Month: December 2012

On this eve of the New Year, America should turn its attentions outward, for a change, towards that part of the United Kingdom known as Scotland. A land of rather good whiskey, weird men in skirts with a barely understandable brogue, and a habit of dancing around swords crisscrossed on the floor for the delight of tourists, is how this land is viewed by many in the United States.

As US politicians bicker and squabble over whether the rich should get wealthier as quickly as America’s poor lose their homes, they might spare a moment to learn how a government is supposed to govern. Scotland is an old country. America is still wet behind the ears, not yet ready to appreciate the benefits of learning from its elders. Perhaps now is a suitable time to begin the process.

From the BBC:

Legislation which aims to effectively end homelessness in Scotland has come into force.

The change entitles anyone finding themselves homeless through no fault of their own to settled accommodation.

Previously, only those classed as being in priority need – often families with children – had that right.

It meets Scotland’s historic 2012 homelessness commitment, first set 10 years ago by the Labour/Lib Dem government.

The change, passed unanimously last month under the Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland) Order 2012, will give an estimated 3,000 more people a year the right to settled accommodation.

As the changes came into force, the deputy first minister also announced £300,000 would be spent over the next two years to help councils with their efforts to prevent homelessness.

Nicola Sturgeon [Deputy First Minister of Scotland] said: “This is a landmark day in the fight against homelessness.

“I know the heartache and trauma of homelessness from working closely with households faced with the prospect of losing the roof over their head.

“Meeting our 2012 commitment guarantees that those who lose their home from no fault of their own will be guaranteed settled accommodation.

“It is absolutely right to offer this guarantee in a time of crisis for people. It sends the signal that we are there to help, there is hope and that the state will do what it can.”

Official figures from February 2012 suggested the number of homeless people in Scotland is at its lowest for a decade.

Graeme Brown, director of the housing and homelessness charity ‘Shelter Scotland’, said: “Scotland can be very proud that it is making history by meeting the 2012 commitment – which is internationally regarded as the cutting edge of progressive homelessness reform.

“I congratulate all the local authorities who have made widespread changes in order to meet their new responsibilities to homeless people.”^[1]

This from, “The Hill”. It’s what US politicians are prepared to own up to:

[In America…] The odds for a person in the general population of experiencing homelessness in the course of a year are 1 in 194. For an individual living doubled up, [forced to live with relatives or friends] the odds are 1 in 12. For a released prisoner they are 1 in 13. For a young adult who has aged out of foster care, they are 1 in 11.”^[2]

In a year when more and more middle class American families have lost their homes to unscrupulous money men peddling worthless mortgages, many with no choice but live in their cars, isn’t the beginning of 2013 a good time for the corrupt, degenerate, narcissistic, politicians in Washington to turn towards Scotland for advice on how to properly govern a nation?

The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ is of little concern to the homeless. My guess is, as US politicians head home to their fancy houses and mansions to celebrate New Year’s Eve, the homeless are of little concern to them.

^{[1] “New rights for the homeless come into force” BBC, December 31st 2012}

^{[2] “Homeless in America: 636,017; Homeless veterans: 67,495 The Hill, February 1st 2012}

Despite the vivid imaginings of thousands, the Mayan calendar failed to predict the end of the world on December 21st. Hopefully, I can now safely wish all friends and readers of Sparrow Chat a very merry Christmas.

Whether Muslim or Jew, Christian or Atheist, Hindu or Buddhist, or none of those things, may you revel in the sentiments of the season, even as we languish in the vain hope that all may be more tolerant of each other in 2013, than they were in 2012.

And, let’s not forget, though the world failed to extinguish itself on the 21st, it could still happen sometime in the (not too distant?) future…

T’was the night before Christmas, and all round the earth
Terrorists plotted for all they were worth.
Obama sat musing which drone strike to pick,
A wedding? A market? Whose ass should he kick?

Muslims seethed hatred for all that was Christian,
Jews in Israel eyed Hamas with suspicion.
Syrian rebels joined force ‘gainst Assad,
They’ll soon fight each other – the whole world’s gone mad.

The Arctic was melting, the earth growing warm,
Droughts, floods, tornadoes, becoming the norm.
Nobody took notice, “It’s not us!” they cried
As New York washed away on a rather high tide.

High in the Heavens Mohammed and Jesus
Mithras, Athena, and Zeus with his aegis,
Looked down on the world they had brought into being
And couldn’t believe what the hell they were seeing.

They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
Called all the angels, then turned with a jerk,
And blasting the earth with a fire from their noses
Consumed it all up, despite firemen’s hoses.

Then summoning chariots of fire with a whistle
They flew off to heaven like the down of a thistle.
Only one of them spoke – the one they called Mithras,
Muttered, “Bloody little shits! They just don’t deserve Christmas.”

(With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I’ve deliberately neglected to join the debate over the massacre at Sandy Hook Grade School, partly because I imagined others more competent than I (like the US President) would make the obvious case for gun control (which he hasn’t), but mainly because I’m tired of telling Americans what utter prats they are for indulging in childish games, with deadly weapons that regularly result in just the sort of carnage we’ve seen this week in Connecticut.

(A true political leader would have signed a presidential order banning automatic weapons, before shedding a tear onstage).

The post-massacre indulgence of emotional outburst and pseudo-religious fervor, professionally roused by a media intent on milking every ounce of anguish, is so well stage-managed one could be forgiven for thinking the whole thing was a fiction constructed entirely for our dubious entertainment.

CBS actually sent a reporter to the Scottish town of Dunblane, scene of a 1996 school massacre, to broadcast advice from parents of children murdered in that attack for the supposed benefit of bereaved parents in Newtown, Connecticut. Personally, if I were a parent whose kid had been slaughtered that day, I doubt I’d be settled in front of the TV watching the evening news.

CBS did mention that the British government imposed a ban on all handguns following the Dunblane shootings, but failed to acknowledge it was the only school massacre in British history and there hasn’t been another in the sixteen years since the ban was imposed. Maybe, just maybe, gun control works, after all?

Prat of the Week award must surely go to NRA vice president, Wayne LaPierre…

…for his inane statement:

The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

He obviously lives in a fantasy land where everyone is either a John Wayne ‘good guy’…

…or a John Wesley Hardin.

(If you don’t know who John Wesley Hardin was, look him up).

Apparently, LaPierre wants us all to walk around sporting the latest fashion in lethal hardware, ready – though, possibly not able – to take down the next killer of innocent kids before he has a chance to fire his weapon.

I use the masculine third person deliberately. Ever heard of a woman shooting up a school, or anywhere else, for that matter? No, testosterone is the real problem here. It’s male hormones that drives the gun rights lobby.

(And, please, don’t write and tell me how many women are gun freaks. Women have been mimicking men since time immemorial. Women don’t keep guns to protect themselves from other women, now, do they?)

Frankly, don’t you think it’s slightly sad when grown men believe we should all return to the days of Hollywood’s highly romanticized ‘Wild West’? Particularly, when it’s more important to them than the safety of their own children?

There’s much rubbish spouted by gun rights activists on the internet – everything from protecting themselves from their government (fat chance!) to the UN wanting to take over the world and gun control being responsible for World War II, but the plain fact is that civilized societies don’t need guns, don’t have guns, and most importantly, don’t WANT guns.

It’s a simple choice, admirably demonstrated by the UK: if you control firearms you’ll limit the number of tragedies like the one at Sandy Hook.

If you don’t, you won’t.