us politics

Finally. Finally, after so many wasted years when it seemed that the US was trying its best to alienate the islamic world and help Al Qaeda recruit more potential martyrs, a President talks sense.

“We cannot paint with a broad brush a faith as a consequence of the violence that is done in that faith’s name. I cannot respect terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians and we will hunt them down. But to the broader Muslim world what we are going to be offering is a hand of friendship.”

An apology for our 2001-2008 interruption in service

Dear World:

We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

There seems to be an outbreak of delusional thinking including the Bush family: George Bush Snr wants Jeb for President

You may scream now.

Delusion of the week:

GIZZI: What was the biggest mistake made in the ’08 campaign?

But if I would have been in charge, I would have wanted to speak to more reporters because that’s how you get your message out to the electorate.

Hopefully the next time she runs, she'll give more interviews and add, significantly, to the gaiety of the nation.

 After Mad Mel Phillips, we've found yet another McCain supporter - Legendary batshit net-loon, supporter of the Nazi apologist Nicholas Kollerstrom and thrice convicted stalker Felicity Jane Lowde!

She thinks Obama is the Antichrist...

Typical of her record, last time she popped over here she said Blairwatch were Nazi agents of Mossad.

In common with the rest of the civilised world, Blairwatch is hoping to see President Obama in the coming days. Not that we expect much from him, he'll be another centrist, nor will he be able to carry out a radical agenda with the very pressing problems he's got ahead of him.

However, it will be a pleasant change to have a president who is fluent in English.

Most Obama supporters know little of his policies and are atracted by his message of hope, of trying to be a better people, a better nation. The best example of this is his speech addressing the issue of the Rev Wright, described by the Daily' Show's Jon Stewart as "And so, at 11 o'clock AM on a Tuesday, a prominent politician spoke to Americans about race as though they were adults." Indeed. Read and watch the speech here.

Against this, we have John McCain's descent into the gutter.

It is, as our friends over the pond say, a no brainer. This election is, if you pardon the terminology, black and white. Hope vs Fear.

If McCain wins, then God help all of us.

Speaking at an event organised by a French speakers association, Forum 311, David Rennie, the Economist's Europe Correspondent explained the newspapers recent endorsement of the Democrat candidate.

“Dont' imagine that people in America care what Europeans think about this election”, he warned, “Don't imagine that America is fundamentally changing. It remains an extremely conservative country, completely different to anywhere else.. If we hadn't had Iraq and the current economic crisis, if John McCain was younger Obama could be struggling”.

Pointing out that President Bush's personal ratings are lower than Nixon's on the day he resigned, “He's now down there with mass murderers and Hitler, so the fact that a 72 year old grumpy man from the same party is polling in the high 40's is a sign that this is not a very different America”.

“The Economist backed McCain in 2000 over Bush and has a long appreciation of his free trade stance, his resistance to protectionism and his campaigns against pork barrels and some brave stands against corruption”.

Their endorsement would normally have gone to Senator McCain, on his record as a Senator but for what Rennie calls “The almost Shakesperian tragedy of the election where, for the last six months, Senator McCain has been replaced, almost like the invasion of the body snatchers, by someone who has reversed his most impressive positions.” One of which is on the religious right, once described by McCain as “agents of intolerance” and now has chosen Sarah Palin.

McCain's response to the current economic crisis also counted heavily against him, described by Rennie as “Panicky, ill advised, ill considered, essentially very slow and he doesn't make sense, he looks like a man who is being overtaken by events”.

By contrast, Obama has excellent advisors and looks to been calm and assured and the Economist feels he would be a better president “in these terrible times”, but he warns that an Obama victory is not a done deal.

However, it's time for a reality check, “Senator Obama is not Martin Luther King, Obama is not Bobby Kennedy. He is not an idealistic romantic dreamer. Barack Obama is an extremely effective, extremely charismatic machine politician. He came through the Chicago political machine, one of the dirtiest, most corrupt, most nepotistic political machines. He never fell out with the machine, he never challenged the corruption; he does what it takes to get by.”

Highly placed sources in the Obama camp had intimated that an early trip to Brussels was probable, seeing fixing relations with Europe to be a priority and vital for other strategic goals, such as relations with Russia, NATO enlargement etc.

The President's in-tray will have one important issue that few will have heard of, the matter of providing new Air Force Tankers a contract worth $40 Billion, originally the contract was awarded to Boeing in a process Rennie describes as “basically corrupt” and McCain protested, eventually seeing Boeing executives imprisoned. Since then, the contract underwent a fairer process and a European firm, EADS, won the bid to supply 179 tankers, based on the Airbus.

Congress managed to raise protectionism and the enfeebled Bush presidency passed the buck, leaving the issue at the top of the new president's in-tray. Will the new president choose the better bid or an American firm? This will be a key decision for America and Europe..

How will Europe's ambition to be a global player be affected by an Obama presidency? Rennie feels Obama will call Europe's bluff. He imagines a meeting with Chancellor Merkel where he will ask for 25,000 troops for Afghanistan with no caveats such as not allowing Belgian troops out of Bagram or German soldiers not being allowed to patrol at night or in the South. He will also ask for tough economic sanctions on Iran and dismantling of the CAP. All politically unacceptable to the EU at the moment.

A very uncomfortable moment as Europe wants to have a loud voice in the world, to be taken seriously, but cannot decide what it wants to say. How long does Europe have before the new president decides that Europe is not serious? “About twelve months and then we're going to be back with a president who doesn't think Europe is serious.”.

“On balance, If we're not going to be as crap as we usually are, then Obama is definitely the president we should elect.”

The Economist's David Rennie explained how the endorsement came about. Every Monday there would be a debate amongst the management team, with people selected to represent both parties. After several sessions the senior managers came to a decision.

Speaking at a debate on the US election, hosted by the 311 forum at Brussels' think tank, The Centre Rennie elaborated on the thinking behind the decision and also discussed some of the issues awating the new president and how his first European visit is going to cause problems... for the Europeans.

Following him, Gerald Loftus, Democrat Abroad Belgium gave insights into the campaign and the issues surrounding it and what's Obama going to do in office.

Listen to the debate:

David Rennie (mp3 6.35MB 13:52)

Gerald Loftus (mp3 5.91MB 12:55)

You should enjoy Gerald's aptly named blog: The Avuncular American

Who else but Mad Mel Phillips...

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1 v27

The problem is that man makes God in his own image.

Nowhere is this more apparant than in the US evangelical churches. For many of them, their religion is only there to validate their way of life, their views, their prejudices. Their belief is quite simple:

We're rich. This is proof that we're blessed by God. If we're blessed by God then we must be right. If we're right, then you are wrong.

This means that their theology has to be quite contorted at times, which is one reason that they spend so much time on creationism, homosexuality etc and less on such pesky verses like;

Luke 12:15 — “Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ ”

Mark 10:21 — “Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ ”

When was the last time you heard a fundamentalist preach on this verse:

Luke 3:11 - "He who has two coats let him share with him who has none."

As the fundamentalists build their own larger churches and a self-enclosed society they just become more inward looking and further and further away from the teachings they profess to follow. Indeed their belief that the almighty is like them, only more so is positively blasphemous.

God Bless America, they chant over and over again. Shouldn't that be God Bless Everyone? Of course not, they've decided that they alone are God's chosen people - sorry Hebrews, but you've been replaced - and only they are fit to receive the holy thumbs up.

The Republican right has managed to tie in these voters to bring them electoral success, but is all this about to change? Palin has been playing up to the religious right, including their Godly racism and divine hatred of people who are different. Remember, God is like them so anything different is sinful and satanic.

In truth, whatever God may be, I can't see him being like them; ignorant, narcissistic and just plain wrong.

Seven years ago, I watched Anne Widdecombe give her notorious, and final, speech to the Conservative Party Conference. Hitting every populist note, she brought the tepid conference to a fervour that verged on a desperate type of hysteria.

As the applause rang out amongst the geriatric activiste the BBC had a long, low tracking shot from the stage to the back of the hall. As it swung through the cheap seats it was spotted by an elderly man wearing that combination of beige and pale blue socks that marks a dedicated Daily Mail reader.

He spotted the camera and turned round, muscles tense, his jugular vein standing proud and with tears in his eyes he shook his fist at the camera and cried "At last! We've got a leader!"

Actually no. The next day the shadow cabinet has a suspiciously orderly series of leaks and off the cuff remarks that sank dear old Doris Karloff's ambitions.

What's this got to do with anything? Well it struck me that Sarah Palin is really Widdecombe-lite. She can stiffen the sinews of the real hardcore but just fails completely in a wider political arena. Her political 'philosophy' is to support anything that would give Charlton Heston an erection.

When she was picked, I said that this was the day McCain lost the election and it seems like it was. Mainstream Republicans and Conservatives have come out for Obama and all of them have cited Palin as a reason for ditching the GOP faster than McCain ditched his plane.

for good reasom. We now hear that McCain wanted the less divisive figure of Lieberman. What serious Presidential candidate doesn't pick their number two? So it seems that the shadowy neo-cons are just hiding behind the curtains and calling McCain's shots. No wonder his campaign is in tailspin.

The aspirant VP has been kept away from the press, apart from a few lackeys as even the simplest appearance ends in embarrassment. Now this hocky mom turns pout to have a compulsive spending disorder that would have Cleopatra envious.

At least they will win the American vote. They'll lose the election, but as they now define America as the more inbred parts of the rural South and an auto-repair shop in Denver, they will win big in Real America.

 And so, Palin is finally allowed to answer questions from a tame interviewer and we get to see why she's being kept in a box. In short, she makes Dan Quayle look like a statesman and she has an arrogance fromed from ignorance.

As for qualifications, I've met more Heads of State than she has, and I've travelled abroad more than once.

But how dangerously mad is she?

And it gets worse.

 The McCain campaign has decreed that Palin won't do any interviews, only scripted speeches. Hardly shows faith in her and is it right that a potential VP not give interviews or answer questions?

Alaskan Airways are entering a boom period as a swarm of lawyers and journalists head north to sniff the air around the Palins. Certainly enough has come out that backs up my thoughts that she will break the campaign, indeed there are hints that all is not well in the GOP.

I'm not going to comment about her daughters' pregnancy apart from saying that, according to studies abstinance-only sex education just doesn't work and now Palin has an example in her own family. Will Palin still advocate this failed policy and abuse anyone who wants a less dogma driven education? Of course she will. Choosing a wrong course and sticking to it regardless is a hallmark of the true Conservative.

But McCain needed a true Conservative. His choice was Lieberman but that wasn't going down well with Conservatives because of his pro-abortion stance. Palin ticked all the boxes and, it appears, her vetting was as minimal as it was speedy.

There are numerous scandals and the more they dig, the more they will find.

I would expect that many better qualified women in the Republican party will be feeling miffed at being passed over and there are murmerings of discontent. The McCain campaign has come out swinging at just about everyone for asking impertinent questions about his VP pick, claiming they're the victim of a smear campaign. Yes, the people who brought you swiftboating are whining when the focus is turned on them.

Choosing Palin will be the undoing of the McCain campaign, it was done quickly and without the proper thoroughness or consideration. As such, it is a damning indictment of McCain's poor judgement, a choice that is coming undone after some Northern Exposure.

So McCain goes for Palin (no, not Michael). It's clear that he was looking for someone young - and few are older than him - and to try to get the unhappy Hillary supporters. I don't think it will work. 

There are some problems with this pick as it damages the charges McCain has thrown at Obama:

1. Won't appeal to Clinton supporters. Palin is anti-abortion, pro-oil, pro-guns.

2. Lack of experience. Palin has none. She has been Governor of Alaska, a state with a smaller population that Obama's state senate district in Illinois. Two years ago she was Mayor of a town with 8,400 inhabitants.

3. Lightweight celebrity. This VP is only known by an article entitled "America's Hottest Governor". A Former beauty queen.

She is also one heartbeat away from the Presidency. A heartbeat belonging to a 72 year old guy.