Great news on stem cell research.

Most Christians have long been deeply troubled by the ethics of using aborted foetuses for stem cell research.

I consider myself a pragmatist but that seems a step too far and reminiscent of the idea of using horrific, concentration camp experimenting as a basis for medical research. But now some good news:

'Scientists have developed a new way of creating human stem cells that does away with the need to create and destroy embryos.
In a breakthrough that could revolutionise medicine, and end the ethical dilemma of using cells from embryos, they have shown that the cells can be created from tissue removed from a man's testicles.
These could eventually be used to grow 'spare part' tissue to treat a host of diseases - including diabetes, Parkinson's and heart disease.
And because this tissue comes from a patient himself, there is no issue of rejection.'

Madness of the left never ends.

That this country has no death penalty is an affront to the democratic process. Successive governments have trampled on the wishes of the people for 44 years.
I believe that I am correct in saying that no poll of opinion has ever returned a result suggesting that a significant majority do not want a return to the death penalty.
The 'we-know-better-than-you-do mentality' of politicians is an abomination!

That is one thing but to refuse extradition to other countries because a criminal may face capital punishment there is quite something else.
Iran has been told that Fowzi Badavi Nejad, the only survivor of the Iranian Embassy siege 28 years ago, will not be extradited because he would face the death penalty in Teheran for murder.
Our beloved government knew that this is how they would act, so how appalling that this dreadful man should be released from prison in the first place and he is now going to leech off the British taxpayer for the rest of his natural life - if that were in prison - I think I could live with the costs.

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1074589/Terrorist-survived-SAS-storming-Iranian-Embassy-free-days--life-benefits.html

Abe.

‘Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power’

Abraham Lincoln.

Rip off!

The last thing that the consumer needs at this point is to be ripped off by the large oil companies. Oil prices have dropped from a peak of $147 in June to around $86 dollars per barrel yesterday.

At the pump, I was paying almost £1-20 per litre. I am still paying an absurd £1-07.

I know that it takes some six weeks for prices to filter through but it is NOW time that petrol was falling to around 80 pence per litre!

[15/10/08. I am now paying £1-03 per litre and my economic adviser reckons that my 80p target is unreasonable and that it should be adjusted to 90p as this is the best we can possibly hope for.]

Rent dodgers beware,

Don't you just love it? These signs are being erected in Liverpool for reasons rather too obvious to mention.

They are NOT used for those who have fallen on hard times but solely for those who have received government money and who have not passed this on to Sutton Estates; those wanting a free ride, in other words.

Naturally, the ridiculous Human Rights Act will be dusted off or a court order will succeed against this enterprising firm and then I shall get VERY angry!

Letter to the Queen.

MRCP Kingsmere Meadow,
Shawford
Winchester S021 2BL .
29 September .

Your Majesty,
It is the right of the British people to petition their monarch. My first petition to Your Majesty was a letter of the 25th of June. It was answered by Mrs Sonia Bonici, who said, "I should explain to you that there is no question of Her Majesty, as constitutional sovereign, refusing Royal Assent to an Act which has been passed by both Houses of Parliament". I wrote to Your Majesty again on the 11th of August. I have not received a reply to my second letter although it makes a constitutional point of the gravest importance for Your Majesty and the British people and the continuation of the Monarchy itself. In Canada, in 1964, Your Majesty made unequivocally clear what the people expect from their constitutional sovereign - "The role of a Constitutional Monarch is to personify the democratic state, to legitimate authority, to assure the legality of its measures and to guarantee the execution of its popular will." Parliament may try to persuade Your Majesty to obey it, but Your Majesty has pledged to defend the laws and customs of the people and Your Majesty’s constitutional writ extends to protecting your people from a tyrannical Parliament and from any unjust statute that Parliament may pass. What would Your Majesty’s father, our dearly beloved George VI, have done if he had been told by Parliament to give away Britain’s freedom and sovereignty to Hitler? Would he, could he possibly have agreed to do Parliament’s bidding? The answer, again, was made by Your Majesty - "I shall work as my father did throughout his reign to uphold Constitutional government and to uphold the happiness and prosperity of my peoples". In giving your Royal Assent to the Lisbon Treaty, Your Majesty has ignored the wishes of your people, which were also ignored by Parliament. Tyrannical is a realistic description of Parliament, which promised the people a vote on the EU’s Lisbon Treaty and then broke its promise. Negligent is an honest description of many MPs who admitted that they had never read the Lisbon Treaty. Foreign leaders are agreed that the Lisbon Treaty is the same as the EU constitution. Parliament is forcing the British people to accept this unwanted political settlement, which is sweeping away their long-treasured liberties, laws and customs, which have stood them in such good stead for hundreds of years. Our Declaration of Right and Bill of Rights plainly state "That no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm". Giving any foreign body authority over the British people is unconstitutional. Britain’s Constitutional government includes a sovereign, a parliament and a judiciary. Are we to believe that Parliament’s overweening domination has reduced the champion of the people, Your Majesty, to a cipher, who cannot speak for us or defend our liberties and whose Royal Assent means nothing because it can never be denied? Perish the thought. It was and is still Your Majesty’s responsibility as our constitutional monarch to refuse Parliament your Royal Assent when Parliament passes unconstitutional statutes.

Yours sincerely,

David F. Abbott.

Copies to: HRH The Prince of Wales HRH, The Princess Royal HRH, Prince William HRH, Prince Henry.

Not a copout at all!

'For centuries, writers have attempted to predict the future of the human race.
Some have argued that we are destined to evolve into super-beings, others that we are turning into dim-witted goblins incapable of anything more demanding than watching TV.
But according to a leading geneticist, both visions are wrong because human evolution has ground to a halt.

From ape to modern man: A leading geneticist told a lecture human evolution has ground to a halt.

Professor Steve Jones, of University College London, says the forces driving evolution - such as natural selection and genetic mutation - no longer play an important role in our lives.
The people living one million years from now, should Man survive, will resemble modern-day humans. '
Permit me to paraphrase: "We have run out of proofs for evolving humans et al, so we are now going to have to claim instead, that the human evolutionary process which has been going on inexorably for countless millions of years, has suddenly and arbitrarily stopped when we look for ongoing evidence!"

What really gets me is that any rational human being can ever take these jokers seriously. If it weren't all so very serious, it would be laugh-a-minute stuff.





LINK:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1070671/Evolution-stops-Future-Man-look-says-scientist.html

WHERE DID OBAMA’S MONEY COME FROM???????

I apologise for the length of this important piece which I publish without comment:

Subject: New York Times Editorial By MAUREEN DOWD. Published: June 29, 2008.

OBAMA’S TROUBLING INTERNET FUND RAISING

.

Certainly the most interesting and potentially devastating phone call I have received during this election cycle came this week from one of the Obama’s campaign internet geeks. These are the staffers who devised Obama’s internet fund raising campaign which raised in the neighborhood of $200 million so far. That is more then twice the total funds raised by any candidate in history – and this was all from the internet campaign.What I learned from this insider was shocking but I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that when it comes to fund raising there simply are no rules that can’t be broken and no ethics that prevail.
Obama’s internet campaign started out innocently enough with basic e-mail networking , lists saved from previous party campaigns and from supporters who visited any of the Obama campaign web sites.
Small contributions came in from these sources and the internet campaign staff were more than pleased by the results.Then, about two months into the campaign the daily contribution intake multiplied. Where was it coming from? One of the web site security monitors began to notice the bulk of the contributions were clearly coming in from overseas internet service providers and at the rate and frequency of transmission it was clear these donations were “programmed” by a very sophisticated user.While the security people were not able to track most of the sources due to firewalls and other blocking devices put on these contributions they were able to collate the number of contributions that were coming in seemingly from individuals but the funds were from only a few credit card accounts and bank electronic funds transfers. The internet service providers (ISP) they were able to trace were from Saudi Arabia , Iran , and other Middle Eastern countries. One of the banks used for fund transfers was also located in Saudi Arabia . Another concentrated group of donations was traced to a Chinese ISP with a similar pattern of limited credit card charges.It became clear that these donations were very likely coming from sources other than American voters. This was discussed at length within the campaign and the decision was made that none of these donations violated campaign financing laws. It was also decided that it was not the responsibility of the campaign to audit these millions of contributions as to the actual source (specific credit card number or bank transfer account numbers) to insure that none of these internet contributors exceeded the legal maximum donation on a cumulative basis of many small donations. They also found the record keeping was not complete enough to do it anyway.This is a shocking revelation.We have been concerned about the legality of “bundling” contributions after the recent exposure of illegal bundlers but now it appears we may have an even greater problem.I guess we should have been somewhat suspicious when the numbers started to come out. We were told (no proof offered) that the Obama internet contributions were from $10.00 to $25.00 or so. If the $200,000,000 is right, and the average contribution was $15.00, that would mean over 13 million individuals made contributions? That would also be 13 million contributions would need to be processed. How did all that happen?I believe the Obama campaign’s internet fund raising needs a serious, in depth investigation and audit. It also appears the whole question of internet fund raising needs investigation by the legislature and perhaps new laws to insure it complies not only with the letter of these laws but the spirit as well.

Heartfelt advice to Brown - without barbs.

The saying appears in both Shakespeare and Chaucer: "He who sups with the devil should use a long spoon."

In view of George Osborne reporting that Mandelson's comments about Brown to him several weeks ago were 'pure poison' we must assume that Gordon is operating to another pithy saying: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
Seriously Gord', I do not like you and have no respect for you whatsoever but I do feel that this mistake is a biggie so I shall proffer honest advice as I would to a friend.
Get rid - as Blair kept having to do!

Hmm. I wonder why Mr Osborne was dining with this gentleman?


LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1069051/Mandy-dripped-pure-poison-Brown-Shadow-Chancellor-just-weeks-shock-return-Cabinet.html

Wanna know about the 'new' tories?

Wanna know about the 'new' tories? Then read this LINK from Peter Hitchens and you will.

There really is no point whatsoever in voting tory to rid ourselves of New Labour.

Cameron's lot ARE New Labour merely with different personnel. Don't rejoice if and when they take power or you will become extremely disappointed.

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1068205/PETER-HITCHENS-Full-fake-Tories-political-grasp-Teletubby.html

A good bad example.

I am always mightily encouraged in my Christian life by King David. Here was a tremendous man of God with some extremely bad habits, up to and including adultery and the murder of Uriah the Hittite!

So often so close to God - so often falling victim to temptations.

I perhaps should not do it but I always manage to say to myself that although I do things I know are wrong, at least I am not as bad as him! The point is rather better made in pointing out how much God still loved David.

The secret to making life considerably easier for oneself as a Christian is perhaps found in being consistent in your walk with God, I believe. It is not easy and not something I am good at as I always tend to blow hot and cold yet the reality of God is unchanging.

In the New Testament, I look at Simon Peter and think, 'If God can do so much with material as unpromising as that, then I should not be too much of a problem for God.'

It is an unworthy thought.

Seems sound!

It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve. -

Henry George

Rare scaly cricket found safe after being tempted out of lair with . . . a Cornish pasty.

YOU JUST DON'T GET HEADLINES LIKE THAT ANY MORE!

North or Gore?

It was 1987!
At a lecture the other day they were playing an old news video of Lt.Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan Administration There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning! He was being drilled by a senator;'Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?' Ollie replied, 'Yes, I did, Sir.' The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, 'Isn't that just a little excessive?' 'No, sir,' continued Ollie. 'No? And why not?' the senator asked. 'Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir.' 'Threatened? By whom?' the senator questioned. 'By a terrorist, sir' Ollie answered. 'Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?' 'His name is Osama bin Laden, sir' Ollie replied. At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. Why are you so afraid of this man?' the senator asked. 'Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of', Ollie answered. 'And what do you recommend we do about him?' asked the senator. 'Well, sir, if it was up to me, I would recommend that an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth.' The senator disagreed with this approach, and that was all that was shown of the clip. By the way, that senator was Al Gore!

Voodoo?

Oh dear. I shall be telling our Betterware man for the last 20 years not to call again.

It's not his fault that he is selling voodoo products, I suppose, but this is an abomination.

I shall tell him why and all other Christians can send a message via their local guy by doing the same.

I shall tell him that when this stuff is no longer in the catalogue, he is welcome to return.

LINK:http://www.betterware.co.uk/productdetails.aspx?pid=038826&language=en-GB

Nice one, Boris!

Apparently, Boris Johnson has engineered the resignation of the appalling Ian Blair, the Scotland Yard boss. This is a triumph. Mr Blair [no relation] has featured on this Blog a number of times for his political correctness. There are now sleaze allegations as well.

Bye bye!

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

One more freedom ceded to the EU.

Voltaire wrote; " I may not agree with what you say but I will defend with my life your right to say it." Ironic coming from a Frenchman, I know, but this has long been the principle enshrined in British Law.

Thanks to our acceptance of the wicked EU arrest warrant, that freedom is no more.

In spite of promises that this could not happen it has. Somebody has been arrested on a warrant for a matter which is not even a crime in the UK!

He was arrested at Heathrow whilst merely in transit between the USA and Dubai.

The Mannheim-originating warrant was aimed at the historian Dr Frederick Töben who is regarded as being a 'holocaust denier'.

I hold no brief whatsoever for this rather sad, overweening and misguided individual but I am angry that 'thought crimes' are now 'real crimes' in our brave, new EU state.

No use denying it - this matters!

LINK: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4863800.ece

Gurkhas get justice.

In this appallingly lax nation where immigration is concerned, it is almost beyond all belief that Gurkhas who have completed spells in the British Army have been given lower pensions than other soldiers and have had no rights to settle in the UK.

When you consider the riff raff and scallies who have been allowed to settle here just because we are part of the EU and many more who have pretended to be asylum seekers, the treatment of these tremendous and fiercely loyal people has been a national disgrace. They at least, are actually on our side!

Partly because of the efforts of Joanna Lumley whose father's life was saved by Gurkha soldiers, a court victory has been won to allow them to settle here after all.

In this mad, mad, mad, mad world, how excellent to see justice prevail - even if it is an increasing rarity today!

LINK: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/64109/The-bravest-soldiers-of-all

Cannabis dangers.

"Cannabis is not dangerous" proclaim so many members of the anti-smoking lobby.
Tell that to Patrick Cockburn. See link!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1066335/Drugs-drove-son-insane-War-reporter-Patrick-Cockburn-horror-seeing-cannabis-tip-son-schizophrenia.html

The philosophy of fools.

Ecclesiastes 2: 1] I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2] "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3] I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom.

I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives - WELL, that is not the way!

NIV.

Capitalism v socialism.

Even Edward Heath, traître extraordinaire, showed some understanding when he referred to the 'unacceptable face of capitalism'.

Capitalism has had more than a bit of a battering in recent weeks and perhaps the worst thing about it all is that as we emerge from this current mess, the stranglehold of corporatism, globalisation et al will grow ever stronger as the giant concerns gobble up the not-quite-so-giant and conspiracy theorists will regale us with lurid tales of how all of this latest catastrophe has actually been planned. It is increasingly difficult to gainsay their assertions.

The system has worked dramatically against the consumer and who could possibly deny the presence of massive greed in many quarters? - But for the sake of clarity, do remember that accusations of greed are not easily proved but always made and not so easily countered.

I do not intend to write about the countless failings of socialism in this piece - I have covered those many times over on this Blog - but I do need to point out that capitalism with the rough and unsavoury edges brought under control WORKS.
Socialism does not.

Every now and again ...

Every now and again, a little common sense breaks through and puts into sharp relief the madness which customarily surrounds and envelops us.

"State pupils should not be favoured over those from private schools, the Chancellor of Oxford University insisted yesterday.
Lord Patten accused 'social engineers' of trying to force universities to make up for the failings of comprehensive education."

Wow!

As a former state school pupil, I would have been horrified to have been offered a place at Oxbridge at the expense of somebody better qualified, on the spurious grounds that they had not been educated in the state system.

LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1065124/Oxford-turn-away-bright-pupils-favour-state-schools-says-Lord-Patten.html