The Grim Hamster lord

1) Give me a year before I offer an opinion. 2) I like most of it; the High Speed Rail Corridors is a particularly nice idea, but I'm always amazed that the US has never attempted to create a single transcontinental railway (I believe the current system is that you have to do a ridiculous number of changes between rail companies to get from one coast to another, as opposed to getting on a train in New York and getting off the same train in Los Angeles?). Likewise for projects such as the fibre optic broadband drive and other infrastructure projects, however I question some of the vagueness about a "smart grid" for energy generation and renewable energy. It rather begs the question of what specific projects are going to get funded. I especially liked some of the environmental restoration work, which I believe effects California and the Gulf Coast the most (this is where the Republicans get to scream about $ millions going to Pelosi's mice). I am inclined to agree with Krugman though; more could have been done. And it strikes me as undemocratic to have a system where Maine controls the rest of the nation (Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins being the "dealmakers" for the Stimulus in the Senate). All in all, seems pretty good. Regrettably, the High Court is up in arms about the US DoD issuing a threat to the Court that if they published information about torture of a Gitmo detainee and British citizen, the would cut off intelligence to the United Kingdom or to put it in official language "re-evaluate our intelligence relationship with the United Kingdom." Effectively, a court of law in this country was stopped from publishing evidence of torture based on a threat from the DoD.

Dean for Secretary of State for HHS?

please tell me that actually exists. (On a similar note, one of NJ's districts has a party called the All Day Breakfast Party. Marius voted for the guy running under said party. ) Yes, The Monster Raving Looney Party exists, but sadly it is over in Great Britain. Haha epic. XD I think the US democrats and republicans should join forces and call themselves the Monster Raving Looney Party. Interesting facts about the MRLP: They came up with the idea for pet passports years before the EU and USA implemented them A £2 coin was one of their policy proposals before Labour picked it up and introduced it I forget the rest, but some of their ideas have been put in place. One of their more recent ideas is for a "Democrabus" which would take Parliament around the country, to the people. It has the horrible kind of realistic humour which might mean it comes true.

please tell me that actually exists. (On a similar note, one of NJ's districts has a party called the All Day Breakfast Party. Marius voted for the guy running under said party. ) It does exist as a political party in the UK, no idea about the United States. I support no party incidentally and if I had to give a party affiliation it would be "anti-Tory" for reasons I may go into. 1) You can't claim what will happen in 2010 today, 1 1/2 years is a long time in politics. 2) He didn't get a single thing right? Introduction of Oyster cards, reduction in fuel poverty and poverty poverty rates, a mass transit system which actually works, reduction of crime... the list goes on for what Livingstone did right. I'm not saying he was the super best candidate for Mayor ever, but his record on getting things done was undeniable. (For US readers, a comparative figure to Livingstone is Chichago Mayor Daley, although less corrupt by some margin.) 3) Boris has been making positive changes? His scrapping of the Venezuela oil deal cost London £20,000,000 which could have gone on new transport systems (like the Cross River Tram which Bozzer just scrapped), he's had one advisor sacked after telling the black community to "go home" (Africa/The Caribbean) if they didn't like Boris and another one after it emerged he'd been banned from preaching after defrauding a mentally ill, elderly parishoner, he continues his bizarre war on bendy buses and insists on spending £100,000,000 on pointless Routemaster replacements and then there is his crowing glory; a giant floating airport in the middle of the Thames Estuary to replace Heathrow. Interesting facts about this airport; it is next to a sunken ship from WWII which has an exclusion zone around it because of the explosives (and rumoured chemical) weapons on board, the takeoff path goes through an SSI (Site of Scientific Interest) full of birds which will be great for decimating the local wildlife population and in order to connect it to London with a full motorway and High Speed Rail Link would cost... more than a 500mph maglev between London and Edinburgh. 4) Hair adorability should not be a factor in politics - if it was we would have elected Paddington Bear long ago. Brum's a massive conurbation, so it may be big but the only interesting stuff is in the centre. East London's awesome, but I live near Queensway so I'm more a Westminster/North Kensington person during the day.

Yeah, no way was Livingstone getting back into office! Boris was the best candidate out of the bunch. That election was a one horse race. Really? What are you doing there? I'm studying in Brum and missing London quite a bit. Oh dear, I can see where this might be going. Why, perchance, were you for Boris and against Livingstone? Studying in London as it happens. I can see why you're missing London, I love it. Especially Shoreditch for some reason.

I sincerely hope you were not planning on voting for Bozzer... Incidentally, I'm in Westminster now. Oy vay! is surely more appropriate in the circumstances?

How is the eyrie in the West Country?

On account of the previous topic being mysteriously locked, this is the new topic for all our fun political nonsense. It is also quite appropriate to have a new topic because we now have a new US government, a new administration and we can all look forward to a global utopia. Barack Obama has no pressure on him what so ever. Keeping you in suspense? I was sleeping, on account of the East Coast of the USA being 5 hours behind GMT and I stayed up until 3AM to watch the results come in on the BBC. Regrettably, the BBC had John Bolton on and I hated every second that the camera was trained on him. I knew Obama had won when Pennsylvania was called for him, but I stuck around to see Minnesota and some of the others come in. Florida really pulled ahead for Obama early on, I thought it would have been closer. But! And it is a significant but, now that the Presidential election is over all I care about are the Senate results and they are amazing-ly painful. Take Alaska for example, where the fivethirtyeight website tells me: Apparently the "questionable" ballots could make up a huge number of those voting for Mark Begich (D) and Ted Stevens (R-AK) is only ahead because of this. So, it appears that Alaska has taken Florida's crown for "the state which ruins all the fun." In Georgia, the senate seat is heading for a run off, because while incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) has more of the vote, neither candidate has a plurality. I expect monies to be flowing to Georgia out of the Democratic coffers around about... been happening since Tuesday. And of course Minnesota, where Norm Coleman has decided to play the "I won by 500 votes card, let's pretend there aren't any voting irregularities in heavily Democratic areas, WHY HAVE YOU NOT CONCEDED DEFEAT AL FRANKEN?" Norm Coleman is an ####, in the donkey sense of the word. A small note on the House front; the loathed Michael Bachmann has regrettably been re-elected. On the upside, apparently New England has an all-Democratic House delegation.

It isn't quite halloween yet, but I can imagine that sight will greet my eyes at the concession speech of John McCain. Just as he's about to close up with his final remarks, Palin jumps him like a zombie. Hopefully John McCain is the person making the concession speech. There are lots of rumour that Palin has ruined his career. I blame the people behind him who forced him to adopt traditional Republican positions at the expense of his own views. As well as Palin, because she really deserves a lot of blame. Ahhhh Palin... she is already planning her run for the 2012 Presidency. She has not given any thought to what the Republican party might want. "Mitt Romney: The Governor Strikes Back" is one of my theories for the Republican primaries in 2012. "You betcha" it could end up being between the psychopathy of the Palin camp versus Romney's fixed grimace (or "smile" as I've heard it called), both of whom will seek to blame the other for McCain's failed Presidential campaign this year (aren't I being presumptive?). After all; Palin alienated about 60% of the country and a lot of Romney's advisers transferred from his campaign to McCain's when Romney packed it in. So that'll be fun. Quite whether the Republican Party will be in a fit state to contest an election in 2012 is a different matter; it all depends how quick they stop shooting at each other and blaming people over this year. I hope it goes on for a long time, because it gives satirists so much material.

It isn't quite halloween yet, but I can imagine that sight will greet my eyes at the concession speech of John McCain. Just as he's about to close up with his final remarks, Palin jumps him like a zombie. Hopefully John McCain is the person making the concession speech. There are lots of rumour that Palin has ruined his career. I blame the people behind him who forced him to adopt traditional Republican positions at the expense of his own views. As well as Palin, because she really deserves a lot of blame.

It isn't quite halloween yet, but I can imagine that sight will greet my eyes at the concession speech of John McCain. Just as he's about to close up with his final remarks, Palin jumps him like a zombie.

As a matter of fact I was wondering where you got your information. I was flying when the interview was on, so unfortunately I missed it. What did you think about the interview and Biden? What is your opinion of the group of young men arrested for the conspiracy to murder several African-American people, including Obama? It offers me better coverage than any UK media outlet and perhaps more unique and interesting stories than a major news organ like the NYT or CNN. Wouldn't touch Fox News with a barge pole, for obvious reasons. Why hello Hannity & Colmes. What's that Colmes? You're not really liberal and you let Hannity walk all over you as to make the Conservative side of the item more convincing? Why, I would never have guessed. I do actually watch The Daily Show too. I did watch the interview and I found it laughable. The quoting Marx thing was, for me at least, demonstrative of the bias inherent within it. Take Barack Obama's statement of "Spread the wealth around," now it is an ambiguous phrase for a start and a very stupid error on Obama's part, as the coverage shows. However, if it was an impartial and objective interviewer you should recognise that fact; that there are two sides to it. You can take it from the Marxist perspective or you can take it from the view of ensuring that everyone benefits from national growth rather than the very top end of Wall Street; which is legitimate given that the bottom half of the USA has seen its income decline in real terms since 1980, the middle half has seen its income increase slightly in real terms since 1980 while the top 5% has seen a, arguably unfair, exponential increase in their wealth. In a fair interview, the interviewer, in their questioning, would recognise both sides of this. Or not comment on it at all. Instead, West (or the editorial staff) made their decision that it was Marxist before the interview and would approach it from that angle. That's equivalent to push polling. So I don't buy into the "hard hitting questions" malarkey that the WFTV people have put out. The neo-Nazis? Disgusting, disgraceful, an insult to humanity. I believe they have links to some of the neo-Nazi groups operating in Europe, one of which is known as Combat 18 and operates out of the UK. I've come across them before, very nasty. They're essentially thugs though; this plot against Obama shows that. The plot wasn't very well planned and wasn't a professional or well thought out attack on him. However, imagine if they had someone with brains to organise them. Then I would be very, very scared. The defining feature about that plot was Obama's response, which I have to give him exceptional kudos for. We are in agreement. Neither CNN nor Fox do I watch. Hannity and Colmes... now that is a joke. My favorites are Jim Lehrer, BBC and NPR (National Public Radio). As for the wealth in this country, you are exact in your statement. And I do not believe that we have seen the worst of it. When the credit card mess finally rears it's ugly head, then there will be another major drop in the stock market and perhaps people will wake up and spend money in a fiscally responsible manner. Now most people think they are 'entitled' to lifestyles of the rich and famous whether or not they actually have the money for it. As long as there is space on the card... charge, charge, charge. As for the Neo-Nazis, I am at a loss for words. If Osama Bin Laden, who is brilliant, got his hands on this group, the world would be in trouble. Obama has raised himself above the rest with his response. What I find incredibly interesting is that back when Clinton and Obama were fighting for the nomination, many of the African-Americans here in Memphis had the sentiment that if Obama won the nomination, he would be assassinated. It is a bit unnerving to see this come out on the news. Especially since they are right here in Memphis. NPR? I'm impressed. I did see a Pew Research study which showed that PBS and NPR viewers/listeners were some of the most informed about geopolitics and didn't suffer from some of the illusions about US foreign policy (Saddam being linked to 9/11, for example, was believed by only 5% of NPR listeners surveyed). That explains quite a bit anyway. I think you're right too, what we've seen is the banks' own credit undermining the system with bad debt picked up from the mortgage market and the second shock is going to be from personal debt, primarily in the form of credit cards, which will bite into the retail and consumer sections of the economy. Given that the entire Western economy post-Regan and Thatcher has been built on consumerism, that doesn't bode well. I think we're going to see a severe global recession, with economies shrinking by up to 5% per annum for about 3 years. That's my ultra-gloomy estimate of course, my lighter one which relies on several crises not rearing their head would be a recession of 1-3% in 2009, with minor growth appearing in 2010. I can see Detroit being hit really hard; particularly in the form of the car companies who were hit first by the banks' credit crunch and will next be hit by a drop in consumer spending as they have to cope with their personal debt. General Motor's is the weakest of the two; Ford is in a marginally better position and Chrysler is a non-entity by this stage - I'm surprised they can afford to open their doors in the morning. I think you're overestimating Bin Laden, but I think if someone like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other serious terrorist planner had their hands on a group of violent, disillusioned and ideologically blind young men such as these then things would become very bad. Of course, that is what drives the majority of terrorism round the world; disillusioned young men who turn their disillusionment into anger and then that anger is shaped and directed by terrorist handlers; that's why Lebanon is in such a mess. But it is a very sorry state of affairs where you have to take such a negative, depressed attitude about a presidential candidate. I think the cumulative effect of JFK and RFK hangs heavy on the USA. What do you think of the new Israeli Premier, Tzipi Livni, and her plans for Palestine?

As a matter of fact I was wondering where you got your information. I was flying when the interview was on, so unfortunately I missed it. What did you think about the interview and Biden? What is your opinion of the group of young men arrested for the conspiracy to murder several African-American people, including Obama? It offers me better coverage than any UK media outlet and perhaps more unique and interesting stories than a major news organ like the NYT or CNN. Wouldn't touch Fox News with a barge pole, for obvious reasons. Why hello Hannity & Colmes. What's that Colmes? You're not really liberal and you let Hannity walk all over you as to make the Conservative side of the item more convincing? Why, I would never have guessed. I do actually watch The Daily Show too. I did watch the interview and I found it laughable. The quoting Marx thing was, for me at least, demonstrative of the bias inherent within it. Take Barack Obama's statement of "Spread the wealth around," now it is an ambiguous phrase for a start and a very stupid error on Obama's part, as the coverage shows. However, if it was an impartial and objective interviewer you should recognise that fact; that there are two sides to it. You can take it from the Marxist perspective or you can take it from the view of ensuring that everyone benefits from national growth rather than the very top end of Wall Street; which is legitimate given that the bottom half of the USA has seen its income decline in real terms since 1980, the middle half has seen its income increase slightly in real terms since 1980 while the top 5% has seen a, arguably unfair, exponential increase in their wealth. In a fair interview, the interviewer, in their questioning, would recognise both sides of this. Or not comment on it at all. Instead, West (or the editorial staff) made their decision that it was Marxist before the interview and would approach it from that angle. That's equivalent to push polling. So I don't buy into the "hard hitting questions" malarkey that the WFTV people have put out. The neo-Nazis? Disgusting, disgraceful, an insult to humanity. I believe they have links to some of the neo-Nazi groups operating in Europe, one of which is known as Combat 18 and operates out of the UK. I've come across them before, very nasty. They're essentially thugs though; this plot against Obama shows that. The plot wasn't very well planned and wasn't a professional or well thought out attack on him. However, imagine if they had someone with brains to organise them. Then I would be very, very scared. The defining feature about that plot was Obama's response, which I have to give him exceptional kudos for.

Horatio, did you see Barbara West interview Joe Biden on WFTV? (If you're wondering how I manage to get all this information from the UK, I use the delightful HuffPo - which though biased, offers me more interesting information than I could get elsewhere)

Joe the Plumber... I'm sure he didn't think he would be famous. At least both the parties recognized him. Why Joe the would-benefit-under-Obama's-tax-plan, hasn't-paid-part-of-his-income-tax, not-a-liscensed plumber though? Probably because McCain wants to accuse Obama of socialism. By the way, Horatio, did you watch the Simon Schama programme? The BBC version was not available for. Viewing in the USA. Darn. Just like I can't watch the Daily Show on the Comedy Central website... By the way; Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama. Thoughts?

Joe the Plumber... I'm sure he didn't think he would be famous. At least both the parties recognized him. Why Joe the would-benefit-under-Obama's-tax-plan, hasn't-paid-part-of-his-income-tax, not-a-liscensed plumber though? Probably because McCain wants to accuse Obama of socialism. By the way, Horatio, did you watch the Simon Schama programme?

I think Joe the Plumber is now more well known than Sarah Palin... He's given more interviews than her certainly, gave his viewpoints clearly and concisely and didn't claim he was a maverick.

Incidentally, I've watched the debate on YouTube (Cspan upload all the Presidential debates to YouTube in full) and I am spectacularly unimpressed, as I always am with these debates. I'd declare Obama the winner; more statesman like while McCain was... bizzare.

ron paul Allow me to finish off that sentence: "Ron Paul is a lunatic." Well, Bloomberg is the 8th richest American, so I'd expect him to be amazing at finances. McCain should have chosen... to not stand on the GOP ticket? The right-wing of the party has ruined him and the choice of Palin was largely for them. But who to pick for Veep instead? It is incredibly frustrating, although that's why I don't watch anything involving a FOX News anchor, particularly Hannity and O'Reilly. Did you see Barney Frank and O'Reilly have a shouting match? It was quite funny to see a congressman take O'Reilly to task for a change rather than let him shout him down. Personally, I side with the argument that the "voter purges" and the strikes against ACORN are fabricating the myth of voter fraud and voter registration fraud, not in response to them. It is more out of a desire to seem tough on the issue rather than in response to the issue, which is why Democrats and Republicans are both participating in them. That's only my feeling though, because the issue is so obsucred by government and press it is hard to come to a conclusion. If the government doesn't initiate prosecution against ACORN or produce some evidence, I'm going to assume that it is false accusations.

McCain would disagree, but Bloomberg wouldn't. Here's an interesting point: What makes a fiscal conservative? Someone who provides for the poor, ill and elderly, but keeps a balanced budget and will raise taxes to do so or someone who is dedicated to cutting back government, state and taxes? I'd say Bloomberg's model of financial conservatism is better for the country, both in short and long term. If the Presidential debate is anything like the last two, it will be Obama 3 : McCain nil. McCain should fire the GOP, they were the ones who ruined his Presidential bid by insisting on this bizzare policy switch so McCain was in line with every Bush proposal, they were the ones who fostered people like Steve Schmidt on him. The people behind the scenes have destroyed that man. I mean, when Karl Rove is your voice of moral reason? That's like having the Devil step back and say" Woah, slow down there. Bit too far. Just take a deep breath and take a step back." Thoughts on ACORN? I hear that the allegations made against them are false, but I'll reserve judgement until the prosecution actually provides some evidence rather than shrieking at FOX News and hoping it sticks.

Anyone who calls Palin a "cancer" is outstanding by me. Did you see one of the videos interviewing people coming out of a Palin rally in Ohio? One child said (I kid you not): "You need gloves to touch him." That, to me, sounds freakishly like some of the racist myths propogated by segregationists in the 1960s and the Nazis in the 1930s. I blame FOX News, personally. When it comes to Hillary's campaign, I blame Mark Penn more than her. I think she was misguided in who she hired to act on her behalf and that subsequently undermined and destroyed her. Joe Biden reminds me of Lyndon Johnson to be honest, which is a good thing. He'd be a good VP and, although it hopefully won't come to this, a good President. The economy? Well, the UK is apparently leading the way by recapitalising the banks (which is the model Paulson has just adapted I'm told and will use that $700bn to buy the American people some banks), but secretly we just stole that plan from the Swedes who used it to solve their own credit crunch in 1992. I think the plan to recapitalise the banks and underwrite intrabank lending has sorted the credit crunch out in the long term; however, the industries which rely on the credit markets to function will need support in the coming months and years. What is needed now is some Kenysian economics, following exactly what Roosevelt did. The biggest markets to be hit by the financial crisis are the construction and small business industries. So, to relieve the construction industry, the federal and state government (and in my country, national and local government) should invest in green power; building hydroelectric dams, wind turbines, wave and tidal power and much more. Not only will this relieve the industry and keep blue-collar workers employed, but it helps build a better, more ecologically friendly and energy independent future. To cover the rest; investment in public works, upgrading old infrastructure to new standards. Public Works have always been part of keeping employment up and the economy going through times of strife; the 1930s cleary show that. As to small businesses who can't raise the capital by other means, since we're investing in these banks we should put terms and conditions on the investment. Ensure that the banks give money to small business and make sure that they do not foreclose on homeowners (UK got these guarantees when we took stakes in the banks, I don't know what Paulson and Bush are doing). I remember when Bush said he wasn't going to nationalise Fannie and Freddie, but what is clear now is that the government needs to step in to free up the financial markets, while providing support for those sectors reliant on lending to function. Roosevelt did it in the 1930s, Clement Atlee did it to rebuild Britain after World War Two and it is what is needed now in order to rebuild, now that the world of Reaganomics and Thatcherite economic policy has come crashing down.

There were two break-ins... one was the Democratic National Committee and the other one was the psychiatrist's place. Poor Senator Eagleton. As to the apartment, it was the office of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate hotel complex.

I quite liked the response of Conservative columnist David Brooks on Palin: "[sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices." I find her reprehensible on all fronts; particularly though that she casts herself as a woman's candidate (as if women only vote for fellow women), but is completely contrary to every ideal of feminism and women's rights. Hillary has been impressing me, however, as much as that might bring disgust to you. I liked the line that she did with Joe Biden (another person I respect); "America will rise from the Bushes' ashes." She's apparently in line for the top job in the Senate or a Cabinet post, which will infuriate you immensly Horatio I'm sure.

It's only money. Regrettably, I need money to live. The electronics and everything, I can deal without, but the food and water... less so. By the by, have you heard of Simon Schama? He's a historian at Colombia University and has recently released a book called "The American Future: A History." I thoroughly recommend it to read, but also to watch this, the companion BBC television series: (Thanks for the link. But unfortunately we are not permitted to allow links. If anyone wants to look further, look under BBC, Simon Schama and his book title. ...Horatio]

Dear whoever decided to package sub-prime mortgages and send them round the world's financial system, I hate you. Love, The World. Interesting factoid of the day: Warren Buffet warned of the problems the sub-prime motgages would create in 2002. Second interesting factoid of the day: My local council just lost £11 million it had with an Icelandic bank that just went under, on account of the Icelandic banking system imploding. The Prime Minister has frozen the assets of all Icelandic properties in this country and is now intendeding to prosecute Iceland's financial services and possibly the Icelandic government for negligence. Third interesting factoid of the day: We're dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomed.