Cock The Vote...

According to most sources the latest polls show the race tightening a little. Sure, I know that BO moving from a 12 pt lead to a 9 pt lead in PA isn‘t gonna make a toss of difference, but still, have I missed something? I mean wtf has McGrumpy done over the past week to make anyone more likely to vote for him? He’s been the same stumbling, bumbling old double-talker, and his nudge, nudge, wink, wink running mate has only been slipping in the polls I've been reading, so what‘s with the tightening? Or, is the republican influenced mainstream media blatantly attempting to lower people’s expectations of a BO victory, so it won’t seem like such a shock when the Republicans steal it, again.

Just in case you thought that the world's greatest democracy actually operated as a democracy, it’s worth checking out Muckraker’s list on TPM, which highlights the magnitude of the GOP’s efforts to suppress votes across the country. As you'll see, so far generally they've been failing, but not from lack of trying, they figure if you throw enough shit at a blanket eventually some may stick.

On the one hand you have a massive effort being made by the Obama campaign to get people inspired and involved in their democracy, and on the other you have an equally Herculean effort being expended by McGrumps and the GOP in shadowy court rooms across the country aimed at suppressing those same people. Disenfranchising voters has been the single biggest focus of republican campaigns for the last decade, and in the past it’s worked, so they‘re not gonna be stopping anytime soon. Still, as you can see in Muckraker's TPM piece, this time Democrats have been prepared for the inevitable Republican assault on our democracy, and have been fighting fire with fire. Which, is bad news for the GOP as the last thing republicans want is a functioning democracy, it would mean they‘d have to start adopting policies that actually appeal to people.

All being well, the Democrats should win control of all three branches of government this election, and in the process they'll have fired up millions of new voters, who’ll probably want to vote again in the future. Now, that's just rubbing salt into the GOP’s open wounds.

WTF? Part II

So, the country continues to fall apart at the seems, as secret meetings are held between foreign octogenarian bankers and their multi-billion dollar families, cooking up new schemes to enslave the US public and make more money while their at it. The stock market reacts like a fucking yo-yo, opening 200 points up only to find itself an hour or so later languishing at a 200 point drop, then a net four hundred point rally as it reclaims earlier gains at 200 points up only to swing back again and as I write this the dow-dow stands at about even 4 points up....now as I edit this the market has closed 400 points up....unbelievable!

Meanwhile we have the republican campaign desperately tracking the Dow before deciding what to say next, then understandably fucking it up anyway. McCain's first response to the crisis was to remind everyone of his lack of economic credentials by reiterating that he (alone) felt that the 'fundamentals of our economy were strong', but once realizing that it hadn't gone down too well and he was on his own in with his views on the fundamentals, he spent the next 24 hours backtracking, trying to convince us that by fundamentals he meant the workers, of course!

But, things get worse, realizing that the US public were not buying his 'fundamentals' line, he decided to come out and take action, make a statement of substance, and show the world that he 'gets it'. And what better way of doing that than finding someone to blame for it all. Knowing that even by Americas standards placing it at the feet of Barack Obama would be stretching it to breaking point, he went with Christopher Cox, chairman U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Yeah, that same Christopher Cox leading republican lawmaker and close ally of the Bush administration.

In classic McCain style he irresponsibly undermines his own party, government and president by pointing the finger at the head of the SEC, saying if he were president (oh Lord please no!) he'd have fired him. I'm not sure whether he realized at that point that Mr Cox had been appointed by President Bush, because Mr Cox shares the same crappy republican financial philosophy that if you leave the market alone it'll be alright on the night. Mr Cox was recruited as SEC Chairman specifically because he wouldn't regulate anyone, after all the market would work it all out eventually, right?....oooops!

Ten minutes after McCain let the whole world know he was holding Mr Cox personally responsible for all America's woes, the White House came out saying that the president was fully committed to the SEC chairman!

So, it seems Mr Cox is purely McCain's fall guy, Bush must have someone else in mind, perhaps himself, or John McCain for constantly voting against any proposed regulations aimed at governing Wall street and the greedy sub-prime mortgage fuck-wits, you know people like ex-McCain campaign chairman Phil Gramm. Confused? Don't worry McCain is too...

Can someone tell me WTF is going on?

So, our revered financial markets seem to take on the look of a global Craps game, with people’s retirement funds and life savings being gambled on a roll of the dice. The only guarantee of our financial markets is that the multi-millionaire bankers and corporate CEOs have their hands wedged far too deeply inside the US tax payer’s pocket in order to lose. Though exactly how much those money grabbing republican reptiles will end up costing the coal miners of Appalachia , or the steel workers of Michigan is anyone‘s guess. Still, one thing’s assured, their descendents are gonna be paying off the Chinese for generations to come.

But, don’t worry as there’s been a whole lot of hot air coming out of the republican ticket, telling anyone that’ll listen how they’ll never let it happen again, and again, and again.

On top of all the republican self-regulated free trade fuck-ups that have been happening, the MSM finally admit that they’ve been aware of the McCain camp’s lying all along. They’re aware that McCain’s been lying to the American electorate for ages now. Lying on just about everything, from what his running mate has, or hasn't done, and things that McCain himself has or has not said, to misrepresenting his opponent's policies and feigning outrage at Barack Obama’s innocuous statements. Yet I click on to my favorite electoral map of the country this morning expecting to see Obama holding a comfortable 350-400 electoral vote lead, only to see that he’s actually lost ground to McCain.

Lost ground!!!

How the fuck does that happen? are we living in some alternate reality? has Spongebob declared that it's opposite day or something? I am just stunned.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the stupidity of the US electorate, after all they did return GW to power four years ago. But, how can they support the aged candidate of a party that’s all but ravaged this country over the past 8 years? how can a sound majority of them prefer more of the same? How can they be convinced that this 100 term Senator and two week Mayor of a village in Alaska are the perfect team bring us the change this country so desperately needs?

Don’t they value their savings? Can’t thay see the damage this regime is doing to this country? I’m English but I care, I worry for my American cousins, honestly I worry. One thing’s for sure there would never be a Christian uprising in blighty, we stopped all that nonsense years ago, something like 8% of the population go to church and that’s on a good week.

But, I’m vested in this country, my son was born here, and sees himself as an American, well an American that’s very aware of his British roots. So this is my adopted country, and I actually care about what happens to it. As I've said before I’ve grown to appreciate and respect your amazing constitution. Though it seems that 'piece of paper' has disappeared of late, perhaps the US government gave it to the British Civil Service and asked them to file it for safe keeping!

The way things are going there will not be an America in a few years. The Chinese and Indians must be laughing all the way to the bank. here you are in a struggle for the world's greatest economy and you're giving it all away, you couldn't make it any easier for them. Please, citizens of my adopted country, please, please, read the policies that these candidates stand on. Don’t just believe to Rush Limbaugh's invented versions, read them yourself. Leave your petty prejudices behind for a while, there‘s far too much at stake. At least wait until the young black dude has managed to secure your life savings and your pensions first.

Americans, get rid of this regime, throw the republican machine out of power, they deserve nothing from you, they’ve done nothing for you, only lined their own pockets while you suffer. Only Obama can rectify this horrific situation we're in, we won’t get a second chance.

You must watch the video in the top right corner...

This is a must view video, directed by Aaron Hodgins Davis it's enjoyed nearly 350,000 hits on youtube, and should be watched by anyone considering returning the republicans to power. The video is a tragic reminder of precisely what's at stake for us in this coming election.

I have long maintained that should the republican party be returned to power yet again, innocent people will lose their lives. Unfortunately, this video only reinforces my unpleasant assertion by reminding us of just how dangerous McBush is.

People need to be clear; McCain is going to be even worse than Bush, and Palin worse than Cheney. If we're lucky these two Christian warmongers will only take our country to the brink, and not actual total destruction.

There's long been talk of 'useable' nuclear missiles, as unpleasant as that concept is, I'd always taken some limited comfort from the fact that those weapons would still need to find a president that is prepared to actually use them. But, with McCain a few electoral college votes from the presidency, I feel we are careering towards a key inopportune moment in history. A moment when all the wrong cards are coming together at the same time ensuring some tragic destiny for all of us.

Listen carefully to Scott Ritter, Scott is an openly verbal critic of the Republican war machine. He worked at the IAEA in Vienna (incidentally with my ex-father-in-law), and was one of the weapons inspectors that cautioned this administration that there were no WMDs in Iraq.

This video captures Scott making an impassioned plea warning us of the dangers of 'useable' nuclear weapons, informing us that, should we use them in Iran (or worse Russia!), we will be hit back, and it will cost us one of our cities. It's an horrific thought, but sadly not one from the realms of fantasy, as the republican party and their mega-corp masters open up new markets to raid, it becomes one that's not only plausible, but a very, very real possibility.

Because I feel it is so important that people see this video I'm going to leave it posted in the top right hand corner of this page in the hope that people will visit. I will leave it there until election day or until something even harder hitting is produced. This message must get out.



OK, there's so much more to rant about today, but I'll save it for another time, after watching that video I’ve been left feeling a tad humorless. The one thing I will say is that for next year’s final the US Open need to employ linesmen and women that can actually see the ball. Though Fedex played supremely well, poor old Andy wasn't helped in the least by some dreadful line calls at key moments, one that would've ensured him a break and quite possibly the second set.

Still, not to worry, eh! We might have lost the battle, but not the war, the new guard are arriving in the form of Murray, Djocovic and Nadal.