catholiclefty

Can't really let the day go by without saying a very unfond farewell to the outgoing President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. Sad indeed that my time living in the US is forever coloured by the fact it was during the reign (and, indeed, 'reign' is more or less the right word) of these 'folks' (to use a Bush-ism). Whatever disappointments we'll get from Obama - and we will get many disappointments, to be sure - at least a dismal, appalling Presidency-that-should-never-have-been has finally reached an end.

To quote the classic Simpsons episode Burns Verkaufen Der Kraftwerk

Nah na nah nah
Nah na nah nah
Hey-hey-hey
GOODBYE!

There was a downright astonishing piece on the ABC 'World' News last night which almost made me throw something through the TV screen at the hypocrisy of it all. They were talking about Darfur, how awful it was, and how the real reason there aren't people there sorting it out is because China keeps on vetoing things at the UN (that'll be the 'useless' UN that was effectively broken by the USA in 2003, will it?) because they are, err, buying oil from Sudan and selling them weapons in return. Well, I wonder where they got the idea to do such a thing as that from? At least they haven't tried to invade Sudan, eh?

Was it really 10 years ago that I was in my college room watching Labour win the General Election? I guess so. And what a disappointment it has mostly been, from the betrayal just a couple of months in over tuition fees, right through to the fundamental changes in the relationship between the individual and the state which has crept in day by day and will have ramifications for years to come. And I don't have letters big enough to type IRAQ in the size it deserves. Even in the euphoria of that night 10 years ago, I knew I'd be bitterly disappointed by some things this government would do. But not like this. Not like this.

Was it really 4 years ago that I was in my apartment in the USA watching George Bush pretending to be macho on an aircraft carrier with 'Mission Accomplished' blandished loudly behind him - while the packers cleared out my apartment for my move back to the UK? I guess so. And how ludicrous that looks now. How much blood has been shed because of a tableau of lies, oil, pride, and American imperial ambitions? I knew Iraq wasn't going to turn out well, but not this badly. Not this badly.

Was it really 3 years ago that I was sitting in the front room of the family home in Liverpool, on my first morning out of hospital in almost 4 months, watching the news talking about the 10 new members of the EU? Yes, it was, and who knew where my life would have gone from there then? All in all, that hasn't gone too badly, even if the world has been falling to pieces at the same time.

May the 1st, the day of the worker, the socialist day. I don't see the Red Flag flying anywhere near here today. Perhaps it is time to start grabbing back politics from these dangerous jokers that we've allowed to 'represent' us for far too long.

I've just picked up on this survey in the Torygraph about how we perceive the USA.

All I can say it that it's pretty shocking, even given the depth of feeling towards the USA we have as a country. We know we're bound up with them, and it seems we really don't like where they are going.

• 22 per cent believe that the present American government's policies and actions make the world a better place to live in, whereas 65 per cent regard America's influence in the world today as predominantly malign.



• President Bush's ratings are 'horrendous'. 43 per cent think he is 'terrible' as President.



• 72 per cent reckon Mr Bush cares little for democracy and is merely using his pro-democracy rhetoric as a pretext for pursuing selfish American interests.



• 76 per cent think that, even if the president really does want to promote the cause of freedom and democracy in the world, he is not going about it in the right way.



• 58 per cent reckon it is now fair to describe the US as "an essentially imperial power, one that wants to dominate the world by one means or another".



• 72 per cent believe American society is essentially "unequal".



• Three quarters of Britons think the US is "badly led" (73 per cent), "ignorant of the outside world" (73 per cent) and "doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks" (83 per cent).

I suppose it shows on most things the British have a reasonable amount of good sense and moderation - a feeling I often get when watching Question Time and somebody says something reasonable about capital punishment, or immigration, or crime, etc. etc. and a good proportion of the audience actually claps them. It's quite heartening, in a way.

The United States Supreme Court can still do some things right, it seems. It had ruled that Bush's idea of 'military tribunals' of the Gitmo detainees are against both international and domestic law.

Finally. Someone in the USA standing up against the Executive's power-grab. About darn time.

A very interesting article in Rolling Stone.

Personally, I didn't think a great deal of Kerry, and given a blocking Republican Congress he may not have got very far. As it is, there is hope the Republicans will lose a least one house of Congress in November, and the presidency in 2008 (to Al Gore :-) I hope!)

It's a bit like if Neil Kinnock had won the 1992 general election. He probably would have lost the next one and we'd have had years more of Conservatism - and much as I moan about Tony Blair, that almost certainly would have been worse.

I'm not too sure how to write down what I think about this, even two days after the event. Am I surprised that suicides occurred? No. Many attempts have been made, this has been telegraphed for a long time.

What did surprise and dismay me - and leave me close to speechless - was the reaction from 'officials' - from calling it 'an act of asymmetric warfare' (camp commander Rear Admiral Harris) to 'a PR stunt' (Ms Colleen Graffy, so-called 'Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy' (ha!)). Even with my abysmally low expectations of what to expect from the Bush administration, this amazed and sickened me. This callous disregard for human life is a new, deeply troubling, low.

Was it a 'PR stunt' to attract more extremists to terrorism? Most likely not - rather more likely acts of despair from people without hope who have been locked up without trial for years, contrary to every principle of justice that we supposedly hold dear. But the feelings - the downright anger - that people feel at this sort of contemptuous comment IS going to be a recruiting sergeant for extremists and terrorists. What a terrible disaster.

Guantanamo must be closed and immediately. The people in there should be given a full, fair, civilian trial - or be released.

What amazes me is how certain segments of US society still think this 'camp' is justified. Can they not see the immeasurable harm it is causing?

So, inevitably, the US Senate has blocked the idea of an amendment to the US Constitution to ban gay marriage.

What a pointless waste-of-time that was. An increasingly desperate President trying to appeal to his fundamentalist conservative core, and achieving nothing.

The issue of two consenting adults actively choosing to make a loving life-long commitment to one another, whatever the moral opinions of church leaders on the issue, is not exactly in the top hundred - or even the top million - things that the US Government should be working on. It is *certainly* not something to go into the constitution, at any rate.

It's no great secret that if there is someone I'd like to see as the next President of the USA, it would be Al Gore. There's something about the guy I just really like. Doubtless, if he had become President in 2000, as he probably ought to have, then I'd be frequently moaning about him. Still...

And he has a consistent record of speaking out *against* the Iraq invasion, and *for* decisive action to tackle global warming. That makes him the best candidate by far, in my book. Except that he is denying he will run again. I hope he changes his mind, for all our sakes.

Anyway, today he has called the current administration a renegade band of rightwing extremists which seems a pretty fair description - though as usual, prepare for the onslaught of virulent retaliation, personal attacks, and cries of 'sore loser' from the right.