Friday - March 19, 2010

FOUND … a fragment of family history. It’s 1892, and Queen Victoria is still on the thrown.

As mentioned already, the mil passed away a year ago and we are still dealing with papers, old letters and fragments of family memories.
No doubt there many families in the UK that have papers far older then what I offer here. But this is still interesting because it puts a light on a time when things like this were taken seriously. 

The mil saved things all her life and in fact couldn’t even remember all that she had packed away.  We keep hoping we can finish with it all but then again, when you find stuff like this, well, it takes on another meaning. Kind of touching bases with kin long gone.  In fact, my wife had never seen this document before yesterday, when we discovered another box stored away collecting dust and silverfish.  Inside that box was a fireproof container with papers and some letters and old bills and such.  You can’t believe the things we came across, aside from this document.  We found the full extent of some family skulduggery, posted last year in our history of two families. We just didn’t have ALL the papers when I wrote that as their existence was not known to us then.  This is the bit we found fascinating.  Her maternal grandfather in 1892 became an apprentice in something called an indentured apprentice for more then six years.  Take a look.

The red seal at the bottom has mostly fallen away and what’s left is unreadable.  The the old paper has some holes where the folds are.

Posted by peiper     on 03/19/2010 at 09:46 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Personal •  
• Comments (0) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

Some history wherein …. I found myself kind of up close and personal

I only have minutes to put this together as I have to go out for an appointment and then the post office.

For more then a year and in bits and drabs, we have been unloading things that are mostly dead memories and or junk that was rat packed by the late mil.
The woman kept every little item she ever acquired including her own school report card at the age of 12. 

Many of the things she got her claws into really were nothing but junk.  Hundreds of empty bottles stored in plastic bags in the badly rotted garage.  A box of coal on top of which sat an old decayed and rotted wardrobe.  Which completely fell apart when the guys we called to haul things away tried to lift it after it was emptied. I can not even begin to describe the things here inside the house from clothes to cheap pottery. When we arrived in April of 2004 we had a heck of a time making room for ourselves and had to fight to toss out old and decayed junk, much of it along with the mouse droppings and whatever other varmints were using the upstairs as a hotel.  She ( the mil) worried that we were getting rid of treasure. Sure. Like a double size mattress completely folded in half in a large plastic bag in the attic. The plastic and the mattress having been gnawed most thoroughly by her unseen guests. See, when she bought the new one, she kept the old one too.

Well, among the many things squirreled away, there were a few (very few) items of interest.  A WW1 bayonet for one. Old letters from the war including the notice that her fiancé was lost in the RAF on a mission. In fact, neither the plane or the crew were ever found.  It makes for some sad reading going over all these very old letters of his that she saved through all these years.
He writes of his worry for her as he was aware of the serious bombing of Southampton, and says he won’t sleep until he hears that she and family are okay.

The letters are written on small size stationary and a small cramped hand in many places, so it isn’t easy to read everything. I have never been good at making out other people’s handwriting.  Anyway, it’s interesting reading and gives one a sense of things back then.  While I remember clearly the concern of our family for uncles away at war, one a navigator on a Liberator bomber and the other in the Navy, my uncles didn’t have to worry when the next air raid would occur in the USA. 

(There’s even a short note she wrote to him in 1938. How it came to be in her possession I’ve no idea. Surely it was sent and read by him, as also she had the original envelope franked and all.)

Well, there’s still talk of a strike over Easter by the union against Brit Airways and now as I read the letters from another time the radio of today is informing us that the union representing the Railroad wants to vote a strike too.  But at the front in August of 41 and writing from an RAF base somewhere, a Sgt. Bill Rogers is writing to my wife’s future mom, a letter of condolence to a young lady named Peggy, who Roy “constantly talked about.” Sgt. Rogers assures the young lady that having spent some many months together, he and Roy’s friends got to know him well.  There were apparently some crew photos taken (? not sure and hard to read here) which he promises to forward.  Must be photos. This was August and Peggy replies to him.
But in a letter dated 4th Sept. 1941 from Wing Commander (can not make out the name) No. 78 Squadron, he writes as follows.

“ It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that Sgt. Rogers was reported missing on 25 August 1941, this being the reason for the return of your letter.”

How that must have hurt, and how many times that feeling was duplicated over the course of the war.  It wasn’t until I held letters like these in my own hands and read them that the war finally came home to me, as much as it could given time and generations. It was vastly different from reading the diaries and memories of that generation in a magazine or newspaper.  Reading those is reading history to be certain. But it isn’t near as personal.

Who knows what else we may find in some cubbyhole or under a rafter somewhere in the attic.

Stay Tuned.

Posted by peiper     on 03/19/2010 at 07:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • History • Personal •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Saturday - March 13, 2010

‘I’m proud of using waterboarding to break terrorists,’ says Karl Rove

I missed taking my blood pressure meds this morning. Everything has me PO’d. I wanted to start and end today with my usual wkend ladies when I ran across a couple of things that had me seeing my usual color (RED) which isn’t even my favorite color.  I am so damn tired of reading and hearing about how my country has it wrong and how we have become barbaric all because of water boarding and Gitmo etc. Then one columnist wrote about how maybe the Brit’s American cousins aren’t really that after all.  Hey fuckin hey.  I have very close friends among Brits and ain’t one of em a cousin. I’m tired of that phrase too. What god damn cousin?  Who made us that? Did we ever ask to be your cousins? If so, I’m not aware of it. Oh and btw freeken way I HATE one professional liberal phony cousin I haven’t seen since a funeral 30 yrs ago. I wouldn’t know the other three if I fell over em.

Below are two comments posted with regard to the Rove article that started things this morning. Naturally enough I side with Mr. Rove. I have no problem with whatever our people had to do, to get information from terrorist scum.  It pisses me off greatly that our critics simply take for granted that we are in the wrong.
It’s done without question.  It’s automatic we’re all Nazi killers who enjoy our work and all for oil or heaven knows what the hell else.
A jackass named Peter Oborne (?whoever the hell he is?) yesterday wrote about our ‘special relationship’ being broken yadda,yadda. He went on to term the USA as “immoral” while all those empty headed lefty umin rights jerks went on about torture as well.

Why is the way in which we defend our country the business of anyone outside our country anyway?  And how can they be certain that the information gathered won’t save their lives as well?  In his column Oborne says, For years I’ve been a passionate admirer of the U.S. But recent events force me to ask: is it time to ditch our strongest ally? Here’s some more.

For evidence is growing that the U.S. can no longer be regarded as a loyal or trustworthy friend of Britain.

Even more worryingly, it’s no longer clear that Barack Obama’s administration represents the decent and humane values of which Britain has long been so proud.

As a result, standing by the traditional transatlantic alliance is beginning to be damaging to our reputation overseas and to our national interest.

For example, consider the appalling revelations contained in this week’s speech to the House of Lords by the former MI5 spy chief Elizabeth Manningham-Buller.

Dame Elizabeth shockingly disclosed that U.S. officials had deceived Britain over their use of torture following their capture of the Al Qaeda commander Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in 2003.

She said that when she asked why he was talking so freely to his captors, she was cynically told he was boasting because he was proud of what he’d done.

So that gives you some background on the column he wrote. You get the drift.  And the grand dame Liz was shocked about our treatment of one of the masterminds of 9/11. Well fuck her and I’m sorry nobody in her family or Obornes was in either of those towers.  And I am sick and fuckin tired of our country having demands made upon it, that we live UP to whatever standards some other country finds favor with.  Demands we alter how we do things in our country to fall in line with how things are done elsewhere.  Hey Mr. Assborne, when were you elected to office in my country? Fuck off!  Don’t visit. We don’t need you or your opinions.  And Dame Lizzy can go back to her kitchen and do other things.

These comments below were made following the article on Karl Rove. We do have our defenders but alas the feeling I have is that they are not in a majority.

Pity that the American goverment didn’t back up the British Army in its fight against Republican terrorists, instead we were forced by American pressure into accepting these terrorists into government.

I don’t trust these internationalist neo-cons one iota, men like Karl Rove care nothing about the British national interest, all he cares about, is forwarding the dollar empire, the New World Order of global capitalism and anarchic social agendas both of which destroy Nation States.
- Stephen Glover, Manchester, 12/3/2010 14:58

Now there is a man with guts and determination, not like our own lot, whimps. These terrorists have no consciences, they just kill for the sake of it and love it. Even so, they are cunning enough to use the human rights shield of protection, and the stupid human rights bigots are fooled by it too. The victims of murder and disablement have nobody to protect them like these terrorists do. Now will somebody tell us who is sane or insane in all of this. Treat the terrorists in the same way they treat their victims, an eye for an eye simple, Well done that man..
- DANNYBOY, LINCOLN UK FOR NOW, 12/3/2010 14:51

‘I’m proud of using waterboarding to break terrorists,’ declares Bush’s top political adviser
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

George W Bush’s top political adviser has said he was ‘proud’ of controversial techniques such as waterboarding, which he claimed broke the will of terrorist.

Karl Rove - known as the former president’s ‘brain’ - said he did not believe that the interrogation method amounted to torture.

In an interview with the BBC, he claimed that waterboarding - which simulates drowning - had helped prevent terrorist attacks.

‘I’m proud that we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists and gave us valuable information that allowed us to foil plots,’ he said. 

‘I am proud that we kept the world safer than it was by the use of these techniques. They are appropriate, they are in conformity with our international requirements and with US law.’

Asked if he believed waterboarding was torture, he said: ‘No, it’s not. People need to read the memos that outline what was permissible and not permissible before they make a judgement about these things.’

‘Every one of the people who were waterboarded had a doctor who had to ascertain that there had been no long-lasting physical or mental damage to the individual,’ he said.

The senior Republican aide and Bush’s deputy chief of staff said in the Newsnight interview that subjects had told they would not drown before they underwent the procedure.

He insisted terror plots had been prevented by the tough interrogation, citing flying planes into Heathrow and London, bringing down aircraft over the Pacific and flying an aircraft into the tallest tower in Los Angeles.

The rest of the article is here at the SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 03/13/2010 at 08:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Personal • Terrorists • UK • USA • War On Terror •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Thursday - March 11, 2010

A LIFE REMEMBERED AND A GOOD FRIEND STILL MISSED AFTER ALL THIS TIME. BARRY SADLER.

I believe there was a time when a guy could describe his feelings for a good friend with the use of the word “love.” This would be someone he was close to (but not too much mind you).  Happily we could say so without fear of being thought of as,, you know. To use the common expression of my bygone day, queer.  Use the ‘L’ word these days and you’re sure to draw odd looks.

As one who has always been in awe of real talent, as I understand that term, there were many people I admired greatly.  I viewed some artists (mostly musicians)
in a god like way. I was depressed beyond measure for example when Gene Krupa died.  The same with Benny Goodman and I was totally devastated when Jack Benny passed away.

When those I knew personally and had almost daily contact with passed from the scene, the pain was on a par with the passing of a parent.

Such were my feelings for the late Al ‘Jazzbeaux’ Collins, a man of immense talent who guided my initial radio career. My self appointed mentor and radio guru.  The best damn Jazz DJ that ever was, and one of the very best radio personalities ever to sit behind a microphone spinning disks on air in major markets from NY to L.A.

I still mourn his passing and that of Royce Kendall, (one half of the duo, The Kendalls) one of the nicest and kindest gentlemen I’ve known.  As great as they all were, I’ve discovered that what I might mourn as much as their physical passing, is the loss to the world and me personally, of their unique talent.  So maybe it’s talent I worship more then the person, which is not saying I didn’t have great feelings for all. 

Well, the person I want to write about here was something of a standout. Besides Al Collins, he was the only other male I had ever bonded with.  He was, Barry Sadler.

Better known as Green Beret, Sgt.Barry Sadler. Songwriter (The Ballad of the Green Beret) and singer. And teller of great jokes. He was a good friend and a great talent.

Those who knew him either feared him, thought ill of him, or loved him.  Obviously I fall into that last category.

Barry Sadler was a man of many talents.  Historian, weapons expert, story teller with a gift for mimicracy and author of books that are still selling today as I write this.

Nobody could tell jokes like him, often in dialect.  He was a wonderful character and I know many were frightened of him because he shot and killed Lee Emerson, another writer.  He was cleared as it appeared to be self-defense. Even if it hadn’t been self-defense, it would have made no difference to me. Barry said it was self defense and that was enough for me.  I looked up to him, he was one of the very few heroes I ever had. 

We spent time at the bar in the Hall of Fame hotel on Music Row Nashville. I didn’t drink. Barry did, often times too much. But he was so damn funny. Not his books however. There was nothing funny about those. They were violent mostly but well plotted.

One of the books I favored a lot was, “Nashville With a Bullet” (the term bullet in the music industry, indicates a song is hot and getting airtime and one to watch. They are usually hyped but not always. The term was invented by promoter Charlie Lamb. A song placement on the Billboard charts and the expression “in Billboard (or Cashbox) With a Bullet” came into use.) Coming from radio as I had, and at the time I knew Barry I was working in Nashville, everything in that book was quite familiar. 

His books are still selling but most in demand is the CASCA series. They are selling at premium prices on Amazon among collectors.  He even has a fan club here in Britain, where his books sell as well.
Should you want proof of that, check out Barry Sadler, CASCA books at Amazon USA or UK and see what they’re selling for.  And these are not large books btw. They are thin paperbacks bringing prices equal to new hardback books. Barry would laugh to see the prices people are paying. 

When I told a friend who was a decorated ex Marine that I personally knew Barry Sadler, he asked me to introduce him as Barry was a hero to him as well. So I did. When my friend proudly told Barry that he was once in the Marines, Barry looked him straight in the eye and with a serious expression said, “I tried to enlist in the Marines before I got in the Army. But they rejected me.” They rejected YOU? My friend asked in great surprise. “WHY?” And with a straight face Barry said to him, “Because I can read.” Oh god, I was on the floor. I felt bad for my friend, but that was Barry Sadler. The eternal joker.

Sadly, there was another Barry Sadler as well. The warrior who couldn’t sheathe his sword. If there was fighting somewhere, Barry had to go. Oddly, he got involved in helping a children’s hospital and bringing in supplies to them and raising money for them. A lot of it his own. This was in Guatemala, where things finally caught up with him.

We’re not sure how. Some say it was a robbery in Guatemala, others point the finger at some shadowy hit for hire and others say it was a grudge carried out by some enemy. I guess we’ll never really know for certain how anyone ever got the drop on Barry Sadler. Someone else even suggested that a drunk Barry might have shot himself accidentally.  Most of us don’t believe he could have been sober for it to happen the way it did. I still miss Barry. It’s not true that anyone is replaceable. That’s the disadvantage of having heroes. They let you down one-way or another, by being mortal and dying when all the time you thought they were gods.

Before he left for that last trip, I recall our conversation and all but begged him not to go. I told him I thought he was pushing his luck, that every time he went over he increased the chance of never coming back. And from a purely selfish view I told him, I couldn’t replace a friend like him. Ever!

His reply was one I’ll always remember. He said, “Hey Jay, how would it look if one day you picked up a paper and read that Sgt. Barry Sadler died because he got run over by a bus? Wouldn’t you feel better if you knew I went out in a firefight?” I said, “Hell No Barry. I don’t want you to die period. You croak and I lose a friend I can’t replace.” He laughed, we parted and I never saw him alive again.

I played Taps on my silver Bach trumpet when he died , and never played it again.  I haven’t been able to re-read any of his books either.

-30-

Posted by peiper     on 03/11/2010 at 11:18 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Personal • USA •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Thursday - February 25, 2010

WHOA HO --- I’M IN LOVE. I JUST STUMBLED UPON THIS …. AIN’T SHE NEAT?

I LOVE the look of her ... gosh I’d like to get my hands on one of these. 

I’m no mechanic or any kind of expert on cars.  I only know I have always been car mad though.  I am familiar with bankrupt and cars however. It was my habit (more then 40 yrs ago) to keep buying cars sometimes more then one at a time. No money of course but Calif. a car friendly state and credit was soooooooooooooooooo easssssyyyyy!  And I was sooooooooo stupid!  But I really couldn’t help it.  Wasn’t till I met my wife and got housebroken, er trained, no. Whatever, she got me out of that kind of insanity.  Cept once.  Coming out of a Mrs. Winners breakfast place one morning I saw a beautiful blue Caddy. This was in Nashville.  What I took at first to be a parking lot was in fact a section owned by the dealer who parked cars there when extra space needed. No matter.  I saw this car and bought it at once. I didn’t even drive it. I was in LOVE.

But looking at this today, well.  It doesn’t look the same way to me that it did all those years ago.  And frankly, given a choice I’d always rather have the antique car below.  Much sexier don’t ya think? 

Sexier than a Bentley, and so well made that it bankrupted the company.

By Andrew English
Daily Telegraph

This rakishly low-slung sports car came about as a result of Oliver Lyle (of sugar giant Tate and Lyle) looking for a car for his wife, who couldn’t change gear.
He gave his considerable financial backing to Captain (later Sir) Noel Macklin, who set up Invicta at his home in Cobham, Surrey, where the house and plant were powered by a single gas engine – this was a very different sort of car company.

Using nickel/chrome, high-strength steels in the ladder chassis and a cast aluminium bulkhead gave great resistance to twisting on bumpy roads, as well as decent roadholding.

The Meadows engine was powerful, reliable and delivered so much torque the car’s brochure boasted that the gearbox was “only for emergency use”.
S-types were also known as “low chassis” models because the chassis curves under the rear axle for better weight distribution, at the cost of ground clearance.
The quality of an Invicta is astounding, with a dashboard so full of instruments it would look more at home in an aeroplane.

Great performance is assured – on a good one, the driving experience is unsurpassed, even by a contemporary Bentley. The Invicta also looks sexier. Of the 77 built, 68 survive.

Why you want one
One of the best looking pre-Second World War sports cars. Build quality so good it bankrupted the company. Modern supercar owners will park around the back if you turn up in one of these.

Why you don’t
It’s the price of a Home Counties semi-detached and has an undeserved reputation for being tricky at the limit after “Sammy” Davis crashed one at Brooklands in 1931.

You might not know The Invicta is named after the White Knight in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. In the hands of Donald Healey, the S-Type won the Monte Carlo rally in 1931.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 02/25/2010 at 02:31 PM   
Filed Under: • CARS/CAR MAD • Personal •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Monday - February 08, 2010

Haiti’s blood sport, besides rape and killing people, isn’t a sport at all.

Be sure and donate lots of money to these folks as those cocks can get pricey and besides, YOU own them. uh huh.

Sorry but there’s something grotesque about the need to make some living thing suffer in order for somebody to gain pleasure.  Pleasure through blood and guts. Literally.  Hang on a minute.  I’m not sorry for saying that.  It is grotesque. It’s barbaric. It’s less then human.

I saw a headline in the paper recently about the wonderful crowning achievement of a teen age bull fighter who killed 6 bulls in a day. Oh what a splendid thing to aspire to. NOT!  I’m most happy when the bull manages to gore the tormentor.  The youngest btw is 12 years old.  He got hurt last week and was carried off crying for mommy.  Good.  I hope it still hurts.  I’m just sorry they aren’t graveyard dead.

If people really have a great need for blood sports, and there is nothing at all sporting about them, then why not bring back duels and legalized fights to first blood or death between willing combatants who know what they’re about.  Make it professional combatants.  Why not? 

Haiti’s earthquake survivors turn to cockfighting to raise spirits

They have come to forget their troubles,” said Gabriel Theagene, 83, the rheumy-eyed, gold-toothed, second-generation owner of this particular pit in Plaine, a wretched township on the northern edge of Port-au-Prince.

“People need this as a distraction to forget the earthquake,” says William Cherry, 40, who said that his house had been crushed.  In truth, they would be here anyway.

On this particular afternoon more than 100 men had gathered for the thrice-weekly fights, and by the time The Times arrives halfway through the afternoon the pit is already spattered with blood and feathers.

Cocks in various states of health or distress are tied to posts or bicycle wheels around the yard’s perimeter. One man hawks an evil-smelling moonshine called bois cochon from two filthy plastic containers. Another takes bets on a card game.

People Cavemen vermin urinate against the walls.

The excitement builds as the next contest approaches.

SOURCE FOR VERMIN

Posted by peiper     on 02/08/2010 at 06:46 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Outrageous • Personal • Stoopid-People • TURD WORLD •  
• Comments (10) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Friday - January 29, 2010

eBay Update … eBay Backtracks, says sorry and allows sale of a board game.

eBay Update

eBay says sorry for banning dad’s army game


Yorkshire Evening Post

Auction giant eBay apologised to one of its users today after blocking the sale of a Dad’s Army board game because it could promote racial hatred.
Officials at eBay conceded that the game, based on the much-loved television series and being offered for sale by retired bank official David Davidson, had been wrongly classed as “offensive material” by its checking systems.

A spokeswoman for eBay stressed that more than 100 million items were for sale on the site and that it did everything it could to bar items which promoted racial hatred.

The spokeswoman said: “While we are committed to keeping items that promote racial hatred off eBay, a Dad’s Army board game is clearly not one of these.

“We hope that Captain Mainwaring would have been impressed with our efficiency!”

eBay says sorry

I think the capt. would have given you guys the flat side of his sword.

BTW ... banning items that promote hatred won’t work or make fewer ppl racist. That is not what makes people that way.  Not anymore. Those folks have already made up their minds.  But there are collectors who don’t hate anyone who just are fascinated by a particular time in history and collect memorabilia.  They probably also collect items to do with Ike and Churchill and Monty. I think the closer truth however is, ppl are also drawn to evil even when they personally are not themselves evil.  The whole cult like popularity of AH and the Nazi movement apparently sell more then all the others mentioned.  It’s almost like going to see a horror movie you know will scare you.  I can’t explain it better then that.  According to what I hear and read, books and items to do with the Nazis have not diminished over the years. In fact, interest has grown outside the holocaust issue. But there isn’t any evidence that it has produced more Nazis or turned those who are not so inclined into neo-Nazis.
The liberal left social engineers who get their panties in a wad at the sight of anything associated with that period, need to get their own lives and leave the rest of us alone.  Fat chance of that when companies hire them and promote em all the time.

Posted by peiper     on 01/29/2010 at 06:17 AM   
Filed Under: • PC,BS • Personal • Racism • UK •  
• Comments (5) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

Just another thing to get pointlessly pissed off about.

I guess this just another thing for me to be pointlessly pissed off about. I can’t understand how people can become this incredibly stupid, but they have.

Unless this show has been seen in the USA on PBS or cable, most Americans won’t know what this is all about. So here’s a link should you be interested.  http://www.dadsarmy.co.uk/

It was a hugely popular and I am told, a very funny show that ran for a long time. It wasn’t my cup of tea and I didn’t get anything from it but then I’m not a Brit.

Anyway, so popular is this show still, after years off the air, there are web sites dedicated to it. (see above) There was even a board game which eBay UK in it’s unfathomable ignorance and dedication to political correctness has seen fit to ban due to Swastikas on the box. No, it isn’t some right wing racist game dreamed up by the BNP or the KKK or some nut case looking to offend ppl.  Read the article.  Jeesh ….

eBAY, YOU ARE BEYOND BEING MERELY STUPID IDIOTS.  YOU HAVE BECOME WORLD CLASS STUPID “FUCKIN” IDIOTS!  You haven’t the brains god gave a rock. You truly are as the man says, MORONIC! 

eBay bans sale of Dad’s Army board game for promoting ‘hatred and racial intolerance’

When Dave Davidson was clearing out some old junk, he thought nothing of selling a 99p Dad’s Army board game online.

Nick Britten

But he was amazed when the auction site eBay refused to let him sell it because it might incite racial hatred and promote violence.
The offending part was a Swastika on the box, modelled on the opening titles of the sitcom which showed Swastikas and Union flags strategically moving around a map of Europe.

And despite its apparent family-friendly content, where players attempt to get their platoon to one location on the board, eBay stuck by their decision to ban the auction declaring: “We don’t allow the sale of memorabilia associated with the Nazi Party.”

(Yeah right but I’ll bet ya eBay sells old uncle joe photos and the Hammer and Sickle don’t ya. There’s also a Hammer & Sickle Vodka I am told. Amazing isn’t it, that this ass-wipe, this condom stuffer, can not see that the board game is NOT memorabilia and is NOT associated with any political group. And yet, and yet.  Ppl like this get decision making jobs with large companies and get to decide for everybody else, what is correct and proper to buy and or sell.  )

Mr Davidson said: “I couldn’t believe it when they sent me an email telling me my Dad’s Army board game could insight violence and hatred.

“Its so annoying because any human being with an ounce of common sense can see Dad’s Army is the most harmless TV programme in the world.
“There’s no swearing, sex or violence – it’s not like I’m trying to flog a piece of Nazi memorabilia here.
“I was just baffled.”

He said Ebay was “run by a system, by robots, with no brain who probably just vet the content without looking into anything properly”, adding: ”It’s moronic.

“They allow coins and stamps with swastikas and there are hundreds of novels which are war stories that have them.”
Mr Davidson, from Droitwich, Worcs, discovered his item had been removed from the site last Saturday when he received an e-mail from eBay.

It said his listing breached the company’s offensive material policy and added: “We don’t allow sellers on eBay to list items that promote violence, hatred, racial or religious intolerance, or items from organisations that promote these views.
“We don’t allow items or memorabilia associated with the Nazi Party.”

The ‘Dad’s Army Board Game’ was released in the mid-1970’s when the TV series was at the height of its popularity.
Jenny Thomas, spokesman for eBay UK, said: “eBay will remove listings that bear the marks of organisations that promote hatred and racial intolerance and we are strict and unapologetic in adhering to this policy.”

Peter Oteng, chief executive of the Worcestershire Racial Equality Council, said that there are strict laws about advertising discriminatory material and eBay, as the advertiser, was protecting itself.

He said: “You can’t joke with this because you are joking with millions of people killed. It’s not a laughing matter at all.  It’s very serious.”
He added a compromise could have been to advertise the board game without showing the swastika image.

TELEGRAPH

“You can’t joke with this because you are joking with millions of people killed. It’s not a laughing matter at all.  It’s very serious.”

No you bleeding idiot. It is a laughing matter.  It’s a board game based on a TV show you jerk.  No again you ignorant schmuck. It isn’t serious. It’s a board game based on a comedy TV show. Dad’s Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War. ‘Dad’s Army’ ran for nine years from 1968 until 1977. It spawned a full length feature film, a radio series and a musical stage show.

I think eBay should reconsider their position on this particular subject and sack the ppl involved. Not because of what they did. No. Because they are just too stupid to work for a major company and make decisions affecting other people. They do not have what it takes.

Posted by peiper     on 01/29/2010 at 04:58 AM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • Liberals • Outrageous • PC,BS • Personal • Stoopid-People • UK •  
• Comments (8) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Thursday - January 28, 2010

Judge blocks name of player who cheated on wife, MSM knickers in a twist. Boo-Hoo

The headline reads:

Courts mask football star who cheated on his wife.

As usual, no amount of searching on my part and it’s been a long time, finds the damn link to the story. Written by the Telegraph’s “Chief Reporter, it says in print. However, they don’t have the story on line that I can find.  But never mind.  It’s only a line or two by the media and disingenuous lawyers that have me seeing red.

Ok so another guy in sports has cheated.  So?  Outside of nothing more then prurient interest, who really cares? 

When the Woods story was all over the place some weeks ago, there was good reason for BMEWS to mostly ignore the boring tale. Or is that last word spelled another way?  Thing is, how many folks really care about that stuff?

Well, here’s the story with another player, unknown and un-named by court order. And that’s the story. The court order blocking the press from naming him publicly under “human rights” laws.

Newspapers and their lawyers naturally enough have accused the courts of restricting free speech and oh naturally let us never forget the words carved in stone.  The public right to know.  Oh BS!  The lawyers are saying it’s “a privacy law through the back door.” Well good and it’s time has come.  I doubt it’ll last but good for now.
Some may not agree and see this as some sort of first step down a slippery slope. Right?  Well now, here is their argument and I know you will see how bogus it is.
Who are these lawyers and media think they are kidding?  Surely ppl are not really this stupid.  Some yeah, I understand that.  Just those who can’t see thru this hype.

Here’s a tiny bit of what the paper had to say. It’s this line I take so much issue with.

Many sportsmen are able to earn vast sums from image rights and advertising by exploiting their clean-cut public persona.

I say BS to that.  It isn’t true.  What is being exploited is their action on the playing field.  The runs scored or tackles made or passes received or completed or goal posts defended and even bones broken and don’t fans just love to see some of these tough guys get into a scrap.  If someone just happens to have this clean cut image it’s just luck or maybe the real deal but that is not what the fans necessarily pay for.  Dick Butkus once said in an interview that when he hit someone, he wanted them to know they’d been hit by Dick Butkus. And once hit by him they generally stayed down.  I’d seen him play once or 2wice all those years ago.  It’s the rough and tumble of the game and the overpaid guys who perform that get those adverts and endorsements.  Not their image as boy scouts.

Finally, why should the public have any “right” to know who cheats on who and who really cares?  Are we any better off if we do know who this particular player is? 

For once can’t the papers just say out loud, coz we wanna sell papers and sex always sells!  That’s all this is really about.  This argument reminds me of those stores that open on Christmas and Thanksgiving proudly declaring that they are only open for, our convenience. Oh BS again.  That’s crap and everyone knows exactly why they are open. But by saying something else, they really believe the public buys it.  They think we’re all that stupid.
Either that or they think their only customers are liberals. Hmmm. Could be.

Posted by peiper     on 01/28/2010 at 04:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Personal • Sports • UK •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

Mother ‘not clever enough to raise child’ has baby snatched. Nanny knows best always.

There are all sorts of things to be thankful for I know.  And I am. But I seem to find all sorts of things to be PO’d about. Some things might be minor to all but myself.

This thing below got to me to be honest. None of my business I know.  But how do social services know for certain this young lady isn’t up to the task of being a mom?  I think she’s too young it’s true.  But hey.  What’s done is done and she’s had a baby.  Kinda cruel to snatch it away from her.  Why couldn’t they keep an eye on her if they were concerned?  I guess SS is closer to the subject and sees and knows things the readers of this don’t. 

Then I’m angry (again) with FireFox.  I must be the only computer user in the entire world that thinks it often sucks.  Ok, IE may be worse but that isn’t saying much.  I like Chrome a lot but even this browser could be better.  Yeah, so could I.

The damn med is causing major headspliting ache.  So I tried to get in touch with the pharmacy to ask a question, couldn’t find the number but hey. I have a computer so I did a www thing and got their site BUT ... no numbers for what I needed and not even a store number.  So I called their (get this) CARELINE. Care. HaHaHa.  I got someone whose jingelritch was so bad it wasn’t even as clear as engrish. And they were NATIVE BORN I want ya to know.  She kept saying “et” “et” and I kept asking her to say again but slower so she did.
“et” pause “et” pause “et”
and it took my wife to figure out she was saying EIGHT. And I have no idea about the other numbers but wifey worked it out.  So I called the number she gave us AND ....  SORRY, WRONG NUMBER.  Hmmmm, sounds like an old radio mystery title.  But in the end I did get the right number, but never got to speak to anyone, even though my call was important to them.  Screw em.  I got a cup of very good Engrish Hot Chocolate, poured in some cream and Irish Whiskey and almost immediately felt better, except for the stomach pain caused by the booze. And most likely the pill taken at 10 this morning, more then six hours ago.

Ok so here we are, I read dumb stuff in the paper like, New Daddys to get 6 month maternity leave.  Six months?  How the hell did civilization make it all these years without that pc crap?

Who the hell are the dumb ass rocket scientists who design packaging?  Do any of them think? They really must get paid a lot to do the crappy job they have been doing for years now. Idiots! All of em.

Lawyers and MSM .... lying shits that think the public is so damn stupid they can’t see through them and their demands for more “freedom of the press.” I’ll get to that in my next post.
All sorts of things to be pissed off about.

Mother ‘not clever enough to raise child’ has baby snatched by social workers after running away to Ireland to give birth

By ALISON SMITH SQUIRE
Daily Mail

A couple who fled to Ireland after social workers threatened to remove their baby at birth have had the newborn snatched after all.

Kerry Robertson, 17, who has mild learning difficulties, and Mark McDougall, 25, went on the run after British social services said she was not clever enough to raise a child.

But just four days after Ben was born, Irish social workers marched into the maternity ward and forced them to hand him over.

They were told they were acting at the behest of their British counterparts.

The couple, from Fife, Scotland, have been on the run for three months.

In September, their wedding was halted just 48 hours before the service when social workers claimed Miss Robertson was not bright enough to understand the marriage declaration.

Then in November they were told that her ‘disability’ meant their baby would be taken away at birth.

With Miss Robertson 29 weeks pregnant, they fled their house in the middle of the night and travelled to Ireland.

Ben was born healthy and weighing 7lb 3oz last Friday.

Last night Miss Robertson said: ‘When the Irish social workers said I had to give the baby to them, I felt sick.

‘I didn’t want to hand him over and I started crying because I couldn’t believe what they were saying. I thought I had misunderstood.

MORE OF THIS STORY AND PHOTOS HERE

Posted by peiper     on 01/28/2010 at 01:05 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Nanny State • News-Briefs • Personal • UK •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Tuesday - January 26, 2010

A snapshot to help take your minds off my problems.  What? Me Worry?

I am only posting this photo of Lady Kitty Spencer, niece of the late Lady Di, to help take your evil minds off my post and it’s problems.  Also because I saw her photo today and walked into a door while looking at the paper I had in my hand at the time.  Also cos I miss my yoot. Bah.
I liked her photo better in blk & wht and so changed it.  FOR THOSE WHO PREFER A LARGER COLOR PIX GO HERE

A TERRIBLE TALE OF WOE

On Dec.24 I had an Endoscopy where they found nothing in the tummy which is good, but they spotted something they referred to as a “node” in another area.  So they said I needed to see another specialist, an ENT surgeon.  They would make the appointment for me and I will be notified.  STILL WAITING to hear something and so that’s frustrating. Which brings me to this.

Had to see the doc last week as I think the aspirin even tho coated is upsetting stomach. I never had an aspirin problem before but the problem could be the damn cough which is on and off again.  Now that cough has been with me for two years at least.  It isn’t continous as in all day, but it’s pretty bad enough when it happens. And it’s painful with regard to chest and stomach. But the doctors have been stumped all this this time trying to figure it all out. X-Ray after X-Ray and nothing.  Gee, I may take up smoking again. After all, if it took 38 years to catch up to me the first time and I got well, at my age since I don’t have another 38 years I’m damn sorry to say, what’s ta worry about?.  Oh what the hell, at almost $10.00 a pack I doubt I’d start again anyway. Are you smokers back home paying almost 10 bucks a pack now?  I saw some Lucky Strikes at £5.67 a pack the other day, and that’s close to ten American I think. Well nine anyway.

Meanwhile, my doctor ( remember him?) had finally given in and allowed me the Codeine based medication that stops but doesn’t cure said cough.  After all this time one doc reading the report re. the “node” thinks that could be the cause of the cough because of where it’s located .  So nobody thought to suggest an ENT surgeon even a year ago.  The first person to suggest to me that I should mention ENT to my doctor, was a nurse.  Do nurses know more then the docs?  I’m beginning to believe that they do. 

So back to aspirin.  Doc takes me off that and give me something called Persantin which I’m supposed to take 2wice a day.  One side effect of that is headache.  IN SPADES!  It’s supposed to go away after awhile, but nobody has told me how long “awhile” is, and added to that, the construction next door has now moved on to the stone cutters.  Like serious stuff guys.
Listening to hour after hour of brick and tile and cinder block being sawed, and hammers on pipes in between and even WORSE if you can imagine it. Worse? What could be worse?

Well, one of the guys and not a youngster either, tries to sing along with the radio they have outside. Actually, he shouts it more then sings it.  As a person (me) who has worked in recording studios and worked with talented ppl, I can tell you this fellow can not sing. He couldn’t hold a tune if you gave him a bag to put it in. So between that and the damn buzz saw, (is that a buzz saw?) and this damn headache that wants me to remove my head, I am a very frustrated person today.
But having read the papers, I am also a very lucky one. Very lucky indeed.

It is sunny but freezing outside.  I think I’ll go for a short walk.

Stay Tuned.

Posted by peiper     on 01/26/2010 at 09:25 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Blog Stuff • Eye-Candy • Humor • Personal •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Well, the weather guy said SNOW and I though, NAH. He’s almost always wrong. Not this time.

It was snowing last night when I shut down (thinking btw that I had FFox fixed.NOT) Well it’s still snowing.  No big deal to folks who live on the east coast like CT,NJ,NY etc.  Or Mont or the mountains of Calif. this time of year.  But this kind of snow is a mite much for this part of England and things have a tendency to grind to a halt.  Our milk delivery came last night at around 9pm instead of the usual 5 to 6am.  No newspapers delivered so far this morning. Would have been nice to have em on a day like this.  So I thought I’d share the photos I took about an hour ago at 9am. Nothing arty. Just snow.

That’s our front and part of the driveway.

That’s our house.  It just occurs to me. I should have left a few lights on in the area of the porch. And upstairs too. Might look better. Next time.

Posted by peiper     on 01/06/2010 at 05:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • Personal •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Saturday - January 02, 2010

DARN IF IT ISN’T ALL THE FAULT OF DREW AND TOM HORN … MY PLANS ASKEW …

ASKEW is right cos I had planned on something else to start with. Can’t do that right now.

I was always a fan of Steve McQueen going way back to the TV series in 1958.  There was always something believable about him.

Drew’s take on Tom Horn is right on the money and I honestly don’t think I’ve read a better movie review.  No kidding.

I have a ton of stuff to do and more or less planned out my posts for today.  We have been finding more things packed away left by the wife’s late mother. Because it’s difficult for her to do, she says she feels like she’s starting the new year by getting rid of her mom, I’ve been going through and seperating stuff like 50 years worth of diaries.  And due to the mania for seperating cardboard and recycle from hard plastics, well.  You can imagine how I spent a great deal of yesterday, and there’s more of other things today.  My inclination is to simply toss everything in a pile but ... can not do.  There are addresses there and phone numbers AND, the powers that be WILL check what you toss away.  Stiff fines and aggro I don’t need.  So ...  I had stuff lined up and came to BMEWS to start and got hit with Tom Horn. 

There is not a single thing I could possibly add to that review.  Drew missed his calling. But hell, it’s not too late should he tire of windows.

Westerns in the past and most especially the silents were sooooo corny I can’t believe how ppl took to em.  Movies in general were cornball. Not all of them, there were a few standouts.  Anyway ...  I got to thinking about the beginnings of the western ....

http://www.silentmovies.com/edison/gtrscenes/gtr.htm, and of course you can Google The Great Train Robbery and see clips.  What an innocent age.

Then I recalled a name from the past, William S. Hart.  He was a major star in that period. Just think, here was a guy born in the final year of the war of northern aggression.  okok. The Civil War.  (most uncivil) Anyway, you could say he was the Steve McQueen of his time. Not in acting ability to be sure. But in popularity.  I remember my mother speaking of him.  Then there was real cowboy named Tom Mix.

So I just thought I would post this very old stuff so we can see where we all came from.  Movie wise.

I will leave you with this. And to think, I actually got paid for playing it.  That was the life let me tell ya.

Posted by peiper     on 01/02/2010 at 06:12 AM   
Filed Under: • MOVIES • Personal • USA •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

   Thursday - December 31, 2009

A BRAIN DEAD COUSIN AND AN ENEMA … doesn’t get weirder nor funnier then this.

I just had to stick my head in the door for a minute or two.  This will be a somewhat unusual post because I already did it a year ago.
However, I have reason to post it again as there has been an update to something I once titled,
POOR BRAIN DEAD COUSIN JO.

For our readers who are here for the first time, and for those who are steady but new to BMEWS just a bit of background so you’ll understand some of my referrences to being in bed early or being very tired etc.

In April of 2004 my Brit wife and I sold up everything we had in California and what wasn’t sold was given away.  We sold the home and everything else went to charity. We moved here to the UK to care for the wife’s elderly mother who could no longer live alone and became bedridden for the last two or three years of her life.  We finally got our lives back when the old dear (NOT to me) breathed her last on Jan.9th of ‘09. 

Now then, the wife has a cousin (Jo) who lives close by and who happens to be a kind person. She truly is that.  She is 72 and has somehow managed to keep a pretty trim figure and still looks good in jeans and high heels.  In her working life till 65, she was a BLUE BADGE guide.  She knows the history of this particular place and English history as well as you know your own name.  She once was chosen to do one of the tours on the Orient Express, and they don’t allow just any old person to do that. You really,really must be qualified.  Ah but very sadly ..... Cousin Jo also has a brain the size of a grain of sand.  She talks so much she has two buttons. ON and Still ON. There isn’t any off switch.

Now then readers, here’s what I wrote last year at this same time.  But keep reading because the UPDATE at the end will be the most unbelievable thing you will have read in this outgoing year. 

POOR BRAIN DEAD COUSIN JO
Jay’s Dec. Rant.  12-26-08
A very tiring day and I mean eyes closing as I write.  Not so much due anything we did today.  Fairly lazy day overall except for lunatic news stories which are posted. No.

What has me ready to fall asleep was an overlong visit from a cousin of the wife.  2 hours and 20 minutes of non stop talk by cousin Jo.

She is a kindly and charitable person but alas, she’s brain dead.  I haven’t a clue how she has survived the 20th. century.

She always has to be asked finally, and somewhat kindly, please leave now.  And it still takes her somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes to do that.

She has been taking a senior citizen computer class and sad to say her problem is mostly that she is NOT a listener. She will ask you a question and talk right through your answer.  She manages to get everything screwed up.  And she can NEVER tell a tale from A to Z without serious detours.

Example:
She is telling us about this class she has been in for months now in the village of WI.  The village about a mile down the road.

This is her speaking, please pay attention or you will miss what she is trying to say about her computer class.

Jo speaks:
“The class is made up of and I don’t know what I’d have done if I hadn’t caught the #18 bus in London oh but wait, no, no before that I went to Peters Street where I got the #32 , oh lets see, yes that’s right, which went as far as ? where I got the #20 bus which runs and then when I finally got the #18 bus but the 32 was late anyway.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH !!!!!

How the hell did we manage to be on all those fracken London buses in the village of WI next door?  They’re over a hundred miles apart anyway.

She doesn’t come over often but every time she does I make it clear what our routine is here due to the old lady’s care and Jenn is quite tired yadda,yadda.  And every single time she says sorry she didn’t know and we dance the same routine.

Have you noticed that when people say “I only came by for a minute or two,” that they are lying?

At 5:10pm I said Jo, ya know Jenn is usually in bed by this time. She’s up early, she’s tired and I need a break too.
Oh dear says she. I’m sorry. I must be getting off now. Oh Jenn I won’t keep you.  But Jenn (the one who’s civilized here) makes the mistake of saying “Oh that’s ok Jo.” So Jo drags out her leave taking and asks, oh where’s my coat, while turning in a complete circle as though she is looking for her coat, which is on a chair in the entrance hall right through the door to her right. Just inside the front door.
I mean, this isn’t Windsor Palace after all.  One does not get lost in this tiny three rooms downstairs bungalow, unless one has a brain the size of a grain of sand.

But she does finally exit the front door at 5:20pm. What happened between 5:10 and 5:20 then?  Oh boy, oh boy I’m glad you asked.

She was getting instructions from my sainted wife on, “ HOW TO READ IN BED.”

What?  You think I have the imagination to make that up?
No kidding.  She says her problem is that every time she tries to read in bed, the book falls on her head.  Why is it falling on her head?  Because she is trying to read laying down and holding the book up at the same time. And she is falling asleep. DOH!

The poor woman is BRAIN DEAD!

UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE

Today is Thursday, it’s now the 31st of December, 2009.

The phone rang a couple days ago.  Ring,ring,ring,ring.  Hello ..
Ohhh, Hi. It’s me (Jo) and I have a question.  She always starts her phone conversations that way.  There is a slight questioning sound as though she has dialled the wrong number when she says “Oh.”
So then the lady has a question.  Sure Jo say I say, go ahead.

“Yes well, I have to give myself an enema.  I have never done that before and don’t know how.” Huh?  Jo, in all your life you have never …. you know … you’ve never had to ….  cough …

Further to the question she states, “I’m supposed to put this thing they sent me in my bum.”

Well Jo I’d come over and do it for ya but I’m tied up at the moment.  We laff. Haha but she is serious.  She hasn’t a clue.

She informs me that she is having a medical exam.  An Endoscopy.  Jo I say, wait a minute.  (Jo keeps talking) When I finally got her attention, I said I just had one of those, and you do not have to cleanse your innards or empty yourself for that procedure.  Oh she says, but they sent me this tube and instructions of some kind to lay on my left side but I still don’t see how it’s done.  And it comes from the Endoscopy dept.  So, after five minutes more of conversation with me gagging and trying not to laugh, we find that it’s the Endoscopy Dept BUT the Gastroenterology UNIT that has sent her the little bottle of Fleets.  We ended the conversation with her saying she’d call her doctor in the morning and double check.

AND SO ENDS THE YEAR 2009 WITH POOR, BRAIN DEAD, COUSIN JO.

Stay Tuned!

Posted by peiper     on 12/31/2009 at 03:01 PM   
Filed Under: • Personal • Stoopid-People •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks (0) • Permalink •  

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