UK oil - the slippery slope

The Oil Drum Europe is the best source of information on the global / European energy market available - the articles are exceedingly well informed, clearly and concisely written and have good graphics.... and it's free. The comments are equal in quality and wide ranging. A must read. This months Oilwatch (Oilwatch Monthly - March 2008) makes, as ever, fascinating reading.

This graph should give Mr Brown and Mr Darling , sweaty palms as the costs of oil mports rise and the N.Sea tax take declines.

Soft porn of the terror of aerial bombing of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan

Air Force Link today Female U-2 pilots say gender isn't a factor - In its 50 years of flight, only six women pilots have been at the controls of the U-2 Dragon Lady ......

For the real hard core stuff go here

Shiites hit the fan in Basra - USAF and RAF start bombing / strafing civilians - the air war helter skelters out of control

Iraq´s average crude oil production for February was 2.4 million barrels per day. Exports averaged 1.93 million barrels per day in the month - although any oil producion/refining/export figures must be viewed with a great deal of caution. "Overall progress has been very slow and there is still no comprehensive metering at oil fields, storage facilities or refineries," U.N. controller Warren Sach told the Security Council December 19th 2007 (Reuters)

Basra Rumaila South and North oil fields produce around 1.3 million barrels per day. The city also is home to one of Iraq´s three largest oil refineries, the Shuaiba refinery which has a capacity of 160,000 barrels a day but has been functioning below capacity at about 100,000 barrels per day.

Control over the southern oil fields and resources is what is really at the heart of the Battle of Basra...

US warplanes bombed Shia militiamen in Basra last night and helicopter gunships fired rockets in militia-controlled areas of Baghdad, as Iraqi government forces proved incapable of dislodging die-hard rebels on their own. The U.S. warplanes killed three militia fighters, the British military reported. The targets were a militia mortar team and a militia stronghold, said Maj. Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman.

“Basra’s government hospitals received more than 60 people killed and 300 others wounded in the clashes that erupted since the midnight of Monday until Thursday evening,” the medical source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

Updated at 9:20 p.m. EDT, Mar. 28, 2008
At least 163 Iraqis were killed and 214 were wounded in the latest reports of violence. These figures included updated numbers from the Mahdi Army battles taking place since Tuesday.

Iraq’s prime minister has set a deadline for Shia militants in Basra to hand over their weapons, “All those who have heavy and intermediate weapons are to deliver them to security sites and they will be rewarded financially. This will start from March 28 to April 8,” the prime minister said.

Authorities imposed a three-day curfew in Baghdad to contain the violence, since the government launched the offensive on Tuesday. The U.S. military reported killing 78 "bad guys" in Baghdad in the past three days; American forces backed by combat helicopters continued Friday to battle members of the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, in Baghdad.

Mortar shells hit the offices of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, (a Sunni ,Iraqi Islamic Party and No 3 in the political line of precedence - 2 of his brothers and a sister were killed by Shiite death squads in 2006.) killing two guards and wounding 4 others.

Green Zone attacks this week have killed two Americans; embassy personnel are sleeping in the thick-walled former palace of Saddam Hussein for protection. U.S. government employees are going outside only on urgent business and wearing protective gear.

In an e-mail Friday night, Philip T Reeker, US Embassy spokesman said sleeping in the embassy was clearly a temporary precaution but "highly recommended given the harassing fire we've received in the past week. I, for one, have pulled out a cot in my office."

At 4 a.m. in Sadr City, a helicopter killed four fighters who were engaging U.S. forces with small-arms fire, officials said. At 7 a.m., a U.S. helicopter's Hellfire missile targeted a vehicle armed with rocket-propelled grenades, killing two fighters in the Adhamiyah district of northern Baghdad.

Later in the morning, soldiers fired on militants setting up improvised explosive devices and returning fire from and killing fighters who had rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

"In the last 48 hours, we have seen more extremists," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a military spokesman in Baghdad. He said the military had killed 78 "bad guys" in the past three days. "They are violating the rule of law. They are firing rockets indiscriminately. They are criminals and terrorists, and they deserve to die."

Lebanon - UN's 10th useless fucking report on Israeli murder of Hariri and the NATO/US base at Qlieat is coming along just fine.

Canadian and French speaking Quebecois prosecutor Daniel.A. Bellemare took office on January 1, 2008 as Commissioner of the International Independent Investigation Commission and has just produced the 10th, 4 monthly report on what is comically called "progress" on the death of Rafiq Hariri and 22 others on February 14th 2005.

Few will be moved or even iterested in the conclusion that "Commission can confirm, on the basis of available evidence, that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and that this criminal network or parts thereof are linked to some of the other cases within the Commission's mandate. "

You don't say ?

The "other cases" one assumes refer to attacks targeting members of Lebanon's security forces, On December 12th , 2007, the Head of Operations of the Lebanese Armed Forces, a Christian Maronite , Brigadier General Francois Al-Hajj ( posthumously promoted to Major General)- and his driver were killed by a bomb which injured 9 others at Baabda/Yarze which is the HQ of the Lebanese army and presidential palace. On January 25th , 2008, the Head of the technical section of the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, Captain Wissam Eid ( posthumously promoted to Major)- was bombed with 5 others leaving 42 injured.

The Commission is providing technical assistance to the Lebanese authorities in their investigations of these bombings.

This report is worthless and pointless.

"Investigations of this complexity cannot be rushed"

" Given the need to preserve confidentiality in its investigations, the Commission will not be disclosing any names."

"It (The Commission) has drawn up a revised schedule of priority interviews and re-interviews and implemented new procedures to streamline the process. "

"While the Commission is independent, it cannot operate in a vacuum"

"Confidentiality is key to any investigation"

Here is the critical part ..

Paras 25 and 26

25. The Commission can now confirm, on the basis of available evidence, that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of Rafiq Hariri and that this criminal network the "Hariri Network" - or parts thereof are linked to some of the other cases within the Commission's mandate.

26. The Commission has also gathered evidence establishing that

(i) the Hariri Network existed before the Hariri assassination;
(ii) it conducted surveillance of Rafiq Hariri before the assassination;
(iii) it was operative on the day of his assassination; and
(iv) at least part of the Hariri Network continued to exist and operate after the assassination.

Three years well spent then.

PS : Daniel .A. Bellemare is an avid collector who is forever looking for antique furniture (he also enjoys refinishing antique furniture himself), fountain pens, cuff links and police forage caps. His police hat collection is one of the most extensive anywhere and contains dozens of samples from every continent...



.... of more interest is his "tirelessly promot(ing) active cooperation between Canadian and American prosecutors, especially along the Canada-U.S. border ... "His efforts culminated in the joint National District Attorneys Assocciation Summer Conference "United States and Canada: Partners in Crime-Fighting" held in Vancouver, British Columbia, in July 2004." ... Good contacts in US then.

PPS : It is essential to understand that the bombings of have absolutely nothing to do with Jeffrey Feltman, the US ambassador in Lebanon, who has just moved on to Turkey. Feltman was an acolyte of British born Jew, Martin Indyk when he was US Ambassador to Israel for the 2nd time from January 2000 to July 2001 (the 1st and only non US born US Ambassador ever) . Indyk started out as a research director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and is now a Senior Fellow and Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in the Foreign Policy Studies program at The Brookings Institution.(Who paid for Shrillary's lesbian palalong Huma Abidan's trips to Israel)

Feltman, through Indyk is said to have been closely linked to Ariel Sharon. he is also said to be associated with Karl Rove, is an associate of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans that created the false evidence and "mushroom cloud" intelligence used to justify attacks on Iraq.

All this of course has nothing to do with the "US-Lebanese Center for Rehabilitation of the Army " (AKA NATO "The Lebanese Army and Security training centre") scheduled to be located at Kleiaat (Qleiat),Bibnin Akkar airport which Hariri was so opposed to (he wanted to develop a freeport) . Which is also remarkably close to nearby Syrian Port at Lathikiya which the Russians are developing as a naval centre.... but ideal fora NATO/US base on the lines of the Qatari monster El-Udeid base, for covert operations against the Syrian regime and to safeguard the oil pipelines of Baku-Tiflis-Ceyhan and Mosul-Kirkuk-Ceyhan... and oddly the brain child of Ariel Sharon. (Whose amputated legs are being preserved to be buried with him) . UPDATE 1/4/08 - Naturally it will also usefully provide cover for the Iran / Turkish drugs routes.


This non-existent and entirely illusory base for "training for the Lebanese army and security forces fighting Salafi, Islamist fundamentalists and other needs" has been recently visited by Eric Edelman, the US Undersecretary of Defense for policy ( who followed the wonderful Douglas Feith ( “Dumbest Fucking Guy on the Planet.” ) , with a hefty parcel of Pentagon planners (Edelman was a recess appointment as his selection was stalled in the senate) . Edelmans large party also met Fouad Saniora, Defense Minister Elias el-Murr and the US 's favourite Army General Michel Suleiman who could be said to have benefited by the untimely demise of Major general (posthumous) Francois Al-Hajj in December.

Interestingly VP Cheney's acolyte Edelman was Ambassador to Turkey 03-05 where Feltman is headed and was described as ""Edelman act(ed) more like a colonial governor than an ambassador... (He) is probably the least-liked and trusted American ambassador in Turkish history, and his reputation is not likely to recuperate."


Nor has this anything to do with Elliot Abrams and others such as AIPAC staffer Rachael Cohen who said , "“We need to get this base built as quickly as possible as a forward thrust point against Al Qaeda and other (Hezbollah / Hamas) terrorists"


Nor has this anything to do with a recent visitor to Qleiat by fluent Arabic speaker David Welch , US Ambassador to Egypt 2001-5 and now US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. He made a surprise visit to Lebanon on 14th December last year - almost simultaneously with the untimely demise of Major general (posthumous) Francois Al-Hajj .

Nor has this anything to do with the Lebanon's two main political factions having agreed to nominate Army Commander General Michel Sulieman as the country's next president who so benfited from the untimely demise of Major general (posthumous) Francois Al-Hajj , and whom the US appear to admire so much.

PPS : None of this is to suggest that the US Embassy in Beirut/ US State Department / had foreknowledge of the untimely demise of Major general (posthumous) Francois Al-Hajj

"عوكر تحكم لبنان بالسياسة والامن. ومن لم يصدق هذه الحقيقة، كان عليه ان يتابع الاتصالات التي كان يجريها السفير الاميركي في بيروت جيفري فيلتمان وفريقه، امس، مع قوى الاكثرية، حول ادق تفاصيل الاجراءات الامنية في بيروت." : PPPS

Mengistu - the sinister power behind Mugabe's throne

Take a ruthless Dictator who was responsible for 500,000 (Amnesty International) deaths during a reign of “Red Terror.”

Take a Dictator whose regime was involved in unspeakable crimes and atrocities, and many of whose members now languish in jail. A regime whose soldiers would not release a victim's body for burial until the victim's family had paid back the cost of the bullet used in the killing.

Take a Dictator whose security forces systematically tortured political prisoners, dipping bodies in hot oil, raping and inserting bottles and heated metals in bodies of female prisoners,

Take this dictator and install him in a luxurious estate in Zimbabwe, let him have medical treatment in South Africa.

Who? Mengistu Haile Mariam 17 years the bloodthirsty quasi Marxist tyrannical ruler of Ethiopia whose fall followed Russian withdrawal of support.

Who organised his departure from Ethiopia ?

The United States embassy in Zimbabwe confirmed in 1999 the US was involved in obtaining a safe haven for the former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.

The embassy said in a statement that then Assistant Secretary of State Hank Cohen had been involved in negotiations which resulted in Mengistu arriving in Harare in 1991. … where he still is.

At the time President Mugabe proudly boasted,"Both the Americans and Canadians even offered to assist financially if we could not meet the expenses of looking after Mengistu," he said. "We have not received a cent because we have not requested their assistance. He (Mengistu) helped a lot of the continent's liberation movements."


In March 2001 Mengistu and seven male relatives, all of whom fled Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, when the regime was overthrown by pro-democracy forces in 1991, had become permanent residents on the orders of John Nkomo, the home affairs minister.

Gunhill luxury

In Harare, Ex President of Ethiopia Mengistu lives in the lap of luxury in the Gunhill suburbs, with 24-hour security from the police VIP protection unit and the CIO at the Zimbabwean taxpayers' expense.

The Mugabe government has allocated Mengistu two large farms, one in Mazowe and another in Norton. Mengistu owns a separate home in Bluffhill and more likely owns more.

He drives at least six luxury cars, including a Mercedes Benz, a Toyota Prado, a Toyota Avensis, a BMW and a twin-cab truck. Mengistu enjoys a special fuel scheme from the state's National Oil Company of Zimbabwe for personal use and for his farms, and his vehicles are serviced free of charge at the central mechanical equipment department.

In 1995, Mengistu survived an attempt on his life when an Eritrean, Solomon Ghebre Haile Michael, and Abraham Goletom Joseph tried to assassinate him at his Gunhill residence. The two were arrested and subsequently sentenced to 10 and five years' imprisonment respectively.

Mengistu was said to be concerned when the MDC nearly won the 2000 parliamentary elections and the 2002 presidential elections. Mengistu is said to have then made plans to relocate to either China or North Korea, but he knew very well that he would not get the same comforts as he did in Harare.

It is therefore in his interest that Zanu-PF and ideally, Mugabe rules forever. Mengistu is said to have been born in 1937, but like his parentage this is not certain.

Mengistu guilty of genocide.

An Ethiopian court on Tuesday December 12th 2006 found Mengistu guilty in his absence of genocide )plus for atrocities committed under his Marxist regime, after a 12-year trial.

At the time William Nhara, a spokesperson for President Robert Mugabe's government, said."As a comrade of our struggle, Comrade Mengistu and his government played a key and commendable role during our struggle for independence and no one can dispute that," William Nhara, a spokesperson for President Robert Mugabe's government, said.

"The judgment is an Ethiopian judgment and will not affect his status in Zimbabwe. As far as we know there is no extradiction treaty between Harare and Addis Ababa."

Nhara said Mengistu helped train Zimbabwean guerillas in Ethiopia and provided arms during the war against British colonial rule which culminated in the country's independence in 1980.

"After independence Comrade Mengistu's government provided training for our air force pilots and not many countries have shown such commitment to us."

Paul Mangwana, the government's acting information and publicity minister, told Reuters at the time "Mengistu applied for asylum and we granted him (it) ... the position remains the same."

Mangwana assumed the preposterously named office of Minister of Indigenisation and Empowerment in February 2007 and the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill, which provides for Zimbabweans to hold a majority share in all businesses, was passed in March 2008 and approved by President Mugabe on March 8th.

Mangwana said that the law did not mean expropriation would take place and that there was "no reason to panic". He noted that existing businesses would "need time to adjust" and said that "engagement and consultation" would take place within a timeframe of perhaps five or ten years. Defending the law, he said that "the revolution is not complete until indigenous Zimbabweans own the means of production".A phrase that betrays the hand of Mengistu and his Marxist Leninist oratory - who is said to be the architect of this expropriation by the state of private businesses.

Mangwana has been nominated by ZANU-PF as its candidate for the House of Assembly seat from Chivi Central constituency, in Masvingo Province, in the tpdays parliamentary elections.

Mengistu and Operation Murambatsvina

Sources claimed to be within Zimbabwe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) say that Mengistu, now acts as President Robert Mugabe's security adviser, warned the Zimbabwean leader that the swelling slum and backyard population in Zimbabwe was creating a fertile ground for a mass uprising.

Called very extravagantly Operation Murambatsvina, the controversial home-demolition exercise left at least 700 000 people homeless and affected another 2,4-million people, according to a report by United Nations special envoy Anna Tibaijuka.

first suggested the slum clearance idea to Mugabe in February, at one of the regular meetings he holds with the president and other senior security chiefs from the army, the CIO and the police.

After Mugabe accepted the idea, it was followed by several weeks of meticulous planning. Operation Murambatsvina began in May, a few weeks after the ruling Zanu-PF party trounced the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in a controversial parliamentary election.

Planning Operation Murambatsvina

The first meeting to plan the logistics of the operation was chaired by Mengistu himself at CIO headquarters in Harare, and was attended by defence forces commander General Constantine Chiwenga, Zimbabwe National Army Commander Philip Valerio Sibanda, Air Force of Zimbabwe Commander Air Marshal Perence Shiri, CIO director general Happyton Bonyongwe, his deputy, Menard Muzariri, and director of prisons Brigadier Zimondi. The police were represented by Deputy Commissioner Godwin Matanga.

Mengistu chaired other meetings , during which video clippings of Zimbabwe's 1998 food riots, with footage of mass uprisings in the Ukraine, Yugoslavia and Ethiopia, were shown to the group, which called itself Operation Murambatsvina's "high command".

After a series of meetings of the "high command", the group later met government ministers, mayors and administrators sympathetic to the government, such as Harare Commission chairperson Sekesai Makwavarara and Bindura mayor Martin Dinha, who endorsed the operation.

Mengistu then prepared a final document on the operation, which he submitted to Mugabe. The president endorsed it. Operation Murambatsvina, according to the plan, was to be implemented in phases, starting with flea markets suspected of fuelling economic crimes, mainly illegal foreign-currency trade

Operation Garikai / Hlalani Kuhle

A project to rebuild homes after Operation Murambatsvina was envisaged in Mengistu's plan, though the main objective would be to window-dress the main purpose of the slum-clearance exercise.

This project, later dubbed "Operation Garikai / Hlalani Kuhle ", would naturally not accommodate all the displaced people and would mainly benefit Zanu-PF supporters caught up in the destruction process.

Reducing the Zimbabwean population

These Mengistu planned operations were initially planned it appears to simply reduce the population of Zimbabwe. Continuing repression and economic implosion has resulted in an exodus of 25% of the population to Zambia, South Africa and beyond.

Meanwhile the Mengistu inspired and recently passed Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill is sold as giving black Zimbabweans the power to share in the wealth of their country.

Mr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the BBC. "It is an historic economic empowerment bill that has been signed,"

It is of course merely another step in the rape of a beautiful country calculated to discourage inward investment.

Unable to feed the people

Didymus Mutasa the Minister of State for National Security, Land, Land Reform and Resettlement is reported portentously saying that while the country continues to import maize from Zambia, South Africa and Malawi, the Zim Government is considering alternative sources. As if.

Meanwhile in his increasingly crazy rallies across the country, President Mugabe tells supporters that no one will starve, as Government will import enough maize. He said 500 000 tonnes of maize had been paid for and Government was awaiting to take delivery of the grain.

The Banker's Money Pit swallows helicopter funds at an increasing and alarming rate. When do the Fed and the BOE run out of paper and printing ink ?

The quantity of money that the US Federal Reserve is prepared to throw out of the helicopters is truly staggering. Just to keep you up to speed , Banks and securities firms have posted losses exceeding $188 billion since the start of last year as the impact of surging defaults on subprime mortgages has roared through world financial markets like a tsunami on a Thai holiday beach.

That really is one helluva hole to fill.

That of course is merely the write offs they have made, what else is hiddden on their rotten fraudulent balance sheets ? What unrecoverable loans are there out there ? For example Barclays (on Dec 20th) are sueing (some fucking hope) Bear Stearns for US$400 Mn over 2 collapsed (and likely fraudulently run) Cayman Islands based Hedge funds.

Fed Chairman Bernanke started to fill up the bottomless money pit a day later on 21st December offering a measly Christmas present of US $20 billion, (Technically, the Fed auctioned off US$20 billion in loans - just to confuse they call it - Term Auction Facility TFA) which 93 banks bid for US$61 BN at a rate of 4.65% - which was a 10 basis points below the Fed's discount window at the time of 4.75%.

Then well after the Christmas turkey had been gobbled, he held some slightly more generous US$30Bn auctions , quickly followed by the promise of of 2 planned auctions on March 10 and March 24 of US$50 Bn. dollars - now he has anniounced the same unpleasant medicine for the moral hazardless bankers of a further US$100 BN in April - and the rumour is this will carry on at this rate until September. Or even at a higher level.."The Federal Reserve, shortly before the report was released, underscored its concern for the economy by saying it will pump more cash into financial markets to try to ease credit."

In an unorthodox move the Fed is llowing investment banks to borrow from it directly - a facility previously only the privilege of commercial banks. Presumably the loan of US$29 Bn. to J P Morgan for Bear Stearns made the process a mockery ... which is what it was.

The Fed's chairman, Ben Bernanke, will be quizzed about the auctions, by Congress next week, but they haven't got any bright ideas about what to do either . Does it have anything to do with the slide against the Euro? The yawning trade deficit ? The yawning budget deficit ?.. well never mind the suckers who voted will get their tax backs soon and everything , everything I tell ya will be fine.

Please don't anyone ask what happens when the Fed run out of pritning ink and paper.

Spring Break is just around the corner !!!!

This week there were concerted moves by central banks to bring down the Libor - the rate at which banks lend to one another - which stays stubbornly at levels that prevailed at the beginning of the credit crunch. As the banks are all liars and crooks, they won't lend to each other as they know all the other bankers are liars and crooks and they can't sucker the public much longer and stuff their fictuive balance sheets with illusory assets.

Its's no better in London

Bank of England governor Mervyn King met the Commons Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday, after the Bank put an extra £5bn into the market last week.

..." The Bank of England would continue to offer extra money in the markets as a short-term way of boosting confidence in the system," and added , confirming that they haven't a fucking clue what to do ..."The Bank of England would continue to offer extra money in the markets as a short-term way of boosting confidence in the system"

" longer-term solutions would be discussed with UK banks" .. i.e we will see if they have got any better ideas what to do.

..today the £ closed against the € down 0.092 or 0.75% @ € 1.26215 lowest ever.

The UK housing market has healthy demand boosted by insane planning laws, pent up demand from a ruising population, and fragmenting families - the market is sound although prices will rise more slowly (apparently only 1% nationally last year) and mortages will be more expensive. The insane HIP's , stamp duty, and other costs will help depress upward mobility and therfore market movement.

Wages will be held down, as inflation, led by energy and food costs will roar away pushed by global markets and forces.

Sterling will decline, against the Euro and end up at something like parity by Christmas. The decline against the dollar will be slower and shallower probably hitting US$1.80 at the same time.

Unemployment is such a fudged figure it is impossible to evaluate how it will be affected.

Constrained by the flow of funds Goverment spending will be hit, aircraft carriers, Nimrod, and asome submarines will go. The NHS will feel the pinch, transport subsidies will be cut ....

And Benranke and King the helicopter pilots will take a well cushioned early retirement.

Boeing forced to buy 787 assembler Global Aeronautica stake where construction problems are focussed, from Vought Industries

The Boeing Company have announced today that they will acquire the 50% interest in Global Aeronautica (GA) previously held by Vought Aircraft Industries. There was no explanation provided nor did they disclose terms of the transaction.

GA is also 50% owned by Alenia North America and operates a fuselage subassembly plant for the 787 near Charleston, S.C.

Alenia North America, is part of the giant Italian engineering conglomerate Finmecanicasa. Alenia builds the center fuselage sections 44 and 46 in its facilities and delivers these to the Global Aeronautica integration facility. Alenia also manufactures the horizontal stabilizer of the 787 in its Foggia facility.

Vought will continue to produce the 787 aft fuselage sections 47 and 48 in a new 342,000-square foot building and employs about 300 workers at its South Carolina plant adjacent to Global Aeronautica. (Rumour has it that this has been the source of some major problems)

Elmer Doty, president and chief executive officer, Vought Aircraft Industries, said, “This seamless transition of joint venture ownership will build upon the strong foundation already established within Global Aeronautica. Selling our interest has no impact on our adjacent facility, where the Vought 787 team remains focused on manufacturing composite fuselage sections for this incredible airplane.”

Boeing’s 787 program vice president, Pat Shanahan, says cautiously that the move is intended to help “overcome supply-chain challenges.” Other sources say that Boeing will work with Alenia "to apply proven lean manufacturing expertise to continue improving the efficiency and productivity of Global Aeronautica's operations," while Vought, the partner which has been bought out, "will focus on its primary business of delivering quality aft fuselage structures for the 787."

Let's hope that it works.

Seattle's Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001 has taken the opportunity to ram home their concerns about global outsourcing..."We are hopeful this is an indication that the company realizes that not just anyone can engineer, design and build these very complex aerospace products,” said Ray Goforth, executive director of the union representing engineers and technical workers at Boeing. “Our members have been saying for some time that this global network is not working.”

Employees working on the 787 program have voiced concerns about unnecessary rework required on parts coming in from outside Boeing. In some areas, employees are working 20 to 40 percent overtime and traveling frequently to help suppliers. SPEEA members at the former Boeing plant in Wichita, now operated by Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., have expressed the same concerns.

Boeing have problems with parts, construction re-designs, claims, the last thing they ned for the health of their US operations is Union problems and difficulties with the upcoming wage negotiations....

In October, SPEEA begins main table negotiations with Boeing for 21,000 employees in Washington, Kansas, Oregon, Utah and California. Negotiations begin in May for 3,000 represented employees at Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. in Wichita, Kansas.

Boeing closed down 75 cents = 1.0% at US$73.47

CIA sponsored, funded and organised Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 on April 6th cannot be stopped by Prime Minister - OFFICIAL

Readers will be aware we sought to set up a No 10 Downing Street petition yesterday ... Olympic Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 - join in the fun organised by your local branch of the CIA

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to: 'Take the necessary steps to prevent the Central Intelligence Agency to organise a Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 on 6th April, when the official Olympic Torch will proceed through London.'

Well the e-petition team have replied (very prompt service) ...

"Hi,

I'm sorry to inform you that your petition has been rejected.....

Your petition was classed as being in the following categories:

* Outside the remit or powers of the Prime Minister and Government

So there you have it, the Prime Minister and Government haven't the power to stop the CIA organising the Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 on 6th April.

Nice to get that officially.

Now who fancies a,

" Muslim, brown men with beards and brown women in jibjabs against Chinese Hui Muslim's having the shit kicked out of them by CIA inspired and funded Tibetan mobs and the burning down the Lhasa mosque - Freedom Torch Relay 2008 to Grosvenor Square" ? ***

**** Police closed off Lhasa's Muslim quarter today (Guradian)

I bet that's well within his fucking remit and power to stop.

Incidentally, anyone notice that Presidential wannabe McCain who says he wants to wage a vigorous war against Islamic radicals worldwide, sent his wife Cindy to Pristina to meet gangsta, Muslim mass murderer, Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci yesterday? All part of the CIA campaign to encourage precedent for Tibet and Taiwan separation and independence from China.

Cyprus - inaction, a building boom, lack of investment ... droughts, lead to predictable water shortages / rationing

It was evident in November 2007 that water shortages loomed in Cyprus.Vlassis Partassides, head of water management at Cyprus’s Water Development Department, looking at resevoirs 10% full said in a Reuters inetrview “If the drought continues for a fourth year, the consequences will be very severe.”

As of today the 17 resevoir systems with a capacity of 273,636 million cubic metres (MCM) have current stocks of 27,972 MCM or just 10.2% of their capacity and the maximum they have held throughout all of 2007 was 72,20 MCM.The country has , with desalination and increasingly drying and salinated boreholes approximately 50 MCM to last until the end of the year; realistically, it needs at least 66.7 million cubic meters.

Since 1972, rainfall has decreased 20% and runoff into reservoirs has decreased by 40%. Briefly That is Cyprus has now roughly 40% less water than had been assumed based on pre-1970 rainfall records.

Costas Papastavros, head of the Cypriot national climate change unit said desertification is also becoming a serious problem. "It is not just that we do not have water in dams for irrigation, but we are looking at a decline in the productivity of soil, and we have a tremendous problem.”

The demand for water in Cyprus, for now, outstrips supply. Experts estimate the island will need almost 180 million cubic feet of water until the new year. Kouris, one of the island’s largest and most important dams, was in November 2.5% full, with 3.23 million tons of water. It is the principal supply for Nicosia and the heavily populated (and tourist areas) southern districts of Limassol and Larnaca.

Indeed the development of water supplies has been a triumph historically - ""No drop of water to the sea". From surface reservoirs from 6 6 MCM in 1960, total capacity has reached 307,5 6 MCM today. Only when it rains.

The desalinization plants , the first which opened on 1 April 1997 at Dhekelia, (40,000 C) and the plant at Larnaca Airport ( 50,000 m3/day ) opened 4 years later , can , on continuous operation only supply 45% of demand, and fuel oil input costs have rocketed.

No water ? Panic! Panic! Panic! ration / fine / threaten

So water rationing has been introduced again from this Wednesday March 26th , water 3 days a week for 12 hours per day. Sufficient to fill a 1 ton rooftop tank but hopeless for a family of say 5. Of course some people have installed extra tanks over the years and this results in constant low water pressure when water is available. Hosepipe usage is banned with a fine of C£50.

Pipelines will be constructed to the resevoirs to take 8 MCM of water shipped from Greece , but this will not arrive for 5 months.For the water to be transported, a 400 meter pipe plus a four kilometer conveyor needs to be built. It will take at least five months for this supporting infrastructure to be built. (Costs ? No-one is saying, or who will be paying - sidelong glance to Brussels ?)

A new desalination plant being built at Episkopi will be uprated to double the daily output from a 40,000 m3/day to 80,000 m3/day which may be operating by October when all the tourists have gone home.

Oh! There's a masterstroke in the plan. An awareness campaign - TV ads.More TV ads, maybe some on the endless pop Radio programs.

Agriculture hit hard

The water scarcity has been disastrous for the country's agriculture, as desalinized fresh water is too expensive to use for irrigation.

To make problems worse, the liberalization of the Cypriot import regime under EU membership has allowed foreign competition in the domestic fruit and vegetable market. TYHis has also been swollen by lower cost non European exporters such as Syria, Egypt and Israel . Potato farmers, whose concentration in the "Kokkinokhoria" (red soil villages) also leads to manipulation of subsidies and they have become adroit at obtaining State subsidies.

Now however , less potatoes are bought by increasingly fastidious housewives with clods of earth on them , and supermarkets want smaller potatoes for ease of packaging in 2 - 2.5 KG quantities.
A study by Protonique SA in 1998 a qualitative appreciation of the supply of potable and non-potable water in Cyprus updated by EnviroTech Limited, Larnaka, Cyprus is available here. It hs been lying around Government offices for a long time. Ignored.
http://www.cypenv.org/cyprus_water/

The smart money will be importing bottled water. In quantity. Probbly with funny Russian labels.

Georgia's IDS Borjomi Group have just bought bought Georgian sourced Edelweiss bottled water off Gazprom for an estimated $25-30 million. It is banned in Russia.

Vagit Alekperov's LUKoil owns the oil industry in CYprus ... must give him a call to see what he intends to do about selling water. probbly catch him in the Turkish casinos celebrating his stunning deal in Iraq which the Western Press are studiously ignoring. Thursday, March 27, 2008 - LUKoil revive and seal a deal with Maliki and Talibani for Western Qurna-2 field - Russia writes off US$12 Bn debt to Saddam

The Commander in Chief celebrates the aerial bombing of Iraq at "Wright-Patt"

Baghdad Thursday, June 08, 2006 - Loud applause broke out at a press conference in Baghdad as Prime Minister Nuri -Al-Maliki, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, announced that "Zarqawi was terminated." (Fox)



"At a press conference in Baghdad, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell showed a photograph of Zarqawi's body and video of U.S. F-16's dropping two 500-pound bombs on the house near Baqouba.

Gen. Caldwell said there was "100 percent confirmation" that Zarqawi was in the house prior to the attack. He added that six other people were killed in the attack, including one woman and one child."

In a chilling postscript to this story which Chicken Yoghurt draws to out attention, the Commander on Chief was speaking yesterday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Dayton, Ohio.

"I do want to thank General Bruce Carlson, Commander of the Air Force Materiel Command; Colonel Colleen Ryan; and all those wear the uniform. I'm proud to be with you, and I'm proud to be your Commander-in-Chief." (Applause.)

"On a fateful day in this war, airmen delivered justice to the al Qaeda terrorist Zarqawi, in the form of two precision-guided, 500-pound bombs." (Applause.)


Bandit36 who produced and uploaded the above You Tube video is a 26 year old who says he is deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and is stationed in the International Zone (aka the Green Zone) in Baghdad. My wife and newborn son are waiting for me back in Germany.

This is a picture of him and his family from his blog . after leaving Iraq when he says ..."I've turned over my key, my cell phone, my desk, my computer, my responsibilities."



To which somebody thoughtfully added this comment.......

Your latest US Air Force news ... March 23 airpower summary: F-16s keep vigilant ..."In total, 40 close-air-support missions were flown as part of the ISAF and Afghan security forces" ..."In total, coalition aircraft flew 59 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom."

US House sales increase 3%, prices 8-11% down in last 12 months - Vegas / Miami in meltdown

The Standard & Poors Home Price Index for the US in January is now published and shows an 11.4% drop in January from a year earlier, the largest annual drop since the index was started in 1987.

S&P ' s comments highlight ;

•All 20 cities are down month to month for the last five months
•Only one –Charlotte, NC –is up over the last 12 months
•10 of 20 are down by double digits in the last 12 months
•Ten City Composite down 13.4% from the peak, 20 City composite down 12.5% from the peak
•Miami, FL and Las Vegas, NV show largest declines in last 12 months, 19.3% each
•Miami, FL home prices are 125% greater than in 2000, In Los Angeles, CA prices are 124% above 2000
•In Detroit, MI home prices are virtually the same as in 2000
•In Cleveland, OH, home prices are only 8.5% above 2000
(The index does NOT include new houses and excludes foreclosures)

The National Association of Realtors report for February also published this week showed median home prices declined from US$213,500 February 2007 to US$195,900 - a drop of 8.2% but prices have been trading in a narrow range since September.

Realtors took comfort ( and they need it) from existing-home sales ( transactions closed) – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.9 % to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million units in February up from 4.89 million in January, but way, way down on the ( 23.8%) the 6.60 million-unit level in February 2007.

Total housing inventory fell 3.0% at the end of February to 4.03 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.6-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 10.2-month supply in January.

This is a neat chart from S&P's webcast presentation that puts the current house price levels in historical context .....Click to enlarge



Fancy that swish, cheap condo in Vegas ? More details here

Mortgage market in the UK remains sound

The Major British Banking Groups (MBBG) account for some two-thirds of all mortgage lending outstanding and around 70% of gross lending. Additionally, they provide over half of all consumer credit outstanding and, within that, some 70% of all card credit. They include twelve of the fifteen largest mortgage lenders in the UK: Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Barclays and Woolwich, Bradford & Bingley, HBOS (through Halifax and Bank of Scotland), HSBC Bank, LloydsTSB (through Cheltenham & Gloucester), Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland and National Westminster.

1. Today they announced that January's gross mortgage lending was £16.6 Bn. and dropped 9% to £14.9 Bn in February 2008 (Feb 2007 = £ 14.0 Bn.)

2. 167,000 mortgages were approved (for all purposes) in February with an average loan approved for house purchase of £150,400, some 14% higher than a year earlier. It took 9 years for mortages to double from £50K to £100K and 4 years to rise to £150K. The total figure included new loans of 47,365 a 35% fall from the 72,339 home loans February 2007. When the crooks at Northern Wreck were lending to anyone who walked through the door and took 20% of the UK market)

3. Nett mortgage lending (gross lending minus repayments and redemptions) rose by £5.2bn, (Januarys increased by £5.4bn). The annual growth in net mortgage lending continued at around 14%.

4. Credit card borrowing was unchanged (Actually declined by £4 Mn.) in the month, while other loans and overdrafts fell by £0.2bn. New borrowing on credit cards totalled £6,224mn in February; 7% lower than February 2006. (This compard with increase in mortgage lending shows how borrowers prioritise their credit needs - housing is No 1 - belt tightening not wage increases driving growth)

5. Compared to February 2006, House purchase approvals declined by 5% in number and 8% in value in February year on year.Remortgaging approvals were up 6% by number and up 22% by value. Approvals for equity withdrawal ( A species of theft from the elderly - the first tranche of mortgages sold off by Northern Wreck to Sacks of Gold) were unchanged by number but 10% higher by value.

Which suggests that the housing market is firm and that some degree of rigour has been attached to loan approvals, which was long overdue. There appears little evidence of any decline in prices or willingness to adopt loans for £150,000. (Average household income (NIS) is approx £27,000) , this average value has increased in 12 months by 14% - well in excess of any rise in national incomes.

Joke of the Week

``I would be surprised if, in a few years time, house prices are markedly above where they are now,'' Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on March 26 to Commons Treasury Select Committee with members of the Monetary Policy Committee in tow - including the hapless and hopeless Sir John Gieve.

We are stuck with this incompetent twat for 5 more years - even former MPC member DeAnne Julius said the BOE isn't cutting interest rates fast enough said Mervyn King was "behind the curve".

The UK’s deficit on trade in goods and services was £4.1 billion in January. The deficit on trade in goods was £7.5 billion, and the surplus on trade in services was £3.4 billion.

As indigenous energy sources, oil/gas/coal decline, and imports rise this gap will inexorably rise.

King's response is to throw money out of the helicopters at the banks, the pound declines (from 1.36Euros to 1.26 in the last 3 months)from 1.47 Euros to 1.26 in 12 months.

And inflation roars away ... Lordy Lord "Don I gotta Winner" King of the Bank said at the Mansion House 16th June 2007...

"Our central view remains that inflation will fall back this year as the rises in domestic gas and electricity prices last year drop out of the annual comparison, and the recent cuts in prices feed through to household bills."

What a twat.

In a trading statement this morning Northern Foods PLC hid away a little nugget ..."Average prices were 7.5% higher as Northern Foods recovered the hike in raw materials costs from its customers."

Friday 8.30 pm GMT ... £ closed against the € down 0.092 or 0.75% @ € 1.26215 lowest ever.

Iceland - funds freezing up.

It was 3 years ago when we first posted about Iceland's extravagant economy Wednesday, April 05, 2006 Arctic warms ? Iceland market cools down ?It was the year during which Miss Iceland , Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir reigned as Miss World.

What are the effects .... ?

Iceland, has a freely floating currency, and like the UK and US it's 300,000 folks have borrowed heavily to buy houses. Inward investment has been high as has outward investment (Baugur etc.,) The Icelandic economy expanded a hefty 8% in 2004 and 5.5% in 2005, inflation doubled to 4.5% (ish ... they fiddle their Retail Price Index as much as the US Fed and the UK Treasury does) double their "target" of 2.5%.

Result ? The central bank slams on the brakes, interest rates now a heart stopping 11.5%...other rises rumoured.

Result ? The Icelandic krona has declined 10% ( and falling) and import prices are rising.

Now the Daily Telegraph tells us ...

"As Iceland goes, so go the Baltics, the Balkans, Hungary, Turkey, and perhaps South Africa. All are living far beyond their means, plugging the gaping holes in their accounts with fickle flows of foreign finance. All have let credit grow far above the safe "speed limit", some exceeding 50pc a year."

Iceland's risky high-wire act of the last 5 years has run our of road. Interest rates went up to 15% this week and the krona, has fallen 18pc since mid-March.

The country's all-conquering banks - led by Kaupthing, Glitnir, and Landsbanki - have pushed the asset base of the Icelandic banking system to a world record 8 times GDP, tapping the global capital markets to launch "Viking raids" across Britain, Scandinavia and beyond.

This spigot of easy credit has now been turned off.

The Telegraph lists these Icelandic holdings in the UK...

Icelandic stakes in UK Plc
Baugur (investment company)
Mosaic Fashions, Coast, Karen Millen, Oasis, Odille, Principles, Shoe Studio Group, Warehouse, Whistles, Jane Norman, MK One, All Saints, House of Fraser, Booker, Iceland, Woodward Foodservice, Julian Graves and Whittard of Chelsea, Hamleys, Aurum, Goldsmiths, Mappin & Webb, Wyevale Garden Centres, Watches of Switzerland, Debenhams, Woolworths, French Connection, Moss Bros

Arev (investment company)
Aspinal of London, Blooming Marvellous, Cruise, Duchamp, Hardy Amies, GHOST, Jones Bootmaker, Limeys, Linens 'n Things, Mountain Warehouse, Unisport

Kaupthing (investment bank)
Singer & Friedlander, Somerfield

FL Group (investment company)
Inspired Gaming Group, House of Fraser (they once owned 30% of Easyjet)

Landsbanki (investment bank)
Icesave
On February 28th Moody's Investors Service downgraded the long-term foreign and local currency deposit ratings of Landsbanki Islands hf ("Landsbanki") to A2 from Aa3 and its bank financial strength rating ("BFSR") to C- from C.

Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson (Icelandic billionaire)
West Ham Football Club Box Label DT

LUKoil revive and seal a deal with Maliki and Talibani for Western Qurna-2 field - Russia writes off US$12 Bn debt to Saddam

We have many times referred to the contacts and connections between our old friend Vagit Alekperov and the Iraqi oil industry. Well just as the major US oilcos are signing "technical" agreements, Vagit calls to tell us he is in Baghdad cutting a deal for reviving the LUKoil's contract for Iraq's Western Qurna-2 field. West Qurna-2 field is one of the biggest in the world with the proven reserves of above 800 million tons of oil (6 billion barrels), according to LUKOIL.

Current estimates he tells us, involve a US $4 billion project with annual earnings from oil production at $21 billion. The Western Qurna-2 field should have been developed under a production sharing contract (PSC), an agreement on which was signed with beastly old Saddam in 1997 but was frozen in 2002.

Vagit tells us he was accompanied by the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov and got to see Maliki and Jalal Talibani - which must have pissed off a few folks in the green Zone.

The presence of Saltanov ( a champion chess player) was a help to get a US$12 Bn Iraqi debt written off - which means nothing because they were never, ever going to collect. Clinching the deal was an agrement to make future investments of US$4 Bn. in the Iraqi oil and gas sector.... some of which no doubt "evaporated".

Of course 19% shareholders in LUKoil ConocoPhillips (with Mr Richard Armitage **** the signer of the PNAC and the man who told Mushariff that the US would bomb Pakistan into the stone age unless he behaved, as a Director) should / will receive a 17.5% stake in the Iraqi contract under their strategic partnership agreement with LUKoil.(The contract for production and development of the second stage of West Qurna-2 project was inked March 21, 1997 with LUKOIL having 68 percent in it. Once LUKOIL and ConocoPhillips became the strategic partners in 2004, LUKOIL undertook to transfer 17.5 percent to the U.S. company. )

Russia’s Zarubezhneft and Mashinoimport hold another 3.25 % in the project.

Western Qurna-2 field is unique. Oil lies near the surface , easy and low cost to extract - estimates are of the order of 30 million metric tons of high quality oil.(1 metric ton of crude oil = appr. 7.3 barrels of crude oil ...)

With oil price at US$730 per ton, ( approx US$100 pb) annual earnings from oil sales could easily gross US $21 billion.

Last year, LUKoil produced 96 million metric tons of oil.

**** Richard Armitage is also a director of ManTech International Corp. is an information technology company that does most of its work for the military, intelligence and homeland security agencies about whom Kate has such warm feelings. 95 % of their income comes from contracts with the Defense and Homeland Security departments and U.S. intelligence agencies.

Mantech still show Eugene C. Renzi as Senior EVP (died of cancer February 9, 2008 ) who is the daddy of Arizona Representative Ricky Renzi. newly indicted on, 35 counts of extortion,conspiracy, money laundering and related charges. He was on the House Intelligence Committee until FBI agents descended on his family business.,

Richard Armitage was one of the main architects behind US covert support to the Mujahedin and the "militant Islamic base," both during the Afghan-Soviet war as well as in its aftermath.

PS: Friday - Hit me between the eyes, Doh! For writing off a notional US$12 Bn. the Russians get the best , known, shallowest big oil field left to exploit - the US oilcos (whose tax payers have squandered 100's of US$ Bns) get 2 years "technical" studies. Now that is what in St. Petersburg they call a bargain.

Do a Google News search on Western Qurna-2 field a single hit on a Russian news agency. This afternoon Reuters reported "Iraq field could be worth $7bln to LUKOIL-JPMorgan" but provides no details and simply reports J P Morgan's research note.

This is massive news in the context of the post war development of Iraq - probably the most significant since the illegal invasion. See "22/03/04 Oil is not well in Iraq "I'n'I... "Last week, 15/3/04 - LUKOIL's chief executive Vagit Alekperov met Iraq's Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum who has said that oil companies of different countries should do business in Iraq. According to him, talks with LUKoil were held in December 2003. During their March 11th meeting in Baghdad, they signed a deal to train Iraqi oil industry employees and students. 40 Iraqi students will study in Russia's I.M. Gubkin Oil and Gas University. Their numbers will increase to 100 students in 2005."

New US$150,000 a pop Excalibur artillery shell will stop us being sorry killing Afghan women & children by ...er.. accident / mistake / carelessness

Excalibur XM982 shell ,is "smart "155mm ammunition, developed by Raytheon , BAE Systems and Bofors Defense which they describe as the "next generation" of artillery munitions.



The Excalibur uses inertial and satellite based GPS guidance ( for a 40 Kilometre flight) to execute course corrections through the flight, to achieve pinpoint targeting with an accuracy of 20m’ CEP. Excalibur is considered to be part of the Non-Line-Of-Sight Cannon (NLOS-C) system.

Raytheon Company a $42.7Mn production contract in June 2007 after it had demonstrated lethality against (presumably ocupied) wheeled and tracked lightly armored military systems, simulated personnel targets and a steel reinforced concrete structure.

Canada's battle group in Kandahar test fired the shell in the desert as did a US Army unit in E Afghanistan. At US$150,000 a pop they didn't say how many had been fired."It lands exactly where you want it to land," said Lt.-Col. Jim Willis, a senior officer in charge of acquiring the munitions for ther Canadian forces. (Standard HE rounds . US$2,000 a pop accuracy +/- 50 metres).

The Canadian Army have just announced that Canadian army gunners in Afghanistan are now cleared to fire GPS-guided artillery shells at Taliban militants - who are not known to travel around in APC's, tanks, armoured vehicles or have concrete and steel defense structures.

It is claimed that it will stop or at best reduce the mounting civilian death toll from air strikes in a war-torn region, where insurgents often hide among the population. A curious argument ...surely the chances of hitting the oddd passing postman on his bike is th same whether you drop precision laser guided or JDAM's or send a sooper dooper US$150,000 shell from 40 Klicks ?

It was 18 months ago, the army announced its intention to buy a handful of the experimental shells to go along with its brand new 155-millimetre M-777 howitzers.

Introducing the weapon to the army's arsenal has been slower than expected because of concerns related to the shell's performance in cold weather and precautions to make sure the GPS signals can't be jammed or scrambled by insurgents.

The system "has counter-measures built in, but obviously I can't get into the details here," said Lt.-Col. Jim Willis, "Aside from the counter-measures, it flies so quickly to a target that the chance of it being jammed is remote."

So firing Ferraris at the lightly armed, highly mobile Taliban is OK then.

See PIcatinny Arsenal report on the Excalibur round here.

Afghan Police Toys'R'Us

Here is a nice news item today from the Combine Joint Task Force in Afghanistan ...

Afghan National Police Officers from Kohe Safi District, Parwan Province visited the village of Jurahati earlier in March and handed out stuffed animals to the children as a goodwill gesture. They also provided prayer rugs to the adults. The toys were donated by Girl Scouts in Maryland and Kiwanis Club Members in New York.

Vumber offers disposable untraceable proxy phone numbers in the US

Here's a nifty idea to prevent phone spammers and provide privacy - only available it appears (so far) in the US.

Vumber.

Vumber has recently introduced a virtual phone number service, providing what they call “secure, disposable two-way” telephone communications.

Simply sign up and choose a Vumber with any area code ( select the area code you want. Project yourself anywhere you want to be, not necessarily where you are) you want. Use the simple and instant online tools to connect it with your home, cell, work or any other phone. (Click to enlarge)

When someone calls: You can a) answer; b) send them to Vumber Mail; c) give them a busy signal; d) tell them the number is out of service; or e) play a custom message you create with the voice mail box included.

You can call from your Vumber, too. Just dial your Vumber, then dial the number yuo want. It’s that easy. Now the control of your identity is in your hands.

Also you can simply, and easily change your Vumber number whenever you want, as many times as you want… and you’re back on track. Bam. 3 minutes and you’re done.

US$4.99 per month (regular US$9.99 but BUY NOW AND GET 30 DAYS FREE AND special US$4.99 per month , negotiated especially for Lord Patel readers) for first Vumber and US$1.99 for each extra Vumber

No word yet on whether it will fool the National Security Agency etc., and 24/7 surveillance c/o your friendly telco. It's unlikely.

Founder Jodd Readick says "We filed a complex technology patent which covers the basis of the Vumber operation. We’ve been told after a significant amount of work that this is may be a landmark patent in the telephony arena and we feel quite comfortable that other people, while they may have various pieces of what we’re doing, won’t be able to offer a total solution for inbound and outbound calling and telephone number management."

Jangl offer a similiar FREE anonymised service for social network freaks users ,some simply text based - Facebook, bebo, match.com, fubar etc., with myspace coming soon. Plentyoffish provides calling facilities.... but BEWARE ..."Jangl Media offers brand managers and advertisers mobile advertising across the most popular social networks and communities. Through mobile advertising, Jangl Media is able to target and reach social web consumers even when they've stepped away from their computer."

Olympic Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 - join in the fun organised by your local branch of the CIA

The CIA organised and sponsored riots in Lhasa and elsewhere will be erupting in the heart of London as a jolly Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 on 6th April, when the "Official" torch takes it's 31 mile route through London

Come along for the lighting the Tibetan Freedom Torch, traditional and modern Tibetan music by Phuntsog from JJ Exiled Brothers and Chino, with support of one man band wonder Joe Driscoll.

Argyle Square, London, from 2.30pm (map here)

This is a great opportunity to highlight the CIA / Tibetan cause as the eyes of the world turn to Beijing, and the plight of the ethnic Tibetans who so like to punch the lights out of the occupying Han Chinese (funded by Langley via Free Tibet Movement, Radio Free Asia and National Clandestine Service - formerly the Directorate of Operations) and any passing Muslim.

Join the rally and bring your friends: this is the event at which to demonstrate your support for the much maligned ,misunderstooded and misumderestimated CIA / Tibet and get the world's media to put more pressure on the CIA / China to stick to the Olympic ideals ... and sow the seeds of dissent to get the whole bogus charabang of modern athletics and sport removed from London in 2012. Support the Dalai Lama and his friends in Langley and the training camps forhis zealous followers at Camp Hale near Leadville, Colorado, in the US.

A cultural event will take place in London on the day including speakers such as the Drapchi nuns, Lhadon Tethong and Team Tibet, MP Norman Baker, and the Tibetan Community Dance Group.

Also, please gather along the official Olympic Committee torch relay route at Richmond Terrace, Whitehall at 1pm.

Bring flags and banners, guns, grenades, RPG's, bazookas, suicide bombers, ricin flour bombs, inflammatory literature! Spot the CIA organisers - crew cuts, shades and curly whirly bits of wire in their ears.

This is a public service announcement on behalf of the Lady Dame Jane Pauline Neville-Jones Fan Club and the RUSI Irregulars.

Extra Attraction !! George Galloway will NOT be there.

Read a review of "The CIA's Secret War in Tibet" , Kenneth Conboy and James MorrisonApril 2002 - 320 pages, 24 photographs, 9 maps, 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 - Modern War StudiesCloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1159-1, $34.95 (Amazon) from blurb,"how America's Central Intelligence Agency encouraged Tibet's revolt against China - and eventually came to control its fledgling resistance movement"

"A masterful account of how the CIA sought to play the 'new great game' on the roof of the world."--David F. Rudgers, author of Creating the Secret State: Origins of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1943–1947 (Amazon)

PS : If you don't think the CIA should organise street marches / protests in London please write to your MP.

A petition "CIA-Tibet" ..."We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Take the necessary steps to prevent the Central Intelligence Agency to organise a Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay 2008 on 6th April, when the official Olympic Torch will proceed through London." has been submitted to the No 10 petition site when up and running ,a link will be provided ... until then you will need to do a site search "CIA-Tibet".

They do say .."Delays to individual petitions may occur where there are possible legal issues or questions over the impact of the petition in relation to the Civil Service Code. In a few cases, we have had to seek propriety, ethics and legal advice from appropriate specialists within the Civil Service."

Don't hold yer breath.

Sarko and La Reine .. that secret conversation that the microphone picked up

Phil the Greek, not very sotto voce can be indistinctly heard ... " a carrier or two like the de Gaulle wouldn't go amiss if the Brest shipyard's not that busy...tell him"

Apologist for Metropolitan Police re-appointed for 5 years

The Home Secretary has today announced that Her Majesty(Nick Hardwick was re-appointed by HM The Queen, on the advice of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary. His appointment runs until 31 January 2013.) has approved the reappointment of Nicholas Hardwick as Chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission for a further period of 5 years.

A B&Q van was seen arriving at the IPCC HQ at 90 High Holborn, unloading large quantities of whitewash and removing empty containers marked "de menezes murder enquiry"

The IPCC has also published the results of its latest public confidence survey. 4,000 people were surveyed by BMRB Limited (part of WPP group) and the results compared with the IPCC's last survey in 2004.

64% (62% in 2004) of people had heard of the IPCC
88% (86% in 2004) of those who had heard of the IPCC thought they would be treated fairly if they made a complaint about a police officer to the IPCC
69% (64% in 2004) thought the IPCC was independent of the police
67% (65% in 2004) were very or fairly confident that the IPCC deals with complaints in an impartial way.

Nick was of course the guy who happily sat and twiddled his thumbs whilst Sir Ian Blair ( the lying fucker wot runs the Yard) quite illegally refused to allow the IPCC access to the murder site, evidence, reports, officers involved in the public murder of Mr de Menezes for 6 days whilst CCTV fillums disappeared, event logs were altered / lost, radio communications recordings lost/deleted and eye witnesses "mislaid", and during which time, crucial evidence was altered, probably destroyed and officers "conferred" in writing up their notes.

BAA lawyers have done a remarkable job on Terminal 5 procedures ... BBC report " Utter Chaos" ..."misery building up" ... "big shambles"

34 Cancelled British Airways flights / baggage fuck ups / temporary check in suspension at Heathrow's new £4.3bn shedTerminal 5.

20 years planning the fucking place ... now we want to build at least 6 nuclear power stations.

The Strip starts a rust belt - Las Vegas dreams foreclosed

3700 Associates, LLC , are the developers of the Cosmopolitan Resort Casino, a $3.9 billion condo-hotel complex on the Las Vegas Strip, the largest private development in the United States. It was to be 8 acres of shops, casinos, hotels, condos, and theaters. It could now be a crumbling and rusting testament to the property credit binge, as they have been notified by their primary lender that it is to begin foreclosure proceedings. ("Foreclosure on Las Vegas Casino to Begin" WSJ)

The move by Deutsche Bank AG, the lender on a US$760 million senior loan, comes after the developer, Ian Bruce Eichner, wasn't able to finalize a deal for new financing. Mr. Eichner in late February cut a tentative deal with two of his other lenders, Global Hyatt Corp. and New York hedge fund Marathon Asset Management, for a possible rescue of the grotesque twin-tower project. But Mr Eichner is no stranger to real estate fuck ups and massive losses going back to 1994. which should make fascinating reading for DB executives anxious to see their loan repaid.

A fast paced, non stop deal maker this is how Eichner sold his idea in 2004 - "This will be the very first opportunity for a buyer to own property right on the Strip. They will be able to take an elevator from their condo-hotel unit directly to the casino floor. There's no other development on the Strip that provides condo unit owners that type of 'one-button' accessibility to the casino," said Eichner. Wow.

Mr. Eichner has blamed the project's problems on the credit-market meltdown and a jump in construction costs since building began in 2005. He said buyer interest in the hotel-condo rooms has been strong. He declined to comment on proposals to take over the project.

Related, led by real-estate tycoon Stephen Ross, has teamed with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.'s W Hotel group and an unidentified casino operator to try to take over the $3.9 billion hotel-condominium and casino project.

In December, Related raised $1.4 billion in debt and equity from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the investment arm of Abu Dhabi and MSD, the investment firm of computer mogul Michael Dell. At the time, Related President Jeff Blau said the company would use the money to snap up distressed projects.

Sounds like a gamble.

Shrillary Rodham , her lesbian palalong Huma Abedin and the Tata connection ..Ford giveaway Jaguar and Range Rover

The lesbian duo Shrillary and Huma Abedin goes back a long way and examination of the Senator's expenses providesa rich hunting ground ... Click to enlarge ... Israel naturally figures highly but the connection with Tata (who have just been given Jaguar / Range Rover by cash strapped Ford on a plate ) goes back a long way ...Ford will pay about $600 million at deal closing to the Jaguar Land Rover pension funds.





The "A" flag on the Google Trends graph was coincident with this Sunday Times smearing operation by the Rupert Murdoch Pooping on Shrillary department 24/11/07.

D1 bio fuels in serious trouble.

There was much excitement, flag waving and children were given a day off school in Liverpool on October 16th last year when glamorous Angela Eagle, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury ( and significantly MP for Wallasey) , opened the D1 £7m bio-diesel refinery , built on the Lubrizol site, at Bromborough which had created 40 jobs.

Designed to produces oils from inedible raw material Jatropha curcas, a crop which D1 are growing in tropical zones , immediately faced compeitition from the tax boondoggling US "dash'n'splash " trade ,giving producers of the so called B 99 biodiesel fuel a US$1 a gallon subsidy. 80% of of US produced biodiesel reaches Europe.

D1 managers took the chance to tackle Angela Eagle about this "double dip" subsidy regime for US producers and the EU subsidy at the pump. She was reported to say at the time (Liverpool Post) “We are currently taking the necessary steps for the issue to be taken up by the European Trade Commissioner under the World Trade Organisation procedures. This is an important new industry and we need to ensure there is free trade and fair competition.”

Now 6 months later CEO Elliott Mannis has announced that the company has started a "consultation" process with it's employees at both its Middlesbrough and Bromborough sites prio to reducing the workforce.

At the same time founder and first Chairman, Karl Watkin, has resigned as a Non-Executive Director of the Company - he owns some 5% of the shares. On March 20th Watkin said he was ``evaluating all options'' including ``an increase or decrease in his interest, and whether or not to make an offer for the company,'' he said in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service today. The Times today note that UBS, the company's biggest shareholder, sold some of its stake.

At the time of his departure Watkin (whose Just2Clicks dot com failed) was highly critical of the City. He said that he had become “increasingly frustrated” over the past year by “the inability of the investment community, governments and NGOs to differentiate D1's strategy from that of the suppliers of palm, soya and rapeseed whose biodiesel products have been well documented as being environmentally unsustainable”. (What also differentiated the company was the ability to hoover up large sums of money and produce zero profits.)

He also complained about the shorting of the stocks which was a feature of illiquid AIM stocks ..."“The majority of companies on AIM have had the stuffing kicked out of them,” he said. “People have been kicking the shit out of the stock.”


See : Tuesday, October 02, 2007 Boondoggling biodiesel - How Uncle Sam subsidises the EU motorist
Wednesday, December 05, 2007 Peter Mandelson makes some slippery remarks about US biofuel boondoggle - fist fight in sight ?

The D1 share price tells the tale.... Down 2.4 p yesterday = 5.4% to 43.5 p

Jim Henson's favourite song - He would have been 72 1/2 years old yesterday

D B Cooper's parachute found ? FBI waste even more money chasing phantasma across the NW

Komo TV of Seattle, Washington State, report that a parachute was recently dug up by the children of a Clark County farmer in the area in SW Washington , said to be a likely landing area for the mysterious D B Cooper on November 24th 1971 (Eve of Thanksgiving) is being examined by the FBI. (View video of story K5 TV) (also abc news video)

FBI agent Larry Carr said after handling the unearthed 'chute, "It's fragile to the touch, and it's obviously been in the ground for some time,"

Children playing outside their home near Amboy found the chute sticking up from the ground this month in an area where their father had been grading a road.

Carr says they pulled on the fabric as much as they could, then cut the parachute's ropes with scissors. They had seen recent media coverage on the D.B. Cooper case and urged their dad to call the FBI.

Until the parachute was recovered, the best evidence in the case was the $5,800 recovered along the Columbia River in 1980. A boy found the decomposing $20 bills in the mountains.

The rest of the money was never found, but the FBI determined the bills were a match to the Cooper crime. However, the finding of this chute throws the authenticity of those bills into question.

"If this is D.B. Cooper's chute, then that whole theory about the finding of the money is gone," said Carr. "Where the money was recovered, there's no way (they were his). There are no tributaries that feed in that direction."

FBI story about D B Cooper here
Where are they Now? No 452. D B Cooper . Amazing Pictures Monday, October 29, 2007

Newsnight Documentaries now produced by Walter Mitty section of the CIA - "Curveball"

We warned you Thursday, March 20, 2008 "Curveball" CIA Psyops operation to discredit Bundesnachrichtendienst to begin over Easter weekend .

Well BBC's gang at Newsnight (In-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines) and the Lady Dame Jane Pauline Neville-Jones Fan Club did us proud last night - failing only in not trundling on the Urban Myth at any stage in their re-writing history of the Winebagoes of Death (prop Colin Powell).

Carol Rubra Newsnight producer on her blog said .... "Curveball's been in hiding ever since the war.." well up to a point Lord Copper, living quietly in Germany , protected and paid for by the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) and every so often chatting on a "non-attributable" basis to any journalist who wanted to listen. abc news had his full clear facial image but the BBC excitingly pixellated his face.

But for American readers you will have a treat tomorrow night ..." "Curveball" ....Airing this Friday,March 28, it's the first footage of him since the start of the war in Iraq.It was his fabrications about WMDs that were a key justification for the U.S. entering into the war. In the same edition, Jeremy Paxman will interview Lawrence Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, about how the CIA could have been so wrong. Newsnight airs onBBC AMERICA, Friday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET/ 7:00 p.m. PT"

Garth Ancier, President, BBC Worldwide America (which is a branch of and totally funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth office) brought in Michele Grant (?) so that she can say as Executive Producer of the new show, ...: "Newsnight is one of the very best shows in television journalism - it's fearless. It asks the questions that beg to be asked but rarely are. If you want to get answers, really get answers, to the important questions, understand what happened this week and what mattered, Newsnight is for you."

"It asks the questions that beg to be asked but rarely are" Ho.Ho.Ho.

Few will forget Andrew Gilligan's talking about the "sexing" up of the "dodgy dossier" early in the morning , on the BBC Today programme of May 29 2003.

Few will know that Dr Kelly tried to visit Iraq on 19th May 2003 , he got as far as Kuwait but was prevented from entering Iraq from Kuwait because he ( an employee of the FCO) did not have the "proper documentation."

The now very dead scientist and spook Dr David Kelly (already an informant to both Andrew Gilligan and science editor Susan Watts at the BBC ) packed his bags and (for the 37th and last time) flew off to Iraq on June 5th 2003 expressly to examine , photograph and evaluate what were described as 2 mobile weapons laboratories. Proof if needed of the mobile germ factories that Colin Powell had so eleoquently and precisely detailed in form, shape, design and location. It was a brief visit to that war torn country, even though President Bush on May 2nd had declared "Mission Accomplished ". He returned after /4 days in Iraq on June 11th.

He was dead on July 17th.

On Sunday 15th June the Observer (Peter Beaumont, Antony Barnett and Gaby Hinsliff ) reported that "a British scientist and biological weapons expert, who has examined the trailers in Iraq". The expert said, "They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories. You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were - facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons." The article aslo ponted out that the equipment had been originally suplied by a British company, Marconi Command & Control.

It was confirmed in the Hutton Inquiry that Kelly was the source of this quote. Transcript of hearing Section 120 Line 8 et seq....
8 Q. (Mr Knox for Gubment) When would this conversation have taken place? I think the article comes out on 15th June.10

A. ( Peter Beaumont foreign affairs editor The Observer) I think on the Friday, my recollection is on the Friday.

Q. So that is the 13th June? (Dr Kelly returned from Iraq on 11th)

A. I think so. I am not 100 per cent certain but I have a strong recollection it was a Friday.

On Wednesday 9th July the MOD Press Officer Pam Teare made Dr Kelly's name as the source of Gilligan's story available to the press in a carefully contrived guessing game on the 9th July.(Hutton Sect 110 line 5 et seq Mr Knox and Norton-Taylor of the Guradian.)

5 Q. How did the conversation go?
A. I have two names here, I said, and the second one was Kelly and it was confirmed. Yes.
Q. So they said no to the first one, yes to the second?
A. Correct.
Q. And did they say anything else?
A. No.

Dr. Kelly's name was disclosed by the press on the 11th July and on the 16th July he "went for a walk" ... but more likely went to meet someone .. and eventually his nemesis.

The prime minister's official spokesman, Tom Kelly, some short time later described Dr David Kelly as a "Walter Mitty fantasist" - for which No 10 eventually had to publicly apologise.

The following day, Wednesday August 6 th 2003 Dr Kelly's funeral took place.

The most curious feature of this CIA Psy-ops tale is the way the world's press has virtually totally ignored it **** ... see the result of a GoogleNews search under "Curveball".... and the star position for BBC Newsnight's fancy Walter Mitty tale.

There are those who are consequently more firmly of the opinion that the people who murdered Dr Kelly were not too concerned with what he allegedly said to Andrew Gilligan.

The people who murdered Dr. Kelly were scared shitless that he was about to tell the plain, simple, unvarnished truth about the Winnebagoes of Death , with which Colin Powell had so recently enthralled the Security Council, and had acted as a keystone in the arch of argument for the illegal invasion.

As Kissingers lap dog, Paul (call me "Jerry") Bremer was getting into his stride in fucking the Iraqi economy the last thing the victorious invaders wanted was Dr Kelly shooting his mouth off about the bogus story of the anthrax factories and the Winnebagoes of Death.

Dead men tell no tales.

**** Lord Patel hopes this is nothing to do with him having disclosed it before anyone else did.

PS :
Don't let's be beastly to the Germans
When our victory is ultimately won,
It was just those nasty Nazis who persuaded them to fight
And their Beethoven and Bach are really far worse than their bite
Let's be meek to them-
And turn the other cheek to them
And try to bring out their latent sense of fun.
Let's give them full air parity-
And treat the rats with charity,
But don't let's be beastly to the Hun.

Noel Coward see him singing it on You Tube

European Medicines Agency recalls heparin batches in France, Italy and Denmark

Concern is spreading in Europe about the extent of contamination of injectable heparin which has been sourced in China. To date the FDA have identified 19 deaths in the USA 19 patients who have died after taking heparin, apparently from allergic reactions.

London based European Medicines Agency spokesman Martin Harvey-Allchurch said that France, Italy and Denmark have recalled batches of the blood thinner heparin, although no adverse effects have been reported in any of those countries.

In Italy and Denmark, the raw material for heparin has been pulled from the market, while in Germany and France, it's the finished medicine that was removed, Harvey-Allchurch said. The ingredient has been traced to four Chinese manufacturers.

Germany's Rotexmedica GmbH said it recalled ``several batches'' of the blood thinner earlier this month after patients experienced allergic reactions. Switzerland's regulator asked G. Bichsel AG and B. Braun Medical AG last week to remove two heparin products from the Swiss market. German heparin supplies recalled (March 10th)

The EMEA presumes (but does not yet know definitely) that the contaminant in the three countries is over-sulphated chondroitin sulphate, the same substance found in lots of heparin recalled in the US and a deliberately modified form of the popular diet supplement for joint pains, chondroitin sulphate.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Italian company Opocrin SpA. said it bought some ingredients from Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Co., in China that turned out to be contaminated.

APP Pharmaceuticals Inc. -- currently the sole supplier of large-dose heparin for surgery and kidney dialysis in the U.S. have also been supplied by the same company,

However APP spokeswoman Maili Bergman said yesterday that Opacrin heparin was sourced from a different slaughterhouse than the source of APP material. APP heparin has consistently tested contaminant-free in its own and in U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing.

Boston.com
iht
Previous posts on heparin contamination

Shrillary "misspoke" : Bosnian slang Verb - to lie

Exposing Chelsea to all that danger ! ... and Sheryl Crowe as well.

DC Madame's trial ready to cause a stir in Washington

DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey has e-mailed to tell us that her show trial is now scheduled to open on April 7th in the U.S. District Court in Washington.

She tells us she is facing Federal charges of racketeering, money laundering and conspiracy, accused of running a prostitution ring that netted more than $2 million over a 13 year period.

Apparently Senator "Poopy Pants" Vitter is also awaiting notice that he could be prosecuted under the provisions of the Travel Act, which prohibits use of the mail and interstate travel to promote gambling, unlawful distribution of narcotics and prostitution.

"Without doubt, I am in the fight of my life," Palfrey says in her e-mail, "Unfortunately, the Government will not capitulate, nor will I in this extremely bizarre case; one, where no person other than myself -- including all former clients and escorts -- is being charged with any crime here. Technically the Government has been successful in making the charges against me work on paper. As a result, I have no choice-- nor have I ever had any alternative -- but to fight on and clear my name via the facts of the case, particularly since -- if convicted, federal sentencing guidelines allow for a maximum sentence of 55 years imprisonment."

Larry Flint sent some girls from his New Orleans Hustler Club to add some jollity to a Vitter fund raiser.

When asked about the unexpected bosom budies of Vitter's turning up Vitter spokesman Joel DiGrado would only say, "At the event there was great support and fellowship from hundreds of friends and supporters including Gov. Jindal and other statewide leaders. It was also a tremendous fundraising success, raising $429,000."

Watch this space.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority - a stacked deck

Schedule 1 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill refers to Amendments to Schedule 1 to the 1990 Act relating to membership of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

After paragraph 4 (appointment of members) insert— “4A (1) A person (“P”) is disqualified for being appointed as chairman, deputy chairman, or as any other member of the Authority if— a) P is the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or interim order,

In other words the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority continues virtually unchanged as the in house self regulatory body which is laughably described as , " the UK's independent regulator overseeing safe and appropriate practice in fertility treatment and embryo research." Anyway after a searching examination of how it works they have decided bankrupts need not apply.

Independent my bottom. It is simply packed with workers in the highly profitable IVF business and their boosters. Half the members are avowedly workers in the field of IVF and human embryology , the remainder are supposed to be lay members ....

For example: The Chairman of the HFA is solicitor Walter Merrick the UK's Financial Ombudsman, ideal independent? Well up to a point. Lord Copper, he and his wife have two children conceived by donor insemination, after having discovered that he was infertile. Together with other families they founded the Donor Conception Network in 1993, a self-help charity that supports parents of donor-conceived children and those contemplating treatment. The network has over 900 members.

Member Clare Brown discovered she had fertility problems in 1978. Over the next eight years, she had three attempts at tubal surgery and four at IVF, all of which failed. In 1985, she was successful in adopting her two children, James and Holly, who are now aged 22 and 21 respectively.

Having been a member of the national infertility support network CHILD for three years, she joined its National Management Committee in 1984, holding the posts of Membership Secretary and Chair until 1989, when she became Executive Director. She was then appointed Chief Executive of Infertility Network UK in 2003 when the charities CHILD and ISSUE merged.

Rebekah Dundas works for the Lottery, ideal independent? She has six years experience of infertility investigations and treatment. In October 2006 her son, Matthew, was born following donor IVF.

Ms Sharmila Nebhrajani is a finance and business professional with extensive experience across a range of sectors in strategy, mergers and acquisitions and business operations. She began her career as a management consultant with Coopers & Lybrand. Sharmila studied Physiological Sciences at Oxford. She has maintained a keen interest in science since graduating in 1988 and has been a lay member of the Authority since 1998. She is also member of the Human Tissue Authority.

This last is of interest, as the Human Tissue Authority will merge with the HFEA as a result of the new legislation - which further removes the moral issues from decision making, the handling of embryos a purely technical/clinical/laboratory matter.

This of course ties in with the just announced suggestion for opt out on organ donation - "oh Mrs Smith we just want to do some tissue typing on your very ill husband/son/mother as she has very good kidneys for which we already have a patient".

The proper purpose for the use of human eggs is the production of human babies by humans. Their use for any other purpose is a needless and unwarranted use of living tissue.

IVF along with abortion are the twin agencies which have dehumanised us as parents and brought in their wake many (apparently intractable) social problems.

Want to know more about the HFEA members? Go to their website. Religious voice? One. Lord Harries (retired) Bishop of Oxford the BBC's rent a sermon man, one of the great and the not very good - unelected member of the House of Lords to follow on his membership as a Bishop.

Every decision the HFEA makes is unanimous, there is never a voice of dissent.

Dubai calling ....

There has been an hiatus in internet traffic to/from Dubai for some 48 hours over the blocking of a blogspot http://secretdubai.blogspot.com/. Secret Dubai Diary with it's subscription only The Secret

Now blocked ... but available eslewhere, mildly amusing take on daily life in this bleak outpost of Asian / Filipino slave labour, the wage slaves of the Al Maktoum's and the mad dreams of feelthy rich sheiks.

7/7 "suicide bombers" on CCTV ? .... no such luck, Police dn't want any help in tracing movements of 7/7 culprits .. leaving 56 dead 200 injured...

Here we go again. Crystal clear, sharp CCTV images in colour, published hours after the murder of Jamie Simpson ,manager of a Matalan store, in the Kingsland Shopping Centre, Hackney, East London Saturday 22nd March around 8 pm.

Now why can't we have images of the 7/7 bombers ? Surely the Police want help in tracing the "suicide bombers" ? Did anyone see them ? Did they have accomplices, were they carrying anything else, what were they wearing ... ?

If they can get these image sout so quickly why not the 7/7 images ?

J P Morgan offers Bear Stearns shareholders US$10 - take it or leave it.... " Curveball" surfaces as promised.

So J P Morgan ups what they will pay Bear Stearns shareholders to US$10 a share (Total US$1.2 Bn) - which doesn't even cover the value of the real estate.

So what happens if Joe Lewis and the other shareholders refuse the offer and JPM walk away ?

You heard it here first ... Thursday, March 20, 2008 Curveball" CIA Psyops operation to discredit Bundesnachrichtendienst to begin over Easter weekend

Now it's all over the place abc here, here, here, pics here

Let's extinguish the Olympic flame

In-out,In-out Sarkozy comes to the aid of perfide Albion to promote L'entente cordiale

Nicolas Sarkozy to bolster force in Afghanistan with 1,000 extra troops

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will tell Gordon Brown next week that France plans to send an extra 1,000 soldiers to Afghanistan to bolster the battle against the Taleban. Senior ministers have told The Times (March 22nd 2008) that Mr Sarkozy wants to underline his commitment to the alliance during his state visit to Britain.

Sarkozy calls for timetable for troop exit from Iraq

French President Nicolas Sarkozy made his first major foreign policy speech since taking office at the Elysee Palace before 180 ambassadors to France (Monday 28th August 2007) said Iraq's road to recovery begins with a clear timetable for the pullout of foreign troops as he outlined an assertive role for France in world hotspots.

Sarkozy recalled that France had opposed the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 "A clear horizon must be defined concerning the withdrawal of foreign troops," Sarkozy said .

Chief Constable Michael Todd, death in the hills and death on the road .. a useful and fascinating analysis

Pic from Freewheeler at Crap Waltham Forest who has a fascinating take on the career of top Met shagger Chief Constable Michael Todd in a lengthy , detailed and well informed rant (The petrolhead's copper) about how his policies have resulted in greater danger on the roads to children and other road users in London and Manchester.

He concludes .....

"Having for years blocked the introduction of speed cameras in Manchester and massively reduced traffic policing, how did Mike Todd choose to get around the city? You guessed – a 4X4. His dangerous and prejudiced style of policing put the most vulnerable – children, cyclists and pedestrians – at risk, but he was not prepared to share those risks himself. Instead he preferred the protection offered by a Range Rover."

It was of course a Range Rover that was left at Lanberis that he was said to have driven from Manchester and left there before he climbed Snowdon in the worst storm for 10 years.

Nobody saw him leave it there, and non-one has been identified as having found him and his half (?) empty gin bottle and his jacket ......

Cyprus talks and Ledra Street opens .... again

Michael Moller the United Nations permanent representative in Nicosia, Michael Moller, hosted a historic meeting in Nicosia on Friday between Demetris Christofias, the newly elected president of the EU and Eurozone member state of Cyprus and Mehmet Ali Talat, the leader of the Turkish community in the Turkish occupied northern part of the Island of Cyprus.

They agreed on a timeline for resuming talks and to open a pedestrian crossing on Ledra Street in Nicosia . Committees and working groups will prepare for talks that would begin in three months.

Hurriyet reports that kicking off the process off will be a meeting at 1300 GMT today ( Monday, March 24th) in the UN offices between Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat's Special Representative for EU and UN talks Ozdil Nami and Greek Cypriot Administration Commissioner Georgios Iacovou and will focus on establishing Working Groups and Technical Committees.

There are reports that retired but influential Turkish Cypriot hardliner Rauf Denktash told Talat this week to demand a "two state" solution for Cyprus in his showdown with Christofias.

British High Commissioner in Nicosia Peter Millett said ina written statement “This is an important first step towards negotiations, which we hope, will lead to the reunification of the island,it is a clear demonstration that the two leaders have the political will to tackle the issues and work for a solution.”

Don't hold your breath

Heparin - B Braun issue nationwide product recall after supplier notifies contaminated suuples

B. Braun Medical Inc. (est.1839) began recalling 23 lots of pre- mixed injectable Heparin Sodium in 5% Dextrose and 0.9% Sodium Chloride injection solution on March 21st , 2008 from the US and Canada. This is a precautionary measure as their supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories (SPL), disclosed that one lot of Heparin Sodium, USP Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient acquired by B. Braun Medical Inc. had a heparin-like contaminant.

To date, B. Braun Medical Inc. has not received any adverse event reports related to this issue. B Braun recall FDA recall notice

The Law of Unintended consequences Part : 27

The Good old days - stuff cows into feed lots and stuff them with corn ?

OK cows were made to eat gras, corn swells their livers and them susceptible to Eschericiia coli 0157 - harmless to the bovines but deadly in humans , especially children and the elderly. No E. coli vaccine has yet been approved for use in cattle.

Now the ethanol boom has pushed up feed prices and cut feedlot profits.

Cutting costs, the feedlot operators have taken to using distillers grains -- the leftover mush from ethanol fermentation.

Every 56 lb bushel of corn spits out 18 lbs of distillers grains. A ethanol production bumps up - 2.1 Bn gallons in 2002 to an expected 9 billion gallons this year , the dstillers grains end up in cattle feed also hog and poultry feed.

The Coloradoan reports on the problems this distillers grain is causng .

1. Increased susceptibility to E. coli 0157 the USDA recently admitted, this may account for last year's spike in meat recalls. Meatpackers recalled a record 33.4 million pounds of beef last year for possible E. coli contamination, up from just 181,900 pounds in 2006, according to the USDA. The old record of 25.6 million pounds was set in 1997. The 21 recalls last year - the most since 2002 - included one by now-defunct Topps Meat Co. that totaled 21.7 million pounds

2. In making ethanol sulphur is added and high levels of sulfur can cause sulfur toxicity in cattle. It doesn't taint meat,but cattle (and do) suffer neurological damage that causes the animals to ram their heads into the wall, stare up at the sky and, if not treated, die.

Just to put you off your tea, read about the downer cow scandal when workers at Chino based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., were caught on video (Humane Society of the United States ) abusing the enfeebled animals in an attempt to get them stagger to slaughter -- where their flesh would be mixed with that of other cows, and sent to market - the slaughterhouse in question is a major supplier of beef to the National School Lunch Program.

The USDA has imposed FEb 15th 2008 the most massive meat recall in U.S. history on the slaughterhouse, affecting 143 Mn. pounds of frozen beef.

Officials estimate that about 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten.

3. Boosting corn yields leads to mining phosphate rocks, the ethanol process apparently concentrates the phosphorus taken up by corn into distillers grains, where it becomes a pollution problem once it runs through cows' guts.

A 2006 Iowa State University study found that feeding 20 percent or 40 percent distillers grains increased feedlot phosphorous in manure by 60 percent to 120 percent.

This seeps into ground and water, causing eutrophication, algal blooms and dead fish in the Gulf of Mexico.

Yet more distillers grains are being produced .. and fed to more cows ...

Ethanol producers churned out 10 million tons of distillers grains in 2006 -- which will increase to 16 million tons in 2010 of which 75-80% are being fed to dairy and beef cattle," more E. coli 0157, more cows downed by sulfur sickness, and more dead fish?

Now hush, hush - no use for the waste grains, will put up costs, fucks the enrgy usage equations to justify the whole fucking madness of growing food to fuel cars.

The Des Moines Reguister had an article in January Scientists study possible link between ethanol byproduct and E. coli on the studies underway at the U of Kansas and the U of Nebraska after one study showed study a twofold increase in E. coli levels in cattle fed the waste grains compared with those that ate only corn.

"I'm not about to tell the cattlemen what they are going to feed their cows," the USDA's food-safety czar Richard Raymond said -- after acknowledging that feeding cows distillers grains threatens food safety.

The President of the Iowa Cattlemen's Association, said he pays US$35 a ton for distillers grains, the equivalent of $2.85 a bushel for corn. In his area, corn has been selling for more than $4 a bushel. It takes the equivalent of 70 bushels of corn to fatten a steer. (Some people see distillers grains reaching $6.10 or $6.50 per bushel by the end of 2008. )

There is a plan however - export the problem. 2007 was a record year for distillers grains exports. USDA data shows the U.S. exported 2.36-million metric tons of distillers grains in 2007 -- an increase of 88% on the 1.25-million metric tons exported in 2006 -- and nearly triple 2004 levels.

Want more information ? Distillers Grains Quarterly may provide some answers.

Wasn't there a problem in the UK cow and beef herd when they fed them something unhealthy ?

New reports of MRSA in butchered pork meat for retail sale - this time in Canada

We posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Dutch Consumer research body finds 11% of pork is contaminated with MRSA bacteria about the findings of a study by The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority reported finding that in testing 1293 samples of unheated meat taken in the retail trade (supermarkets, butchers, poulterers, etc.),throughout Holland, 11% were contaminated with the hospital bacteria MRSA.

Canadian Researchers find MRSA in pork meat for retail sale

Canadian researchers found that just under 10 % of sampled pork chops and ground pork recently purchased in four provinces tested positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA

Dr. Scott Weese reported these findings last Wednesday March 20th in a presentation to the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.

The bacteria would be destroyed by proper cooking, so Staph food poisoning is not a major concern, said Weese, the pathogens robably simply pass back and forth between people and animals.

People simply handling meat with MRSA on its surface could end up inadvertently "colonizing" themselves. People who carry the bacteria on their skin or in their nostrils are at greater risk of going on to develop a Staph infection, which can range from a hard-to-heal boil to pneumonia to a potentially deadly bloodstream infection.

"My main concern is: if there's MRSA on the surface of a pork chop and someone's handling it and then they touch their nose, could they transmit it from the pork chop to their nose?" noted Weese,from Department of Clinical Studies, at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph.

Where MRSA infections were once mainly acquired in hospital, in recent years increasing rates of infections have been recorded in people who haven't been in hospitals and haven't been taking antibiotics.

The startling rise in so-called community acquired MRSA infections in the United States - a trend that is now being seen in parts of Canada - has led scientists to look for ways to explain the changing pattern of infections.

This is the first confirmed report of MRSA in retail meat in North America .

Scott Weese spoke at the 1st International Conference on MRSA in Animals attended by 65 delegates at the University of Liverpool last year about MRSA in horses. (Also see recent report here about MRSA in cats, dogs and other hoursehold pets)

MRSA in Ohio pigs

The Ohio Environmental Council (OEC)says legislation is necessary to phase out the use of human antibiotics as animal feed additives as concern has risen that hog farms are behind the recent and rapid spread of MRSA.

The OEC plans to "pressure both state and federal officials" for action this year, and calls widespread use of antibiotics on hog farms a rising threat to human health:"Researchers have linked transmission of a new strain of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) to farmers, their families, veterinarians and hospital staff treating farm-infected patients. The heavy use of antibiotics in industrialized livestock operations contributes to the proliferation of anti-biotic resistant bacteria, resulting in 100,000 MRSA infections in the U.S., including 19,000 deaths, according to a 2005 study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."Recognizing that identifying and controlling sources of MRSA is a public health urgency."

The OEC is urging the U.S. Congress and the Food and Drug Administration to study MRSA infections and deaths. As the state level, the OEC is establishing programs to educate policy makers and the public on the need for animal feed distributors to report on their use of antibiotic use in feed products

Action on farm animals as a source of MRSA in humans

It is evident that thespread of MRSA from infected animals by way of butchered meat is a potent pathway for resistant bacteria. It must be a matter of urgency to identify the nature and level of such infections and to detremine a public health policy to deal with it effectively...and fast.

Mike the Mad Biologist has an excellent post about MRSA in pigs in Holland and quotes a study
van Rijen MM, Van Keulen PH, Kluytmans JA. 2008. Increase in a Dutch hospital of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus related to animal farming. Clin Infect Dis. 2008 Jan 15;46(2):261-3.

A Commentator to his blog Pat Gardiner, (blog "Self Sufficiency in Style") evidently well informed states ..."The current problem probably started in England in 1999. There was a mutation in a disease called PMWS and a very nasty epidemic which was hushed up. The pigs were fed massive quantities of antibiotic to get them to the slaughterhouse." she also adds ;

The current MRSA wave of epidemics started here in Norfolk England with a mutation back in 1999 and Britain tried to hush it up, feeding antibiotics to try to control the situation. They continued to export breeding stock and spread the disease.
This gives a reasonably reliable history of PMWS in England
http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/6/production-and-mgmt/1409/effects-of-disease-on-pig-performance-a-review ..."The subsequent emergence of PMWS and epidemic PDNS in 1999 has made the situation much worse and the U.K. pig industry has not yet recovered. In addition enteric disease incidence was aggravated by the ban on certain growth promoters in July 1999 and doubtless will be aggravated still further by a total ban on these products in 2006."

This gives the British government position on testing pigs
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/zoonoses/mrsa.htm who say (amongst a lot else,) "There is no current evidence that food-producing animals form a reservoir of infection in the UK and the organism has not been detected in farmed livestock in the UK. Defra has initiated a study undertaken by the VLA to test Staphylococcus aureus isolates obtained from bovine clinical submissions for MRSA. This project commenced in Autumn 2006 and, to date, 425 samples have been tested, with no MRSA identified. "

... and the ears prick up when Pat Gardiner says ....You have stumbled onto a biggy. I have 7000 documents, gave evidence to the House of Commons and OLAF the serious fraud squad of the EU. I'm not very popular.

Deep shit

So what happens on Tuesday ? Holidays and a vacation from reality is over boys.

The baboons who yank mindlessly at the financial levers face a grim choice.

The big bad boyz on the block, the banks, brokers and bullshit merchants from Bishopsgate to Canary Wharf - the crafty fuckers created and traded fraudulent "securities". The dozy, hedonistic, gullible, credulous losers , who borrowed too much money trying to get rich quick, or trying to live like the millionaires they admire so much on the idiot box in the corner of their heavily hocked hutch.

They can take the high road of moral hazards - let them sink (because sure as hell they are never going to swim against this tide of fiscal imprudence) suffer the consequences of their bad choices. Maybe they could (if they can find a dock big enough) prosecute some of the culpable bankers and corporate executives - starting with that bunch of criminals at Northern Wreck.

OR

Accept the never ending capacity for cowardice , let these losers off the hook, wreck the whole machinery of capital by debasing the medum of exchange.

The Treasury, the FSA, The Bank and their claques in the Press can't face the losses, so for now they've apparently decided to wreck the currency.

3 months ago 67 pence would buy a Euro, today you need 79pence - a devaluation against our major trading partners of 19%.

But these blinkered bankers and their cheerleaders in the press have had a temporary reprieve in the financial markets. This reckless gang of bankers have been able to lick their wounds and lick Lord Kings backside as he promises even more Niagara's of funds to stave off the meltdown.

Much has been made of the "false" rumour that HBOS were in trouble - my god, every scribbler on Threadneeedle Street was blogging, writing columns that these nasty shysters were trying to bring the market down - did anyone ask the dreadful question - was HBOS bust ?

Hell NO. The shock and the recognition that many big institutions, household names, are worse than flat broke and are therefore powerless to conduct normal operations is something that the boneheads in the City cannot, will not, dare face.

Flat broke, means that all those RMBS (Residential Mortgage Backed Securities) are slowly deflating ... that deflation has a quickening pace. The non-payment stage is moving inexorably to defaults and onwards to repossessions on a grand scale.

Even if Lord King with his helicopters drops more money every week £5Bn.. £6 BN... bailing out feckless mortgage holders, the "lie to buy" ...ers, everything will hit the buffers when we have to disassemble who owns what . Diced and scliced, mixed and re-mixed, in a toxic token of debt, shuffled around like a parcel at a party these "securities" off-loaded onto countless dupe "investors" ranging from municipal funds in obscure corners of foreign nations to countless public employee retirement plans.

All secured by the legal systems of Trusts held in those centres of financial probity in the Dutch Antilles, Cayman islands, Virgin Islands, and a little nearer home, the festering pits of money jugglers in Jersey, Gurnsey and the Isle of Man.

What do we do on Tuesday ?

As the margin call is made on the market, as the sucking chest wound absorbs the helicopter funds like the surgical swabs soak up the blood, the flat line buzzer will buzz as the folks in intensive care stare desperately at the flickering screen.

Businesses will shutter, payrolls, empty, families evicted.

There will be a lot of pissed off little people out there who put their faith in banks, big business and and prayed as they filled in their Lotto cards weekly.

This is what it looked like in Boca Raton last week when they couldn't be assured of housing funds ...



I tell you, the speed of this is going to astonish everybody.

UPDATE D Telegraph 24.3.08 Fed's rescue halted a derivatives Chernobyl by Ambrose Evans Pritchard

Spitzer outed by Roger Stone - a man whose political morals are lower than a snake's belly

Roger Stone (website)is a sleaze ball - "Roger Stone, a volunteer adviser with Bob Dole's presidential campaign and onetime chairman for Sen. Arlen (one magic bullet killed Kennedy) Specter's short-lived White House bid, yesterday denied allegations that he visited a sex club with his wife and placed X-rated ads on the Internet and in magazines."

..." The Post quoted Mr. Stone as conceding that the bills for the postings on the Internet site were paid for with his credit card. He told the newspaper the post office box number listed on the Internet site belonged to him, but had been improperly obtained. In June, Mr. Stone was named to the Dole campaign's "Clinton Accountability Team" of surrogates to help make Mr. Dole's case against the Democratic incumbent.

Stone, known for shutting down the 2000 presidential election recount effort in Miami-Dade County, is a longtime Spitzer nemesis whose political experience ranges from the Nixon White House to Al Sharpton's presidential campaign. ... he was the man who brought you the famous Willie Horton TV ad.

Stone got his attorney Paul Rolf Jensen of Costa Mesa, Calif. to write to the FBI on November 19th that Stone learned from ''a social contact in an adult-themed club - Miami Velvet " about Spitzers frolicing with prostitutes... and the killer information that .."Gov. Spitzer did not remove his mid-calf length black socks during the sex act."

The rest is hosiery.

Police refuse to implement Law (s.141 Licensing Act 2003) to stop sales of alcohol to drunks

Mark Hoban MP on Wednesday 19th March asked the Home Office how many prosecutions for sale of alcohol to a drunk person have been pursued in each criminal justice area in each of the last 10 years; and how many resulted in conviction.

They provided this information via Vernon Croaker Minister at the Home Office in a Written Parliamentary answer ;

The following table provides information on the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for sale of alcohol to a drunken person, under section 141 of the Licesing Act 2003. The data has been broken down by police force area.

Data is provided for 2004 to 2006 only as prior to the Licensing Act 2003 coming into force, data for the offence was not held to the level of detail required.

In addition to court proceedings, the offence was added to the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme on 4 April 2005. Data has been provided for the number issued by police force area in 2005 and 2006.

Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts found guilty at all courts and the number of penalty notices for disorder issued for the sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk under the licensing act 2003 section 141, by police force area, England and Wales 2004 to 2006( 1, 2)
	Proceeded against at magistrates court			Found guilty at all courts			Penalty notices for disorder issued
Police force area	2004	2005	2006	2004	2005	2006	2005	2006
Avon and Somerset	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Bedfordshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
British Transport police	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	1
Cambridgeshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Cheshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Cleveland	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—
Cumbria	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6
Derbyshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Devon and Cornwall	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1
Dorset	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Durham	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Essex	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Gloucestershire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Greater Manchester	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3
Hampshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1
Hertfordshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Humberside	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Kent	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	1
Lancashire	—	—	1	—	—	—	4	4
Leicestershire	—	—	—	—	—	—	8	2
Lincolnshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—
London, City of	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Merseyside	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Metropolitan	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	7
Norfolk	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
North Yorkshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Northamptonshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Northumbria	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Nottinghamshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
South Yorkshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—
Staffordshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4
Suffolk	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Surrey	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Sussex	—	—	—	—	—	—	7	1
Thames Valley	—	—	1	—	—	1	—	—
Warwickshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
West Mercia	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	—
West Midlands	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
West Yorkshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1
Wiltshire	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3
Dyfed Powys	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Gwent	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
North Wales	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5
South Wales	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
England and Wales	—	—	2	—	—	1	32	47
n/a = Not applicable. (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (2) Court proceedings data are provided on the principal offence basis, PND data are a count of tickets issued. Sharp eyed observers will note that less than one person a week is found guilty of selling alcohol to a person who is drunk. It is evident to anyone that this offence is committed in massive numbers every day and every night on licensed premises - a trawl round the House of Commons bars would be highly productive. Surely if the Police were more active in prosecuting Licensees who offend , it would result in lower levels of offence as they would be threatened with losing their license and livelihood.

It can only be assumed therefore that the Police refuse to implement the law.

Let's put out the Olympic Flame on April 6th

Boeng Dreamliner 787 Horizontal stabiliser made in Italy passes static structural testing

Alenia Aeronautica’s chief technical officer, Nazario Cauceglia says of completed and satisfactory static tests in the laboratory at Pomigliano ofthe Boeing Dreamliner 787 tail assembly "we have once again verified the effectiveness of the innovative structural and technological solution adopted for the 787 stabilizer. This is a testament to our company’s capability of managing the whole process of design, development, production and testing of complex composite material components."

Designed and manufactured at the Foggia plant of Alenia Aeronautica the horizontal stabilizer is made of two monolithic co-cured side pieces and one central element, is 20 meters long and, like the 787 fuselage and wings, is made of carbon fiber materials. The co-cured box of the 787’s horizontal stabilizer is, to date, one of the biggest composite monolithic structures ever built for a commercial airplane; and is manufactured in a one-shot autoclave cure cycle starting from 27 uncured components. This process was developed from Alenia Aeronautica’s proprietary technology and represents an innovative production process, making the Foggia facility one of the most important plants in the world for composite material production.

The first production horizontal stabilizer was shipped to Boeing in April 2007.

Chief Constable Michael Todd gets laid ... to rest

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to Kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

(Ecclesiastes Chp 3 v 1–4)

Is the fine reading at the head of Time4Reflection the curious website of Sheryl Sleigh. It was her birthday on March 8th which she spent with Chief Constable Michael Todd .

The Mail on Sunday says ..."Twice-wed Mrs Sleigh, currently married to Christopher T. Sleigh, who at 70 is 28 years her senior, is the author of spiritual poetry based on the meaning of life and love and has published her work in several books. "

"Mrs Sleigh and her husband live in a large imposing stone-built farmhouse down a private road on the wild moors above Hyde in Cheshire – where mass murderer Dr Harold Shipman lived.
On Friday, an elderly man who would not identify himself as Mr Sleigh refused to answer questions or allow our reporter to contact Mrs Sleigh. "

Safety concerns over the Boeing 787 - last year's Dan Rather show

On Tuesday, September 18, 2007 Lord Patel posted Boeing 787 Dreamliner - ex Boeing engineer with 46 yrs experience raises major concerns about safety on Dan Rather show tonight

This concerned the upcoming Dan Rather show about Vincent Weldon and his concerns about the Boeing 787 jetliner. Vincent had worked for Boeing for 46 years from 1969-2006 - he has worked on structural design of the Space Shuttle Orbiter and wored on composite structures from 1973 - 2006. working with USAF and NASA.

He gives his address as 2970 Initial Avenue,Enumclaw, WA 98022 (360)825-78.

Vincent wrote to The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on July 24thb 2007 (11 page pdf text in full) and outlined his concerns about the Dreamliner as a response to the FAA invitation for people to submit comments in rule making - advertised in the Federal register on Monday 11th 2007.-"proposed Rules"

When Vincent raised his concerns at work he was told ..." You're dangerous, and you need to find another job" . He retired fom Boeng.

The Google video of the Dan Rather program - first 32 minutes of this complete show explains more ...


The complete survivability of the Boeing 777 at Heathrow recently demonstrates the point about crash survivabilty.

To this must be aded the repeatedly expressed concerns ove weight wich resulted in slimming down the wing box, which after stress testing has to be re-designed and strengthened.

In the light of this , a recent Boeing announcement is of interest....

The Boeing Company today (Press Release Feb 6th 2008) announced it has entered into an agreement with India-based TAL Manufacturing Solutions Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors Ltd., for manufacturing structural components for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner airplane program.

Under the agreement, TAL Manufacturing Solutions will build floor beams for the 787 using new technology with advanced titanium and composite materials. These floor beams will be used on the 787 Dreamliner and provide for a best-value solution and significant weight savings.

The floor beams for the 787 airplane will be produced at TAL's new facility in Nagpur, India, and then transported to Boeing partners in Japan, Italy and the United States for further assembly.

Greenspan - Financial Crisis ? Don't blame me, I was the Chairman of the Fed

Former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan refused responsibility for the US subprime mortgage crisis on Monday, saying he tried to warn the investment market of the risks posed by the mortgage products.


"Where once more-marginal applicants would simply have been denied credit, lenders are now able to quite efficiently judge the risk posed by individual applicants and to price that risk appropriately. These improvements have led to rapid growth in subprime mortgage lending; indeed, today subprime mortgages account for roughly 10 percent of the number of all mortgages outstanding, up from just 1 or 2 percent in the early 1990s.

.....we must conclude that innovation and structural change in the financial services industry have been critical in providing expanded access to credit for the vast majority of consumers, including those of limited means.

This fact underscores the importance of our roles as policymakers, researchers, bankers, and consumer advocates in fostering constructive innovation that is both responsive to market demand and beneficial to consumers. "

Alan Greenspan
Federal Reserve System’s Fourth Annual Community Affairs Research Conference, Washington, D.C. April 8, 2005