Grandparents will get legal right to see grandchildren after divorce battles

It is a moral crime to use children and make them suffer by keeping them away from their grandparents. Kids grow up wih so much respect and love for their grandmas and grandfathers. Too many women decide to deny them access to a loving, stable, positive relationship just to inflict more hurt on their ex-partners.
At last, this is now being dealt with legally. This is from today's Telegraph.

Grandparents will get legal powers to guarantee them access to their grandchildren after divorce battles under proposals to be announced today, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

For the first time, separating parents will be expected to ensure grandparents continue to have a role in the lives of their children after they split up.

Parenting Agreements will be drawn up that explicitly set out contact arrangements for grandparents. These can then be used as evidence in court if a mother or father goes back on the deal.

The recommendation is part of a sweeping review of the family justice regime commissioned by the Government and led by David Norgrove, a former civil servant.

The Government is likely to accept the recommendations after Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said last year that it was “crazy” that millions of grandparents lost contact after separation and divorce. He said that they played a vital role if relationships broke down.

In 2009, 113,949 divorces were registered in England and Wales. Currently, one in three couples divorces before their 15th anniversary, compared with one in five a generation ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/8417354/Grandparents-will-get-legal-right-to-see-grandchildren-after-divorce-battles.html

Lockhart Rd 'The Musical'

Pretend you're an extra in Michael Jackson's Thriller and head out for a drink in Wanchai at 9am, especially on a Saturday.

Stay till lunch for Night Of The Living Dead, another night for A Clockwork Orange, still there on Sunday then it's Fame or Grease!

A reading.

Summer is coming

BBC websites are down-aghhhhh!

Tear down the walls!

Half a million expected on the streets of London today, alarmed and disgusted at the government's dismantling of basic services and increased taxation of the poorest and vulnerable whilst protecting corporations, banks and the tax dodging filthy rich.Tear down the walls!Tear down the bastards, Hit them where it hurts, up the revolution, power to the people!
How about Hong Kong?

Livin the life

the Mercers on the move: Distances

I wrote this a while back;
Distance is no obstacle, but time is. The time between the past and present grows ever further minute by minute, day by day, month by month. The gulf widens like a boat setting out to sea, there comes a point when the distance is too far to swim back.The chasm widens, the point of no return is reached.The distance becomes absolute in space, time and ultimately emotionally.


That time is now! It is too far to swim back, the point of no return has been reached, I have tried again and again to throw a lifeline, to find a way back, but it has proven impossible. 4 months and not a single word. 6 months and not a single expression of love. A year and the boat has been adrift, lost in purgatory. I have to stop drifting and get my feet back on solid ground. Time to let go! Not a good day.


the Mercers on the move: Distances

Salt mountain

This is so funny, (stupid)greedy fucker ends up with salt mountain in his flat! LMAO Hahahahaha!

Speculator ends up with salt mountain
RTHK
25-03-2011
A mainland man who bought six-and-a-half tons of salt in the hope of profiting from panic buying, spurred by fears of Japanese radiation, is now stuck with the entire amount. The China Daily says the man bought the salt in Wuhan and transported it to his apartment in three trucks. But after the government urged consumers to stop the panic buying, the price fell and the man is now unable to sell the salt, which cost him 27,000 yuan and takes up half the space in his apartment.

Boring father

Becca Moody to Hank Moody:

I live in the real world where I need a fucking father. You're so proud of yourself for being such a cool Dad, well look where it fucking got you!

You know that I pray sometimes Dad? You know what I pray for the most? That I wake up one day and you've become a total bore. The kind of father who gets up every morning puts on his suit and tie drives to some lame office and comes home at 5.30 on the dot, has a drink and hangs out with his fucking family.

How hard would that have been for you Dad? To just be like everyone else!

Shine on

Hugh Pool at The Wanch

Saw these guys at The Wanch on Sunday......Brilliant!

Update on missing woman

Very sad ending to case of the missing woman on Lamma Island.

The Standard

The man who allegedly murdered a British woman on Lamma Island breached an order banning him from going near the home of his ex-wife.

The woman's aunt, 64-year-old Janet Gilson, was found stuffed in a couch at the flat four days after going missing.

Three weeks before the tragedy, the 29-year-old suspect, who was arrested on Saturday, was held for breaching an order banning him from visiting the home of ex-wife Julia Fareed in Tai Yuen village.

The killing of Gilson, a British Salvation Army major, has shocked both the island community and her friends and relatives in the United Kingdom......cont

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=109310&sid=31729108&con_type=3

Hong Kong's salt shame.

This story is getting worldwide attention, and making Hong Kong look very stupid indeed. The scary thing is that people this stupid are allowed to walk around the streets quite freely amongst other people, when they should quite clearly all be in a mental correction facility.




From The Standard
Salt shame

Colleen Lee, Samson Lee and NatalieWong

Friday, March 18, 2011

Panicked shoppers stripped stores of table salt in Hong Kong - and in cities across the mainland - amid internet claims that it can ward off radiation exposure from Japan.

The alarm sparked calls from Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok for people to be level-headed and stop listening to false rumors.

Consumers also worry that salt in future may be produced from radiation- contaminated seawater.

The panic-buying pushed up the retail price of salt to as high as HK$30 a catty, from the usual HK$2.

The salt frenzy also hit Macau, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other mainland cities as misinformation crisscrossed the region via the internet in the wake of Japan's nuclear emergency.

Chow said the rumors about salt being a radiation remedy and affected seawater are "totally unfounded.".......cont

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=109275&sid=31697439&con_type=3

Lamma search for missing British woman

Lamma search for missing British woman

17-03-2011

Missing woman Janet Gilson. A search is underway on Lamma Island for a British tourist who has gone missing. Janet Gilson, 64, has not been seen since leaving her niece's home in Yung Shue Wan at around 11am on Tuesday. Her niece, Julia Fareed, contacted the police when she failed to return. Ms Fareed said it appeared that her aunt had left home in a hurry.

ESF parents, stand up and be counted!

ESF parents should leave the ESF schools. These schools are greedy, and are simply holding parents hostage, and causing extreme financial hardship for many families.
These families are often permanent residents of Hong Kong, whose incomes are low, even though they are expats.Not all expats have cushy packages with the financial sector.
Why don't these parents put their kids in local schools?Local schools simply do not cater to children of non-Native Chinese parents. Children are put into lower streams because of their poor Chinese, and the stigma that brings.In reality the Hong Kong government needs to begin catering to these children, their parents pay tax, and they have the Right Of Abode in Hong Kong. Those children of non permanent residents are just that-non permanent and therefore should either pay up or consider schooling elsewhere.
But, and it is a big but, the ESF is fleecing parents , and if parents were to call their bluff and together unenroll ALL of their children in the next academic year, they may find the ESF wankers much more likely to set an acceptable pricing structure.
Parents need to stand up to these fuckers, and 'JUST SAY NO'.
The Hong Kong government also needs to take control of these robbing gits and force fair fees. How about a simple means tested system? From zero dollars per month for the poorest with operational costs subsidised by those coming to school driven by chauffers. If this system is unpalatable for the richest, then I do believe Eton is taking boarders-so fuck off there!


This article appeared in The Standard today.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Serinah Ho
Parents of children studying at English Schools Foundation institutions warn continual rises in tuition fees will eventually force them to seek other options or return to their home countries.

A concern group, supported by 1,500 parents, has accused ESF chiefs of not listening to their concerns while another group has asked a legislator to get the Education Bureau involved.

The ESF said earlier this month it is raising fees by 2.26 to 3.3 percent for the school year beginning in September - its fifth increase since 2006. Since then, fees for primary schools have risen by 29 percent while those for secondary schools have increased 19 percent........cont

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=109142&sid=31658723&con_type=1

LOL

Royal Wedding upset!

Guandong enterprises ltd obviously know something we don't. Prince William seems to have been usurped by his brother Harry.
http://www.guandongenterprisesltd.com/

Not all Muslims are extremists.

Congressman Keith Ellison movingly testifies against labelling all muslims as extremists.

the Mercers on the move: The Serenity Prayer and If

the Mercers on the move: The Serenity Prayer and If

Facebook a top cause of relationship trouble, say US lawyers

Social networking site becoming primary source of evidence in divorce proceedings and custody battles, lawyers say.
Richard Adams in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 March 2011 19.26 GMT

When Facebook gets involved, relationships can quickly fall apart – as Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi have discovered. But dictatorships are not the only ties being dissolved by social networking sites: now Facebook is increasingly being blamed for undermining American marriages.

Even though the rate of divorce in the US has remained largely stable in recent years, American divorce lawyers and academics have joined Middle East analysts in picking out Facebook as a leading cause of relationship trouble, with American lawyers now demanding to see their clients' Facebook pages as a matter of course before the start of proceedings.........continued

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/08/facebook-us-divorces?CMP=twt_atn

Smoking day

Thoroughly enjoyed Smoking day today,they should have it every year. Did my bit, nearly a full pack......wait did I miss something?

Robin Cooper calls an Ethiopian programme by mistake

You have won £600,000

Lord Tennyson

"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you... I could walk through my garden forever."

"Who are wise in love, love most, say least."

"In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love"

"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers."

"I am a part of all that I have met."

"to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield"

"A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies."

"Nor is it wiser to weep a true occasion lost, but trim our sails, and let old bygones be."

"Better not be at all than not be noble."

"Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die."

"..Oh,yet we trust that good will somehow we be the final end of ill ...

"No man ever got very high by pulling other people down. The intelligent merchant does not knock his competitors. The sensible worker does not knock those who work with him. Don't knock your friends. Don't knock your enemies. Don't knock yourself."

"Hope smiles on the threshold of the year to come, whispering that it will be better."

"Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,

Tears from the depths of some devine despair

Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,

In looking on the happy autumn fields,

And thinking of the days that are no more."

"sometimes the heart sees whats invisble to the eye"

"Half the night I waste in sighs,

Half in dreams I sorrow after

The delight of early skies;

In a wakeful dose I sorrow

For the hand, the lips, the eyes,

For the meeting of the morrow,

The delight of happy laughter,

The delight of low replies."

"A man had given all other bliss,

And all his worldly worth for this

To waste his whole heart in one kiss

Upon her perfect lips."

Charlie Sheen is not filial

This appeared in a Chinese Newspaper!

You couldn't make it up, this has got to be the funniest and most misguided article ever. LMAO!!

(just in case you didn't know, Charlie Sheen's father - Martin Sheen is an actor who played the president of the US in the TV programme The West Wing!)
http://bit.ly/f8lohM

• Source: Global Times
• [10:34 March 07 2011]

By Hao Leifeng

Actor Charlie Sheen is a classic example of the difference in Western and Eastern values and norms.

Ignoring public pleas from his father, Sheen has continued a weeklong media blitz, exhibiting obvious signs of mania. With no firm hand to guide them, Western media has deliberately goaded him into making increasingly delusional statements, more concerned about "winning" higher ratings than Sheen's own sense of pride, or the negative example his brash public admissions about his private sex life and unverifiable international conspiracies could be setting for society.

How many young people have been led astray by Sheen's boasts about his substance abuse and freewheeling sex life? And that was when he was in character on national television, as a randy bachelor in Two and a Half Men.

Sheen attracted 1 million Twitter followers in just 24 hours, yet more evidence that microblogs spread the most unhealthy contagions in society like a disease. Chinese family, coworkers, or the authorities would have taken firm steps to make sure someone like Sheen did not make a public spectacle of himself.

Take Edison Chen, who humbly apologized and slipped away to Canada. Or Li Gang's father, who wept as he sought forgiveness on his son's behalf.

The fact that Sheen continues to embarrass himself unabated, becoming even a hero to many, points to the vast differences in cultures.

His employers are unhappy that he was distracted with prostitutes and drugs, and didn't show up to work on time. Why not take a tip from the Chinese business community, and make visits to a KTV parlor part of Sheen's workday?

And instead of epic parties at his home with porn stars, why not keep Sheen occupied with business banquets?

Sheen goes on television and boasts that he has two girlfriends, who both sleep in the same bedroom. Is he too poor to set up his wives and mistresses in different houses?

In Chinese society, these problems are dealt with delicately and privately. Sheen is like a typical Westerner throwing fuel on the fire with each interview and tweet. It is almost as if he feels no shame and is loving the attention.

Racism, spousal abuse, addiction, politics, mental illness, boasting about mistresses, - these are all subjects best dealt with behind closed doors.

As much as Sheen has lived a life most Chinese men can only fantasize about, our admiration of him can only go so far. He has not only lost face with his public rants, but also crossed a cultural barrier no Chinese can abide.

He ignored his own father's advice to keep quiet, who was once the president of the US. Sheen is a disgrace, unfilial to his father and his fatherland.

Martin Sheen should at once go on television and tearfully apologize on behalf of his son for his inability to keep up appearances and keep his mouth shut.

Hong Kong police pepper spray 8 year old!

Hong Kong police pepper spray 8 year old! Of course the kid should never been taken there, his (stupid) mother is just as much to blame, but that doesn't excuse the police.Whoever pepper sprayed him should be prosecuted!

From The Standard
http://bit.ly/eKZytL

Riot baptism for kids

Colleen Lee, Dennis Chong and DianaLee

Tuesday, March 08, 2011


Parents have been warned against taking their kids to street demonstrations after an eight-year-old boy was pepper- sprayed by police during anti-budget clashes.

Security chief Ambrose Lee Siu- kwong yesterday condemned the violence in Sunday's protest and said it was "quite inappropriate" to use children as "a weapon for resistance."

His remarks came hours after police arrested 113 protesters - the youngest aged just 12 - who blocked the intersection of Des Voeux Road Central and Ice House Street.

All have been released on bail but told to report back to the police in early June.

Protester Elsa Ko said her son Joseph, eight, was pepper-sprayed without warning. "Why did the government and the police in which I put so much trust fire pepper spray without warning?" she asked.

"Hong Kong is a safe place, so I thought there was nothing wrong with bringing children on to the streets to air our views. Can we no longer do this in Hong Kong?"

Ko, a mother of two, said taking her son to the protest was part of his "civic education." Joseph was treated at the scene and went to school as usual yesterday. His 12-year-old sister did not join the protest.

Ko said she would have removed her son from the scene had the police warned they would use pepper spray.

But Lee said that, as far as he knew, police issued several warnings before using pepper spray. Officers used "minimal force" only after some protesters clashed with the police and refused to disperse.

Responding
to Ko's accusation about an absence of advance warnings, Lee said: "If this really happened, I would feel regret."

But he added: "No children should be brought to clash areas as they are not psychologically mature yet. Violent scenes could set a bad example for them. As I have said many times before, no matter how noble protesters' motives, or how just your actions, resorting to violence will make your acts unlawful."

One of the three police officers injured in Sunday's clashes remained in Queen Mary Hospital last night. After visiting him yesterday, Commissioner of Police Andy Tsang Wai-hung said the officer was injured around the waist and could not walk.

He warned protesters that seizing or pushing police barricades will be seen as a challenge to authority and will lead to prosecutions. Those who disrupt road traffic or movement of people will be forcibly removed, he warned, while all officers have been authorized to use pepper spray on "those who are particularly violent."

League of Social Democrats chairman Andrew To Kwan-hang, who was among the 113 arrested, admitted he was unable to control some of the rowdier protesters.

Pan-democrat lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said the rowdiness in protests is a warning to the government that social discontent is escalating.

Birkenhead according to Urban Dictionary

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=birkenhead


A part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral that is Full of scallies, chavs, and criminals. Don't go there alone unless you wish to have J20 bottles thrown at you by some group of skinheads and then have your body thrown onto the M53 motorway! The main road running through the grottiest part of Birkenhead is plastered in flowers and memorials for the various idiotic bastards who attempt to cross that road whilst a shower of Citroen bangers barge through almost every red light. The traffic lights are covered in jizz any way so there really isn't any point of having them. Basicly a complete Shit-dump of a town with a fucking corrupt police service..
Birko 1: Oi there ladd. You fuckin' wanna go to maccy D's laa'?
Birko 2: Ahh sorry lad. I'm busy grinding me bird no shit?
Old Normal Women: Your girlfriend is 10?
Birko 2: You fuckin' got a problem granny? Fuck off you twat before I fuckin' stick a knife down you!
10 year old girl: Oooh, Gimme a fag mate
Birko 2: You fuckin' give me a blow job fist!
Police Man: What the hell do you think you're doing having sex in the middle of the street!?
Birko 1: *Grabs police man round the neck and pulls down*
10 year old girl: WAH-HEYYY!
Police man: You get off me now!
*All the passer's bye on the birkenhead street stare at the naked kids smoking cheap cigarettes attempting to assualt a police officer*
Normal 16 year old: Holy Shit! -_-

2.

Truly, the arsehole of England. 99% of people lack any culture of any kind.
Wirral Metropolitan Council have yet to decide (after 100+ years) what to do with the area. Much fine architecture is surrounded by horrible red brick pregnancy advice centres (eg the Brook).
The square which is situated in no man's land (Beatties car park) should be avoided at 2am (precisely) at all costs.
There have been attempts at cleaning the area up, getting rid of the smack heads, etc. These attempts are possibly futile, unless the scally element is removed via sterilisation, bombing, etc.
The police force in Birkenhead have all but given up on reinforcing any justice in the area, and now pull over cars - you will never see a police officer on the beat - ever
All that concerns a typical Birkenhead scally, is Reebok, Budweiser, Half Price jewellers bling, a shitty Saxo with a massive exhaust, and birkenhead market.
Jade Goody is the patron saint of Birkenhead.

Screaching, cross dressing Lily Savage came from Birkenhead.

Everyone up north is so nice ... apart from that Birkenhead.

When someone from Birkenhead comes on a radio talk in (Pete Price) - expect the most ill informed, misguided opinions you will ever hear.

Note to bankers!

Mitch Benn (British comedian)
Next time the financial sector say "if you try to regulate us we'll just take our business abroad" can we PLEASE call those fuckers' bluff?
Like the nation at large benefits from your self-serving presence in any way. Sick of being blackmailed by these pinstriped hooligans.
You're just a drain on our moral and material resources and the sooner you all piss off to Dubai to play golf with Jim Davidson the better.

My sentiments exactly!

Wonton

Christopher Mercer
Went out last night, with the express purpose of getting absolutely fucked or pissed or slaughtered(all 3 mean the same for those not familiar with UK slang), didn't succeed, but am now home at the relatively early time of 4.30am enjoying a lovely bowl of noodles with Choi sum, Tofu, fish/meat balls,wontons,and chicken. Quite content really!

Nice voice

Hello?

On yer bike!

On yer bike! £1.40 per litre of petrol. Refugees heading for Europe, Humanitarian crisis in North Africa. Unemployment,recession, democracy, dictators. How's your 2011?
Who to blame? The bankers?

http://letstryeurope.blogspot.com/2011/03/king-says-living-standards-may-never.html

The dictators?
http://letstryeurope.blogspot.com/2011/02/better-devil-you-know.html

Unemployment and government cuts are brutal in the UK(and Europe).People's standard of living and quality of life is very quickly worsening and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, and as the link above suggests may never actually recover. The relative comfort of the last 30 years may always be seen as the halycon years. European life may now come to resemble that of Americans, the gap between the rich and poor much more obvious. Families may now truly find themselves without the things that we took for granted-3 meals a day, heating, education, healthcare, functioning police and local councils, affordable travel, and the list goes on.

We are lucky here in Hong Kong although we are experiencing some increased inflation, especially in the price of air-fares-but at least we have the sun and warmth. Let's not forget though, that Hong Kong continues to have a sizeable proportion of its population living in crippling poverty-look at the street outside and the elderly collecting rubbish etc. The minimum wage should help to redress slave wages for many, and the inflation that will bring, but Hong Kong is not an island(strangely), it is affected by world events. The effects that Hong Kong experiences are delayed, and uncertain, but they are there nonetheless.

It always comes back to the bankers-no matter where you are. They toddle on regardless, having been saved by their governments.Those banks that were not bailed out throw up their hands and proclaim innocence-they were also bailed out, if the other banks had been let to fall, the dominoe effect would have been devastating no matter how large and secure the bank.

Governments continue to allow these banks to function as before-why? As the true cost to people throughout the globe is becoming apparent, pressure needs to be put on those resonsible for this financial meltdown. Nationalise all banks, or at the very least inflict punitive measures and tight iron legislation upon all of them. Who cares if they move elsewhere?-Let them, as each government falls into line, they will have nowhere to run-FUCK the bankers!

More from me

http://letstryeurope.blogspot.com/p/time-for-revolution.html

18 years!

18 years ago yesterday(1993), I landed in Hong Kong for the first time.Of course I was only staying for 6 months, and to be fair I have spent at least 6 years away.

I still haven't got a clue how long I'm here for, or what I'm doing!

Review

This blog reviewed!

http://www.hong-kong-blogs-review.com/Mercers.php

Doors

The doors are closing.

When is this fucking rollercoaster going up again?

But then again does the journey down feel more alive?

Charlie says....

Spot the fuckwit.

Pacquiao loses US$1m in 2 day gambling binge in Macau.

Or should the headline read; Filipino congressman loses US$1m in gambling spree.


....I think, however, that good luck that was brought by his ‘outrageous’ hairdo finally ran out in Macau over the weekend.

A certain Allan Encarnacion reportedly saw the congressman in a casino in Macau for two straight days.

A report further said Pacquiao allegedly lost close to a million dollars at the Wynn Hotel in Macau. This was confirmed by a source from Sarangani who has become close to Pacquiao in recent months.

But I can only speculate that Pacquiao in part decided to finally shed off his hair locks after that alleged loss in Macau.....

Full story
http://asiancorrespondent.com/49540/pacquiao-watch-it%E2%80%99s-all-about-bad-luck/

Family

Anonymous
F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.

He said, "Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.


But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.


Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.


When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
"Move out of the way," I said with a frown.


He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.
While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,


"While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.


Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.


Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.


He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes."


By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.


I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.


"Are these the flowers you picked for me?"
He smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.


I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."


I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."
He said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway."


I said, "Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."


FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.

Psychic?

I NEVER use my phone for IDD(long distance) calls, in the 4 months I have been back here, I have communicated with my mum by e-mail or IM.Last night I had the urge to call her and without thinking I did. At that exact moment someone was trying to mug my mum at an ATM(at 3.45pm in the afternoon), they didn't succeed, my mum just ducked out of the way!
Coincedence? scientifically, I would have to say yes, but then again whales can communicate over thousands of miles, and there may well be a scientific explanation that we don't yet understand.

Miss my boys

King says living standards may never recover from the crisis

Bank of England Governor strikes dovish note on timing of interest-rate increase

By Sean Farrell
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/king-says-living-standards-may-never-recover-from-the-crisis-2229570.html
The Independent

The Governor of the Bank of England warned yesterday that living standards may never recover from the financial crisis and that households were only just starting to feel the full impact of bankers' mistakes.

Mervyn King told MPs that ordinary people were not to blame for the pain ahead and that he was surprised there had not been more public fury.

"It is not like an ordinary recession where you lose output and get it back quickly," the Governor said when asked if the country would ever recover from a squeeze on living standards on a scale not seen since the 1920s.

"You may not get it back for many years, if ever, and that is a big long-run loss of living standards for all people in this country."

Mr King said that unlike previous recessions, the economy had not needed a shake-up to get industries out of state control or weaken union power and that the people bearing the most pain are blameless.

"They can't look at this and say, 'Okay, something was wrong that has to be put right' and they don't get bonuses on the scale of people in the financial services sector," he told the House of Commons Treasury Committee.

"The cost of this crisis is only now being felt. I'm surprised that thedegree of anger hasn't been greater."...continued follow link above

I am an atheist

I am an atheist. That is not to say that I do not believe in the existence of gods, but rather I have never found a shred of evidence to prove even the basic existence of a god. I also don't believe that time travel to the past is possible, for the same reasons. If a god exists, why hasn't it provided clear evidence of his existence? Some people will say that is what 'faith' is. Is it likely that this supreme being would feel the need to play this cruel game on his creations? Why not just instill that faith and belief into our DNA. Following that logic, this god has also implanted doubt and the intelligence to question our surroundings through science, which has made us the superior beings on this planet. So any failings in our faith and belief are actually a product of god's intention,if he exists.

Biblical God?

Biblical God? We are asked to believe 2 things about the Biblical God, the first is that he is 'perfect' , the second is that he needs us to 'worship' Him. These two points alone defy logic and cancel each other out. A perfect being by definition has no deficiency. It lacks nothing, it is perfect. Therefore it does not need us to worship it. These 2 points are irrefutable, they cannot be reconciled. 'If' there is indeed a god, then either he is not perfect and he needs us to worship him, or he is perfect and doesn't need us to worship him. The religious zealots though would like to have their cake and eat it, but as Dr Spock (who we all know exists, because we have seen him) would say it is purely illogical.

Coolio

Coolio!- HK Govt to give all permanent ID holders $6000-cash! Partytime!

The HK$6,000 handout will not be given directly to recipients, but will be allocated through a new platform yet to be announced. However, Mr Tsang said people may withdraw the full amount if they wish, but it will be structured to encourage them to save. The new measure will replace a highly unpopular plan to inject HK$6,000 into every Mandatory Provident Fund account.
http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/news.htm?hightlight&20110302&56&737728

A-fucking men

The Midweek Prayer. In the end being fucked up is fucked up, but much better than not being fucked up. Amen. Thank the Lord, he must have made me fucked up-if he exists. Therein lies the paradox, If God exists, He is responsible, If he doesn't then I am responsible, and I really don't give a fuck!