Have Republicans lost their strongest card: foreign policy?

by Guest    
October 19, 2011 at 3:38 pm

contribution by Frank Spring

The outcome of the GOP primary contest will break one of two patterns that have held true for the Republican Party for more than fifty years.

If they choose a candidate other than Mitt Romney, they will have chosen a newcomer to presidential politics over someone who has been in that arena before when given the choice between the two; the GOP almost invariably chooses a familiar face.

Of greater significance is the fact that, should they choose anyone but Rick Perry, it will be the first time since 1948 that the Republicans select a candidate who has not served in uniform.
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The political arrogance of many within #occupyLSX and Labour

by Sunny Hundal    
October 19, 2011 at 10:30 am

The flowering of #OccupyWallStreet, and its sister movement #occupyLSX, has brought back a familiar skirmish: the ‘activist left’ versus the Labour party.

Of course, I’m generalising here because I know the vast majority of people in either camps aren’t looking for this fight and many fall in both camps.

But there are very loud voices on both sides who think only they know how to push for change. And I find this wholly arrogant.
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The IMF conspired with Osborne and got it wrong, why listen now?

by Éoin Clarke    
October 19, 2011 at 9:05 am

I despise the IMF. They cajoled, conspired and contrived to create a favourable climate for fiscal austerity.

It was a shambolic balls up and now they want to pretend they are part of the club with a growth strategy.

The deficit hawks that occupy the corridors of IMF headquarters are an embarrassment and they deserve to be ridiculed.
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Watch: Jon Stewart rips Republicans on #OWS

by Sunny Hundal    
October 19, 2011 at 8:40 am

Last night, after several weeks of Republicans trashing the OccupyWallStreet movement, Jon Stewart of the Daily Show rips their hypocrisy from only a few months ago when they were calling on Americans to “take to the streets” and “take their country back”.

He points out: “It must be tough to love America so much, but hate almost three fourths of the people living in it.”

Watch the funny clip

Watch: Sparks fly at idiotic GOP debate

by Sunny Hundal    
October 19, 2011 at 8:05 am

Last night, Republican candidates debated in Las Vegas on various issue.

As ever it was a more idiotic debate than ever.

At one point, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry got into a heated exchange over immigration, with Perry accusing Romney of hiring illegal immigrants.

Mitt, you lose all of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year,” Perry said. “And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you’re strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy.

Watch

What’s interesting here isn’t the issue itself – but rather that Perry’s attack on Romney, if it becomes a big talking point, could further undermine the front-runner.

No doubt it will be the most talked-about exchange of the night, the question is whether Perry will dismiss the issue or want further answers from Romney.

Abbott attacks Lansley on wife’s lobbying firm

by Sunny Hundal    
October 18, 2011 at 4:31 pm

Labour MP Diane Abbott has today written a letter to Health secretary Andrew Lansley asking whether there had been any ‘conflict of interest’ regarding his wife’s lobbying.

Abbott has repeatedly asked Lansley for his department to come clean on their meetings with Low Associates but have been rebuffed.

She said the issue was relevant in light of the circumstances around Dr Liam Fox’s resignation.

The letter asks:

I am urging the Department to clarify whether representatives from Low Associates, your wife’s lobbying firm, have been present in any meetings with departmental officials over the past year. All I am asking for is clarification.

She later adds:

Although I understand Low Associates keep their current clients private, it has been noted that associates in the organisation have in the past worked with food multi-nationals like Mars and General Foods and drinks companies like Seagrams.

In light of Liam Fox’s revelations, this is even more important now. Time for Lansley to come clean.

Diane Abbott to Andrew Lansley

Six ways today’s jump in inflation affects us and the economy

by Sunny Hundal    
October 18, 2011 at 3:32 pm

The announcement today that Consumer Price Inflation has jumped to 5.2% has potentially huge implications for govt policy, people on benefits and the economy.

Here are a five ways it could impact everything.

1) Linked benefits should rise
CPI is used to determine the rise in welfare benefits every April.
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Littlejohn agrees with 99%: “we’ve all been screwed by banks”

by Sunny Hundal    
October 18, 2011 at 12:09 pm

This is how Richard Littlejohn at the Daily Mail starts off today:

Most of us would probably agree that the anti-capitalism demonstrators in the City of London have a point. You don’t have to be Wolfie Smith to work out we’ve all been screwed by the banks.

The astronomical cost of bailing out the financial sector has made everyone poorer and we’re not out of the woods yet.
…
Well, over the past few years we have bunged the banks hundreds of billions of pounds. Technically, we own them. But it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

They are still behaving as if they are our masters, not our servants. Talk to any small business owner, upon whom our economic recovery and long-term prosperity depends. All will give you a similar tale of woe.

The bankers have used taxpayers’ largesse to rebuild their own balance sheets. They’re still paying themselves fat bonuses. But most are stubbornly refusing to lend money or extend overdraft facilities.

Of course, Littlejohn then goes on to call the existing protesters ‘layabouts’ and says the real people protesting should be small business owners and middle England.

But it’s surprising to find yourself nodding away to Littlejohn, even if partially.

This chimes with the point I made earlier – anger at the banks is widespread and goes across the political spectrum. In that sense, the people who think the current system screws them over are truly the 99%.

What’s needed now is an attempt to truly broaden the appeal of occupyLSX so it does start reflecting the 99%. Only then will the top 1% really start worrying.

Why Labour shouldn’t leave behind “the modern left”

by Don Paskini    
October 18, 2011 at 10:55 am

Anthony Painter, writing on LabourList about the Occupy movements, argues that:

It’s time to leave behind the 1% who want to spend their Saturday afternoons in protest after protest, direct action after action, while the right continue to do their worst to our economy and society…

More than anything else the problem with the modern left is that we’ve become very presumptive about what the 99% want. We are very good at nominating ourselves as their moral spokespeople. We know what people really want even if they don’t yet themselves.

Here’s why I don’t think it’s time to leave behind this 1%.
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Telegraph’s Booker gets nailed on ‘cooling’

by Sunny Hundal    
October 18, 2011 at 10:10 am

In the Sunday Telegraph this weekend, the paper’s climate change denier-in-chief Christopher Booker wrote this atrociously bad snippet on ‘global cooling’:

Greens buy 4x4s to save them from global cooling

Brighton’s Green-controlled council is banking on another big freeze this winter.

Having been badly caught out by last winter’s ice and snow (see above), when its lack of road gritters provoked residents to a mood which, according to an official report, was “angry, vitriolic and even venomous”, Brighton council has spent £1 million on a new fleet of 4×4 gritters to ensure that, in the renewed blizzards predicted for this winter, the city’s roads are kept clear. Bully for them, you might think – what a far-sighted council.

Except that, in May this year, the people of Brighton voted in Britain’s first Green council, electing 23 councillors who swept to power convinced that Brighton and the world were faced with catastrophe through runaway global warming.

It’s not the first time Booker has published complete fabrication.

This blog has learnt that the [Green party] leader of Brighton council, Bill Randall, has written a letter to the Telegraph correcting Booker’s garbage.

The letter says:

Dear Sir,

Christopher Booker stays as grumpy and ill-informed as ever. He’s still getting the wrong end of the stick at every opportunity and when there’s no stick to be had he sends out his grumpy dog out to find one. Now it’s come back with Brighton and Hove’s new gritters, and Mr Booker is using this stick to beat the UK’s first Green-controlled council for ordering the new vehicles.

The gritters were, in fact, ordered by the previous Conservative administration. Green councillors supported this decision. Winter snows bring this city to an icy and dangerous standstill unless they are dealt with swiftly and efficiently.

Our belief that climate change poses a serious threat to all of us did help fuel a Green victory. Colder winters are part of this change.

Cllr Bill Randall
Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council

Wonder if the Telegraph publishes the letter or simply carries on pretending Booker is right.

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