From Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail.

The column starts out as a condemnation of the Brits' idea to allow juvenile delinquents to be judged by a panel of their peers. A panel of children.

Yeah. Things have gotten that stupid.
After encapsulating general and specific failures of the UK's criminal justice system, Phillips gets to the root of the thing.

One reason for this catastrophic-failure to protect the public is the refusal by many probation officers and others involved in the criminal justice world to accept that punishment is an appropriate and effective response to crime.

They believe it is no more than a primitive lust for revenge which serves no useful purpose. And they also tend to see criminals as the victims of society.

But without punishment there can be no justice. The connection between behaving badly and suffering a painful experience as a consequence is a vital part of training children to be socialised and civilised.

Wow. She sounds like a spanker.

And finally:

What we are seeing is simply the adultification of children and the infantilising of adults.

Please do read the whole thing. It resonates unpleasantly. We have to remain vigilant, because stupid ideas have proven to be just as infectious on this side of the Atlantic.

Unrelated note that I'm going to unethically shoehorn some new meaning into: ** A BP clerk refuses service to Brit soldier (Afghanistan Vet) because he was in Uniform.

The incident comes as army chiefs are seeking ways to increase respect for military personnel amongst the public.

General Sir Richard Dannatt last month warned that there was a growing gulf between the public and the Armed Forces.

Emphasis mine. That 'growing gulf' may well be the difference between adults and children. It does seem rather spoiled-childish to spit on the people who keep you safe, doesn't it?

**Sincerely. You won't know how badly I abused the article and the quote until you read that one, too. What can I say? It's a boring day today.

Next up at AOSHQ:
State Dept. achieves diplomatic victory against notorious barbarian horde!

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:39 AM | Comments (16)
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Wives and girlfriends in tiny Singapore no longer have the excuse, "but that's illegal." Parliament has legalized oral and anal sex. . . but only for straights. The gay sex ban is still in place and the reasoning will resonate with AoS HQ readers:

"Singapore is basically a conservative society," the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, told MPs before the vote. "The family is the basic building block of this society. And by family in Singapore we mean one man, one woman, marrying, having children and bringing up children within that framework of a stable family unit."

Other important revisions to the penal code include a ban on necrophilia, which--surprisingly--is also not considered family-friendly.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:56 AM | Comments (43)
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"Climate scientist" Reid caved and backed down under the reporter's harsh questioning.

...“One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday, stressing the need to pass the Democrats’ comprehensive energy package.

Moments later, when asked by a reporter if he really believed global warming caused the fires, he appeared to back away from his comments, saying there are many factors that contributed to the disaster.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 06:53 AM | Comments (21)
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Is this a trend yet? For once, the AP is jumping the gun. The month is not even over and they're reporting the large drop in Iraqi civilian and U.S. military deaths for October. It'll be the second month in a row that saw a drop in deaths.

For people who were content to rest their reporting on "grim milestones," they've started looking for another measure of success failure awfully fast:

While the decline in deaths is notable, it is only one of many measures of potential progress in Iraq, said Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon analyst now with the private Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Cordesman said a more balanced picture needs to include factors such as wounded civilians and soldiers and the number of people fleeing their homes. The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that between 1,000 and 2,000 Iraqis still leave their homes each day for safer havens in the country or in neighboring nations. "It's just been going up slowly," said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort in Geneva.

He's right, of course. Success or its lack are based on more than just counting up the dead. How convenient that they have figured this out now.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:46 AM | Comments (7)
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Who says Belgium isn’t a fun country? Even the cops sound like they are living the Ace of Spades Lifestyle^TM. At least they were until ‘The Man’ put an end to it.

Police patrolling the red-light district of the Belgian capital have been ordered to stop visiting brothels and drinking in bars when on duty.

A letter sent to officers in Brussels' northern police district, and published in a Belgian daily on Tuesday, urged them to set a good example and earn the public's respect.

"These officers think their duty hours are to be used to drink alcohol in bars, practice sports..., visit brothels or massage parlours, and entertain (intimate) relationships with residents of the neighbourhood during their patrol," said the letter from a local police chief.

"It is only by setting a good example that the police can make itself respected," the letter said, urging officers to adopt more conservative behaviour.

If cops have to stop drinking and getting laid while on duty, then the terrorists really have won.

Posted by: DrewM. at 06:24 AM | Comments (18)
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Very smooth move. The mark of an "experienced political hand" is always a wonder to behold. John Aravosis opines:

Yes, sucking up to anti-gay bigots and joining them on stage - no, giving them a stage - is certainly defying conventional wisdom as to how a Democrat becomes president. Oh, and McClurkin also believes that gays can, and need to, be "cured."

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:45 AM | Comments (26)
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...bad for democrats that is. Sounds pretty political and they're using the dreaded "R" word here -- reconciliation.

The Sheiks Conference Center’s grand opening took place Oct. 18 near Taji, with sheiks of many tribes, Iraqi Police, Army, security volunteers, government representatives and troops of the 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, gathering with one common goal – reconciliation.

“The gathering is immense,” said Lt. Col. Kevin MacWatters, commander, 1st Squadron 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div. “It’s another progressive step.”

During the grand opening ceremony, Sunni and Shia greeted, sat together, conversed and feasted. For many this was the first time they had ever done so. These simple acts symbolized their strong desire for unity.

Prior to reconciliation efforts, the Ironhorse BrigadeÂ’s main focus during its deployment was security; however, as a result of the recent unions, security has improved in the brigadeÂ’s area of operations thanks to the joint efforts of the Iraqis and Ironhorse Soldiers.

Continued reconciliation efforts will allow the Ironhorse Brigade to shift its focus from security to helping Iraqis with essential services, rebuilding and assisting local governments...

In other bad news, an 11 man AQ cell responsible for IED's was rolled up too.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 04:27 AM | Comments (14)
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Man, all you have to say is something like "I'd like to star in a gay movie" and suddenly tongues are wagging.

Posted by: Ace at 03:11 PM | Comments (28)
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Two thumbs up, way up. It's the sleeper hit of this political season.

Posted by: Ace at 03:09 PM | Comments (25)
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It's almost as if his conclusions are utterly independent of his factual premises or something!

Noteworthy here is that the pips are starting to squeak as the Dead-Ender Deniers are finally forced to begin admitting what only people studiously avoiding the MSM seem to know.

Posted by: Ace at 02:43 PM | Comments (18)
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