Posted on 12/17/2005 1:00:51 PM PST by Wolfstar
Those are wonderful pictures of Ashford. I would love to visit. It looks like a very old town. What is the population?
I loved Woolworths. They closed them down in the States. Walmart took over everywhere!
Indeed we are a window on the world with people from all over the world lurking and posting.
How great that you can walk to work and the shops ... you are so lucky. The area looks so peaceful and sane. So you've never had an auto in your family? The Christmas decorations are lovely .. and I sure wish we still had Woolworth's here. I can't believe they're still around somewhere. Used to like their counter for lunch and all the packed aisles of stuff .. including the chirping of the parakeets for sale, the smell of moth balls. Brings back memories of many years ago here in the States when there were Woolworth's all over the place.
Maybe they will. But what bothers me a lot is that the GOP is going way off track, and might nominate someone who is worse.
I think it would be easier to get the GOP back on track than it would be to get the Dems corralled, but it might take a wake-up call.
Not sure what the population is I will have to do some digging on that we have recently built a lot of housing estates so it has rapidly increased in the last 10 - 15 years but not sure what the population was before that.
Some of it is old well over 100 - 150 years, my house is 100 years old. The street lamps are retro but are in keeping with some of the buildings especially in what is called Middle Row which probably some are nearer 200 years old.
Unfortunately we have lost a lot of shops from the town centre to out of town retail parks which is a shame for me as a non driver but fortunately we have a friend who would take me if I needed to go to one of those shops. On the whole I find most things either in the town centre, ASDA (Walmart) or the designer outlet.
Regarding cars, yes our family has always had one in fact at one time mum and dad had one each. I did start to learn to drive but I do not get on well so after spending about 500.00 dollars and really getting nowhere decided it was not for me. Dad still has a car but at present does not feel like driving hopefully we will again in the spring.
Our house and car I think it was January this year
It seems like a lovely place to live. So quiet and lots of little shops to browse in.
Our President sure showed 'em today! I can't wait 'til tomorrow's speech!
"This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil liberties. And that is exactly what I will continue to do, so long as I'm the President of the United States"
Thank you, Mr. President, for continuing to protect the American people from all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC!!!
POWERLINE'S REACTION TO THE PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS TODAY:
President Bush gave a fantastic speech today, in which he labeled Senate Democrats "irresponsible" for filibustering the Patriot Act. He also vigorously, and effectively, defended the NSA intercept program that has come under attack since it was leaked to the New York Times. His argument was crushingly effective. I was heartened to see that Bush noted both the legality of the NSA program and the illegality of the leaks that exposed the program to the terrorists. The next step is to appoint a prosecutor to investigate who leaked this important classified information, and begin criminal proceedings against those responsible.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/
MARK LEVIN'S RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS:
NSA HYSTERICS [Mark R. Levin]
I notice the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers are using carefully cherry-picked "experts" from the ranks of the ACLU and the former Clinton administration to provide comment on the president authorizing the NSA to do what the NSA does, i.e., spy, among other things. Many of these "experts" -- joined by a few uninformed, media-obsessed politicians like Arlen Specter and Russ Feingold -- have claimed shock at the eavesdropping and have either suggested or pronounced the president's acts illegal or even unconstitutional.
Now, what exactly do we know from these hysterical reports? Not very much. As I wrote yesterday, the FISA permits the government to monitor foreign communications, even if they are with U.S. citizens. A FISA warrant is only needed if the subject communications are wholly contained in the United States and involve a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power. Today's Los Angeles Times writes that the program "was designed to enable the NSA to monitor communications between Americans in the U.S. and people overseas suspected of having ties to terrorist networks." Fine. That's not illegal or even unusual. And these "experts" know it. But the truth is that we have no idea of the contents of the president's executive order and, therefore, we have no idea what conduct we're supposed to be offended about. Perhaps the executive order expanded the authority of the NSA or expedited the processing of wiretaps. We just don't know. Unfortunately, the administration's hands are tied for while revealing the executive order's contents to the public might well demonstrate the appropriateness and legality of its conduct, thereby deflating the effort to create a scandal, it may well be too damaging to ongoing operations.
But clearly many members of Congress who have not spoken on the record do know about the program. As the president said today, Congress has been consulted, and often. It's remarkable that the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Associated Press failed to uncover this fact. Indeed, they did the opposite. In addition to cherry-picking experts from the ACLU and the Clinton administration, the media are cherry-picking from their favorite politicians to give the opposite impression, i.e., that Congress was in the dark. And who better to react hysterically to hysterical reporting than Arlen Specter. The fact that Specter may not have been consulted, as he doesn't serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is of no consequence, except to Specter. He might want to ask his colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee what they know before stomping all over their congressional-oversight turf. But for a brief mention of Jay Rockefeller's knowledge of the program in yesterday's New York Times, we've hear nothing about of from the relevant committee members. Indeed, their silence, if anything, suggests to me their likely awareness of the program, consistent with the president's statement that Congress was aware.
What is clear is that this is not some Watergate-type rogue operation, as seemingly hoped by some. In addition to repeated congressional notification, the program has been heavily lawyered by multiple agencies, including the Department of Justice and NSA and White House, and is regularly reviewed. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Secretary of State Condi Rice have both insisted that program is legal. The fact that some might disagree with whatever legal advice and conclusions the president has received does not make them right or the program illegal. But at this point, we, the public, don't really know what these news stories are really about, do we?
Posted at 03:21 PM
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
ANOTHER MUST READ FROM VICTOR DAVIS HANSON:
Lancing the Boil: We quietly keep on killing terrorists, promoting elections in Iraq, pressuring Arab autocracies to democratize, and growing the economy.
You can read the entire commentary at
http://nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200512160710.asp
HEADS UP:
C-Span plans to re-broadcast a speech by MARK STEYN (previously recorded on 12/2/05) at 9:30 PM EDT
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp
I LOVE it .. thank you!! And .. wow . . I even get a new remote .. whoeeey!!
Oh, thank you for that headsup about the Steyn show, DrDEb....I had forgotten!
You're welcome! . . . I'm so glad Steyn's on our side!!
Thanks!
Merry Christmas
Mike
Thanks for the headsup, Mark Steyn is a great writer and speaker
Mike, I hope you are feeling better tonight..
Give them hell, Mr. President.
Yes, much better Thank You!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.