Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Yep, caused Firefox to crash here. But I've been to snopes.com before without trouble.

Sorry chaps, no problems here but here are two alternative links!

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/pukey_sentimental_hoax_or_real_event/

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/r/redfridays.htm

Galleon Group chief Raj Rajaratnam could face up to 145 years in prison after he was indicted by a Manhattan federal grand jury on Tuesday for his role in a $20.8 m (14.2m) insider-trading scandal
Pity some of City Shi*es dont risk the same punishmentbut of course if you are in the clubyou are exempt!and those that are there to detectare also in the same club

Forget a short sharp shock sentence (remember that Labour promise) of only 145 years.

The Longest Prison Sentence on record was one of 7,109 years, awarded to 2 confidence tricksters in Iran (formerly Persia) on June 15, 1969. The duration of sentences are proportional to the amount of the defalcations involved. A sentence of 384,912 years was demanded at the prosecution of Gabriel March Grandos, 22, at Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on March 11, 1972, for failing to deliver 42,768 letters.

Still I suppose they were given parole after serving half.

It sounds like a health farm. I wish I could live another 145years.

(Just for Hills sake. 8) )

So the world (well the USA anyway) has gone mad.

America's most frivolous lawsuits:

1. Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $780,000 by a jury after breaking her ankle falling over a child who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were surprised by the verdict, considering that the misbehaving little bustard was Mrs Robertson's son.

2. 19 year old Carl Truman of LA won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbour ran over his hand in a Honda Accord. Mr.Truman hadn't noticed that there was anyone at the wheel of the vehicle before trying to steal the hub-caps.

3. Terrence Dickinson of Bristol, Pennsylvania was leaving a house he has just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was unable to open the garage door from inside, and the door back into the house had locked shut behind him. The house owners were on vacation. Mr Dickinson found himself locked in the garage for eight days with just two bottle of Pepsi and a bag of dog biscuits to live on. He sued the homeowner, and received half a million dollars for undue mental anguish.

4. Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by a beagle. The beagle was chained up in it's owners yard. The award was a little less than first thought, given that the jury agreed that Mr Williams had provoked the dog by shooting it repeatedly with an air gun.

5.A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster $113,000 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx. The beverage was only on the floor because Ms Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

6.Kara Walton of Delaware successfully sued the owner of a night club after she fell from the bathroom window and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms Walton was trying to sneak out and avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12, 000 and dental expenses.

And the winner is: Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. Upon leaving the dealership, he pulled onto the freeway, set the cruise control at 70mph and calmly made his way into the back to make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the vehicle left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook that he couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 and a new Winnie. Winnebago actually changed their handbooks in case another complete moron decided to buy one of their vehicles.

With decisions/verdicts like these is there any chance of sanity in the world.

Greekmanthe USA has always been madbut their position in trying to wipe out the slimy bas*ards of the financial World is correctit would make life so much safer for us investors if Britain adopted the same approachyou could bang up half the bent Slimeball City Slickers overnight and still miss 40% of the crooksTheir Casinos have 35 numbers ridding for themon the odd occasion the 36th number comes up for usbingo they have employed the bent croupier.and when there is an investigation into the bent croupierbingo they have a bent regulator on the booksand when there is finally overwhelming evidence that would almost certainly convict them allbingothe investigators become overstretched and do not have the resources to take that particular case any furtherI am not a fan of the American way of lifetoo democratic lolbut I like what they do to those naughty high class fraudsters.
Samuel Israel III spent years fooling people Israel jumped off the Bear Mountain Bridge on the day he was to report to prison in Massachusetts and begin serving a 20-year sentence.then we have Madoffwhat a delight to mankindjust the 150 yearsnot forgetting Allen Stanfordthe fraudster who is being held in solitary confinement in a federal jail awaiting trial I believewhispered he could get 350 yearsEnron Cliff Baxter guessed what was coming next and committed suicideand it is dubious whether Ken Lay did the sameremind me who have we banged upand for how long? I found this one:-
FSA succeeds with rare stockbroker prosecution
15 February 2008
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has successfully prosecuted an unauthorised stockbroker who stole over 350,000 from clients between 1997 and 2004.
In Londons Central Criminal Court on Monday (11 February) William Anthony Robin Radclyffe pleaded guilty to 15 offences and was sentenced to 15 months. He was also disqualified from being a company director for five years.
The FSA has the power to bring prosecutions under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, but its use of this power is rare. It brought its first prosecution in 2005.

So that has put the fear of sh*t up our Slimeball City Slickers

Tobasco,

Fully agree with EVERY word of your post.

Anybody on here been to see 'Avatar' or 'Avatar in 3D' yet?

If so, what do you think?

"The law is a(sic) ass".Mr Bumble-Oliver Twist.

Classic greek , classic...

Not sure.

Are the judges and/or the jury finding against the Insurance Companies rather than for the plaintive?

I think its a mixture of both, finding against the Insurance Companies and the thought that at some time in the future, the jury members (as i understand it, it is the jury that decide damages/restitution) may be the ones that go to court in similar circumstances.

A very happy Christmas and New Year to all.rememberwhen the Wife ask for a stocking fillerits not what your hoping?.they are expecting at least an expensive perfumeand a pair of Jimmy Choo's our little treasures deserve the very best for looking after us.do not disappoint

Same to everyone......Merry Xmas and a Very Prosperous New Year.

Is it any wonder we are struggling in Afghanistan.

It was reported today that the only all female jet fighter crew in Afghanistan had and I quote, 'Frightened a group of Taliban fighters away'.
It appears that the crew had been informed of a Taliban rocket team that were about to fire on a British base compound. So they reportedly flew over the insurgents at a few hundred feet, which frightened them so much that they 'ran away'.
I have to ask, Are we playing games or what?

Surely if you have the advantage of a several million pound fighting machine fully armed, they should have zapped the b******s.
No doubt this rocket team will in the future have more success and as a result kill/main or both some poor sod who is trying his/her best with at least one hand tied behind their back.
Not blaming the crew, as it is no doubt the 'Rules of engagement'.
Bloody pathetic.

Off to tenerife sun for 12 days tonight so all have a good xmas and catch up with you all in the new year. BB

Came back from Florida to spend xmas in the UK with my mum ,,bloody freezing my blood must have thined.

Happy New Year to all.

You gotta love Robin Williams........Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.
Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!)

'I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.'

1) 'The US / UK ? Canada , AUSTRALIA will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good 'ole' boys', we will never 'interfere' again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East , and the Philippines . They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are from. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign 'students' over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a 'D' and it's back home baby.

6) The US / UK Canada , Australia will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not 'interfere.' They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH..learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

'The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?' '

Had to laugh tonight. ITV news interviewed 3 mothers in Aberdeenshire who were looking after their children because the schools were closed due to the snow. All three had very polite English accents. Not a trace of a Scottish lilt anywhere!