Shocking US Marine Video

The shocking images of 4 US Marine troops urinating on dead Afghans was released yesterday to outcries of disrespect, injustice and downright dishonour. A US military investigation followed and they have been identified. 2 of these men have been interviewed and are believed to be from a battalion from North Carolina.

At the very least, these men should be given dishonourable discharges and have charges placed against them. Surely this is a war crime. They are meant to be protecting and training Afghans, not killing and peeing on them. It is not known whether these men were Taliban or not but regardless, this kind of behaviour is not acceptable. When will they realise that the more they disrespect other cultures and individuals, the worse they look in the public eye? The American military has a great deal to do in appeasing the Afghanistan people after an act like this.

Independence for Scotland

At the moment I am angry at the current political situation in Scotland. We have Tories in Westminster telling us when we should hold a referendum on the future of this country and lying blatantly about the state of business in Scotland – stating that businesses are uncertain re the future because of the possibility of independence and yet we know for a fact that since the SNP obtained a majority, businesses have been knocking at our doors wanting in.

This is blatant scaremongering and it should not be allowed in a genuine debate.
I am also disgusted that the only thing Labour and Conservatives have ever agreed on is that we should stay in the union! Fair enough, the Conservatives (and indeed the near extinct Liberals) should be worried, they have how many seats in the Scottish Parliament? But Labour, to me, are simply betraying their constituencies by backing the union, backing a Tory government and clearly not supporting Scotland. I thought Johann Lamont would be smarter and brighter than that.
2 points for England here:
• Given the disdain among the people of Scotland for the Tories, and latterly the Lib Dems, the loss of six million votes against their parties in a British general election would only serve to increase their majority and chances of holding onto power for longer in Westminster.
• How do the people of England feel about Scottish MP’s voting on English/Welsh issues when English and Welsh MP’s do not get to vote on Scottish issues? This is a complete imbalance and not fair on English and Welsh citizens.
I find it laughable when people say that Scotland is not ready for independence, given that we have one of the best business records at present in the UK. We have international companies investing in us such as Amazon and Nissan, just to name a couple.

Another thing that really annoys me is that some people put the SNP on a par with the hideous BNP. This could not be further from the truth. The SNP are not in any way shape or form an exclusionary party. There are Asian and English members/MP’s who contribute greatly to the party, but this is never mentioned in the press. The SNP stands for Scottish National Party, NOT Scottish Nationalists Party. There is a huge difference. This is not an anti-English party either, as many people believe, it is simply pro Scotland.

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

Every Little Helps? Shame on Tesco

Not shamed by being in the news at the end of last year, Tesco continue to rip people off at every turn!

While in Tesco's recently (the only reason I went was because it was the next closest shop since we can no longer get to Kyle with the road closure) to get a few essentials when I happened to spot a 'bargain' as I was leaving the shop. Walkers French Fries - stated to be normally £4.18 were half price for the 18 pack! Now who in their right mind would spend £4.18 in the first place on crisps, and especially for these little snack, I don't know. But What is more astonishing is that the last time I was in Morrison's in Inverness, the same make was selling 24 packs for £2.00! This is a huge difference in price. Clearly Tesco do not appear to care about their customers, telling the truth or genuine bargains.

Sure there is a branch of the trading standards somewhere who can look into this clear breach of conduct and force them to price fairly, honestly and in line with other supermarkets?

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

Storms and binge drinking

Happy New Year!

Lets hope 2012 is a far better year than 2011 for everyone, and not the end of the world as some people seem to think :)

Storms continue to batter the UK, especially the north. Scotland faced more blizzards and high winds during the week, this not long after 'hurricane bawbag' ravaged the land. The news is full of images of the damage done by the winds across the central belt especially, where gales reached up to 102 miles per hour in the Edinburgh area!

And on another note, the government are trying to tackle binge drinking at the moment. An easy way of dealing with this is taxing supermarkets so they have to push prices up. It would bring in an extra income for the government and it would mean people can't buy as much - and hopefully head for a pub for a pint, giving them a bit more money too.

The Throw Away Generation

We really are a throw away generation (thirties and under). I have just watched an advert that suggests, rather than throwing away your broken items you should recycle, well this is just nuts. Whatever happened to repairing items? Our folks (the majority of them anyway) had to make do, they repaired broken items where possible and almost never threw anything away!

When did we become such a useless group of people? I know people who would rather get a new washing machine than have it repaired. This is such a waste of money and these are people who are not rolling in it, they are regular people on minimum wages and yet they’d rather fork out a small fortune for new items than have the ones they already own repaired. It just doesn’t make sense!

Recycling should be the last step in any items life - reduce, reuse, recycle. SO why not try getting it fixed first?

Another bee in my bonnet in this vein is the mazuma etc ads. These companies are not helping the environment, they re-sell the items and make a profit, or take part, such as the tiny amounts of gold in a phone and sell them on. They, in my opinion, couldn’t care less about the environment and certainly aren’t doing anything to help it, they simply aren’t (hopefully), adding to environmental issues.

If you really want to help the environment, go see what you can do for The Soil Association, or Friends of the Earth (Greenpeace only care about small aspects of the environment, not the whole system, as I found out during the foot and mouth days/months).

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

What the hell is happening in America?

I just read the paper today and saw something that shocked the hell out of me. A new report states that 20% of women in America – that’s the USA, not a South American country, have been raped at least once!!! That is 1 in 5 women! I know more than 5 American women and this report means that there is a good chance that at least one of them has been raped! So I’m sitting here thinking what the f**k is going on in America that this could be so?

This report also states that of these 20%, 1 in 4 were severely assaulted by a partner! Almost 80% of the victims were raped (their first rape that is) under the age of 25. 1 in 8 of the women surveyed said that they were raped by a member of their family.

This is horrific. The thing that makes this really scary is that this is a report from the CDC, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the US.
My heart goes out to all those affected by these horrific statistics

http://www.cdc.gov/features/NISVS/

Ready for Winter - Be Prepared

Winter is now here and with it snow, freezing temperatures and more icy roads/pavements are to be expected. So what can we do to stay safe, warm and well?

In Scotland, the government are running a Ready Scotland campaign, to help prepare for this cold season and its possible dangers.

In the meantime, what can we do?
Make sure you have a supply of salt or cat litter or ash for your driveway to keep ice to a minimum.
Buy in tins of food and packets of pasta/noodles in the event that you cannot get out for a few days.
Make sure you have alternative heating - so if your electricity goes off, you have a small gas stove or a fire you can use in the meantime. Likewise - a cooking gas stove, such as you would need for camping, will be beneficial in the event of a power cut. Warm duvets and blankets are a must.
If your home is drafty, use draft excluders and heavy curtains to keep drafts to a minimum.
Make sure you are up to date with all your prescriptions and have a complete first aid kit in your home/car.
Carry blankets, food, water and a shovel in your car in case you are stuck anywhere for a time.
Those under sixty may wish to look in on older neighbours who are afraid of slipping and who may remain indoors for long periods of time.
Wear shoes/boots with good grip or buy add-on grips

With fuel bills at an all time high, many of us are very reluctant to use oil/gas/electricity but this is the time of year when we need it most. If you have a fireplace and chimney in your house, it may be worth having it looked at to see whether you can use it and if you can, do so. it is far cheaper than the bills the fat fuel companies would charge.

Stay warma dn well this winter.