Half term outtage

I'm offline for a week as life is more hectic with half term. Just as I write this mini-post, I hear screams so it is probably wise to be all attention this week.

Will be back next week!

"Not me Gov!" Brown tells reporter

Gordon Brown is taking two prizes at once. Not that the prize giving is very worthy. His latest wheeze is to tell all reporters and commentators that "everyone knows that this crisis started in America and..." and he goes on to explain how well he and his Chancellor have done in clearing up the mess. That is porky number one. He tries to come across as a genial janitor who has to contend with sorting out the rubbish left after others have been enjoying themselves recklessly.

I mentioned Brown's body language in a previous post. His new habit of engratiating himself with a two-second grin in the middle of a serious discussion fools nobody, I think. We all know he was Chancellor for ten years. Unless he stuffed cotton wool in his ears, he must have heard noises about the level of indebtedness, the peculiar mortgage models being peddled by the likes of Northern Rock, and the obscenely large bonuses paid to rough and ready gamblers. If he didn't, then we must assume he was utterly derelict in his duty to enquire and to lead with honour.

The second prize is for political amnesia. What possessed him to bring back the odious Mandelson beggars belief. Mandelson is a creep with a very dubious disposition. He appears to be a man who can charm and cajole at the same time. Brown was probably convincing himself that Mandelson would save him from doom. As it happens, Mandelson is up to his neck in controversy (nothing new there!) and Brown is ploughing his own furrow through the financial field. So it all begs the question, "Why bring him back anyway?".

Gordon Brown should have have come clean from the start. His FSA, Bank of England and Treasury tripartite arrangement failed to keep abreast of things. By suggesting that he has solved problems as they happened is fanciful. We have a recession on our hands. All he has got now is a loose cannon and a very bad scriptwriter. He must get rid of the loose cannon and replace his "everyone knows" routine with his own words based on...............

HONESTY AND TRUTH!!

Sent to Coventry? They've got feral birds!

Coventry City council is the latest council to display an explemplary jobsworth demeanour. If anyone wants a career in local government then it seems a heady conconcoction of political correctness, liberally mixed with a feeling for red tape and an inability to grasp common sense is high up on the CV requirements.

A woman has been feeding birds in her back garden. MAJOR CRIME! Some "person" reported her to the council. They wrote a stuffy letter talking about her feeding of feral birds and possible court action. Feral birds? Are these really feral? Another example of the Humpty Dumpty world of the local busybody, making words mean what you want them to mean.

I thought of feral council officials, but then none of them could possibly be feral. They are all tamed to the enth degree. Never let out unless on a politically correct leash. No, there are no feral council officials today.

So what are these feral birds then? Did Mrs Coton, the woman in question, have a managerie bigger than Noah's Ark but then let the creatures loose onto the unsuspecting neighbours? I don't think so.

It all goes to show that people in so-called authority these days are showing a paucity of common sense. Perhaps she's been watching Mary Poppins too much? There were feral birds in that film. Oh, and Alfred Hitchcock made good use of feral birds.

Come on Coventry City Council. You've got a jobsworth who needs a bit more training. Has he/she never heard of WILD BIRDS?

Transparency Mr.Bown?

Gordon Brown quite rightly asks for transparency from the banking industry. Nobody really knows how much and of what nature these toxic loans are. Even the bonus bagging bosses are at a loss to remember anything about them.

Now we have Frozen Brain Syndrome which is only alleviated by global warming. Iceland is the country that has given us this problem. Somehow a small country could become a major player in the financial markets. It's all unravelling faster than badly knitted cardigan.

Apparently loads of organisations have money invested in Icelandic "financial vehicles". They are now remembering that they stuffed loads of other peoples money in these too-good-to-be true accounts. The latest outfit to get its memory back is the Audit Commission. It has "admitted" it has £10m tied up in Iceland's troubled banks. How many more are waiting to spill the beans? The Audit Commission is supposed to save money not gamble it on such ventures.

Let's have an Own Up To Icelandic Bank Deposits day. We should know once and for all who has or has not got money stashed away in these accounts. Transparency is what we want. Gordon Brown is right on the nail here. The drip drip of leaked information is not transparency. It is very much the opposite.

Ron Paul on Fox Business News

Just before I turn in for the night, this gem from Ron Paul on how not to solve a credit crisis! More for the moral victory, I think.

Ron Paul to win a moral victory?

It could happen. A moral victory in November! Ron Paul is currently winning over more to his views on the economic distress that we all face. This nice piece from RusUSA.com outlines why Ron Paul succeeds where George Bush is failing.

Amid the financial turmoil, the U.S. President George W. Bush daily delivers his views on the nation’s crippled economy. Those who hope to succeed him in office claim only they know how to get America off its knees. But the one winning the public trust battle is congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul.

And why is he winning the public trust? Amanda Pelletier is one month into her first year at university, she is getting a part-time job to help her parents pay a $45,000 college loan. Social circles and date nights now come second for the 18-year old who sees her professional prospects collapsing.

“I feel like Dr Paul's message is the only one that makes sense,” Amanda says. One wonders what would be the Republican party's fortunes at this time if Dr. Paul was the standard-bearer!

Out with the money changers!

Most of us are familiar with the money changers being summarily thrown out of the temple, as described in the New Testament. This current episode of the goings-on of greedy money changers has only one aspect different. Instead of God's House being defiled, it is our own country that has been defiled. However, the results are not too dissimilar.

The Daily Mail had a good headline today. As I went into my local newsagent this afternoon, it was staring up at me from the rack. It screamed at me about bonuses. We have been forced to hand over £37 billion to bankers who have been inept, injudicious and ill-informed. They, in turn, gobbled up £17 billion in bonuses last year.

Now what sort of business loses money, other peoples money, and still has the affrontery to claim justification for such arrant greed?

Gordon Brown is a man with a large vocabulary in his body language. Recently he has taken to impersonating a toothless man attempting to chew gum when confronted with difficult questions. When asked why these people should not repay their bonuses for the good of the nation he simply took on this new aspect of body talk. Again, when asked if anyone was going to be investigated for possible criminal activity (as in the US), he repeated the impersonation.

If these bankers had an ounce of moral fibre they would hand back SOME of this largesse. However, what we find is the sort of behaviour like that of Sir Fred Goodwin, lately of RBS, pleading well into the early hours for his cup to runneth over even now. Some knight!

In all my disgust at their behaviour, I agreed with someone this morning who said, on the radio, that the banks were not wholly to blame. We as borrowers could have said NO. That is very true. However, whilst personal responsibility is usually limited to within the family, corporate responsibility goes much wider.

By taking in the toxic loans, repackaging them, and flogging them off to the next fall guy in the pack, they have destroyed the financial system as we know it. They may not be crooks as a judge would know them, but they have been judged crooks by the outside world.

Kate Middleton on her mobile whilst mobile!

It is part of modern day culture, I suppose. People doing what they want when they want because they think only of themselves. It would be very surprising if Kate Middleton, who has been caught using her mobile phone whilst driving, didn't find her brain engaging itself with her hands and ears BEFORE she spoke on the phone. The problem was that she chose to ignore that message, because momentarily she was above and, as she hoped, beyond the law.

Every day I see several such people blithely ignoring the demand to desist from using a handheld phone whilst driving. When spotted, they normally react with a mixture of childish arrogance and disdain.

What are we to do with such people?

Mandy makes it it ermine!

Lord Mandelson has arrived, courtesy of the gravy train (no stops allowed!), in the House of Lords. This piece from the BBC shows fellow peers watching the proceedings in stony silence, until the obligatory roar of approval.

We will have to wait and see whether he is able to break the mould. At the despatch box he will have to cut a different cloth. However, the peers are not a herd and their instinct is not always determinable. In that he may be lucky (again!).

Sarah Palin and Princess Diana are cousins!

The Daily Mail has dug up this information. According to genealogists, John McCain’s White House race running mate is a 10th cousin of Princes Harry and William’s late mother Princess Diana.

Who do we think we are? I'm going to look up my 10th cousins (when I know who they are!) and see who they are. What a surprise!

Don't panic! I'm in charge now!

For those familiar with Dad's Army, the British sitcom about the wartime Home Guard, this piece about Corporal Jones attempting to assist is very topical. Maybe his words could be put into President Bush's mouth and we get a view of today's bailout baloney.

The modern banks have a bomb under them alright. It's a toxic loan exocet. We can defuse it, but not with any bonus bagger near the fuse!

We ALL need a good laugh!

I've just heard this on the radio. When Britain is likely to get national distress, the BBC rolls out Charlie Penrose. And why not? We all need a good laugh!

Sarah Palin and the Trooper Truth!

I wasn't very sure about Sarah Palin when she first came on the world scene, and was effectively introduced to all non-Alaskans. I've met American women like her before. All porcelain smooth looks with an electric current running underneath. On meeting, you could get a warm reception or a nasty shock from the experience.

What this so-called "trooper-gate" tells me is that she is definitely a tough cookie. The investion has found she abused her powers as governor. I think she gets muddled up as to whether she is a hockey mom or a Governor of a State in the union. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. She took against her brother-in-law, big time! So she wanted him to "feel the pain". One way was to get him sacked and possibly to sack anybody who wouldn't sack the sacker. Basically, she let her feelings run away with herself.

Now, however much she may want to deny it, this does have a bearing on the election. As Vice-President, would she do something similar? Would she get someone fired because she had a bad day? It goes to show integrity. It goes to show honour. But above all it goes to show character.

I don't care what she does in her own life, who she mixes with. That's not my business. But politicians aim to be in authority, where they can authorise laws. This puts them in the driving seat. As passengers we are allowed to know a bit about the driver.

Another menacing fact is that, once the McCain camp knew of this, they were all over Anchorage like wasps over jam. They were trying to "contain it". But we don't need this kind of political activity. It would have been better to admit what was happening. I'm against all this subterfuge. Mrs.Palin would score better with me if she just admitted that she got hacked off with her ex brother-in-law. We can all get angry, upset or annoyed in life. Covering it all up is many times worse.

Ron Paul's take on the Bush "talk"

This is what Ron Paul thinks of things so far! Still aways to go!

What is an informed investor?

Recently people have been popping up on the TV screens suggesting that those who have lost money (others have gone off with it!) were probably "informed investors", so they should have known. Alistair Darling is one such. He explained to the general public and the House of Commons (those that may not know everything) that the local councils were "informed". Robert Peston, of the BBC, notes this:-

Concerns have been raised by MPs about local councils in England which may have invested in Iceland. Mr Darling replies to the point about local authorities, saying they are a "more informed investor" than ordinary customers of the Icelandic banks but the situation is "evolving".

When a BBC reporter asked about the Kenty County Council's £50 million, the councillor in charge said Moody's had said the Icelandic banks were top notch, so they went ahead with investing. On Moody's site they say:-

Moody's Investors Service is among the world’s most respected and widely utilized sources for credit ratings, research and risk analysis. Moody’s commitment and expertise contribute to stable, transparent and integrated financial markets, protecting the integrity of credit.

This sounds all rather hollow as nobody knows (not even Moodys it seems) what is happening and therefore I would suggest that there are no "informed investors" in the current climate. What is absolutely certain is that there have been a number of bankers who have bought dubious loan accounts at best and at worst been involved in calculated frauds on a massive scale.

We are being told constantly that "the banks don't trust each other". If that is the case, then that is the only valid information that an investor can be informed of. I would like to see two things happen. First, a complete trawl of each and every bank to find out how many and what value these toxic loans are. Second, that the present management either agrees to a set of terms or they make way for those who will clean up the businesses. How on earth will the taxpayers of the United States, United Kingdom and other European countries feel that their £20,000 a head offering will be of any use?

It beggars belief that the present situation can continue WITHOUT the necessary clean-up operation. When the toxins have been removed, we will all be "informed investors"!

Hoon hovers over Stansted and drops a bombshell!

Geoff Hoon only got his feet under the desk as Transport Secretary this week. He now comes up with the idea that expansion is a good thing for Stansted Airport. That remains to be seen, but none of this airport growth is joined up. Each airport is competing with the next for passengers, most of whom will come out of thin air in order to make the numbers game work.

If you added up all the passengers that are supposed to be rushing though UK airports in 2020 you would have around 500 million. Just like all the baloney babble that the banks have been talking about, so the airport industry comes up with the same sort of nonsense.

Birmingham Airport talks of 30 million, Stansted is slightly more conservative at 35 million, and the rest keep piling on the numbers. If it all really did add up we'd be forced onto planes just to make up the passenger totals. A kind of pressganging for airlines!

Common sense? Doesn't it tell you that in the present financial climate, people are going to cut back on air travel (just a bit?)? It's all so crazy. Airlines are going out of business, people are cutting back on holidays, but Geoff Hoon and the airport chiefs are on the yellow-brick road!

The treasurer's gone to Iceland!

On the Today Programme, John Humphrys was gamely trying to get someone to own up to something. I wasn't holding my breath. Not many people these days admit to anything.

A councillor on Kent County Council, who oversees the finance department, was talking merrily about putting a load of cash into Icelandic banks. It was OK he said because only a week ago Moodys and other such pundit organisations said these Icelandic banks were top-notch kosher! The Conservatives reckon that the local councils have around a £billion in Iceland banks. Good place to get your bank accounts frozen!

John Humphrys was incredulous. The councillor kept up his prattle about believing all things. Now it seems common sense has left a lot of people. I have nothing against Iceland, but many have been rather alarmed at how a country of around 250,000 people, who mostly hold down two jobs, can be running up such mega-dollar lending and borrowing programmes.

The councillor had heard apparently of the questions but no bad vibes hit Kent! The old sayings "It's too good to be true!" and "A fool and his money are soon parted" come to play.

Even now, Gordon Brown won't get down to basics. These ferral credit crunchers have crunched us good and proper. They talk as if NOBODY knew a damn thing. It is all so maddening. So............ I'm about to explode!

£500 billion could build 1250 brand-spanking new hospitals. So why don't we get these bonus baggers to put something back. Charity begins at home, so they say, so let the bank bosses start with their pockets before they come picking in ours!

Sunny days

According to the BBC Weather today and Thursday and Friday are going to be sunny in Solihull. THREE SUNNY DAYS IN A ROW!

I feel better already.

John Redwood hits the nail!

John Redwood's got an excellent blog. I'm biased I know, but I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if he had become Prime Minister. Here's a man who knows about banking, knows about bankers and could have been a whole lot different. Oh, well!

He writes some good stuff. "I have been pressing the government for some transparency on the UK’s economic prospects. The totally out of date forecasts the Treasury is using are not helpful. We need to know the government’s latest and best estimate of how bad it will be in 2008 and 2009, so businesses can plan accordingly." and "I have taken the view that it is irresponsible to join in circulating rumours about individual world banks, at a time when there is a desperate need to rebuild confidence."

The only thing I'd ask is that any incoming Conservative government makes sure this frenzied poker-type banking doesn't happen again.

Brown blames everyone but himself!

As I write this our devious Prime Minister is giving his assesment of the credit crisis. "It started in America!", he declares. "There was some hiding of things from the regulators" - "I support reward for risk, but there were some risky decisions" and so the snappy retorts to journalists went on. When asked who was to blame, he flinched for a moment, then continued with the obfuscations. He, of course, is to be seen as the saviour of the moment.

I hope all this works out, I really do. But Brown takes the biscuit. For ten years as Chancellor, he's been giving his old girlfriend Prudence a rough ride. He was so fond of her in opposition. If I were Prudence, I'd be leading a campaign against such abusive behaviour.

Are we to believe that he spent his days in No.11 Downing Street only looking at the door connecting the place to No.10? He must have known what was going on in the banking world. Did Mervyn King not utter one word of caution? The FSA have admitted they were asleep on the job some of the time. It beggars belief that in TEN YEARS a man's ears hear NOTHING!!!

Now we are left with a vague idea that he and Darling are going after these bonus baggers if they have done wrongdoing. But the whole thing leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Last night on television I saw a builder who had been forced into bankruptcy because his bank would not continue the regular and agreed funding for his business. A man who literally built up a business, employed people and produced what his customers wanted.

It really is the innocent suffering for the guilty!

Watch out! There's a Murphy about...SCOTLAND!

I'm grateful to The Little Man in a Toque for telling us about Jim Murphy's new blog. The man who was until recently Minister for Europe (and didn't he knock the stuffing out of any faint-hearted Eurosceptic by droning on in the House?), is now Secretary of State for Scotland.

He waffles on about what he's going to do. Doesn't sound like he's been in touch with the First Minister. If I was Alex Salmond, I'd keep any meeting short and very monosyllabic. Drifting off to the land of nod is very possible.

Murphy says a lot about Scotland and it's all very good. But why leave it there? He and his cronies have stuffed England. No similar devolved Parliament, no similar free this and free that. England is paying extra all round.

He talks about business being the engine house. True as well. But his boss has been allowing the money manipulators to get away with it all the time he was chancellor. It isn't just a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. There isn't a stable door!

Fuld versus the fiesty female and the fitness fist!

This fiesty take on Fuld's oblivious thoughts on his own diabolical credit crunching show that the media is allowing folks to let rip. Apparently some guy socked him one whilst he was in the gym with a heart monitor on. It all get's more bizarre.

He should have been tagged with a credit monitor, but hey, that's a fantasy I suppose!

Nick Leeson on the credit crunchers

Nick Leeson is one person who knows what's what in the "market". He thinks ego, a feel-good factor, and an addiction to making money is part of it. He also thinks central banks are out of the loop.

Maybe Mervyn King needs a crash course in "How to understand duckers and divers" and "Controlling the spivs and the shysters". Only a 90% pass mark will do!

Richard Fuld - corporate sleaze artist!

The head of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers has told Congress that he took home about $300m in pay and bonuses over the past eight years. And he then went on to say, "I don't expect you to feel sorry for me". No we don't, Mr.Fuld.

This guy represents all that is wrong. He pockets vast sums of cash, other people's money, on the pretext that it is a "bonus". Mr.Fuld, bonus means doing good. You have done nothing good in this. Even days before the collapse you were requesting multi-million dollar bonuses for departing executives!

As Treasury Committee chairman Henry Waxman said, "In other words, even as Mr. Fuld was pleading with Secretary Paulson for a federal rescue, Lehman continued to squander millions on executive compensation."

No integrity, Mr.Fuld! No, honour, Mr.Fuld! And certainly no sense of decency! Don't be surprised if the Feds come a'calling!

Ron Paul speaks out on bail-out baloney!

This is such good stuff! All we can hope for is a drip-drip technique for such self-evident truth to penetrate George Bush's skull!

Should the mutual back-scratching stop?

It seems to be that honour, integrity and a sense of decency are in short supply for those in public life. John McCain has got caught up with a character called Charles Keating. I don't think McCain has done anything particular wrong except to be around a man who "spread a lot of money around Washington, and it was time to call in his chits". This is what I read on azcentral.com in an article titled "McCain Profile: The Keating Five".

The United States has a format for matching public funds with that raised by contributions. No political party can exist past the one-man-band stage without funding. That's a given. However, it's the way the money is collected that matters.

This Keating appears to have been a bit of a ducker and diver in his time. His savings and loan business was going the same way as the proverbial handbasket, or in his case handcart. So he wanted favours. Apparently he said, "McCain's a wimp" when he heard that McCain was nervous of a meeting with him.

Do we really want the likes of Keating sniffing around the Congressional halls, without an ounce of moral fibre, seeking out senators and members of the House in order to "call in their chits"?

It's the legalised crooks like Keating who have brought us to this sorry pass. Ironically, this all happened in March 1987. That's over 21 years ago! Then we knew that there was recklessness in the accounting system. It's been mounting up ever since. Thankfully, the greedy banker was ultimately convicted of swindling investors, but only ELEVEN years later in 1998!

So, should the mutual back-scratching stop? I say YES, because this is not free enterprise. It is covert corporatism, with the average person catching the cold!

By-elections 'happen too quickly'

The BBC reports that it can only be TWO days in which voters can register for a ballot. The Electoral Commission wants the minimum time between calling and holding general elections and by-elections to be increased from 15 to 25 days. I'd think that was very fair.

This all stems from the hypocrisy of politicians. They want elections timed to suit themselves but parade around the country suggesting that they are going to open up democracy. At least it is better than in Harold Wilson's day. He went months before he called a by-election! And in those days if you weren't on the register you weren't on until the new register was compiled by the council. So there is an improvement there.

Anglican priest in gay tattoo hullabaloo!

The Guardian reports that a "vicar" is possibly facing disciplinary action for saying gay men should have "sodomy" warnings tattooed on their bodies. Apparently the cleric thought it amusing to publish remarks on his blog, which have since been removed, denouncing homosexuality.

It is one thing to be against the sexual practices of homosexuals (as opposed to the person) and quite another to have a warped sense of humour likely to cause distress. The Rector (not a vicar!) of St Michael's, Cornhill & Chaplain to the Stock Exchange said, "Let us make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the slogan sodomy can seriously damage your health and their chins with fellatio kills."

It has caused outrage and Outrage said, "It's the kind of remark you might expect from a drunk on a Saturday night, not someone in a supposedly responsible position." Drunk or not, I can't understand why people don't think before they speak (or write, in this case).

Perhaps we should have tattoos on people's faces? "Remind me to think before I open my mouth" might be one message!

Ron Paul to endorse more candidates!

Ron Paul is set to endorse four more Republican candidates for Congress. This Thursday, October 9th, at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland in College Park he will attend a fundraiser.

The candidates to be endorsed are:- Richard Matthews (MD-2), Peter James (MD-4), Collins Bailey (MD-5), and Mike Hargadon (MD-7). All four Congressional candidates believe in limited Constitutional government, fiscal responsibility, sound money, individual responsibility, economic and personal liberty, American independence and national sovereignty. Ron Paul stuff, eh?

As the list of endorsements continues, so the political map of the United States has some chance of changing. Those of us outside the beltway, so to speak, can only hope the American voters will take the opportunity to vote in November.

This election matters. Not just to Americans but the outside world too. Those sub-prime (more like centre-of-the-earth-prime!) loans affected banks all over!

Onwards and upwards!

Palin warming to the idea of God's global plan!

Sarah Palin is a bit like the curate's egg. Good in parts. She comes across as gutsy, folksy and someone with determination. But somehow the transcripts of her spoken voice leave something to be desired.

I get the impression she's latched onto the "It's all Nature's effects" viewpoint, because it suits her political stance over oil exploration in Alaska. However, she leaves room for suggesting it's partly man-made. I go along with that. It does seem more than likely that it is a mixture of natural change coming together with man-made effects of pollution and industrial wastage.

Where she doesn't do herself any favours, is when she suggests that nothing should be done except to accept that things and people should adapt to these changes without the necessary self-controls. I think she'd rather drill for oil than reduce emissions.

That leads on to suggest that McCain and Palin are not singing from the same hymn-sheet. More here.

Gilding the Lilly?

Here's a Ron Paul endorsed candidate. George Lilly. He's beem 15 years in the American Constitution Party. But now, inspired by Ron Paul's presidential run the Denver businessman, who rejoined the Republican fold in February, is gearing up for another shot at longtime incumbent Diana DeGette in the 1st Congressional District.

Lilly says, "I was enticed by the fact that Ron Paul was running for President, and that brought me back to the party. As they say, I didn't leave the party - it left me." How many times have we heard that before?

On a lighter note, he has some hobbies. Hobbies used to mean things like card games, stamp collecting, etc. Now it seems to mean any activity not connected with gainful employment. So weight lifting is one of his hobbies (too strenuous to be a hobby!), as is taking naps on Sunday afternoon (too somnolent to be a hobby!) and religion. I would have thought he would want this on a higher plain than a mere hobby. I put that down to journalistic waywardness!

So folks of Denver. You've got George Lilly on your patch! He's one for the House, surely?

Monday Blog Review

I thought I'd look around the blogs that interest me and share some thoughts.

Cranmer has a good response to his posting about flying bishops in the Church of England. I've added some comments. This topic gets a few breasts beating!

Cranmer has also highlighted The Plan, which is some policy ideas from Daniel Hannan MEP and his ideological soul-mate Douglas Carswell MP. They have a few pointers that I'd go along with. Some I wouldn't. Some we couldn't do if we wanted, such as scrapping VAT. Mr.Euroman would see to that! But primaries for elections - YES so long as it wasn't interminable as in the USA!

Free England has some trenchant opinion about the so-called War in Afghanistan. Personally I support only wars that are in defence of a nation or where a country supports an ally. This is not one of those. I would have thought it self-evident that "we won't win this war" is a truism. The Afghan tribes have been like this since time began. Also, if the poppy crop isn't destroyed and the farmers given something else to do, then the whole thing is futile. I get the feeling that the politicians are fearful of the drug barons, so all this is lip service. What a tragedy!

Smooth Stone smoothly details why he's not supporting Obama. It's a long read, but this Palin thing about terrorists for tea has awoken the John McCain camp a bit.

Little Man in a Toque highlights some of the astounding things happening to us, apart from monitoring crooked bankers. BT is joining forces with the control freaks of this New Labour Regime Part Two to spy on our emails and internet usage. BT? Bloody Trouble!! Also the little Man exposes the Tory muddle on devolution and the sinister labelling of Country Life butter. The PC panderers have renamed it "British Butter" from its original appellation of English Butter. Morons!

Happy blogging!

Googling does it!

Looking around the web tonight I came across this. "Try Googling 'Fanny Mae top political contributions' - I dare you!".

I have just done that. It certainly shows how money sloshes about the system. The internet is the only way to keep tabs on these guys!

McCain's Michigan conundrum

I've been sent a link to this article about McCain's campaign decision in Michigan. It goes to publicise the ridiculous funding arrangements that Americans find themselves in. McCain has dropped out because he opted to accept public funds. That put a limit on his spending. Obama is without the public spending hurdle, so can spend what he likes.

The whole thing is nonsense and allows a complete manipulation of the ballot. Another insane thing is the ballot access issue. Smaller parties have to sign up huge numbers of people just to say they want a particular party on the ballot. None of this helps democracy. It just helps the ruling elite. One thing both McCain and Obama should agree to is getting rid of anti-democratic trickery.

Interestingly, the article in The Hill alludes to McCain having dificulties in Michigan over unemployment. Local Republican congressman Thad McCotter said McCain was hurt in Michigan by how its economy has fared under the Bush administration. Telling indeed. But just having to drop out from active campaigning, for whatever reason, shows how hard it will be for McCain to make it in November.

What's the point of voting McCain?

Even before the election has happened, John McCain has allowed his staff to fold their tents in many states. In Michigan, they've pulled up the stakes, at least, and are no longer campaigning there, barely a month before the US presidential election. Surrender in some states is "inevitable" says his political director, Mike DuHaime. Have you ever heard of such a thing before?

What's the point of further debates with Obama? "I heard you threw in the towel, John!". How will McCain respond to such a comment?

Not only that, but John McCain has come out with some muddled thinking over this bail-out plan. He votes for it in the Senate, but says he wants to rein in Wall Street. He voted to give tax breaks for the top 1-2% wealthiest people running around after these toxic loans. That probably included Henry Paulson when he was chief bottlewasher at Goldman Sachs.

The Republican Party has got itself into a sorry state. If only they had believed in Free Enterprise and not Corporate Greed. With free enterprise everyone should be in a win-win situation. With corporate greed only one side wins.

I reckon that every American is in this to the tune of $10,000 each. That includes penniless beggars. They of course won't or can't pay. You can bet your bottom dollar the fatcats won't being paying either. It's just like Kevin's dad in the Wonder Years used to tell his kids, "It's the average guy that ends up paying the bills!".

Foxy lady succumbs to Ron Paul!

During the Republican primaries Fox News seemed to be hell-bent on keeping Ron Paul off the news bulletins. Occasionally they would have him on, suggesting to him that he was whistling in the dark or talkiing to himself!

Elizabeth MacDonald gamely admits that "sometimes a journalist just needs to yield the platform for once, for God’s sakes, to someone who is trying to bring some common sense to the debate. Yes, Dr. Paul has been criticized and ridiculed. By those who live in an echo chamber and don’t give anyone except those who agree with themselves a fair hearing. It’s time to listen to all points of view, because we are living through one of the rare times when the landscape of this economy could be permanently changed."

She goes on to quote Ron Paul at length. Although not saying so in so many words, I think Elizabeth MacDonald is at least one in the Fox compound who is showing signs of succumbing to Ron Paul's view of the credit crunch.

OJ Simpson convicted on all counts

O J Simpson must be wondering about his life. Thirteen years ago to the day he was in a court to hear a jury say he wasn't guilty of killing his wife. Most of America, white that is, disagreed with the verdict. Now, on the anniversay of that court case, he is found guilty of robbery and menacing people with weapons. He claims he was only going to get back what was rightfully his.

You know, there may be a terrible irony in all this. I know he is going to appeal this verdict, but the thought occurs to me that he got off the first when evidence is compelling that he did it, but that he may not have been doing other than what he said in the second. So the verdicts are round the wrong way?

People like OJ live in the fast lane. He appears both charming and chilling in equal measure. Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde have been to visit him. But it would be a rough justice indeed if he has been found guilty now because "we didn't get him the first time!".

Mandelson's comeback causes outrage

As it sinks in, the shock of knowing that Peter Mandelson is back in the cabinet, we are all taking stock. The poor wretches in the DTI, or whatever it is now, were filmed looking shellshocked as their revisiting boss grinned and simpered in front of them. If they are feeling a tad weasy what about the rest of us?

Gordon Brown is a desperate man. To have such a character back in the fold is very peculiar. Either he is gifted and insightful, or he is just barking. Brown never really comes across as capable of "mixing" except with those especially close to him. He must have been agonising over the decision.

I fear it will cause him problems, and all of us for that matter. Mandelson can be given some credit for saying he's not a quitter. But he has a track record for backstabbing, briefing against people and generally living up to his Mr Sleaze title. That title now, of course, is Lord Sleaze. He's had two public chunkings-out from the cabinet. He'll be well advised to heed Ronnie Barker's chararacter Norman Stanley Fletcher, when he said "Keep your nose clean, do your time". Mandelson's time will end when the electorate chucks the whole sorry lot out. (I'm glad that creepy Des Browne's gone!)

What are airports for?

I'm due to take my wife to Luton Airport soon. It couldn't be Birmingham because the route to Berlin doesn't exist. However, Luton it is.

Do you think airports are for providing services to airlines? Or are they in the retail business? Or is it car parking?

I'm beginnining to think it all starts with car parking and ends with the airlines. If you look at the Luton site, there is something very telling about all this. In the Short Term parking area you could (I can't imagine anyone so foolish) pay over £500! Long Term parking is £80 a week. OK, you can book online and get discounts, but the parking fees must be raking in tens of thousands a day!

I realise that parking needs to be paid for, but this scale of charging is higher than renting an average one-bedroomed house. It seems crazy that we are paying more to park the car than fly in the plane!

"Can I call you Joe?"

The vice-presidential debate appears to have struck the right notes all round. It seems the main purpose of these debates is for the candidates not to make any gaffs. It's OK to speak prepared stuff, so long as you don't fluff your lines. Sarah Palin acquitted herself quite well. She was assured and spoke in reasoned tones. She still hasn't got any proper answer about leaving Iraq. Roughly translated, she just says, "How long is a piece of string?". Joe Biden also came across OK. No sexist jokes or superior putdowns. He was a good supporting act for Barack Obama.

So it doesn't really lead us anywhere, except to say that Palin didn't help to implode McCain's campaign, as some pundits were predicting, or secretly hoping for.