Briefing by the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: President Karzau Phonecall, MPs’ expenses, Iran, NHS Speech, Afghanistan, bananas and misc

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As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back-country.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost; and being a typical man I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.

I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man. And as I played 'Amazing Grace' the workers began to weep.
They wept, I wept, we all wept together.

When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full. As I was opening the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

Speaking at the University of East London, David Cameron announced plans to increase transparency in lobbying and ensure parliamentary privilege cannot be used by MPs to evade justice.

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Speaking at the University of East London, David Cameron announced new proposals to rebuild trust in politics.

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The people of Cumbria are to benefit from £4.6 million of Government funding to pay for a road bridge over the River Derwent Transport Minister Sadiq Khan announced in Workington today.



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Nick Clegg will today challenge the other two party leaders to agree an emergency programme of political reform.


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“With only months until an election must be called this reeks of yet another desperate pre-election bribe by Labour," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary.


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is it not time we allowed other people to run our country.our present mps only seem to want to look after themselves.they make their own rules and even when they brake their own rules they they seem to think we just have put up with it.in the next ellection we should all only vote for people who have never been an mp.who ever they are they could not be worse than those we have now.if they were honerable they would all have resigned over their expences.

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8808.doc.htm

The UNIFIL forces in Southern Lebanon are failing to prevent the re-arming of Hezbollah and as such is it not time for their withdrawl?
DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security
Hezbollah have strengthened their position as a party within the Lebanese government and, as such, the "armed groups" are synonymous with the Lebanese government.
The situation is being destabilized by Iran and Syria supplying weapons to their proxy war-makers, whilst Iran continue to enrich Uranium with impunity.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security

What are the International community going to do about the situation?
How can the UN maintain peace in the area?
Is war imminent?

The carbon markets are failing in their role of encouraging investment in cutting CO2 emissions, MPs have concluded.

The environmental audit committee has urged the government to consider other measures, such as a floor price for carbon dioxide emissions, which would provide industries with greater certainty over the price of carbon and help to ensure the system of pricing was effective.

The MPs said a price of €100 per tonne of CO 2 could be necessary to encourage investment, compared with current prices of about €13.

Tim Yeo, who chairs the committee, said: "Emissions trading should be helping us to combat climate change but, at the moment, the price of carbon simply isn't high enough to make it work. If the government wants to kickstart serious green investment, it must step in to stop the price of carbon flat-lining."

Under the European Union's emission trading scheme (ETS), heavy industries are issued with a quota of carbon permits, and companies that want to produce more must buy spare permits from cleaner companies. This should encourage companies to invest in efficiencies and technologies that reduce their emissions. But, at current prices, the signal is widely acknowledged as too weak to prompt action.

Many companies are strongly against tightening the quota caps, however, as this would impose higher prices on them, raising fears that they could be undercut by rivals from countries without carbon-cutting regulations.

Yesterday, the CBI employers' body cast doubt on whether a floor price was the correct response. John Cridland, deputy director-general, said carbon prices had fallen because the recession had cut output, meaning companies needed fewer carbon permits.

The full story available from here : FT.com / UK - Carbon markets failing, say MPs

Surveys show increase in number of people who believe claims are exaggerated.

The number of Britons who believe the science of climate change has fallen over the last 12 months, according to recent polls. Although the vast majority of people still believe the planet is heating up, there has been an increase in those who believe climate change claims are exaggerated.

Public perception could have been influenced by the recent scandal of leaked emails between climate change scientists at the University of East Anglia. The emails, which appeared to encourage data to be kept from Freedom of Information requests, have been seized upon by climate change sceptics – although none of them dispute the science behind the "greenhouse effect" of gases such as carbon dioxide, which traps solar heat and warms the atmosphere.

A BBC poll, which surveyed 1,000 people, revealed that 25% of adults did not believe in global warming – a rise of 8% since a similar poll in November – and the percentage of those who thought climate change was a reality fell to 75%. Of those who believed, one in three felt climate change had been exaggerated. Only 26% of people thought climate change was "established as largely manmade".

The full story available from here : Public loses faith in climate change science after leaked emails scandal | Environment | The Guardian

A longevity gene has been identified for the first time in a breakthrough that could eventually help people live longer, a new study suggests.

The researchers have located a gene which determines whether or not a person will biologically age quickly or slowly.

They think that by testing for the gene when some one is young could identify whether they have to alter their lifestyle accordingly.

In the longer term it may be possible to manipulate the gene so that life spans can be extended. "This gives us for the first time a better understanding of biological ageing, " said Professor Nilesh Samani at the University of Leicester.

"It is the first step to understanding why people age. Once we have a full understanding we should be able to manipulate it in a manner to influence how someone ages."

Cells in the body are constantly replacing themselves before they die. But each replication is not perfect and the faults that are passed down cause the body to age.

One form of damage is caused to the telomeres – the end parts of chromosomes which act like the plastic tips of shoelaces and stop them from fraying.

The problem is that they shorten each time they replicate and eventually are so short that replication becomes impossible and the cell dies forever.

The scientists have discovered that a variant of the TERC gene determines not only how long the telomeres are when someone is born but also how quickly they shorten.

Prof Samani, who reported his findings in the Journal Nature Genetics, discovered the variant by comparing the genetic make-up and biological age of more than 10,000 people.

He said: "In this study what we found was that those individuals carrying a particular genetic variant had shorter telomeres i.e. looked biologically older.

"Given the association of shorter telomeres with age-associated diseases, the finding raises the question whether individuals carrying the variant are at greater risk of developing such diseases."

Professor Tim Spector from King's College London, who co-led this project, said: "What our study suggests is that some people are genetically programmed to age at a faster rate.

"The effect was quite considerable in those with the variant, equivalent to between 3-4 years of 'biological ageing" as measured by telomere length loss.

"Alternatively genetically susceptible people may age even faster when exposed to proven 'bad' environments for telomeres like smoking, obesity or lack of exercise – and end up several years biologically older or succumbing to more age-related diseases. "

Story from The Telegraph - Ageing gene found by scientists could be key to longer lifespans

Incidentally, a very recent episode of the BBC2 'Horizon' programme called "Don't Grow Old" dealt with this same subject - BBC Horizon, 2009-2010, Don't Grow Old

Emotional Alastair Campbell cracks up in TV interview on Iraq war | Mail Online

Gordon Brown weeps on television as he talks about death of Jennifer | Mail Online

Maybe this is the new vote winner.
I wouldn't want either of them kissing my babies.

What was it I saw there behind President Obama at his Address?

No not Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, behind them one to the left and one to the right, In Gold on the walls.

Why are they there? Two Identical symbols one to the left and one to the right, both are symbolic of socialist ideas, have they always been there?
Any expert info would be appreciated.

THE civil service has quietly begun preparing for a hung parliament, codifying in a single document the role of the monarch in the event that no party wins an overall majority.

Officials want to ensure there is no risk that uncertainty could lead to a constitutional crisis over the Queen’s powers to accept or refuse a request to dissolve parliament.

The provisions are part of a “road map” to guide civil servants and politicians in a caretaker government, setting out the precedents on forming coalitions and informal party pacts.

The narrowing poll gap between the main parties has increased the chances of no party winning a majority, prompting the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Justice to take steps to ensure government could continue to function. The monarch’s role, which has evolved over centuries and has never been fully set out in legislation, is fully understood by few except constitutional experts.

If her powers are exercised correctly, they would have the potential to unblock any post-election logjam. If any mistakes are made, however, there could be indecision which would panic the markets and have dire consequences for the economy.

Civil servants have been in talks with the Queen’s advisers to define what she could and could not do if no politician could command a Commons majority.They are understood to be studying precedents in Commonwealth countries where the Queen holds residual powers.

The full story is available at : Queen primed for hung parliament - Times Online

Lessons from the financial crisis: a libertarian perspective » The Cobden Centre

Very interesting.

After another week of revelations about MPs' expenses, David Cameron sets out his approach for restoring trust and accountability.

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So just 4 MP's are to stand trial over the expenses scandal. Every single one of them should have been brougt to account, punnished and swept away.What a disspicable bunch they are.

Too much advertising! It is everywhere! I mean this site is not about politics or debate but is clearly meant to be a cash cow for an inactive admin!
The arbitrary banning of the most intelligent posters (which is probably related to the vast reduction in site traffic which no doubt is not wholly unrelated to the increase in advertising).

RIP Politic.co.uk Your death is a very sad thing indeed

Briefing by the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: British Gas, expenses, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, quantitative easing, car scrappage and Toyota

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A topic I came across in Global Times Forum.

China has huge aggregate GDO but small in per capita.

Morning all,

I just had a weird dream that absolutely makes no sense; unless I am a murderous Psychopath!
It was like a film where throughout it is narrated by the main anatagonist. The only thing that happened many times was the inventive ways of murdering people.

What is odd is that the narrative was giving rules to murder.
The one I can remember is

?/ Remember, you are always willing to be the investor. When you want to kill, you must be rich! Even if you are not.

Some murders that I can remember include

1/ Pushing people off of the building
2/ Putting money in a bag that is out of reach of the victim. Then when he reached up, a cover falls on them and they get sliced to pieces...

So, I am secretly a psychopath, but what you guys? Any weird dreams you can remember that you want to share?

The Terror that begot Israel








“We committed Nazi acts.” Aharon Zisling, Israel’s first Agriculture Minister


“There is no doubt that many sexual atrocities were committed by the attacking Jews. Many young (Arab) girls were raped and later slaughtered. Old women were also molested.”
General Richard Catling, British Army Assistant Inspector after interrogating several female survivors (The Palestinian Catastrophe, Michael Palumbo, 1987)

As the evil state of Israel is celebrating sixty years of ethnic cleansing and atrocities against the native Palestinians, many people around the world, especially young generations, will not be fully aware of the manner in which Israel came into existence. Similarly, the younger Zionist generations who don’t stop calling their Palestinian victims “terrorists” should have a clearer idea about Israel’s manifestly criminal past which Zionist school textbooks shamelessly glamorize and glorify
Prior to "Jewish" statehood, three main Jewish terror organizations operated in Palestine, primarily against Palestinian civilians and British mandate targets. The three were: The Haganah, the Zvei Leumi or Irgun and the Stern Gang. The Haganah (Defence) had a field army of up to 160,000 well-trained and well-armed men and a unit called the Palmach, with more than 6,000 terrorists. The Irgun included as many as 5,000 terrorists, while the Stern Gang included 200-300 dangerous terrorists.
The following are merely some examples of Zionist terrorism prior to the creation of the Zionist state in 1948: The list doesn't include the bigger massacres such as Dir Yasin, Dawaymeh, Tantura and others.
1937-1939
During this period, Zionist terrorists carried out a series of terror attacks against Palestinian buses resulting in the death of 24 persons and the wounding of 25 others.
1939
Haganah blew up the Iraqi oil pipeline near Haifa/Palestine. Moshe Dayan was one of the participants in this act. The technique was used in 1947 at least four times.
1940
On 6 November, 1940 , Zionist terrorists of the Stern Gang assassinated the British Minister resident in the Middle East , Lord Moyne, in Cairo .
1940
On 25 November, S.S. Patria was blown up by Jewish terrorists in Haifa harbour, killing 268 illegal Jewish immigrants. The explosion, carried out by the Haganah terrorist group, was only meant to prevent the ship from sailing. However, it seemed that the terrorists had miscalculated the amount of explosives needed to disable the vessel. Other sources reported that this was no miscalculation and was a deliberate mass murder of Jews by Jews aimed at drawing sympathy and influencing British immigration policy to Palestine .
1946
Zionist terrorists blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which housed the civilian administration of the government of Palestine, killing and injuring more than 200 persons. The Irgun gang claimed responsibility for this criminal act, but subsequent evidence indicated that both the Haganah and the Jewish Agency were involved.
1946
On 1 October, the British Embassy in Rome was badly damaged by a bomb explosion for which Irgun claimed responsibility.
1947
In June 1947, a postal bomb addressed to the British war office exploded in the post office sorting room in London, injuring 2 persons. It was attributed to Irgun or Stern Gangs (The Sunday Times, Sept. 24, 1972), p. 8.
1947
In December 1947, six Palestinians were killed and 30 wounded when bombs were thrown from Jewish trucks at Arab houses in Haifa; 12 Palestinians were killed and another injured in an attack by armed Zionists at an Arab coastal village near Haifa.
1947
On 13 December 1947 , Zionist terrorists believed to be members of Irgun Zevi Leumi murdered 18 Palestinian civilians and wounded 60 others in Jerusalem , Jaffa and Lud areas. In Jerusalem , bombs were thrown in an Arab market-place near the Damascus Gate; in Jaffa bombs were thrown into an Arab café; and in the Arab village near Lud, 12 Arabs were killed in an attack with mortars and automatic weapons.
1947
On 9 December, Haganah terrorists attacked an Arab village near Safad, blowing up two houses, in the ruins of which were found the bodies of 10 Arabs, including 5 children. Haganah admitted responsibility for the attack.
1947
On 29 December, two British constables and 11 Palestinians were killed and 32 others were injured at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem when Irgun terrorists threw a bomb from a taxi.
1948
On 1 January, Haganah terrorists attacked a village on the slope of Mount Carmel , killing 17 Palestinian civilians and wounding 33 others.
1948
On 4 January, Haganah terrorists wearing British Army uniforms penetrated into the centre of Jaffa and blew up the Sarai, which was used as headquarters of the Arab National Committee, killing more than 40 persons and wounding 98 others.
1948
On 5 January, the Arab-owned Semiramis Hotel in Jerusalem was blown up, killing 20 civilians, among them Viscount De Tapia, the Spanish Consul. Haganah admitted responsibility for this outrage.
1948
On 7 January , seventeen Arab civilians were killed by a bomb at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem , 3 of them while trying to escape. Further casualties, including the murder of a British officer near Hebron, were reported from different parts of the country.
1948
On 16 January, Jewish terrorists blew up three Arab buildings, killing 8 children between the age of 18 months and 12 years.
December 13, 1947- February 10, 1948
Seven bombing attacks by Jewish terrorists took place and the targets were innocent Arab civilians in cafés and markets, killing 138 and wounding 271 others. During this period, there were 9 attacks on Arab buses. Moreover, Jewish terrorists attacked passenger trains on at least four occasions, killing 93 persons and wounding 161 others.
1948
On 15 February , Haganah terrorists attacked an Arab village near Safad and blew up several houses, killing 11 civilians, including four children.
1948
On 3 March, heavy damage was done to the Arab-owned Salam building in Haifa (a seven-story block of flats and shops) by Jewish terrorists who drove an army truck to the building and escaped before detonation of 400 pounds of explosives, killing 11 Arab civilians and 3 Americans. The Stern Gang claimed responsibility.
1948
On 22 March, Jewish terrorists from the Stern Gang blew up a housing block in Iraq Street in Haifa , killing 17 and injuring 100 others. Four members of the Stern Gang drove two truckloads of explosives into the street and abandoned the vehicles before the explosives went off.
1948
On 31 March, Jewish terrorists mined the Cairo-Haifa Express, killing 40 people and wounding 60 others.
1948
On 16 April, Jewish terrorists attacked the former British army camp at Tel Litvvinsky, killing 90 Palestinians.
1948
On 19 April, fourteen Palestinian civilians were killed in a house in Tiberias, which was blown up by Zionist terrorists.
1948
On 11 May, a letter bomb addressed to Evelyn Baker, former commanding officer in Palestine , was detected in the nick of time by his wife.
April 25, 1948- May 13, 1948
Wholesale looting of Jaffa was carried out following armed attacks by Irgun and Haganah terrorists. They plundered and carried away everything they could, destroying what they could not take with them.
1948
On 17 September, Count Folke Berndadotte, UN Mediator in Palestine was assassinated by members of the Stern Gang in the Zionist-controlled sector of Jerusalem . Bernadotte’s aide Col. Serot was also killed and murdered by Jewish terrorists.
1948
In November, the Christian Arab villages of Igrit and Birim were attacked and destroyed, killing and injuring many unarmed civilians, including women and children. All the Christian Arab inhabitants were forcibly expelled from their homes. The State of Israel still refuses to allow them to return to their villages despite several court orders.
1948-1949
The greatest acts of Jewish terror took place when Jewish terrorists, now called Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), uprooted 700,000-800,000 Palestinians from their ancestral homeland in Palestine . Since then the refugees have consistently been denied the right to return home. After the expulsion, the Zionist terrorist army razed to the ground hundreds of Arab towns, villages and hamlets and obliterated their remains. Eventually, Israeli villages, Kibbutzim and towns were built on the remaining rubble.


From The Terror that begot Israel

The UK Government today welcomed the call by Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti for the restoration of Zimbabwe’s voting rights at the IMF.



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Briefing by the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: MPs' expenses, asset freezing, drugs abroad and Kraft/*******.

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Cherie Blair 'spared violent criminal from prison because he was religious' - Telegraph
I think that she should resign.
She also refers to a mild fracture of the jaw - there is no such thing - it is an extremely painful injury and takes a lot of force to do.

The Liberal Democrats will today set out their General Election plans to put 3,000 more police out on the beat to cut crime.


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http://www.politic.co.uk/house-commo...html#post98164

Yet another SDR (Slash da regiments) from Nulab, another attack on those who do their bidding.
Nulab are complete scumbags, they hate the military because the troops have loyalty to eachother and not the party.Even killing off the traditional regiments couldnt dilute the loyalty the troops feel for them.

They had hoped to create a situation where the troops became so fractured in their loyalty to eachother that operational effectivness would be compromised causing masses of the hated troops to be killed, Sorry Nulab you failed in your attempts to have the military decimated by tying their hands and then sending them to war.So now back to the typical attack by back room dealing and scheming.SCUM!!!!

Has anyone else seen these ridiculous adverts, based on the CO2 / global warming theory?
Are our politicians going to fly 5 miles less when they are on their jaunts to Copenhagen? Haven't they heard of conference telephone / video calls?

I went for a lovely ride in the countryside with my wife yesterday. Took about an hour did about 35 miles - just for the pleasure of it.
So 7 people can drive 5 miles less to cancel mine out. Eye-brows

What a total waste of money this advert is. They have even paid Google for a sponsored link.

Quick introduction. 46 year old (currently between projects) Project Manager in the Engineering, Science and Defence industries. Politics tend to annoy me because of our inability to do anything about the bad ones. No real political affiliation, but have a respect for any politician who is true to their word and ideals, whatever these are.

If you want to know any more then ask, I can only say no.

This is a question for all the political officianados out there.

At the next general election, what would happen if there were more independent candidates returned than those aligned to a political party. Who would be called upon to form a government? I know its an oxymoron, but would it be the party of independents? or the party with the most seats?

Cheers

A Green Paper posing fundamental questions for the future of Defence has been published today by the MoD, paving the way for a post-election Strategic Defence Review (SDR).



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22/10 The Government has today published a 15 year strategy to deliver world class marine science which will inform decisions on food and energy security, managing the seas sustainably and climate change.



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Embargoed until 00:01 3 February 2010

Environment Agency and Natural England given new enforcement powers

The Environment Agency and Natural England today became the first regulators to be given new civil powers that will give them greater flexibility to enforce environmental law, making the system more efficient and effective for both regulators and businesses.



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George Osborne will be holding a live event on Thursday, 11th February in which he will answer YOUR questions on the economy - to find out more, visit http://www.conservatives.com/draftmanifesto

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George Osborne will be holding a live event on Thursday, 11th February in which he will answer YOUR questions on the economy - visit http://www.conservatives.com/draftmanifesto to find out more.

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A round-up of Cornish happenings.

From the Telegraph: To this day, Cornwall is still not officially or constitutionally a part of England but a Duchy.

That and a few other stories to follow-up in these blog articles. Kernow in the media

The re-launch of Campaign Kernow. Taking Cornwall to the Commonwealth Games.

The Cornish Language Schools Movement goes from strength to strength.

Most know him as Adolf Hitler, thats his ilegitimate surname - WAS HITLER A ROTHSCHILD?

Iread on the prison Planet forum, that Alex Jones mentioned this, then searched and found this - informationliberation - MI5 rejected Hitler suicide mission
?

Briefing by the Prime Minister's spokesman on: Cabinet, Northern Ireland, constitutional reform, Afghanistan, counter terrorism and the Pope's comments

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I am finding it difficult to separate the three major UK parties, particularly Labour and the Conservatives.

What are the issues of policy (not ideology) on which the parties disagree?

Thanks!

Large Russian companies have started monitoring blogs for criticism of their operation. Last week, Alfa Bank dismissed a call center operator for being rude with a client who owed the bank 26 cents under a loan.

The scandal broke out when photographer Irina Vasilivetskaya (user logra) wrote about bank tactics used to demand loan repayment. She said bank representatives would call at any hour and would often speak rudely.

“It is unacceptable to use the services of a bank whose employees call me at 7in the morning on a weekend to rudely demand a payment. I did not respond with a single rough word,” Irina writes in LiveJournal. She also provides an audio recording of the conversation.

Yevgeny Savenko (user ambro76), deputy chief operations officer at Alfa Bank, responded quickly. He asked the girl’s forgiveness and promised to investigate the conflict.

It was later reported that the operator who spoke rudely to the bank’s long-standing client was dismissed. However, this has not calmed the storm.

Vasilivetskaya refused to accept the compensation, saying that it would be better if “the bank changed its policy with regard to its clients.”

LJ users continue to discuss the conflict; the number of commentaries has exceeded 3,000. Some of the users approve of the top manager’s decision, while others denounce Alfa Bank for its attitude toward individuals.

Blogger _kitt_ wrote: “This story proves that it is blogs and not the mass media that are the current Fourth Estate.”

Russian bloggers criticize banks

From yesterday's New York Times - News Analysis - A Decade of Enormous Deficits May Alter American Politics and Power

Huge Deficits May Alter U.S. Politics and Global Power

WASHINGTON — In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power.

The first is the projected deficit in the coming year, nearly 11 percent of the country’s entire economic output. That is not unprecedented: During the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the United States ran soaring deficits, but usually with the expectation that they would come back down once peace was restored and war spending abated.

But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is the one that really commands attention: By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years. In fact, in 2019 and 2020 — years after Mr. Obama has left the political scene, even if he serves two terms — they start rising again sharply, to more than 5 percent of gross domestic product. His budget draws a picture of a nation that like many American homeowners simply cannot get above water.

For Mr. Obama and his successors, the effect of those projections is clear: Unless miraculous growth, or miraculous political compromises, creates some unforeseen change over the next decade, there is virtually no room for new domestic initiatives for Mr. Obama or his successors. Beyond that lies the possibility that the United States could begin to suffer the same disease that has afflicted Japan over the past decade. As debt grew more rapidly than income, that country’s influence around the world eroded.......

Clare Short, one of the most vocal critics of the Iraq War, is to give evidence to the official inquiry on Tuesday.

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Brazil grants an environmental licence for a controversial hydro-electric dam - the world's third largest - in the Amazon.

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Julius Caesar is addressing the Roman crowd. "Friends Romans and Countrymen, lend me your ears. Tomorrow I take our glorious army to conquer Northern Europe and I shall start with France. We shall kill many Gauls and return victorious."

The crowd are up on their feet "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, hail mighty Caesar"

Brutus turns to his mate and says " He doesn't half talk some shi*e eh? He couldn't fight his way out of a wet parchment bag."

Six months later, Caesar comes back having conquered France and addresses the crowd in the Coliseum. " Friends, Romans and Countrymen, I have returned from our campaign in France and as I promised, we killed 50,000 Gauls".

The crowd are up on their feet again. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, hail mighty Caesar".

Brutus once again turns to his mate "I'm sick of his bullsh*t, I'm off to France to check this out."

Brutus sets of for France and three weeks later he comes back to Rome.

Caesar is addressing the public in the Coliseum again "Friends, Romans and Countrymen, tomorrow we set off for Britain and we are going to sort those b*stards out"

The crowd are up on their feet."Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees,
hail mighty Caesar"

Brutus jumps up and shouts, "Caesar, you are a liar. You told us that you had killed 50,000 Gauls in France but I've been there to check it out and you only killed 25,000!!!!"

The crowd are stunned and all sit down in silence. Caesar gets up and looks slowly round the Coliseum then across at Brutus and says, "Brutus, you are forgetting one thing-























........Away Gauls count double

in Europe." Eye-brows

Briefing by the Prime Minister's spokesman on: Northern Ireland, battery recycling, AV referendum and John Terry

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Briefing by the Prime Minister's spokesman on: Northern Ireland, cigarette packaging, Chandler kidnapping and misc

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From another forum -

"It's nothing more than a glorified 10inch iPhone/iPod. I'll wait for next years version (the maxIpad) where they'll hopefully bring something new to the table."

Berlusconi says wants to see Israel in EU - Israel News, Ynetnews

Should Israel join the E.U.?

Any comments?

In a speech to Barnardo’s this morning, Nick Clegg set out the Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge to introduce a Pupil Premium which would raise the poorest children’s school funding to private school levels.


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Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today pledged to give every child a fair start in life by investing an extra £2.5bn in schools which could be used to cut class sizes, offer one-on-one tuition and provide catch-up classes.


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According to a recent international survey, Britain is only 74th in the latest league of world happiness rankings.

According to a report in the Telegraph :-

British people are less satisfied with life than many in poorer countries and use too many of the earth's resources, according to a poll that ranks Britain 74th in the world below Georgia and Burma.

Rather than measure Gross Domestic Product or GDP, the Happy Planet Index or HPI measures life expectancy, happiness and the environmental impact of different nations.

The top ten countries are not the richest nations but middle income countries in Latin America, Asia or the Caribbean where there is a high level of life satisfaction and low carbon footprint.

Costa Rica is the greenest and happiest country on the planet, according to the rankings developed by think tank the New Economics Foundation, followed by the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

The UK comes in at 74 out of 143 countries behind post-Soviet Georgia at 72, the military dictatorship Burma at 39 and Sri Lanka, which has been scarred by civil war, at 22.

The highest ranking country in the EU was the Netherlands at 43 followed by France at 71 and Germany at 51.

The United States, was ranked at 114, Canada at 89 and Australia at 102. Zimbabwe and other poor African nations, where life expectancy and happiness is low, came bottom of the table.......

[A copy of the full report can be downloaded from this page]

According to another recent report on childhood happiness and well-being, Britain has come bottom of the league tables of all EU countries and the USA :-



Are you happy as an individual, and where do you think that Britain as a country has gone wrong?

Did you know that there's over 10,000 cubic kilometres of fresh water in the world's man-made reservoirs, more than 5 times the volume of all the earth's rivers put together? Also, because over 80% of these reservoirs are in the northern hemisphere they've created a slight imbalance to the earth's rotation, the uneven weight distribution causing it to speed up by 8 millionths of a second a day over the last 70 years.

Didn't you just want to know that!

Slap an idiot day....seriously

But of course you don't actually have to assault the prat, you could just tell him or her that they are an idiot. Faced with someone who pompously tells you that everyone could send their child to private school if they don't drink....what do you say as you offer them the glass of petit chablis?

"You are an idiot"

as they pull up to the double yellow lines? I think you are getting the hang of it

(Compliments of a certain Bill Bailey)

Gordon Brown was "marginalised" by Tony Blair in the build-up to the Iraq war, Clare Short says.

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YouTube - Controlled Explosion carried out on 7/7

Wasthere 2 explosions at Edgeware road?

Russian police raid the offices of an environmental group after it criticised a plan to reopen a paper mill next to Lake Baikal in Siberia.

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We will stay until Afghanistan is secure | Anders Fogh Rasmussen - Times Online


Afghan Loya Jirga to promote Taliban reconciliation - Telegraph
Our governments simply do not understand the meaning of the term jihad.

If they did, they would not embark on this crazy plan to "bring in the Taliban from the cold".
Jihadis are like leopards, they very rarely change their spots. However, given opportunities such as this they may well change tactics to take advantage of the situation. Our enemies, the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hizb-ut Tahrir etc etc - any name will do are jihadis.

They infiltrated the US forces in their own country, which culminated in the Fort Worth attack. They infiltrated the Afghan army and killed several of them, the same with British forces.

They will see this crazy tactic by the corrupt Afghan president and the British government (costing nearly a billion pounds which we don't have) as an opportunity for more infiltration, subterfuge, murder and terror.

This is surely yet another badly thought out plan by those who do not understand the enemy.

I'm not sure what to say. I'm a scientist (chemist), and have no political affiliations. I've become convinced that I ought to think a little more carefully before voting this year - but the reason behind this will be a thread.

Thanks to Ian the Poet and Opinionated for already welcoming me.

There was an article in The Times which suggests that we do.

Times Online - Eureka Zone - WBLG: Should politicians be splashing out on surgery?

Basically, it said that there was research showing that ratings of looks predict election results. It suggested that this was why Berlusconi has held his post so long in spite of his sleaze.

Do you think that this is true in UK politics, or are there too many MPs with 'eyes to the right, nose to the left'?

The most recent MyConservatives competition was for the person who rang the most voters and the winner was 25 yr old Michelle Donelan from Cheshire. Her prize? An evening of curry with Eric Pickles!

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I found this on You Tube of girl aged 5 playing a piano, quite a tricky piece as well: YouTube - pianist (5years old girl)?Bach Gigue I know playing a piano is harmless, however is right for someone that young to learn about sex. Apparently kids in school now have learn that young, isn't just taking away their innocence. Of course a two year old murdered someone just recently. Where is this all going, very scary if you ask me????:-0

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong.
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There’s a great need for a sarcasm font.
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How the **** are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
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Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
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You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
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I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my hundred page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
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I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did the caller do after I didn't answer, drop the phone and run away?
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I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
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Am I the only person to keep some people's numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
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I think that if years down the road I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition when at uni.
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Bad decisions make good stories.

I've just been talking to a friend of my daughter who's somewhat pissed off because an article she wrote for her local newspaper (where she's a journalist) has been pulled at the request of the company lawyers.

The story itself was a follow-up to a number of readers' letters concerning groups of students from the local college who hang round the shopping centre at lunchtime and after classes finish, apparently intimidating some older shoppers - although the police said they've never had anything officially reported to them. My daughter's friend spent several hours interviewing these kids to try to get a picture of the who, why etc., and as part of her story she thought it would be appropriate to say that from an observational point of view that whilst the white British and Asian students seems to mix fairly freely, the Afro-Caribbean students rarely did, choosing to hang round in almost exclusively black groups (what's new!). This aspect of her article was because apparently shoppers' verbal moans to the centre security staff and to the shopkeepers themselves are mainly centred round these black groups, something which the paper itself has previously reported on.

The email from the paper's lawyers said, and I quote, "... we therefore consider it ill-advised to print the attached article for fear of legal action by The Equality and Human Rights Commission on the basis of perceived racism, [my emphasis] even though we know from the background to this particular article that is far from the intent, which is simply to inform ..."

I was wondering whether anyone else had come across anything like this? Is it a on-off instance or is it the signal of a new wave of government inspired political correctness to prevent even general matters concerning negativity about race from being discussed in the media?

The most recent MyConservatives competition was for the person who rang the most voters and the winner was 25 yr old Michelle Donelan from Cheshire. Her prize? An evening of curry with Eric Pickles!

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Briefing by the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: Northern Ireland, Yemen meeting, Afghanistan conference and misc

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THE DISHONESTY OF GLOBAL SCIENCE! PRICKING THE MYTH!!


#G249* - PACHAURI GETS DOCTORED OOOP NORTH!


Have you noticed Dr. Richard North is getting more than a little traction on this issue.

We appreciate that Dr. Pachauri is indeed qualified as a Doctor having obtained his diploma from the goodwill affirmative action programme as conducted through an organisation called The University of North Carolina.

Dr. Pachauri is thus allegedly qualified as a Railway Engineer with his doctoral thesis in the distribution of electricity in a sector of an American town!

This may well be acceptable in a Country like India where many a brass plate states Dr. B.J. Whatever MD (Bombay Fld) for to have someone with adequate qualification to fail a medical degree at Bombay University is infinitely better than someone with no qualification in a land of a Billion people! In fact it would seem more than adequate when one notes the learned Doctor Pachauri (Phd. UofNC acquired) is thus able to lead a Multi Millionaire life style as he dictates how the wage earners and even the unwaged should be taxed to fund what seems little more than a scam.

The truelly terrifying thing to note is that this dubiously certificated Railwayman is put forward as the world authority on Climate and global weather patern prediction – the worlds leading climate scientist! Why am I surprised one may ask, when one notes that the figurehead of the scam is a grossly overweight failed American politician engorged with money earned by earlier generations and without ANY scientific qualifications as I am unaware of Al Gore obtaining a meaningful certificate of any sort on the subject other than free hand outs to cronies to make his pack of lies seem credible and justify the millions of air miles of himself and his priests adherent to this new relgion.

United Nations involvement and the fact they can not or at very least have not found a credible scientist to front this self serving, self enriching new religion speaks volumes when one finds the High Priests are two such implausible and ill qualified individuals in fact one of Pachauri’s acolytes has now been proven to have absolutely no claim to the Doctorate she has traded behind for many years.

We note that the Priests and salesmen from Gore to Brown, Cameron to Pachauri are bereft of ANY plausible science to back their scam and fear tactics and are reduced to recycling spurious articles from the 1920s as current scientific fact and ad hominem attacks on the informed messengers exposing their scam, which is possibly the biggest ever Ponzi Scam in history.

You can learn considerably more if you read other articles on my blog at CLICK HERE you will need to scan through a few others on other subjects that may interest you!!
Alternatively if you want ALL of the meat CLICK HERE

You may find some of my other blogs of interest at:
CATERPILLARS and BUTTERFLIES
Pan EU Political Party The EFD
NiallWARRY
Marta Andreasen
FARAGE
StolenKids-Bloggers
SSOE
Greg L-W
INDEPENDENT Leave-The-EU ALLIANCE

IF YOU want to contact me all my details can be found at:
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"In politics, stupidity is not a handicap."
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821),

Regards,
Greg L-W.

Following Sir John Chilcot’s admission today of ‘frustration’ over the Government’s unwillingness to declassify certain information, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has called for key documents to be published before Tony Blair’s hearing on Friday.


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Briefing by the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: Northern Ireland and GDP figures

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Want to see a pitch-perfect deconstruction of a typical news report? Fancy a laugh on this dark, overcast British morning? Check out Charlie Brooker's Newswipe.

BBC iPlayer - Newswipe: Series 2: Episode 2

The bit about news reporting starts at about 12.11 and lasts about 3 minutes but the whole programme is worth a watch.

Proper Funny and with a serious point to make as well. The interview with Heather Brooke is great too.

The UK's system of government needs "urgent" reform, a group of former senior civil servants has warned.

Ministers have to pass fewer, but better, laws as they get to grips with issues like the financial crisis and global warming, a report adds.

The Better Government Initiative also warns that government targets could prove to have "perverse" consequences.

Frequent changes of policy or staff could lead to "confusion and loss of expertise", it says.

The Better Government Initiative was compiled by 14 former senior civil servants, including Lord Butler, who carried out an inquiry into intelligence leading up to the Iraq war, current Iraq inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot and Sir Thomas Legg, who is overseeing the audit of MPs' expenses.

The full story available from here : BBC News - UK style of government 'needs urgent reform'

About time someone with some power came to this conclusion, but I have the gravest doubts that it'll go anywhere significant; as long as there's some vested interest in maintaining the status quo, reports like this tend to just get sat on :(

Downing Street says it believes there is 'scope for agreement' between the parties in Northern Ireland as talks adjourn.

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In a speech delivered to a Campaign for Liberty regional conference in Atlanta, Rep. Ron Paul said that the CIA has in effect taken over the United States government and military and asserted that the CIA needs to be "taken out."
"There´s been a coup, have you heard?" Paul said. "The CIA runs everything, they run the military. They´re the ones who are over there lobbing missiles and bombs on countries ... the CIA is every bit as secretive as the Federal Reserve."
Paul added, "they´re in business, in drug businesses, they take out dictators ... We need to take out the CIA." Paul´s claims all stem from long-standing allegations or reports of CIA wrongdoing over the past several decades.
Ron Paul: CIA Took Over the United States in a ´Coup´
YouTube - Ron Paul "WE NEED TO TAKE OUT THE CIA"

On some American forums, people are saying words to the effect of, so whats new.

Savings to the public purse of £3.2 billion annually from 2013/14 are to be made through transformations in public sector information technology.



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Hi Gang, here's something for you: YouTube - Hitler finds out about the EU

The public interest defence for civil service whistleblowers should be restored, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said today in a speech to the Institute of Government.


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The Government today published a discussion document on proposals for reforming the UK tax treatment of controlled foreign companies (CFCs).



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Briefing by the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: Northern Ireland and misc

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New figures show Britain has come out of recession – credit to the families and businesses who have worked hard through the downturn. It was right for Labour to support families and the economy – sustaining jobs by giving businesses time to pay tax; introducing a scrappage scheme for cars and stepping up help for people to stay in their homes and find new work. We need to continue supporting the economy to strengthen the recovery and promote growth and jobs. Labour has been clear – we will halve the deficit over four years – but it would be a huge mistake to cut support while the economy is still recovering. Today's growth estimate underlines how dangerous it would be to throw caution to the wind, as the Tories propose, and make deep cuts now. The Tories' approach would wreck the recovery and shows that the Tories remain a risk to families and businesses. Labour's Chancellor, Alistair Darling, said: "There’s a lot of uncertainty around the world, there is still I think more to be done in this country and of course there will be further bumps along the road you know be in no doubt about that. "But I’m confident that as long as we stick to the path that we’ve set, that we don’t prematurely remove support from businesses, from families, pull the rug from their feet just at the time when they can see confidence returning, provided we stick to that course than I think we can...

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I was watching thisAuckland woman launches topless revolution - Story - Campbell Live - TV Shows - 3 News

It made me think, why it is perfectly fine for a man like this to walk around on the beach and yet allot of people get so offended at the idea of a women sun bathing topless.

Male toplessness being okay, but female toplessness not, is a double standard.

So what are your opinions on this?

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Progress is being made in emergency talks in Belfast involving Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart, a Downing Street spokesman says.

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Briefing by the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: banking, Iraq inquiry and Doncaster case

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http://en.rian.ru/images/15754/33/157543336.jpg

What is a typical XXI century Muscovite like

Attached Thumbnails

 

Check against delivery



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A man by the name of Jim Rutz is claiming that Soy is making kids Gay.

Soy is making kids 'gay'

Hi,

I have been searching around on ACTA & The Digital Economy Bill - I find them deeply concerning as they do not seem to be remotely what it says on the tin!

Is this a further step in Global Governance in that the similarity of the methodology of imposition is far too redollent of the EU to be considered other than corrupt.

Why for instance does our House of Lords consider it is apposite to introduce over 300 ammendments, which must be very close to, if not, a record!

One should also be concerned at the fact that MPs have been refused information on the meetings and the government level meetings have published no data, no discussion documents and no minutes let alone a transcript - since when have supposedly simple trade agreements attracted a level of secrecy such that MPs are denied information to details - just what evil is being imposed upon us without due scrutiny and in breech of our rights under democratic principle?

Anyone able to find or provide more regarding this unprecedented level of secrecy and move to totally control, without democratic safeguards, the digital transfer of ALL data seemingly empowering ISPs as having the power we have heretofore baulked at granting our security services.

Just why are huge tranches of civil law in the fields of copyright etc. beig transferred to criminal status!!

As far as I can work out, when the law is forced upon us this posting will be unlawful and lay the ISP open to criminal procedings as it is seemingly far too secret to discuss!!

Regards,
Greg L-W.

Light-hearted, but never the less, absolutely true...

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this...

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay £1.
The sixth would pay £3.
The seventh would pay £7.
The eighth would pay £12.
The ninth would pay £18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay £59. So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curved ball. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by £20." Drinks for the ten now cost just £80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that £20 divided by six is £3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay...

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)
The sixth now paid £2 instead of £3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay £5 instead of £7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid £9 instead of £12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid £14 instead of £18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid £49 instead of £59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a pound out of the £20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got £10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a pound too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get £10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth; and soundly beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works.

The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much or attack them for being wealthy and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier! Then who pays the bill?

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible!

Paul warns that if the country continues along the course it is on, we will witness a three stage slide into social and political chaos, beginning with the current financial crisis, a coming dollar crisis, and culminating in mass unrest.
“Reality is setting in,” the Congressman urges, adding that the only way to prevent social breakdown is to embrace liberty and self reliance and reject the nanny state and government dependency.
“We are rapidly moving toward a dangerous time in our history. Society as we know it is vulnerable to political and social unrest. This impending crisis comes as a consequence of our flawed foreign and domestic economic policies, a silly notion of money, ignorance about central banking, ignoring the onerous power and mischief of out of control intelligence agencies, our unsustainable welfare state and a willingness to sacrifice privacy and civil liberties in an attempt to achieve safety and security from an inept government.”
Ron Paul Warns Of Coming “Social And Political Chaos”

Ron is considered to be a decent liberal politician in America, so much so that he admitted there is no law that says you have to pay Income Tax, thus the American Inland Revenue is an illegal organisation - powerful stuff.
America: Freedom to Fascism - Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) | SPIKE

Hi, any of you people going to support this campaign Stop the Traffic Day 22nd February 2010 ?
What do you think about it?

Can influence on environmental policy be bought?

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“He says he is a defender of marriage, but this is a policy that will punish married couples who both work," said Nick Clegg’s Chief of Staff.


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And we think we've got problems with our public service pension deficit.................

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The US public pension system faces a higher-than-expected shortfall of more than $2,000bn that will increase pressure on many states’ strained finances and crimp economic growth, according to the chairman of New Jersey’s pension fund.

The estimate by Orin Kramer will fuel investors’ concerns over the deteriorating financial health of US states after the recession. “State and local governments are correctly perceived to be in serious difficulty,” Mr Kramer told the Financial Times.

“If you factor in the reality of these unfunded promises, their deficits will rise exponentially.”

Estimates of aggregate funding requirement of the US pension system have ranged between $400bn and $500bn, but Mr Kramer’s analysis concluded that public funds would need to find more than $2,000bn to meet future pension obligations.

The full story available from here : FT.com / US / Economy & Fed - US public pensions face $2,000bn deficit

An interesting evaluation of the recent incident of "the underpants bomber", highlighting the colossal waste of money and lack of resource sharing in the so-called 'War on Terror':-

----------------

Despite some $40 billion dollars spent by the American people on airline security since 2001, allegedly to thwart attacks on the Heimat, the botched attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day was foiled, not by a bloated counterterrorist bureaucracy, but by the passengers themselves.

Talk about validating that old Wobbly slogan: Direct action gets the goods!

And yet, the closer one looks at the available evidence surrounding the strange case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the more sinister alleged "intelligence failures" become. As this story unfolds it is becoming abundantly clear that U.S. security officials had far more information on the would-be lap bomber than we've been told.

The Observer revealed January 3 that the British secret state had Abdulmutallab on their radar for several years and that he had become "politically involved" with "extremist networks" while a student at University College London, where he served as president of the Islamic Society.

Examining "e-mail and text traffic," security officers claim to have belatedly discovered that "he has been in contact with jihadists from across the world since 2007."

Indeed, The Sunday Times disclosed that the 23-year-old terrorism suspect was "'reaching out' to extremists whom MI5 had under surveillance." The officials said that Abdulmutallab was "'starting out on a journey' in Britain" that culminated with last week's attempt to destroy Flight 253.

It is claimed by unnamed "British officials" that "none of this information was passed" to their American counterparts; on the face of it, this appears to be a rank mendacity.

The Sunday Times further reported that security officials have "now passed a file" to American counterterrorism officers that show "his repeated contacts with MI5 targets who were subject to phone taps, email intercepts and other forms of surveillance."

None of this should surprise anyone, however. In light of multiple prior warnings which preceded past terrorist atrocities, the selective leaking of information to the British media in its own way, buttresses the official story that the near-tragedy aboard Flight 253 was simply the result of ubiquitous "intelligence failures."

But as we have seen with Mohamed Atta, Richard Reid and Mohammad Sidique Khan, Abdulmutallab's "journey" was one undertaken by many before, often with a wink-and-a-nod by British and American security officials when it served the geostrategic ambitions of their political masters.

The full story available from here : Who Would Benefit Politically from a Terrorist Incident on American Soil? The Strange Case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

The Educational Resources thread we had seems to be one of those which have (hopefully only temporarily) vanished into thin air, however pending it's reappearance, I thought I'd post this - The Khan Academy - which is a completely free academy, almost exclusively on YouTube, which has over 1,000 videos on a range of subjects from the most basic of maths through to using the Laplace Transform to solve a nonhomogenous equation (whatever that is!), grouped into maths, physics, chemistry, biology, finance and investing. I haven't looked at it in detail, but at first glance it looks like a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to increase their knowledge in any basically mathematical or scientific subject.

There's a good introductory video to watch here:-



(If the in-line video doesn't work for you, go to YouTube - The Khan Academy)

YouTube - BNP - Recent floods and the EU disaster fund

Where are the other 700+ british politicians demanding the same thing?

US officials will fly to London next week to discuss with ministers how sweeping changes to the banking system outlined by Barack Obama to fight Wall Street's excesses might be implemented in the City.

Top Wall Street banks are to face tough limits on their size and will be ordered to dismantle lucrative chunks of their business after the US president responded to a series of political setbacks by turning his fire on a "binge of irresponsibility" by financiers.

Just a day after his administration suffered a disastrous defeat in a key Senate byelection, Obama shocked the financial industry by announcing that he intended to prohibit some of the banks' most lucrative, yet speculative, activities.

Britain's City minister, Lord Myners, will talk to US officials on Monday as part of a meeting with G7 countries to discuss ways to impose a financial levy on a banking system that has already bounced back to profit barely a year after a multibillion-pound taxpayer bailout.

A spokesman for the British Treasury said: "We will consider the proposals very carefully. Countries around the world are rightly taking measures to increase stability and reduce risk in the financial system."

The meeting with Myners and G7 officials had already been arranged, but is now expected to focus on the US moves, although there is no certainty that the UK will be able to follow immediately.

The shadow chancellor, George Osborne, indicated this morning that the Tories would only take similar action to Obama as part of a concerted international move, not unilaterally.

"I am committed to getting international agreement on these things," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The full story available from here : UK considers Barack Obama-style banking revolution | Politics | guardian.co.uk

Perhaps surprisingly I do think this move could be a very beneficial one as long as it's carried out properly, and therein lies the problem. Banks, in particular those which have day to day dealings with the general public, should stick to their core services of deposit taking, borrowing and lending. The 'riskier' side of international finance should be conducted by legally separate offshoots, and anyone, private or corporate investors, even those further down the line in the investment chain, should be notified that a company further back up in their investment is trading in what are perceived as riskier than usual transactions. That way at least the general public and business world would have their day to day banking safe, and anyone else would be able to judge for themselves whether or not they wanted to invest in 'riskier' transactions where the potential rewards are higher.

One of the few areas where I feel correctly applied and administered government intervention and regulation is necessary.

"Gordon Brown should explain his role in this disastrous foreign policy failure," said the Liberal Democrat Leader.


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As London prepares to stage an international conference that will play a crucial role in shaping Afghanistan’s future, Secretary of State for Defence Bob Ainsworth is hitting the internet to answer the public’s questions.



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