A terrorist jailed for 45 years in 1986 for plotting to blow up an Israeli plane could be released early after High Court judges ruled against the government.

El Al bomber 'could go free'
Friday, 1 April 2011
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22:00
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"I Am Confident This Country Will Default on Its Debt" By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud Friday, April 1, 2011 "I am confident that this country will default on its debt," Bill Gross wrote this week.
Bill Gross is not some anti-American crackpot… quite the contrary.
He manages the world's biggest bond fund. As the founder and chief investment officer
of PIMCO, he's responsible for over $1.2 trillion in assets – mostly in bonds.
And last month, in his main bond fund, he got rid of all of his U.S. government bonds.
"[I've] been selling Treasurys because they have little value within the context of a
$75 trillion total debt burden," Bill said. "Unless entitlements [namely Social Security,
Medicare, and Medicaid] are substantially reformed, I am confident that this country
will default on its debt."
How would that happen?
"Not in conventional ways," he explained, "but by picking the pockets of savers."
He says the government will pick your pocket through "inflation, currency devaluation,
and low to negative real interest rates."
These things are all happening right now…
The currency is already weak… The U.S. dollar index is right around the lowest levels
it's ever been since we went off the gold standard in the early 1970s.
We already have low to negative real interest rates… The Fed is artificially holding
short-term rates at zero. But officially, inflation is 2%. So your "real" rate of interest
at the bank is a negative 2%.
You can hardly blame Bill for not wanting to own government bonds…
Right now, if you're willing to lock your money up for 10 years in a government
bond, you'll collect 3.5% every year in interest. The benefit (a small 3.5% interest
payment) isn't worth the risks that Bill writes about.
Remember, Bill isn't some wacko. He's the "Bond King" – and that nickname comes
from decades of extraordinary performance in his bond funds.
If Bill is right, it's dangerous to be a "saver" in the traditional sense… Low-interest
bank CDs will have their value eaten away by the government's stealth default on
its debts. What to do instead is a story for anotherDailyWealth…
Right now, the asset class Bill's fund has the biggest exposure to is mortgage-backed
bonds (like those held by longtime DailyWealth favorite Annaly). He's putting his chips
on a "real" asset as opposed to an asset that's backed by the "faith and credit" of the
U.S. government.
U.S. government bonds are no longer good enough for Bill Gross, the best bond manager #
in history. If they're not good enough for Bill, then they shouldn't be good enough for you
or me either.
Stay out of U.S. Treasurys.
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21:54
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Hi all. As you may know, I am standing for election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the May 5th poll and pressures mean I must step away from this site for most of the next month or so. I hope the other writers can keep you provided with copy whilst I am away. I will return. Don't know if you have seen this but Melanie gets stuck in to the BBC with a vengeance.. 
LEAVE OF ABSENCE
GASSING AWAY...
>> WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011
BBC Greenies love farting cow stories. And when their favourite fart-gas - methane - is the subject of a government report that could lead to new emissions laws, they are clearly in their seventh, miasmic, heaven. It defies belief that a time when we are supposedly making record cuts, DEFRA spends countless and undisclosed oodles of our dosh in working out the relationship of feedstuff to gas (though this story also indicates that DEFRA has at best a very tenuous grasp on sanity). Especially as other researchshowed as long ago as 2008 that despite the frantic greenie alarmism, methane emissions have stablised. Never let the fug of a marsh gas fog get in the way of a good BBC scare.ON ZADIE

The BBC has been criticised, however, for inviting Ms Smith to broadcast her comments without any interruptions or questions and for allowing the five minute piece to turn into a "party political broadcast". After telling listeners about growing up with a love for Kensal Rise library in north west London, which is earmarked for closure, Ms Smith rounded on the coalition Government's "shameful" policies."
ON THE BUTTON...
Posted by
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21:47
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We are a satellite state of the Greater European Empire, ruled by a supreme government in Brussels.
We owe this government neither loyalty nor obedience.
It is not our government. It is theirs.
It is our enemy
A dispatch from an occupied country - by Richard... Tuesday, December 01, 2009
From today, as the Lisbon treaty comes into force, we are no longer masters in our own house. Our prime minister, as a member of the European Council, is obligated under this new treaty to promote the aims and objectives of the European Union, over and above those of the UK, and is bound by the rules of the Union.
Of course, this will make no immediate difference. It simply renders de jure what has been de facto for several decades, but the coming into force of the treaty marks an important symbolic turning point. We are no longer an independent country, de jure. Our prime minister and his government are now working for an alien government, based in Brussels.
In effect, that makes us an occupied country, but the alien creatures that rule us most directly are our own. We are "occupied" by our own political élites, who owe their allegiance not to the people who elected them and pay their wages, but to a more powerful, self-appointed élite in Brussels. They are sock-puppets, with less power than the Vichy government of the 1940s.
No longer will we have general elections to select our own government. All that is afforded to us now is the "privilege" of choosing an electoral college, comprised of people we still call Members of Parliament, who then go on to select the British member of the European Council, a man who is there not to represent us or serve our interests, but to participate in our supreme government.
It is perhaps rather fitting, therefore, that on this day, Mr Cameron's supposi-Tories should be confronting another drop in their poll ratings, attributable in part at least to the Boy's craven surrender to the forces of darkness.
The party is down three points to 37 percent, with Labour unchanged on 27 percent and the Lib Dems up two on 20 percent. This is the second such poll in recent times which indicates that the supposi-tories are unlikely to make a breakthrough and win the prize of nominating their leader as the British member of the European Council.
On current results, there could be a hung parliament after the next general election, a process which we have called an electorally-mandated reshuffle – for the only substantive result is that we change the people we send to our supreme government in Brussels.
Such an outcome is considered by some as undesirable, but it is of little importance. For sure, our provincial government will be able to exercise some residual powers, but over term, they will reduce even more, whoever is elected. Therefore, the results of this coming "reshuffle" are a matter of supreme indifference.
Others, who still seem to care, are put in an impossible position. On one of the major supposi-tory blogs, a commenter remarked: "My prospective Conservative MP is a Europhile 'climate change expert'. You expect me to vote for that? You must be having a laugh." You can see the poor man's problem.
The worst of it is that, in the streets today, nothing will appear to have changed. Everything will look much the same as it did yesterday. In No 10, a man by the name of Gordon Brown will still be calling himself prime minister. In the Houses of Parliament, there will still be MPs and peers, and the Union Jack will adorn the building.
But everything is different. We are a satellite state of the Greater European Empire, ruled by a supreme government in Brussels. And things will stay different until we have regained our freedom. Until then, as I remarked before, we owe this government neither loyalty nor obedience. It is not our government. It is theirs. It is our enemy.
Posted by
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21:33
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We are a satellite state of the Greater European Empire, ruled by a supreme government in Brussels. We owe this government neither loyalty nor obedience. It is not our government. It is theirs. It is our enemy.
Dr Richard North
We need a new approach - by Richard... Friday, April 01, 2011
The formidable stupidity of Baroness Neville-Jones is quite wondrous to behold as she tells the Daily Telegraph that the government needs to persuade the majority of the population that the UK is a single nation. She says there needs to be a new approach in which people did not simply "rub along together and as long as people obey the law that's quite sufficient".
"[We are] trying to convince minorities in this country that they actually do have a long term future here and that it's their country as much as anybody else's", she says in an interview.
But when Euroslime Dave and his Cleggerons are doing their level best to give this country away, when "nationalism" is a dirty word in their vocabulary, and when white heterosexuals are a minority in parts of their own country (and certainly in parliament), we certainly do need a new approach.
We need one in which people did not simply listen to idiot ministers, and make it clear to them that they do not have a long-term future here – or anywhere else on this planet.
COMMENT THREAD
With the "paper of record", confidently telling us (no link) that Gadaffi's regime "starts to crumble", we also learn that his "armed forces are not close to breaking point despite hundreds of allied air strikes". This is according to Admiral Mike Mullen, who has told a US Congress committee that Col Gaddafi's troops still had 10 times the rebels' firepower.
Meanwhile, the frontline of fighting has ebbed and flowed on the outskirts of Brega, a town about 800km (500 miles) east of Tripoli that has changed hands repeatedly during days of clashes. Rebels entered the town early yesterday, but were soon chased out as pro-Gaddafi forces fired shells.
By the end of the yesterday, the BBC reported that it was unclear if anyone was in control of the town, with reports saying rebels were preparing to launch yet another assault.
Further west, pro-Gaddafi forces continued to pound the besieged city of Misrata with artillery and tank fire. "If it continues for a couple more days, I'm afraid it will overwhelm the city and it will be a complete massacre," a resident told the BBC.
Nato said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties in Western air strikes on Tripoli. Earlier, the top Vatican official in the Libyan capital, citing witnesses, said 40 civilians had been killed in strikes by Western forces on the city. So much for protecting the civilians ... but I suppose you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.
And now the Septics are pulling out. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen have announced that American combat missions are to end on Saturday. Gates said no one should be surprised by the move, but he called the timing "unfortunate".
The Kermits and the Great War Leader, with his clockwork hairyplanes and no pilots, are going to have to take up the slack. This is getting positively embarrassing. We were better equipped in the 1940s ... see above ... when once again we were the junior partner.
COMMENT THREAD
"I love the new colours", says one reader. Another wrote, "Pretty good April 1st Joke!" "But what makes you think it is a joke?" I wrote back. All this greenery, you know ... could be a good thing for the planet ...
Unfortunately, we were sussed. "On the same day that Cranmer declared himself a Papist, I hardly think your own conversion likely to fool anyone, Northy", said one of our revered forum members. Bugger Cranmer. It's not the Tiber he should be crossing, but the Styx.
But ... we are back to normal. You can have too much of a good thing. Thanks Pete!
COMMENT THREAD
"The science does matter," says Caroline Selle, who works for the Energy Action Coalition in the United States.
"We face a climate catastrophe that will define our generation and the future of our country, and the solutions to this crisis will create jobs and improve public health. So why aren't we acting? Unfortunately, the answer is simple: Capitol Hill is swarming with 'climate cranks' - politicians willing to trade our future for their own political gain."
We need such dedicated people – people who think of the children and the generations to come, instead of their own narrow interests. Thank goodness, on this side of the Atlantic, we have here the European Union, the embodiment of "mother Europe" looking after her children.
Only through such bold leadership as the Community does provide will we be able to survive this catastrophe. The climate deniers know not what they do, but at least we have the EU which can transcend the interests of small-minded politicians and keep us on the right track. Who needs democracy when we have the EU Commission?
As Selle says: "Our future is at stake, and our position is non-negotiable. We need strong climate legislation based on the facts, not the politics, and we need it soon. And we are willing to stand together again and again until our message gets through".
We are so lucky that we have the EU to do this for us. The Americans could learn from our experience. Join our family and the world is your cuddly polar bear.
COMMENT THREADFamilies could see energy bills soar by £434 a year as it emerged ministers underestimated the cost of rolling out a new smart meter system. When the installation of the meters in every home and business was given the go-ahead in May 2009 the cost was put at £9 billion. But this week it was revealed that the cost of installing the devices in some 53 million homes between 2014 and 2019 will reach £11.3 billion.
Is there anything this bunch of fools can get right?
COMMENT THREAD
The British EU contribution increased from £5.3billion in 2009 to £9.2 billion last year says Robert Winnett in The Daily Telegraph - yet another of these dozy hacks who can't get his minuscule brain round the labyrinth of the EU budget.
Winnett cites the Office for National Statistics but, as you would expect, it is playing games by citing the net contribution. The figure of significance, though, is the amount we pay out, or the grosscontribution – as Myrtle the Judas goat keeps telling us.
Myrtle says the actual gross figure was £19.7 billion (presumably for 2009) but God knows where he got that figure from. He quotes himself from 2009, spraying a raft of figures that bears no relation to the one quoted.
To be fair, though – which is something I try to avoid doing, especially when Myrtle is involved – EU figures are a nightmare, not least because the EU and the UK calculated on a different basis and use different financial periods. Even the euroslime Independent doesn't do it much better. To clear up the confusion, though, the government has helpfully explained why they should be so different.
However, using the Commission sources, the gross figures stand at €11.42 for 2009, €12.918 for 2010 and €13.13 billion, in 2011 - respectively £10.04, £11.36 and £11.54 billion at current exchange values.
Referring to the net figures, however, Winnett states that the increase is equivalent to the extra money being raised from the increase in National Insurance for higher-rate taxpayers, or the new 50p top rate of income tax. He also says that taxpayers are being forced to contribute more following Tony Blair's decision to reduce the size of this country's rebate.
The fact is that the reduced payments from the EU, reflected n the higher net, do not require extra spending from the UK to make up the loss. The comparison is spurious. Yet this does not stop Tory Boy Stephen Booth, "research" director of Open Europe, prattling that: "We're now starting to see the full effect of Tony Blair's 2005 decision to give up a huge chunk of the British rebate".
Similarly, we get the ghastly Matthew Hancock, Tory MP and former aide to the preposterous Osborne, saying: "The consequences of Labour's rebate sell-out are becoming clear. These shocking new figures show that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown signed billions of pounds of our money away in return for absolutely nothing".
This is typical of the dire Tory party political games – where everything has to be couched in terms of something Labour did or did not do.
However, the rebate is actually taken into account in calculating the gross figure. The changes to the net figure result largely from reductions in farm subsidies, and regional funding. For sure, if the rebate had not been reduced, then the gross figure would have dropped, and thereby our net payment would have been cut by a similar amount.
This though, is not the point. The rebate reduction was agreed to redress distortions in the Thatcher-agreed rebate calculation, to reflect the changes in the budget structure arising from enlargement (which the Tories agreed) and the changing proportions of spending in the EU budget.
The fact that the current gross contribution is increasing roughly in line with the general increase in the EU budget is a testament both to the need for the adjustment and its success. It is one that, had the Tories headed the administration, they would have agreed as well. As it stands the UK correction in the 2010 budget still amounts to around €4.0 billion.
The real issue, therefore, is not the rebate, but the fact that we are making payments of £11.54 billion to the EU. This is happening under the current administration, led by the Tories. Little Camerslime has no intention of changing that. And that is why we are getting the Tories blowing smoke, to hide the unpleasant fact that a sum equivalent to roughly a third of our defence budget is going to the "colleagues" in Brussels.
COMMENT THREAD
"Libyan rebel forces retreated in disarray yesterday as the battle in the east swung dramatically in favour of Colonel Gaddafi", says the Daily Mail. "Gaddafi loyalists are once again closing in on the key town of Ajdabiya, which they had abandoned on Saturday in the face of "devastating coalition airstrikes". Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad had already fallen again".
Then you get The Independent which has the rebels in Libya "in terrified retreat", enmeshed in recriminations against their own leadership and accusing officials dealing with the international community of misrepresenting the reality on the ground.
After twelve nights of Western military intervention that had been seen as irreversibly changing the course of this conflict, the revolutionary forces had been pushed back by yesterday evening to the last city before Benghazi, the capital of the opposition provisional government, seemingly with their confidence drained and showing little will to continue the fight.
The collapse by the revolutionary forces in the space of 48 hours "was spectacular", says the paper. But what is equally spectacular is the almost total lack of judgement of the "international community", which has got itself caught up in something it does not understand, and over which it has no control.
Right up front, of course, is the most spectacular incompetent of them all, from Boy Wonder Cameron and Hippy Dippy Hague. Not only do these buffoons seem not to have a "plan B", they didn't even seem to have a "plan A" worth talking about. Now this bunch of losers wants to give another bunch of losers more guns. And I suppose they are calling this a winning strategy?
We always knew this pair was incompetent, but they really are breaking new ground. And how interesting it is that the newspapers that were so gung ho for this adventure, and had the hots for the Great War Leader Cameron, now seem to have gone silent. There's a strange coincidence.
But Hey! At least the rebels can afford the petrol.
COMMENT THREAD
Libya's rebels appeared to have abandoned the country's most important oil terminal today in a chaotic headlong retreat from government forces. The retreat came despite renewed Western air strikes around the town of Ras Lanuf and as coalition allies considered the possibility of arming the rebel forces.
Cameron is not only a moron, he is a very dangerous moron.
COMMENT THREAD
Then you see this and this, and you know that we've come to the end of the world as we know it. There is no way back. It's gone too far.
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21:18
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