Verbal Diarleah (The Diary of Leah)

Whatever your opinion of Obama is, George Bush sure as hell never did this. He wouldn’t even allow coffins to be photographed by the media. Out of sight, out of mind is not the way to deal with dead soldiers.

The BBC is reporting this morning that the person who leaked the receipts and information about the extravagant expenses of various MPs this past summer did so because he thought that in light of soldiers in Afghanistan having poor equipment it was unfair for MPs to be spending so frivolously. The BBC has also reported that “Gordon Brown said he did not understand the motivation for the leak.” To that I just want to say ‘Really, Gordon? Really?!’

How could one NOT understand the motivations behind this civil servant’s leak? I suppose he has to say that though, since leaking private documents is technically a no-no. But where would we be today if it weren’t for leaks such as this? Watergate, for a prime example, would never have come to light and Nixon would have remained in office.

Neither of these scandals is anything more than just that: scandalous; but regardless of their consequences in world politics the corruption, malfeasance and, to a certain extent, outright stealing that these two leaks exposed was very necessary. How can one put trust in a politician if he or she is stealing from you or others? Many would argue that you cannot put trust in any politician. There are certainly many MPs who use the expenses system rarely and only for absolutely necessary reimbursements. Unfortunately it seems that a very large number – more than one would have hoped – use it for almost diabolical thievery of the public taxpayer.

What this civil servant did, to leak this information to the press, I feel was – heroic may be too strong a word here – brave at the very least. He saw something he felt was not right and blew the whistle. He had a conscience. If this person had leaked this information out of spite against a specific person or MP then, no, he would not have my support. But because he saw an inequality of sorts in the system and chose to highlight this I wholeheartedly thank him for his actions.

It is just so unfortunate that the expenses scandal, despite several pleas that the system needed to be changed, ended up changing virtually nothing. Sure, a few MPs lost their jobs; but with next year’s election a whole new crop of them will turn up ready to abuse the very same system. Until that changes, nothing will change.

I wish more elected representatives had the, frankly, balls to stand up to wingnut constituents like this. It is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while and absolutely fantastic. Well done Barney Frank, well done!

Maybe Arizona should – and I’m just throwing this out there – consider regulating assault rifles? If a man shows up at a Presidential rally – hell, any rally for that matter – with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder, perhaps, just perhaps, it’s not a simple carrying of arms but a statement about what that individual would like to do with that weapon? Just a thought, really.

It’s not as though a gun, especially the assault rifle, is this season’s newest fashion accessory. I don’t think you’re going to get Vogue magazine devoting a shoot to the latest in gun fashions. ‘This season, don’t forget your assault rifle. Swing it over your shoulder at a jaunty angle. Decorate it with polka dots or tweed. Make it as individual as you are!’ Uh uh, isn’t going to happen.

I mean, come on! I don’t care if there are technically no laws against carrying the weapon in public, there is a sense of what is acceptable, isn’t there? I certainly think so. I don’t want to be ‘conditioned’ to the carrying of weapons in public as the Arizona gentleman suggests. The statements this man and the man in New Hampshire are making are very clear and, in my opinion, frightening.

Please, PLEASE my American friends do not believe the hype on healthcare and the British NHS that the right-wing nutjobs are launching at you from every angle. The NHS does not put a price on life. It does not allow people to just die. It does not consider old people not worth saving. It has its problems as much as any other system but it is not as bad as the right-wing campaigners would have you believe.

For starters, all prescriptions on the NHS are only £7. That’s only $10 or $12. Birth control is free and many elderly and lower-income individuals are able to have free prescriptions. Think how expensive drugs are in the states. Imagine that cost going down, way down.

Waiting lists. Yes, sometimes you have to wait just a bit for a procedure or to see a doctor. I had a procedure and had to wait about six weeks; but the thing is, it wasn’t an urgent procedure. If you’ve got cancer, you’re going to be seen pretty darn quick. Yes, my doctor’s office is busy and I stand a better chance of getting an appointment by going there in person at bang on 8.00am; but I’ve always gotten an appointment. And if I were that ill and phoned up, they would put me in straight away. It’s all about severity. The more severe your case, the quicker you are seen. That’s the way it should be. Little six-year-old Suzy with her sniffles should not go before 65-year-old Jim with his shingles no matter what little Suzy’s mother pays.

It’s all about fairness in the NHS. Everyone has an equal opportunity to see a doctor. It’s far from Orwellian and it’s certainly not evil. In fact, there are times when I prefer living with the NHS than I did living with American pay-for healthcare, honestly. Think how you want to think about Obama’s healthcare plan. I don’t care if you are still against it, but please, PLEASE do not believe everything you are hearing about the British health service. It is a lot better than the right-wing nutters would have you believe. From one who has experienced both systems, trust me, it is a good system.

Hillary Clinton must be just a little bit irked with the fact that Bill was able to turn up in North Korea and negotiate the release of the journalists. She surely must be thinking ‘but that’s my job’ or ‘here we go again, I’m just the wife, my contributions mean nothing.’ I’d be very interested to be a fly on the wall in their marriage.

Video of British soldier shouting abuse at Iraqis shown at Baha Mousa inquiry

Jack Straw, Justice Secretary, took the time today in a Guardian Op-Ed to outline how Britain is trying to rid the world of mass murderers and war criminals.

We must send a clear message that those responsible for these most evil of crimes will never find a safe haven in the United Kingdom.

Perhaps Mr Straw would like to look at the other news-worthy item this week: Convicted killers still at large

Nearly 1,000 offenders who should have been sent back to prison are still at large, according to Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

Perhaps before we go touting ourselves as a nation of justice where criminals “feel the full weight of the law in this country” we should be on the lookout for those 1,000 or so murderers and rapists still on the loose. What do you think there, Jacky boy??

Would someone please tell Dick Cheney he is no longer the Vice-President and his opinion no longer matters?

The president will address…national security, in his speech Thursday…

Former Vice President Dick Cheney…is slated to give an opposing argument Thursday morning. Cheney has charged that Obama’s national security decisions have left the United States more vulnerable to attack.

You had your eight years; now go retire somewhere like all the other former Presidents and Vice-Presidents. Or, if you feel you need to carry on, a la Al Gore, at least choose a topic on which your own administration didn’t cock things up so badly. Al Gore was arguably more respected after being VP because he took up the mantle of fighting climate change. Perhaps good ol’ Dick could start lecturing on the best paper shredders on the market or how-to guides on electoral fraud. Hell I don’t know; just someone get him off the national stage.

There is a very funny commentary in the Guardian today where the author is imagining what the first 100 days of a John McCain Presidency would have been like.  I’ve reproduced it here so you don’t have to go elsewhere, unless you want to.

Day 1: Having spent the nearly three months between election day and inauguration day being brought up to speed by Dick Cheney on effective concealment strategies for the Bush administration’s plethoric dirty secrets and giving Vice President Sarah Palin a crash-course in introduction to government, President McCain does not hit the ground running. He is stunned to find out that the September suspension of his campaign did not magically solve the financial crisis and that the fundamentals of the economy are not strong.

Day 2: President McCain nominates the only Republican willing to accept the position as secretary of the Treasury, whose appointment is fast-tracked through Congress in light of the growing economic crisis.

Day 3: Treasury secretary Ron Paul promptly disbands the department of the Treasury.

Days 4-18: The stock markets crash, precipitating a run on the banks, which in turn hastens the financial collapse. Mass chaos erupts across the country. Vice President Palin blames the economic catastrophe on University of Illinois professor William Ayers and calls for his execution. Texas announces its secession from the union. Chuck Norris is elected president of Texistan.

Day 19: President McCain tries to restore order by giving a televised speech which will later become known as the “My Friends, We’re F***ed” debacle.

Day 20: Dick Cheney shoots President McCain in the face.

Day 21: President McCain apologizes to Dick Cheney for all the trouble his being shot in the face has caused the former vice president.

Day 22: The National Inquirer publishes a story that secretary of education Ann Coulter is pregnant with President McCain’s love child. White House press secretary Jonah Goldberg denies the report, calling it “just another piece of liberal fascism, evidence of the secret history of the American Left, from Mussolini to the politics of meaning.” MSNBC’s Chuck Todd points out that Mussolini was not part of the American Left, prompting Goldberg to harangue MSNBC into terminating Todd’s employment. Todd returns to his previous role as Murray on HBO’s Flight of the Conchords.

Days 23-29: Photographic evidence of the McCain-Coulter liaison surfaces and is widely published across the blogosphere, eventually erupting in the mainstream press. Cindy McCain files for divorce. Education secretary Ann Coulter tearfully admits the reports are true.

Day 30: President McCain resigns, making his presidency the shortest in American history by one day. President Sarah Palin, the first female president of the United States, is sworn in. Feminists mourn.

Day 31: President Palin appoints her second-in-command. Samuel “Joe the Vice President” Wurzelbacher’s first order of business is to call a press conference where he explains his primary role will be “czar of shit-kicking.”

Day 32: With the country having disintegrated into utter pandemonium, President Palin tries to foster national unity by declaring war on Iran. The National Review declares Palin a political savant. The New Republic also backs the invasion, “reluctantly”. The American people, now largely subsisting on a diet of venison and Styrofoam, are too busy killing each other for shotgun shells and scrounging through trash piles to properly appreciate her alleged genius.

Days 33-67: 10% of the American population succumbs to rabies.

Day 68: President Palin becomes a grandmother for the second time when her oldest son Track and daughter-in-law Miley Cyrus-Palin have a bouncing baby boy, Trek.

Day 69: The US dollar is officially worth less than a Ron Paul Liberty Dollar, the national currency of Texistan. Canada and Mexico begin construction of giant walls along the United States’ northern and southern borders.

Day 70: President Palin finally releases her long-awaited plan for economic recovery. Lacking what Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, blogging from his fall-out shelter in an undisclosed location, calls “anything resembling a functional knowledge of finance, commerce, or even basic math,” the report inspires further widespread panic among the dwindling numbers of still-sentient Americans.

Days 71-99: The American military stages a coup, withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, and redeploying them to the United States, where they remove from the White House and associated cabinet offices President Palin, Joe the Vice President, secretary of state Todd Palin, attorney general Judith Sheindlin, and the rest of the Palin administration, all of whom are deported to Texistan. Several suffer horribly during the swine flu epidemic that follows.

Martial law is instituted to re-establish institutional stability and general order across the 49 states. In what the history books will deem the “Great American Do-Over,” military leaders will convince the man who should have been president to come to Washington and assume the presidency, marking the beginning of a period of restoration after our long national nightmare.

Day 100: President Al Gore is sworn in.