Posted 5:13 AM by Paul
Halloween 2004

My objections to Halloween were nothing to do with it promoting Satan worship. They were related to it promoting American cultural imperialism. I put the popularity of Halloween down to the popularity of Happy Days in the late 70s. Before that, this time of year saw British kids hanging out on street corners begging money with the cry "Spare a Penny for the Guy Sir? ".

For any Americans who do not know, this quaint custom was tied to Guy Fawkes (or Bonfire)Night on November 5th. This is the the anniversary of when Guy, a dissident Catholic tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. He was burnt at the stake and as children we marked the event by throwing his effigy on to bonfires and letting off or sometimes throwing fireworks. My elder brother Dave and I used to make a tidy sum every Autumn begging in this way. We spent most of the money on fireworks and fish and chips.

In those simpler times guying was nothing unusual. It was not seen as a sign of poor parenting to let your kids out into the night to beg money from strangers. In the 1960s there were a couple of kids with a Guy Faulkes on most street corners, particularly outside pubs in working class areas. November 5th was nearly an important as Chistmas for me. I was desperately sad when David was in hospital on November 5th due to a viral infection in his brain. It was just not the same without my big brother. But he got better and we had a couple of good bonfire nights in later years. Mum always used to make a special cake called Parkin and baked potatoes with sausages.

So, when Halloween won the battle fo the hearts and minds of Britain's youth, I was a little resentful. Bloody Yanks. They get everywhere. Is nothing sacred? But I got over that nonesense when Heather:

- Reminded me that is is FUN
- Beat me lightly with her Minny Mouse ears

She was right. The kids have just finished carving the pumpkin and laying out their scary clothes for trick or treating tonight. Emily is dressing as a black cat and Alice as a witch.

In keeping with the season Osama Bin Ladebn has just released a new video, warning of further attacks on the USA and, for the first time, claiming direct responsibility for the attacks of September 11th. Osama. We guessed it was you all along. So that was the October Surprise. Not a revelation about Kerry's war record or Bush's drinking and womanising, but a video from a would be theocratic dictator. It was probably designed to tip the election in Bush's favour.

No one knows what effect it will have. 20% had voted before it was released and most people have already made up their minds. On the one hand, it reminds voters that the boogey man is still at large despite Bush's proud boasts about having him on the run. On the other hand it stresses the mortal danger the home land is in at the hands of Dr.Evil. I would like to think that the former would be true.

However I can't help thinking that a decisive sliver of the electorate will get into the voting booth with every intention of voting Kerry but at the last minute stay with the devil they know at a time of war. A war created by that devil for the expressed intention of holding on to the power that slipped from his father's grasp.

Happy Haloween

Posted 3:03 AM by Paul
Culture Wars

Cyberspace has been buzzing with invective as the hostage crisis deepens and the chaos gets more chaotic in Iraq. Most of it has been predictable and sanctimonious, particularly mine. However, there is one person who stands out above the rest. Go to www.tomatonation.com to read one Brooklyn woman's take on the elections and the fight for the country she loves. It is a timely reminder of who the good guys and the bad guys are in this election. She is also very very funny. Please read her work.

It also reminded you that at at times like this you should follow your instincts. It really is a no- brainer. It's like asking who do you prefer? The Clash or Cliff Richard. Garth Brooks or Bruce? Blair or Clinton. No contest. In the mid 80s I helped run a youth camapaign for Labour which involved well known muscians going on tour to encourage young people to become engaged in politics, register to vote and get rid of Thathcer. It has virtually no effect on the result of the subsequent election but years later people told me how much it raised their morale. They were not alone. The bands were happy to give up their time to support Labour. Now I can't really think of a single credible artist who would cross the road to shake Blair's hand. It is wierd how things have turned out.

My friend Jesse Graham (another of the Pamplona crowd) added to the quality of the deabte wwith a great summation of the election campaign so far from his home just outside LA. It has real passion and at times despair. He is a new American who came to Calfifornia from Ireland via London and like many newly nationalised Americans Jesse loves his new country deeply and takes none of its freedoms for granted.

Jesse writes

At the tail end of what seems to have been the longest election race on record - a summing up of what has struck home. I wouldn't call it neutral. But I would say it deals in facts - the following statements:Of the two most popular pundits in the country, one (Rush Limbaugh) is a pain pill junkie (a class of human being he has vociferously condemned). The other (Bill O'Reilly) is currently accused of (not consensual adultery but) sustained persistent sexual harrassment. These two men preach to a larger audience than any other media person in the country. Black is white.

A list has been circulating the internet recently showing how many members of Congress have served in the military and their party affiliation. The Republicans, reflecting their leader, are surprisingly absent from the record. The Democrats, reflecting their candidate, are surprisingly present.This is a country where a man who has lost his limbs in the service of his country is attacked for lack of patriotism. A country where a senator who spent five years in a POW camp has doubt cast on his record and soundness. This is a country where 2 candidates are running for president. One went to Vietnam, was wounded, got medals for bravery in direct combat. One was in the National Guard and absent much of the time. His vice president took five deferments to avoid militay service. Yet somehow the man who experienced war directly is derided as unsound, naive and not as fit to manage a war as those that avoided direct involvement. Black is white

Kerry came back from Vietnam and spoke against the war. He has been attacked for this - as giving aid to the enemy. Who has earned the right to comment on a war if not the men who were in it? Maybe noone ever has the right to speak against a war. Even if later it is agreed it was a mistake. Where does George Bush stand on Vietnam? Does he think it was a good thing? What does he believe it accomplished - for the Vietnamese or the Americans - or anybody? Presumably if Kerry is against the war in Vietnam, Bush is for it.Statement: George Bush Senior was the most qualified person to enter the White House ever. Look at the record. Head of the CIA, Ambassador to China, Ambassador to the UN, Vice President. By contrast his son is the most unqualified man to inhabit the Oval Office. Until past 40 he had no job he succeeded at except being a glorified cheerleader for a sports team. Every position on a board was a favor to his father. A man so deeply incurious and ignorant about the world outside America's borders that "geographically challenged" would be letting him down easy.In an aside to demonstrate the detachment from reality of not only Bush but the people around him - look at the vicepresidential debate where Cheney took Edwards to task for never being present in the Senate where he, Cheney presided "nearly every week". In fact, according to Cheney, this was the first time he and Edwards had ever met. A photo in the media the following day showed Cheney and Edwards seated side by side at a function - and it was pointed out that Edwards had been in the Senate considerably more times than Cheney whose "nearly every week" amounted to 4 occasions in the current year. Black is white.

It has probably struck most people in this country that we have lost jobs for the first time since Hoover and the Great Depression. That's a fact. We have less jobs. Gas has doubled - more than doubled. And in a breathtakingly cynical twist of the original legislation's intent, gas guzzling SUV's and Hummers actually get the tax break. Fact.We had a surplus. We are now trillions in debt. Fact.Let's leave Halliburton and its kickbacks. Let's leave the emergency suspensions of how to treat prisoners (trust your government and you get Abu Ghraib). Let's leave Iraq and missed opportunities in Afghanistan. Let's leave Enron. Let's leave all those aside. We have heard them all.Let's talk of taxcuts - briefly. Here is how it works - as Warren Buffet will be the first to tell you. The average American gets his $300 check. The rich minority get a serious chunk of change. What do you do with yours? Invest it? What the rich do is lend their windfall back to the government - and they get paid interest on it. You pay that interest. It's double dip. See how it works? Black is white.

The President is an unswerving man with a head resistant to any unwelcome information. He speaks with all the authority of ignorance. We need not rehearse all his verbal missteps - there are enough websites around with that information. He does not need input, advice or welcome debate or dissent. A man who has been used to appearing before screened and adoring crowds, he found the first debate to be a shower of cold water as he briefly had to engage with the real world of dissent. In the end none of this is important to George Bush because the voice of God speaks in his inner ear. In the real world we put people who hear "voices" on medication. As I type this, I am listening to the news. Margaret Hassan is pleading for her life in Baghdad. Tom Delay is subpoenaed about the abuse of his Homeland Security authority to attack his political opponents. In Nevada lawsuits are being filed over the voter registration company that has been destroying Democratic registration records. Other variants of election rigging are being reported all over the country. Foreign observers are going to be present across the states for election day as though we were a banana republic that can't be trusted to have an honest and democratic election. We probably can't.As I have listened to the sound bites from the debates and the campaign stops, the meaningless generalities, promises that things "are getting better all the time", I find a phrase of Chesterton's ringing over and over in my ear implacably - "and all the easy speeches that comfort cruel men" I think we deserve everything we have coming. And everything that we have coming depends on how we vote.

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So I wrote back to Jesse copying in to all of his address book. My piece was self righteous as ever and not very well written but it sums up how I felt at that moment


From the UK a few things really stand out clearly. Please pass this on to anyone who is wavering or thinking of staying at home.

Bush is despised here in a way that Reagan never was. Opposition to Ronny broke down pretty much along party lines. Leftists like me hated him (but laughed at his jokes - he was funny) UK Conservatives thought he was great. They loved the Ronny & Maggy Show. The only person to support Bush publicly in the UK is Blair.

A recent poll showed the British electorate favouring Kerry by 74-26 %. He even had a majority of UK voters who described themselves as Conservatives. A recent feature in the Guardian newspaper featured writers who normally favour the Right pleading with Americans to "Give Us Back the Country that We Love." and vote Bush out. The most eleoquent and passionate was from John le Carre the spy writer, a natural Conservative and doubty fighter againsit Communism from the 50s onwards. Why is this? Simple. Bush (and more importantly the people who pull his strings) are seen as very dangerous. Not just in terms of their habit of invading countries and trying to impose puppet regimes but for financial reasons. They will bankrupt us all. The US is now running a budget deficit of 4.9% of GDP. This is more than Greece. It can't go on for ever. The Neo-Cons want to run up a massive deficit and get the rest of the world to pay. We say no way. It is about culture not political ideology. Two differrent Americas. One we love. The other scares the living hell out of us.

The only reason that Blair is still in power in the UK is that electorate hate the Conservative Party even more than they hate him. The gap between Kerry and Bush is closing fast but I fear not enough. Some voters do not want to ditch their leader in time of war. That is why Bush is stepping up the bombing of Falluja. He needs a war. But whatever happens next week Progressive Americans should be proud and re-join the battle for their country immediately This time last year The NeoCons were predicting a Nixon-McGovern style wipe out with a huge majority in the House. This will not happen. Be proud and don't tear yourself apart.

I can't wait for Clinton to get out on the stump. Nothing redeems a flawed genius more than a brush with death. Maybe he can help win Arkansas and W.Virginia back for the forces of truth.

For me Kerry is not progressive enough but as my dear departed Mother used to say to me "Paul, half a loaf is btter than none." So please don't follow the lazy analysis spread by the far right to minimise the Progressive vote for change - that they are both the same. They are not. So please guys. We love America. We stood in long lines across our land in the pouring rain on Septmber 12th, Black and White Muslim as well as Christian - tears of rage in our eyes to sign the books of condolence . We are begging you. Get out and do the right thing next week and encourage everyone you know to do the same.Rid your great country of the men who are bringing America to her knees.

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Emotional and santimonious stuff but all of the replies were supportive; promises to get out and vote to Save the World etc. All bar one that is from Sam Peckinpah's son. He claimed that Blair was supporting Bush because he was A Man (obviously he wouldn't be supporting him he were girly man) who keeps his word. Oh well you can't win 'em all.

And my prediction? Bush to win following a succesful assault on Falluja and some very interesting manipulation of voter registeration. They will stop at nothing.

Editors Note: I was wrong about the Falluja assault. It did not happen by election day










Inbox

Posted 8:23 AM by Paul
What A Bunch of Mugs

The Labour Government has announced that they would be sending around 650 members of the Black Watch to one of the most unstable parts of Iraq. A place where the local population has been enraged and radicalised by the heavy handed tactics of the US Army. The PM says that they will be home by Christmas. Some of them will . In boxes.

Leaving the humanitarian issue aside that our troops will be covering for an assult that will kill thousands more civilians it is the most stupid action of any British Government since we stumbled into World War One. Weren't our boys going to be "Home by Christmas" then too?

The Labour Party has been suckered into supporting George Bush's government two weeks before an election when his poll ratingsd were falling. God! How Karl Rove must be laughing. What a bunch of limey suckers. It will be scripted into Bush's stump speech within the hour. "Look-I told ya' We are not alone!" will be the refrain. So, if George just wins and takes the world to the edge the Parliamentary Labour Party can go to bed thinking. "It was us that won it for George".

I just feel really ashamed that I did my bit to help them get elected in 1997. I wish I hadn't bothered.

Posted 3:12 PM by Paul
The Grammar of Mass Destruction

The Iraq Survey Group finally released its findings. Tony Blair was out of the UK... saving Africa. Bush was in purdah preparing for the second debate. He didn't do very well in the first. The Iraq report confirmed that no weapons of mass destruction existed at the time of the invasion or directly before it. Neither did any weapons programmes exist. Saddam was not therefore in breach of UN sanctions. However, it was suggested that Saddam may have re-started his weapons programme if the UN had suspended sanctions.

This was siezed on my apologists for the war as justification enough.

So we went to war on the basis of a double conditional clause . Times have changed. You used to have to have proof before invading another country.

Other language has been steadily migrating.

After the end of major hostilities Blair and Bush claimed that Iraq was now a better place. Confronted by reality the language then changed. Iraq would be a better "eventually". Now all we are left with is a co-ordinated line to take orchestrated by the Communications departments of the White House and Downing which claims that "the future of Iraq will be better" An unprovable propsotion. Nobdy and can predict the future. Of course Iraq may be a much better place come 2132.

Amongst all of this poor Ken Bigley has been beheaded. It's a sad time and difficult to see anything positive in all of this.