Taliban very nearly kill PM - inches from certain death - one bound our hero is free .. : Amazing Pictures

Crikey! We are very lucky. The Taliban very nearly killed Gordon Brown 64, (Prime Minister currently) when he made a surprise visit to Kabul before spending time enjoying himself at the Olympics with Boris.

Two gunmen (see pic) were seen when he was going to be ferried in one of the few helicopters we have left, from the roof of the Embassy - regrettably when ,"Afghan police rushed to the rooftop scene the two gunmen are understood to have realised they had been spotted—and escaped"

Phew!

"The PM spent another 45 minutes sheltering inside the embassy ." Then .... "....a massive security operation swung into action for the 10-minute flight to the city’s international airport."

Phew ! Crikey! PM Minutes away (literally) from death.

Now this 2 week old story can be told - HOLD THE FRONT PAGE ! More thrilling details at NWOT Plus Gap year girls porn shame

The Putin Doctrine: Nuclear Threats and Russia's Place in the World - : Part 23

Stratfor published an analysis on January 17th, 2000 -The Putin Doctrine: Nuclear Threats and Russia's Place in the World, which in the light of the Topol firecracker this week is worth re-reading.

No matter how unlikely a Russian first strike is, there is a huge difference between a negligible threat and a non-existent one, particularly at the orders of magnitude involved. During the Cold War, the threat of a Soviet nuclear response was in the back of every policy maker's mind when dealing with issues from Nicaragua to Angola to India. That threat disappeared with Glasnost. Putin intends to resurrect it.

The establishment of a deep militarily backed buffer zone along the Russian / Georgian border can also be seen in a different perspective ..

With some reason, Russians are convinced that outside forces - backed by the United States - are supplying Chechen rebels through neighboring Georgia. The situation in Chechnya reminds many Russian military men of Afghanistan, where a great power created logistical support systems and sanctuaries in a neighboring country, bleeding Moscow's forces. Putin is now reminding the United States that the survival of the Russian Federation - intact - is a fundamental national interest. Therefore, any aid to the Chechens threatens an interest so profound that the use of nuclear weapons might be rational.

Putin was then as now speaking to a domestic audience ...

Putin remembers Afghanistan well. He is not going to be drawn into another Afghanistan, nor is he going to withdraw from Chechnya. In the extreme case, anything is possible. And that is precisely the ambiguous situation Putin wants to create. He wants Russia's antagonists to peer into the abyss and see the worst. He is calculating, quite rightly we think, that this will dramatically increase the caution and respect with which Russia is treated. That will yield an international payoff for Russia - and a massive domestic payoff for Putin.

The moves Putin has made seem to be paying off very well for Putin.

We have a Chancellor of the Exchequer appearing in public to explain like the Treasurer explaining to the Sidesmen that, although the books don't appear to balance, and the Vicar has an excellent record, a little more rattling of the collection plates and a few firm stares might well be in order.

We have the Boy David appearing in Ukraine attempting to appear stern, learned and statesmanlike, but is clearly out of his depth as were the Ukraine's last month in the worst floods for 100 years - floods unreported in the UK and for which we offered zero aid or support .....

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov is a famed Chess player ...

Sarah Palin - Good Choice say Wall Street Journal readers

Sarah Palin as "Mrs Doubtfire in the White House", is brilliant pick for VP - 4 more years of Bushism is a slam dunk

Sarah Palin GILF is a brilliant pick for VP.

Young - Younger than Obama -youngest person elected governor of Alaska and the first woman to hold the job
Pro Life - a decision "above Obama's pay grade" and she has 5 children , the youngest has Down's syndrome
Married to a Native American - an Inuit
Pro Military - her son is waiting to go and be killed in Iraq
Lifetime member of the NRA
Sporting - Basketball, hunting , fishing
Qualified Pilot

Blunt but sharp, outspoken and charming and very good looking - runner-up for the Miss Alaska title, won Miss Congeniality in that contest and plays the flute.

Palin made her name in part by backing tough ethical standards for politicians. During the first legislative session after her election as governor, her administration passed a state ethics law. Now Ted Stevens, his son and his cronies face prison if they don't 'fess up. Vic Kohring now ex Senator is now in prison for taking VECO bribes.

Nevertheless, she is under investigation because state trooper Mike Wooten, was locked in a child-custody battle with her sister. She (or someone from her office )asked Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegano sack him. He didn't so she sacked Walter.

She has denied wrongdoing and Repugs will see that this is a mother protecting her brood. Nobody sides with cheating husband.This report covers the whole sordid saga of TROOPERGATE But see Why Walt Monegan got fired: Palin's abuse of power


This covers the SHADOW shadow Governor's role and Andrew Halcro on him ad nauseam
intereisting Inuit is Todd.

It's a disaster for the West that Mr Fix a Dent will be Commander in Chief but that's Democracy.
Palin subscribes to the need for Congress to allow the development of Alaska’s wealth of oil and gas - as she sees it , billions and billions of barrels of oil and trillions of feet of natural gas are under their feeet. She doubts global warming stems from human activity, and she considers herself both a fiscal and social conservative.

Nobody saw this coming ? see here Aug 4th even 8th May the 22nd Aug and just Google around with AIPAC and Palin - but see House Leader Steny Hoyer (His sister was Chairman 3 years ago of AIPAC) video who says Palin is worse than Dan Quayle.

Mr Rove's handiwork.

My God, Shrillary and Nancy will be spitting feathers - marble ceilings indeed!!

FOOTNOTE : There is criticism of her lack of knowledge / experience on Foreign Policy - most voters in the US think that abroad is a lady with too much make up, and overseas is a town in Alabama.

They'll soon get her glasses fixed - although maybe not.

FOOTNOTES : Saturday am BST


Interesting connections between Sarah Palin and Rabbi Greenburg (also pally with Ted Stevens BTW) whose Chabad community he set up in 1991 . The free and liberal minded Cabalistic Rabbi was successful in having a recital cancelled at U of Anchorage by Philip Munger, "The Skies Are Weeping," about Rachael Corey's murder , the lyrics provoked some anger. See them and hear some of the cantata here
4. Song: God the Synecdoche in His Holy Land in memoriam Rachel Corrie

Around you the father gods war. This

Father. That father. The other father.

What more dangerous place could

A woman stand, upright, than on that sand, as if

She were still antiphon to that voice, the other

Mind of that power. The very idea!

Crush her back in to her mother!

Crush her. Crush her. Consensus. War.

-- Linda McCarriston


Also references to the D9 Caterpillar 'dozer that killed her...

Philip Munger writes at Firedoglake having set up a Ted Fest poetry Festival in commemeration of the Feds bustin' Ted Stevens at his Girdwood Lodge - the only time ever a Senator has been busted at home.

Winners include ;

Ted Stevens glows at midnight.
Son already sunk.
Glaciers calving justice

--- Prairie Sunshine

There are odd things done in the midnight sun
By the men whom Oil has sold
Their fishy tales meet with hearty gales
from wise heads when they are told
The FBI’s knights have recited some rights
but the queerest they ever had read
was that night by the mouse of a Girdwood house
that belonged to Senator Ted.

--- Darkblack

FOOTNOTE : BTW when Lord Patel researched his post Sunday, August 24, 2008 Alaska Airlines complete replacement of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 fleet to save US$115 Mn. + a year on fuel - and some fishy goings on in Alaska he archived the Wiki page of Sara Palin (August 21st) which you can see here ... compare and contrast with today's... some one has been sprucing it up.

We also got an e-mail from Larry Greenfield, the California director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, "Governor Palin has a very close relationship with the Jewish community of Alaska, with Chabad (Rabbi Greenberg) and with AIPAC. She is close to the Frozen Chosen!"

This is what he said on the RJC website - ""By choosing Governor Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential candidate, John McCain once again demonstrates good judgment and a commitment to challenging politics-as-usual. As governor of Alaska, Palin has enjoyed a strong working relationship with Alaska's Jewish community. She has demonstrated sensitivity to the concerns of the community and has been accessible and responsive. "

Some Alaskan Blogs to Read ;

Alaska Anonymous

Alaska Cafe

Alaska Chinook

Alaska Employment Law

Alaska Peace Coalition

Alaska Real

Alaskablawg

An Alaskan Abroad

Bent Alaska

and best of all Progressive Alaska also checkout our old friend Stacey Fritz at No Nukes North and here's a message from her ..


Finally unbelievably this guy has been boosting Sarah Palin as Veep for over a year at "Draft Sarah Palin"

The Future of Privacy

The September 2008 issue of Scientific American is all about the Future of Privacy.

Content includes:

Industry Roundtable: Experts Discuss Improving Online Security
Internet Eavesdropping: A Brave New World of Wiretapping
How RFID Tags Could Be Used to Track Unsuspecting People
Digital Surveillance: Tools of the Spy Trade
Data Fusion: The Ups and Downs of All-Encompassing Digital Profiles
Cryptography: How to Keep Your Secrets Safe
Beyond Fingerprinting: Is Biometrics the Best Bet for Fighting Identity Theft?
Tougher Laws Needed to Protect Your Genetic Privacy
Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy?
How Loss of Privacy May Mean Loss of Security
Privacy in an Age of Terabytes and Terror

Areva, 2 year delay and massive cost increases on Olkiluoto 3 - Half Year profits rise

Greenpeace have been sniping at French nuclear group Areva (see postFriday, August 15, 2008
Greenpeace and the Magic Documents - How they are mongering scares and totally missing the point about nuclear power - it's too expensive chuck ) and their problems in building the world's first, next-generation pressurised water reactor , the Finnish Olkiluoto 3.

The cost of construction at Olkiluoto has risen from 3 to 4.5 billion euros (US$ 6.7 Bn.), and Areva admits the need to boost staff levels "ensure work proceeds better."

Finnish nuclear safety agency STUK launched a probe earlier this month into whether safety procedures were respected at the site after Greenpeace disclosed confidential documents indicating there were no qualified personnel supervising the welding and that the quality of the welding had not been verified.

Areva has been forced to set aside one billion euro in provisions to absorb the rise in costs, the French business newspaper Echo eports as Areva nnounce record profits of nearly 750 million euros today.

Construction delays have already forced Areva to push back the target date for the reactor to enter service to 2011 from 2009.


Should therefore EDF get into bed with British Energy (improbably incredibly John Hutton Minister of some crazy name thinks a deal is still possible), this news must impact upon the whole flawed energy planning of the UK and the forecast costs of plants and the electricity produced.

Areva produced half year results today

These show that Profits were up 14.8% and operating margin up from 3.9% to 8.7% with EPS up from 8.31 Euros to 21.45 Euros.

The Order backlog has risen 13.6% to 38.5Bn Euros

IFA 2000 - strategic link at the heart of the European electricity market.

It is of interest of course that part of that backlog includes the announcement in July that AREVA's Transmission and Distribution Division has been awarded a contract with the UK National Grid and RTE, to enhance the reliability and reinforce availability of IFA 2000, the world's largest subsea High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) scheme opened in 1986 which can supply electricity for 3 Mn. people.

This subsea system interconnects the French and British national power systems from Mandarins near Calais, to Sellindge in Kent and enables France to sell us electricity from the French nuclear powered grid.

AREVA will replace the existing high-voltage converter equipment and the control and cooling system, implementing its H-400 HVDC Thyristor valves and Series V control system. Learn more hereabout this critical system and Europe's closely linked electricity network.

Chalabi ally arrested by US military at Baghdad Airport returning from Lebanon - responsible for Sadr City bomb that killed 12 including 4 US staff

Ali Faisal al-Lami, a senior Shiite Iraqi government official who works for the de-Baathification council headed by the oleaginous but well connected (in Arlington VA) Ahmad Chalabi stepped off a plane from a family holiday in Lebanon at Baghdad International airport yesterday.

Ali Faisal al Lami, is a Shiite Muslim official and a member of the Sadrist Party and currently serves as an executive of the Justice and Accountability Committee, which Chalabi heads. The Justice and Accountability Committee screens former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party who are applying for jobs in the government.

Ali Faisal al Lami's first day back home started badly as he was arrested by US forces as he stepped off the plane..

Apparently they think he was responsible for the excellently targeted June 24th bombing of a district council meeting in Sadr City, which killed six Iraqis, two Americans employed by the State Department and two American soldiers.

The bombing was evidently based on very accurate and detailed inside information about the meeting @ 9.30 am local time, inside a district council building involving the 4 dead US personnel six Iraqis, and an Italian citizen employed by the Department of Defense According who had gathered to discuss (and no doubt rig) the election of senior local council members.

US Ambassaador Ryan Crocker, identified one of the victims as State Department employee Steven Farley from Oklahoma who was working with a provincial reconstruction team. (Steve's Guest Book Memorial here) Brian Conklin in Camp Tarji wrote ..."The last time I saw Steve was on Friday night. He came out to a little coffee house called the Mud House to hear a friend and I play some live jazz. He had that enthusiastic smile and energy about him. I only had a few months left and was feeling tired and burned out. I asked Steve about his decision to come back and the challenges of working in Sadr City. "

These deaths follow an incident on in a village in SE of Baghdad in which a security guard for an Iraqi politician grabbed his Kalashnikov automatic rifle and opened fire on at least a half-dozen American soldiers, killing two of them.

Mr. Chalabi was once the pal of Dick Cheney who fell in love with Mr Chalabi's Iraq National Council and showered them with the tax payers money ( the Defense Intelligence Agency said it was paying Chalabi’s organization $350,000 a month to provide information. ) , said in a statement after the arrest , “We condemn firmly this action against one of the high officials of the council.” ..."Chalabi condemned the arrest. “This incident shows the need for an end to the random arrest of Iraqis by the American forces, which are against the human rights outlined in the constitution. It proves for a fact that each Iraqi might be arrested or put in prison without knowing the reasons,”

In his book, "At the Centre of the Storm" (Amazon )former CIA Director George Tenet wrote ...

You had the impression that some Office of the Vice President and DOD reps were writing Chalabi’s name over and over again in their notes, like schoolgirls
with their first crush.

The multi faceted, multi friended Chalabi is now said to be a close ally of Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, who was involved in arranging the recent cease-fire between Iraqi forces and Sadr’s militia in Basra.

Representatives of the two Iranian-backed parties that anchor Iraq’s ruling Shiite bloc — the Dawa Party of Prime Minister al Maliki and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq — went to Iran for talks with high-level Iranian officials. They met Suleimani in Tehran, according to two insiders’ accounts, and then with Sadr himself in the holy city of Qom.

“A delegation went to speak to the officials in Iran in the name of the alliance, to ask them to encourage these groups to stay within the boundaries of the law,” said Ammar al Hakim, the son and senior aide of the leader of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. “They met with a number of officials, and Mr. Suleimani was one of them.”

At the same time Iraqi President Talabani, a pro-American Kurd on the weekend of March 28-29, a higher-level meeting took place at the Iran-Iraq border crossing at Mariwan. Talibani delivered to Suleimani what one Iraqi politician, speaking on condition of anonymity, called a plea: “Stop the fighting.”

The U.S. Treasury Department has placed Suleimani on a terrorism watch list of individuals with whom Americans are barred from doing business. In October 2007, Treasury named the Quds Force as a supporter of the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas and “other terrorist organizations.” U.N. Resolution 1747 of March 2007 ** put Suleimani on a watch list of Iranian officials associated with the country’s nuclear program.

"Ahmed Chalabi is a treacherous, spineless turncoat," says L. Marc Zell, (this in 2004 Ho.Ho.Ho.) a former law partner of Douglas Feith, who was for some time undersecretary of defense for policy, and a former friend and supporter of Chalabi and his aspirations to lead Iraq. "He had one set of friends before he was in power, and now he's got another."

Footnote

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps key persons named in UN resolution March 2007

1. Brigadier General Morteza Rezaie (Deputy Commander of IRGC)
2. Vice Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian (Chief of IRGC Joint Staff.)
3. Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi (Commander of IRGC Ground Forces)
4. Rear Admiral Morteza Safari (Commander of IRGC Navy)
5. Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi (Commander of Bassij resistance force)
6. Brigadier General Qasem Soleimani (Commander of Qods force)
7. General Zolqadr (IRGC officer, Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs)

plus

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps entities
1. Qods Aeronautics Industries (Produces unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), parachutes, paragliders, paramotors, etc. Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has boasted of using these products as part of its asymmetric warfare doctrine)
2. Pars Aviation Services Company (Maintains various aircraft including MI-171, used by IRGC Air Force)
3. Sho’a’ Aviation (Produces micro-

Qods force - not a pantomime act

Chinese (CNPC) sign services contract for Al Ahdan oilfield, Ahdab, Wasit province, Iraq for 20 years.

It wasn't only the invasion of Georgia that happened while the Olympics diverted attention - the US oilco's have been sidelined again on sigining contracts for Iraqi oilfields - this time by the Chinese.

A Chinese company has a contract to supply a new electricity power station in al-Zubaidiya in Wasit province, Iraq. This week it has been reported (WSJ and NYT) that China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC)has been awarded , and the US$3 Bn. contract signed off, for the nearby Al Ahdan oil field, which is expected to start first crude oil production in 2009, (which will feed the power station) according to Assem Jihad , an Iraqi oil ministry spokesman who spoke to Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Baghdad yesterday.

Jihad said the oil field would produce up to 25,000 barrels a day once the first stage has been completed after a year and , "The field would reach a production capacity of 125,000 barrels a day in later stages"

The Al Ahdan field is located at Ahdab in the Shiite dominated Wasit province, about 160 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. (See pic - River Tigris snakes E-W)

The 20-year oil service contract contract was signed in Beijing yesterday during a visit to China by Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani. The Al Ahdab field in Wasit province, has a proven oil reserve of 1 billion barrels.

The signing makes China National Petroleum Corp. the first foreign oil firm to enter an agreement with the central Iraqi government to invest in the domestic oil industry since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. This contract replaces a a production-sharing agreement made with Saddam Hussein's regime to develop the Al Ahdab field, giving it a 23-year stake in profits. It is the first Saddam-era oil deal to be honored by the new Iraqi government.

Before 2003, Iraq had oil agreements with China, Russia (which LUkoil are trying to re-negotiate) , Indonesia, India and Vietnam, three of them production sharing.

The new service contract specifies that China will receive fees for work carried out on the field but Iraq will keep the profits, the oil ministry said in a statement last week.



South Korea signs MOU with Iraq on Oil Field Development

There is no more news since of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by Oil ministers from Iraq and Korea on April 12th 2007 that could help South Korean companies secure a bigger stake in oil and gas fields in Iraq. Iraq currently supplies 15.4 million barrels of crude per year to South Korea, which is less than 2% of South Korea’s total crude imports.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal Al-Maliki was at the time in Seoul on a 3 day visit. The South Korean government said earlier that the two governments will seek ways to enhance cooperation in the fields of natural resources, energy and construction in Iraq during Al-Maliki's visit. South Korea is the world's 10th largest energy consumer and imports 96% of their energy needs.

The MOU was signed by Kim Young-ju, South Korea's minister of commerce, industry and energy, and Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraqi oil minister.Under the MOU, the two countries will establish a committee for cooperation of resource development and hold high-level working group meeting in Baghdad or other countries to "discuss bilateral cooperation in energy sector". The two sides also agreed to increase investment in oil development in Iraq.

The South Korean government expressed their strong willing of developing the Halfaya oil field in southern Iraq during the ministerial meeting. The Halfaya oil field is estimated to contain up to 3.8 billion barrels of oil.

South Korea imported 15 million barrels of crude oil from Iraq last year, making up for 2 percent of South Korea's annual needs.

At the time about 2,300 South Korean troops are stationed in northern Iraqi city of Irbil.


However only last month a South Korean consortium has agreed to participate in oil projects with Iraq's Kurdish regional government to secure an estimated 1.9 billion barrels of oil, according to group leader Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).

The consortium signed a memorandum of understanding on June 25th 2008 , with the regional government to participate in eight oil reserve projects estimated to have reserves of 7.2 Bn. barrels of oil.

The group, which includes builders such as Hyundai Engineering & Construction Kolon Construction and Doosan Construction , also agreed to participate in the construction of infrastructure worth $2.1 billion.

Disputes over the federal oil law between the largely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan and Baghdad have stalled international investment in Iraq.

Baghdad controls Iraq's export pipelines, and until the Kurdish region reaches an agreement with the federal government it will remain (in theory) unable to produce more oil although there are some small "widlcat drillers" at work.Norwegian wildcatter Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA, or DNO (They are also the second-largest operating company on the Norwegian Continental Shelf with 24 operatorships and interests in a total of 46 licenses.) has in fact hired Great Wall Drilling Co., a unit of Beijing-based China National Petroleum Corp., to drill for oil.

In March 2008, DNO signed revised agreements with the Kurdish Regional Government
(KRG), amending the production sharing contract (PSC) for the Dohuk and Erbil license areas.
The Dohuk area was divided into two license areas, one for the Tawke oil field and one for the
remaining Dohuk area. The purpose of the amendments has been to bring the PSCs into
conformity with the Oil and Gas Law of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the standard
commercial terms published by the KRG last year, including royalty, cost recovery and profit
sharing components. DNO s working interest share in the Tawke PSC is 55 %. Tawke PSC is considered to have 231 Mn barrels of oil.

Other drillers are : Canada's Western Oil Sands Inc. and Heritage Oil Corp.; Switzerland-based Addax Petroleum Corp.; Genel Enerji, a unit of Turkey's Cukurova Holding AS; and the U.K.'s Sterling Energy Plc are all exploring the region(See Bloomberg lengthy article on the wildcat scene July 1st 2007)

See posts - Saturday, March 01, 2008 Stop the War , Iraqi Oil Union Leader Hasan Juma and Ibrahim Mousawi - resistance personified and Sunday, July 09, 2006 Perfidious Albion cosies up to Kurdistan

Iraqi WEtlands re-flooded and re-populated - Sacred Ibis back and spreading globally : Amazing pictures

The Mesopotamian marshes where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet - reputed to be the location of the biblical Garden of Eden, have both a regional and global significance for biodiversity as well as human culture and survival. By 1999, 90% of the wetlands in Iraq had been converted into parched desert land due to the construction of dams and hundreds of drainage channels by the Iraqi government and the population plummeted from 500,000 to less than 50,000.

Canada's University of Waterloo's Wetlands Research Centre since 2004 have particpated in a project of marshland restoration which kicked off with funding of Can$3 Mn. from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), with the support of Aileen Carroll, Minister for International Cooperation.

At 20,000 Sq. Km. they are twice the size of the Florida Everglades. Originally water had returned to some 40% of the previous wetland areas by 2005. De-population was due both to forced resettlement program and campaigns of included indiscriminate attacks by artillery, helicopter gunships and fixed-wing aircraft on villages. The victims, among them women and children, were rounded up in the marshes of al-Chibayish (west of al-Qurna) together with captured fighters of the opposition SCIRI. There were reports that they were taken to an army camp in N Iraq, where they were executed over a period of about two weeks.

The first signs of revival of the ecology has been were the return of previously reported bird species of the region. These include the rare and indigenous Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus, Pygmy Cormorant, Goliath Heron, and African Darter Anhinga rufa, the Dalmatian Pelican and Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris.

While many dams and canals ordered to be built by Saddam in 1993 have been destroyed, large dams upstream both inside Iraq and in Turkey are preventing the spring water surges from the melting snows of the mountains in Kurdistan from arriving with the force needed to flush out the brackish water that accumulates in the summer months.

By this spring there is now said to be around 60 % of the previous wetland areas reflooded, thanks also in part to projects overseen by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Richard Porter, Middle East adviser to Birdlife International, says that in recent years at least 160 bird species have now been recorded of which some 65 species are of "conservation concern."

"They are not doing terribly well either in Europe or Asia or the Middle East - Seven of the species they have discovered are globally threatened -- three of these are endemic birds, the Iraq babbler Turdoides altirostris and the Grey Hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus , and the Basra reed warbler Acrocephalus griseldis which is now (remarkably) breeding in Israel.

"No species of bird has been discovered to have become extinct in the marshes. Everything that has been found is very positive for conservation," says Porter, illustrating the immense capacity for survival without man intervening.

Porter is co-author of "Field Guide to the Birds of Iraq." (Arabic edition only) which has just been published in Amman. Jordan on Lord Patel's birthday. Funding had been provided from funding from the Canadian Government via the Canada-Iraq Marshlands Initiative, the World Bank and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME) and AviFauna.

The book is based on illustrations and text taken from ‘Birds of the Middle East’ (in the Helm Field Guide series), recently translated into Arabic. Nature Iraq was responsible for adapting the text for Iraq, especially that on status, distribution and habitats. The publication was designed by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) in Jordan.

Copies of ‘Field Guide to the Birds of Iraq’ (price £15.00 including postage) can be obtained in the UK from OSME Sales: e-mail: sales@osme.org

A 5th survey of the marshlands birdlife has been underway all summer.

The Sacred and rapidly expanding Sacred Ibis

For reasons which are unclear the Sacred Ibis (but rapidly declared to be evidence of climate change) has been spreading in Southern Europe and has been recorded since 1989 in the Canary Islands.

It has also been breeding in the Po Valley since 1989 and is now widespread in S. France with colonies established colonies have been established at various sites along the French Atlantic seaboard up to 350km south of Branféré, from Morbihan
to Gironde. They can also be seen as far north as Britanny and Normandy scavenging on rubbish tips.

They have also become established as escapes from zoos in Dubai and Florida.

Guradian exposes secret document about secret unit doing secret work to secretly infiltrate web forums and taint Al Quaida "brand"

Stef points to a very odd story in Tuesday's Guradian Revealed: Britain's secret propaganda war against al-Qaida - BBC and website forums targeted by Home Office unit .

If this story about a ," Whitehall counter-terrorism unit .. targeting the BBC and other media organisations ..."taint the al-Qaida brand", it is an outrageous scandal and waste of money.

In time honoured fashion ," secret Home Office paper" has been seen , preusmably in secret by the Guradian.

This crack elite counter-terrorism experts group is/will/are already "channel(ling) messages through volunteers in internet forums" as part of their campaign.

John Reid before he really set about the whisky bottle set up a Research, Information and Communication unit, [RICU] to counter al-Qaida propaganda at home and overseas. It is staffed by officials from several(?) government departments.

This secret report read in secret by the Guradian crack expert team of journalistic anti terrorism RICU observers got to see the title of this secret document ... "Challenging violent extremist ideology through communications" - the use of "Challenging" dates the document as post June 12th 2007, says our crack team of expert, elite mathematical crytpographic gifted team of archair generalists ..

Oh Christ the will to live has gone ... read the fucking article. or even listen to the author Guradian Home Affairs Editor whisper about it on their exclusive audio newsclip.

But then of course if you go here you can find out about a secret Foreign Office unit staffed by civil servants led by Norman Reddaway , closely linked to MI6 , approved by PM Ted Heath to conspire against those concerned public (especially the ‘Keep Britain Out’ campaign) opposed to Britain joining the EEC in the early 1970s. Also read ‘Britain’s Secret Propaganda War’ (a title curiously stolen by the Guradian piece) by Paul Lashmar and James Oliver published in 1998 - Amazon

This secret unit was said to be given the name : Information Research Department, or IRD for short. Allegedly Heath's secret tool for getting an unwilling public and Parliament to accept entry and General de Gaulle to say "Non!"

When William (later Lord) Armstrong, who was head of the Civil Service, found out about the unit and it’s ‘dubious activities’, which he considered ‘scandalous’, he went to Heath and demanded funds were withdrawn. Dr David Owen had it closed down after Labour got in after the 1974 general Election.

Sleepless night for this guy then ....

UK Motorway service network 50 years old.

The post war motorways had their origins in an investigation by the Councils of the four Counties in the Regions into a route for a North-South motorway in the mid-1930s . Halted by the war , in 1946, the Minister of Transport announced a 10-year programme of construction, which included the Preston by-pass. In 1949, of the Lancashire County Council's Road Plan proposed two categories of motorway, the first for through traffic, and the second, for inter-urban links.

Trunk road construction had been curtailed and virtually non-existent since the beginning of the 1939 war, and the road construction of the 1930s tended to follow ground levels. Grade separated interchanges were never envisaged. A new and steep learning curve was involved with the construction of Motorways and the (then) novel concept of uninterrupted traffic flow.

It is possible that the huge growth of the nuclear power industry was a factor in developing these roads - facilitating perhaps the exodus of massive civilian populations which may be needed if things went wrong. Which of course they had done on October 10th 1957 at the primitive Windscale piles - now Sellafield.

It seems remarkable but the UK Motorway network was opened to traffic 50 years ago when Prime Minister Harold Macmillan opened the 8.25 mile Preston By Pass with 19 very distinctive bridges and built by Tarmac. It was designed for a speed of 70 mph, but was opened without any speed limit. There is a wonderful pdf of the booklet produced for the opening here.

An experimental speed limit of 70 mph was introduced for motorways in December 1965, after a series of multiple crashes on motorways, and made permanent in 1967.

It is claimed that Jack Sears and Peter Bolton in a 427 AC Cobra Coupe were calculated to have done 185mph on the M1 motorway in 1964, during shakedown tests prior to that year's Le Mans 24hr race - which they didn't finish due to an accident. The Police lobbied for the revised speed limit so they could catch speedsters.

It was reduced to 50 mph in response to the 1973 oil crisis, and restored to 70 mph in 1974.

The new motorways introduced central rservations ot separate traffic flows and high level lighting - this was installed at Preston but some mandarin at the Department of Transport decided that they should be removed before the motorway was opened, "due to change of policy" - apparently they thought the site looked "cluttered". Plus ca change

One of the first Motorway service stations, opened in 1965 was at Forton, just north of Preston. It was designed by Sir Thomas Penberthy Bennett KBE FRIBA who ,amongst other things was Chairman of the Development Corporation of Crawley New Town, in West Sussex. He was also the splendidly titled Director of Bricks at the Ministry of Works during WWII. Whilst it may seem an absurd title he held a major responsibility - during WWII Chellaston Minerals near Derby were required to have sufficient bricks for a major rebuilding of the Derby Rolls Royce factory where the famous Merlin engines were manufactured, in case it was seriously damaged in enemy bombing raids.

The striking airport style tower housed the hexagonal Pennine full service restaurant and a publicly accessible sun terrace with striking views. It is still standing but not used as it fails to meet current Health & Safety and Fire regulations.

A visit to Forton (Now Moto Lancaster) , 2 weeks after it opened, whilst on the way to a field trip to Ingleborough to find the striking Birds Nest orchid Neotiia nidus avis which is a mycotrophic plant totally devoid of chlorophyll was memorable.

After a hearty breakfast a visit to the toilets revealed a recent and carefully inscribed sgraffito, which we have never seen or heard of since ..which is worth repeating ...

Shithouse poets, I despise
They think they are so bloody wise,
But, for all their foolish rhyming wit.

They only shine - where others shit.

There are currently 3 main groups of UK Motorway service station operators (The 86 sites are owned and leased by the Ministry of Transport).

Moto - 43 stations , 6,000 staff - purchased by a consortium led by Australian Macquarie Bank Group on 10 April 2006 from the Compass Group for an aggregate consideration of £1,822 million on a debt and cash free basis.

Welcome Break - 28 stations - purchased by the Appia group from Investcorp in March 2008 for £500Mn. Appia Investments Limited is a consortium of experienced infrastructure investors, including: • NIBC European Infrastructure Fund I C.V. ( Dutch Merchant Bank - c.53% shareholding) • ING European Infrastructure Fund (Dutch Insurance conglomerate - c.29% shareholding) • Challenger Life No 2 Limited (Australian Insurance company - c.14% shareholding)

Road Chef - 19 sites plus 15 Premier Inns total 792 acres - Acquired by Nikko Europe Plc (Japanese Finance house) in 1998 for £240 million. Nikko sold RoadChef to Israel based Delek Belron International (75% owned personally by 75 percent owned by Delek Belron personally) , a unit of Delek Real Estate (DLKR.TA) for £375 Mn on April 1st 2007 (£216 Mn for debt)

UK companies , Westmoreland owns Tebay, First owns 2 sites , Cairn Lodge one and Poplar 2000 a large truckstop at J20 on the M6 (rave reviews) .

So over 90% of the UK Motorway services is owned by overseas based companies.

Useful sites Motorway Trivia , and for a serious engineering history of the Preston by-pass the Motorway Archive .

Bradford & Bingley First half results out ....Crystal Balls looked at

The latest Covered Bond report from B & B showed 1 month arrears rising again - they were 2.86 % in May but 23 months have improved - which may mean they are acting faster to stop deterioration in arrears.

Mr Pym may be too late to sweep the Augean stables like any self respecting City new Broom on £2.5 Mn a year ++++ but if he isn't City expectations of losses for the first half year a loss of between £5m and £26m seem optimistic. Remember these will not be AUDITED accounts.

The share issue has been an unqualified disaster and will have left the underwriters smarting with their unexopected losses - dammit it all , they don't underwrite to reduce a chap's losses - simply to boost their profits.

With this inherited shambles leaving UBS and Citi with (say) £100 of unsold stock. The six banks (Barclays, HSBC, HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland & Abbey) and underwriters are prohibited from selling their B&B shares for 20 days.

With 5% between them Mr Pym's activities and words will be very carefully scrutinised by his new and unexpected shareholders.

He also has to address Crawshaws disastrous agreement to take on board the toxic detritus from GMAC, which B&B are obliged to take on board.

The shares lost 1.5 p today and will lose a lot more tomorrow - even with a Market cap of £700 Mn they offer nothing to a swooping bottom fisher.

PS : This news report from March made us all smile - Toscafund Asset Management led by activist investor Martin Hughes , increased its stake in Redrow from 9.7% to 16.6%, giving it voting rights equivalent to 26.5m shares. It also doubled its stake in Taylor Wimpey to 10.2%, causing share prices to jump... Tosca ... Tosser ?

The TosserFund ™ website has a fascinating Disclaimer - "The collective investment schemes managed by Toscafund are unregulated collective investment schemes, which under UK legislation may only be promoted to persons who are sufficiently experienced and sophisticated to understand the risks involved and satisfy the criteria relating to investment professionals. Persons other than those who would be regarded as investment professional must not act upon the information in this document or acquire units in the scheme to which this document relates. "

"The information contained in this document is believed to be accurate but no warranty is given as to its accuracy and the information, opinions or estimates are subject to change without notice." ©

Too right My Son ! Too right

Zipcars - a brilliantly simple new car hire/sharing scheme - learn more today ? Save the world tomorrow - Amazing pictures !!

Zipcar explain everything on their website. Clearly and with great simplicity. Wikipedia

It is a novel international concept where you rent / carshare a car by the hour / day and pay nothing else, insurance, fuel, London congestion charge.

How does it work ? - Go here
FAQ's - Go here

Sign up. Become a Zipster (200K worldwide May 2008)get a Zipcard - hope it's more secure than an Oyster.

Then to select a car (so far only London which opened Nov 2006 and N. America) - simply click on a flag of above map - Bit thin on the ground sarf of the river .. which gives availability hourly / daily rates (incl 180 miles) ... some exclusions on age if under 21.

Select the car ...

New sites opening daily - Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Mass. has just announced a partnership with Zipcar - two self-service Zipcars – 2008 Honda Civic Hybrids – will be available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week, parked along the campus Quadrangle. The cars will be available to all staff and students aged 18 and older, with gas, maintenance, insurance, and reserved parking included in low hourly and daily rates.

Anyone any experience / tales to tell ?

Lord Patel is NOT on a commission. This just seems a brilliantly simple and ideal use of the web, and helps to reduce car ownership. Let's hope they have done their sums right and make it work.... with current cost of car ownership it sounds good

There is even a T shirt ..

Nothing to do with the Conservative Party

Webinair for Pie in the Sky Jatropha for pains in the stomach - the latest energy fads to fuel the City slickers

Date: 28 August 2008
Time: 14:30 UK time/ 9:30am EST / 15:30 CET
Location: Online, delivered through your browser
Duration: 90 minutes
Cost : £119.00 (139.83 inc. VAT)

If you wantto check in to the latest chip in the City casino and watch people mamking money by making money disappear sign up here NOW! Gemma says click on it to make it bigger



It's either that or plant Jatropha - BBC4 listen now see also here or visit D1 Oils website here and read more about D1 here



The BBC4 program about Jatropha provided the information that 1 hectare = 2.47 acres of Jatropha yields 1,500 litres of biodiesel pa = 319 gallons (European) pa = 12/13,000 miles pa pa at an average 40 mpg. Wikipedia gives figures of 540 to 680 litres per hectare.

1 sq Km = 100 hectares. So if Holland (41,526 sq km) was planted entirely with jatropha it would support 4.1 Mn vehicles. There are some 33 Mn licensed vehicles on the roads of the UK.

Jatropha is a Genus within the Euphorbiaceae and like the Castor oil plant which produces Ricin, also produces many very toxic compounds including lectin, saponin, carcinogenic phorbol, and a trypsin inhibitor. Eating 2-3 seeds untreated seeds(which can be a skinirritant) is said to be fatal.

Bhutto's boondoggles first published Just after Chrsitmas 2007 when nobody noticed

Swiss investigation against Bhutto for alleged money laundering closed, lawyer says
AP in IHT December 28, 2007

GENEVA: A Swiss investigation against the late Benazir Bhutto for alleged money laundering was declared closed, her lawyer said Friday.

A parallel investigation against her husband continues, however, said Alec Reymond, Bhutto's lawyer in Geneva., there is allegedly a third un-named suspect.

A Geneva magistrate convicted Bhutto and her husband in absentia of money laundering in July 2003 under a Swiss law that empowers high-level investigators to impose penalties without a court hearing.

They received six-month suspended sentences and were ordered to pay US$11 million (€9.1 million) to the Pakistani government, but the conviction was automatically thrown out when the pair contested it. They were then charged by another Swiss magistrate, Vincent Fournier, in July 2004 and the case was reopened.

Swiss authorities said in 1998 they found about 20 million Swiss francs (then US$13.8 million) in Swiss accounts belonging to Bhutto and her family. The accounts were frozen at the request of Pakistan.

Bhutto said she has no connection with the accounts.

"Miss Bhutto has always said that this was not her money. The accounts were not in her name," Reymond told The Associated Press.

Swiss and Pakistani investigators allege much of the money came from Societe Generale de Surveillance, or SGS, one of the world's largest customs inspection companies, in exchange for business with the Pakistani government when Bhutto was in power. SGS has consistently denied the claims.

UPDATE :

The case against former prime minister and Chairperson of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari in the Swiss court was set for September 28th 2007 has been adjourned for the time being on the request of the government of Pakistan.

UPDATE :

It looks as though Asif Ali Zardari will be the new Pakistani President (until HE gets shot/ helicopter fails) .

Harry's Place pulled down by childish academic Israeli academic boycotters

Harry's Place is a blog. "Harry's Place may be removed (or rather have it's DNS disabled) after a 'complaint' to the company that the domain name is registered with. (it is down) (cached Home Page here)

Harry explains ; "We assume after threats were made on the weekend that this 'complaint' originates from Jenna Delich or her supporters." (A blogspot archive of material is here)

"Though we have not yet seen the complaint submitted, we assume it runs along the lines that pointing out that Ms Delich linked to the website of a known neo-Nazi figure and former Ku Klux Klan leader is defamatory." More here and here

No details have been provided of letters communications firms of solicitors involved etc.,There is however a lengthy detailed and fairly urgid and academic explanation of the rather arcane row between Harry's Place and the delicious Jenna Delich which appears to be fundamentally about the use of the word "links" which may be used ;

1. As a url link - here is a link to the "Listen again" BBC 4 programme Jatropha the Wonder Plant first aired yesterday - highly recommended.

2. To suggest that there is a moral/physical / actual connection - eg Tony Blair is linked to the death of Dr David Kelly

The link provided by the delightful Delich was to David Duke's website and more especially this web page with an aticle by Joe Quinn. Apparently Delich pleaded ignorance when what David Duke actually stands for was pointed out to her - in which case she must be stupid beyond the realms of belief and sacked without delay or further argument.

She also said the facts speak for themselves ... for example as reported in the Times the BBC are guilty ...BBC news 'favours Israel' at expense of Palestinian view

Max Dunbar under a post confusingly entitled so Sue Me Mr Cushman usefully explains the histor of throwing toys out of the pram which seems, asinine and juvenile in the extreme. Mr Cushman it appears is not the homoseualist actor and agitator but another of the same surname. Mike Cushman, who is one of the official leaders of the boycott campaign (BRICUP) against Iraeli academics and has a sutiable academic demi-house trained beard and the woebegone look of a third rate polytechic gravy trainer.

The row has even reached the Jerusalem Post , once owned by the criminal Conrad Black they point out that the author of the aricle a man called Quinn who delich linked to himself linked to the Web site of convicted "Holocaust-denier" David Irving ranting about the 5 dancing shlomos glorifying the end of WTC 1 &2. It was of course the Jeruslaem Post which provided details of the 7/7 bomber's expert timing before the Police even knew the bomb timings were co-ordinated in an article by the ex head of Mossad Mr Halevy and school pal of Lord Levy, agent for titles to HMQ.

The link was discovered , and made more public by Engage, a group of left-wing trade unionists and self - confessed academics, active in the anti-boycott campaign.

Bob from Brockley helpfully points out that ..."the article to which Jenna Delich linked is not by David Duke. It is by one Joe Quinn and originally appeared on a 9/11 Truth Cult site called sott.net. It would not have reflected well on Jenna D if she had found the article there, but she didn't; she found it on a Ku Klux Klan site, which reflects on her rather worse."

He points to a post on Engage from an arsehole from Warwick University who hasn't discovered the use of punctuation or capital letters (or his Caps Lock or Shift keys haven't been expained to him) which ... well defies understanding . Judging by his picture his dentures need correcting to fit properly and remove his overbite.

The defence of free speech and the free use of the internet to express any views, images, is important, but we would be happier if it wasn't spent defending these wretched and windy academics. Better we get that bastard Usmanov's shady dealing , rapes and murders out in the public than worry about this juvenile squabble.

On a historical note Harry's Place refers to Hemingway's favourite hant in the 1920's - Harry's New York Bar near the Opera where he had been one of the earliest customers.

He actually told us that he much preferred the nearby but hard to find Le Trou dans la Mur - which indeed it is !. The easily missed entrance was on Boulevard des Capucines handy for the Cafe de la Paix and the Opera.

Now we wait for Mr David Davis and his gang of semi- detached democrats and libertarians to take up the cause and defend our historical freedoms on the web internet thing.

Handbag of the day, year, Millennium !

Choosing an understated but elegant and roomy bag is always a problem, this from the latest Hermes collection, the Jypsière (aka the Birkin messenger) which our doe eyed Paris correspondent saw launched @ Number 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré on August the 10th - was sold out by tea time! . A durable yet androgynous shoulder bag , designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, and worn by him on the runway following his Fall 08 show for Hermes. Waiting lists are long (already!) in the U.S., where the bag has yet to make an appearance. The standard 37cm is too small for Elle McPherson who has ordered several made in a special size.

Remember girls, says Toni Fabuloso -if it has testicles or tires, it's going to give you trouble-

Afghani democracy in action - Hamid Karzai signs Presidential pardon for rape of mother by warlord's gangsters

An Afghani couple Dilwar and his wife Sara lost there son had their son taken away.

Sara accused a local warlord commander of the boys disappearance. She was gang-raped, knifed with a bayonet and left half naked to find her way home.

A fuller story is provided about this case here . The men were freed discreetly but the rape itself was public and brutal. It took place in September 2005, in the run up to Afghanistan’s first democratic (?) parliamentary elections.

The most powerful local commander, Mawlawi Islam, was running for office despite being accused of scores of murders committed while he had been a mujahedeen commander in the 1980s and a Taliban governor in the 1990s, and since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Sara said one of his sub-commanders and body guards had been looking for young men to help in the election campaign.

“It was evening, around the time for the last prayer, when armed men came and took my son, Islamuddin, by force. I have eye-witness statements from nine people that he was there. From that night until now, my son has never been seen.”

Dilawar said his wife publicly harangued the commander twice about their missing son. After the second time, he said, they came for her. “The commander and three of his fighters came and took my wife out of our home and took her to their house about 200 metres away and, in front of these witnesses (there were again said said to be 9 witnesses) , raped her.”

Sara alleges the commander used connections to escape justice and he was released by a local court. Three other men were eventually put on trial, found guilty of rape and sentenced to 11 years in prison. One of the men died.

The other two were given a presidential pardon in May.

A copy of the pardon was numbered, dated in May and appeared to bear the personal signature of Hamid Karzai. It recommended the men's release because, it said, "they had been forced to confess to their crimes."

When shown copies of the presidential pardon and court papers, President Karzai's spokesman, Hamayun Hamidzada, was visibly shocked and said that if the documents proved genuine, Mr. Karzai would be "upset and appalled."

Humayun Hamidzada, the president's spokesman was also happy to explain that President Hamid Karzai was also busy after Afghani Olympic Tae Kwondo champion Rohullah Nikpai defeated world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain in Peking to earn the bronze medal in the men's under 58-kilogram taekwondo competition . President Karzai spoke on the phone to Nikpai and awarded him a house at the government's expense.

Now the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has announced a full investigation into the case of two rapists who have been freed on his presidential pardon.

This publicity has only arisen after the BBC have discovered that the victim, Sara, had been forced into hiding by the release of the men after they saw the released men walking around their village.

The president's office has refused to speculate on how the pardon could have been signed.

The suspicion must be that corruption - which is widespread across the Afghan justice system - has managed to penetrate the president's office.

A spokesman for Mr Karzai told the BBC that the acting attorney general would lead a commission of investigation.

"We are taking this with extreme seriousness," he said.

Another gang rape of a child rape that Karazai was called to decide on

This follows the story publicised on 28th July of Police Chief Abdul Khaliq Samimy and four other security officials dismissed for negligence . This was done by the personal order of Hamid Karazai over the handling of an alleged gang-rape of a 12-year-old girl in the village of Baghabi in the Northern province of Saripul .

The girl's parents travelled to Kabul and met President Karzai last week and told him the police had refused to investigate the case.

The girl told journalists that five gunmen had raped her in the village of Baghabi and her uncle Ali Khan claims the police refused to investigate the case and had told the family not to talk about the matter.

Another gang rape of a child involving the son of a powerful Member of Parliament

On February 18, 2008 a fourteen-year old girl named Bashira was gang- raped by three men in the same province. One of the rapists is Najibullah, the son of Haji Payinda, a member of parliament from Sar-e- Pul.

Sayed Noorullah, father of Bashira told Tolo TV on July 19, 2008 that the case against the rapist has not been followed property by the court, because the rapist is son of a member of parliament and they bribed the Forensic Medical Investigation department to show the 22-year-old rapist as being less than 18 to escape the charges based on law. See video of girl and parents and full story here.

MP, Mir Ahmad Joyenda, said cases similar to Sara's were actually becoming more common. The police and the courts, he said, were usually under the sway of local commanders. "The commanders, the war criminals, still have armed groups," he said. "They're in the government. Karzai, the Americans, the British sit down with them. They have impunity. They've become very courageous and can do whatever crimes they like."

Deputy Director for Program Support at Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, AREU, Mir Ahmed Joyenda is AREU’s link person to officialdom in Kabul. He is well adapted for this role as he formerly used to work for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including serving as a diplomat at the Afghanistan Embassy in India for a few years after 1993. He joined AREU in 2001, as the first non-Western employee in the organisation

See Women under seige in Afghanistan also here

Kabul today

Three white Aryan Nations assassins plotted to kill Obama at Bronco's Stadium in front of 75,000 .. or maybe not.

The Secret Service detail (provided as official protection under Public Law 90-331 after Bobby Kennedy's assassination by the required crazy loner ) for Barack Obama call him Renegade. Now some folks are forming a disorderly queue to shoot him . Or maybe not.

First from out under the stones are Shawn Robert Adolf, 33, Nathan Johnson and Tharin Gartrell , arrested yesterday on weapons charges . They are said to have ties to the white supremacist group Aryan Nation, according to Victor Ross, the police chief in Glendale, a suburb of Denver where one of the suspects was arrested. The other two were held in Aurora, another suburb.

Now the Feds are on the case.

The group are said to have been planning to shoot Renegade during his convention acceptance speech, to be delivered outdoors at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos , football stadium tomorrow night with a possible audience of 70,000 people – the anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

It all started on Sunday when a police patrol car stopped a blue Dodge pick-up truck driving erratically in Aurora which it turned out was driven by unemplolyed 29 year old and curiously named Tharin Gartrell .

In the back of his vehicle, officers found two high-powered rifles, one with telescopic sights, a spotting scope, a flak jacket, camouflage clothing, a bulletproof vest, boxes of ammunition, three fake identity cards, two wigs, two walkie-talkies and a quantity of the drug methamphetamine, a form of speed known as crystal meth.

Four hours later, police raided a nearby hotel where alleged accomplice Shawn Robert Adolf, a wanted fugitive with an impressively long list of previous convictions for drugs and violence, was staying - he had several outstanding warrants, one with a $1 million bail set. In attempting to esacpe by "jumping from a sixth-floor window" he broka an ankle.

Shortly afterwards, police made two more arrests, of Nathan Johnson, 32, and his girlfriend, Natasha Gromek, both on drugs charges, at another hotel.

In an extraordinary live interview from his jail cell, Johnson told a reporter from CBS television that Adolf had planned to kill Mr Obama during his nomination acceptance address to 75,000 supporters at Denver's Invesco Field at Mile High football stadium tomorrow night.

Aryan Nations is the most influential of dozens of neo-Nazi groups spread across the US. Last year, one of its members, Jason Hamilton, went on a shooting spree last year that left three people , including a cop Lee Newbill, and himself dead in Moscow, near Boise, Idaho, after a row with his wife Crystal - the previous year he tried to strangel his girlfriend. Hamilton was a member of The Order, a self-styled commando group within Aryan Nations.

They are used to violence in that neck of the woods ...see this current case

The group's website is blunt about its role in creating a whites-only state in North America. "We realise that it takes a cold-blooded, pragmatic and realist viewpoint to enact the changes which will be necessary to achieve our goals."

Colorado's U.S. attorney, Troy Eid, (Why does everyone have such strange names in this story ?) announced that authorities had decided that Adolf, Johnson and Gartrell were basically not as dangerous as they looked. The feds didn't plan to charge any of the three men with threatening a presidential candidate, a federal felony that comes with a possible five-year prison term.

Crazy and crazed...it doesn't mean they cannot shoot straight.

Meanwhile,downtown Denver has been closed off, with high metal gates and concrete barriers , inside police vehicles cruise the streets with armed officers in black jumpsuits clinging to the sides.

Meanwhile here is a picture of Michelle Obama with her friend Ex Weatherwoman and Sidley Austin Partner Bernardine Dohrn at a political rally.see Monday, April 28, 2008 Obama. Ayers Rocks.

Bernardine (on the right) is the wife of Weatherman ("You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," from the Bob Dylan song Subterranean Homesick Blues. ) Bill Ayers and mother of his 2 children. She went to prison on various charges - Dohrn and Ayers became legal guardians of the son of former members of the Weather Underground, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, after they were convicted of murder of a security guard and 2 police officers during a 1981 Brinks armoured car robbery.

The Weathermen bombed the Pentagon, the US Capitol, the New York Police Benevolent Association, the New York Board of Corrections, as well as the offices of multinational companies. Boudin, along with Cathy Wilkerson, was a survivor of the 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, the premature detonation of a bomb that had been intended for a soldiers' dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Boudin was 27 at the time. Both women were awaiting trial, out on bond for their alleged actions in Days of Rage in Chicago several months earlier. Wilkerson had been released on a $20,000 bond and Boudin was out on a $40,000 bond.

Kathy Boudin’s father had connections directly to Fidel Castro: Leonard Boudin was Castro’s lawyer.

Holes in the Swisss Post office ... a cheesy story

Andrew Chapman, an IT manager from Oxford bought a computer / hard disk drives on e Bay for £35 , which it now appears, not only contained bank account numbers, phone numbers, mothers' maiden names and signatures of one million customers of American Express, NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland, it was, "pre owned" by Graphic Data Ltd.,and was used at the firm's archive centre in Shoeburyness, Essex.

What no press reports seem to mention is ....

MailSource UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Swiss Post since 2002, based in Richmond, Surrey, acquired Graphic Data Ltd , based in Milton Keynes – a company with 200 employees that specializes in digital document management in April this year.

MailSource UK Ltd and Graphic Data have worked together in the form of a strategic partnership since 2006. In the field of physical mailroom services, MailSource UK Ltd was already the market leader in Britain. With Graphic Data, it now offers a wider range of services, such as credit card application processing or automated invoice settlement.

"MailSource have over ten years of experience in managing the provision of On-Site Mail and Courier Screening Services to clients across the UK, many in what are considered to be high threat industries including several Government Departments."

CNN reported yesterday "The IT equipment that appeared on eBay was neither planned nor instructed by the company to be disposed," said Nicole Morgan, spokeswoman for Graphic Data, based in southeast England. "Investigations are ongoing to find out how this equipment was removed from one of our secure locations."

Jenny Thomas, a spokeswoman for eBay, said the item should have never been sold on the auction site.

Gangmaster Licensing Authority should have it's role extended to cover care and cleaning

Paul Whitehouse who retired as Chief Constable on a hefty £50,000 pa pension one day ahead of being sacked, has been doing an excellent job as part time and well paid Chairman of the Gangmaster Licensing Authority.

He has made a determined blitz in "Operation Ajax" this last mnth in closing down rogue gangmasters and has been been making a parallel blitz on the media. See stories today on BBC - uncluding a very forceful interview on "Farming Today" and headline news item on the BBC4 "Today" programme, PA , Sky News , More> RSA News , NE Journal and Gazette , Times with a story on August 17th "'Squalor' of David Leslie Fruits workers - Scottish supplier to Sainsbury's and Tesco probed over accommodation etc.,

Whilst all of this is to broadcast the succcess of the Agency, and to warn off the rogue operators, Paul Whitehouse wants to expand his fiefdom to cover gangmasters and labour only suppliers in care and cleaning.

He has powerful allies - TUC general secretary Brendan Barber is quoted on Sky News ; "An opportunity has been missed to address the flaws which keep two million workers in conditions which shame a modern economy."

"It is disappointing that ministers are not prepared to extend the coverage of the Gangmasters' Licensing Authority to other vulnerable sectors such as construction, care and hospitality."

"Nor has the Government been prepared to examine the legal loophole that deprives many workers from gaining the legal status of an employee."

For example ; The David Leslie fruit farms were being investigated because there were , "allegations of mistreatment relating to the working and housing conditions of 251 Bulgarians who had been sent to work at David Leslie’s Scones of Lethendy berry farm in Perthshire".

This swoop involved co-ordinating the work of the GLA inspectors with the UK Border Agency, the UK Human Trafficking Centre, the Health and Safety Executive, Tayside Police and Perth and Kinross Council.

In his BBC Farming Today interview (Listen again here and more info) Paul Whitehouse tells Melanie Abbott that the GLA need more than the curent 30 inspectors they have, to cover England , Wales, SCotland and Northern Ireland. He also claims the whole operation is more than self financing as HMRC revenues have risen , with income Tax, NI, and VAT.

He also claims the Low Pay Unit have seen the effects of the success of the GLA.

Meanwhile the Government, under pressure from the CBI, has set it's face firmly against expanding the role of the GLA and Building quotes a spokesperson for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR): “There are no plans at the moment to review the GLA. We don't think extending its remit to the construction industry is the best way forward."

At the TUC conference at Brighton last autumn a unanimous motion was passed in support of the extension of the work of GLA at the conference.

Shelter on their website says “Government has missed the opportunity to expand the remit of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, which plays a valuable role in protecting workers in the agricultural and food-processing industries. “Shelter is calling for the GLA to extend their remit to other sectors such as construction, cleaning and hospitality in order to help lift all workers out of bad housing.”

Jack Dromey Deputy General Secretary of Unite ***says..."...law needs to be strengthened. That is why we will continue to press for the extension of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to cover Construction. The GLA has raised standards in agriculture and fisheries, putting rogue employers out of business. But gangmasters are moving into Construction and the GLA should follow them."

Meanwhile the Government are busy setting up a new Fair Employment Enforcement Board to co-ordinate the work of government agencies covering minimum wage, health and safety, employment agencies and gangmasters. They have also allocated £6million for a campaign to raise awareness of employment rights and how to enforce them - twice the annual cost of the GLA alone.

The recommendations form part of the final report by the Vulnerable Workers Enforcement Forum which was set up in June last year . Employment relations minister, Pat McFadden, who chaired this Forum, said last month which reported on August 5th : "This is in the interests of workers themselves and, as was made clear by business representatives on the forum, it is in the interests of the reputable businesses who treat their workers fairly and obey the law." The Forum report is available here (pdf)

On Page 46 in the Conclusions they report "There has been extensive discussion in the Forum, though no agreement, on whether the Gangmaster Licensing Authority’s licensing regime
should be extended to employment agencies operating in sectors other than agriculture and food processing."

The bottom line is that Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EASI) , who have signally failed to do the job so far, are to have their Inspectorate doubled by June 2008 (the report came out on August 4th) and a telephone contact number publicised.... oh yes ... the new talking shop Fair Employment Enforcement Board chaired by the Employment relations minister, Pat McFadden will (eventually) see the light of day.

It is with reluctance, and with a heavy heart that we recommend yet further intrusion of the State - but the GLA have shown themselves to have acted to improved working conditions, wages , and Health and Safety for the lowest paid workers in society .. it is something you might imagine a Socialist Government might want to extend.

*** Jack Dromey (apart from missing the millions paid for honours (including Lord Patel's) into Labour Party Coffers - he first "read about it in the papers" Ditto Abrahams Gate) is also married to the fragrant and delicious Harriet Harman QC, MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party , Leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal and Minister for Women and Equality- and sent their son to a selective grammar school in Bromley

If you visit this busy lady's website today you will find that on the 18th of the month she was busy celebrating 10 years of the introduction of the Minimum Wage Act.

The Boy David speaks

More from the Boy David and the FCO here

Gal Hirsch and his "Defensive Shield" sent Georgians to their death - unprepared - IDF secrets are now in the hands of the Russians.

Shortly after the outset of the foolhardy attacks on South Ossettia we posted Monday, August 11, 2008 Israel's part in arming Georgia, and the risky game of Russian Roulette they have been playing .

Brigadier General (Res.) Gal Hirsch was the inept and vainglorious commander of Division 91 in the IDF. He resigned (?) after the Almog Committee (which preceded Winograd) named him as responsible for the kidnapping of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev at the outset of the Second Lebanon War in July 2006.

Now if a source of ynet named "Tomer" (said to be from an elite IDF unit - are there any that are not "elite" ?)is to be believed, he was working for Brig.-Gen. Hirsch's Defensive Shield, a company of mercenaries owned and operated by Brigadier General (Res.) Gal Hirsch, to help train Georgian soldiers he fucked up big style.

Not only for himself, his company but for the IDF and effectively the State of Israel and it's citizens.

Tomer and his colleagues were initially briefed about what could be revealed to the Georgians , covert mterials to be used etc . ...effectively he claims, the Georgians were told top secret information.

"When I arrived in the operations room I saw a book of IDF safety instructions that shouldn't have been there," he said. "There were IDF CDs that explicitly said, 'Confidential' documenting army activities, charts from special units' operations, and officers' names." He added that the room was not guarded, making this information easily obtainable to everyone.

"Tomer" said these lapses were based on profit making.. "The training companies wanted to finish the projects as quickly as possible in order to create more projects and make more money," he said. "We knew the training had to be completed quickly because the soldiers would soon have to get into real military activity."

"Tomer "says the Georgian officers told their soldiers they would be going to help NATO forces in Iraq, but the objective was Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Gal Hirsch ocassionally hove into view to visit the trainers , but was mostly absent.

At the completion of training , Tomer says that he didn't feel that his soldiers were ready for war. "By Israeli standards, the soldiers had almost zero capability and the officers were mediocre," he said. "It was clear that taking that army to war was illogical."

By keeping in touch with one of his soldiers, Tomer discovered that most of the men he had trained had indeed been killed in the war. "Some of them became good friends of mine and invited me into their homes. It's hard to digest that these people have suddenly vanished from the face of the earth," he lamented.

When asked about these claims Defense Shield stated "all of the company's actions were approved by the Defense Ministry, including the materials transferred to the training companies. The information security standards were set, emphasized, and maintained by experienced security officers, and we have no knowledge of these claims." Hmmmmm....

By implication these materials will be now in the hands of Mr Putin's men, helped by the blindfolded soldiers seen being taken captive, after some persuasion , suggests Israel Matzav. Not to mention the African - American mercenary and NATO instructor and ordnance specialist. who has been transferred to the Russian base of Vladikavkaz.

A commentator adds ....." you can bet your tuchis Carl, that much of that material will make it way into the hands of Iran and subsequently, Hezbollah. Its not telling example of Israelis' inability to put their country's national interests first, abroad. "

Kommersant adds that ,“The Russian Task force has annihilated a few groups of mercenaries. Some of mercenaries have been captured, and investigators are working (sic) with them, the source said.”

“We have detained 10 agents of the Georgian special services who were spying on military facilities and preparing terrorist attacks, including on Russian territory,” Alexander Bortnikov the new head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), said at a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on August 11th.

All that is Green is not Golden : Part 27

On Friday, June 30, 2006 we posted about a forthcoming IPO that Lord Patel was investing an honest shilling into China Biodiesel commences trading on AIM . Their business was collecting used oils, fats and converting them in biodiesel.

On the day China Biodiesel (incorporated in British Virgin Islands (registration number: 681276) ) raised £8Mn (for 20% of the shares) and trading commenced - Bid 87p Offer 90p at mid-day with light trading.

Evolution, who have offices in Shanghai, handled the launch which presages a great deal of interest in renewable fuels in China. Closed the day with 600,000 shares changing hands and closed at 98/100.

Lord Patel took up shares at 80p in the IPO and sold when they reached 107p and took his profits, since which time they have slid to 10.5 p.

More details here of the company and the the then new biodiesel market in China Tuesday, June 27, 2006 China Biodiesel IPO on AIM - Friday

They have produced profits but the dividend of 0.365 Renminbi (1US$ = 6.8 RM) doesn't really pay any bills.

Microsoft comes down hard on XP Pirates even though they don't sell it any more - Move up to Vista ?

Microsoft has stopped selling Win XP. Micrososft employ a lot of people on very high salaries. Microsoft want you to buy and use Windows Vista.

In some markets - for example Malaysia - there are about 8.6 million users of Win XP Pro on the internet. Microsoft consider there must be 3 million that are ...er.. unlicensed.

Starting in the morning, users with pirated (unlicensed, borrowed, stolen) copies of Microsoft Corp's Windows XP Professional operating system (OS) on machines that are Internet-capable could will find their computer displays going black and with no screen icons visible.

Easy peasy - reset the machine’s desktop background. Everything will return to normal. Easy peasy except it only last an hour - until the user buys a license ... or decides to move up (?) to Vista. (Exactly what happens when you load the Task Manager under Vista and you get that horrible empty feeling in your stomach)

This blackout will keep happening on the hour, every hour until the user licenses the copy of Win XP Pro on the machine by going to a Microsoft reseller or getting a licence online at the www.microsoft.com/malaysia/genuine. Each licence costs RM580 = US$170.

This initiative Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), is apparently to "educate" users on the benefits of using genuine software, says K.T. Ng, Microsoft Malaysia’s director of client business group.

Win XP Professional was chosen for the antipiracy blitz because it is the most pirated version of Microsoft’s Win XP operating system , next to Windows XP Home.

Two years ago, it sprang its WGA initiative on local users of Win XP Pro and Win XP Home.

That time, a pop-up message said “This copy of Windows is not genuine.”

It was quite successful. At that time, there were about 5.1 million pirated copies of Windows XP Pro and after the exercise, about two million of the copies were ..er ... validated, said Microsoft Malaysia. Fran Foo @ C Net in April 2001 reported that copies of Office XP were selling for about RM 10 = US$3 on open air markets in KL. Microsoft said at the time that Office XP would cost about US$526 in Malaysia

In September that year ZDNet reported that Imbi Plaza and Low Yat Plaza -- in downtown Kuala Lumpur was a hive of stolen software sales .

On 20 August 2001 Microsoft managed to obtain a court order against Imbi Plaza, forbidding any store or operator in the premises from selling unlicensed Microsoft products.

“Microsoft has stopped selling Win XP in the market, so you have to wonder why it is spending time and money to take down users of pirated copies of this OS,” said a PC user, who asked for anonymity. “Why isn’t it also targeting users who have pirated copies of Windows Vista?”

“So if I’m using a pirated copy of Vista at this time, I won’t be hassled? Got to wonder about that.”

Ng says XP Pro, is widely pirated. “Vista isn’t pirated as much. WGA is continuous and should there be a Vista piracy problem, we will address it down the road.”

Perhaps the lawyers out there might have views on Microsoft's activities and the rest of us wonder why these tactics aren't used in other countries.

Sodomy in Malaysia and what it has to do with posting a letter

This fascinating picture is of a Boeing 737-200 aircraft belonging to Gading Sari Aviation Services Sdn Bhd which was was trying to land at Kuching International Airport , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 5.52am on Sunday14th January 2007. The plane skidded and spun 180 degrees before coming to rest on a grassy area off the runway.(Pic looks suspiciously photoshopped on tail)

Its wheels and right engine came off during the crash-landing and the fuselage was badly damaged. Several taxiway and runway lights were also destroyed.The crew of four were unharmed.

As a result the airport for 6 hours and discommoded 2,200 pasengers due to fly out on 16 Malaysia Airlines and 14 AirAsia flights.

The aircraft was operating as a mail courier for Pos Malaysia Bhd (The Malaysian Post Office) and had left Subang airport at 4am.In Petaling Jaya, Pos Malaysia chief operating officer Mohd Zarif Hashim said Pos Malaysia uses one aircraft to send mail from Kuala Lumpur to Sabah and Sarawak on Monday and two from Tuesday to Saturday.

Pos Malaysia Bhd and Gading Sari Aviation Services are reported to be rushing to get approval from the authorities which would allow an aircraft to be brought in from Indonesia as a stop-gap measure.

“There will be minimal disruptions in mail services to Sabah and Sarawak,” said Mohd Zarif

So ?

Sisuahlai who has been blogging for 2 years provides the above here and also an intriuging link (now blocked) but a mirror is available to some fascinating documents. http://mt.harapanmalaysia.com/2008/content/view/11764/84/

You have probably read that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak insists that Anwar Ibrahim swear on the Quran that he DID NOT sodomise Saiful Bukhari Azlan. Anwar won't

But everyone is anxious for Najib to swear he didn't sign this letter ...


Which involves how Gading Sari Aviation Services Sdn Bhd got the contract to carry mail for Pos Malaysia Bhd.

Gading Sari Aviation Services is a helicopter rental company owned by Tengku Abdullah, the son of the Sultan of Pahang. Tengku Abdullah owns 750,000 shares in the company while Raja Mufik Affandi Bin Raja Khalid owns 250,000 shares and Md Ismail Bin Abdul Kader the balance 4 million shares. Raja Mufik and Md Ismail are both Directors of the company.

The question that begs an answer is how could Gading Sari Aviation Services get a contract from Pos Malaysia when it does not even own any aircraft plus it was the highest bidder?

On Wednesday, 18 June 2008, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) raided premises and offfices of Pos Malaysia Bhd. the day before their Annual General meeting.

Gading Sari Aviation Services Sdn Bhd’s contract with Pos Maylaysia had, in fact, already been terminated on 31 March 2008 but then Pos Malaysia received instructions from the Deputy Prime Minister’s office to reinstate the contract .





To all this add Pos Malaysia is losing millions of Ringgit. "Pos Malaysia has also been given the task of refunding the RM625 to each car owner eligible for a rebate. And we also hear that RM1 billion has been handed over to Pos Malaysia for ‘safe-keeping’ to meet the cost of these rebates.Transmile Group Bhd, on the other hand, is an air cargo operator, which made the news last year for alleged financial irregularities amounting to RM700 million. Pos Malaysia holds a 14.99 % stake which has debts to the tune of RM535.8 million.

Managing director and group chief executive officer, Datuk Abu Huraira Abu Yazid said that Pos Malaysia does not intend to reduce its stake in Transmile Group Bhd. “The issue does not arise at the moment. We must give Transmile time to turn around its operations and improve the financial position.”

"What was the role of Pos Malaysia’s then executive chairman, Tan Sri Zainol, in the decision to award the contract to Transmile Group? It would be good if we can also find out the link with Megantara Air, an Indonesian company owned by Daniel, Tan Sri Zainol’s son-in-law."

"Let us hope the ACA investigation shows some results and not end up as a NFA (no further action) like so many other scandals involving those who walk in the corridors of power. In the first place, both these companies are not qualified to get these contracts plus their prices were the highest. Then, when Pos Malaysia does the right thing by terminating Gading Sari Aviation Services’ contract, someone powerful in the corridors of power instructs them to reinstate the contract. The ACA investigation should not stop at Pos Malaysia. It should extend to those who walk in the corridors of power, to the Prime Minister’s and Deputy Prime Minister’s office if need be."

Murky Malaysian waters which we are as baffled as probably the reader is. IT doe however help to explain headlines about Anwar Ibrahim's claim that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that he did not know nor had any relationship with Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was murdered in 2006 is false.

In his Permatang Pauh by-election campaign, Anwar had alleged that Najib had a relationship with the Mongolian woman.

This is in some way and somehow connected with the claim by Anwar’s former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 23, who has accused his former boss of sodomising him at Unit 1151, Desa Damansara Condominium, Jalan Setia Kasih, Damasara Heights, Kuala Lumpur. and had sworn on the Quran regarding his claims at the Federal Territory Mosque in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 15.

Go here for a lengthy detailed explanation of why swearing on the Quran (or failing to swear) is of special significance to Malay mainland Muslims.

Anwar Ibrahim elected (again ) today

Meanwhile in a bye election Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has won the Permatang Pauh by-election.

The PKR de-facto leader was returned to Parliament with a majority of 15,671 votes, exceeding the 13,388-vote majority won by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in the March 8 general election.

Anwar got 31,195 votes to beat Barisan candidate Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah, who polled 15,524 votes, while Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia candidate Hanafi Hamat lost his RM15,000 deposit after getting only 92 votes. There were 447 spoilt votes.

Voter turnout was relatively high, at about 80% of the total of 58,459 registered voters in the constituency.

Anwar gave a victory speech and made some very pointed remarks ...

"Permatang Pauh has given a clear signal to the leadership of this country. We demand change. We want freedom. We don't want to live with corruption and oppression.

"We want an independent judiciary, we want the economy to benefit the vast majority not the corrupt few," he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the result was proof that democracy was still alive in the country and there was no manipulation involved.

"As we have pointed out right from the start, we would be facing a tough challenge," he said.

The closely watched by-election was called after Dr Wan Azizah resigned as the MP on July 31 to enable her husband to run for election.

Anwar held the seat for four terms before he was sacked from his Deputy Prime Minister's post in 1998 under corruption and sodomy charges.

Dr Wan Azizah, who had been known as a reluctant politician, won the seat for a third term in March.

Korean White Horse for Lehman turns out to be a Unicorn - Nemesis nigh ? Or is that ne... ei ...igh ?

State owned Korea Development Bank (with plans to privatise by 2012) may be riding to the rescue of Lehman Bros. with global gossip suggesting a straight cash infusion - enough to boost the shares 5% on Friday.

This apparently welcome news followed hot on the heels of reports that Lehman Chief Executive Officer Dick Fuld has been eagerly (if not desperately) looking for an emergency cash boost to mainline on from an overseas bank. Some reports talk of him anxiously eyeing the exit door to follow CFO the fragrant and beautiful Erin Callan.

So far, unlike other rivals with fictional balance sheets, Lehman has yet to make any large asset sales in hopes of boosting its bleeding balance sheet.The bank has more than US $60 Bn. (£32.4 Bn) of mortgage-related assets - and the market says they are hugely undercapitalized, even insolvent.

Another day, another dollar. Lehamn Bros, closed down today 6.66% or 96 cents down @ US$13.45 (They were down to US$12 a couple of weeks ago) At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 241.81 points, or 2.08 %, and the broader Standard &Poor's 500-stock index had declined 25.36 points, or 1.96 %.

Apparently normally inscrutable South Korean Financial Services Commission Chairman Jun Kwang-woo told reporters, when asked about KDB's proposed investment, "That would be an international marriage. Would you get married just after one or two blind dates?"

Cross-border acquisitions by South Korean companies should be led by the private sector, and state-run institutions such as KDB should play a "cheerleader role," Jun added and the shares dropped like a stone.

UPDATE : Tuesday Business Week Online Korean Bank Unlikely to Bid for Lehman by Moon Ihlwan. At the close shares were up 4.3% on the day @ US$14.03.

*** The pic of the lip glossed, nylon sheathed and gently sussurating thighs of Erin, as she exits her shining limo, is not added in any way, to add weight to the story but only in the sure and certain knowledge that one particular sad banker , and regular reader will now have to go and change his trousers.

Major Frakt and Dennis Edney struggling for Justice at Guantanamo Bay

As a small postscript to the curious legal process that the illiterate Afghan Mohammed Jawad is currently enduring after 7 years imprisonment, Omar Ha-Redeye blogs on August 24th, 2008 at Slaw.ca a cooperative Canadian weblog on things legal , about meeting with Major Frakt who acts as Mohammed's defence counsel.

For reasons unexplained, Omar had breakfast yesterday with Major Frakt and Dennis Eadey a defence lawyer from Edmonton, Alberta.

Major Frakt (B.A. summa cum laude, University of California, Irvine, History,1990; J.D. cum laude, Harvard Law School 1994) is also currently a faculty member at Western State University, Dennis Edney represents the only Canadian citizen at Guantanamo, Omar Khadr. (another story again)

Over coffee and croissants Frakt outlined the odd legal blackhole created at Guantanamo. Two-thirds of the inmates (?) won't ever be charged (because there is nothing to charge them with) and in this curious Alice in Wonderland of Mr John Yoo, cannot therefore effectively challenge their detention in any way. See post Thursday, June 19, 2008 Smelling the coffee..how the Famous Five lawyers of the "War Council" ripped up the United States obligations under the Geneva Conventions - and a long, long time ago Tuesday, December 06, 2005 Yoo. Who? ... Lawyers at War - No uniforms, no guns, but some great ideas

For the remaining third, their defence involves immense problems related to discovery, the limit counsel have to access of scret "evidence" which prevents counsel from providing and sensible, rational or effective representation.

In the absence of a corpus of common law, the lawyers have the difficulty of not having any precedent to draw from - the judges and the courts are basically making it up as they go along.

Frakt choked up with emotion when describing his cleint's position. Despite not believing in suicide as a moral option, Jawad had considered it to escape the horrors of his situation.

Edney provided more information on the conditions the "rendered suspects" had to endure.

When being transported, they were not given any food for three days… They were given water only for a day and a half, just enough to sustain their bodies… the reason was so they did not use the toilet while in transit.

Edney was quite clear that Canada was complicit in this abuse, and did not allow Harper any reprieve for his inaction. He is currently bringing a suit against him for it (n.b., he does hold Liberals just as responsible).

The Canadian Bar Association has come out in support of this issue

Edney raised concern about the way , in January 2007 Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles "Cully" Stimson threatened corporate lawyers who agree to defend the men and boys imprisoned at Gunatanamo Bay. Flashing a list of corporations that use law firms doing this pro bono work, Stimson declared, "Corporate C.E.O.'s seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists."

For more on his activities see post Saturday, February 03, 2007 "Cully" Stimson not only a cunt - now he's quit. also Saturday, January 13, 2007 Cully Stimson - why is this cunt still in a job ?

From smug bastard to sore loser in 2 weeks - and it was ..."his own decision to resign and he was not asked to leave by Defense Secretary Robert Gates." Ho.Ho.Ho.

Boeing - strike looms- can they pay ? Can they afford a strike ?

All is not well at Boeing. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) represents 27,000 Boeing workers in the US - mainly in the Seattle region have a pay raise of 2.5 percent the first year and 2 percent in each of the following two years - Connie Kelliher, a spokeswoman for the IAM rejected it.

She is talking (through the side of her mouth) 9-13% in a 3 year contract.

Tom Wroblewski, president of the local district of the Machinists union, he described Boeing's offere more succintly."It's a crock," Wroblewski said.

This is what Tom said on May 9th when bargaining began -" “We are cautiously optimistic as we enter this round of bargaining. We are in the strongest bargaining position we have had in years. By any measure, Boeing is one of the most successful companies in the world – sales, profits, backlogs – and our members are a huge part of that.It hasn’t been easy for our members during the last two contract negotiations."

The current 36 month contract expires September 3rd, a strike (to be voted on) is threatened by September 4th.

However, as ever, the devil is in the fine print - anxious to save on future welfare and medical costs Boeing's wants to stop offering retirement medical cover for new staff. It also talks of putting new workers into a defined retirement benefit plan (or what Boeing insist on calling , an "enhanced" 401(k) plan ) rather than the traditional Boeing final salary benefit pension fund.

The first flight of the 787 Dreamliner, was due September last year, thrice delayed it is now due November. A further slip in the 787 test flight program will mean additional delivery delays, 2 years and more for some very unhappy customers.

A strike will severely affect progress and prospects - and m akes sense of the company's shilly shallying over the Air Force tanker contract.

See lengthy and detailed Everett / Washington Herald report by Michelle Dunlop on IAM Sunday rally and strike call here

Antipodean grumbles as well

In what Aussies persist in calling the Fishermans Bend Hawker de Havilland site in Melbourne, Victoria , Boeing have announced 500 jobs have to go, 350 within 12 months and the rest to follow. Steve Darvagel, secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) has called on State and Federal governments to intervene.

Steve senses that this is a ruse to send work back to the US - certainly the explanation that some production will be shifted to Sydney to make space for work on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Melbourne is difficult to understand.

Boeing shares closed today, down 2.26% - US$1.48 @ 64.07 $



Will they strike ? No. IAM are playing tough cop, soft cop - nobody wants to threaten jobs and the profitable future of Boeing and it's employees depends a great deal on getting the Dreamliner flying.

Antipodean update Monday 26th August

We have been provided with mpre background about the whingeing Aussies who had a lengthy strike in April May this year. When in Melbourne recently I spoke to several people about the boeing strike. Due to stalling on the 777 development Boeing have been cutting back staff by sacking rather than redundancies - clock in yer mate - get the sack after a weeks suspension - not the Ocker way Mate. (See pdf Leaflet to download and print off) "Corporate thug uses Howard’s IR Laws against workforce "

The dispute started on Monday April 7 when Boeing sacked a worker (Alan Bloom) and suspended another without going through the agreed dispute settlement procedure. Amicability failed to breakout so about 700 workers walked out on April 9 and set up a picket Boeing claiming that they were loosing in excess of A$1.3 million per day!

Here is a poster issued on Australia ... AS gemma says, just click on it to make it bigger , Boeing shareholders might like to read it.

Bird's Nest Herzog & de Meuron in China - a fillum of the concept, design, selling, building of the Peking Stadium

Now discover rather belatedly (where can you get the staff these days - or profreaders indeed) that Icarus Fillums (32 Court St, 21st Flr,Brooklyn, NY 11201, Tel: (718) 488-8900 mailroom@frif.com) have produced a fillum , Bird's Nest Herzog & de Meuron in China by Christoph Schaub & Michael Schindhelm (1 hr 29mins)

The fillum (it says here) " ....chronicles this five-year effort, as well as Herzog and de Meuron's design for a new city district in Jinhua, involving hotels, office and residential buildings. Both projects involved complex and often difficult negotiations and communications between two cultures, two architectural traditions and two political systems. Herzog and de Meuron, the Basle-based architects, find themselves working with China's largest state construction company, Chinese artist and architect Ai Wei Wei, lawyers, and countless government bureaucrats.

The film reveals how Chinese cultural tradition affects both projects, with the architects carefully researching esthetic and philosophical concepts of Chinese society and culture, attempting to define universal qualities of "beauty" and being careful to avoid imposing Western ideas, and above all to create buildings that will blend in culturally by being sensitive to Chinese cultural traditions and ways of living. "

At US$444 a copy on DVD or US$150 a copy rental it is beyond most people's pocket books.

It has been available as a download at Amazon Unbox (US only) Rent US $2.99 for a 30 day rental period; 7 day viewing period. or to buy US $9.99 for the duration of the Olympics ... it still seems to be available. Here is the tantalising trailer - why is next week's trailer always better than this week's fillum?



See Saturday, August 02, 2008 £1 Mn. prizewinner not unveiled but identity of the Birds Nest designer is ...

Remarkable that with the fleets (over 400) of BBC and every other media circus known to man that no-one has produced any decent film, photos, review, concern, interest in what is evidently a stunning structure.

Other than Matt in the Daily Telegraph this weekend....


UPDATE : Get to the gym and find that Channel 5 have a 1 hour Megastructures film 12.45 - 13.45 BST on Beijing Olympic Stadium - this is a much repeated documentary series about the world's most pioneering engineering projects. This programme examines the unique features of the Bird's Nest stadium, following its design, engineering and construction up until the ultimate test.

Exceptional fillum - the steel was specially made for the job in China, the parts of the nest (none of which were identical !) were made in Shanghai and transported by road to Peking.The reactions of Herzog and de Mueron when the see the final structure for the first time is an eye opener for any architect / any client.

Why didn't Channel 4 send Kevin McCloud out to do a film instead of that nice guy to do the whole of the events on his own - they could have left all that to someone else.

Look out for the endless repeats.

Gitmo trial of teenager Mohammed Jawad stalls and "Biscuit team" member, psychologist U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Diane M. Zierhoffer pleads the 5th

There is a lengthy and detailed report at Salon of the case of (the now) 23-year-old Afghani, Mohammed Jawad, who spent two days in a courtroom at Gitmo as his defense lawyer Maj. David Frakt argued that his case should never go to trial.

Frakt, claimed that Jawad 16 or 17 , his DOB unknown , was repeatedly tortured and abused in U.S. custody, charges that were supported by the testimony of a senior U.S. Army criminal investigator , Angela Birt .

Birt investigated the deaths of detainees at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan in late 2002 when Jawad had been detained there prior to his rendition kidnapping and transfer to Guantánamo in early 2003.

Birt described U.S. soldiers' abuse of detainees at Bagram as "the worst I've ever seen."

At the same hearing , U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Diane M. Zierhoffer, a licensed psychologist who had ordered the torture of a juvenile detainee, refused to testify under Section 831, Article 31 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Article 31 prohibits compulsory self-incrimination as a right under the Fifth Amendment.

Maj. Frakt, claimed further that in September 2003, “when an interrogator observed Mohammad talking to posters on the wall of the interrogation room and was concerned about his mental health,” instead of calling a mental health professional to care for him, they summoned the BSCT team (Behavioral Science Consultation Teams (BSCTs), known as "Biscuit teams), whose psychologist made a “cruel and heartless assessment and recommendations.” BSCTs are not mental health providers. Their primary, their only mission, was and still is to support military interrogations.

Maj. Frakt called the BSCT psychologist’s report (disclosed only as that of "Lt. Col. Z," ), which was classified secret and therefore not discussed in detail in the open court session, “the most chilling document of all.” (Report by ACLU’s human rights researcher, Jennifer Turner)

If U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Diane M. Zierhoffer had testified it would have been the first time that a member of a BSCT team had testified in a military commissions hearing. Zierhoffer resigned from the American Psychological Association in 2005, so could not receive any profesional strictures from them.

Frakt described Bagram "not as a detention camp, but as a torture chamber," and renewed a motion to dismiss the charges against Jawad because of his alleged torture and mistreatment.

Jawad's move to Bagram did not end the criminal abuse. Army Maj. Jason Orlich, formerly an officer with the detainee operations group at Guantánamo, testified about sleep deprivation tactics used on Jawad at Guantánamo.

This had the jocular designation of the "frequent flyer program."

This involved moving detainees from cell to cell, typically every 2/3 hours, to deprive them of sleep. As in Auschwitz, in Cambodia, immaculate records were kept by the torturers and tormentors.

We now know that In May 2004, Jawad was moved 112 times during a 14-day period. Frakt, claimed that Department of Defense guidance limits sleep deprivation to a maximum of four days.

Major Orlich who presumably has not experienced such deep sleep deprivation himself testified that such treatment was "humane." This treatnent was intended to "maintain order and discipline" and to prevent detainees from throwing urine and feces or organizing attacks on guards.

Orlich further claimed that those subjected to the program were violent detainees -- the immaculate records do not show that Jawad was violent.

The arcane, unusual and unique legal process dreamt up for these military commissions means that Judge Henley is expected to announce in late September whether Maj. Frakt has made his case and that he will dismiss the charges against Jawad on the grounds of torture (or the case proceeds).

Judge Henley, before having a holiday from this grim process upset procedures by what is reported an "unusual and unprecedented aspect to his ruling."

He ordered the senior government official responsible for the military commissions, Susan Crawford, to review the charges against Jawad, consider additional information from the defense and confirm whether she wants to proceed with the case.

Judge Henley said Gen. Hartmann had failed to include extenuating and mitigating information on Jawad's case when recommending in October 2007 that Crawford confirm the charges against Jawad. Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann is the military commissions' legal advisor, he has been accused of interference, because Jawad's case is not based on , "charges of conspiracy or material support for terrorism," but Jawad (it is alleged he threw a grenade into a U.S. military vehicle in Afghanistan in December 2002 in which 2 US soldiers and an Afghan translator were injured - Jawad has always denied throwing any grenades) has "blood on his hands".

Judge Henley ruled that Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann's aggressive advocacy of the trials by military commission -- in the media and other public statements -- ''compromised the objectivity necessary to dispassionately and fairly evaluate the evidence and prepare the post-trial evaluation,''

Henley ruled that while the case's prosecutors swore out the charges properly, Hartmann could not serve as a ''neutral'' advisor on the case.

''The judge found that in the interests of justice General Hartmann is disqualified from further action in this case,'' said Air Force Maj. Gail Crawford, a military attorney serving as spokeswoman for the trials.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, speaking for the Bush Gang had expressly stated the Geneva Conventions did not apply in the case of the Gitmo detainees (thrown out by Justice John Paul Stevens in the Supreme Court in June 2006)but added the approved torture techniques were to be used only when there was a good reason to believe that the detainee possessed "critical intelligence." There has never been the slightest suggestion that this teenager , not held on terrorism charges, had any information about terrorism of any value at all.
According to Maj. Frakt as reported in Salon , "This case would never survive scrutiny if they had done a proper pretrial investigation."

Susan Crawford has to make a decision by Sept. 25th, whether the case against Jawad will go forward ... and the Presidential elections will start getting into their stride.

See also Thursday, December 27, 2007 - Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi - 5th Prisoner at Gitmo to be charged gets details given to him of his offences

F22 US$175 Mn a time - made in 47 states

Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will", Hitler's speech to the Hitlerjugend

Panem et Circense

The whole office team, willing to sacrifice a holiday weekend demanded to see the exploding London Bus, if only to remind them of the clowns in Chipperfields circus and Becks kick a football - which few folks get to see these days.

When this tawdry £2.4 Mn blowout was over, as Jimmy Page (who collects his pension and free bus pass on January 9th 2009) melted away, the BBC seamlessly and effortlessly segued (as the professionals say) into a horrid TV license payers extravagant bonanza, stomach churning, ear splitting, free, pop/Rock we've won the Olympics jingofest.

The swooping wide lens shots took in Ginger Saxe Coburg Gotha atop his Mum's house, the Victory statue, lingered on it's Imperial lions, and rested on the Union Jack
backdrop to an ersatz Queen anthem (Geddit ?). Claudia Winkelman (Who he ? Ed.) breathlessly interviewed jangling medal holders who expressed their "pride" - a word that became the leitmotif ... (UPDATE Monday am. the BA 747 hi-jacked chartered to return the "Team GB" has a Gold painted nose cone and has been renamed "PRIDE") London Calling (Geddit) a curious anthem which the Clash famously visited a post - nuclear world was strangled by some teenagers, called curiously Scouting for Girls.

There is something sinister about the heady state sponsored chauvinism which we can be assured will be relentlessly aimed at us for four years.

At least we were spared coloured teenagers banging on oil drums ... but that probably came later, along with the drunks, fistfights and Arsenal fans.

The Olympics or ID cards. Which will come first ? We can hardly wait.

UPDATE : Sponsors of the "Handover Party" ,Visa were brought to the market in April and shareholders have doen rather well since... but then when their clients are charging up to 28% APR that's not surprising .. VISA don't lend you the money they merely administer the global scheme - everytime you use your card electronically , anywhere, anytime, it is checked in real time / online to an Arizona database.

61% of shareholders are major financial institutions see details here.

The biggest shareholders are FMR LLC 5.4 % , now worth US$3,413,447,708 - They are better known as Fidelity who have US$1.5 Trillion assets under management. The founding Johnson family controls FMR; Abigail Johnson 47, CEO Ned Johnson's Harvard educated daughter and perhaps his successor (not to mention one of the richest women in America / The World whom Forbes estimate is worth US$15 Bn), is the company's largest single shareholder. Don't rush boys, she is happily married with 2 delightful children to Christopher J. McKown (June 1988), whom she met when working at Booz,, Allen & Hamilton.

UPDATE : Apparently Visa too their exclusive sponsorship to the limit. Visa cards were the only ones accepted at ANY Olympics site / shop / ticket office / food stall ... so that wouldn't do nicely for many people.

Alaska Airlines complete replacement of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 fleet to save US$115 Mn. + a year on fuel - and some fishy goings on in Alaska

Alaska Airlines decided in 2006 to speed up the retirement of its 26 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 airplanes (15 owned 11 leased) to save $115 million per year in lower fuel, maintenance, training and crew scheduling costs with the all-Boeing 737 fleet. This would hit the balance sheet with costs of US$140-US$190 but increased fuel costs will make the payback savings quicker.

Alaska planned on taking delivery of 39 737-800 planes by 2008 and had already signed firm commitments for 13 airplanes, options for 24 more and purchase rights for an additional 27 planes in 2009 and beyond.

In a special ceremony next week, Alaska said its final MD-80 airplane, a 13-year-old model, will participate in a special ceremony with airline retirees, previous plane captains and invited guests, who will fly a special flight around Mount Rainier.

Simultaneously they take delivery of the latest new Boeing 737-800 called “Spirit of Seattle.”

On January 31st 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 departed Puerto Vallarta , Mexico for a flight to San Francisco and Seattle. En route to San Francisco a problem arose with the stabilizer trim. The crew attempted to diagnose or correct the problem the out-of-trim condition became worse, causing a tendency for the plane to pitch nose-down. When preparing the plane for landing, control was lost and the MD-83 was seen 'tumbling, spinning, nose down, continuous roll, corkscrewing and inverted'. The aircraft crashed off Point Mugu in 650 feet deep water and all 88 crew and passengers were lost.

The cause was traced to a "loss of airplane pitch control resulting from the in-flight failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system jackscrew assembly’s acme nut threads. Contributing to the accident were Alaska Airlines’ extended lubrication interval and the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) approval of that extension.

Readers with long memories might remember a post Thursday, October 06, 2005 Something fishy in the pork barrel... when Alaska Air had Mark Boyle 1 year to plan and 30 painters (including three Hollywood set-design specialists), 24 days to paint Alaskan Air 120-foot-long Boeing 737 ?

Well, federally funded Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board (US$29 million in 2 years of taxpayers money) added US$225,000 to the normal US$75,000 repaint budget. The rest of the US$500,000 budget goes on bookmarks that will be passed out to passengers as part of an educational campaign about the state of Alaska's fishing industry. Of course don't forget that senator Ted Stevens son, state Sen. Ben Stevens, is chairman of the agency’s board of directors…. (go here at the Anchorage Daily News for the court cases, secret fishy deals with Ben, Adak fisheries and Aleut fishing profits etc., etc., .. but that's another juicy fishy story)

Few will forget the intemperate remarks of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2004 about earmarks on a bill which paid for the above fishy plane. "Is there something wrong with these fish that warrants such an expensive program to convince us to eat them?" He was not then a Presidential wannabe hoping to reap the rewards of Ted Stevens' Republican supporters.

Ted Stevens , readers will recall was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., July 28th 2008 on seven counts of filing false financial disclosures, each a felony charge that carries a penalty of five years in prison and an unspecified fine.

As a result of a 4 year federal investigation into public corruption in the state of Alaska , three state legislators, a high-level official in Gov. Frank Murkowski's administration, two businessmen and a lobbyist have been convicted, and two legislators are awaiting trial.

"I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that." said Ted.

4 days ago he was refused leave to have the trial moved from Washington to Alaska - new filings involve some fascinating new material including ,"an intercepted telephone call in (the Government began tapping his phones in March 2006) which Stevens discusses how his son Ben, then the state Senate President, planned to push a bill favored by the oil industry as a prelude to gas development."

US borders safe from illegal importation of incorrectly labelled Penis Pumps - Democracy is safe.

This is one of those arcane, grubby, but nonetheless delightful internet web cyber HOT STORIES that amuse juveniles and like minded souls - The FDA have put out an alert IA #78-01 - 8/20/08, REVISION TO IMPORT ALERT #78-01, "DETENTION WITHOUT PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OF PENIS ENLARGERS AND ERECTION MAINTAINING RINGS"

We need to thank the sharp eyed souls at Texas Star Telegram who picked up this from the FDA website.

Apparently the FDA have identified a problem with penis enlargement devices as there are inadequate instructions for use "The article is subject to refusal of admission pursuant to Section 801(a)(3) in that it appears to be a device, the label of which fails to bear adequate directions for use [Misbranding, Section 502(f)(1)]." (Makes you wonder how that contaminated heparin got through these hard working guys at the FDA ?)see Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Baxter Healthcare Heparin crisis grows - active ingredient traced to Chinese production plant that was not inspected by the FDA

Helpfully, in their alert the problems that arise from incorrect use are detailed in somewhat grim and startling detail :The use of penis enlargers and erection maintaining rings may have harmful effects. They may aggravate existing medical conditions such a Pegronies disease, priapism, and urethral stricture. They may contuse or cause rupture of the subcutaneous blood vessels, which may produce hemorrhage and hematoma formation. Additionally, frequent use of erection maintaining rings may result in ecchymosis of the proximal portion of the penis and scrotum, and the lymphatic stasis of the penis.

Perhaps most alarming (if this hasn't already put you off the use of penile rings for a lifetime) : Prolonged use of the rings may cause gangrene of the penis.

Even more helpfully they add that :Basically, the labelling of these devices falsely states or implies they will treat impotence, prolong erection, and increase the dimensions of the penis.

We will hold off on further details of and harm that may result, from the use of : Erection Maintaining Devices, Penis Enlargers, and Supportive Devices - Click here if you need help.

If not already awed by the burly boys and girls of the extraordinarily polite and helpful Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers when emerging Stateside - the message is clear - should you have brought along your penis pump .... remember to keep the instructions handy. Or this could happen.

Toni Fabuloso's TOP TIP for TRAVELLERS : TSA Federal Flight Deck Officers are trained by the Federal Air Marshal Service on the use of firearms, use of force, legal issues, defensive tactics etc., so it would be unwise to even think about using such devices whilst in flight.

Damp harvest depresses UK wheat quality and price

In the post on the closure of the Statoil Kvitebjørn pipeline and it's effect on domestic UK gas prices on August 20th we noted in a postscript that East Angian barley barons were having to spend £5 a tonne on drying grain - double the cost of last year. We noted that wheat was being quoted in Chicago @ US$8.74 a bushel (35.74 bushels to a tonne) = £174 and that futures are being quoted in the high US$9.80 's for the whole of next year.

Life is always a little more complicated than it appears.

Tthe protein and gluten content declines with each day the ripe crop stands, and leaves the crop vulenrable to rusts and other fungal diseases and sprouting, as a consequence the resulting grain declines in value for flour millers and ends up as feed wheat.

The poor summer and harvest season has been shared across much of Europe and there is such a glut of lower quality grains that the London wheat futures market has virtually ground to a standstill with prices hovering around a 13 month low of £121 a tonne.

This has the bizarre effect that prices are now so low that it has depressed prices and trade in Brazilian corn and US sorghum for animal feeds.

The last quoted price on the Euronext Liffe exchange for November '08 Milling Wheat is 194.75 Euros = £155.43 a tonne. This agrees with reports in the Wall Street Journal that London prices are £30 per tonne below Paris prices. See U.K.'s Wheat Loses Ground By Sarah McFarlane , "The U.K.'s wheat crop, beset this year by damp weather, is seeing its price sink in comparison with grain from the Continent.. "

See also reports from Bakers & Millers

BBC4 - Simon Gray's superb "Little Nell" - do not miss it.

The sheer quantity of drama produced on BBC Radio is astonishing, as is the consistently high standard of production . That this fertile seed bed cannot be translated to the visual medium of TV is a mystery any license payer must consider when preparing to pay up - fearful of the database, that will hound them if they fail.

Yesterday afternoon BBC4 repeated Simon Gray's "Litle Nell" , first heard on the wireless radio in 2006 and repeated, in commemoration of the author's life. He died on August 7th - not from lung cancer (he was a heavy and celebrated smoker) but from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was 71 and had written 35 plays.

"Little Nell" was later produced on stage by Peter Hall and had a premiere at the Theatre Royal in Bath as part of the Peter Hall Season , in June 2007. A useful review by Alison Vale is available here.

Simon Gray was inspired to write the play by the biography of Charle's Dicken's mistress written by Claire Tomalin (now 75 and married to another prolific British playwright Michael Frayn) of "The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens." ISBN 0-14-012136-6 Amazon for which she was to be awarded in 1990, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

The squalid imbroglio of the lionised Dickens and his seduction of the pretty 18 year old "actress" , her life in the shadows, his death and her subsequent marriage in which she succeeded in baffling her husband by mislaying her year of birth by a decade make a wicked tale of Victorian public piety and private sin.

The cast are all magnificent, but Monica Dolan as Nelly Ternan must make any married man longing for a lively bit on the side think again. As the wronged and kept woman she certainly made poor Dicken's pay for his sinful pleasures.

There is, as ever on BBC drama, some fine incidental parlour music from Charlotte Brennan.

You can listen again here for a week (Please note : sighs and sounds of a sexual nature which might arouse some sensitive souls)

There is a handy and brief biography of Nelly Ternan at billgreenwell.com ,one of a fascinating series of "Lost Lives" Also commended is the Postscript "Listen : Do you want to know a secret?"

Boeing takes tanker bid to the wire - threatens to pull out and leave uncontested Grumman /EADS bid

The USAF tanker contract has already been awarded to Northrop Grumman. Intensive lobbying by Boeing had the contract re-opened.

Boeing now contends that because the government amended the way it plans to price the planes as well as the long-term expenditure of operating the tankers, that essentially this is a new bid for a new project. Sunmitting a re - jigged (rigged ?) bid for the smaller 767-200 - too small with too little capacity, the Boeing bid would again be defeated.

The Air Force's draft proposal announced Aug. 6 gives priority to "fuel capacity and offload, and our 767-200 doesn't fill that bill," Daniel Beck, a spokesman for Chicago-based Boeing, said in an interview with seattle.pi.com. Boeing would have to conduct multiple studies "to come up with a proposal that meets this requirement."

Boeing are now saying that without the deadline being extended beyond the original October 1 they won't bid and say they need six more months in order to properly bid.

Because of the contract size - US$40 Bn and considering Congress want a contested bid, Boeing are relying on the DOD being forced into accepting a delay.

The Wall Street Journal, on Friday say there are rumours of a compromise to extend the timeline by 15 days.

Not time to put out the flags in Alabama ... well not just yet.

PS : No news on the Dreamliner rollout under full power or first flight.