Terrorist Beware

From the Daily Mash, it's worth a laugh:

TWO men who drove a lit car into the main concourse at Glasgow Airport are to be charged under Scotland's tough anti-smoking laws.

The attackers were caught on CCTV as they lit-up a four litre Jeep Cherokee and then allowed it to burn in an enclosed public place.

Eyewitness Janice Bramble, 34, from Girvan, said: "Not only was the car emitting smoke but one of the men lit-up a petrol bomb right in front of me.

"It's incredibly rude. Why I should have to go home with my clothes stinking of petrol bombs?"

Via Andrew Stuttaford.

Notables

Hollywood forces neonatal TV watchers to view a gazillion trillion images of people smoking every minute, or something.

The Cassette, R.I.P. (Who knew it was still alive?)

More than 1 in 8 business failures in Scotland this fiscal quarter can be traced to the country's smoking ban.

Japanese designers are reacting to the country's women, who today have wider hips, larger breasts, and smaller waistlines than those of their moms.

As he'd promised to do when appointed, New Jersey public advocate Ron Chen is fighting eminent domain abuse in the state.

Happy Birthday, Scottish Smoking Ban!

Faeceitiously noted. (Faecetiously = Faeces + Facetiously).

SCOTLAND's smoking ban has been hailed as the most important development in public health for a generation, as research predicts up to 22,000 people will kick the habit in the next year.

As the country today marks the first anniversary of the ban, figures from NHS Health Scotland show that, of the country's 1.1 million smokers, thousands will quit as a direct result of the ban, and the lives of more than 400 non-smokers will be saved every year from the deadly effects of passive smoking.

NHS Scotland estimates that, among non-smokers, there will be 219 fewer deaths from lung cancer and coronary heart disease as well as 187 fewer deaths from respiratory disease and strokes.

Many people appear to have used the ban as an incentive to quit, with Smokeline receiving almost 27,000 calls between January and the end of March 2006. More than 51,000 calls have been made to Smokeline since October 2005.

Sally Haw, the principal public health adviser for NHS Health Scotland, [said...,] "It will have had the greatest impact on public health in Scotland for a generation. There is an increase in the number of people who quit and a reduction of tobacco consumption. This will reduce deaths from lung cancer, heart disease and respiratory illness."

[Ellipsis]

In France, anti-smoking legislation introduced in the 1990s saw tobacco consumption down by a third.

Sir Richard Peto, of Oxford University, who studies tobacco's impact on populations and predicts trends, said:

"The effects can take five to ten years to work through. Everyone laughed when the French introduced restrictions on smoking, but lung cancer rates started to drop."

Really? A report touted by an anti-smoking organization in 2003 warned that

female deaths from lung cancer [are] set to rocket in coming years, a [French government] study showed this week.

Landing amid a government crackdown on the quintessentially French habit, the study by national health watchdog INVS predicted that 12,000 women will die from lung cancer each year from 2015, six times as many as in 1980.

Already between 1980 and 2000 the number of female deaths from lung cancer more than doubled, while male deaths from the disease -- a bigger killer in France than any other cancer -- increased by just under 50 percent.

More on Scotland's demise here.

My Rod is a Carrot, For Reel

The carrot isn't just one part of a salad, a horrifying comedian, or a containment strategy anymore.

The humble carrot is set to be used in ways never imagined before, thanks to a discovery by two Scottish scientists who have found a way to convert the vegetable into an advanced material to make products from fishing rods to warships. [Emphasis added.]

The development is the brain-child of Dr David Hepworth and Dr Eric Whale, who have created the material, named Curran, at their company CelluComp in Burntisland, Fife. Their first product - a rod for fly fishing - goes on sale next month.

But they are not stopping there. The pair now plan to move on to make snowboards and car parts and say the material could also be used to make engineering components and even battleships.

[Ellipsis]

At the moment, the company can make materials which are around 80 per cent carrot, with carbon fibre making up the remainder.

The new "Just Cast" rods are around 50 per cent carrot - each made with around 2kg of the vegetables.

But it is hoped that as the technique is developed, they will eventually be able to make products which are made from 100 per cent biological matter - carrots and other plants.

More here from The Scotsman, and here from the Beeb.

Scotland Bans Snipping Puppy Dogs' Tails (No Mention of Snails)

Scotland's environment and rural development department is implementing

a ban on the docking of dogs' tails, complete with the threat of a £5,000 fine and six months in jail for anyone found guilty of the offence.

[Ellipsis]

Police and local authority inspectors will use a range of powers under animal heath (sic) and welfare acts to enforce the law. It will also be illegal to transport breeding bitches to another country, including England, Ireland or Wales, where docking is still legal, with the intention of having puppies' tails removed.

Bitches, man. If docking -- the practice of snipping a newborn puppy's tail to prevent injury later in life -- is inhumane, then I suppose so also are spaying and neutering, and human male circumcision. Where are the fines and gaol times for those terrible offences?

More here from The Scotsman. Text of the regulation here.

Manbearpig Invades Scotland

Every school in Scotland will get a copy of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth -- not so much groundbreaking as it is groundmassaging or groundfondling -- under a plan hatched by the countrylet's government. The move coincides with a Gore visit.

One student who recently saw the movie is already making a change that illustrates the great impact Gore's movie can have on the lives of young people.

Annabelle Njenga, 16, a fifth-year pupil at Bellahouston Academy, said she had seen the film on Monday and was already thinking of changes to her lifestyle.

"I didn't think climate change was that big, but I think I'm going to throw away my mobile phone," she said.

Um, OK. If just 10,000 Scottish students throw their mobile phones in the rubbish, the earth will... the earth... um... uh...

The Gorophiles might be onto something, though. I mean, even though I've been to Loch Ness, for example, I'd never really believed in the monster. That all changed once I saw the inconvenient truth of auto ads. Now I firmly believe that certain pickup trucks are both indestructible and indigestible.

Posters to Stop Domestic Violence

From the BBC

Posters carrying harsh insults are to appear on billboards across Scotland to highlight the "devastating and controlling" impact of domestic abuse. Messages including "You're useless", "You look a state" and "You're a waste of space" will be seen in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

The week-long campaign will end with a warning that too many women face psychological abuse every day.

It aims to drive home the effects of persistent emotional abuse.

Messages soon to follow include: "You're a cunt", "Would you like a matching black eye?", "My meatloaf is cold, bitch", and my favorite, "You're so ugly that you could stop a clock." Long, but it really drives the point home.

Full insanity here.

Globe Trekker: Langoustine Adventure

A little lobster-like creature will now be caught in Scotland, shipped to Thailand, where it's processed, and then shipped back to the UK to be sold as scampi.

Why's that a story? Because it's apparently a cautionary tale of "the environmental madness of modern globalisation", rather than just another story about the high cost of doing business in Scotland (or in any well-off country, for that matter).

More here from The Scotsman.

More From Scotland

Outside of watching Trainspotting a couple of times, my knowledge of the heroin problem in Scotland is fairly limited. I know it has been a problem, like much of Western Europe but the scope of it probably escapes me. That being said, why should the taxpayers of Scotland continue to pay for a “drug treatment” program that relies totally on methadone and works in a mere 3% of cases? This is according to a study that came out of Scotland a few days ago that reported methadone treatment fails in 97% of the heroin addiction cases that it is used to treat. The old-fashion “I want to quit, so I’ll just stop doing whatever destructive thing it is I’m doing”, or as they put it, cold turkey in a rehab center works 27% of the time. I am skeptical of the numbers, but even if they are tilted to one bias or another it still doesn’t change my opinion that treatment--like the incarceration of drug users--shouldn’t be subsidized by taxpayers. Sure, I would rather my money be spent on treatment than jailing or court costs, I just don’t believe that it has to be one or the other.

Full article from the Scotsman, here.

Latest From Scotland: Fizzy Wine Under Attack

The Scottish government is incensed that a fizzy wine produced by monks provides "too much alcohol per volume at too cheap a price". Buckfast tonic wine

has many nicknames, most commonly "Buckie". It is also known as "Brown Sauce", "Broon wine", "bottle of fight the world", "bottle of beat the wife", "liquid speed" and "Scranjuice". Lanarkshire alone is believed to account for up to 7 per cent of worldwide sales of Buckfast, which has been produced in Devon from a monastic recipe since the 1880s.

How nefarious is Buckfast? Not very. A bottle of sweet fizz boasts only a 15% alcohol content, and will set you back about 6 quid. That makes it quite comparable to... the cost and alcohol content you'll find in a bottle of any other wine.

Buckfast representative Jim Wilson, who met with Scotland's health minister, pointed out that Buckfast comprises "less than 0.5 per cent of the total alcohol market" in Scotland. Then he launched this zinger:

"I said to [the health minister,] 'go down to your local accident and emergency unit and you will find out that these figures are correct and there are all these other alcoholic drinks around'."

More egregious nanny-state on parade here at the beloved Scotsman. Buckfast site here.

Belfast Brain Drain Spawns Best. Acronym. Ever.

Belfast's best young loyalist minds are skipping town for better jobs in the British Isles.

The phenomenon is so striking that it has its own acronym - Nipples - signifying: "Northern Ireland Protestant Professionals Living in England and Scotland." The Catholic working class has, meanwhile, become much better plugged in to the education system, though it has not received any huge benefit from any peace dividend. The peace process has produced no high-profile factories, for example.

Read the rest in the Belfast Telegraph if you'd like, though it's a paper I read only for the acronyms.

How to Challenge a Smoking Ban

You do it by smoking.

We posted on Keith Richards's alleged on-stage smoking during a Stones gig in Glasgow earlier this week, presciently under the heading, "Scotland's Smoking Ban v. Keith Richards". Well, it looks like the smoking ban fought Keith Richards, and Richards won.

Claims that he broke the law by puffing on a cigarette while performing at Hampden Park were made to Glasgow City Council, but environmental officers said yesterday the stage at the stadium is not an enclosed public place, as defined in the ban.

I'm sure there are other exceptions. And the only way to find them is to keep on smoking. Any old punter can do it.

The Scotsman has learned that some licensees wait until tourists and other strangers leave their bar before locking the doors and allowing trusted groups of regulars to light up. Some establishments even have a secret supply of ashtrays they bring out for the occasions.

Pro-smoking activists said last night they were not surprised the "smoke-easies", which appeared in Dublin and New York after bans were introduced there, had also been imported to Scotland.

Bonus: Richards, when asked once about his drug use, replied, "I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police." That and other good drug quotes here.

DEA Exhibit Links Drugs/Terror

In the Washington Post today was this article about a traveling DEA exhibit:

A photograph of President Bush waving a flag after the Sept. 11 attacks is juxtaposed against a black-and-white image of an African American mother smoking crack cocaine in bed next to her baby....The 2001 attacks are clearly the centerpiece of the exhibit, with a display of rubble and artifacts from Ground Zero under a banner reading "Traffickers, Terrorists and You."

What the exhibit fails to explain is that the reason drugs in the US are linked in any way to terrorists and a bunch of other bad guys like Escobar is because of US government policies. If drugs were sold legally their use would not be financing the underworld. Jihadists are not harvesting peat in Scotland.

Health Bullies Target Ice-Cream Trucks

Mr. Whippy vans are the U.K. equivalent of Good Humor ice-cream trucks (you can own a Good Humor truck by making an offer to this eBay seller). On yonder side of the Atlantic, the vans have been playing Greensleeves and selling ice cream to generations of British kids for some 60 years. Now health-lobby bullies have decided that ice cream is detrimental to children's health — so the vans must be stopped. In an amendment to the Education and Inspection Bill, local authorities will be given new powers to keep ice-cream vans away from schools.

Meanwhile, a similar gaggle of food fascists have warned bar owners in Scotland that they may be forced to stop serving chips and traditional pub meals. Legislators are considering proposals to force pub owners to have policies to promote "sensible eating." Those who don't comply will risk losing their license.

[double tip o' the hat to Ken Frost's Nanny Knows Best blog]

[crossposted at Nobody's Business]

It's Pie... and Chips

What's not to like, right? (Well, besides that fucking gecko.) Lots, apparently, if you're yet another health fascist in Scotland.

Pub pie and chips next on hit list

Now smokers have been banned from Scotland's pubs and drinkers are being told not to drink outside them - it appears pub pie and chip menus are next on the health hit list.

Plans are afoot to make licensees come up with a healthy eating commitment as part of their licensing conditions.

More here. A competitor kills the gecko here.

Scottish Lasses Aspire to Bare Asses

A recent survey of Scottish teen girls revealed "that 63 per cent would rather be a topless model than a doctor or a nurse, while one in four considered lap-dancing a good profession," according to the Scotsman. Meanwhile, just "3 per cent aspired to be teachers."

I think these numbers sound just about right. Naturally, the state views them as a dreadful problem to be dealt with and is, also quite naturally, blaming all this on "the celebrity culture's influence among teenage girls." To combat the influence of these celebrities, the state has enlisted a whole bunch of... Scottish celebrities.

I'm sure most Scottish teenagers can name dozens of teachers who've influenced their lives. Probably quite negatively, too. Meanwhile, they can probably name nary a topless model or lap dancer, since there are exactly zero celebrities whose main gig involves either of these honourable pursuits. And while the Scot teens certainly can name a bunch of celebrities, enlisting the aid of these very celebrities to counter the influence of these same very celebrities is, well, it's about what we've come to expect from Scotland.

Scotland to Seize Chips from Wee Ones' Lunchboxes Over the Dead Bodies of Angry Libertarian Scots

Scotland is considering a proposal to weigh and measure every 5-year-old in the socialist state to determine "whether or not they are clinically overweight," according to today's Scotsman.

Scotland on Sunday can also reveal that ministers are considering plans to ban junk food in packed lunches, and calling for parents to be instructed on what food to give their children to eat at lunchtimes in school.

Thankfully, some are fighting back.

Richard Gray and Eddie Barnes have an absolutely tremendous op-ed (also in today's Scotsman) that blasts not just Scotland's nanny state but the the government ministers who are its engineers.

These middle-aged men who, like all males in their 40s or early 50s, are facing the inevitable beginnings of physical decline, are suddenly exhibiting the zeal of the convert to healthy living - and they are determined to force the rest of us to see the light. The smoking ban was just the beginning. Welcome to the authoritarian world of Scottish Executive health fascism.

The Gray & Barnes piece is required reading.

A New Meaning for "Doggy Tag"

New Zealand, channeling Scotland, has a silly law which requires that all dogs must have microchips implanted in them. The justification for this silly law, which happens to be the justification for most silly laws, is public safety.

Veterinary Association chief executive Murray Gibb... said that microchipping was a blunt tool to address a big social problem with "poorly socialised and poorly managed" dogs – often owned by people with a similar profile – and there society needed to change its attitude to such owners.

In America, we have our share of silly laws and regulations, such as the hysteria around hot McDonald's coffee that resulted in putting warnings on coffee cup lids that the contents inside are hot. Or the warning printed in huge text on a beachball I keep on hand to kick around my yard that says, "WARNING: USE ONLY UNDER COMPETENT SUPERVISION." Or the movement to require helmets in the playing of soccer.

The libertarian argument against these silly rules is two-fold. First, there is a trade-off between safety and pleasure, and safety cannot trump 100% of the time or we will all be wearing helmets as we walk down the street. Second, statist policies like this undermine the individual freedoms which have brought us a standard of living that people a century ago could not even imagine. As Hayek lamented in 1944,

Progress came to be taken more and more for granted and was no longer recognized as the result of a policy of freedom...Because of the success already achieved, man became increasingly unwilling to tolerate the evils still with him which now appeared both unbearable and unnecessary.

In this spirit, the farm owners in New Zealand are rebelling against the microchip law:

Taranaki Federated Farmers president Bryan Hocken...said farmers might take their dogs to Parliament to protest. "Our dogs will piss on the steps to Parliament and we won't clean anything up," said Mr Hocken, of Tarata in North Taranaki. And if we end up in jail, then we'll take our dogs with us and they'll do their business on the floors there as well."

The Best Thing About Scotland

It's The Scotsman. Hands down. For its courageous, lonely campaign to change the country's misguided ways by continuing to note stuff like this:

Scotland's publicly owned water company is ranked below every one of the 22 privatised water firms south of the Border, according to OFWAT, the body which regulates the industry in England and Wales.

New Scotland motto: We suck, sure, but it must be the water. More here.

Shaving in the Rearview Whilst Sitting in the Carseat

With news that car seats may become mandatory for people up to 4'5" in sad-sack Scotland, it's only a matter of time before drivers there are spotted all harnessed in, covered up by a mandated blanky, drinking from a sippy cup, and gnawing on a state-issued Zweiback.

Under the plans, all children over three and shorter than 4ft 5in - usually reached by the age of ten or 11 - will have to use a booster cushion, child seat or a suitable child restraint while travelling in a car fitted with seat belts.

The word usually is obviously key here. I have a couple of friends who have never made it to 5' and who didn't hit the mid-4's until their mid-teens. This was, coincidentally, not too far off from the time they earned their drivers' licenses. Nevermind that, though. A motor-safety-group's spokesman has this to say:

There will be people who view this an intrusion by the nanny state, but it is right that as much as possible is done to offer children protection.

Scotland's nanny state: Continuing to treat adults as though they were children, and children as though they were wards of the state.

Scotland Even Worse Than Previously Suspected

Nearly one in four working Scots is now employed by the state.

The number of staff employed by the public sector in Scotland has increased by 7,000 in the last year and now stands at 487,000.

[Ellipsis.]

The country's reliance on the public sector for employment is shown by the fact that more than 23 per cent of employed Scots now work for the state.

Tom McCabe, the public services minister, applauded the figures, claiming they showed the Executive's success in recruiting more frontline teachers, nurses and police officers.

This means 10% of Scotland's population, which stands at more than 5 million, is working for the state. Aforementioned "previously suspected" jibes at Scotland here and here.

Forget Scotland, What's Up with London?

Sure we all thought that Scotland was crazy to ban beer bootles in bars, but at least they're not banning cab drivers from wear corduroy like London.

Under a strict code set down by train operator One, cabbies at Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft stations can only wear a collared shirt or blouse, black trousers or skirt and black shoes. Specifically banned are corduroy and denim clothing, as well as trainers (running shoes), flip-flops and other sandals, tracksuits, T-shirts and baseball caps.

Scotland One Large Padded Room for Holding Scots in Straightjackets

As others with Scottish blood echo our Scotland Sucks chant, the city of Edinburgh is now moving to outlaw all glasses from bars.

Colin Campbell, property developer, Regent Terrace: "This is the height of stupidity. Somebody could attack another person using just a pencil. So if you ban glasses, you'd have to ban plates, knives, forks, spoons too. It's silly, silly, silly."

The proposed law would allow beer to be served in either cans or plastic cups. Shots of 30-quid whisky, presumably, might come in a wee styrofoam dram.

More from the increasingly despondent Scotsman here.

I'm Rich, Bitch

is what I will say after Kenneth Ducey buys up some of DC's 2,000 lobbying firms and takes them public. As David Boaz points out, there's a lot of money in DC's lobbying sector. Why shouldn't Joe Sixpack be able to buy some shares in it?

Some say high tech is coming back, or health care is the new growth area. But look at the growth in government.

As resources are pulled from around the country to the capital, Washington is thriving. Real estate prices have risen 89 percent in five years. Three of the four richest counties in America are Washington suburbs. Only two states had faster income growth last year than Washington, D.C.

Most of the federal government's activity involves taking money from some people, giving it to others, and keeping a big chunk here in Washington as a handling fee.
[snip]
The number of registered lobbying firms is up from 1,701 to 2,060 in the past six years. The number of companies with lobbyists is up 58 percent in the same period. And the amount of money officially spent by lobbyists has risen from $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion a year.

So how can you get in on this growth industry? Well, that's the good news.

A venture capitalist named Kenneth P. Ducey Jr. is trying to buy up some of those 2,000 lobbying firms and take them public. That means you could buy stock in a lobbying firm. And the next time you pick up the paper and read about congressmen being flown to Hawaii or Scotland, or free liquor at Capitol Hill receptions, you can know that your investment is hard at work creating a new tariff or entitlement or tax or subsidy for some special interest.

Sure, the taxpayers pay for all that. But you'll be on the inside, profiting from every subsidy and regulation as Washington's parasite economy grows and grows. Every man a king? Not likely. But now every man can be a lobbyist, or at least get a piece of the action.

If It's Not Scottish, It's Crap (Can't Smoke in Your Own Home Edition)

Scotland, birthplace of my late grandmother and one of the most beautiful places I've visited, is also now officially the most backwards, evil and scary countrylet in Europe.

Why? Well, the only segment of society that seems to be growing -- besides the perpetually drunk -- is the crushingly large public sector. And these powerful people have needs that naturally supersede those of everyday punters.

The public are to be told not to smoke in their own homes as part of plans to protect public sector workers from the effect of passive smoking.

The move is the latest part of the Scottish Executive's ban on smoking in public places, which will come into force on 26 March next year.

Ministers have told councils, health boards and social work departments that they should compile a "smokers' map" of Scotland, focusing on those who regularly receive visits from officials and carers. This would identify individual households where a smoker is resident.

The smokers would then be sent letters asking them not to smoke for one hour before a council worker or health worker called round. Public bodies have also been advised to use the smokers' map to ensure that any workers who suffer from breathing problems are kept away from the homes of smokers.

I can't stress enough how creepy, evil, wrong, unjust, fascist and Orwellian this all is. More here.

The Delicious Delights of New Jersey

When I travel to New York City for work I often stay with my friend in New Jersey City. Staying with her has taught me a lot. For instance, I used to think the so-called Garden State was a crappy shit-hole. It turns out it's just a shit-hole. But, there are two exceptions.

The first exception is the pseudo-British-themed bar, Scotland Yard, in Hoboken. It's fairly good on its own, but what makes it really great is this buxom bartender who knows how to pour (ahem) a really stiff drink. She also knows how to pour this particular wheat beer the right way, which involves rolling the bottle back and forth between her hands, tapping the bottom, and slowly pouring the beer into your glass while she succulently bounces her boobs around. There are a few bartenders in the Hoboken-area who attempt this delicate dance, but none can make it come out right like her. I always forget the name of the beer, but it's a wheat beer. Just ask the buxom bartender for the beer that will make her titties bounce 'round and 'round.

The second saving grace of New Jersey is a cute boutique restaurant in Jersey City called Nicco's - not to be confused with TtP bloger, Nikos, who is also cute. Nicco's is a great place to have steak followed by scotch and cigars. I used to be able to order a delicious kangaroo rib-eye there. I always felt naughty (in a good way) about eating it. That is at least until I dated this Australian girl. (Side note: I've been interested in Australian women ever since I read in Cosmo that out of all the women in the world Aussie chicks are the most likely to sleep with you on the first date. But, it turns out that Cosmo didn't poll women specifically enough. Australian women are no more likely than other women to sleep with me on the first date). Anyway, she told me that kangaroos are like rats over there. They're everywhere. So much so they're a public nuisance. It was a stunning blow to learn that instead of eating an endangered species I was eating a fuckin' rat! But, it was still a delicious rat.

Unfortunately, Nicco's no longer carries kangaroo rib-eye. Apparently there was a lack of demand for it, which gets me to the point of this post. On the way to Pentagon City to do some Christmas shopping, I read an interesting tid-bit in the Washington Express. A food magazine's hunt for a new, consumer-friendly name for kangaroo meat has a winner. "Australus" came out on top, beating out suggestions like "kangarly". Surely, calling kangaroo meat "australus" will boost sales in the United States. It's better than calling it "kangaroo rat meat." If anyone knows a good place to get australus in the DC-area, please let me know.

Eat, Drink and Be Researched

Just in time for the holidays... I'm not exactly sure what this specific field might be called -- if indeed it is a field -- but it looks like food and beverage researchers are increasingly focusing a nonjudgmental eye on the remarkable ability of humans to consume massive quantities of food and drink.

In Scotland that's taken the form of study on the effects of hangover. In California it's all about the marvel of competitive eaters.

Mary(land), Queen of Goths

The smell of clove cigarettes and patchouli incense permeated the air as my boyfriend and I walked around the simulated 16th century renaissance village that is the Maryland Renaissance Festival. It was a diverse and amusing social mix of people comprised of Harley-Davidson bikers, very pale teens covered in celtic tattoos and black velvet, as well as families of hardcore renaissance buffs - even babies were dressed as fair maidens or young squires. The coolest part of the festival this past weekend was that it was a special celebration of Scottish tradition complete with kilt-clad men (and one woman!) tossing cabers and couples dancing to the sweet sounds of pipes, drums, and bagpipes. The one woman in the caber toss competition totally ruled! The announcer said she was the first woman ever to enter the Festival's caber toss. She topped off the moment by actually flipping that caber right over. Right on! However to our dismay, the Scottish merriment had no haggis in sight.

The festival was much more interactive than I expected. There were opportunities to try one's skill at archery, axe throwing (my personal favorite), and that slam the hammer and hit the bell thing found at most carnivals. Mainly I simply enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells of the crowd. People who seem to come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and cultures merged to have a good time and share in common interests. In this case, it was the joy of Scotland and the appreciation for the Renaissance.

Contrary to my libertarian ideals, I am more fascinated by the Middle Ages (often mixed up with the Renaissance period, though not the same). That dark and backward period holds some charm for me, for some reason. Maybe my interest in the medieval period all started when I read The Canterbury Tales and the story of King Arthur in high school. I admittedly have even celebrated my birthday in the themed restaurant Medieval Times. Yes, it was as cheesy as it sounds. It was glorious fun, though! Aside from the serfdom, "Black Death", and inhumane torture techniques there is something about that pre-Renaissance period that intrigues me. Actually, come to think of it, those may be some of the main reasons it fascinates me.

Serious New Lockerbie Questions Involve CIA

The bomb that blew up a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, murdering 270 people, was planted by Libyan agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, according to the results of a remarkable trial that concluded in 2001. (al-Megrahi's motion for a re-trial was denied in 2002.) The case against al-Megrahi hinged on a circuit board found months after the crash, miles away from the crash site. Case closed.

After the bombers were found guilty -- by their own admission -- the Bush administration gradually moved to lift longstanding sanctions against Libya.

But now, according to the Scotsman, a former Scottish police chief has charged that the CIA planted the circuit board, the wrong man was convicted, and that the Popular Front for the Liberatin of Palestine, an Iranian-backed group based in Syria, was behind the blast.

The fragment was later identified by the FBI's Thomas Thurman as being part of a sophisticated timer device used to detonate explosives, and manufactured by the Swiss firm Mebo, which supplied it only to Libya and the East German Stasi.

At one time, Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence agent, was such a regular visitor to Mebo that he had his own office in the firm's headquarters.

The fragment of circuit board therefore enabled Libya - and Megrahi - to be placed at the heart of the investigation. However, Thurman was later unmasked as a fraud who had given false evidence in American murder trials, and it emerged that he had little in the way of scientific qualifications.

Then, in 2003, a retired CIA officer gave a statement to Megrahi's lawyers in which he alleged evidence had been planted.

The decision of a former Scottish police chief to back this claim could add enormous weight to what has previously been dismissed as a wild conspiracy theory. It has long been rumoured the fragment was planted to implicate Libya for political reasons.

The first suspects in the case were the Syrian-led Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), a terror group backed by Iranian cash. But the first Gulf War altered diplomatic relations with Middle East nations, and Libya became the pariah state.

Following the trial, legal observers from around the world, including senior United Nations officials, expressed disquiet about the verdict and the conduct of the proceedings at Camp Zeist, Holland. Those doubts were first fuelled when internal documents emerged from the offices of the US Defence Intelligence Agency. Dated 1994, more than two years after the Libyans were identified to the world as the bombers, they still described the PFLP-GC as the Lockerbie bombers.

A source close to Megrahi's defence said: "Britain and the US were telling the world it was Libya, but in their private communications they acknowledged that they knew it was the PFLP-GC.

"The case is starting to unravel largely because when they wrote the script, they never expected to have to act it out. Nobody expected agreement for a trial to be reached, but it was, and in preparing a manufactured case, mistakes were made."

It turns out there's been much speculation throughout the years from reputable sources that the wrong people had been charged, arrested and convicted in the Lockerbie case. More on that here, here and here.

Add to this the fact that the FBI's Thurman has been "discredited" by the agency as an explosives expert, as this report makes clear, and that al-Megrahi is again asking for a re-trial, and we have the makings of a case that could change the fortunes of a Libyan agent but, more important, turn international relations on its head and further damage the credibility of an already reeling CIA and U.S. government.