If anyone was ever in any doubt about the disgust of the Americans over Megrahi being released on farcical, compassionate grounds, then these doubters should now think again.
The senators in America are asking for an enquiry into why he was released, supposedly having only three months to live, and now, after almost a year, we are being told he could live for anything from ten to twenty years yet.
If the American people were not bothered any more about this farce then they would not want to spend time and money on a case they couldn't care less about.
The whole thing was a farce right from the beginning, as it took more than one man to carry out the Lockerbie bombing, which means there are plenty others who got off scot-free, with Megrahi being made the fall guy for them.
This should never have meant that he got released without proving his innocence,as a life sentence should mean life, and he was found guilty of 270 murders thanks to his part in bringing down the Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie with a bomb.
He refused his chance to prove if he was innocent or not, and in the eyes of the law he is guilty, and should have ended his life in prison, not that his prison cell was any hardship.
270 lives taken and not one bit of consideration for the victims or their families, no one ever paying the price for these deaths, other than the loved ones left behind who had to try and pick up the pieces of their ruined lives, ruined by the unscrupulous politics of a minority of people who, rather than live in peace, would rather terrorize the worlds peace loving population for their own greedy gain, or revenge.
Politics was at the root of it all, and anyone involved in this atrocity should hang their heads in shame,be it for their part in the bombing, or their part of the farcical justice, but instead we have hypocritical visits by politicians to the memorials erected to the dead, where they pretend to care.
This is the world we live in now, and these are the disgusting people who have infiltrated our governments, with no shame or conviction of what real justice should be. Never before has the phrase "THE LAW IS AN ASS" been so appropriate.
I have written many times about my disapproval of so called Scottish Justice, and if anyone had any doubt whether my disgust was justified or not here is a prime example of how ridiculous it is.
My local paper, "The Ayrshire Post" brought this story to my notice of an incident such as I have spoken about where scum has been released by do-gooders only to commit a worse crime than the ones he had been caged up for, but released long before his time was served.
A cross dressing serial pervert murdered a young woman after being released from prison THIRTEEN YEARS early.
Gavin Boyd was let out of prison just seven years into a twenty years sentence- to kill 20 year old Vikki McGrand, and to make matters worse minimum supervision was given to the highly dangerous sex offender in the weeks leading up to the murder. He had been in Peterhead Prison (a high security prison for the most dangerous criminals) from 1999 after a terrifying sex attack on a teenager which left her scarred for life. He had TWICE been released from a state mental hospital before he committed THAT assault, but despite his shocking record he was set FREE in 2006. His crimes consisted from first convicted in 1977 aged 18 of theft and willful fire raising (admitted to Carstairs Mental Hospital) released nine years later and quickly committed crimes he was convicted of, for indecent assault, theft, housebreaking, breach of the peace, and breach of bail. He was recalled to the mental hospital but the authorities released him AGAIN in 1992. THEN in 1999 while on licence he tried to rape a 19 year old girl in her home, repeatedly hitting her with a knife. The young woman was left disfigured as a result of the attack.
All these sick crimes committed, but he was STILL released to KILL Vikki McGrand!
When are the idiots who release these scum back into society going to learn that their way only leads to more crime with needless loss of innocent lives, and that these people need to be locked up away from decent human beings.
I have said it before, that if it were some of their family who were murdered by scum,THEY had released then they would see the error of their ways, and keep evil behind bars. Personally if one of mine came to harm from scum that had been in prison and had been released by some idiot in power, I would want the person responsible for the scum walking the streets to serve a prison sentence too as THEY are as much to blame as the criminal.
As I say, this is a prime example of the lack of justice in Scotland, and until it is rectified we will never be safe walking our streets, or in this case even our homes. What a sad picture of Scotland the rest of the world gets from these cases, and if the Scottish National Party had the nations interests at heart the way it professes to have then THEY should be prioritizing it as one of their main concerns instead of contributing to it by releasing convicted murderers like Megrahi when they have never proved their innocence.
It is little wonder the public have no faith in our courts when we constantly read of cases like this.
The latest aggression by Israel against the people of Gaza and the aid helpers on the ships that were trying to help them has no justification, not only because the act of piracy happened in international waters but also because Israel has no right to occupy land that was designated to the people of Palestine or blockade the waters around Gaza.
The people aboard the vessels, attacked by Israeli troops had every right to used weapons to defend themselves, as the Israeli army had no right to be aboard the ships, let alone carry firearms, so they have absolutely no cause for complaint, unlike the poor victims of this horrific unnecessary aggressive act by Israel, with it's excuse of protecting a blockade that should never have been enforced in the first place.
For too long now, Israel's aggression has been ignored by the countries who made up the "league of nations" and agreed the mandate of 1922 based on a draft by the Allied and associated powers after the first world war.
The move by Israel to declare itself an independent state on the 14Th of May 1948, the day before this mandate expired was the beginning of more unrest in the middle east, manly due to Israel crossing designated borders to gain land they were never entitled to.
Since then they have gradually encroached on land that does not belong to them, so it was little wonder that the Palestine Liberation army arose against them to fight for what was rightfully theirs.
There would be no need for Hamass or any other organization, to rise up against Israel, if Israel withdrew from the land they have infiltrated since their declaration of Independence. They are the aggressors, and it is they who are causing the unrest in the middle east, not the people who only want what is rightfully theirs.
Countries like America and Britain who stand by and allow Israel to intimidate its surrounding countries and occupy land that does not belong to them are being hypocritical, as it was under the same conditions that they intervened when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
After chasing Saddam out of Kuwait they stopped at the border and made a pact with him, and it was his disobeying the rules of that pact that was the main reason for the invasion of Iraq, plus the threat of weapons of mass destruction.
There is little difference between Israel and Iraq in the sense that both countries took over land that they have no right to, the only difference is that it suits America and Britain to allow this, stay friends with Israel and let them get away with ignoring the agreement laid out to them, but in doing this they are assisting in the unrest caused by Israel, and by supporting Israel they are giving opportunities to countries like Iran to intervene and take sides with Hamass which could lead to another world war with more catastrophic results than any war before.
I name America and Britain, as they are the two main players who should be stepping in, with backing from the other United Nation countries, but most of the other countries would rather stand back and ignore what is going on, not wanting to get involved, BUT NOW THEY ARE, whether they like it or not so it's time to stand up and be counted, or they are as guilty as the Israelis.
This latest act by Israel that has enraged the world, should be their last, it's time America and Britain, along with the countries who formed the "United Nations" from the ashes of the "League of Nations" stood up for the justice they were formed for, and put an end to the aggression coming from Israel, force them to retreat to the land allotted to them and allow the Palestinians and the people of Gaza to retain the land, rights and peace they have deservedly been striving for all these years.
If Israel is not subdued, the world could witness the holocaust that has been feared by all, since the invention of nuclear weapons.
I wrote months ago of my anger at the Scottish National Party being mostly responsible for the release of the convicted mass murderer Aboelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, or the "Lockerbie bomber" in case any of you are in any doubt of who this killer is, so I thought I would update you on the situation since it is at least six months since his date of release on the grounds of having only THREE months to live.
I came across this piece when I googled his name and much to my disgust, and anyone else who has taken the same interest, I found, just as I thought would happen at the time of his release, that he is living a life of luxury, instead of rotting behind bars where he should have finished the life sentences handed out to him after his trial, and upheld after his feeble appeal.
I said at the time that the SNP would suffer at the elections, and suffer they did, and if there was any doubt in their minds that the Scottish people strongly disapproved of this deed, it will become even clearer at the elections next year once the votes have been counted to decide the Scottish Parliament.
Labour, in my mind had their input to this travesty of justice too, and was a factor in their defeat at the polls, but even so, the downfall of these two parties will be no consolation to the bereaved, especially when they read the progress report of the convicted mass murderer in the story below.
I hope all persons responsible for this disgrace will feel some kind of remorse, and as each day this slaughterer of innocent lives survives over his THREE months, they feel more and more a wrench of the guilt that should be burning inside them.
Then again, as we all know, Politicians HAVE no guilt, or Megrahi would not be living a life of luxury, and being treated as a hero in Lybia now.
Lets hope the likes of Kenny MacAskill, the "EX" Minister of Justice for Scotland and his buddies are never allowed to disgrace the Scottish Nation in this way again and will be stuck in the shadows of the back benches where they belong, keeping their heads and opinions as low as their morals are.
Libya
Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa six months after being at 'death's door' The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is living with his family in a luxury villa in Libya six months after he was released from jail on compassionate grounds because he had less than three months to live.
By Andrew Alderson and Robert Mendick Published: 9:00PM GMT 20 Feb 2010 Megrahi: Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa six months after being at 'death's door' Megrahi: The latest disclosure will incense many of the relatives of those who died in the bomb blast in December 1988 Photo: AFP
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, no longer receives hospital treatment after ending the course of chemotherapy that he had been given after returning to his homeland last August.
Professor Karol Sikora, the London-based doctor who examined Megrahi and predicted he would be dead by last October, admitted this weekend that the fact the bomber is still alive might be "difficult" for the families of the 270 victims of the attack.
The latest disclosure will incense many of the relatives of those who died in the bomb blast in December 1988 when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in mid air over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 people on the ground.
Most did not want Megrahi released and they suspected he would live longer than the predicted three months.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed last September that the Libyan government had paid for the medical evidence which helped Megrahi, 57, to be released. The Libyans had encouraged doctors to say he had only three months to live.
The life expectancy of Megrahi was crucial because, under Scottish rules, prisoners can be freed on compassionate grounds only if they are considered to have this amount of time, or less, to live.
Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, ruled last August that Megrahi should be freed. Megrahi's release came after Libyan leaders warned that lucrative oil and trade deals with Britain would be cancelled if the bomber died in jail.
One leading prostate cancer specialist cast serious doubt yesterday on the wisdom of predicting that Megrahi had only three months to live – when a patient still had to undergo chemotherapy. Dr Chris Parker said it was extremely difficult to give an accurate prognosis for individual patients. "Studies show experts are very poor at trying to predict how long an individual patient will live for," he warned.
Megrahi received the chemotherapy drug Docetaxel – trade name Taxotere – shortly after returning to Libya.
Dr Parker, who is with the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital, said: "The average prognosis for survival after Docetaxel would be 12 months.
"It can vary enormously but it would be very unusual to live beyond two years."
Doctors in Libya supply monthly medical reports to Scottish authorities who can speak to Megrahi whenever they want. The conditions of his early release stipulate he must not leave Libya.
Megrahi, is now living in a spacious two-storey villa with his wife and their five grown-up children in a prosperous suburb of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.
The property has a spacious garden and an area where the family erects a large tent to entertain visitors for celebrations.
The property has a security gate and there is often a uniformed police officer sitting on a white chair outside.
The Megrahis, who are part of a prominent tribe, are well off and it is understood that his family was paid substantial compensation by the Libyan Government after he was jailed for life.
They are known to have urged Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, to get Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent, freed from his jail.
Prof Sikora, one of the examining doctors who was paid a consultancy fee last July to examine Megrahi, told The Sunday Telegraph this weekend: "My information from Tripoli is that it's not going to be long [before Megrahi dies].
"They stopped any active treatment in December and he has just been going downhill very slowly at home. He is on high doses of morphine [a painkiller] and it's any day now."
Prof Sikora said that he suspected that Megrahi was still alive because he had received a "psychological" boost from returning to his homeland and being reunited with his family.
"It's stimulated him to have a remarkable [short-term] recovery," he said. "It's difficult. The choice offered by the letter of the law was either three months to live, or nothing. You couldn't have a sliding scale."
Some prostate cancer patients have lived for years longer that their doctors predicted.
Prof Sikora said it was just possible that Megrahi would be alive in several years time but added: "It's highly unlikely. There is a 90 per cent chance he will die in the next few weeks.
"He is relatively young and has very aggressive, fast-moving disease."
Megrahi has always denied any involvement in the Lockerbie bombing. He withdrew his second appeal against conviction just two days before he was allowed to return to Libya.
Those close to him say he did so reluctantly because he was convinced it would improve his chances of being freed from a Scottish jail.
Megrahi could have been released on compassionate grounds without dropping his appeal – but he could not have been freed under a prisoner exchange programme if legal action was ongoing.
Until the last moment, the authorities made it clear they were considering both options.
Professor Sikora had a message to the relatives of the Lockerbie tragedy who are angered by Megrahi's release: "The quality of his life is not good – he is a dying man.
"Quite frankly, as an act of mercy, it is better that he dies at home rather than in prison."
However, one source involved in monitoring Megrahi's health suggested the bomber's condition has got no worse in the past six months.
The source said: "Megrahi is still the same as ever. His condition has not deteriorated. There is no sign of him dying any time yet but who knows? It's totally unpredictable."
I, Donald Swarbrick would like to thank the persons involved in the research, and printing of this article, on behalf of all those who care.
The letter to Gordon Brown that I posted in this blog was the second letter I sent to him, and having received a reply to the first a couple of weeks later, from him, or more likely his secretary's secretary, I expected another this time.
Maybe it was the fact that the election was taking up his time and he, or his secretary never had time to act on it, but whatever reason, I never got a reply this time, and as he has just taken the steps I suggested in the said letter, by packing his bags and leaving number ten Downing Street, resigning his post as leader of the Labour party and Prime Minister of Britain, I am beginning to think he at least read it.
The first letter I composed to him was inflamed by the elimination of the ten pence tax rate, and other prominent moves that would make the poor of this country poorer, and the rich richer (more of a Tory policy) or basically getting the poorest of the taxpayers to bail the country out of it's crisis rather than the more well off.
Refusal to tighten the country's expenditure while forcing US to tighten our belts, going ahead with the costly ID cards, and replacing our nuclear weapons system at a cost of billions of pounds was also mentioned in the letter (although seemingly we can still afford that, regardless of which party gets in or how much more debt it puts us in) to which each subject was touched on, albeit lightly, but not to my satisfaction.
He did reimburse the lost money from the tax rate for that year, but only for that year, never reinstating it, and whether my letter had anything to do with it or not, I will never really know, as most of the country was up in arms over it, but I would like to think I had played my part.
As for the other subjects, he stubbornly stood by HIS beliefs, a fact that led to his downfall, one of the many other issues I warned him in my letter that would lead to his eviction from Downing Street, a fault, I pointed out to him, other Prime Ministers before him had also made. It is all very well being stubborn in your beliefs, as long as it is in agreement with the electorate, but as we all know the biggest mistake politicians make is ignoring the people who put them there, and regardless of which party they represent, when they do this they are rejected. It wasn't very difficult predicting the demise of Brown with all the blunders he and his party made, the problem we face now is that none of the present candidates are much better, that is why we have a hung parliament, NOT because we were disillusioned with any one party, but because we are disillusioned with them all.
Labour turning more Conservative, conservatives turning any way they could as long as it was to try and get away from the Labour policies, which meant no solid manifesto, and the Lib-Dems coming up with ideas that both the other two parties tried to cash in on was also a contributory factor.
We have a hung parliament because, not one of the parties installed enough faith in the public to give any of them a clear victory, and until one of them comes up with a sure and definite solution to the financial problems we now face, without it costing "US" the taxpayer who bailed out the banks too much deprivation, then we will be no further forward.
We the public, should never have been put in this position in the first place, and we should not be expected to use our hard earned cash to bail out the cities of the world, AGAIN!
Its time the banks took some responsibility, and paid back some of the money LOANED to them by US, from the profits they are now making, which would ease the burden on the public, a burden that they caused in the first place. ALL PARTIES TAKE NOTE!
One consolation that has come out of all this is the end of Peter Mandelson's influence on the Prime Minister's decisions, another reason for Brown's downfall, as by introducing this arrogant clown into politics for a third dismal spell was no better than putting the noose around his own neck.
As I have asked before, where did all the money disappear to in the first place? One year the banks were making big profits, the next, the world banking system goes into meltdown and all the money in the world vanishes, EXCEPT, THAT IS, all this money that is suddenly appearing to reimburse the world funds.
If every country was hit by the banking crisis, and all countries are in debt to the tune of BILLIONS, where did the trillions come from that we have all borrowed, and to whom are we paying these loans to, plus interest of course.
There is a lot more to this than meets the eye, trillions do not just disappear, and reappear into new and mysterious hands overnight, and as David Cameron takes over as the new Prime Minister (with the help of Nick Clegg's Lib-Dems) that is the answer I am more interested in at the moment, rather than who is going to lead us through the mess left by these mysterious hands.
WHO may I ask is in the position, or is willing to answer that question?
It's high time governments and councils accepted the fact that the public have come to rely on the automobile, once known as the horseless carriage. I use the term "horseless carriage" because it seems to me, that the authorities in this country still have the notion that we should be driving with a man walking in front of us waving a red flag, as they did in days of yore.
Speed bumps in unnecessary places, the failure to provide ample parking spaces, overcharging at the few parking facilities that are available, failing to maintain the road systems, failing to provide roads that can accommodate the volume of cars that now use our antiquated road structures, redirecting the money paid in road taxes to other sources when this money was supposed to go towards the upkeep of our roads, trying to push us into using the public transport that is just as antiquated as our roads and provides no privacy, a requirement the people of today prefer, (and why should they not?)are to name but a few things that should be taken into consideration.
The government in one hand needs the taxes paid by the motorist through road tax, tax on petrol, purchase tax, the new con of green taxes on some vehicles, and any other way they can think of extorting money from them.
As for councils, they gain by overcharging for car parks, paying to enter some cities or charge for the use of roads we have already paid for.
When you add up the amount of money extorted from the motorist by the authorities, and that the motorist prefers to pay rather than walk or use public transport, you have to wonder why they cannot accept the fact that the horseless carriage is here to stay, and provide for it rather that try to constrict it.
Provide large car parks with decent charges (preferably no charges at all) in and around our towns and cities which would save the congestion they are all worried about. Realise that it is through their denial of the fact that the horseless carriage is here to stay and its their failure to provide for it that causes the congestion, also realise that they too are included as motorists, and are as guilty as the next person who prefers their privacy when traveling.
Another thing to consider is the fact that we have so many people employed in one way or another with these new horseless carriages, through manufacturing to selling and repairing them, that it would leave a big gap in the unemployment system if we were to stop using them, not to mention the deficit it would leave in the coffers of the country.
GOVERNMENTS AND COUNCILS ALIKE, TAKE HEED!
Horseless carriages are here to stay, make provisions for them, and make life easier for one and all.
Here is an item I read in yahoo about pensioners, I think it was published in "THE TELEGRAPH" newspaper.
Myra Butterworth, 22:23, Monday 26 April 2010
Couples need to budget nearly £600,000 to cover the cost of their retirement, new figures have disclosed.
It means each pensioner needs an income more than double the basic state pension just to cover everyday costs such as food, petrol and clothing.
The annual expenditure is a third higher than five years ago, with retiring workers hit by a double whammy of falling income from their pensions and rising costs.
Laith Khalaf, a pensions expert at wealth managers Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Millions of people are sleepwalking into an impoverished old age. You cant expect to spend twenty or thirty years in retirement without stashing away a substantial amount of money while you are still working."
The latest figures, compiled by MGM Advantage, suggested the average household needs £564,227 to cover the cost of the first 20 years after quitting the workforce.
The calculation is based on annual household expenditure for those aged 65 to 74 at £23,107, compared with £14,926 for those aged 75 and over. Five years ago, the figures were £17,737 and £11,700 respectively.
The higher cost of living in London means an average retired couple needs a total of £668,553 over 20 years while the lower cost of living in the North East means households need £473,178.
Chris Evans, chief executive of MGM Advantage, said: "There is significant pressure on pensioner income. Those people retiring today can expect to live for twenty years but with annuity rates falling and the cost of living rising, funding retirement is a difficult task.
"With such large regional discrepancies in the cost of living in retirement, we wouldn't be surprised if more people considered relocating to other less expensive parts of the country in order to search out a better quality of life.
As expenditure has risen, pension incomes have declined as investment companies factor in the cost of the aging population and lower returns during the financial crisis.
A pension pot of £564,227 currently secures an annual income of £35,806, compared with £37,656 five years ago, according to Hargreaves Lansdown.
The basic state pension of £97.65 per week equates to £10,155 per year for a couple in retirement.
Only the very wealthy and those in the public sector with generous gold-plated schemes can guarantee a financially secure retirement, experts said.
Ros Altmann, a pensions expert and governor at the London School of Economics, said: "We have a real pension crisis and politicians have not woken up to it. Most peoples pensions are not going to deliver the figures they would have expected when they first started saving unless of course, you happen to work in the public sector."
Separate research by equity release specialists Key Retirement Solutions suggested pensioners are entering retirement with average debts of £36,000, including credit cards, loans, mortgages, and overdrafts.
With more immediate financial concerns such as avoiding having their homes repossessed and covering the cost of rising petrol bills, charities said households were failing to save enough for their retirement.
Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK, said: "This report is another powerful reminder of the need for adequate pension provisions. Its not surprising many people are shocked by the drop in income and standards of living they experience at retirement."
Gordon Brown still has no conscience about his plundering of the pension funds which added to pensioners problems. We did our bit to keep the pensioners that were around when we were working, with the pledge that we would be looked after in our retirement but quite the opposite has occurred. We are among the poorest pensioners in Europe, with our savings for retirement in private, or work pensions, taxed three times before it reaches us, and a state pension that is impossible to live on thanks to Margaret Thatcher doing away with the earnings related pension, and Labour plundering our pension schemes. Why in the world should we vote for any of them?
Author based in Scotland.
After years spent at sea as a commercial fisherman I witnessed spectacular sights in the night sky while waiting for daylight to break.
After I retired I decided to write on the subject.
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