Welcome to ...

The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Saturday, June 14, 2008

The British have their village idiots too.

Report: More secret documents found on London train

A second set of confidential papers on British terrorism policies were found on a train, The Independent reported on Sunday.

A member of the public found the documents at the Waterloo station in central London and turned them over to the London-based newspaper, Simon Evans, a journalist at The Independent, told CNN.

The paper gave them to the Treasury Cabinet on Friday evening, Evans said.

The documents outline how trade and banking systems "can be manipulated to finance illicit weapons of mass destruction in Iran," The Independent reported.

The papers also describe methods to fund terrorists and address "potential fraud of commercial Web sites and international Internet payment systems."

The documents also include notes and draft speeches prepared for a week-long international financial crime conference in London, The Independent reported.

"There are some serious issues that shouldn't be left on a train," Evans said.

A spokeswoman from the UK's Treasury Cabinet, which handled inquiries about the incident, said the department is "extremely concerned about what has happened, and we will be taking steps to ensure that it doesn't happen in the future."

It's the second set of secret documents from the British government to be left on a train in less than a week.

Last week, a senior civil servant in the UK's Cabinet Office left two top-secret reports on al Qaeda and Iraq on a commuter train, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

A fellow passenger picked up the documents and gave them to the BBC on Wednesday. Police collected them from BBC Television Center that evening, the BBC said

One of the reports, on Iraq's security forces, was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense. It included a top-secret and in some places "damning" assessment of Iraq's security forces, BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner reported.

The other document, entitled "Al-Qaeda Vulnerabilities." was commissioned jointly by the Foreign Office and the Home Office.

It is just seven pages long but classified as "UK Top Secret," and is apparently so sensitive that every page is numbered and marked, "Australian/Canadian/UK/US Eyes Only," Gardner said.

Scotland Yard and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office are investigating the security breach.

In November, the British government said it lost banking and personal information belonging to 25 million people.

The government said a junior employee at the Finance Ministry sent two computer discs containing the information to the National Audit Office by internal mail, which was unregistered, unrecorded and unencrypted.

*****

You know after the first 'set' of papers was found on a train one would think they would be a tad more careful, one would.

Royal Fun

At least one of the royals knows how to have a good time ...

From the London Telegraph

Princess Eugenie has been reprimanded by her school after she was caught frolicking naked in the school grounds, it has been claimed.

The 18-year-old was reportedly involved in "high jinks" with classmates at the end of the school term at Marlborough College, Wiltshire.
A senior staff member was woken by playful shrieks in the college grounds, and upon investigating found about a dozen young women dancing around without any clothes on.
A royal source said: "It was nothing more than high jinks at the end of term in May. A group of them were reprimanded and that's the end of the matter."

There was no suggestion boys were present or that drugs were involved, however a pupil said the incident came after the students had been drinking.
Princess Eugenie, who is sixth in line to the throne, is sitting A-Level exams in art, history of art and English at the £23,000-a-year College.
The young royal, who is the Duke of York's youngest daughter, has largely been overshadowed by her elder sister Princess Beatrice, 19, who is frequently photographed out nightclubbing in London.
Princess Eugenie's last formal engagement saw the Princess give a reading at the wedding of her cousin Peter Phillips to Canadian Autumn Kelly in May.
She is likely to be among the guests who will gather on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after today's Trooping the Colour ceremony which marks the Queen's official birthday.
A spokesman for the Princess made no comment about the claims.

Man nets 23rd arrest for posing as transit worker

A man so fascinated with the city's public transit system that he's turned his life into a train wreck is in trouble again.

Darius McCollum, who became a New York sensation when he commandeered a subway at age 15, was arrested Saturday after police found him in a secure area of Manhattan's Columbus Circle station wearing clothing that resembled a transit worker's uniform.

The arrest marked the 23rd time the 43-year-old was arrested on charges of pretending to be a transit worker.

Over the years, he has donned MTA uniforms and cheerfully collected fares, cleared trash from tracks, put out underground fires.

But he's also driven MTA buses and trains, including a time in 1981 when he made headlines as a teenager by taking the controls of a subway full of passengers and piloting it to the World Trade Center.

Hardly just a youthful prank, it was the first of many forbidden rides. By the mid-1990s, frustrated Transit Authority officials posted thousands of wanted posters in trains and stations so riders could report McCollum sightings. But most riders who ran into him found him simply friendly and helpful.

On Saturday, officers of the NYPD's Transit Queens Task Force spotted McCollum as he entered a secure area. He was wearing a hardhat and the typical blue T-shirt and pants of track workers, and carried a flashlight and gloves with a Transit Authority logo.

Police said he also had "written material containing knowledge of the transit system." McCollum was charged with criminal impersonation, criminal trespassing and criminal possession of burglar tools.

He was awaiting arraignment on Saturday. Calls to Manhattan Criminal Court went unanswered.

In a statement, the New York Transit Authority thanked the officers who made the arrest, saying, "It is not difficult to imagine how much harm could be caused by someone impersonating a New York City Transit worker."

*****

Ok, I give up ... where is the hidden camera and where is Allen Funt hiding?!

This has got to be a "Candid Camera" episode.

Then again, it might be a more Rod Sirling thing and in the "Twilight Zone"!

John McCain, credit-card debt victim

Responding to the news that John McCain and his wife owe AmEx $500,000 (presumably spent on the campaign trail), Jon Taplin writes in part,

I know what American Express charges for interest on a Platinum Card.

A fiscally responsible household should probably sell some of the million(s) in Anheuser-Busch stock they own and stop paying that 17% ARP on $500,000 worth of Amex charges.

There are some other stark contrasts between the McCains and the Obamas.

The McCains have a net worth around $40 million, almost all of it from Cindy’s holdings.

The Obamas' net worth is closer to $4 million, most of it earned from Barack’s two recent books.

Instead of going into debt they have managed to put $250,000 in a college savings account for their two daughters.

And just who is said to have a better grasp of economics and fiscal responsibility, again?

Thought for the Day

Don't you just love it when the self righteous spout off about others being the self righteous ones!