today

According to the "Examiner". This is partly because hundreds of banks may fail in the next few years because of faults in the US real estate market and FDIC is running out of money. Some have hinted that a bank holiday could be on the the way in America, as during the 1933 Depression when the banks were closed for awhile. This has prompted many in USA to stock up on food and nonperishable items.

IMO: At least Gordon Brown was not that bad. Who is to blame in USA, almost certainly not the new boy Obama. Mainly such as Bill Clinton, McCain and the other "usual suspects".

A California-based website which helps pimps sell women online should be shut down, Harriet Harman has told Labour delegates in Brighton. "Punternet has pages and pages of women for sale in London. But Punternet is based in California so I've raised it with the US ambassador to London and I've called on California's governor Arnie Schwarznegger to close it down," she said.

IMO: As usual, USA is going to extremes and Punternet is only one example. But perhaps more important, is the inappropriate Tony Blair introduction of the idea of one-way extadition laws, from UK to USA. I'm thinking of cases like McKinnon, or the NatWest Three, for example. It seems to me a pity that during her few last months in parliament, Harman seems unable to extradite Schwarznegger to UK for pimping, where hopefully, appropriate charges might lead to a long prison sentence for him. Maybe such acts could get the "Sun" back on board. Or maybe the "Sun" should also be closed down.

Rupert Murdoch liked Blair’s hawkishness and is suspicious of Cameron’s timidity on economics. The support of The Sun is conditional, Murdoch wants an authentically radical policy agenda. Cameron is promising only half that agenda.

IMO: Perhaps the corollary is: Labor still has a chance for support in the popular press if only Brown is sacked or is more positive and constructive, not just showing feeble spin. Cameron's rather feeble offers of a referendum on the EU could be in his favor, but Brown could at least improve the voting procedures to make voting more democratic, and that could be done WELL BEFORE the election.

The Ayudha Puja is a worship of whatever implements one may use in one's livelihood. On the preceding evening, it is traditional to place these implements on an altar to the Divine. If one can make a conscious effort to see the divine in the tools and objects one uses each day, it will help one to see one's work as an offering to God.

Though basically it is the pooja done by the farmers and manufacturers who use machinary it has percolated into the other stratas of life like the common people. It has become customary to worship the machinery like vehicles, lathes, earthmoving equipments, common household implements, electrical and electronic devices and computers.

The Hindu fraternity see divine power in most of the in-animate things. That is the why the world looks different to them. They revere stones, trees, rivers medicinal plants, air, space and earth, animals, insects, birds, rodents, creatures of the sea and reptiles and many more. Similarly they see divine power in the machinery also. This is how the Hindu culture is involved in saving the ecological balance of this world and save every creation of god on this earth.

The International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad ElBaradei today hailed India as a "leading advocate" for nuclear disarmament and asked the world to listen to its "voice" on elimination of all nuclear weapons. "India called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons as far back as 1948. It is important that India's voice should continue to be heard as a leading advocate for nuclear disarmament," he said addressing the International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy here.

IMO: We should not undermine the importance of people from different faiths working together, and we must give scope for all faiths - and secularists - to celebrate their respective festivals and rejoice together!

The lady seems to have bought two boxes of cold medication in less than a week, for her grandchildren's colds.

Well, the prosecutor seems to have realised that the lady was not some kind of mule in the crystal-meth cookery business, but stated "The public has the responsibility to know what is legal and what is not, and ignorance of the law is no excuse."

IMO: This clearly does not apply to US bankers, it seems, since they are 'masters of the universe' not just people purchasing cold medicines. But there will be matters even more generally applicable as the following shows:

A terrorist has recently tried unsuccessfully to blow up a Saudi prince with a bomb shoved up his ass. It has been said of the shoe bomber "Just be glad that he wasn't the underwear bomber." Now, sadly, we have an example of one.

Presumably the TSA will have to inspect all US air traveller's assholes at all US airports, just like people had to take off their shoes because of the shoe bomber.

IMO: It has been said that people will be less likely to travel by air because of global warming, furthermore in the UK it has recently been said that politicians take too many free air trips to holiday resorts at taxpayers expense, leaving behind constituency work. Most people will probably feel that members of parliament ought not to be exempt from this important inspection.

After bitter lessons in the Lok Sabha election to Thane, the Shiv Sena has fielded candidates for the assembly elections who are true-blood Sainiks in the traditional party stronghold.

IMO: Uddhav seems to be taking Bal Thackeray's advice a bit more on the matter. Only the results will show how politically successful that will be. I am afraid I am far from sure.

In August, the SEC and Bank of America came to their proposed settlement -- the one that so greatly troubled Judge Rakoff. Rakoff confronted the SEC lawyers with his concerns that same month, asking why they weren't going after any of the individual officers responsible for the alleged disclosures. The SEC responded with a circular argument that seemed to stoke Rakoff's fury all the more. The back-and-forth essentially was this:

SEC: We can't prove the individual executives did anything wrong because they tell us they simply delegated to their lawyers the task of handling the disclosure obligations.

Rakoff: Then go after the lawyers.

SEC: We don't know what the lawyers said, since the executives invoked their attorney-client privileges.

Rakoff: If the officers are saying they relied on counsel, they're automatically waiving the privilege. Plus, there's a crime-fraud exception to the privilege, so you could have asked me to order them to answer.

SEC: Not really. We haven't charged anybody with fraud.

Rakoff: Why didn't you charge anyone with fraud?

SEC: We couldn't prove fraudulent intent.

Rakoff: Why not?

SEC: They said they relied on advice of counsel.

IMO: Seems clear to me, anyway, SEC really are still not doing their alleged job, as petitioners frequently have found over the years. If Gordon Brown seriously intends to win the next election, surely he could ensure that the large sum spent on SFO - effectively by the UK taxpayers who employ him - is more wisely used. (SFO used the 'legal advice' quirk, now being strongly tested such cases even in USA, to avoid condemning the Phoenix fraudsters). We can perhaps fairly assume the Tories wouldn't act usefully. Once again Gordon Brown has a chance to act for the voters. Will he ?

Shopkeepers ceremoniously removed the last bottles of water from their shelves and replaced them with reusable bottles that can be filled from fountains inside the town's shops or at water stations in the street. A New South Wales study found that in 2006, the industry was responsible for releasing 60,000 tonnes of gases blamed for global warming.

IMO: The ban is something we can be really pleased about. Every time I see some idiot buying bottled water at a supermarket I am flatly puzzled. The UK at least seem to have killed off Coca Cola's hopes of making money from bogus resale of heavily polluted Sidcup water. Even now, in the Kerala backwaters, firms like Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola may find heavy legal penalties eventually forthcoming because of their criminal US efforts to destroy the local infrastructure for dollar advantage. Some say that both firms may eventually go the way of Union Carbide and be no more.

As well as to nuclear proliferation. Obama says he does not want nuclear proliferation, but some of the details are down in (two) FBI files, it seems. Perle, Feith and Grossman seem to be possibly involved. From the "Daily Kos".

IMO: Perhaps Obama won't talk to Gordon Brown, not because the UK behaved fairly and correctly over Lockerbie but Obama may by now be too scared he will inadvertently betray the treachery within USA. Still at least Obama may be coming over to Biden's view.

An Isro official at Sriharikota also confirmed that a major announcement was expected on Thursday. ‘‘I have heard something to that effect. Nothing more,’’ he said.

This is from the Chandrayaan-I mission.

IMO: If correct, this shows the progress of Indian science as it is a major scientific discovery.

Nigeria's Central Bank governor Sanusi is considered a hero by some. Mr Sanusi's reforms have rocked Nigeria's financial sector and led to five bank bosses being fired. His choice of approach has been likened to a bull in a china shop and he has been called the most unpopular man in Nigeria.

List of debtors of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) that may face court action in October include big names in Nigeria. Prominent in the list include Oludare Bello whose company CITEC International Estate Ltd owes N1.7 billion (about 28 million UK£), Yemi Obadeyi whose company Cambial Limited is to pay N2 billion and Ehi Musibau and Sijuades of Same Global system Ltd with a debt of N1.6 billion. Alhaji Lateef Jakande's company, the Good Homes Estate Ltd owes N219 million, Chief Okoya Thomas's company, Netconstruct Nigeria Ltd owes N454 million, Major General Magoro's company, Modular limited owes N332 million and Hajia Amina Abubakar of Imani and Sons Limited owes N249 million. Apostle Hayford Alile of Shelter Initiatives Limited with N295 million, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi of Tanus Property Dev Ltd with N198 million and Chief Gabriel Karibo's family company, Atasi-Isi Supplies and Services owes N723 million.

IMO: OK, in any system involving Islamic banking some say loans should be interest free. But I considered helping to set up an Islamic bank (not in Nigeria) and I know the borrowers do have to repay - and then some. It seems to me some people were as bad as Fred Goodwin, and even worse, they just wanted to pocket other people's money like the (non Islamic) Madoff in the USA.

IMO: Madoff and his non-Islamic pals, and people like Fred Goodwin might more or less get away with it, but Mr. Sanusi does not want that in Nigeria. Put the leading bankers in prison for a long time in the UK and US also, many people say.

IMO: And in the UK and US it is even worse, Sibel Edmond's testimony out today makes it plain that there is substantial corruption in high places throughout the USA. Let us hope Obama makes a start to improve things - over Bush and those earlier Presidents. The cases of Grossman and Dickerson in the US for example should clearly involve prison sentences - but will they.

Edmonds on US universities: "The Turkish agents had a network of Turkish professors in various universities with access to government information. Their top source was a Turkish-born professor of nuclear physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was useful because MIT would place a bunch of Ph.D. or graduate-level students in various nuclear facilities like Sandia or Los Alamos, and some of them were able to work for the Air Force. He would provide the list of Ph.D. students who should get these positions. In some cases, the Turkish military attaché would ask that certain students be placed in important positions. And they were not necessarily all Turkish, but the ones they selected had struck deals with the Turkish agents to provide information in return for money. If for some reason they had difficulty getting a security clearance, Grossman would ensure that the State Department would arrange to clear them."

IMO: Universities are not sacrosanct and whilst we certainly do not want a witch hunt, security matters should be clearly dealt with as yet more A.Q. Kahns are the last thing we need.

Clearly, we must work to erode the credibility and legitimacy of Pakistan's armed forces establishment whose very reason to be is its festering animosity towards India. Islamic fundamentalists are the second group to be opposed. It is not mere coincidence the two are aligned in vicious opposition to India and subvert by coordinated, violent means any move to improve bilateral relations.

IMO: George Bush himself allegedly threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the stone ages if they did not co-operate. They didn't, but he didn't, some would now say regrettably. Probably a decent air strike now against the Pakistan nuclear facility could at least temporarily neutralise Pakistan's nuclear problem which is by now as much an internal problem as an external problem. It seems that even the Israelis offered to do this at the time of Indira Gandhi.

But we must remember the other side of Pakistan. the public sex of the burkha-clad Wahabi women on the beach in Karachi - at least as alleged by journalist Mohammed Hanif - and all the rest of it.

IMO: I once considered Wahabism seriously but I must say that side of it was not represented to me, and whilst it seems annoyingly typical of one section of Islam, is probably more representative of some Pakistanis than of Islam.

Then there is the Pakistan of the rising middle class which wants modernisation but equates it with neither westernisation nor Islamisation. They are as horrified as we are at a video showing Taliban goons caning a woman and yet like us do not want to succumb entirely to the Coca-Cola culture. The sufi and pir traditions to which prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and brave journalists, judges and lawyers belong are also part of this Pakistan. The small, almost inconsequential section of westernised, 'liberated' men and women is yet another Pakistan. There is also the Pakistan of the Mohajirs who see themselves as increasingly marginalised and resent that. Finally, there is the Pakistan whose political leaders represent growing popular aspirations for freedom and rule of law.

IMO: Like many conservatives, I see a sensible Sufism is being perhaps one potential saviour of Pakistan. Gilani comes from a sufi family, is a thorough professional with well-established credentials for integrity. He is seen as distinct from his president who comes from a completely different background and perhaps with his own agenda. Gilani represents the aspirations, weaknesses and strengths of the Pakistani middle class. So, it could be worse even if it could be much better.

The Times of India says "India must continue to make bold attempts to improve ties and strengthen Pakistan's elected leadership to give it the wherewithal to begin confronting religious fundamentalists and resisting the armed forces establishment, the two worst enemies of the Pakistani people. At Sharm el-Sheikh, India gave away nothing in real terms. It only provided Gilani an opportunity to claim a breakthrough with his own hawks. If the strategy works, we would have an interlocutor with credibility and some capacity to resist the two groups most inimical to our interests."

Megrahi, who was convicted of the atrocity which claimed 270 lives, released more than 300 pages of evidence yesterday in a bid to clear his name. Details here.

Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was freed early on compassionate grounds last month from the life term he was serving at Greenock prison for the bombing.

IMO: Certainly a lot of people without any special interests also hold to the view of innocence, and some are also compassionate. This case is nothing like the Biggs or Brady cases where both admit guilt, as do many or most Islamist and IRA bombers. It looks more like a cover up for the authorities, as authorities usually do.

A 4,000 word cover story on FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds in The American Conservative to hit stands and web tomorrow, by former CIA agent Phil Giraldi.

FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds tells us exactly how Turkish intelligence have penetrated national secrets, suborned government officials, and blackmailed Congress. It’s going to be explosive.

IMO: Giraldi is distinctly right wing, which could certainly imply partiality but his reasonable enough comments are here in a brief article on "Making Torture Accountable". I think the information in the Edmonds story is likely to deserve being given value as far as the EU is concerned, at least. Maybe we will also find out whether Obama's actions may be better than those of his predecessors.

Tata Communications and AccessKenya Group announced on September 9th that they have signed a partnership agreement to establish a Tier 1 internet point of presence (PoP) for Tata Communications in Nairobi, Kenya.

Tata Communications is a global Tier 1 IP provider with 1.5Tbps meshed network built on 10G backbones. By building a PoP in Kenya, Tata Communications will be able to offer internet and other service providers access to one of the most dynamically routed and high-performance global IP networks for service delivery.

Countries that are already connected to the Seacom cable have reported that Internet prices have fallen by 30 percent since July this year, when the cable was launched. African business process outsourcing firms are expected to be the big winners as a result of countries connecting to the cable.

IMO: Certainly parts of Africa have decent enough cybercafes and schools with computers already, and so a decent fast fibre optical link should be most welcome. This contrasts with the behaviour of other nations like the UK and China who just want to take as much mineral wealth from Africa including precious metals and diamonds for cheap prices. India is trying to provide something and improved communications will help both areas which are far from rich.

The new Nimrod MRA4 is not only the most expensive British military aircraft ever made but one of the most expensive aircraft in the world: 9 Nimrod MRA4s to cost same as 3½ Space Shuttles

You don't pay the best part of a billion dollars per plane for comms relay and basic aerial spyeye capability, not unless you're insane or a crook. A cheap unmanned drone able to do such things costs no more than £10-20m, even with the MoD buying.

The MRA4 is largely foreign kit integrated into a historical chassis. It has a 40 year old airframe based on a design from the 1940s. For the cost of one of these giant flying white elephants the RAF could double its Chinook fleet.

IMO: Seems to me that there could be a place where UK budgets could be reduced by scrapping the plane ASAP.

A pigeon in South Africa has proven that ADSL from the country's biggest web firm Telkom is not faster than a carrier pigeon. An IT firm in Durban decided to race the pigeon against uploading data over ADSL from the company's call centre in Howick to it's office in Durban. Winston, the pigeon carried a 4GB microSD memory card between the sites which are approximately 60 km apart. To ensure the test was fair, rules of the test included "no cats allowed" and "birdseed must not have any performance-enhancing seeds within".

The results of the test showed that Winston completed the transfer in 2hrs 6 minutes and 57 seconds (from uploading data on the card to completion of download from the card) giving a transfer rate of 4.2 Mbps (megabits per second). The ADSL transfer was only 4% complete when the pigeon won the race.

Philadelphia Free Library System is shutting down

Picture an entire city, a modern, wealthy place, in the richest country in the world, in which the vital services provided by libraries are withdrawn due to political brinksmanship and an unwillingness to spare one banker's bonus worth of tax-dollars to sustain an entire region's connection with human culture and knowledge and community.

Think of it and ask yourself what has happened to America.

IMO: America recovered (UTAP) from Joe McCarthy but can it recover yet again from its mistakes, or is it by now like a punch drunk boxer, and is this really going to be the end ? Many Americans do not even want effective health care for the nation and nowadays any free society should have at least that. Lack of healthcare and lack of education will turn Americans into slaves of a Nazi self-perpetuating overclass and the American dream will be no more.

Some now say Obama will be obliged to water down his plans by not using the public option. Senator Jay Rockefeller, a liberal Democrat, dismissed the cooperative idea as outdated and impractical and said he still favored a public option. "If there were a good alternative, I would certainly have to look at it," he said on ABC's This Week. "I haven't found one."

IMO: There is nothing I like more than free enterprise, but we have all seen the messy fraud that the US insurance companies have recently made of things, and the failure of Gordon Brown's PPP schemes in the UK. Possibly poor Gordon Brown cannot be blamed - as some are now saying quite loudly that Gordon Brown is beginning to join the ranks of former US presidents - that is, he is actually insane.

Scientists are currently preparing to replicate large objects — namely viruses. The technique will involve storing a virus in a vacuum and then cooling it to its quantum-mechanical ground state in a microcavity. Zapping the virus with a laser then leaves it in a superposition of its ground state and an excited one. This sort of process could eventually allow the Schrodinger's Cat experiment for real.

IMO: Very worrying - for the virus. Another group is already using antigravity (just high powered magnets, nothing very new) on mice, and many of the mice do not like it. If I were, say, in AlQuaida or in China, I would not like to find myself used as a victim for such experiments, and would probably much sooner have my lights and liver sold off, so frequent in China. Also, according to Brad, Pres Obama has every reason to now fear the CIA, as they may seriously believe he could be a whistleblower. Watch your step, Barack, but we all want the truth revealed.

This week, President Barack Obama went before Congress and the nation to better explain his health care proposals. He said they would provide security and stability to people who have insurance, and make it possible to insure millions who do not.

IMO: As someone who has seen the effects of inadequate health care systems, and knows the international statistics which downgrade the status of the USA to an incredibly low level on this matter, I emphatically and totally agree with Obama. At the same time I understand the views of his more sincere opponents and the dangers of effectively introducing an unwelcome neocommunist element. Whilst I understand their views, I see dramatically clearly that they are totally wrong and that they should reconsider and abandon their opposition to Obama's plans on this matter.

The Supreme Court on Friday gave six hours to the Mayawati-led UP government to stop all construction work related to its pet statue project, costing thousands of crores of public money, in Lucknow. Taking suo motu cognisance over news reports that the Mayawati government was going ahead with construction despite an assurance given to the apex court, a bench comprising Justice B N Agrawal and Justice Aftab Alam warned the state government of dire consequences for ‘playing with fire.’

The bench directed the government to remove all machinery from seven construction sites in Lucknow within six hours. Barring watch and wards staff, no person shall be allowed to be present in and around such sites after 7 pm, the court ordered.

IMO: A very correct decision, especially bearing in mind previous known facts about the Mayawati regime. But the behaviour is typical worst side UP behaviour. Mayawati has forfeited her right to continue as CM.

Sam Miller, the BBC's former South Asia correspondent, is looking for the person who squirts poo on his and other people's shoes in New Delhi's Connaught Place. It's part of a scam - foreigners get a squirt of poo on their shoo when then aren't looking and then a shoe shiner down the road points it out and offers to clean off the poo, for a fee. He says "What are the mechanics of squirting, does he use a turkey baster perhaps, or a syringe? And, most of all, what does he tell his family that he does for a living?"

IMO: The answer: Kids have been involved with this for at least 20 years. Pay them a few rupees, you greedy skinflints. (Of course, by now it could be a criminal gang, doubtless run by Dawood Ibrahim).

The United States has accused Pakistan of illegally modifying American-made missiles to expand its capability to strike land targets, a potential threat to India, according to senior administration and Congressional officials. Brief details here.

Before lawmakers departed for their summer recess, administration officials briefed Congress on the protest to Pakistan. The dispute has the potential to delay or possibly even derail the legislation to provide Pakistan with $7.5 billion in civilian aid over five years; lawmakers are expected to vote on the aid package when they return from their recess next month.

IMO: Let's hope they stop the $7.5 billion. That would save money and could help to prevent a nuclear war, if it is not too late.

China has reported 5,592 cases of H1N1 flu, from which 3,852 people have recovered. Allegedly, no-one has died of swine flu in China.

IMO: Quite a puzzle, this statistic reminds one of the kind that could be heard on Radio Tirana, Albania, during the so-called 'cold war' with USSR. In other words, maybe the figures are made up or possibly their socialised medicine has reached very high standards.

According to the UK Telegraph, the police investigation into the al-Qaeda airline bomb plot was undermined after the US pressurised Pakistan to arrest the suspected ringleader Rashid Rauf, it has emerged.

IMO: I wrote about Rashid Rauf some years ago in this blog, easily found by a blog search in this blog. The behaviour regarding Rauf looks pretty shady by now. The apparent US inspired torture in Pakistan seems to have been uncovered at the time by Amnesty International. The moral would seem to be not to supply any funds to Pakistan at all, as they seem to be using the money for torture and illegal nuclear weaponry. India would be very happy to see a friendly (I repeat 'friendly') Pakistan in the existing India Free Trade Area, but we are still facing filthy undercover tactics preventing even a remote possibility of that, at least in any forseeable future.

Beck says of his poltical views that "I consider myself a libertarian. I'm a conservative, but every day that goes by I'm fighting for individual rights." Beck supports individual gun ownership rights, and is against gun control legislation. Beck has suggested that Obama's health care reform agenda is a means by which he can effect reparations for slavery. Beck believes that there is a lack of evidence that human activity is the main cause of global warming, promoted a petition rejecting the Kyoto Protocol, and considers emissions trading to be a form of wealth redistribution.

Beck peddles a message that's been around since America was born: They're taking your country away. They—the non-white races, the immigrants, the urbanites, the communists, the elites—are stealing the country from nice, simple white Christians. They're taking what rightfully belongs to us, to Real Americans.

Beck's campaign forced Van Jones's resignation, hardly difficult to arrange as the information used against Jones was freely available on the web. All it took was a search.

IMO: Rupert Murdoch will only put up with the stench as long as money's coming in. And anyway, I'd have thought Rupert's wife was non-white. Someone is paddling the wrong canoe.

No advance since the days of Huckleberry Finn, then ?

In the "Herald" (Scotland) it is pointed out that only a few contributions, such as those from Malcolm Chisholm, Patrick Harvie and Christine Grahame, raised the quality of the debate and touched on the wider issues of guilt or innocence, truth and justice, punishment and compassion.

Many now believe Megrahi is the victim of a miscarriage of justice. There is no longer any possibility of an independent public inquiry into Lockerbie, because there are too many powerful vested interests with dark secrets to be kept hidden from public knowledge.

The Court of Session should find a way to reverse its decision allowing Megrahi to abandon his second appeal, and then press on with this appeal to its final conclusion, even if the appellant is dead.

That would further enhance the reputation of the Scottish judicial system. It is now the only way left to establish the truth about Megrahi's guilt or innocence, and to clear up all the other questions still unanswered about the Lockerbie bombing. The families of the victims deserve nothing less.

IMO: Surely the above is reasonable and in such a way Scotland can still proceed with further hearings, and help to re-establish faith in the Scottish political and legal system, if not of that in the UK and USA. The present status reeks of US boonducks lynch law, surely inappropriate even in the days of Huck Finn, and even worse, of highsounding Sassenach treason.

Apparently this is like speed dating except that there is a panel of headshrinkers to give brief advice in turn.

IMO: Sounds like a great idea and there are applications in variations of x-phi (experimental philosophy). Could be expensive but if suitable shrinks are to hand, worth a try in structured circumstances. It could also save the customers a lot of time overall.

IMO: In Brixton, England , some years ago I visited an astrology conference where astrologers were plying their wares and giving brief astrology readings to people attending the conference. Personally I thought the astrologers were all total crap and just taking money (£75 was gone on several astrologers who talked rubbish), but the principle worked and seemed good. The implication there seems to have been that UK astrology could be simply taken as a time pass and this is also a serious matter to consider and face in whatever way in the case of the shrinks.

According to the Guardian, Nigel Farage (UKIP) should be presiding officer of the House of Commons.

Farage intends to oust Burcow at the next General Election, and who is to say that he will not.

Farage is a celebrated celebrated motor-mouth, ale-drinker extraordinaire, lap dance champion, Enoch Powell groupie, self-proclaimed non-racist (even if David Cameron did unfairly describe his party as a bunch of "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists") and wearer of possibly the finest pin-stripe in Europe?

Farage ruthlessly rooted out corruption in his own party – of 12 MEPs in the last European parliament, one (former policeman Tom Wise) was charged with money laundering and false accounting, while another (Ashley Mote) was jailed for benefit fraud in 2007. Farage has been tough but fair throughout his tenure at the party. Ukip's head of communications Clive Page has not commited a single act of benefit fraud since working for Farage.

IMO: Perhaps rather a joke but he might be no worse than the rest. Since he at least appears to look as if he is trying to reduce expenses for the crooked cabal of elected politicians, I hardly see the immediate point of the suggestion as the possible lack of free duckponds and moats means that the other politicians will presumably ensure he never becomes speaker.

Details here.

IMO: I do not propose a solution at this time, so basically present the letter without comment. But it looks as though US and EU should send in more people, especially soldiers, to help the Afghans and many more drones to kill remaining enemies. But I do not like to see any soldiers killed for no good reason, including Taliban. We must remember many facts, including the fact that Karzai's brother appears to be a leading drug exporter.

Miyuki Hatoyama, 66, described the extraterrestrial experience, which she said took place some 20 years ago, in a book entitled "Very Strange Things I've Encountered." Japan's next first lady wrote that she told her now ex-husband that she had just been to Venus. He advised her that it was probably just a dream."My current husband has a different way of thinking," she wrote. "He would surely say 'Oh, that's great'." "My soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus," said Miyuki Hatoyama

I pointed out in an earlier blog entry that in the USA, whilst Barack Obama goes on with his most worthy and laudible ambition to provide proper healthcare in America, his mom-in-law practices black magic (of a kind commonly regarded as a variety of Satanism, involving live sacrifices) in the White House (if Obama hasn't prevented this yet). This seems typical of US Presidents and we also bear in mind that Barack's own speeches have been interpreted as messages saying "thank you, Satan".

IMO: As with cars "anything USA can do, Japan does better". All very well, but we are possibly heading for a nuclear war thanks to US tolerance of Pakistan's leaders.

Many UK relatives, Megrahi's lawyers and SNP backbencher Christine Grahame believe Megrahi's decision to drop his appeal means key questions about his conviction remain open. She used parliamentary privilege yesterday to raise doubts about the timer allegedly used in the attack, the reliability of a key witness – a Maltese shopkeeper – and the alleged failure by the US and UK to investigate evidence tying a Palestinian terror group to the attack.

IMO: As I have also said for some time. But both UK and US authorities seem involved in a cover up. And the Sibel Edmonds testimony makes that only too clear.

Brad says." The under-oath, detailed allegations include bribery, blackmail, espionage and infiltration of the U.S. government of, and by current and former members of the U.S. Congress, high-ranking State and Defense Department officials and agents of the government of Turkey. The broad criminal conspiracy is said to have resulted in, among other things, the sale of nuclear weapons technology to black market interests including Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Libya and others."

IMO: So US and UK interests even seem involved in starting another nuclear war. Brown has just offered a billion pounds to Pakistan to "defend its frontiers" In fact the money will be used as Robert Norris of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists say Pak is doing already, as follows:

"Two new plutonium production reactors and a second chemical separation facility also are under construction. The paper essentially upgrades Pakistan's nuclear arsenal both quantitatively (from 60 weapons last year to 70-90 now) and qualitatively -- from uranium-base to being plutonium-centric".

IMO: India meanwhile needs much more power and is seriously trying to expand peaceful and very needed nuclear facilities to that end. Both Korea and Russia are trying to further this.

IMO: Obama cannot afford to see India as an enemy, it is a much needed wouldbe friend in the area. To make one simple point, of the 100 richest men in California, 10% have PIO cards (relates to direct Indian connection). As for Gordon Brown, he does not leave the impression of competence. He has had wonderful opportunites and seems to have spoiled them. Lord Turner seems to be the only useful hope.

Each Sulabh uses about a tenth the water of a common toilet—crucial in regions where water is growing scarce—and houses the flushed human waste in two tanks until the contents can be recycled as a fertilizer. Disease and diarrhoea remain confined. Cost probably $15 to $1000 depending how much money you have. Or you can subscribe to a public toilet for $1 a month.

"Provision of sanitation provides dignity and safety, especially to women, and reduction of child mortality," Pathak said "As a matter of fact, safe water and sanitation go hand in hand for improvement of community health."

IMO: Sounds a really excellent idea, necessary and most welcome. In Mumbai, I noticed an area which seemed to be being used for Muslim prayer but it turned out to be a (probably illegal) toilet ground.

The honorary membership was given very recently. It seems that the members of a discredited management team flaunted their meeting with the Congress president and used their photograph with her as campaign material — dragging into the paltry puddle of Press Club politics a leader used to giant cut-outs and huge election rallies. The Calcutta Telegraph says Sonia was angry about being dragged into a paltry puddle.

US Presidents make it a point to attend the White House Correspondents Association dinner, where they are expected to make jokes at their own expense --- a tradition both George W. Bush and Barack Obama followed.

IMO: Shows that Indians live at a different moral and spiritual level to Americans, something I have always thought. In a sense it compares to the way that the US press are often ridiculously obsequious to senior politicians but the British press tend to ask awkward if sometimes boring questions.