Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi

Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.

Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.

What a shock,  he is still alive and he has disappeared, I said at the time I did not believe how ill he was and this was just about BP getting a huge oil deal. http://durdensview.blogspot.com/2009/08/lockerbie.html

Relatives of the victims were furious in August when Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, released al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds because he was expected to die of prostate cancer within three months.

al-Megrahi was monitored by Jonathan Hinds, of East Renfrewshire council who called him by telephone every other Tuesday.

What an absolutely water tight security procedure.

As usual we have become the laughing stock of the World, and though its a Scottish problem everybody knows it was sanctioned by Westminster.

DurdensView Tags: Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, Macaskill

Climate Change – A lot of hot air?

I don’t believe that climate change is happening to the extent the Government scientists claim, I’m sure that is a change in climate but that is cyclical it has happened since the earth was created, and will continue to change with or without our help,  just look at the ice age.

Are we expected to believe our way of life now is affecting the climate, when for 300 years every house in Europe used coal for heat and our chimneys billowed thick black smoke around the clock.

Though we are more efficient in our factory’s now it was not always like that, our factory’s also fouled  the atmosphere with smoke , in China it is still happening, China is the worlds worst polluter of  air.

Climate change is just a tool used as a scare tactic to extract extra taxes from the population, its just the latest scare of many.

In the early 80’s I can remember the adverts claiming that within 5 years everybody in the Country would know someone who had aids or had died of aids, then we had Ebola that was meant to kill half the worlds population, Salmonella, bird flu, Swine flu, its always something, coffee is good for us coffee is bad for us , a glass of red a day prevents heart disease, then a few years down the line a glass of red a day causes heart disease.

Back in the 50’s we were told smoking was good,  it made men manly and attractive to women, ( remember the Marlboro man) it made women  sexy and sophisticated, today it kills us, smoking is bad. Incidentally the Marlboro man died of lung cancer caused by smoking.

So for now they beat the climate change drum with enthusiasm, until its noticed that the World is ticking along ok, and then its on to the next scare.

DurdensView Tags: Climate Change, Aids, Swine flu

Tiger Tamed

Tigers wife has discarded her wedding ring, Pepsi-co have dropped their  Tiger brand drinks, Accenture have sacked him as their company “face”,  Tag Haur are looking at the small print to cancel their contract with him, so far only Nike have stood by Tiger but how long can that last given we don’t expect Tiger on a golf course in the foreseeable future.

The picture above was some time ago long before this scandal broke, it’s funny given what we now know how sinister Wood’s pose is, an arrogant almost dismissive look on his face aimed at his wife  that was not noticeable before.

One  final thought  about Tiger as it is getting a little boring now.

If Tiger does come back to golf, in a sick kind of way he will be an even more valuable commodity than he is now, can you imagine the interest in his comeback tournament, that would be the most watched golf tournament in history.

Advertisers would be charged astronomical fees to be associated with that tournament, Tigers appearance money would dwarf any he has received to date, television revenue would have so many nought on it you would need two calculators to count it.

And if he were to actually win it he may as well be given the keys to Fort Knox. pathetic I know but it’s true, even the most hardened anti Tiger fan now would want to see him play just to see how he plays how he copes with the crowds and the obvious flak he will get.

Me included.

DurdensView Tags: Tiger Woods

Tiger Gags Britain

The Guardian has  reported that Woods has successfully gained an injunction preventing the British Media from printing any more revelations about his personal life.
What an earth happened to Absolute Privilege and a free press in this country?

It is absolutely outrageous that Woods would be granted this, of course a persons sex life is private but not when your image and persona is built on a clean living family man image that you “sell” to the public, then you must be accountable.

And what of  Tigers infamous crash outside his home where he drove into a tree then a hydrant he could just as easily have driven into a person,  that alone makes the story newsworthy, which then means we are entitled to the background of what happened.

I am disgusted that our courts have capitulated to him so easily and hope that our press are already preparing appeals against this pathetic decision.

DurdensView Tags: Guardian, Woods, Injunction

Pakistani Intelligence

A U.S. drone strike this week killed a senior al Qaeda operator in a Pakistani tribal area near the Afghan border, U.S. and Pakistani officials said Friday.

U.S. officials said Saleh al-Somali, who was responsible for al Qaeda's operations outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan, was killed in the strike Tuesday. He was on the C.I.A.’S  list of the top 20 al Qaeda targets, according to an official familiar with the list.

For all the Pakistani Governments public berating of the Americans for using drones on Pakistan territory it was information provided by Pakistan’s SIS that led to the death of al-Somali.

The SIS (Pakistan intelligence service) has in the past been accused of having very close ties to Al Quaeda, so its about time they came on board.

With the 30.000 extra troops  “surge” in Afghanistan expected to be in full flow by the summer of 2010, and victory over the Taliban said to be accomplished in approx 18 months, the Pakistani’s know that the next major  battle in the war on terror  will be  fought in Pakistan’s border regions.

It will be interesting to see how accurate the time scale predicted for victory in Afghanistan is, with the new tactics of actively going after the Taliban and smashing them wherever they are found is.

Obama has said the troop pullout starts in July 2011.  and security handed over to the Afghans themselves to take responsibility for their own Country I believe its possible.

DurdensView Tags: Pakistan, al -Somali, Afghanistan

Tiger Retires

It was reported by the New York Times  today that Tiger Woods has retired from competitive golf, as predicted by this column some 5 days ago http://durdensview.blogspot.com/2009/12/tiger-will-retire.html

Another DurdensView piece that was on the money.

Jacob Hadcock

Young Jacob Hadcock is 4 years old and has a terminal illness he lives in the United States, He would love to recieve xmas cards or letters from people all over the world, this may be Jacobs last Xmas so lets make his wish come true.

My daughter is a friend of his carer that’s how I became aware of Jacob, so if you are feeling festive and want to make a young child happy send your cards or letters to.

Jacob Hadcock

127 north Street Mexico

New York 13114

America

Thank you.