Museum in Agincourt, where the conference will take place.
‘We have historians arriving from all over France, and all will produce hard facts concerning the battle, rather than rumours and speculation.
‘At the very least the English forces acted dishonourably. The middle ages were a very violent time, of course, but some might accuse the English of acting like what might now be called war criminals.’
It was on Friday October 25 1415 - St Crispin’s Day - that a force led by Henry V engaged the French at Agincourt, a small village not far from Calais in northern France.
The English army, made up mainly of archers using longbows, massacred a vast force of noblemen in the most famous battle of the Hundred Years’ War.
Immortalised by William Shakespeare in his play Henry V, Agincourt has since become a byword for English heroism in the face of apparently insurmountable odds.
In fact, detailed bureaucratic records of French king Charles VI’s army reveal that they were made up of 9000 travelling soldiers, perhaps with another 3000 locals from the Picardy region where the battle took place.
This compares to the total force of 12000 who travelled to France with Henry, although some 3000 were lost during the preceding siege of Harfleur, and through dysentery.
English chroniclers writing in the years following the battle have wrongly claimed that there were as many as 150,000 French, compared to 6000 odd English.
Mr Gilliot said notably horrific acts perpetuated by the English included placing prisoners in a barn and setting in on fire, with the permission of Henry V.
When the Duke of Alençon, who commanded the second division of the French army, had failed to put an axe through Henry, he tried to surrender but was killed by the King’s 40-strong bodyguard.
Mr Gilliot said: ‘There were numerous heroic acts by the French on the field of battle, but they were met with barbarism by the English.’ While, significantly, no English academics have been invited to today’s conference in France, the revisionist theories have found support on the other side of the Channel.
Professor Anne Curry, a military historian from Southampton University, admitted that many accounts of the battle have been exaggerated to give the impression of “plucky little England” against the evil French.’
Professor Curry, author of ‘Agincourt: A New History’, added: ‘For the French, Agincourt was such a disaster that someone had to be blamed. For the English, it afforded an opportunity to eulogise Henry and his army.’
Posted by Drew458
on 10/25/2008 at 02:17 AM
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Permalink • Tuesday - October 21, 2008
Girl, 13, has sex ‘rewarded’ by mother with cigarettes. (Could this be a new age trend?)
This is NOT what I thought was going to be my first post of the new day. In fact, I have something almost worse lined up from the department of illogic. (DOL)
They love initials here and never pass an excuse to use em.
Anyway ... this really does defy any sort of logical, rational parental behavior. Even I know that and I have never been a parent. But, well,,, what do I know?
I guess you will have to read the story. Maybe we should feel sorry for mom? Like, she felt she couldn’t control things and so gave up? How’d the kid get to be this way to begin with? How do any?
Girl, 13, who smokes drinks and has sex ‘rewarded’ by mother with cigarettes
A 13-year-old girl who has had four sexual partners, smokes dope, drinks beer and has been excluded from school 40 times is considered “sweet” by her mother and given cigarettes as rewards for good behaviour.
By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 7:28AM BST 21 Oct 2008Tracy Holt, 43, says there are a “lot worse things” her daughter Sam could be doing than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and believes that because she herself hasn’t yet suffered from cancer, “she’ll probably be alright anyway”.
(My kid brother died age 46 from lung cancer. He was six years my junior. I smoked unfiltered Lucky Strikes for 38 years before I quit. I have no lung problem. Or I didn’t then and feel ok now. But this lady is nuts to believe her daughter might not get smoker’s cancer because mom doesn’t have it now. Why chance it? And my arteries on one side are not too good. Part diet sure, but part old smokers damage I think. Nobody told me that. It’s just a feeling I have and might be groundless. But I sure as heck wouldn’t encourage a kid to start as I did at 13. Back then, way back then, we didn’t all make the connection. It is NOT an easy way to go either. Oh boy, if she has one, this little girl has a long life ahead of her. What’s it gonna be like for her? Scary thought.)She knows her daughter hangs out with friends in the street, drinking cans of lager and smoking pot, but says she is simply glad Sam is not “a proper drunk” and has not graduated to harder drugs.
“I don’t see the point in punishing her. If I ground her, I’m just punishing myself because I have to put up with her in the house,” she said.
“Instead, I reward her good behaviour by giving her cigarettes. If she’s bad, she goes without.
“She’s a little comedian. I let her get away with a lot of cheek. It’s sweet.”
Mrs Holt, a jobless single mother with two other grown-up children who smokes 20 cigarettes a day herself, said giving them out as a reward “works”.
She said: “There are a lot worse things she could be doing. We’ve all got to die sometime. I haven’t got cancer from smoking so she’ll probably be all right anyway.”
Sam agrees that she will do more around the family home, in Gosport, Hampshire, when bribed.
“If Mum tells me to tidy my room, I ignore her but if she offers me a fag, I do it,” she said.
She admits to having had four sexual partners in less than a year, but told Closer magazine: “I only sleep with boyfriends. I worry about getting pregnant because I don’t want kids until I’m married so I always use condoms.”
Sam lost her virginity when she was 12, and told her mother shortly afterwards. Miss Holt said she was shocked at first but hid her feelings well.
“I thought it was a joke, so I laughed,” she said. “I was disappointed. No mother wants to know her 12-year-old is having sex but I’m glad she told me.
“I didn’t show I was angry and just kept it to myself.”
She went on: “It wasn’t a one-night stand. She had been dating the guy for a couple of weeks. I took her to the doctor’s the next day to get her on the Pill. I’ve told her to use condoms.”
Sam’s track record at school leaves a lot to be desired, and she has been excluded for bad behaviour more than 40 times.
“Sam got suspended for the first time after she climbed on to the school roof,” she said.
“I shouted at her and then explained she shouldn’t climb on roofs because she could fall off. I didn’t know what else to do.”
She believes her daughter’s behaviour is down to the teachers at her school who were “too soft” with her.
“Now she is at a special school where there are fewer kids in each class,” she said.
“Hopefully these teachers will be stricter and she will finally get the discipline that’s needed.”
* The full interview with Sam and Tracy Holt appears in Closer magazine.
http://tinyurl.com/64mvuo this link is for the Telegraph.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/21/2008 at 02:47 AM
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Permalink • Friday - October 17, 2008
Yeah, but did ACORN International register them yet?
Workers renovating a rugby stadium have uncovered a vast complex of tombs beneath Rome that mimic the houses, blocks and streets of a real city, officials said Thursday as they unveiled a series of new finds here.
Culture Ministry officials said that medieval pottery shards in the city of the dead, or necropolis, show the area may have been inhabited by the living during the Dark Ages after being used for centuries for burials during the Roman period.
It is not yet clear who was buried in the ancient cemetery, but archaeologists at the still partially excavated site believe at least some of the dead were freed slaves of Greek origin.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/17/2008 at 12:22 PM
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Permalink • Friday - September 26, 2008
Funny News Stories Can Be Dangerous
The 27-year-old daughter of radical Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed has admitted to pole dancing in London bars in defiance of her family’s strict Muslim beliefs, the Daily Mail reported Friday.
Yasmin Fostok left Bakri’s home four years ago because she did not share her father’s opinions.
“I don’t get on with my dad. I don’t agree with his views,” Fostok told the Daily Mail. “I just get on with my life and that is it.”
She currently lives with her 3-year-old son in South East London, whom she had with her ex-husband after their arranged marriage.
Fostok performs a fire-eating routine and performs semi-naked inside cages.
“If this is true I am deeply shocked,” Bakri told the Mail from Lebanon, where he has lived since being exiled from England three years ago. “She was brought up properly in the Muslim faith but she is free to make her own choices in life. But I am still shocked.”
“If she has done these things she will be judged on Judgment Day. But God will forgive her anything except becoming a non-Muslim.”
Bakri sparked controversy when he praised the 9/11 terrorists and said he would “never condemn Usama bin Laden or any Muslims.”
Yes, very funny. She’s a total rebel. Getting back at uptight daddy and her ex in the worst way. Will it still be funny when she winds up dead next week? Because you know an “honor killing” is on it’s way. Sometimes responsible journalism means not running the sensationalist story.
UPDATE:
You can always count onThe Sun to out do the Daily Mail. They titled their article “Poles Apart” nyuk nyuk nyuk, wrote about lots of naughty bits, and even provided her name, various aliases, and picture:
“She was brought up a strict Muslim and had all of his extreme teachings about morality drummed into her head.
“But she has been leading a wild double life thrashing about on stage in pole dancing clubs and drinking and partying like there’s no tomorrow.
“Yasmin has no time for Bakri’s evil views.”
Posted by Drew458
on 09/26/2008 at 01:00 PM
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Permalink • Tuesday - September 23, 2008
The online advantage
Fox News is reporting this morning ... breaking news ...
- McCain staffer says The New York Times is biased!
Schmidt accused the Times of giving Obama a pass on his “deceitful ads” and abdicating its journalistic responsibility to vet Obama’s “background and past statements.” It was an unusually harsh critique for a campaign that last year enjoyed largely favorable press coverage.
“This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate,” Schmidt fumed. “It is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition to advocate for the defeat of one candidate — in this case John McCain — and to advocate for the election of the other candidate — Barack Obama.”
- Son of Tennessee State Senator Kernell may be behind Sarah Palin email hacking. What? Sarah Palin’s email was hacked? Gosh, when did that happen?
Wowzers. The Kernell story is 6 days old now. Hey Fox, sit on it much? But at least they are reporting it. Finally. Can’t say that about all the other news channels. And media bias? You have got to be kidding me. This was news 10 years ago. More.
The Internet - Plug in. Log on. Open your mind. tm
In other could-be-creepy news today ...
Posted by Drew458
on 09/23/2008 at 08:41 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - September 13, 2008
Oil Down, Gas Up: Global Economy vs Hurricane Ike
Gasoline prices jumped at the wholesale level Friday as Hurricane Ike swept through Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations.
Crude oil on the futures market, however, briefly sank below the psychologically important $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since April 2—showing that investors believe a worsening global economy will continue to drive down demand for some time in the United States and elsewhere.
The fact that U.S. fuel demand is so weak right now might mean the recent surge in the wholesale price of gasoline—which rose to about $4.85 a gallon in the Gulf Coast market Friday—might not be passed along to consumers unless Ike’s impact is severe and long-lasting.
“Major oil companies are sensitive to raising prices in this environment,” said Ben Brockwell, director of data pricing and information services at the Oil Price Information Service.
“Hopefully it’s a temporary phenomenon, but we won’t know until next week,” Brockwell said.
...
The average U.S. retail price for gasoline edged up less than a penny to $3.675 Friday from Thursday, according to auto club AAA, OPIS and Wright Express.On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 31 cents to settle at $101.18 a barrel, after briefly sinking to $99.99.
October gasoline futures climbed 2.08 cents to settle at $2.7696 a gallon on Nymex.
“All week long, it’s been a gasoline story more than anything. If you just looked at the crude market independently, you wouldn’t know that we had a couple of hurricanes,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates, referring to Ike and last week’s Gustav.
“This dichotomy could persist for a few more days next week,” he said. But “once the storm factor subsides, we’ll see a much higher correlation between gasoline and crude oil.”
Gas prices in my part of NJ jumped 10 cents a gallon overnight. I’m hoping this is really really temporary because I’ve only got half a tank right now. Ike is making a big mess in Texas. It looks like as many as 100,000 people did not head the evacuation orders, even though Texas made a huge effort to assist folks who couldn’t evacuate themselves. Now I’m hearing that some of the rescue efforts are being suspended because the risk is too high to the rescue crews. So there are going to be some fatalities. Say a prayer for Texas and her soggy citizens.
The storm flooded Galveton’s historic district with 7 feet of water, which has since subsided to 4 feet, according to Galveston County official Margaret Bunch. A foot of water flooded the city’s main courthouse, where many people rode out the storm, she said.
A fire broke out at a Galveston yacht basin, where boats are stored and fixed, said Galveston Fire Chief Michael Varela Sr., and firefighters were unable to reach it because the area was flooded with about 8 feet of water.
Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc said about 40 percent of the city’s 57,523 residents chose to stay despite evacuation orders. “It’s unfortunate that the warnings that we sent out were not heeded,” he said.
Posted by Drew458
on 09/13/2008 at 11:28 AM
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Permalink • Tuesday - September 09, 2008
Cleaner demands compensation claiming lack of English is disability.
OK, So far she hasn’t won her case. I very much doubt anyone here at BMEWS would condone cheating ppl on honest labor or taking advantage of same.
But this story really smacks of lawyer(s).
Lack of English? ah huh.
Does this sound like an immigrant with poor English skills?
“I was fed up with being cheated out of my wages, being lied to, being treated like a child or a half-whit, and being part of a scheme obviously circumventing the minimum wage legislature.” Or does it sound like lawyerspeak?
Oh but wait, she didn’t know how long it took to clean a room and so she was cheated. huh?
A Polish cleaner claimed her lack of English should be classed as a disability as she tried to sue her employers for alleged discrimination.
By Ben Farmer
Last Updated: 9:51AM BST 09 Sep 2008Izabela Smolarek, 30, was seeking £5,000 in damages from cleaning firm ISS Facility Services Ltd on the grounds of disability discrimination.
She claimed they exploited her inability to understand her job contract by paying her less than the minimum wage for cleaning rooms at a Travelodge in Luton, Beds.
However her case has now been thrown out before reaching an employment tribunal after a judge ruled Miss Smolarek had no physical or mental impairment.
Miss Smolarek, from Hatfield, Herts, said she had agreed to be paid £1.24 for each hotel room she cleaned, but said it was impossible to clean the three rooms an hour necessary to earn the £5.52 national minimum wage.
She claimed her Polish supervisor at the Travelodge, Krizistof Kowalik, had lied to her and the other female Polish employees about how long it took to clean a room.
In her claim statement, she said: “Not speaking and not understanding the language is a disability. It’s like being deaf and mute and illiterate.
“My employer exploited this disability to pay less than the minimum wage.”
Miss Smolarek arrived in England from Poland on October 25 2007 and started work at the Travelodge on November 24. She lasted just over a month at the job and has also claimed she was unfairly dismissed.
Her statement added: “I was fed up with being cheated out of my wages, being lied to, being treated like a child or a half-whit, and being part of a scheme obviously circumventing the minimum wage legislature.
“Brutal or subtle, such discrimination is always dangerous to the principal of equality, a principal so dear to the British soul.”
Her representative, Thomas Klarecki, told the hearing: “The law says you do not have to discuss the reasons for a disability, just the effects of the disability.
“It is not necessary to consider how an impairment is caused. Why Miss Smolarek cannot speak English is irrelevant.”
However, Judge Valentine Adamson dismissed the claim at the hearing in Bedford.
He said: “In the absence of any identifiable impairment, the only point being that the claimant was born in Poland and not a country where English is the first language, I find the claimant’s language difficulties are not capable of being classed as an impairment within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act.
“That complaint will be struck off.”
Miss Smolarek continues to claim she was unfairly dismissed by the London-based cleaning firm.
Another pre-hearing review has been scheduled for January 12.
Miss Smolarek is also claiming £981 for unpaid wages, holiday pay and notice pay.
A spokesman for ISS said the company denied the allegations but would not comment further.
Posted by Drew458
on 09/09/2008 at 05:09 AM
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Permalink • Monday - September 08, 2008
It’s a start
Keith Olbermann And Chris Matthews Dumped As Anchors
MSNBC is removing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as the anchors of live political events, bowing to growing criticism that they are too opinionated to be seen as neutral in the heat of the presidential campaign.
The move, confirmed by spokesmen for both networks, follows increasingly loud complaints about Olbermann’s anchor role at the Democratic and Republican conventions. Olbermann, who regularly assails President Bush and GOP nominee John McCain on his “Countdown” program, was effusive in praising the acceptance speech of Democratic nominee Barack Obama. He drew flak Thursday when the Republicans played a video that included a tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that if the networks had done that, “we would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the dead, and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to that videotape the way I did, I apologize.”
Matthews, who has criticized politicians in both parties, drew less criticism for his convention role but became a divisive figure during the primaries when he described how he was inspired by Obama’s speeches and made disparaging remarks about Hillary Clinton, for which he later apologized.
In May, MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in an interview that during live events Olbermann and Matthews “put on different hats. I think the audience gets it. . . . I see zero problem.”
But NBC News journalists, who often appear on the cable channel, did see a problem, arguing behind the scenes that MSNBC’s move to the left—which includes a new show, debuting tonight, for Air America radio host Rachel Maddow—was tarnishing their reputation for fairness. Tom Brokaw, the interim host of “Meet the Press,” said that at times Olbermann and Matthews went too far.
MSNBC tried a bold experiment this year by putting two politically incendiary hosts, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, in the anchor chair to lead the cable news channel’s coverage of the election.
That experiment appears to be over.
After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.
The change — which comes in the home stretch of the long election cycle — is a direct result of tensions associated with the channel’s perceived shift to the political left.
Thank God! Somebody at the networks finally saw the light. Maybe it came from the hole created by their plunging ratings falling right through the bottom of the tank, letting in a little sunlight and fresh air for once?
Posted by Drew458
on 09/08/2008 at 02:59 PM
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Permalink • Thursday - August 28, 2008
Same Irish town, different kind of problem
I gather Strabane has a whole lot of homeless drunken layabouts. Bad for the tourist trade you know. But you can’t call them homeless drunken layabouts. Or displaced persons with substance abuse issues. Or winos, bums, deadbeats, tramps, hobos, or even some lovely gaelic expression meaning “he who loves the poteen too much”. Oh no. Euro-peon PC and all that ... you have to give them aid, and call them
The plight of Strabane’s street drinkers will not be shoved down a side alley, the Chairman of Strabane Council has warned.
Jarlath McNulty was speaking after comments were made on a radio station this week regarding the town’s street drinkers and plans to open a drop-in centre.
A scoping document has been completed. The Council together with other agencies have identified a location and have spoken with the street drinkers. They are now putting together a funding package.
If funding can be secured, the centre would be situated in Strabane town centre and would provided facilities including showers, tea and coffee and access to a professional counsellor.
It would not however provide over night accommodation.
Well now, isn’t that nice of them? Apparently “street drinking” is such a problem there that the local gov has analyzed the issue and decided that there are two entire classes of street drinkers!
“The street drinkers need our help, not our criticism.”
The drop in centre is a project that has been developing behind the scenes for some time now and involves a range of bodies, including the Housing Executive, the PSNI and the Derry based project Foyle Haven.
It has broken on-street drinkers down into two groups, chronic on-street drinkers and the Friday and Saturday drinkers.
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Seuspected remains of a Second World War airman have been found dangling from a tree in the jungle
Body of WWII airman found dangling from a tree
The suspected remains of a Second World War airman have been found dangling from a tree in the dense jungles of Papua New Guinea.
By Nick Squires
Last Updated: 5:43PM BST 28 Aug 2008
The remarkable discovery, which has yet to be confirmed by military authorities, was made by astonished trekkers walking the Kokoda Trail, a tortuous mountain path which witnessed intense fighting between Japanese and Australian forces in 1942.
The skeleton of what is thought to be a World War II pilot hangs in the jungle canopy along the Kokoda Track“I couldn’t make it out at first. It wasn’t until the wind blew that you could really see (that) it is in a harness. There are goggles and it appears to be caught up in cables, so presumably it is an airman,” said trekking guide David Collins.
The moss-covered remains, barely visible in the dense jungle foliage, were initially spotted by an Australian police officer who was on a trek led by Mr Collins.
He was using a telephoto lens to photograph exotic plants in the tree tops when he saw a jumble of cords and bits of parachute harness surrounded by creepers and palm leaves.
“We had a few police officers on the 19-man trek. One was taking photos with a large lens of the trees and flowers,” said Mr Collins, a firefighter who works part-time as a trekking guide for Melbourne-based adventure company No Roads Expeditions. “He then discovered what looks like the remains of a body.” Photographs taken by the trekking party show a dark object hanging about 45ft above the ground.
The trekkers marked the tree from which the object dangled so that it can be easily found again.
If confirmed as a human body it is likely to be the remains of an Australian, American or Japanese airman, left undisturbed in the forest for more than 60 years.
Papua New Guinea witnessed intense air and land battles during the Second World War as the Allies finally halted Japan’s southwards advance and began a massive counter-attack across the South Pacific.
The Australian military is preparing to send representatives to Papua New Guinea to investigate the highly unusual discovery and US and Japanese authorities are checking their records of missing airmen.
A spokesman for the Australian Defence Force said the location of the find, about half-way along the 60 mile-long Kokoda Track, is close to a flight path regularly used by Allied aircraft and that several aircraft went missing in the region.
The track crosses the precipitous Owen Stanley Range of mountains, which forms the spine of Papua New Guinea.
In 1942 poorly trained Australian militia troops were deployed to halt 6,000 advancing Japanese soldiers who intended to take the strategic town and colonial capital of Port Moresby, regarded as a springboard for the invasion of Australia.
Months of fighting along the treacherous jungle trail were marked by hand-to-hand combat, night time ambushes, illness and even cannibalism, as starving Japanese soldiers ate the flesh of dead Australians.
In what has been described by one historian as “a knife fight out of the Stone Age”, the Australian “diggers” eventually repelled the Japanese and drove them out of New Guinea.
The track has become popular with Australian hikers, trekking firms and even corporate incentive groups.
http://tinyurl.com/5ukpyt
Posted by Drew458
on 08/28/2008 at 12:36 PM
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Permalink • Pope’s fury as crucified frog statue goes on display at Italian museum.
Okay so it isn’t a real froggy but that isn’t the point.
You don’t have to be Catholic or even a Christian to understand the pope’s feelings on this. Or any religious Christian for that matter.
I am not posting the image but it’s at the link provided below.
Pope’s fury as crucified frog statue goes on display at Italian museum
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:42 PM on 28th August 2008Comments (0) Add to My Stories
An Italian museum has defied Pope Benedict by refusing to remove a statue of a crucified green frog clutching a beer mug and an egg.
The Vatican had condemned the modern art sculpture as blasphemous.
The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano voted it was a work of art, however.
The board decreed it would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.
The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.
Called “Zuerst die Fuesse,” (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.
Kippenberger’s works have been shown at the Tate Modern and the Saatchi Gallery in London and at the Venice Biennale, and retrospectives are planned in Los Angeles and New York.
Museum officials in the northern bi-lingual Alto Adige region near the Austrian border said the artist, who died in 1997, considered it a self-portrait illustrating human angst.
Pope Benedict, who is German himself and was recently on holiday not far from Bolzano, obviously did not agree.
The Vatican wrote a letter of support in the pope’s name to Franz Pahl, president of the regional government who opposed the sculpture. Pahl released parts of the letter, which said the work “wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God’s love”.
Pahl, whose province is heavily Catholic, was so outraged by the sculpture of the pop-eyed amphibian that he went on a hunger strike to demand its removal and had to be taken to hospital during the summer.
“Surely this is not a work of art but a blashphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people,” Pahl said.
“This decision to keep the statue there is is totally unacceptable. It is a grave offence to our Catholic population,” he said.
Art experts defended the work.
“Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression,” Claudio Strinati, a superindendent for Rome’s state museums, told an Italian newspaper today.
(right Claudio. agreed. and ppl also have the right to an opinion that says something is no more then degenerate crap created by a diseased mind)
http://tinyurl.com/6s37s6
Posted by Drew458
on 08/28/2008 at 10:51 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - August 23, 2008
NaNews of the North
Just keeping an eye on what’ going on up Norway ... way. H/T again to the ever resourceful Barents Observer!
Cultural Indicator or worthless study?
Russians drink more (gosh, who’d a thunk it?)
Over the last seven months, alcohol consumption inn Russia increased with 2,5 percent. Of the alcohol consumed, 49,6 percent was hard alcohol, the National Alcohol Association reports.
In the course of the last seven months, a total of 840,7 million litres of pure alcohol (100%) was consumed in the country, the association figures show, RIA Novosti reports.While the consumption of hard alcohols has dropped from 58,4 percent of the total in 2005 to 49,6 percent in 2008, the amount of consumed beer has increased strongly from 29,5 percent to 35,9 percent of consumption.
Also the consumption of wine is increasing. In the first seven months of the year, Russians wine consumption was 6,4 percent of the total, which is up from 5,3 percent in 2005.
If you can read it, the original article is here, translated into mostly English here.
Russia Invested 41 Billion Rubles in Murmansk port
Over the next few years, Russia will invest 41 billion RUB in the development of the Murmansk port and turn it into the country’s new Arctic hub.
In a recent meeting on the development of the Murmansk Transport Hub, regional industrial representatives said 41,4 billion RUB would be invested in the port by year 2020. Of that sum, 2.8 billion RUB will be invested before 2010, Murman.ru reports.
The port will become a northern Russian hub for container shipping, oil reloading and coal and fertilizers terminals.
Meanwhile, the Russian Railways will spend 8 billion RUB by 2010 on the upgrade of railways leading to Murmansk. This will help increase goods turnover of the Murmansk Port from today’s 16,5 million tons (2007) to 62,4 million tons by 2010, the representatives of the Murmansk Transport Hub, the management company responsible for regional infrastructure development, say.
President of the International Transport Academy Aleksandr Kondratev says to Murman.ru that the Murmansk Transport Hub will have major importance for the good transport network in Russia.
The Murmansk Transport Hub was established early 2008. It is headed by Transport Minister Igor Levitin. Stakeholders in the management company are the Murmansk Trade Port, the Russian Railways, Rosneft, Rosmorport and the Murmansk regional administration.
Wow, nearly 400% capacity increase in just 2 years! Guess the reds are betting the farmski on Global Warming keeping the ice away!
The Bear has more than one claw you know.
This week the Russian Ministry of Defence has informed the Norwegian Ministry of Defence that all planned military cooperation between Norway and Russia will be halted. The Norwegian Government hopes that all non-military cooperations will continue as planned.
In a letter to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, Russia informs that as of this date all military cooperation with all member countries in NATO is suspended. State Secretary Espen Barht Eide in the Ministry of Defence, says to newspaper Aftenposten that the Norwegian-Russian relations is worsen even more by this letter.
The Ministry of Defence is now checking which consequences this will have for Norway. There are already planned a lot of visits and joint military exercises between Norway and Russia, which will be affected.
Norwegian Coast Guard has planned a rescue operation exercise together with Russians in Kirkenes on the 9th and 10th of September. Since this is not a military exercise, the ministry believes it will be carried through as planned. There is also planned an oil spill preparation exercise with Norwegian and Russian participant some weeks later, which could be affected.
In the Norwegian Parliament there is an all-party agreement that the Government should always welcome Russian authorities to discussions on the current situation, if they are ready for this.
Is Europe finally waking up?
South Ossetia war spurs defence debate in Scandinavia
Several Norwegian opposition politicians say Russia’s intervention in the South Ossetia crisis shows that the country has Great Power aspirations, which could eventually pose a threat against Norwegian positions in the High North. Also in Sweden, the Caucasus conflict now triggers a domestic defence policy debate.
Leader of the Norwegian Conservative Party, Ms. Erna Solberg, does not believe that a conflict like the one in Georgia could take place between Russian and Norway. She still believes that the South Ossetia events bear clear evidence of Russia’s great power aspirations.
-We can not defend ourselves alone, Norway needs a strong army, she says to newspaper Aftenposten.
Spitsbergen
Ms. Solberg illustrates her increasing fears with Russia’s reported violations of aircraft regulations at Spitsbergen and military training near the Norwegian border.
-It worries me that the Russians are showing disrespect for our right to govern the Spitsbergen archipelago, she says to the newspaper. She also accuses the Norwegian red-green government coalition of failing to nurse relations with the USA.
The Swedish debate
At the same time, a similar debate is unfolding in Sweden. An editorial in newspaper Dagens Nyheter today highlights the need for a revision of Swedish defence policies.
-For Sweden, the issue is now to adjust its defence policy to the hard realities, the editorial reads.
The newspaper writes that the South Ossetia crisis to certain extent resembles the Cold War.
-The perception that Sweden does not have external threats is an ill-informed stance, which although it lacks basis in reality has spread through the Swedish defence debate, the editors write.
The newspaper now calls on the Swedish government to stall cuts in the country’s defence in order to bolster national security.
New Sub Joins Russian Northern Fleet
The diesel-powered submarine ”B-90 Sarov” was today officially handed over to the Russian Northern Fleet. The vessel is built by the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast.
The sub was put on the water in December last year, and has since undergone testing, the Northern Fleet press service reports.The B-90 Sarov is built for testing of new armament and military technology, Rosbaltnord.ru reports.
Present in the ceremony were representatives of the Russian Navy, the construction design firm “Rubin”, the management of the Sevmash yard, as well as representatives of the city of Sarov.
Well, that’s all the cool news from way up yonder. Try and stay warm.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/23/2008 at 09:42 PM
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Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
LAST POST FOR THE DAY AND A LAST FUN THING FOR THE ADULT KIDDIES. CHECK IT OUT.
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On: 11/19/08 04:21
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On: 11/15/08 11:19
Too True!
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Now here's a parody of a parody: If Parker & Hart were around, I'm sure they'd be OK with this. HAT TIP: BMEWS
On: 11/09/08 11:38
Twas the Night Before
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Banned from using Hoover or hot water under health and safety rules. (ere we go again matey)
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Tracked at Goldwater Girl's Weblog
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On: 10/23/08 09:48
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