Sim-O

Guardian:

Just how low will your mortgage payments fall if, as predicted, the Bank of England slashes interest rates over the next few years towards 3% or even lower? If you have a fixed rate, then there’s no joy for you.

But before holders of “tracker” mortgages look forward to steep cuts in monthly costs, be prepared for a nasty shock.

Some of the biggest lenders have small print terms which allow them not to pass on rate cuts, even if the contract says the loan is tied to the Bank of England base rate.

And households whose mortgages track the “standard variable rate” may also see little benefit from cuts in base rate.

So far, mortgage lenders haven’t exactly been rushing to pass on the most recent base rate cuts. It emerged this week that half haven’t cut standard variable rates following the emergency rate cut of 0.5% last month.

Fucks sake. The banks and shit take all this money that the government suddenly found (can’t find a bloody penny when a hospital or school need it) cos they’ve got a ‘fluidity problem’, The Bank of England cut the interest rates so the punters have more chance of actually repaying the fucking loans and and the cunting fucks in the city don’t pass on the rate cut.

Fuck ’em. Let em go. Bring on the bloody revolution.

*And yes that is a euphemism. It’s a euphemism for greedy money grabbing whinging cunts.

Compare these two:

1. A couple of mountian bikes get knicked from the garden of a family who were killed in a road accident. Although it could be called callous, it is a non-violent, non-confrontational crime. There is no little boy coming out of his house in the morning expecting to get on his bike and being disappointed. It is effectively a victimless crime.*

2. A couple of blokes knocking on doors in the evening pretending to be from an energy company that does not operate in the area, so has no sales people or customers in the location, trying to work there way into peoples houses, for what, I don’t know. It could be a distraction robbery it could be for some sort of assault. Either way there will be a victim that will feel violated, intimidated, or at worst physically abused and will be feeling the consequences of this for a very long time.

Put the following Police response to the correct scenario (they are not exact quotes as that would give the game away):

a. They’re [the Police] are keeping an eye out
b. I am disgusted that this has happened and promise to bring the persons responsible to justice

How did you do?

I wish the police round here had as much enthusiam

*I realise that this sound cold and unfeeling, I do not mean it in a ‘so what’ kind of way. But what is felt is disgust that someone would try to benefit from this families awful situation, not because some horrible person has taken a little boys’ bike.

Reposted from Mike Power:

Norml:

Millions of Americans nationwide cast votes Tuesday in favor of marijuana law reform, approving nine out of ten ballot measures seeking to liberalize penalties on cannabis use and possession.

In Massachusetts, 65 percent of voters approved Question 2, which replaces criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana (punishable by up to six-months in jail and a $500 fine) with a civil fine of no more than $100. More than 1.9 million Massachusetts voters (and all but three cities) backed the measure – a greater total than the number of voters who endorsed President Elect Barack Obama (1.88 million)…

In Michigan, 63 percent of voters approved Proposal 1, which legalizes the physician-supervised use and cultivation of medicinal cannabis by state-authorized patients. More than 3 million voters endorsed the measure, which received approximately 150,000 more votes in Michigan than did Obama. Proposal 1 goes into effect on December 4th, at which time nearly one-quarter of the US population will live in a state that authorizes the legal use of medical cannabis.

Some news from Dungeekin:

Overnight in the United States we saw rapturous scenes of celebration in cities across the country, and replicated across the world, as the election of a new President promised change, hope and a return to true democratic principles.

Less than 12 hours later, I’m plunged back into despair, because I truly believe that we’ve reached the point where all hope of freedom is lost in once-Great Britain.

I was, sadly, unable to go for a walk today due to illness. The ten people that did, however, were arrested, searched and fined.

Their crime?

They walked from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square wearing Guy Fawkes masks.

So it was an historic presidential election.
There were 2 chances for women to make it into one of the top two postions in the country, with Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin and and if that wasn’t enough, Barak Obama became, or will be when sworn in, the first African American President of the USA.

Wow. What an election.

But is that much of a big deal?
Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the UK for eleven years, coming to power in 1979, when a womans place was in the wrong kitchen and ended eleven years later. It is probably easier for a woman to become the prime minister, and probably president, now than it has been in, well ever.
The UK has had suffrage for women since 1928 and the US since 1920.

The USA had it’s major civil rights upheaval in the sixties, which resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed racial segragation, and the Voting Rights Act (1965). It’s taken over 40 years for a non-white person to get to the top.
But South Africa has already had non-white presidents for years, since 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela.
In both cases there is a history of a couple hundred years various forms of segragation, discrimination and slavery, but it’s taken the more advanced country with over 40 years of legal equality to elect a non-white leader.

Considering the above, should the big question not have been ‘Is America ready for a black President?’ but ‘What the fucks taken you so long?’.

Well, Obama won.
Who’d would’ve guessed it, eh?

Did Melanie Phillips’ head explode in the end?

Update:
Arse. Mels’ head is still intact:

So now we are promised a change in America’s fundamental values. And they really will be changed. Obama has said in terms that he thinks the US constitution is flawed. America’s belief in itself as defending individual liberty, truth and justice on behalf of the free world will now be expiated instead as its original sin. Those who have for the past eight years worked to bring down the America that defends and protects life and liberty are today ecstatic. They have stormed the very citadel on Pennsylvania Avenue itself.

See? Wail, scream, doom etc.
What she doesn’t get is, who the fuck is the USA to impose it’s value and systems on anybody else, for any reason? Especially when it isn’t for any altruistic reason of making the world better, but for the profit of the USA?

Arse.

My blog doesn’t like the embed code of a video so I can’t post it here so get over to Tims’ place and watch another beautiful moment in Sarah Palins campaign.

BBC:

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has prompted more than 500 people to complain to the BBC about a joke he made on Sunday’s motoring show.

Clarkson, 48, was taking part in a lorry-driving task, when he joked about lorry drivers killing sex workers.

“Change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. That’s a lot of effort in a day,” he said
[…]
Clarkson’s joke, made before the watershed, has now sparked 517 complaints.

But a BBC spokesman said that by Monday morning – before the incident had been reported on by newspapers and websites – there had been 188 complaints.
[…]
Cari Mitchell, of English Collective of Prostitutes, meanwhile, said […] “I think it’s a sacking offence to make light of the murder of anybody, never mind prostitute women who are vulnerable and criminalised.”

Oh fuck off. It says it all really. I realise that you represent whores, but surely the greater greivance is with the ‘lorry-ists’ that have all been labeled murderers.

Guardian:

A charity X Factor song raising money for injured service personnel received a financial boost from the government today.

Alistair Darling in effect axed VAT on the single, Hero, sung by the 12 X Factor finalists.

The chancellor said the Treasury would make a donation to the Help for Heroes campaign equivalent to the tax revenue collected on the song.

What a fucking wanker.
Fuck them cunts from X Factor and fuck the cunts at the Sun, whose campaign it is.

It’s all good and well the Chancellor wanting to support the troops, but instead of ‘recognising the efforts’ of the X-Factor fuckwits and a campaign that is designed to raise the profile of a, frankly nasty, newspaper, why not, I don’t know, raise their pay maybe.
Ooh, ooh, an even better idea, give them the fucking equipment they need. Or how about not sending them to their, or anybody elses, death for spurious lies and the whim of foreign leaders.
Just a thought, you know.

Via

Bored with golf? Can’t hit that little ball with that stick? Fed up of being the last one to get to the green because, well, you’re shit? Want to go hunting but enjoy the golfing atmosphere?
Well now there is *drum roll*…

The Golf Ball Launcher!! Yay!!
[[image:golf_ball_launcher.jpg::center:0]]

The Golf Ball Launcher is an all-new concept, making golf accessible to everyone!

Some of you have stopped playing golf because of mobility difficulties or lack of time to practice your game. Some of you have never played golf because of a physical handicap or because the game never appealed to you. But now EVERYONE can enjoy the great outdoors and the camaraderie of golf with the amazing new Golf Ball Launcher!

So if you can’t/don’t want to play golf, buy this fucking huge gun that looks more at home in Iraq, and still not play golf!
I can see 20 year olds running round the greens firing golf balls at each instead of paintball. It’ll be Extreme War Games. With a nice plush club house to go to for pint and to compare wounds.
That gun is fucking huge!

I hate golf, but this, it looks mental. I think I might add one to my Christmas wishlist for Mrs -O.