Current Affairs

Parliament Not Entirely Hopeless

~ Cheryl

There are a lot of things the UK government has done over the last few years that I’m not too happy with (many of which can be blamed on the now thankfully departed Bliar), but they do continue to do good things as well. Here, for example, we have news of potential changes in the abortion laws, and here some support for that idea.

There’s not a lot of point in my writing to my MP, you can see his dismal voting record here. If I were to be writing to anyone, it would probably be to Mr. Straw to ask why, given that he is going to put forward a bill to outlaw incitement to hate crimes against gays and lesbians, he is only considering giving the same protection to the disabled and the transgendered. It seems kind of sad to see the British parliament afraid to tackle civil rights legislation that has recently got through Congress (though will doubtless be vetoed by Bush).

Still Not in Kansas

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

During the Second World War us Brits (well, my ancestors, I’m not that old) did a lot of work preparing the country for a potential German invasion. One of the things we did was put up incorrect road signs so that bally Jerry would get lost trying to find his way through the twisty roads of the British countryside.

Our American friends seem to have learned from this. Kevin and I are in Kansas City. He’s here for SMOFcon, and I’m here to collect two more states. I’m hoping that I eventually be able to say that I am in Kansas, Toto, but for now I’m not, because Kansas City is in Missouri.

I’m assuming that things like this were done to confuse Communist spies because there are a lot of them spread about the country, most of which have been around for some time. Washington the city is not in Washington the state; West Texas is in California; and New Mexico is not in Mexico. However, it occurs to me that with the current concern about Muslim terrorists more could be done with this sort of tactic. Here are some suggestions.
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Do We Need Regulating?

~ Cheryl

The British Press Complaints Commission thinks that we need a voluntary code of conduct for blogs. The idea, of course, is to provide people with a means of recourse that does not involve the courts or heavy-handed government regulation. As to whether it is needed, “If you want to see how the newspaper industry would look like if it was unchecked, then look at the internet”, said Commission director Tim Toulmin. Ouch. That does mean that the Internet is worse than The Sun.

Gay Adoption: Penguin Style

~ Cheryl

Yes folks, those gay penguins have been at it again. This time the story comes from New York Zoo where two male penguins were so desperate to have a kid that their keepers gave them a fertilized egg to rear. They made a good job of it too, and the story has been made into a children’s book. Naturally the Fundies want the book burned. The Guardian has more.

Just Occasionally, Sanity Prevails

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

Kevin and I have just been doing a little happy dance around the apartment because of this.

Of course knowing the way the world works the stupid woman will turn out to be the wife or sister of some important government official and the poor police officer will lose his job. But at least for a few days the balance of karma in California has been edging positive.

A Chance for Change

~ Cheryl

Most of the post-election commentary on the US has focused on the war in Iraq. Much as I would like to see some sanity brought to bear in that area, I think that the Democrats will find it very difficult to effect real change while Dubya is still in office. However, there are other areas where we might see more change. In particular the Democrat control of the Senate means that they will gain control of key committees, including the Environment Committee.

This committee used to be headed by Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a man who described global warming is, “the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people.” He is being replaced by Barbara Boxer of California whose initial pronouncement on the subject has been, “Time is running out, and we need to move forward on this.” Of course Dubya can still veto legislation, but there is a lot that Congress can on this issue – far more than they can do on foreign policy. Here’s hoping we get some action at last.

Conspiracy Theory

~ Cheryl

Things started off badly today for the Reds when Manchester United were dumped out of the Carling Cup by Southend (who were playing in Blue). And it got steadily worse for the Reds over this side of the Atlantic during the day. I suspect a secret conspiracy by British neopagans to influence US elections through sympathetic magic.

Not that sorcery was the only trickery being practiced. After dinner Kevin and I walked down to the local Amtrak station to pick up a ticket Kevin had bought online. The automated ticket machine spat out a receipt telling Kevin that he had voted Republican.

And on the way home we encountered two suspicious-looking characters wearing domino masks. Obviously secret GOP operatives busy stealing votes. The fake striped tails didn’t fool us one bit.

Security Warning

~ Cheryl

One of the things I always do first on getting back to California is have a burrito. You can’t get decent Mexican food in England, nor even in Boston. So after doing a quick grocery run last night, Kevin and I went to Chipotle (who produce remarkably good food for being owned by McDonalds). On arriving at the counter we saw a notice saying that anyone arriving at the store on Halloween dressed as a burrito gets a free burrito. Very generous of them, but think what might happen…

The obvious immediate problem will be a run of aluminium foil. You won’t be able to find the stuff in any town that has a branch of Chipotle (assuming the offer is nation-wide). Thankfully the industry will have a whole month to get stores re-stocked before foil is needed again to cook Thanksgiving turkeys, but it could be a close run thing.

More importantly, however, large numbers of Americans will be going round on Tuesday night dressed in foil. That means that they will be invisible to the orbital mind control lasers. What, I ask, will the NSA make of that? A large segment of the population suddenly vanishes? Must be an enemy attack.

Hopefully someone at the White House will be on the ball and the worst that will happen is that the senior management of Chipotle will be arrested on charges of trying to influence the mid-term elections by blocking people’s access to government propaganda. However, if Dubya and co are not thinking clearly (and let’s face it, that has been the norm for months, if not years, now) it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see them launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran or North Korea. I think it might be a good idea to stay at home on Tuesday night, preferably in the cellar.

But They Are Our Terrorists…

~ Cheryl

For the benefit of those of you in the US who despair about Fox News, here’s Feòrag with some information about just how selective the British media (all of them) are when it comes to reporting terrorist outrages. And here’s a link to a story from the North-West Evening Mail. As of now, Google News can’t find any other mention of it in the mainstream media. But here’s Socialist Worker breaking the story more than two weeks ago. There is lots of coverage in online black and Muslim news services as well.

Against Nature?

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

The Oslo Natural History Museum is staging an exhibition about homosexuality amongst animals:

homosexuality has been observed among 1,500 species, and that in 500 of those it is well documented

So no, it isn’t just those notorious gay penguins. Amongst bonobo chimps, for example, bisexuality is the norm for the entire species. Which I guess makes the existence of chimpanzees a Democrat “dirty trick.”

Macho Posing

~ Cheryl

OK, so Dubya thinks he can win a few votes in the mid-term elections by demonstrating that he can out-do Kim Jong-Il in the rogue state game. And what to the Russians do in response to the American claim of hegemony over the whole of space? They announce that they are building a moon rocket, of course. Can a new Fox TV series about Americans and Russians slugging it out for possession of poor little Luna be far behind?

A Different World

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

One of the things I had bookmarked to read when I got home was this interview with Alison Bechdel from Monday’s Guardian. It focuses on the graphic novel, Fun Home, reviewed by Farah Mendlesohn in Emerald City. Something that caught my eye was this:

“My mother comes from a different generation. She really believes that people should shut up.”

I suspect she’s not just talking about writing books about your family either. People of my parents’ generation, I have found, no matter how accepting and understanding they might be of gays, lesbians and so on in private, always draw the line about talking publicly about such things. What you do in private is your own affair, but if your sexual proclivities become public then it shames not only you but your entire family and all of the friends who supported you. And they’ll quite likely turn on you because of it. I am so glad I was born when I was and not 30 years earlier.

Friendly Fire

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

I’m posting this link because I suspect the incident is not being covered in the US news. It concerns an inquest into the death of ITN Reporter, Terry Lloyd, who was killed in Iraq. Mr. Lloyd and his party were caught in crossfire between US and Iraqi troops. Lloyd was wounded in the exchange but, according to the inquest, he died when US troops opened fire on a makeshift ambulance taking the wounded to hospital.

Axis of Evil

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

Jeff VanderMeer’s pal, Evil Monkey, has announced that he’s going to run for President of the USA. Well, it would be hard for him to do worse than the present incumbent. However, if I had a vote, which I don’t, I’m afraid I’d be voting for Cthulhu. It seems somehow appropriate.

(I note also that in the current spirit of piratical adventure, Evil Monkey might do better to sack the White House and hang all of the present incumbents from the yard arm. Faster results and all that.)

Rice Update

~ Cheryl

A futher bulletin for those of you with an interest in the California agriculture industry. According to today’s Guardian, Ebro Puleva, a Spanish company that controls some 30% of the European rice market, has stopped all US rice imports. Tests have shown that nearly 20% of shipments are infected with the illegal GM rice strain, LLRICE 601. I see that this rice is not approved fit for human consumption in the US, let alone in Europe. Not that there is any evidence that it isn’t safe, it just hasn’t been tested so no one knows.