Sunday - November 28, 2010

Not Too Late

Weekend WhatsIt #5





Some tasks require a special tool. This is one of those tools. The thing is really nothing more than a bit of rolled and folded steel, but it works the best doing the task it was designed for. This one uses single edge injector razor blades. Handmade by a very long established company, the proper name of this tool is a contraction of the informal name of the task and the tool combined.

No, it is not the world’s sharpest vegetable peeler, but I bet it could skin carrots like nobody’s business.

Extra credit if you can explain to me how the job this tool does came to be the particularly British name for a not well respected activity.

PS - I haven’t gone and checked, but I don’t think anyone guessed what the green thing was in last week’s WhatsIt. It is a plastic cased LED bicycle lamp, that snaps on over the handlebar stem.

Slow Recovery

The economy? Hella no, that’s tanked. I’m talking about me and this wonderful illness.

I’ve finished the course of antibiotics, and after one last enormous coughing fit last night where I swear I turned myself inside out, the phlegm seems to have diminished. I slept through the night without waking up hacking several times for the first time in a week.

I’m delaying the cleaning work I do every Sunday until this evening, to give myself a bit more time to rest. Then I’ll do a cursory job of it. I don’t make a practice of doing that, but for all the times I’ve done something extra for them and never charged for it, I figured I’m owed a bit.

So I’m lazing about, watching a series of programs on Appalachia on the History Channel, and kind of reading a book. Oh, I am reading it, I just keep putting it down to do this, that, or the other. It’s Dean Koontz’s The Darkest Evening of the Year, and it’s about as shaggy a shaggy dog story as could be. Few people can write about dogs like Koontz, even when he doesn’t put himself in the dog’s mind and transcribe their thoughts.

Golden retrievers are not bred to be guard dogs, and considering the size of their hearts and their irrepressible joy in life, they are less likely to bite than to bark, less likely to bark than to lick a hand in greeting.  In spite of their size, they think they are lap dogs, and in spite of being dogs, they think they are also human, and nearly every human they meet is judged to have the potential to be a boon companion who might, at any moment, cry “Let’s go!” and lead them on a great adventure.

Now if that isn’t an accurate portrait of the breed, I don’t know what is. I miss my old dog.

   Saturday - November 27, 2010

This may be obscene

More than a year ago, Somali pirates captured British seniors Paul and Rachel Chandler as they sailed their boat across the Indian Ocean. The pirates demanded an outrageous ransom, under the assumption that all English people are wealthy. The Chandlers were not, nor are their relatives. So for 13 months negotiations ensued, and at every setback the Chandlers felt the wrath of the stymied pirates, being beaten, whipped, starved, and threatened all the time.

Somehow some ransom was raised, and finally the Chandlers are free. And back home in Jolly Olde, and selling their story to the papers a bit at a time.

But it turns out that several of the Somali pirates might just be nearly paying them a visit, because those pirates are planning to come to the UK to visit their relatives, who live there on the asylum dole. And they may just get away with it.

Two members of the Somali pirate gang that held Britons Paul and Rachel Chandler hostage for 388 days are believed to have family in the UK. One of the pirate leaders says he plans to travel to the UK to join his wife and two children, who have claimed political asylum and live in London.

The extraordinary revelations come as intelligence and security officials in the UK and Kenya investigate links between Britain and Somali pirates after the couple were freed from the 13-month ordeal in return for a ransom.

A second pirate involved in the seizing of the Chandlers is suspected to have lived in Britain and to have family living in London. It is unclear whether his family has also claimed asylum and whether either family receives benefits. Both men are said to have received a ‘cut’ of the estimated £625,000 ransom paid for the release of Mr Chandler, 60, and his 57-year-old wife.

Investigators say the revelations raise the possibility of pirates travelling to Britain and of part of the ransom money being transferred to family members in the UK.

Their warnings come just weeks after Home Secretary Theresa May highlighted the links between British extremists and Somalia, with some UK citizens travelling there to train alongside Al Qaeda-linked groups. Anti-terrorist investigators believe some have returned to Britain and they have been looking at associations between the UK and pirate gangs, who currently hold some 40 ships and 500 crew hostage.

Immigration investigators are now involved in the inquiry into their British links and seeking to discover whether individuals have visited the UK or have families here. ‘It is possible that some of those involved in piracy have British or other European citizenship and that is a worrying area which we are exploring,’ one investigator said.

In satellite calls, the pirates have alluded to links with Britain and a man named as Hassan, 32 – said to be one of the ringleaders of the Chandler abduction – was quoted as saying he had a wife and family in the UK and was planning to join them. He claimed his family had moved to London three years ago, applying for political asylum.

‘She is putting me under pressure to join her and the children, so I will come to the UK soon,’ he said in one telephone call.

source

Now wait a second. Are British subjects subject to English Law regardless of where on earth they may be? So would the act of two “Englishmen” kidnapping and torturing two other Englishmen still be a crime in London, even though it happened thousands of miles away? If it is, then this could be a nice opportunity. Catch these two when they come “home”, take the money, hang them both, and then throw their families out of the country, for associating with terrorists and brigands and for attempting to receive criminally obtained money.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

Winter pays UK an early visit

‘Stay indoors!’ Police warn Britons to stay off the roads as temperatures fall to MINUS 10C and 15 inches of snow falls

Freezing weather will grip Britain for weeks to come, forecasters warned tonight - with rain, sleet and snow expected across the country.

Some of the worst widespread early snow for 17 years has seen much of the country disrupted and police in affected areas are urging people to stay indoors.

Severe weather warnings have been in place, with Scotland and North East England experiencing the worst of the weather, and snowfalls of up to 40cm in some areas.

Overnight temperatures across the UK plunged well below zero again.

Trawscoed in Wales saw the mercury dip to -10.2C, while Dalwhinnie in the Scottish Highlands recorded -8.2c, and Glasgow -3.5c.

In England, Chesham in Buckinghamshire was among the coldest places at minus 7c. And at Preston in Lancashire the temperature fell to -5.8c.

There was also snow today across parts of Wales, the West Midlands and Cornwall and temperatures across the country struggled to rise above zero even in the major cities.

The M4 westbound in south Wales saw a 26-mile tailback last night, with the M25 and M40 also badly hit.

The unusual weather has been caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltics, forcing cold winds from the north east across Europe.

Northumbria Police urged motorists to stay off the roads and advised people to dress in warm clothing.

A spokesman said: ‘Anyone going outside should consider whether their journey is critical and if they must venture out should dress appropriately.’
...
Tom Tobler of MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: ‘The temperature throughout the day has struggled to get above zero in many areas.

‘It will be a similar situation tomorrow, staying very cold, with Scotland seeing the majority of the snow showers. But there may be snow in some western areas as well.

‘Overnight it will be very cold, well below zero everywhere, going down to minus 7C quite widely.

‘The cold weather will stay during the week with a brisk easterly wind developing which will make it feel even colder and which might bring more snow showers.’
...
‘We’re advising people who have no choice but to travel to exercise extreme caution.

‘Even in areas without snow there is an ever present risk of ice.’

Flights at some airports were delayed - including at Jersey Airport where lightning hit the radar system overnight. There were also runway closures at airports including Luton, Newcastle and Inverness.

A number of sporting events were cancelled, including race meetings and FA Cup fixtures Hartlepool United vs Yeovil Town and Notts County vs Bournemouth.

The unusual weather has been caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltic, forcing cold winds from the north east across Europe.

The cold snap was welcomed by skiers in Scotland who headed for the hills to enjoy the start of the season.

At Cairngorm Mountain resort near Aviemore in the Highlands around 1,500 people took to the slopes.

Spokeswoman Tania Alliod said: ‘We’ve had a super day. It’s an excellent start to the season as it’s still very early in the winter. The cold front is set to continue so we’re hoping it’s an early Christmas present for everyone.

‘We hope it will be great for Christmas and New Year.’

Gosh. Isn’t winter in the UK supposed to last about 3 weeks with an inch of snow on Christmas Eve, followed by a bit of fog? Damn that Al Gore!!!!

sat eye candy …..

Must go ... outta here for the night. Have a good wkend all.

I leave with pleasant images ....

this is a book review of an englishwoman’s diary from WW2, found and published 70 yrs later

I have never copied a book review for posting in all the time I’ve been here.  And there has only been one other book I would have posted, had I known at the time how to find it.  This was brought to my attention a few hours ago, and I only had an opportunity to read it some minutes ago. I was really impressed.
After all these years, stories from the war years (WW-2) are still being discovered.

This may not be a Schindler’s List but then it doesn’t have to be.  It’s the experience of an English woman and others caught in a roundup of foreign nationals after the fall of France.  If I have one complaint with the reviewer it’s the constant use of words in another language. French. That’s done by so many authors I can only think they do it to show how well educated they are and literate and well read and ... and.  Look at me. Aren’t I superior. Even if the diarist wrote it that way, why can’t the foreign words be translated as not everyone speaks French. I think at the time it was written, it wasn’t expected to be a book 70 years on. Also, it may have been meant for immediate family and many ppl in the authors circle would probably have spoken the language.
Be all that as it may ... this is one heck of a story.  Take a look.

Frontstalag 142: The Internment Diary of an English Lady by Katherine Lack: review

Nicholas Shakespeare hails Frontstalag 142: The Internment Diary of an English Lady by Katherine Lack, a remarkable wartime story.
By Nicholas Shakespeare

This little-told story took place 70 years ago in Occupied France. Early on December 5 1940, during the coldest winter of the war, French policemen rounded up all women with British papers. The procedure did not vary: a bang on the door in the freezing darkness, often in the presence of a Gestapo officer; half an hour to pack – and no whisper of where they were going.

The arrest was conducted in the blackout, without warning and with military efficiency. Since October, the Germans had required British women still at large to sign daily at the local Commissariat; on October 16, a new decree warned that anyone sheltering a British subject must declare their presence, or be shot.
Among those civilians crammed shivering into an unheated train that day was a 59-year-old artist, Fan Twemlow, who kept a diary. Her great niece, Katherine Lack, has edited and expanded this into an account that commemorates the experiences not just of “Aunt Fan” but of several internees.

“They were a diverse group, culturally and socially, from stable boys’ wives to Indian royalty,” Lack writes. Some didn’t speak English, but had married an Englishman. Others had been trapped in France, on holiday when the Germans invaded.

There were governesses, nurses, couturiers, dancers like Margaret Kelly (founder of the Blue Belle Girls), plus 500 nuns from 90 orders. Most were rounded up in Paris and spent the day waiting at the Gare de l’Est. Rumours spread that their destination was a concentration camp in Frankfurt, and so they were relieved when the train came to a halt two days later in Besançon, in the Doubs. German soldiers marched them through the snow to a barracks where they were incarcerated for five months.

Mention les Anglaises internées today in Besançon and you will be greeted by blank faces, as I discovered in September when I gained access to the Caserne Vauban, locked up since 2006.
Not even the brigadier in charge knew about this episode, but he opened the gates because my aunt was a prisoner there too. I spent a solitary afternoon wandering through the empty bâtiments, trying to envisage the place in 1940. I wish I’d had this book to guide me.

The secrecy surrounding the initial round-up was well kept, even from the Germans who ran the barracks. They were utterly unprepared for the arrival of an estimated 3,900 English women (no exact record exists), some with screaming babies, some old and ill, all hungry and anxious and cold. The chaos and the filth were indescribable.

Aunt Fan was marshalled into a large four-storey building, one side of which was “one big rubbish heap and inside old straw mattresses in all stages of decay on the floor, old shoes, helmets and soldiers’ discarded rags, and dirt everywhere”. For “dirt”, read urine and excrement.

The women slept sometimes 40 to a room. A bugle call woke them at dawn. They had to climb down 100 concrete steps to fetch water, coal and food. Aunt Fan lacked cutlery for her first meal. “‘Get something off the rubbish heap,’ we were told – ‘any old tin or even a helmet’.” She found a mess tin without any holes, cleaned it with earth, and gulped her ersatz coffee.

Another inmate, Mabel Bayliss, wrote in an unpublished memoir: “We drank it until one day we found a mass of tousled hair at the bottom of the can. Rats were frequent, some seemed as large as rabbits. These awful creatures would tear the sacks of dried vegetables before our very eyes.” The diet blackened my aunt’s gums.

Pretty much everyone agreed with Elizabeth Hales, a 63-year-old New Zealand artist: “The worst thing in the camp is the sanitary arrangement” – 20 privies on the ground floor for nearly 4,000 women. These swiftly blocked and were closed off, forcing queues to form in the snow for the tinettes. My aunt wrote of these hazardous long sheds, each with a deep trench and planks across the holes on which to perch: “Most of the older people couldn’t cope with the straddling, so they performed on the side and everything got frozen up and one sometimes slipped and fell in.” A row of white crosses in the local cemetery marks the graves of those elderly who, in temperatures below zero, failed to scramble back out. The excrement overflowed onto the ground and it was impossible for Aunt Fan to keep her clothes clean.

Conditions improved only after news of the camp reached England. A direct threat, Lack writes, warned that unless something radical was done, German civilians interned in Britain were to be dispatched to northern Canada. In January 1941, the Red Cross sent a delegation to Frontstalag 142, as the Besançon camp was called, which included Goering’s wife.

Thereafter, prisoners received food parcels and a money allowance and were allowed to write 25-word messages home. In May, the women were moved south to the spa town of Vittel. Aunt Fan was released on her 60th birthday in December, although most remained interned until 1944.

Lack is respectful of her great aunt’s “suspiciously understated” diary, but also of her wonderful sketches. The result has the haphazard feel of a scrapbook, rather than a comprehensive history.

None the less, Frontstalag 142 is a satisfying addition to the shockingly sparse literature on Besançon. It nudges a little farther into the light a dramatic and long-overlooked story of survival, until now only glanced upon in books such as Antonia Hunt’s Little Resistance and Sofka Zinovieff’s marvellous Red Princess.

* Nicholas Shakespeare’s latest novel, Inheritance, is published by Harvill Secker
Frontstalag 142: the Internment Diary of an English Lady
by Katherine Lack

SATURDAY BOOK REVIEWS FROM THE TELEGRAPH

The Source

Aw man, I really need a joint! I don’t care what kind, I just have to have one right now!

If you’ve ever found yourself in that circumstance, and you said those words while holding a saw or a chisel, then this is the link for you.

Does This One Count As “Saved” Or “Created”??

FBI Arrests “Christmas Tree Bomber” Somali Jihadist In Oregon

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born U.S. citizen, was arrested at 5:42 p.m., 18 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur, on an accusation of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him. Yelling “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” — Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.

“The threat was very real,” said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. “Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale,”

Um, except it wasn’t a bomb. And the FBI just didn’t happen upon this guy by chance. Nor were they tipped off at the last second. No, they’d been watching this guy for months. They’d been working with him. It seems that they even assembled his bomb for him, although the bomb they built was not real.

However, the supposed explosive was a dummy that FBI operatives supplied to him, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint signed Friday night by U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta.
...
The arrest was the culmination of a long-term undercover operation, during which Mohamud had been monitored for months as his alleged bomb plot developed.

“The device was in fact inert, and the public was never in danger,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to the FBI affidavit, the case began in August 2009 when Mohamud was in e-mail contact with an unindicted associate overseas who was believed to be involved in terrorist activities. In December 2009, while the unindicted associate was in a frontier province of Pakistan, Mohamud and the associate discussed the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to participate in violent jihad.

The associate allegedly referred Mohamud to a second associate overseas and provided him with a name and e-mail address. In the months that followed, Mohamud made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the second associate.

Ultimately, an FBI undercover operative contacted Mohamud in a June 2010 e-mail under the guise of being an associate of the first unindicted associate.

So when this kid - who was probably about 17 at the time this started - tries and tries and tries to hook up with the real jihadis, and FAILS every single time, the FBI puts on a digital kaffiyea and makes contact with him. And then leads the kid around by the nose for the next solid year?

Mohamud and the FBI operative agreed to meet in Portland a month later. Mohamud allegedly told the FBI operative that he had written articles that were published in Jihad Recollections, an online magazine that advocated holy war.

Yes, they gave the boy a whole bunch of chances to back out.

The FBI operatives cautioned Mohamud several times about the seriousness of his plan, noting that there would be many people, including children, at the event, and that Mohamud could abandon his plans at any time with no shame.

But he wouldn’t. So they talked him into letting them build the bomb for him. And they even took him on an outing before this to set of a smaller real bomb. To prove their own bona fides?

He allegedly identified a location to place the bomb and mailed bomb components to the FBI operatives, who he believed were assembling the device. He also mailed them passport photos so he could sneak out of the country after the attack, according to the affidavit.

He provided the FBI operatives with a thumbdrive that contained detailed directions to the bomb location and operational instructions for the attack.

On Nov. 4, Mohamud and the FBI operatives traveled to a remote spot in Lincoln County, where they detonated a bomb concealed in a backpack as a trial run for the upcoming attack.

And so on and so on. But what they never did was take the kid by the scruff of his neck, ring the doorbell at his parent’s house, and say, “Look Dad, your kid wants to be a terrorist. And we’ve got the proof. You’d better straighten him out right now, because if we have to do it, he’ll either wind up in a pine box or spend the rest of his life in jail.”

Is there a line in here somewhere? A limit? I have not yet heard that this kid’s arrest has led to an entire terrorist network being rolled up, or that any great new sources of information have been gleaned by interrogating him. What I have read sounds a lot like enabling. I don’t want to say “entrapment”, but the FBI was onto this kid from the beginning. Why not just collect him then and get him some psychiatric treatment? Why bother to let him go all the way to planting a “bomb” and “pushing the button” before arresting him? In which case, why not shoot him?

Meanwhile, there’s that nutjob Serb out in California with so much explosives in his house that stepping on the grass is like jumping on a landmine. And the ONLY way he got found out is when the yard guy got blown up by accident. And notice the part of that story you really, really aren’t hearing about: he’s been back and forth to Mexico a whole bunch of times lately. Wonder if that’s where he got the explosives, and maybe even the training to use them?

So I’m kind of wondering if this was the right approach ... or the right use of resources. Yes, absolutely it’s better to have fed this Somali dingbat a line of poop the whole time, than to have had no contact or awareness of him and then come in with the dustpan and brush and absorbent paper towels when he sets off a REAL bomb. But it sure makes me wonder how many of these “naturalized citizens” from radical muslim lands are in our country plotting bad things. Maybe we shouldn’t have let them in in the first place?

Maybe I’m in one of those “root causes” moods. As a nation we spend so damn much blood and treasure trying to “win hearts and minds” overseas, so why not do it right here? Why aren’t all parents - not just muzzies - not pointing out how stupid, wasteful, and ultimately ineffective, jihad splodeydope-ism is? I don’t see that happening. I don’t see “Your daily message of peace and tolerance, brought to you by CAIR” on the TV or in the newspapers. I don’t see the American Imams on the religious channels preaching any of that Rodney King “Why can’t we all just get along” stuff.

So maybe it is better that the FBI have the “terrorist cells” so heavily infiltrated that only 1 in 1000 of them is actually real. And that all the emails over to sandland are read and perhaps redirected. So all our stupid little children, those angst ridden teens who can’t get laid or who can’t fit in, who “try to get even” and turn to jihad are really almost always just turning themselves over to the feds. We’re safer that way ... but we’d be safer, and the government would spend a whole lot less money, if somehow the parents, schools, and local churches and mosques could get involved when the “roots” have only sent up a small bud or two. And by “a small bud” and “getting involved” I don’t mean doping little kids to the gills with psych meds and expelling them from school when they make stick figure drawings of cowboys and soldiers with guns when they’re 6. That’s an asinine reaction indicative of a pendulum swung way too far the wrong way, and belies any critical reasoning. But somewhere between pulling wings off of flies, setting fire to the neighbor’s cat, and Columbine or Ground Zero there has to be a point where a bit of effort can change the river’s direction.

Links:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/27/feds-somali-born-teen-plotted-car-bombing-ore/
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/11/fbi_thwarts_terrorist_bombing.html

On the third hand, or is it the fifth or sixth one by now ... I’m sure the FBI wants everyone to believe how close they are watching, and how much of the terrorist underworld they have sewn up. And it seems like they do, as wannabe after wannabe has been caught year after year. Until the next big blast catches everyone by surprise. Like, um, where would we be if that gardener had taken the day off, or stepped onto a different patch of grass?

comrade teachers and MPs call out students for people’s demonstration

I did a smattering of this last week, but I have more here.  I want people to see what’s happened and the promise made for more of the same.
The outrage is that some politicians (left) and professors (left) have encouraged the vandals.

Honest protest is one thing. But when police are physically attacked and property damage occurs, that passes protest and become assault and criminal damage.
Here. Take a look at what some profs and Labour Party MPs have said is perfectly okay.

And these are a few of the comrade commissars who say right on. Good show gallant students. These are a few of the pols who make the laws and profs. who are responsible for the teaching indoctrination of comrade students, who have a god given right to an affordable college education.

# Lecturers ‘congratulate staff and students on magnificent demonstration’
# Sussex University academic boasts he planned the attack a fortnight ago

And here are a few of the choice words they had to impart to the “students.”

Violent protests were ‘marvellous’ says veteran Labour MP as students announce next demonstration

By Daily Mail Reporter

* More protests planned for November 30

* Students critical of being held for hours in cold

A veteran Labour MP has been criticised for describing Tuesday’s student protests as ‘marvellous’.

David Winnick’s controversial remarks came as students announced they would take to the streets again on November 30 in protest at the Government’s planned increase in tuition fees.

Mr Winnick, the MP for Walsall North and a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said ‘As far as yesterday’s demonstration is concerned it was marvellous and gives a lead to others to follow.’

more here and more pix There’s a bit of video as well.

Labour MPs cheered on student vandals on Twitter as they smashed up Tory headquarters

# Lecturers ‘congratulate staff and students on magnificent demonstration’
# Sussex University academic boasts he planned the attack a fortnight ago

As protesters started destroying the entrance to the Westminster building, MP Alex Cunningham tweeted: ‘Well done our students – thousands outside the office getting stuck into the LibDem / Tory government.’

more here

“WELL DONE OUR STUDENTS”

Stay Tuned .... they promised more in three days.  I wonder if the jerks and irresponsible lefty dirt bag politicians and professors would be willing to pay for all the damage they encourage.  Course not. 

That’s what T A X P A Y E R S are for.

arrested for burglary.  off to jail? no. off to a sewing machine to sew costumes for carnival. huh?

Now why should any career criminal here worry about the law and punishment with this laughable program. Not so laughable to the law abiding, taxpaying public of course.
Take a look.

Sentenced to make carnival costumes: Criminals get so-called ‘tough’ alternative to jail

By Jack Doyle

Burglars and robbers are learning costume-making and working in charity shops instead of being sent to prison, a damning report reveals today.

The punishments are part of supposedly rigorous community service programmes.

But within a year of completing such schemes, criminals had committed a further 250,000 offences, raising major doubts about their effectiveness.

The report found convicts working with animals on farms or serving lunch at old people’s clubs. Others were found making costumes for the Notting Hill Carnival, filling envelopes or sorting jewellery.

The report, by the centre-right think-tank Policy Exchange, charts a 70 per cent rise in community punishments in the last decade under Labour. Such is the scale of the growth that within four years more serious and violent criminals will be given community terms than will be put behind bars, it predicts.

Just half of all community orders are completed, and one in ten are cut short because of a further conviction. Figures suggest criminals placed on community orders in 2008 committed almost a quarter of a million offences in the following 12 months.

Of these, 1,500 were serious crimes such as murder and rape.

source for more

Islamists establish a bridgehead in Parliament.

Interesting view and another example of what this country faces daily.
At some point in time the bad guys are gonna open wide that back door which is already ajar.

Politicians of all parties and even spokesmen in the security services are mouthing the pc line about how awful torture is and is unacceptable and immoral yadda,yadda.  As if the enemy will be impressed by the high moral tone of the speech in London and the US, in some quarters.

Meanwhile in the USA, I read that a Somali sub-human scum tried to set off a bomb. Was he immediately shot dead? You know he wasn’t and furthermore, he more then likely wasn’t worried about it because like all the rest, they know and they use the weak kneed legal system much to their advantage.

It will eventually be our undoing.  Oh btw ... just to show you (but you know) how well others play the system both legal and social, here’s a bit of info.
Those Somali pirates who got a ton of money and finally freed that couple after a year, suggested to them that they sell their house to raise hostage money. When they asked the pirates where they would live without a house, the pirate leader told them that if they applied, then the Brit. govt. would give them a house.  And that isn’t all.  Turns out that two of the pirates have relatives here in England AND, one of them has a wife and kids here and wants to immigrate to England asking for asylum to be with his family.  He’ll claim benefits of course, assuming he does what he says he wants to and is allowed in.
Do all these bastards know the system er what?

Islamists establish a bridgehead in Parliament

By Andrew Gilligan
Telegraph

After a series of reverses in the political arena, Islamist sympathisers yesterday established a key bridgehead in Parliament.

A body called iEngage (also known as Engage) states in a press release that it will be acting as the secretariat to a new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia, whose inaugural meeting was held yesterday in the Commons. The group is chaired by a Tory MP, Kris Hopkins. The Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes and the Labour peer Lord Janner are vice-chairs. Sources say that the inaugural meeting was attended by the Tory MPs Angie Bray and Eric Ollerenshaw, and the Labour MP Lisa Nandy, among others.

I’m quite certain all these people are sincere individuals who would have no truck with Islamism or extremism. Indeed, at least one of them is Jewish. But they are being used. They need to look much more closely at who they are getting into bed with.

iEngage is an organisation of Islamist sympathisers which has consistently defended fundamentalist organisations such as the East London Mosque and the Islamic Forum of Europe. It routinely attacks all criticism of them as “Islamophobic.”

It attacked the BBC’s recent Panorama documentary on racist Muslim schools – showing that some children are being taught anti-Semitism and Sharia punishments – as a “witch-hunt.” Typically, it launched its attack before even seeing the programme. It was almost alone in this criticism – faced with Panorama’s clear evidence, even some of the usual Islamist suspects kept quiet.

It attacked me for writing about the East London Mosque’s hosting of the terrorist preacher, Anwar al-Awlaki, in 2009 – advertised with a poster showing New York under bombardment. It peddled the straightforward lie told by the mosque that no-one had realised Awlaki was a bad egg at that stage. In fact, Awlaki had been identified by the US government two months before as a spiritual leader of the 9/11 hijackers – and the mosque knew this.

iEngage’s chief executive, and secretary of the new parliamentary group, Mohammed Asif, wrote to the Home Secretary to protest against the ban on the extremist preacher, Zakir Naik. Mr Naik has stated that “every Muslim should be a terrorist.” But Mr Asif and iEngage said that Naik’s exclusion would “put at risk good community relations.”

iEngage publicised a grotesquely misleading report issued by another Islamist-sympathising group, iEra, purporting to show that three-quarters of non-Muslims believe Islam is negative for Britain. As I demonstrated, this result – massively more than the true figure – was only achieved by systematically twisting the data as part of iEra’s agenda to sow suspicion and discord between communities.

Because too often, the charge of “Islamophobia” has been used by Islamists to stifle and deter examination of their own actions. They deliberately conflate Islamism (followed by a tiny minority of British Muslims) with the entire faith of Islam, and accuse anyone who scrutinises or attacks their minority brand of fundamentalism of being “anti-Muslim.” That is basically iEngage’s entire purpose.

It is a deeply dangerous game and not one, I’m sure, which any MP would want to be involved in.

READ MORE HERE

   Friday - November 26, 2010

eye candy

OK, Now I am outta here.

I’ll leave you with a Cambridge College co-ed named Charlotte. Be nice to her now.

leave the united nations?  oh if only

H/T SULTAN KNISH Blog site

As usual there’s more at the link.  I’ve gone to the Sultan before. He can be funny at times even when being serious.
You may find this an interesting read.

Getting late, hafta go.  More puter problems.  I think my sound system is failing.  Vol. isn’t very high. ??? Gonna see if I can find the problem.
Cheers All

Want Human Rights? Leave the United Nations
By Daniel Greenfield

Good news everybody. Saudi Arabia now has a seat on the women’s board at the United Nations. That’s right, a regime where it’s illegal for women to drive or leave the house without being accompanied by a male guardian, where girls were pushed into a burning building because they were trying to flee without covering their ‘obscene’ female faces… will be a key player in the international effort to empower women.

I don’t know what contribution the Saudis can make to the project, since in Ridyah, empowering women usually means strapping them into an electric chair. But in the Muslim world, human rights is usually read to mean banning criticism of Islam under the guise of Islamophobia. In Europe, Islamists are calling the Burqa a human right. That’s probably what the Saudis will bring to the table, along with the condemnations of Israel that are De rigueur in every UN group and body.

Obama’s ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, called the Saudi win, “a very good outcome”. I’m not sure what she would consider a bad outcome. Given her role in kneecapping Canada for the Security Council seat, Rice would probably have considered a victory by a country that actually gives women full equal rights to be a defeat. When your only goal is to pander to the Third World, particularly the Muslim parts of it, in order to defy the colonialist and phallocratic Western patriarchy, handing over power to a phallocratic Eastern patriarchy is just a means to an end. At least until it actually becomes the end. The end of everything.

The fallacy of the United Nations is its assumption that every member of the UN is morally equal. The truth is that the majority of the world’s nations are dictatorships with limited human rights. The UN is nothing more than the representatives of dictatorships trying to talk about human rights without breaking up into gales of laughter. If you replaced 75 percent of the UN’s representatives with members of American street gangs, you would still end up with a more civilized body.

But we look the other way. And now Saudi Arabia, along with the likes of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Libya are on the board. Their mission will be to promote global standards for gender equality. Which should in theory disqualify countries who don’t believe in gender equality from membership. Of course since this is the UN, UN Women will have little to do with its stated mission.

Chilean leftist Michelle Bachelet, who heads up UN Women, praised Sudan for its commitment to gender equality in her opening statement. Yes, Sudan, a genocidal state which uses mass rapes as part of its ethnic cleansing campaign. And it’s already clear that the focus of UN Women isn’t to promote gender equality, but to intervene in conflict areas. Which means the odds are excellent that UN Woman will be used to crank out an endless stream of condemnations of countries that fight Muslim terrorists, while cloaking those condemnations in the name of the rights of women in the affected areas. And the Saudis are perfectly positioned to guide UN Women down that road.

MORE FROM SULTAN GREENFIELD

gorebal warming is slowing down … where will that leave the priests of the new religion?

Oh dear .. The Bunny Huggers aren’t gonna alike this.
Be interesting to learn what sort of excuses or bad names will be applied to the scientists who do not belong to the new GWarming religion.

Now before settling in on anything or accepting this report, lets wait to hear what Al Bore has to say on the subject.
He has been kind of quiet lately tho, hasn’t he?

Global warming has slowed down over the past 10 years, say scientists

By Daily Mail Reporter

The rate at which global temperatures are rising has slowed in the past decade, scientists said today.

In a report published today, the Met Office said the slow in the rate of warming was down to a combination of natural variation in the weather and pollution.

Scientists say one of the major factors is the rise in heavy industry and pollutant ‘aerosols’, particularly in Asia.

An upsurge in industrial emissions such as sulphur which are being pumped into the atmosphere reflects sunlight and could lead to a cooling effect.

Changes in the amount of water vapour in the stratosphere may also be a factor, the report suggests.

The admission will be seized upon by climate sceptics as evidence that man-made global warming has been overstated.

all the rest of it is here

---

---

DISCLAIMER

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner

GNU Terry Pratchett

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

---

Sponsor's Links

---

Newsfeeds

 RSS 2.0   Atom 

---

Other ways to BMEWS yourself

Most Recent Posts

• Once Again, The One And Only Post
• Gee, Oops
• The ‘Rona Song
• Follow Me !
• eye candy, high plains edition
• Flowers For Algernon?
• The Death Of NYC?
• Very Funny Officer
• Rhubarb !!!
• Fauci Gets One Right
• toldja so
• Of course she isn’t, but you’re uninformed and intellectually lazy so she’ll get away with it
• Walter White Moved To Holland?
• TLH? Typical Leftist Hypocrites
• Biden Picks Kamala Harris For VP
• Feral Child Killers
• Gohmert (R-TX) Much Improved
• Still Here
• A Dark Ending
• Ospreys are up, is Trump in town?

Humor

---

Donations & Stuff

Buy BMEWS High Quality Stuff!

---

Help Support BMEWS

---

PAYPAL donation button

---

Our Sponsors

Your Ad Here

---

Department Of Information

DAILY READS

• Broderland Beat
  
• Hot Air
  
• Gateway Pundit
  
• Michelle Malkin
  
• Right Wing NEws
  

CONSERVATIVE OPINION

• Neal Boortz
  
• Ann Coulter
  
• Hugh Hewitt
  
• Rush Limbaugh
  

NEWS

• Washington Times
  
• Best Of The Web Today
  
• Media Research Center
  
• Newsmax
  
• Townhall
  
• Weekly Standard
  
• WorldNetDaily
  

MILITARY & IRAQ

• US Central Command
  
• US Army
  
• US Air Force
  
• US Navy
  
• US Marine Corps
  
• US Coast Guard
  
• A Soldiers Blog
  
• Citizen Smash
  
• CPT Patti
  
• Front Line Voices
  
• Iraq 2.0
  
• Iraq The Model
  
• Sgt. Stryker
  

GOVERNMENT

• White House News
  
• White House Press
  
• Dept Of Defense
  
• Dept Of State
  
• Dept Of Homeland Security
  
• National Security Council
  
• CIA
  
• FBI
  
• NASA
  
• US Supreme Court
  
• US House
  
• US Senate
  
• US House Votes
  
• US Senate Votes
  
• RNC News
  
• DNC News
  
• On The Floor
  
• US Government Reference
  
• State Governments
  
• America's Job Bank
  

LINKS

• Inside Louisville

Search For It!

Web BMEWS

This Blog Is Rated

Required Reading

• FAQ For Barking Moonbats
• What Is A Moonbat?
• Why Do Moonbats Bark?
• Our Patron Saint

Acknowledgements

Categories

• Abortion - (17)
• Adventure - (22)
• Advertising - (0)
• Advertising - (9)
• Africa - (102)
• Amazing Science and Discoveries - (121)
• Animals - (249)
  • Cat Blogging - (14)
• Archeology / Anthropology - (83)
• Architecture - (41)
• Art-Photography - (339)
• Awards - (77)
• Battling Brits - (23)
• Big Brother - (53)
• Big Business - (53)
• BIRTHDAY - (7)
• Blog Stuff - (270)
• Border Security - (27)
• Bowling Blogging - (187)
• Bread - (19)
• Bridges - (50)
• Canada - (14)
• Celebrities - (125)
• CHESS - (67)
• CHINA in the news - (45)
• Climate-Weather - (442)
• Colleges-Professors - (70)
• Commies - (212)
• Computers and Cyberspace - (80)
• Crime - (1093)
• CULTURE IN DECLINE - (416)
• Daily Life - (730)
• Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists - (1830)
• Passing on, Death and Disaster - (18)
• Disasters - (7)
• Economics - (362)
• DIVERSITY BS - (119)
• Editorials - (318)
• Education - (342)
• Egypt, Then and Now - (0)
• Environment - (209)
• EUro-peons - (310)
• Eye-Candy - (903)
• Fake News - (1)
• Finance and Investing - (36)
• Family - (38)
• Fine-Dining - (168)
• Food - (15)
• FRANCE - (116)
• Fun-Stuff - (838)
• FREEDOM - (121)
• gardening - (1)
• Gardens and plants - (3)
• Gay Gay Gay! - (56)
• Genocide - (12)
• Government - (395)
• Corruption and Greed - (144)
• Guns and Gun Control - (528)
• Health and Safety - (67)
• Health-Medicine - (320)
• Heroes - (72)
• High Tech - (33)
• Hildabeast - (77)
• History - (345)
• Holidays - (63)
  • Christmas - (15)
• Hollywood - (184)
• Homeland-Security - (41)
• Humor - (1876)
• Illegal-Aliens and Immigration - (502)
• Inflation and High Prices - (16)
• Insanity - (252)
• International - (396)
• Iran - (62)
• Iraq - (175)
• Israel - (81)
• Jack Booted Thugs - (124)
• Judges-Courts-Lawyers - (480)
• Justice - LACK OF - (123)
• Latin-America - (19)
• Literature - (32)
• Love-Marriage - (27)
• Media-Bias - (428)
• Medical - (48)
• Mexico - (11)
• Middle-East - (140)
• Military - (596)
• Miscellaneous - (2383)
• Moonbat Award to: - (15)
• Motorvators - (122)
• MOVIES - (29)
• Music - (117)
• muslims - (364)
• Nanny State - (149)
• Nature - (34)
• New Jersey - (3)
• Neat Inventions - (15)
• News-Briefs - (335)
• No Shit, Sherlock - (47)
• North-Korea - (20)
• NOSTALGIA - (10)
• Obama, The One - (431)
• OBITITUARIES - (48)
• Odd-Strange - (244)
• Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices - (126)
• Oppression - (34)
• Outrageous - (453)
• Outsourcing - (8)
• OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT - (39)
• pandemic and epidemic diseases - (61)
  • The New Normal - (4)
• Pandemic Pandemonium - (63)
• Paleswine - (74)
• PAT CONDELL - (43)
• Patriotism - (151)
• Personal - (436)
• Philosophy - (70)
• Pirates, aarrgh! - (158)
• planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles - (179)
• Politically Correct B.S. - (147)
• Politically-Incorrect - (117)
• Politics - (860)
• Porkbusters - (11)
• Product Safety - (5)
• Racism and race relations - (283)
• REALLY WORTHLESS and PUTRID PEOPLE - (145)
• Religion - (187)
• Republicans - (132)
• RoPMA - (684)
• Russia - (5)
• Sarah Palin - (16)
• Satire - (64)
• Scary Stuff - (76)
• Science-Technology - (257)
• Self-Defense - (35)
• Sex - (106)
• Sharia law - (10)
• Social-Security - (41)
• Space - (41)
• SPOOKS - (9)
• Sports - (170)
• STFU - (0)
• Stoopid-People - (1015)
• Success Stories - (7)
• Super Seniors - (0)
• Talented Ppl. - (22)
• Taxes - (66)
• Television - (55)
• Terrorists - (715)
• The New Conservatives - (45)
• Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters - (130)
• TURD WORLD - (27)
• Typical White People: Stupid, Evil, Willfully Blind - (36)
• Tyrants and Dictators - (94)
• UK - (1715)
• Unions-Labor - (54)
• United-Nations - (136)
• USA - (277)
• War On Terror - (365)
• War-Stories - (218)
• weird stuff - (37)
• work and the workplace - (143)

Monthly Archives

• April 2024
• August 2020
• July 2020
• June 2020
• May 2020
• April 2020
• March 2020
• February 2020
• January 2020
• December 2019
• November 2019
• August 2016
• July 2016
• June 2016
• May 2016
• April 2016
• March 2016
• February 2016
• January 2016
• December 2015
• November 2015
• October 2015
• September 2015
• August 2015
• July 2015
• June 2015
• May 2015
• April 2015
• March 2015
• February 2015
• January 2015
• December 2014
• November 2014
• October 2014
• September 2014
• August 2014
• July 2014
• June 2014
• May 2014
• April 2014
• March 2014
• February 2014
• January 2014
• December 2013
• November 2013
• October 2013
• September 2013
• August 2013
• July 2013
• June 2013
• May 2013
• April 2013
• March 2013
• February 2013
• January 2013
• December 2012
• November 2012
• October 2012
• September 2012
• August 2012
• July 2012
• June 2012
• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• September 2011
• August 2011
• July 2011
• June 2011
• May 2011
• April 2011
• March 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• December 2010
• November 2010
• October 2010
• September 2010
• August 2010
• July 2010
• June 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• January 2004
• Complete Archives
• Category Archives

The Stat Monster

---

---

---

Copyright

All content on this website (including text, photographs, audio files, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

You may freely use anything for non-commercial purposes as long as you attribute the source. All non-original content must be attributed to the original source. Play fair.

Fair Use

This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner or may be authorized or licensed for publication at this site only. Permission to copy, republish or reproduce such material must be obtained from the original copyright owner.

We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes.

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

GNU Terry Pratchett