U.S Afghan leak

It is ridiculously rich of the U.S today, to call the release of the Afghan files via Wikileaks, a “criminal act” given the nature of the documents. I wonder what other little gems of terrorism the U.S is hiding. Latin America must have it’s very own building, filled with reports of U.S backed terror operations. Despite the scale of the atrocities in Afghanistan, committed by U.S forces, I guarantee, the “international community” will not condemn the U.S, but will condemn the leak. The “international community“, usually means those who support the U.S. To call the leaks a “criminal act“, from a bunch of malicious criminals, is a little bit rich.

The leak is the biggest in U.S history, and is a political storm waiting to happen. The extent to which the U.S has mislead the public (the documents are from the Bush era, unsurprisingly) should surely result in prosecutions at the very top level of the old regime in Washington? At the very least, it has to be the start of a far more transparent era for U.S foreign policy, which for too long has smashed it’s clenched fist across the World, and condemned anyone who stood in their way.

The log shows:

Coalition forces have killed at least 195 Afghani civilians, and injured 174 more, between 2005 and 2009. Many are the result of Coalition troops shooting unarmed and innocent people, simply because they looked a bit dodgy. And yet Republicans will still insist that this ridiculously pointless war is not in anyway adding to the problem of extremism.

French troops machine gunned a bus full of children, wounding eight.

An operation to kill a Libyan extremist named Al-libi resulted in the deaths of seven children.

U.S troops fired on a bus full of innocent people, killing 15.

Civilian amputations as a result of Coalition troops bombing or shooting the wrong people, so far is huge in number.

The U.S believes that Pakistan is funding and training extremists. Pakistan strongly denies it.

That a secret unit of American forces, is hunting down and killing suspects, without a trial.

That the Taliban have not only acquired surface to air missiles, but have escalated their roadside bomb campaign, and have killed almost 2000 people so far as a result. All covered up by the U.S, who are pretty much failing entirely, much like they did with Vietnam.

One man, called Shum Khan was a deaf and dumb man, living in Malekshay. Out of nowhere, a heavily armed U.S truck rolled into his town, at which point he ran away scared. The War Logs reveal:

”ran at the sight of the approaching coalition forces … out of fear and confusion”

The U.S CIA paramilitaries on board the truck, shouted at him to stop. He couldn’t hear them because he was deaf. He was running away from them, so posed no threat. So to deal with the problem, the paramilitaries shot him. He was wounded but survived. Villagers explained the problem to the troops, who then said they were entitled to shoot him under ”escalation of force” provisions of the US rules of engagement, which i’m pretty sure the shot and injured deaf man did not agree to. The log ends with the U.S not treating the man for gunshot wounds, but paying compensation (known as solatia). The log says:

‘Solatia was made in the form of supplies and the Element mission progressed.”

Such nonchalance. Not a care in the World. Shoot a disabled man, give him a bit of food and clothing, and then move on to the next town.

On March 4th 2007, U.S Marines narrowly escaped a road side bomb, just outside of Jalalabad. The Marines ran away, and shot anyone in their path. This included young girls playing in a nearby field, and a few old men walking along the street, hundreds of metres away from the explosion. Nineteen innocent people were killed, and fifty wounded. The Marines in their reported omitted all of the details, other than the bomb attack and the sound of gunfire. An hour later, an investigative team of U.S soldiers came back to the area, to inspect. They tore cameras away from Journalists and photographers, demanding they delete any photos. A reporter for Tolo TV said that an American soldier had told him, of the photos and film he’d taken of the site: “Delete them, or we’ll delete you.” The soldiers lied, the Marines lied, a subsequent investigation that found no wrong doing lied, and only now, three years later, has it emerged that they lied. The Afghan Human Rights Commission then held its own investigation into the shootings and concluded that a 16 year old newlywed carrying grass had been repeatedly shot and killed, followed by a 75 year old man, who was just walking. The findings prompted a US army colonel to say that the shootings were a “terrible, terrible mistake“, and give the families of the victims just $2000 in compensation. The Marines were unhappy with the Colonel for insulting there competence, and so held their own investigation which cleared them of all wrong doing and said that they acted “appropriately”. No charges were brought, and so killing innocent people including young girls and old men, is apparently perfectly fine. Apparently the deaths of innocent Arabs is less important than the careers of a few trigger happy Marines.

The U.S didn’t apologise for the dead children, or the innocent people they have mutilated over the past five years, or the disabled people they’d shot for no reason. Instead, they chose to go on the defensive, and do what America does best; blame someone else:

We strongly condemn the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations, which puts the lives of the US and partner service members at risk and threatens our national security

What this actually means is:

We strongly condemn anyone who tries to stand in our way of establishing ourselves as the moral authority of the World, regardless of how evil the means are to achieving that end. We blame Castro.

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, instead of apologising and begging for forgiveness for the atrocities committed by her pathetic excuse for a Country, simply said:

I ask the Secretary of Defence to launch a major investigation and bring the individual or individuals responsible for this to account.

Even in the midst of evidence that their Country is a vile terrorist Nation, the US officials cannot bring themselves around to admitting just how fucking awful they actually are. She is suggesting, indirectly, that leaking important information surrounding cover ups and murders is punishable by criminal charges, yet overseeing, directing and participating in the deaths of hundreds of innocents and the mutilation of hundreds more, is perfectly okay. America never fails to amaze me.

It isn’t surprising. The details are nothing surprising. It is simply a matter of “we told you so”. Those of us who are a little skeptical of everything the U.S tells us, know that the massacre in Fallujah“in 2003 was not going to be an isolated incident. We know that the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have very little to do with protecting the American or British people, and very much to do with securing oil supplies and enriching Arms Companies and Defence contractors. War is a private business now. We know that. So in that respect, the leak does not show us anything we didn’t already know. What it does do however, is show conclusively that the U.S is not the special force for good it attempts to paint itself as, by highlighting individual cases of abuses. These are important documents. Documents that governments like to cover up and claim that releasing them would be a matter of National Security, rather than the fact that they don’t want to embarrass themselves, and maybe face criminal charges. What it shows is that the U.S and Coalition forces have embarked on another Vietnam; an unwinnable war that threatens to get worse, after almost a decade of destruction. Thousands dead. Thousands more mutilated and without homes. An increase of a threat from extremists who now justifiably hate the U.S and allies beyond recognition. And no date for handover or withdrawal. A complete failure. And as the Guardian’s editorial puts it, the war effort and the U.S showed”:

A casual disregard for the lives of innocents. A bus that fails to slow for a foot patrol is raked with gunfire, killing four passengers and wounding 11 others. The documents tell how, in going after a foreign fighter, a special forces unit ended up with seven dead children. The infants were not their immediate priority. A report marked ‘Noforn’ (not for foreign elements of the coalition) suggests their main concern was to conceal the mobile rocket system that had just been used.

Wikileaks is not the enemy in this. Wikileaks has simply done what the Pentagon refuses to do, because it is hugely embarrassing to itself, and its delusions of grandeur. Wikileaks, and whomever leaked the information, should be knighted.

Hopefully, this will get the peace activists out and applying as much pressure as possible on the U.S and coalition forces, to withdraw as soon as possible. Maybe right winged Americans will accept that spending their taxes on a decent healthcare system is a far more justifiable way of using it, than on a war that has left thousands dead for absolutely no reason. Perhaps paying Lockheed Martin, the weapons manufacturer $65mn a day, every day of the year, from the US Treasury isn’t the right way to go about obtaining peace. Maybe accepting that the U.S military machine, and the private defence contractors that benefit from war, are the root of the problem. Hopefully the term “war crimes” will be used, because I’m pretty certain that if an Afghani man shot a deaf American in the middle of New York City, after scaring him and then yelling stop, before shooting him; he wouldn’t get away so lightly.

The myth of the death of Socialism

It is easy to talk about inequality, and protection of wealth by those who hold the wealth as a relatively new phenomena. It isn’t. It has always existed. Every system humanity has ever endured, has been designed to protect the wealth of the few. Take Rome, in the second century BC. The elite Senators had eaten up much of the wealth, and acquired a mass of supposedly public lands (which used to be owned by poor soldiers) for themselves. A Senator named Laelius attempted to change that. He failed. The Senators were amazed that anyone would want to take what they believed was theirs by right. Then along came Tiberius Gracchus, a tribune of the people, elected in 133bc, who caused such a problem for the elites, by appealing to the general public in order to get lands taken away from the Senators, and given back to the poor. He failed. He was murdered. Although his attempts at reform toward greater equality, caused a chain reaction that lead to the rise of Sulla, which lead in turn to the rise of Caesar, which of course, brought the entire Roman Republic down, and resulted, in Empire.
Every system that has graced humanity, has been designed to protect the wealth of the wealthy. The Capitalist system is no different.

There is a quite the temptation, when talking about the Capitalist system, to refer to it as a triumph over Socialism. The finger of proof is often pointed toward the collapse of the Soviet Union. The idea being that the Capitalist West, with all it’s “freedoms” defeated the “tyranny” of Russia, and with it; Socialism. It’s an interesting theory.

Firstly, to suggest that America was simply fighting a tyrannical regime that oppressed it’s people, is madness. During the Cold War period alone, the U.S.A supported dictators like Pinochet, on his quest to destroy any form of left wing opposition. Human rights had nothing to do with America’s opposition to Soviet “Socialism”. America simply supported any regime that promised stability and an opportunity for America’s economic interests to flourish. The Soviet Union obviously closed it’s markets to American investment opportunity, and so America stood against it. The Somoza family, who the U.S helped to take control of Nicaragua, and whom ruled the Country ruthlessly for many decades, despite widespread corruption, murders, and torturers, often enjoyed holidays to their property in the United States, and only held onto power because the United States viewed them as an ally against Communism.

The tool of manipulation against the public, was quite simple, and rational really……. make your public believe there is a strong threat to their safety, by inventing a problem that just doesn’t exist. This way, the power’s that be, can get away with anything in “defence” of the Nation. We see the same thing today, with respect to terrorism.

The only attacks on American or British soil, have not come from the sheep herding communities we’re currently blowing to pieces (although, that certainly will exacerbate the problem in the long term). The 9/11 hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar was born, and primarily received training, in Saudi Arabia….. an ally of the U.S. Ziad Jarrah (another 9/11 hijacker) was born in Lebanon, to a rich family. Marwan al-Shehhi, yet another 9/11 hijacker, was trained in Hamburg. Mohamed Atta, the alleged ring leader of the hijackers, was radicalised around Europe. The 7/7 London bombers were born in Leeds and Bradford…… with the exception of one, who was born in Jamaica. Shehzad Tanweer, one of the bombers in London, had never actually been to Afghanistan. There is no evidence that another 7/7 bomber, Germaine Lindsey had ever actually left England in his life, although he was good friends with Abdullah el-Faisal, an Islamic extremist preacher who was based in the U.K.
The point is, there is no threat from Afghanistan, there never was. Similarly, there was never a threat from the Soviet Union.

The second point that needs to be made, is that that Soviet Union was never “Socialist”. Actually, that’s a bit of a lie. The Soviet Union began life, in February 1917, as what one could consider “on the way to true Socialism“. Any form of Socialism, in which workers had any say over policy, was soon destroyed when Lenin and the Bolsheviks took power, in October 1917. There was no strong leadership, or even a strong will to create a Communist nation (which, just cannot be done when trying to transform directly from a peasant society) in February 1917. There were competing factions continuously undermining each other, but by September 1917, there did appear to be some sort of unity. The Constituent Assembly, which existed to represent Workers via democratic means; like a Socialist Parliament, was created. As were factory Councils, which placed the means of production in the hands of the Workers, again, democratically elected. The Bolsheviks destroyed both, when they took power. And suddenly, workers had absolutely no say in the way the Country was run, the economy included wages and profits again, in a Capitalist system ruled by the State. The State owned the productive forces, the State distributed wages, the State extracted the surplus created by the labour force. The labour force did not own the means of production, the ruling class did. Not, Socialism. In fact, the antithesis of Socialism. In fact, The Soviet Union, had more in common with Capitalism than Socialism.

Thirdly, the U.S often cites the fall of the Soviet Union as representing the fall of Socialism, and the triumph of Capitalism. It therefore insinuates that the Soviet Union was Socialist, which we’ve seen, it wasn’t. Now, the Soviet Union often described itself as a Democracy. Lenin in particular. It then makes me wonder, if the fall of the Soviet Union represents the fall of Socialism, why does it not also represent the fall of Democracy? I’d suggest that Socialism is not a tool the US can use to promote it’s own economy agenda, but Democracy is quite an effective tool in helping the US achieve it’s economic goals (Iraqi democracy, just so happens to coincide with Iraq deciding it’s going to start trading Oil in U.S dollars again).

Fourthly, and finally; the suggestion that Capitalism, and the Free Markets won the ideological war, is almost to suggest that Free Markets actually exist. Much like Socialism in the Soviet Union after the October Revolution; Free Markets (especially in America) have never existed. Whilst middle class Americans are busy trying to prevent their tax money being spent on healthcare for the poor, they neglect the fact that their tax money is being spent by the Pentagon, on research and development, which then gets given away to the Private market, so that someone else, using YOUR money, can make a profit from it. That’s the story of America. The reason the high tech industry in America has not been beaten out of the Global market by Japan, is that the taxpayer subsidises big high tech industry, with millions of dollars wasted every year on either innovations that just don’t actually work or provide any use whatsoever, or innovations that are handed straight over to the private market. I don’t remember that being written into the Constitution. Nor does it represent a “free market“. I don’t see big business, or friedman-ite economists complaining about it either. Big business, American-Capitalism relies on the State. But hey, don’t give that money to people who actually need it! That would be Socialism! And Socialism failed in 1989! When the State interferes even a little, be definition, the market is not free. If America had a free market system, with no protectionist policies, it would have failed miserably.

To conclude.
The argument that Socialism failed, and Capitalism succeeded is weak at best, as already argued. Capitalism has never existed fully. The Soviet Union was merely State Capitalism taken to it’s extreme. Many of the protections that workers who are apparently anti-Socialist (not just in the U.S, but here in the U.K too), are Socialist by nature. Minimum wage, the NHS, the labour force that fought for better working conditions. In fact, the closest we’ve ever been to true Capitalism, was before any legislations in favour of workers rights was ever introduced.

Capitalism hasn’t prevailed. Socialism hasn’t failed. Fear, force, inequality and the protection of the wealth of a minority (which, is undemocratic by it’s very nature) has prevailed.

The American NHS War

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.“
- Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

When a Nation starts to ignore and even vilify it’s sick, on the basis of wealth, it has become a Nation far too obsessed with materialism. Not that it is at all surprising to me that the Nation so vehemently opposed to a National Health Care System, is America, given that this is the Nation that has given us…….. well…… greed and nothing much else.
Of course, it’s only right winged America spreading it’s usual brand of “OH MY GOD, SOCIALISM IS HERE!!! EVERYONE HIDE!!!” fear tactics. The remnants of the Bush era of suspicion and hatred, the remnants of the ridiculous Reagan ideology. Whilst the healthcare debate rages on the other side of the Atlantic, Republicans don’t seem to be able to quit being horribly slanderous toward any group that doesn’t fit their quite limited circle of what is decent and correct (first the Native Americans, then African Americans, then the Soviets, then the Muslims, now it would seem anyone who can’t afford healthcare and the British NHS).

“Jefferson lives“
Throughout the Revolutionary period, and the term of President Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Washingston’s Secretary of State and author of the Declaration of Independence, stated his opposition time and time again to big government. He wanted power to be as close to the people as possible, not in the hands of the Executive branch. He strongly opposed most of Hamilton’s measures as Secretary of the Treasury, to bring together State debts into one lump Federal debt. He wouldn’t shut up about how big Government is a plague. Jefferson once stated “Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government”, as well as “Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto”, and so it becomes greatly obvious that hysteria, fear, and propaganda is built into the American psyche, given that Jefferson then became President, dropped all his previous convictions, and greatly expanded the role of the Federal Government by doubling the size of the Nation with the Louisiana Purchase; and his trusty Embargo Act in 1807, that suspended all trade with Europe and brought the American Economy to it’s knees with exports shooting down from $108 million to $22 million. This in turn, lead onto the first big war of the new United States, with Britain, during Madison’s term as President. And whilst Thomas Jefferson was clearly a brilliant man, it’s difficult to hold to such high esteem a man who wrote the words “All men are created equal” whilst owning over 100 slaves. Jefferson, if alive today, would be an anchor on Fox.

My dad and I have had several conversations about just how crazy America seems to be turning recently. It angered me to new levels this week, given that Glenn Beck and the rest of the Fox News faces of idiocy condemned our British National Health Care System, again and again. They stated that the elderly are being left to suffer, because they’re considered less important due to their age. The NHS though, has a Constitution, that renders it illegal to discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, sexuality, or religion. There is also no central NHS bureaucracy, as Fox also tried to suggest. Fox, were in short, lying. Again.

It angered me, because two weeks ago my 85 year old grandfather had a huge heart attack. Thanks to the NHS, he’s now back at home, and back to his normal self. He’s had a heart bypass in the past decade, through the NHS too. My grandmother has had several heart attacks. The NHS saved her life on each occasion. The lady across the road from my house, hurt herself pretty badly last week, the NHS ambulance turned up within minutes of being called, and she’s now back home and recovering. Us Brits consider the NHS, a National treasure. If it privatisation of the NHS was even considered by a political party, that party would be unelectable.

Chuck Grassley, the most senior idiot Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, stated of Ted Kennedy:
“I don’t know for sure, But I’ve heard several senators say that Ted Kennedy with a brain tumour, being 77 years old as opposed to being 37 years old, if he were in England, would not be treated for his disease, because end of life – when you get to be 77, your life is considered less valuable under those systems.”
Now this surprises me, given that my grandparents are well over 77, and their life is considered quite clearly just as valuable as any one of a younger age. Chuck Grassley (although, it’s not surprising, given that he’s a Republican) is spreading quite vicious and insulting lies and propaganda. Unless, my grandparents have lied, and are in fact under 77.

It is plainly obvious that this debate isn’t about health, it isn’t about how to make a Country healthier, it is about right winged politicians trying their damnedest to protect the obscene profits sucked up by insurance companies, who would stand to lose out otherwise. The World is run by the rabid corruption and amoral ethical standard of big business.

According to the World Health Organisation, the United Kingdom, with it’s evil brand of Socialist medical care, spends $33,650 per capita on Health Care, where as the United States of Free Market Perfection spends $44,070. Similarly, the United Kingdom of Evil Old People Murdering Communists, has a life expectancy of 77 for Males and 81 for Females; whereas the United States of Superiority in Every Way Possible, has a life expectancy of 75 for Males and 80 for Females. Total expenditure on Healthcare as a percentage of GDP for the UK: 8.4%, and for the U.S: 15.3%. Probability of dying under five (per 1 000 live births) in the UK: 6, and in the U.S: 8. Which in turn, ranks the UK at 18th for Healthcare in the World Health Organisation, whilst America, that beckon of wondrous private health care ranks a quite pathetic, 37th. So, even if they went for a full American National Health Care program similar to ours, they might escape being worse than twice as bad as the UK. If this is Socialism, it would appear that Socialism isn’t all that bad after all. And whilst you complain about Socialised healthcare, I’ll enjoy my Socialised healthcare, whilst living longer. Thanks!

What Fox and other insurance company scams try to do, is pick up on one or two shocking stories from the NHS, and use that as PROOF that the NHS is an appalling system. The fact that they expect a free service to have no faults, is quite beyond my realm of comprehension, the fact that they use the Daily Mail as their source, our most right winged popular news paper, makes the situation all the more laughable.
We do not want a fully private health system, we’d absolutely slaughter any politician that suggested it. In fact, most Brits would agree that the NHS is underfunded, and needs an injection of more public money, not less. The fact remains that given the costs of health insurance in America, given how crap their healthcare is according to the W.H.O and given how empathy no longer exists in the USA, I’d much rather fall ill in England, than The United States of Fuck off and Die if You Can’t Afford to Live. Apparently, the profits of devious Insurance Companies have become more important than the lives of ordinary U.S citizens. Of all the bullshit the U.S has exported across the World over the centuries, I hope this one never reaches our shores.

Although, at least the Republicans are being consistent. During the Bush reign of terror, the President twice vetoed attempts to expand the SCHIP program; a program designed to protect uninsured children of families who were on quite modest incomes but too high for medicaid. Republicans didn’t quite like that idea. All for protecting kids when they’re in the womb, but as soon as they’re born, if they’re poor, then tough! Since Obama took office, he signed the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which covers an extra 4 million children, ignored by the Bush years. But then, if you fund the healthcare of poor kids, how are you going to fund illegal wars and the deaths of thousands of Arabs? It’s a tough one for Republicans.

And can I please point out, that we have a choice. As the free market goes, we can either have treatment free of charge on the NHS, or we can sign up to private healthcare. We have a real choice. If we’re not happy with the NHS, we can pay to go private.
Republicans have ANOTHER two reasons to be ashamed, to add to their ever growing reasons to be ashamed. Firstly, for spreading bullshit about the British NHS, to their own dishonest ends. Secondly, because they had eight years to correct the frankly appalling state of American healthcare, and did absolutely nothing. Apparently Right Wingers are more than happy to support illegal wars and actual death, uniting together to fund killing, than uniting together to help those who need it most when it comes to healthcare. (Yet, America seems perfectly fine to publicly fund universal policing and fire protection, which is slightly hypocritical, “Jeffersonian” in fact).

It is quite possible to pick up on terrible stories of people who have been mistreated by the NHS. With millions upon millions of people treated every year, for free, there will obviously be problems. But the mere fact that our own Conservative Party have vowed to protect the NHS, and the mere fact that we consider it a National treasure, that has helped to treat millions of people, save millions of lives and catapult us to twice as healthy as the USA according to the rankings of the W.H.O, suggests that our system, far outweighs anything the U.S.A has produced in regard to healthcare, and if the ridiculously self centred Right Winged Americans have their say, our UK system will remain the better system, for years to come.

Free market theories are just that, theories. The NHS here, is a reality. It works. It’s worked for over half a century. It’s Socialised healthcare, and we’re proud of it. Of course it has it’s issues, it certainly isn’t the envy of Europe, as for example, the French system is, but it works and it’s there when we need it. It is an institution concerned foremost with health, rather than profit. So stop telling your people, that we feel oppressed and under the spell of rationing, purely because The Daily Mail might feed you some lie that you fail to actually investigate yourself. We love our system, if we were given the opportunity to exchange it for the American non-system, we’d laugh at you and carry on living longer, without caring about the size of your wallet.

Is the UK becoming the new Russians, and Muslims; toys for the slander of the overly arrogant, and horribly pathetic Right Winged USA? I hope so, that could be provide me with a whole host of new blog material. It does not matter what complaints the Right Wing of America throw at us, we are FACTUALLY healthier than America.

Justice Sotomayor

Regardless of whom the President nominated for Supreme Court, there was going to be sections of the Republican Party (For those of you who have no idea who the Republicans are, they’re an insignificant regressive party from the old days) that complained. Short of the President nominating a fat, grey haired, slightly racist, anti-gay white man famed for singing the National Anthem before bed, Republicans were always going to complain.

As it happens, the President positively confused Republican opinion, provoking even more right winged nonsense that we’re all becoming used to from people like Cheney and Limbaugh; by nominating Federal Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court, to replace the retiring Justice David Souter.
Of course the conservative wing of America isn’t happy. Former Republican Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney’s statement of opposition to Sotomayor’s nomination, is just more bitter ramblings of a dying Party. Romney states “The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is troubling.” He goes on to say “Her public statements make it clear she has an expansive view of the role of the judiciary.” He is in fact referring to the harmless remarks Sotomayor made in 2005, in which she stated that that the Court’s, are “where policy is made“. And so Romney, like other Republicans, is attempting to portray Sotomayor as a radical, as wanting to expand the limits of the Judiciary. As wanting to destroy the foundations of the Republic! Julius Caesar Sotomayor! Probably socialist and gay too.

It’s funny that Republicans should get all worked up about this, for two reasons. Firstly, because Sotomayor was right. Whilst the House and the Senate may make the rules, the Courts have to fill in the fine detail, when the rules are simply too ambiguous. The rulings of the Court, influence policy to a high degree. Hofstra University’s Professor of Law, Eric Freedman says “She was saying something which is the absolute judicial equivalent of saying the sun rises each morning. It is not a controversial proposition at all that the overwhelming quantity of law making work in the federal system is done by the court of appeals… It is thoroughly uncontroversial to anyone other than a determined demagogue.“
And of course, precedent is set by the Judiciary, it is a product of it’s time, and by that account, is policy making.
Secondly, it’s funny Romney should bring this apparent talk of expansion of the Judiciary into the spotlight now, given that he didn’t seem to have a problem when the Supreme Court dubiously gave the 2000 Presidential Election to George W Bush, despite the fact that Gore had over 500,000 more popular votes. Which of course, led to George Bush quite ironically “spreading Democracy” across the World. Isn’t that the greatest influence on policy the Supreme Court has ever applied to America? Apparently Romney had no issue with the Supreme Court handing elections to those who don’t actually win the vote. Romney also doesn’t appear to be at all bothered that Justice Scalia, the conservative crusader, appears to have a deeply conservative agenda of his own going on, an activist in all but name. But Sotomayor making a comment four years ago, he has a problem with.

Fat idiot Rush Limbaugh also had something to say on this, but his comments, as always, are even more irrelevant but equally as pathetic, as Romney’s, so I wont get into it.

Meanwhile, in the World of the sane, Sotomayor is likely to be confirmed without problem. Whilst Democrats do not hold a filibuster-free majority, 59 Senators is more than enough to secure confirmation. It is unlikely that Congressional Republicans will attempt to block her nomination, because from a Party that is about as popular as cancer right now, attempting to block an Hispanic female candidate for Supreme Court. Research shows that the Republicans gained 31% of the Hispanic vote in the 2008 Presidential election. Traditionally, the Hispanic vote has been overwhelmingly in favour of the Democrat candidate. In 2000 Bush managed took 35% of the Hispanic Vote. In 2004, he managed to attract a 10 point rise to 45%, of the Hispanic vote. In both 2000, and 2004, the Hispanic vote was crucial for the Presidential race. Judging by 2008 standards, the Republicans cannot afford to lose the confidence of the Hispanic voters any more than they already have. And so attempting to block the confirmation of the first ever Hispanic Supreme Court Judge Nominee, would be a disaster. Paradoxically for Republicans, if they do not try to block the nomination, the fact that Democrats have even nominated a Hispanic, will be a huge boost to their mid-term campaigns, and 2012 Presidential race.

The fact remains that the President could have nominated Moses for Supreme Court, and Republicans would have said he held deeply racist views over Egyptians and that his nomination is “worrying“. What Romney meant to say, was “Sotomayor isn’t white, or male, or middle aged, and she might even believe that gays aren’t the spawn of satan, which is worrying.“

To sum up, great choice for Supreme Court.

The Sinking Republican Ship

You have to feel slightly sorry for Republicans recently. They’re like a collective version of Elliot Roosevelt. Useless. Unable to admit just how useless they have been, and still are. A terrible role model for their youthful counterparts. Unable to accept responsibility for anything. And seemingly attempting to commit suicide. Looking on at their much more loveable brother with jealousy and rage. Whilst that much more loveable brother, the Democrats act as the pragmatic force behind the reinvention of America. Or, Theodore Roosevelt, if you will.

Surely someone in the Republican Party must be thinking to themselves “Please Cheney, just let it go. The damage is done!“. If they aren’t crossing their fingers that Bush doesn’t turn up with an equally insignificant opinion aired across the media, then they should be.

Whilst the GOP attempts to deal with the fact that Republican of 29 years Senator Arlen Specter has lost complete faith in a Party slipping further to the Right every day, choosing instead to move to the Democrat benches, Democrats look set to start work on complete (Oh MY GOD SOCIALISM ARGH!) healthcare reform after their $3.4tn Budget passed through the House beautifully by 233 to 193, marking Obama’s 100th day in spectacular fashion.
Specter’s move means the Democrat Senate Majority is taken to 59. When Minnesota’s Supreme Court finally votes in favour of Democratic Senator Al Franken, that takes the Democrats in the Senate up to a lovely round 60. And if that lovely round 60 is reached (which it will be), that means the Democratic controlled Senate becomes filibuster-free. Which is fantastic.

Specter leaving the GOP is two fold in the damage it’s likely to cause. Firstly, it makes the GOP look weak, disunited, out of touch and relatively pointless. Secondly, it seems to have sparked off a fight between Republicans themselves. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch blamed Chris Chocola (who ran a campaign based on the slogan “Fuck the environment” – or words to that affect, when he voted to allow oil companies to drill in the protected Arctic National Wildlife Reserve)and the rest of the rather comically named “Club for Growth” for imposing strict right wing rules over the party. Chocola himself, a big fan of President Bush, which suggests that “Club for Growth” must be an ironic term. The equivilant to calling a tall man “shorty”. “The Club For Growth” themselves blamed Specter for ruining the GOP and then leaving. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham blamed Michael Steele and the RNC for pushing moderates out the way. And Michael Steele himself, decided to take on the role of a new WWE superstar named “The Black Republican” (again, another ironic name) and said …
“If Sen. Specter survives in the fall — get ready to go to the mat, baby, because we’re coming after you and taking you out“
I’m not joking, he actually did say that, to CNN. Look.
So obviously, this was also a chance for that perfectly round headed orange ignorant idiot Rush Limbaugh to have his say. Limbaugh on his radio show, is quoted as saying:
“Well, Specter, take McCain with you. And his daughter. Take McCain and his daughter with you if you’re gonna…”
Good idea! Take all the moderates to the Democrats. Meghan McCain is far too intelligent to be a Republican anyway. Take the few popular Republicans, and hand them to the Democrats. For once I agree with the fat prick. If that were to happen, the Republicans wouldn’t see Government for a very long time. You’d essentially have a popularly elected Democrat Dictatorship for decades. It’s perfect. Perhaps Rush could go live in the soon to be New Republic of Texabillies. Republicans in this new Republican are free to be as “Conservative” as they please. They can be as racist, homophobic, small government, guns to every man, woman, child and pet as they could possibly imagine.
It amuses me greatly, that the GOP has now taken to discrediting Specter by releasing a video, that shows how Specter was close to George Bush. It’s almost poetic that the only way the Republicans can discredit an ex-Republican, is by aligning him with a failed Republican President. You really couldn’t make this shit up.

Not only that but Republicans are finding themselves in a tough position when it comes to Democrat plans for new regulations placed on Wall Street. On the one hand, they could follow their out of date principles, keep yelling Socialism, and decide to ignore the problems that 25 years of Reaganomics has created deciding instead to obstruct any form of recovery. Or, they could put aside their wasted ideology, tell Glenn Beck that if he’s trying to be the Right Wing’s version of John Stewart… it’s never going to happen, and accept the need for regulatory rules as soon as humanly possible. That would of course risk hurting the feelings of apparent Republican Leader Rush Limbaugh, and be forced to apologise from the heart at a later date. So it’s a tough situation for Republicans.

We all knew torture is wrong, but we needed something to confirm our belief. Enter Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. It’s like meeting someone who thinks they might be gay, and then pushing them over the edge. Did Cheney and Rove really think anyone would take their side in this? The moment he showed his murderous little face, we all squirmed. Obviously there are those like Beck, Hannity, and Limbaugh “Conservatives” who think the way to defeat terrorism, is by being a terrorist, but in the real World there is no way a human being with any moral compass would ever consider using the phrase “You know, I think Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are right.”

The only way to cope, is to have an insignificant “Tea Party” (nothing strikes fear into the enemy more than words “Tea Party“) to complain how Obama is both, paradoxically, a Socialist (3% tax increase on the rich, bringing it still beneath that of the first six years of Reagan……… Barack Stalin, obviously!) and a Fascist by announcing the biggest middle class tax cut in history. Or, just continue to fight amongst themselves until they push everyone other than the actual Right Wing Extremists (Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly, Beck) out of the GOP for good. Either way, it’s so incredibly entertaining, i’m just as happy as ever. Whilst the majority of Americans significantly approve of President Obama’s running of domestic policy, foreign policy, economic policy and now with the outbreak of Swine flu, 66% approve of how the Administration is dealing with the outbreak – you have to come to the conclusion that in a Nation finally embracing Liberal principles, the GOP moving further to the Right and edging out moderates is going to be the ultimate death of the Party. (I literally had a smile on my face as I typed that, weird).

The GOP Ship is sinking more and more every day. It’s crew are now fighting each other and appear to have decided that only the most extreme Republicans, the most racist, anti-environment, homophobic, fox news worshipping crew members are good enough. Fine by me. It means those ignorant shits go down with the ship.

At the start of this entry, I mentioned feeling sorry for Republicans. I take it back. Bask in the entertainment of a dying breed of ignorance, is what I meant to say.

The Minority Republicans

It was the first time i’d heard of Bobby Jindal, and my instant reaction after his speech was “And this man is actually allowed to talk?” He should be banned from talking, he’s an insult to those of us who can talk without sounding patronising. He’s an insult to oratory. Cicero died all over again last night, this time with shame.

So President Obama made a great speech again, oozing with the same confidence that helped win him the White House, to a joint session of Congress. Fantastically eloquent, and full of exactly what needed to be said. He was absolutely right in blaming the problems America faces, on the greed of short term gains. He was right when he suggested that the distorted world of International Capitalism has lead to making the rich richer instead of investing in the future.

And the Republicans response? Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana. A man who once said “Transparency inspires confidence, and confidence promotes cohesion” and then his own office ranked last in the Country’s transparency ratings. A man who was referred to by The Wall Street Journal as…. “a boy wonder of the party. At 25, he was appointed to fix Louisiana’s failing Medicaid program, and succeeded.“… despite the fact that since taking over Healthcare in Louisiana, they dropped from 48th in the league, to 50th largely due to the fact that all he did, was cut spending, and made it harder for poorer patients to see a doctor. A man who voted against Gay marriage. There’s nothing like the Civil rights of one minority gaining the right to oppress another. He’s totally against abortion, and voted against all forms of stem cell research. So, to sum up, he’s against gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, helping the poor, and because he refused to take some of the bail out money to help workers in his state claiming it will lead to tax rises on the wealthy, he’s also a big business suck up. So wait, isn’t that pretty much what the Republicans have stood for all the time? This guy isn’t new or exciting or different. He’s the same shit. He’s begging for the same failed policies. He’s asking to restore confidence with the American people, by offering nothing new. He’s basically saying “We set the country on fire, so I propose we put the fire out, with this new and exciting ….. fire.”

Jindal would only be “new” if he recognised the hypocrisy of stating just how wonderfully pro-life you are, but then cutting all costs that help sustain life for those who are less fortunate than the horribly rich.
He basically said “Hey, The Republicans understand ordinary Americans…….. and that’s why we wont support any plan that is made to help you!!! But we WILL help the rich become even richer!!…..oh, and i’m black by the way, in case you didn’t notice.”

So I wonder, of all the people who could have spoken for the GOP, and knowing their track record on disastrous eloquence, surely Jindal isn’t the best they have? I mean, watching his response to Obama was cringe worthy. He spoke as if addressing a class room of five year olds. Even Fox News didn’t like it. When Fox News don’t like something a Republican has to say, then you know you’re in trouble.

So given that he’s no different to every Republican who came before him, given that he’s offering nothing new, given that he claims his health reforms were some how magnificent because it saved money rather than measuring the level of healthcare on the fact that people, actual humans, not money, but people – suffered more under him than they did previously, and given that he’s a horribly patronising speaker, why did the GOP choose him? I suspect for the same reason they chose Palin when Hilary Clinton was commanding the vote of the Female population. I suspect for the same reason that they chose Michael Steele when Obama had commanded a landslide of the vote of the Black population. Because they represent minorities. There is no other reason why Jindal would be chosen ahead of all the Republicans out there, other than he’s young (to counter the idea that the GOP is full of old men) and of a minority (to counter the idea that the GOP is full of old… white men). It really doesn’t matter how utterly detestable the man is, he’s a minority and that’s the GOPs way of yelling “LOOK WE’RE NOT RACIST!!!.. Despite the fact that we’ve spent decades ignoring anyone who isn’t rich and white“. Jindal started his speech, stating all his minority status credentials. To me, this proved just how important it is to Republicans that they have a spokesman who happens to have a different skin colour, to counter the love for Obama. They failed massively to chose someone of a minority who is actually talented in the field of Politics. The Democrats chose wisely with Obama. The Republicans failed to chose wisely with both Palin and now with Jindal. It’s like they’re saying “Well he’s black, what more do you want?” The alternative of course, is that they picked Jindal for his intelligence, which makes me think that if he’s the best they have, if Palin is one of the best they have, if Michael Steele is one of the best they have, if George Bush was the very best choice the Republicans had eight years ago, the rest of the Republicans must share the combined intelligence of a goat, a retarded goat…. as unfair to retarded goats as that is.

The Democrats should counter with a gay Atheist guy at the top. The GOP could never match that. A gay GOP member (i’m not talking about those many, many undercover Gay GOP members like Glenn Murphy who found his mouth accidentally around a penis. Or Bob Allen who mysteriously offered to give a cop $20 to suck him off) would have to start every speech with “I realise i’m unnatural, disgusting, and God hates me, but…..“

Obama clearly has a talent for eloquence, and I think we’d all agree, also has a great mind. Similarly, although he doesn’t have the talent for oratory that Obama has, John McCain has a great mind. By comparison, Bobby Jindal is a disaster, much like Sarah Palin was a disaster. The GOP need to stop trying to show just how inclusive and diverse they are, and start showing that they understand why America didn’t want them anywhere near Government for at least the next four years.

Good luck to them.

The Spirit of Bipartisanship

If I were to bang my head on a brick wall over and over, i’d quickly come to the conclusion that it hurts, and that I probably shouldn’t spend my time banging my head against that wall any more. If I were to try to solve the pain, by continuing to bang my head on the brick wall, i’d soon be wondering what made me think that continuing to bang my head, would help.

John McCain complained recently that President Obama had failed in his attempts to create a bipartisan atmosphere with regards to the “OMG SOCIALISM ARGH!!!” stimulus package that has recently been passed through Congress. Now, I accept that McCain himself is a great hero of bipartisan Politics (regardless of the fact that he thinks President Bush was right, 95% of the time), on such topics as Global Warming and Campaign finance, McCain has reached across the isle, and that is indeed admirable. But I do go the feeling that a long with 90% of Republican Bloggers I come across day to day on WordPress, he’s horribly bitter.

I’m perfectly aware that the Plan has many social elements within it, that Republicans deem “pork“, regardless of who it helps. But that’s what Republicans must have expected from Democrats. Similarly, they got their $275bn tax relief and cannot legitimately yell “Socialism” when the Stimulus offers Businesses, the bonus depreciation feature exists, when tax credits for struggling small businesses exist, when there is double in what small businesses can write off when it comes to capital investments and new equipment purchases.
I refuse to call $41bn for grants to local school districts; $39bn to subsidise health insurance for the unemployed; $4bn in prevention care; $31bn to upgrade and repair public buildings – “pork”. But obviously anything that doesn’t amount to a mass of tax cuts for the rich, is going to demand the calls of “SOCIALISM” from the opposition.

I’m unaware of how much Fidel Castro would have been willing to accept as truly Socialist with this package. Perhaps he’d have welcomed cash for money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two, or the bonus depreciation for Businesses buying up new equipment, for a tax credit for businesses who hire disconnected youths and veterans.

In an attempt for me to appear a little bit bipartisan here, I will accept that $650million to convert TV boxes to digital seems a little odd. Although a worthy cause, like $15bn for College Scholarships is a worthy cause, it’s unlikely to stimulate the short term economic woes of a Nation on the brink of economic disaster. This is certainly just a way for those like Pelosi to sneak into the stimulus, those niggling partisan leftovers. However, if the money given for College Scholarships, goes to the right place, meaning the Colleges now how money that they were losing, meaning they don’t have to lay off staff, then it can only be a good thing, regardless of the motive for it appearing in the bill. Investing in infrastructure is also, not ‘pork’.

The word ‘pork’ is interesting, when it seems to only apply to investing in infrastructure, and not to the trillions spent on the deaths of thousands of American troops and 1,000,000 innocent Iraqis. That’s deemed ok. But key infrastructure, PORK apparently.

I am more inclined to accept the Obama Stimulus as completely necessary, than I am to accept the argument that it’s full of “pork”. A stimulus is supposed to be full of so-called “pork” because it works. FDR’s worked. The ‘pork’ is not just words on paper. For example, I recently say Fox News state that “$10 million for urban canal inspection is pork spending”…. not it isn’t. It’s a plan to create jobs, and it will indeed, create jobs. That’s how a stimulus works.

Back to McCain. He told CNN recently that this wasn’t the change Obama promised. That, although Obama went to Capitol hill for input, most of what the Republicans offered was just wiped off the table.
What he appears to mean is, Obama must give in to Republican demands, otherwise they will just act as a roadblock regardless of the proposals.

I am not saying the Democrats and Obama have this sorted out perfectly, nor am I saying that the Stimulus will definitely work. But for the Republicans to publicly state how much of a failure it is before it had even taken shape, is nothing but tit for tat partisan bullshit from the Right Wing of the Political spectrum. Especially considering they have full support for a party that has systematically destroyed the economy, and waged an unjust expensive war over the past eight years. It’s a bit rich of them to be taking the high ground now. It’s as if they’ve been asleep for eight years, woke up on January 20th, and yelled “WE HAVE THE ANSWERS NOW!!“…. forgive me for not falling for it. Forgive me for thinking that the useless Bush tax cuts that were not utilised for the best of the Economy by those rich businessmen who shipped work overseas; those tax cuts that McCain supported, were nothing short of an absolute disaster and highlighted the failure of American Capitalism. Forgive me for thinking that Republicans calling it “robbing future generations” is a despicable charge, given that they had no problem spending taxpayers money bailing out Wall Street, and then had no problem robbing American families of the lives of their children, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers in the first “Resource War” in Iraq.

I would give a lot of credit, to a Republican who would happily admit that their policies may have failed them, these past eight years. I cannot wait to see that day. I compare the Republican bitterness outrage at this stimulus bill, with the lack of outrage at the Bush stimulus package, the largely useless Bush stimulus package. It’s incredible how little the Republicans are consistent in their hatred of stimulus packages. Spending trillions on an unjust war, and then wasting trillions on big business tax cuts has caused this mess. It’s a failure. And McCain thinks he has a right to suggest otherwise?

The Republican Party seriously needs to change it’s attitude.

When the CBO report shows that Clinton left office with a “budget surplus projected to be $5.6trillion over ten years” compared to the Bush administration leaving office with a “projected deficit of well over $4trillion for that same period“, you have to really start asking if these people should be given the chance to talk at all. The damning report from the CBO continues…“As a result of their misguided fiscal choices,
President Bush and Republican Congresses squandered the budget opportunities they inherited and are passing along historically large budget deficits that will persist for years.” So the question needs to be answered, why do you Republicans suddenly think you deserve to be heard now?

I’m sure the spirit of bipartisanship is needed to a degree, and like John McCain, i’m sure Obama has attempted it. But it has to be taken with so much caution, and it has to be taken knowing just how damaging the Republicans have been since 2001. Take on board suggestions that both Republicans and Democrats agree on. Do not listen to calls for mass tax breaks for the rich, because that is not the way to solve every problem (as we’ve now discovered). The caution has to be taken. Obama is doing the right thing by not giving into these people.

Bipartisanship has to come from both sides. Republicans have to acknowledge their dire failings in order to even gain an ounce of credibility, they have to say “Ok, we messed up, we’re ready to have a rethink“, any short of that, and they just should not be taken seriously.

Perhaps the Republicans are frustrated because they have no control anymore. Perhaps they are all more like Limbaugh than we all think and that they want Obama to fail, because if this stimulus succeeds in pulling America out from the pit of Republican destruction, it will only serve to make the Republicans look a hundred times worse than they do right now.

Given that the majority of Americans who read my blog are Republicans, I fear i’m in for a bit of a beating because of this. I will try and survive. Clearly they do not feature in the 67% approval rating for the way he handled the passing of the Stimulus bill. Instead, they must appear in the laughable 31% that approve of the Republicans in Congress as opposed to the 48% who approve of the Democrats in Congress. They certainly don’t figure in the 68% who approve of the job Obama has done up until now. But you know, what do those 68% know anyway!!!!

If America had wanted much more failed Republican policies, policies that had created this mess in the first place, policies that had resulted in record unemployment, a highly costly illegal war, and tax cuts for the rich who then squander away their even greater wealth, then McCain would now be President. America chose not to keep banging it’s head against the brick wall.

President Barack Obama

****

“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” – President Obama

My grandparents claim to have felt the hope that echoed around the World when John F Kennedy became the President of the USA way back in 1960, from as far away as we are in the United Kingdom. The glimour of hope that change had come, that the World super power was not in the firm control of the Business elite, and the anguish and sorrow they felt when they heard of Kennedy’s assasination. They both say that the feeling of hope rekindled was evident in their minds yesterday at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Sky News played a video this morning of an interview with a Black American child. The interviewer asked what the election of President Obama meant to him, the child said…
“It means that when people see a black man on TV, they won’t see only a criminal or an athlete. They’ll see a president, a lawyer or a doctor.” – How beautiful and powerful can one child’s voice be? This voice, this single sentence, encapsulates a new America spectacularly.

In the hearts of those of us who have become disillusioned with America, (which includes Democrats, and the entire World, apart from the Republicans) hateful of the Bush Administration, sick of out dated intolerant Republican policies, it was a monumentous occasion to witness the end of such intolerance, not just with a new administration, but with an African American President who less than a century ago, would have been banned from sitting on the same bus as the white man.

Often i’ll be searching online blogs and come across those of cynical Republicans who have already condemned Obama to political hell, judging his legacy before it’s even begun, purely because he’s a democrat. Ridiculous comments like “He’s socialist“, when Socialism is about as far from Obama as a word could be, “He wont hand over his birth certificate“… as if they don’t adequately vet a potential senator and President before they take the job. “His middle name….. Hussain….. like Sadam….. AARRRGH!!!“…this one speaks for itself. “He refuses to swear on the bible, proving he’s a muslim“…. as if it matters what faith a man is.
All of this before the inauguration, even though he did in fact swear on the Bible. Republican smear tactics, tactics of an extremist party with extremist views, and who put forward an extremist candidate for Vice President. It was hope versus continued fear, and hope presided, thankfully. Why wont those same Republican Bloggers admit that their President over the past eight years has achieved nothing short of criminal, and should be taking the place of those at Guantanamo.

Aside from the policies Obama has which are right, good, and above all, hopeful for a country that has relied too long on the reckless behaviour of the wealthy, it’s the symbol that is enduring and so attractive. The symbol of a new World based not on the colour of somebodies skin. The symbol that you do not have to be somehow affiliated with Oil production to be welcomed into Washington. The symbol that the last eight years is dead, and a new era based not on fear or on hidden corruption and lies is replaced by intergrity, human decency, and kindness. It’s a symbol that becomes increasingly difficult to avoid buying in to. I certainly buy into it fully. I do not expect Obama to be a sort of Jesus-like figure, like some do. I merely welcome the departure of the destructive nature of Republican Conservativism. It has to be fair to say that the Republicans, who have spent eight years killing, silencing, looting Nations for nothing more than individual wealth whilst all the time letting Americans know that if you feel guilty that America is causing so much pain and suffering across the planet, then you’re not a true American, is over. Already, my faith in the most powerful nation on Earth is slowly renewing.

For the past eight years, or four years at least, it’s been difficult to envisage a time when “President Bush” was no more. The moment Obama was sworn in, his speech; his passion for what he was saying, inspired a smile from me, knowing it marked the end of the Bush regime so beautifully and eloquently, it rolled back the policies of the past eight years. The speech needed to renew hope and faith in America, it did just that.

BBC News interviewed a Republican voting couple in their home in Kansas. Their home, was a 200 acre land, sixteen room house, who claimed to be “struggling“. The lady they interviewed, was speaking to them from her library. I thought to myself, this is the legacy that has died today, the stupidity of people like this, the absolute nerve of these kinds of people to claim to be “struggling“. The BBC did it beautifully with the voice over man saying “We interviewed the family from their 200 acre property, that they really don’t need.” That alone, embodies the passions of the Left.

As I sat watching the inauguration, I could not emit the image from my mind, of the Black Panthers, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali dumping his Olympic medals because they wanted to send him to war yet wouldn’t let him sit on the same bus as a white man, Rosa Parks, and all those who suffered the wrath of the Ku Klux Klan, the slaves who built the White House, the thousands of black Americans who have struggled for equality across America over the generations. Yesterday, was the greatest day in the history of black America, and a day that will be remembered forever.

The election of President Obama is not about one man. History alone will judge the substance of his Presidency. The election of President Obama is a symbol. A symbol of how far America has come. How America does not need to be all about slamming an iron fist across the World, that love and hope is not dead, that the Republican Party has not indoctrinated the American public in intolerance, disunity and callous individualism.

When it was all over, Obama was stood with his wife and children, the new occupants of the White house, smiling gleefully at the future, after a speech that should be carved into stone, it pained me to see them walk off without turning to George Bush and say “You do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so, whatever you do say will be used as evidence in court”….. maybe one day.

Still, Did the BBC really need to tell me what roads in Washington were closed today? My car barely gets me to Tesco in Wigston.