Give me fiscal autonomy or give me debt.

Yep, I know I've been quiet of late, weather, family, life etcetera has got in the way. Also, every time I've spotted something approaching half interesting to write about, the ever expanding and fact-tastic Scottish bloggeratti usually get to it by the time I've stopped musing...yep I do have occasions to muse.

Anyhoo, I spotted something yesterday that seems to have been lost in the plethora of St Andrew's day malarky of Scotland Bills, hilarious and terrifying Wikileaks and the ongoing snowpocalypse.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, she of President Bill and the current US Secretary of State, sent Scotland a Happy Saint Andrew's Day card on behalf of the American people. 

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Scotland as you celebrate St. Andrew’s Day on November 30.

Scotland’s unique culture and traditions have long been admired around the world, and the special ties between our two nations date back to the founding of the United States. From Patrick Henry and John Paul Jones to Davy Crockett and Neil Armstrong, trail-blazing Scottish-Americans have helped shape the history of our country in profound ways.

Today, the United States and Scotland continue to share strong ties rooted in our common ancestry, values, and interests. Our people work together on many of the most pressing challenges of our time, and both houses of the United States Congress have Friends of Scotland Caucuses to further promote friendship and cooperation between Scotland and the United States.

I wish the people of Scotland a joyous St. Andrew’s Day celebration and a successful year ahead. We look forward to further deepening our friendship throughout the future.

Now colour me sentimental, but I was really chuffed by that random act of pleasantness. Naturally I'd have been happier if she given us a wee row of kisses at the bottom, however, the sentiment is there and that's enough for me. Given the madness emanating from the Megrahi affair, I found it comforting that the USA could be bothered to extend a friendly hand for shaking. Naturally this err positive story didn't impel the Scottish media to give it much coverage as they were universally writhing in paroxysms of orgiastic delights over the fact that we can now set our own speed and alcohol limits and shock horror oh and ban neds from shooting drug dealers with air rifles. Only STV managed a bit of online presence and covered the story, highlighting the fact that this greeting was delivered by telegram. The site of a young feller wading through the snow to deliver this missive to his Eckness fair cheered me up no end.

It was particularly nice, as some of our blessed Unionist dependence junkies have decided to add the Megrahi effect to the Gary McKinnon extradition bollocks mix and come up with the entirely without-any-foundation claim that McKinnon will be extradited to the USA. This despite the intervention of that one eyed bloke who used to be Prime Minister's intervention, who, fair do's to him, plead for McKinnon to serve any sentence in the UK.

My local MSP Elaine 'Tiny Tears' Murray in  The Herald

was front and centre with her own distinctive brand of caterwauling. “There is no doubt that Kenny MacAskill’s flawed decision to release the Lockerbie bomber damaged our international relationships, but it is important to establish that it did not have an impact on other specific cases.” 

Now that sounds to me like she's calling for an investigation into the Megrahi release which will display concrete examples of how compassionate release equates to 'damaged international relationships. In the words of the Wendy, bring it on. It'd be nice to see Tiny Tears doing something worthwhile for a change, she's been gulping at the public teat in Dumfries since 1999 and has exactly diddly squat to show for all her harpy like shreiking.


Anyhoo back to the 'telegram' from Mrs Clinton. She makes reference to trail-blazing Scottish-American's Patrick Henry, John Paul Jones, Davy Crockett and Neil Armstrong. John Paul Jones and Armstrong are well known for having Dumfries and Galloway backgrounds. I might claim Davy Crockett as a D&G boy, although I can only loosely presume he is connected to Crocketford... Patrick Henry, on the other hand is someone I'm not too aware of, other than his "Give me Liberty or death." speech he's never really registered on my Scottish connection radar. So I was delighted that a wee internet trawl revealed that his father was from Aberdeen and attended the city's Kings College before heading off to Virginia as an, ahem, plantation owner...where young Patrick was born.

There's a fabby wee biography about the chap here I particularly like his role opposing the Stamp Act which revolted against the Westminster Parliament's claim of authority to tax the colonies...sounds familiar!  One of his more famous orations, the Ceasar-Brutus speech, inferred the British king was facing assasination if he continued to quash American liberty, I'm sure things don't have to go that far today, after all we live in a democracy, don't we?

So whose pants are on fire, Westminster or the US government?

Below is the relevant part of Kenny MacAskill's statement on the Prison transfer agreement, covering MacAskill's visit to Megrahi at Greenock prison and his reasons for denying the Libyan Government's request for a Prisoner Transfer, which Blair agreed to in a memo of understanding in 2007 and Westminster ratified last year.

The outstanding question in this part of the whole stramash, is this. Why would the Westminster government deny there had been an agreement with the USA that any person sentenced for this crime would remain in a Scottish prison for the rest of his life and never be transferred to his homeland, particularly when the USA are so adamant that it had been agreed?

Prior to ratification of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, it was scrutinised by the Westminster Joint Committee on Human Rights, to which Jack Straw, UK Secretary of State for Justice, gave a commitment that in cases where applications were not submitted personally by the prisoner, the prisoner must be given the opportunity to make representations. Mr Al-Megrahi had the opportunity to make representations, and he chose to do so in person. Therefore I was duty bound to receive his representations. I accordingly met him. It was clear that both the United States Government and the American families objected to a prisoner transfer. They did so on the basis of agreements they said had been made, prior to trial, regarding the place of imprisonment of anyone convicted.

The United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, was in fact deputy Attorney General to Janet Reno at the time of the pre-trial negotiations. He was adamant that assurances had been given to the United States Government that any person convicted would serve his sentence in Scotland. Many of the American families spoke of the comfort that they placed upon these assurances over the past ten years. That clear understanding was reiterated to me, by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I sought the views of the United Kingdom Government. I offered them the right to make representations or provide information. They declined to do so. They simply informed me that they saw no legal barrier to transfer and that they gave no assurances to the US Government at the time. They have declined to offer a full explanation as to what was discussed during this time, or to provide any information to substantiate their view. I find that highly regrettable. I therefore do not know what the exact nature of those discussions was, nor what may have been agreed between Governments.

However, I am certain of the clear understanding of the American families and the American Government. Therefore it appears to me that the American families and Government either had an expectation, or were led to believe, that there would be no prisoner transfer and the sentence would be served in Scotland. It is for that reason that the Libyan Government's application for prisoner transfer for Abdelbasit Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi I accordingly reject.


Why are there no written records of the 'agreements' that took place between the UK and US governments?

---------1988----------

Lockerbie supposedly predates the 'war on terror' by 13 years. 1988 was in many ways 'Year Ground Zero' for a lot of the shit we see around us now. A brief glimpse at the year is rather eye opening to what's going on with the world today.

January 1988 the Cold war was all but over as Gorbachev introduced pererstroika to the USSR.

February saw the US House of Representatives deny Reagan millions for his support of the Contras in Nicaragua

March was busy. Bush senior wins the Republican nomination for president. Ollie North and John Poindexter are indicted over the Iran Conta affair. Israel sentences Mordecai Vanuana to 18 years for spilling the beans on their nuclear programme to the Sunday Times

April saw the Israelis assassinate the PLO's Abu Jihad in Tunisia. The USS Sam Roberts struck a mine in the Persian Gulf and retaliated by blowing up several Iranian oil platforms and ships.

May. The Soviet Red Army withdraws from Afghanistan after eight yearsand 13,836 dead Soviet soldiers, an average of 1,537 men a year. The Soviets also lost 118 aircraft, 333 helicopters, 147 tanks, 1500 armoured vehicles, 450 artillery guns, 1200 radio sets, 510 engineering vehicles and 11,369 trucks and petrol tankers...

June was quiet Mandela turned 70 and MTV asked if he'd be appearing at his birthday party at Wembley.

July Iran Air flight 655 is shot down by a missile launched from the USS Vincennes. Two days later Piper Alpha explodes killing 1657 men

August President Haq of Pakistan killed in a plane crash, twelve days after Allam Arif Hussain Hussaini, leader of Pakistan's Shia Muslims is killed. On the 20th the Iran-Iraq war ends, one million dead over eight years. The world hails this as a chance for peace in the middle East.

September Seoul Olympics spoiled by Ben Johnson's eye bulging steroid abusing 100m fraud.

October BBC bans interviews with IRA, htey give them voice overs done by Shakespearian actors...

November An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed. Benazir Bhutto elected Prime minister of Pakistan. Super Mario 3 introduced in time for Christmas.

December. 32 die in Clapham junction rail disaster. Bangladesh cyclone leave five million homeless and thousands dead.

5th December a man with an Arabic accent telephones the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki and warns them that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the USA will be blown up within the next two weeks by someone associated with the Abu Nidal Organisation

The anonymous warning was taken seriously by the U.S. government. They cabled the bulletin to dozens of embassies. They sent it to all U.S. carriers, including Pan Am, which had charged each of the passengers a $5 security surcharge, promising a "program that will screen passengers, employees, airport facilities, baggage and aircraft with unrelenting thoroughness" (The Independent, 29 March 1990); the security team in Frankfurt found the warning hidden under a pile of papers on a desk the day after the bombing.

On 13 December, the warning was posted on bulletin boards in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and eventually distributed to the entire American community there, including journalists and businessmen. As a result, a number of people allegedly booked on carriers other than Pan Am, leaving empty seats on PA103 that were later sold cheaply in bucket shops.

21st December Clipper Maid of the Seas blows up over Lockerbie. John Peel reports just before Radio One closes down for the night, that a plane has crashed on the motorway in the south of Scotland.