[thought for the day] saturday evening

“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals.

“Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone?

“But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted-and you create a nation of law-breakers-and then you cash in on the guilt.”

[Bob G]

All right, all right, it was Ayn Rand.

[know your stately homes] part two of new series

1. Founded around 1140 as a Cistercian monastery, having been one of the most learned and wealthy monasteries for four hundred years. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536-41 it came into private ownership, and has been a charming country house ever since. The house is famous for its plaster ceilings, fine pictures and furniture. The gardens from late 18th C. and the highest powered fountain in England are all well worth a visit.

2. Started as a hunting lodge built in 1616/17 by the 13th Earl of Northumberland, in the Georgian period it was the country seat of the glamorous Lennox sisters. Notable are the State Apartments, with an Egyptian State Dining Room, grand Yellow Drawing Room and a breathtaking Ballroom. The walls are lined with fine collection of paintings (including a number from Van Dyck, Reynolds, Stubbs and Canaletto). Certain outdoor activities are also famous nearby.

3. King Edward I of England built it in the late 13th century, later to become a parliament. A long siege here during the Wars of the Roses inspired a stirring song. During the Civil War (1642-48), it was a Royalist stronghold.

4. Designed by Sir Charles Barry, visitors can trace the steps taken by the 5th Earl of Carnarvon when in 1922 with the Egyptologist Howard Carter he discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. The parkland by 'Capability' Brown is spectacularly beautiful, featuring magnificent lawns, a walled garden, glasshouses and a fermery.

5. Was founded in 1120 for defense with walls six metres thick and in the 14th century the castle was transformed into a palatial home. During the English civil war Cromwell's troops demolished it. Scott was inspired to set a novel here. The Penny Magazine - July 31, 1835 had a long article about it.

Answers

Forde Abbey, Goodwood House, Harlech Castle, Highclere Castle, Kenilworth Castle

[iran election anomalies] could it be in the digits

Interesting stuff from Bruce Alderman:

Political scientists Bernd Beber and Alexandra Scacco have found some peculiarities in the Iran election results. While many people around the world are questioning the validity of the results, Beber and Scacco have gone a step further and looked at some statistical anomalies.

Beber and Scacco looked at the final digit of the results from each province for the top four candidates, and found two anomalies. Since there are ten possible digits, we would expect each number 0 - 9 to appear in about 10 percent of all the precinct totals, give or take a few percentage points due to random variability.

The statistical anomalies continue and then they conclude:

[W]e would expect to see results like this in only one of every two hundred fair elections.

[ferrari] why didn't they ask me

How would that be, eh? Sigh. I'm green with envy.
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[first connex] now metronet

Oh, this is classic.

You probably read the piece about Connex finally being given its marching orders in Melbourne. There were many sentiments like 'good riddance' and 'will they try to come back here'?

It gets better:

The chief executive of Melbourne's new train operator also headed a British rail company that went into administration at a huge cost to taxpayers.

Andrew Lezala, whose Metro Trains Melbourne will soon operate the city's trains, was chief executive of the British rail maintenance company Metronet from May 2005 until it went into administration in July 2007.

It collapsed with £1.7 billion ($A3.5 billion) in debt, forcing the British Government to bail it out.

A damning report on Metronet's failure, released just three weeks ago by Britain's National Audit Office, found the company's management had wasted millions of pounds of public money.

"The main cause of Metronet's failure was its poor corporate governance and leadership," the report said. "We estimate that the overall direct loss to the taxpayer arising from Metronet's administration is between £170 million and £410 million, in 2007 prices."

Just who is appointing people downunder? Maybe they should be the ones scrutinized more closely.

[armed forces day] support our troops

It's Armed Forces Day today. [H/T Cherie]

The first Armed Forces Day is 27 June 2009, and is an opportunity for the nation to show our support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community.

A worthy thing to be sure and it's just a pity that the government couldn't have treated our boys and girls better. So this day is not just an opportunity for the average citizen to come out and support the armed forces, it's also a time to roundly castigate a government which has placed them in the danger they are in.

Henry Kissinger was quoted in the book “Kiss the Boys Goodbye", written by a Vietnam Vet.

"Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.”

Quite frankly, I have problems with material like that. As ex-military myself, sharing beliefs with such people as Steve Green and James Cleverly on the military, a check of my "About" reveals a man who believes in G-d, Queen and country.

Now read what James Cleverly said here:

I felt almost sick reading this blog post in the Telegraph [Telegraph has now deleted it] about the breakdown in relationship between the British military and local Iraqi forces.

The short-termism in Gordon Brown's government has created a situation where the troops in Iraq can no longer do their job but are still at risk from daily attacks.

Angus today on this problem:

No planes for Paras it seems that the iraq war has led to a shortage of Hercules transport planes for paras to jump out of.

When the Iraq war began in 2003 the Armed Forces had 51 Hercules available, but four have been shot down or destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan and at least nine have had to be retired due to the intense workload. The remaining fleet is working flat out to support operations abroad.

In some units barely half the Paras are certified to jump - with hundreds unable to earn their wings or maintain their skills once qualified.

Recruits must complete a course of at least six jumps - culminating in a massed low-level jump from a Hercules at night, wearing full kit - plus two more with their unit to gain their coveted 'wings' badge and become fully-fledged Paras.

After that they cease to be operationally deployable unless they can jump twice a year.
Many have already lost their entitlement to specialist pay of £5 pay per day because they have failed to jump at all for two years.

Recent figures have shown just 55 per cent of soldiers in the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment are certified to jump.

With senior officers in uproar, the MoD has finally admitted the scale of the problem and agreed to hire a fleet of much smaller civilian Skyvan aircraft - normally used for amateur skydiving flights.

I'm with Lt Gen Dannart who said enough is enough.

Armed Forces Day is a wonderful thing and supporting our troops the right thing to do. It's also important to remember on this day, and to tell them we know, those who would nobble the Armed Forces - this government.

James Cleverly on this day.

[Don't forget that this is also the 7th day for Neda.]