the

[rain_gryphon]

Today's winner for best use of unintentional irony in a contrasting statement is: Although he was dismissed as a buffoon and a scoundrel by some of the military people he met, others suggested that he was extremely astute, with a keen insight into the thinking of leading Nazis.

And it's news to me that Hitler didn't believe in astrology. I'd always heard that he did.

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I should be astonished, but I'm not. The Democratic candidate starts to unravel exactly as the party nominates him. There has never been a party, in all the history of American politics, that so excelled at self-destructing.

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Today's primary day here. McCain only needs 177 more delegates to put him over the top. Today's stake is Texas 140, Ohio 88, Rhode Island 20, and Vermont 17. He could technically lose Ohio, and still win exactly, which would be kind of oddly cool, but unlikely.

I wonder if anyone's ever won the primary race by the exact amount?

*****

Most of the polls for Ohio are showing Hillary ahead by anywhere from 2 to 6 percent. Conquerin' John is up by some 30% over Huck, so I feel safe crossing over.

Update: And now I've voted for Mighty Hillary. If the Democrats fail to have an exciting brokered convention, it won't be my fault.

Further update: ACK! I did what Rush Limbaugh wanted! :(

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An avalanche on Mars.

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From foxmajik

Edit: The IP address belongs to ARIN, if anyone wondered.

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I'm not sure how many people have been following the story about the Haut de la Garenne orphanage on Jersey. It's going past the point of being appalling, to the point of becoming eerie: "Iv been bad 4 years & years"


There had apparently been clues to what was going on for years, but they weren't followed up.

Comments

[ben-mouse.livejournal.com]

Wow. Eeire Children's Home on a British Island. Secret chambers. Creepy matrons. Bones. You know, throw in some occult and you'ld have a darn "fine" movie script.

Gaaa. What is the world coming to? But then, this sort of thing isn't new, is it?

(sigh.)

[pyesetz]

Deputy police chief Lenny Harper revealed that the number of suspects had risen to 40, which includes many now living on the British mainland...  The horror unfolding at Haut de la Garenne - known locally as Colditz - threatens to become the worst childcare scandal on British soil...  However, Patricia Thornton, who was responsible for the wellbeing of youngsters in the home from the early Fifties to 1973, insists she took no part in any abuse or cover-up.  The 85-year-old, who lives in the village of Cheriton, Hampshire, ...

I'll definitely have to include this in my next email to loganberrybunny about citizenship in the former British Empire.  Is Jersey "British soil"?  How come it's so easy for Jerseyans (who are not EU members) to move to the "British mainland"?  How can "mainland" be used to refer to a place that is very proud of being an island and not attached to the "European mainland"?

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

Jersey is not part of the UK, but its residents do consider themselves British. They certainly did when they were occupied by the Nazis, and in general they still do; I don't think there's any significant push for independence. I suppose it's rather like the way that many Australians considered themselves to be British up until around the 1960s.

As for moving to the UK, Jersey people (although British citizens) have an endorsement in their passports restricting their ability to move to EU states other than the UK. (A similar arrangement is in force in Guernsey and the Isle of Man.)

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

The Jersey thing has got to the stage where you find yourself watching the news reports (as you'd expect, it's been very prominent on our news for days and days) and even though you dread what you're going to hear next you can't tear yourself away. I have to admit that right back at the start I noticed it because of the place's name ("Garenne" means "warren") but it's gone far beyond what I was expecting.

As for the clues not being followed up, from what I understand Jersey is reminiscent in some ways to Ireland in the 1970s - closed-in, not wanting to "rock the boat", etc. And we all know what happened in so many Irish children's homes. Unfortunately I think this may well prove to be on that sort of scale. It's a good thing that British police and detectives are now involved, because I'd bet money that there are powerful Jersey people alive today who were involved in abusing children there.