Category — United Kingdom

First, from the people who just booted John Howard. The good side is that the meat looks great on the red Christmas Spode, and it really sets off the mint sauce. I’m told The Lop-Eared Dwarf is especially tender. Key chain ferules available for the feet at my blog address. The rabbit is probably grill-ready. I’m not sure.

Second, from the people whose Sceptr’d Isle will soon be the Scimitar’d Isle, and Hyde Park corner turned into a hangman’s scaffold. What’s that refrain I hear? “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control, no dark sarcasm in the classroom, teachers leave them kids alone….allinallyerjustanutherbrickinthewall!”

Third, from a nation where The War on Poverty produced this grub; he will certainly end up tenured at some squalid Northeastern academic sinkhole. He seems to have attended night courses at the Eldridge Cleaver School of Hair Styling & Tablecloth Design as an H Rap Brown Scholar. America. What a country!

Britain really is a 21^st century nation. Its education ministers are requiring parents purchase high speed Internet connections for their school age children. Leafing through National Geographic searching for naked women is so old school. Say hello to education in the digital age featuring high speed access to porn videos. You can just sense the momentum being built for education here as IQs start “swelling”.

Maybe Ron Paul is right about our becoming isolationist.

Ambulance service receives emergency call every 8 seconds as Binge Britain welcomes in 2008

(Many photos for illustrative purposes)

Binge-drinking revellers fuelled a chaotic start to 2008 as over-stretched ambulance workers battled to cope with emergency calls flooding in at a peak of one every eight seconds.In the capital alone the London Ambulance Service had to deal with its highest number of emergency calls since the Millennium - the majority related to excess alcohol.

Even the 1962 Horace Greeley HS, Chappaqua beer bashes didn’t reach this level. They were fairly disgraceful on their own, BUT remember, back then , no nanny state, no DUI laws, 18 cut it. All was legal.
I lived one town away, however in that school district; we were not social equals. Therefore, I was deprived of the opportunity to throw up on some bozos $80,000 Persian rug as well as abase myself.

Nickel-dime millionaires bought a big house, joined the GC, put their kids in the school system, drove taxes to heretofore unheard of heights, then went financially t*ts up.

This “partying” in “Merrie Olde” is redolent of the same class of fools.

If you have the stomach for it, the truth-speaking link can be found here, embedded in an account of the dispute between “public intellectual” Terry Eagleton and novelist Martin Amis.

Tim Blair has the operative sentences:

“An audience of British leftists is asked: “Do you feel morally superior to the Taliban?” Their response:

Only about a third raised a hand to say they did, a nice demonstration of relativist liberal guilt.”

About which, we can conclude that two-thirds of the gathered lefties think of themselves at least as morally EQUIVALENT to the Taliban. Can I get an amen to that? No doubt a similar sample could be found here in Connecticut.

Socialized medicine promises free, unlimited access to health care, but even socialists can’t ignore basic economic principles:

According to one tally, there are at least eight NHS trusts which have introduced some form of restriction for non-urgent operations on the overweight.

Such measures, which range from patients having to prove they have tried to lose weight to straightforward refusal to refer those above a certain BMI (body mass index), received something of an endorsement from then health secretary Patricia Hewitt earlier this year.

As a scarce economic resource, health care has to be allocated. British bureaucrats target the obese because they’re easy pickings, but they’re not against hitting the elderly either:

The Government admitted that more than 5,000 sick and elderly people - a figure derided by Age Concern as far too low - had been forced to find thousands of pounds a month in nursing home fees when the NHS should have been paying.

The total amount of compensation over the long-running scandal of NHS ‘ continuing care’ is likely to be over £100 million - with some payments certain to include reparations for the homes elderly people were forced to sell.

Kind of interesting to see “big hearted” socialists picking on the elderly since they’re least capable of fighting back.

Free health care indeed! Putting health care allocation decisions in the hands of the government doesn’t strike me as a better system for allocating this scarce resource. If you think your HMO is bad, wait until Hillary Clinton is making those decisions for you.

From Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce:
(Link to Book)

December 19th, 1914 -
Lt Geoffrey Heinekey, new to the 2nd Queen’s Westiminster Rifles wrote to his mother, “A most extradordinary thing happened…some Germans came out and held up their hands and began to take in some of their wounded and so we ourselves immediately got out of our trenches and began bringing in our wounded also. The Germans then beckoned to us and a lot of us went over and talked to them and they helped us to bury our dead. This lasted the whole morning, and I talked to several of them and I must say they seemed like extraordinarily fine men…It seemed too ironical for words. There, the night before, we had been having a terrific battle, and the morning after there we were, smoking their cigarettes and they smoking ours (p 5).”

“…As night fell on Christmas Eve the British soldiers noticed the Germans putting up small Christmas trees along with candles at the top of their trenches and many began to shout in English “We no shoot if you no shoot (p. 25). The firing stopped along the many miles of the trenches, and the British began to notice that the Germans were coming out of the trenches toward the British who responded by coming out to meet them. They mixed and mingled in No Man’s Land and soon began to exchange chocolates for cigars and various newspaper accounts of the war which contained the propaganda from their respective homelands. Many of the officers on each side tried to prevent the event from occurring but the soldiers ignored the risk of a court-martial or of being shot.”

Such is, or used to be, the power of this important Christian occasion. It still is for us. A wish for peace, and a Joyous Christmas, from me to everyone, Christian or otherwise, everywhere…and especially to the faithful folks here at New England Republican.

Plus c’est le meme chose, plus ca change….

George Orwell, in 1941, in his essay “England Your England“

The mentality of the English left-wing intelligentsia can be studied in half a dozen weekly and monthly papers. The immediately striking thing about all these papers is their generally negative, querulous attitude, their complete lack at all times of any constructive suggestion. There is little in them except the irresponsible carping of people who have never been and never expect to be in a position of power. Another marked characteristic is the emotional shallowness of people who live in a world of ideas and have little contact with physical reality. Many intellectuals of the Left were flabbily pacifist up to 1935, shrieked for war against Germany in the years 1935-1939, and them promptly cooled off when the war started. It is broadly though not precisely true that the people who were the most “anti-fascist” during the Spanish civil war are most defeatist now. And underlying this is the really important fact about so many of the English intelligentsia - their severance from the common culture of the country.

In intention, at any rate, the English intelligentsia are Europeanized. They take their cookery from Paris and their opinions from Moscow. In the general patriotism of the country they form a sort of island of dissident thought. England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse-racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true, that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during “God save the King” than of stealing from a poor box.

All through the critical years many left-wingers were chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British. It is questionable how much effect this had, but it certainly had some. If the English people suffered for several years a real weakening of morale, so that the Fascist nations judge that they were “decadent” and that it was safe to plunge into war, the intellectual sabotage from the Left was partly responsible….

It is, of course, an open question as to whether the American Left can boast a single “intellectual” when their model for house intellectual is Charlie Rose or worse, Bill Moyers. But if Paul Johnson’s definition is apt (”an intellectual is someone who cares more about ideas than about people”) there might be a few.

Albert Gore doesn’t quality but Noam Chomsky probably does. The former is a raving lunatic on all fronts, but the latter poses interesting ideas about linguistics even though he has detestable opinions about politics.

Fortunately for the West, Britain could decline into leftist irrelevance because America sat in the wings ready to rescue the world from barbarism. But today, if not us, who? The worms are in the apple.

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Congress is keeping Andrews Air Force base plenty busy this year ferrying lawmakers all over the globe at taxpayers’ expense. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi took his wife, nine Democrats and two Republicans - Reps. Dan Lungren of California and Mike Rogers of Alabama - on a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean last week. After stops in Honduras and Mexico, they stopped in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the delegation stayed at the five-star Caneel Bay Resort.

In a separate trip to the Caribbean last week, Rep. Eliot Engel of New York squired his wife and four Democratic members to Grenada and Trinidad. [snip]

All told, the military flew at least 13 congressional delegations to various destinations during the Easter recess — at an estimated rate of $10,000 or more per flying hour.

The congressional delegation trips, known as CODELs, are paid for by taxpayers. They are supposed to be directly related to members’ official duties, and House guidelines also stipulate that delegations include members of both parties to qualify for military planes — a requirement that Speaker Nancy Pelosi waived for Engel’s group and two other delegations. [snip]

In their successful campaign to win control of Congress last fall, Democrats accused Republicans of extravagant travel paid for by lobbyists. Some of these trips carried a strong whiff of influence peddling. The worst that can be said of CODELS, and critics often say it, is that they’re junkets. [snip]

Not the Dims, they wouldn’t have this culture of taxpayer abuse; that’s the GOP rip-off.

Thompson’s office said he toured the Caribbean because he now chairs the Homeland Security Committee and wanted to see vacation hot spots to “examine border security and port security.” Three other members of the delegation also brought along their spouses.

It is well known that the Caneel Bay resort hires terrorist pool boys; Grenada and Trinidad are bomb making factories and free fire zones.

Since al-Qaeda has taken over the US Virgin Islands, Iowa and Kansas have become nightly targets for terrorist attacks. The three other members said they took their spouses along to prove the resort isn’t as bad as the media makes it out to be.

At the Caneel Bay resort, where room rates reach $1,100 per night, the spokeswoman said Thompson and his wife paid the “government rate.” But, according to the reservations department, Caneel Bay doesn’t “offer any government rates.” [snip]

The Caribbean trip led by Engel, who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, explored the “best practices for emergency disaster relief” and energy policy, according to his office.

Traveling with Engel and his wife were Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Tex., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who went to Belgium in a delegation led by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., earlier in the week, also joined Engel’s Caribbean trip. She brought her husband with her.

Frank’s trip to Belgium and London was related to his work as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, according to his office. The trip, which also included Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., was designed “to further understand the interrelationship between various issues related to the financial services regulatory structures” of the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, according to Frank’s office.

Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., also led a trip to Belgium over the two-week Easter recess. In February, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, took a delegation there.

They were investigating methods of international currency exchange, habitually called shopping.

“We’re at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, but apparently our members see Belgium as our most urgent international destination,” scoffed one Republican member of Congress.

Last week, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., defended Congressional travelers after a trip he took to Syria came under intense White House criticism.

“Members of Congress are not simply potted plants, though the White House apparently would like them to be,” he [Lantos] told reporters after his return. [snip]

I see Congress as a much more coherent body similar to a vegetable garden: cabbages, rutabagas, parsnips, okra…

Some individuals get it!

BAGHDAD, Iraq –British Prime Minister Tony Blair is urging the world to support Iraq’s seven-month-old government.

Blair met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Sunday during a surprise visit to Iraq.

Blair said the international community has an obligation to ensure that democracy is not defeated by terrorism.

As he flew into Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, news broke of a mass kidnapping at an Iraqi aid organization.

Despite the rampant violence, Blair said progress is being made in Iraq.

Blair also flew to Basra, in southern Iraq, to visit some of the British troops stationed there. He told them their mission in Iraq is “good and right and important.”

The trip is Blair’s sixth to Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
[snip]

Pronouncements of this type, which make eminent sense to logical, knowledgeable individuals, are lost on the MSM, liberals and the French. Of course, when the beheadings commence, the first two will be looking for the despised military to save them using any means available.

The French are in logical terms, a special case. These allium infused snail chewers waved the white sheet, again practicing their national pastime in Afghanistan. They relinquished the field to the Taliban.

All those sunburned armpits must have Martel is spinning in his grave.

Here is some of Vice President Cheney’s speech from yesterday (via Opinion Journal)

…In one of Sen. Kerry’s recent observations about foreign policy, he informed his listeners that his ideas have gained strong support, at least among unnamed foreigners he’s been spending time with. Sen. Kerry said that he has met with foreign leaders, and I quote, “who can’t go out and say this publicly, but boy they look at you and say, ‘You’ve got to win this, you’ve got to beat this guy, we need a new policy,’ things like that.”A few days ago in Pennsylvania, a voter asked Sen. Kerry directly who these foreign leaders are. Sen. Kerry said, “That’s none of your business.” But it is our business when a candidate for president claims the political endorsement of foreign leaders. At the very least, we have a right to know what he is saying to foreign leaders that makes them so supportive of his candidacy. American voters are the ones charged with determining the outcome of this election–not unnamed foreign leaders.

Sen. Kerry’s voting record on national security raises some important questions all by itself. Let’s begin with the matter of how Iraq and Saddam Hussein should have been dealt with. Sen. Kerry was in the minority of senators who voted against the Persian Gulf War in 1991. At the time, he expressed the view that our international coalition consisted of “shadow battlefield allies who barely carry a burden.” Last year, as we prepared to liberate Iraq, he recalled the Persian Gulf coalition a little differently. He said it was a “strong coalition,” and a model to be followed.

Six years after the Gulf War, in 1997, Saddam Hussein was still defying the terms of the cease-fire. And as President Bill Clinton considered military action against Iraq, he found a true believer in John Kerry. The senator from Massachusetts said, “Should the resolve of our allies wane, the United States must not lose its resolve to take action.” He further warned that if Saddam Hussein were not held to account for violation of U.N. resolutions, some future conflict would have ” greater consequence.” In 1998, Sen. Kerry indicated his support for regime change, with ground troops if necessary. And, of course, when Congress voted in October of 2002, Sen. Kerry voted to authorize military action if Saddam refused to comply with U.N. demands.

A neutral observer, looking at these elements of Sen. Kerry’s record, would assume that Sen. Kerry supported military action against Saddam Hussein. The senator himself now tells us otherwise. In January he was asked on TV if he was, “one of the antiwar candidates.” He replied, “I am.” He now says he was voting only to “threaten the use of force,” not actually to use force.

Even if we set aside these inconsistencies and changing rationales, at least this much is clear: Had the decision belonged to Sen. Kerry, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, today, in Iraq. In fact, Saddam Hussein would almost certainly still be in control of Kuwait.

Sen. Kerry speaks often about the need for international cooperation, and has vowed to usher in a “golden age of American diplomacy.” He is fond of mentioning that some countries did not support America’s actions in Iraq. Yet of the many nations that have joined our coalition–allies and friends of the United States–Sen. Kerry speaks with open contempt. Great Britain, Australia, Italy, Spain, Poland and more than 20 other nations have contributed and sacrificed for the freedom of the Iraqi people. Sen. Kerry calls these countries, quote, “window dressing.” They are, in his words, “a coalition of the coerced and the bribed.”

Many questions come to mind, but the first is this: How would Sen. Kerry describe Great Britain–coerced, or bribed? Or Italy–which recently lost 19 citizens, killed by terrorists in Najaf–was Italy’s contribution just window dressing? If such dismissive terms are the vernacular of the golden age of diplomacy Sen. Kerry promises, we are left to wonder which nations would care to join any future coalition. He speaks as if only those who openly oppose America’s objectives have a chance of earning his respect. Sen. Kerry’s characterization of our good allies is ungrateful to nations that have withstood danger, hardship, and insult for standing with America in the cause of freedom.

Sen. Kerry has also had a few things to say about support for our troops now on the ground in Iraq. Among other criticisms, he has asserted that those troops are not receiving the material support they need. Just this morning, he again gave the example of body armor, which he said our administration failed to supply. May I remind the senator that last November, at the president’s request, Congress passed an $87 billion supplemental appropriation. This legislation was essential to our ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan–providing funding for body armor and other vital equipment; hazard pay; health benefits; ammunition; fuel, and spare parts for our military. The legislation passed overwhelmingly, with a vote in the Senate of 87-12. Sen. Kerry voted “no.” I note that yesterday, attempting to clarify the matter, Sen. Kerry said, quote, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.” It’s a true fact.

On national security, the senator has shown at least one measure of consistency. Over the years, he has repeatedly voted against weapons systems for the military. He voted against the Apache helicopter, against the Tomahawk cruise missile, against even the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. He has also been a reliable vote against military pay increases–opposing them no fewer than 12 times.

Many of these very weapons systems have been used by our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and are proving to be valuable assets in the war on terror. In his defense, of course, Sen. Kerry has questioned whether the war on terror is really a war at all. Recently he said, and I quote, “I don’t want to use that terminology.” In his view, opposing terrorism is far less of a military operation and far more of an intelligence-gathering, law enforcement operation. As we have seen, however, that approach was tried before, and proved entirely inadequate to protecting the American people from the terrorists who are quite certain they are at war with us–and are comfortable using that terminology…