Sunday, 20 May 2012

Abdelbaset al Megrahi



Reports from Libya today state the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset al Megrahi, has died.

East Renfrewshire Council, which is supposed to receive updates about his condition following his early release from prison, has said it has received no official confirmation of his death but it is investigating.

The Foreign Office said it does not know if the reports are accurate, but they are "seeking further information".

A Scottish court in 2001 convicted Megrahi, 60, of the 1988 attack on Pan Am flight 103, but he was freed on compassionate grounds in 2009 because doctors said he was battling prostate cancer and had only three months to live.

He was greeted like a hero by the Gaddafi regime on his return to the country in 2009having served eight years of a 27-year sentence.

He was the only person convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie.

To the end, Abdelbaset al Megrahi always insisted he was an innocent man and had nothing to do with the attack, which killed 270 people, most of them American students flying home for Christmas.

Born in Tripoli in 1952 and educated in the United States and the UK, the former Libyan intelligence officer was added to the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list seven years after the atrocity.

He did not fit the stereotype of an international terrorist.

Smartly dressed and quietly spoken, he portrayed himself as a family man who had been the victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice.

After almost seven months and evidence from 230 witnesses, Megrahi was eventually found guilty and sentenced to 27 years.

A director of Libya's Centre for Strategic Studies and later put in charge of Libyan
Arab Airlines' security operations, prosecutors said he used his position to organise, prepare and carry out the Lockerbie bombing.

Fragments of clothing, found wrapped around the timing device, linked him to the attack.

He was also identified by Maltese businessman Anthony Gauci, who claimed he sold
items of clothing and an umbrella to a Libyan man who looked "a lot" like Megrahi three weeks before the bombing.

After a lengthy investigation by UK and US police forces, Megrahi was indicted in 1991.

However, years of lengthy diplomatic bargaining with Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi followed before he was handed over for trial.

Megrahi and his co-accused, compatriot Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, eventually faced a trial in 2000, conducted under Scottish law at a specially convened court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

Costing an estimated £75m, it was one of the most complex trials ever staged.

His co-accused was cleared.

A first appeal against his conviction was rejected in March 2002.

Five years later, his lawyers successfully applied to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and the case was referred back to the Court of Appeal.

Eight years after he was found guilty of blowing up the jet, Megrahi dropped the appeal.

On August 21, 2009, Megrahi was released from Greenock Prison on compassionate grounds amid a storm of protest from victims' families.

But while many of the relatives are convinced of his guilt, there are some, particularly in Britain, who believe he was innocent.

I am 1 of the dissenting voices.
I ask you to read this link here. It will take you back to 11 post relating to this subject.
Some of them with praise, some of them critical, some of them questioning of evidence.

Please just have a wee read!

The 1 thing I know today is certain members of the British Government, Scottish Government and both the UK and USA intelligence services tonight are breathing a lot easier. The 1 man who remained, that knew the actual truth has now gone !!!!

Friday, 11 May 2012

Having a Pun Day ???

I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.
When chemists die, they barium.
Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.
I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.
This girl said she recognised me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.
I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.
They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O.
PMS jokes aren't funny. Period.
Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.
We are going on a class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz.
Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?
When you get a bladder infection urine trouble.
Broken pencils are pointless.
I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.
What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.
England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.
I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.
I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.
I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.
Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.
Velcro, what a rip off!
A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.
Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!
The earthquake in Washington obviously was the government's fault.
Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.
When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
I used to work in a blanket factory, but it folded.
Marriage is the mourning after the knot before.
Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome?
Sea captains don't like crew cuts.
A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.
A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumour.
Without geometry, life is pointless.
When you dream in colour, it's a pigment of your imagination.
Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red.
A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
What's the definition of a will? (Come on, it's a dead giveaway!)
A backwards poet writes inverse.
In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism, your count votes.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.
Doctors tell us there are over seven million people who are overweight. These, of course, are only round figures.
What is the purpose of reindeer? It makes the grass grow, sweetie.
There were two ships. One had red paint, one had blue paint. They collided. At last report, the survivors were marooned.
The other day I sent my girlfriend a huge pile of snow. I rang her up and asked, "Did you get my drift?"
Where do you find giant snails? On the ends of giant's fingers.
Why is Saudi Arabia free of mental illness? There are nomad people there.
When I was in the supermarket I saw a man and a woman wrapped in a barcode. I asked "Are you two an item?"
When she told me I was average, she was just being mean.
This duck walks into a bar and orders a beer. "Four bucks," says the bartender. "Put it on my bill."
A dog with his leg wrapped in bandages hobbles into a saloon. He sidles up to the bar and announces "I'm lookin' fer the man who shot my paw."
A termite walks into a bar and says "Is the bar tender here?"
Four fonts walk into a bar. The barman says "Hey get out! We don't want your type in here!"

Wednesday, 9 May 2012

France


So on Sunday just past 06/05/12 the lovely people of France voted and as we all know The current President of the Republic being Nicolas Sarkozy, a position held since 16May 2007, with a result of a loss for him giving the President-Elect to François Hollande, who takes office on 15 May 2012.

Good luck to him but for everyone else I thought it best to provide a few basic facts figures and quotes about this once great Gaullish nation


ABOUT THE FRENCH

"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country" --Mark Twain

"France has usually been governed by prostitutes" --Mark Twain

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" --General George S. Patton

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion" --Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it" --Marge Simpson

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure" --Jacques Chirac, President of France

"As far as France is concerned, you're right" --Rush Limbaugh

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee" --Regis Philbin

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whisky I don't know" --PJ O'Rourke

"You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it" --John McCain

"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people" --Conan O'Brien

"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get Hitler out of France either" --Jay Leno.

"The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag" --David Letterman

"Only thing worse than a Frenchman is a Frenchman who lives in Canada" --Ted Nugent.

"War without France would be like... uh ... World War II" --Unknown

"The favourite bumper sticker in Washington D.C. right now is one that says 'First Iraq, then France'" --Tom Brokaw

"What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of its national will fighting against Disney World and Big Macs than the Nazis?" --Dennis Miller.

"It is important to remember that the French have always been there when they needed us" --Alan Kent

"They've taken their own precautions against al-Qaida. To prepare for an attack, each Frenchman is urged to keep duct tape, a white flag, and a three-day supply of mistresses in the house"--Argus Hamilton

"Somebody was telling me about the French Army rifle that was being advertised on eBay the other day. The description was 'Never shot. Dropped once" --Rep. Roy Blunt (MO)

"The French will only agree to go to war when we've proven we've found truffles in Iraq" --Dennis Miller

"Do you know how many Frenchmen it takes to defend Paris? It's not known, it's never been tried" --Rep. R. Blount

"Do you know it only took Germany three days to conquer France in WWII? And that's because it was raining" --John Xereas

*snigger*

Its Official

YES ITS OFFICIAL!!!!!!!



Muller Fruit Corner Greek Yogurt Rhubard ............... absolutely F*****G Rock.

I have no connection to the company at all but should a person of the company wish to send me loads of free ones I will accept and post on the blog everytime I eat 1.

I am soooo cheap its not true.

Excuse the shaky photo but I was still overcome in yogurty pleasure !!!!!!!

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

08/05 ........... A Sad Day



Indeed ...... sadly 08/05/12 marks a date for myself.
This wee blog is the main outlet I have but if you follow this link here and indeed then the link there all will be clear.

Today is the second anniversary of the passing away of my very best mate Calum, in a horrific motorcycle accident.
Indeed a better friend I never had ............... maybe never will have.

Please read the original posts if you are not aquanted with the story but ............... I can say the guilt has gone but the hurt still stays.

Tonight a wee trip out to Scotlandwell will be had. Nice we part of Perthshire if anyone knows it. A wee flower will be laid and a wee prayer said. Not that I am devoutly religious. Maybe more of a question to the big guy upstairs to ask why Calum.
He left a wife and a tiny wee daughter. They have moved away now and are going on with their lives.
Life does not stop because of tragedy, I above all realise that ............... it just needs dealt with.

Night my mate ...... sleep well !!!!!!!!!