The American Lottery
The news this morning carries a story that the Mega Millions lottery in the United States
It used to be the case, that American lottery winners paid tax on the winnings.
So that might be the worst prize as well!
Japan Joins the Evil Empire
Yesterday, Japan hanged three men.
The death penalty is barbaric, but in Japan, they just take you in the morning and hang you, after you might have been in jail for twenty or thirty years. Your relatives aren’ even told.
That though is truly barbaric. Even when we had the death penalty, it was carried out as humanely as possible, according to the standards of the time.
So Japan now joins the Evil Empire of Iran, China and the United States.
Sir Roger Bannister and the Affect of Heat and Humidity
I didn’t realise that one of the first papers that Sir Roger produced was about the affect of heat and humidity on people. He did his research in Aden in 1957.
I couldn’t find the paper, but I did find him quoted in a Powerpoint presentation on the subject, written Col. John Gardner, MD for the United States Army or Marines.
The notion that courage and esprit de corps can somehow defeat the principles of physiology is not only wrong but dangerously wrong.
I don’t know what the temperatures and humidity are like in Afghanistan are like, but do the British and American forces take note of the doctor.
The United States Looks After Its Own
The fact that Sergeant Robert Bales, has been quickly returned to the US is no surprise to me.
In areas around the US bases in the UK in the 1970s, there were a couple of cases of death by dangerous driving caused by US servicemen.
No prosecution in the UK ever happened and in one case familiar to my late wife, a barrister in Suffolk at the time, nothing more was heard of the case, after the perpetrator was returned quickly to the United States.
The current case is very different and I suspect that he will face a Court of Law.
What Would Jamie Oliver Think of This Rubbish?
A report on the BBC has said that so-called ‘pink slime’ is being withdrawn from school dinners in the United States.
No wonder the country has so many problems, if this is considered an acceptable food for children.
They make the dreaded turkey twizzlers, so hated by Jamie Oliver, look perfectly edible and wonderfully nutritious.
FT Says Afghans Want Local Trial
The shooting of Afghans by a rogue US serviceman, is absolutely awful and I dread to think where it will lead. I think if I was a soldier out there now, I’d be watching a few Black Adder Goes Forth videos, to get myself invalided home.
The FT this morning is claiming that the Afghan government want a local trial.
I hope that Afghanistan doesn’t have the death penalty!
America Has Too Many Lawyers
This must be true as lawyers are now suing the law schools for producing too many lawyers and it’s reported in today’s Times.
I think we’ve had the same problem here for some years, as C always said that when she retired, the new barristers wouldn’t or couldn’t afford to do the important work she used to do with respect to sorting out children, as there was no money in it.
She always said that fewer and better lawyers, might produce some, who had the conscience and ability to do the work she did.
There is always the old joke.
Q. What do you call a 1,000 American lawyer at the bottom of the sea?
A. A good start!
They’ll Have to Saw It Into Logs
I had to laugh at this story from the BBC web site, about how they are running out of toilet paper in New Jersey.
There’s an old ribald schoolboy or rugby club rhyme called In Mobile. One phrase is something like.
There’s a shortage of loo paper in Mobile.
So they’ll wait until it clogs,
Then they’ll saw it into logs in Mobile.
I can’t find the complete lyrics on the Internet.
Interestingly, the story was the second most read one on the BBC this morning.
THe land of the free – unless you’re female
Janice turner is on form in The Times today, with an article, which has the headline above.
It is summed up by this early paragraph.
How bizarre it is to watch the United States — the upbeat, future-focused wellspring of all things exciting and new — tear itself apart over contraception. America, capital of the global porn industry, teen pregnancy gold medallist, progenitor of Madonna and Gaga, having its presidential election defined by the morality of birth control.
Apparently, the United States is making it much harder for women to get contraception and has gone totally against people planning their family. Especially if you’re poor.
Even countries as Catholic as Ireland and Italy have seen that contraception is one of those things that creates a better society.
So does the United States want to create a worse country for its poor?
Obviously, they need a lot of male children to fight their wars and female ones to care for the injured.
The Anonymous Widower 