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If there’s one thing they say Americans are jealous of, it’s the British Royal Family. They’d love to have one of their own. All the glitz and glamor of Hollywood fails to make up for a lack of true-blue Royalty, and the dynasties of Bush and Clinton – well, could anyone really consider George Bush Jnr as ‘regal’?

Americans make up for the deficiency with great shows of patriotism and much flaunting of the flag, with bumper stickers demanding, “Love America or Leave America” and similar, often not terribly refined, demands.

Consequently, it comes as something of a shock to discover a plot designed to turn Britain more like America; possibly, even into the 51st State of the Union.

The conspirators are likely the British Ministry of Defence, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and possibly the CIA or US Pentagon.

It all began with an apparently innocent suggestion to insert another public holiday into the calendar somewhere around Britain’s Armistice Day. Now, most Brits would be wholeheartedly in favor of that. After all, though Americans must think the British have a life of Reilly with eight national public holidays a year, compared to the rest of Europe they don’t do at all well.

(NOTE: For Europeans considering a move to America, you don’t get Good Friday or Easter Monday, only one day at Christmas, no Spring bank holiday, Summer bank holiday or early May bank holiday. Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day, and Independence Day are about it; unless, you’re fortunate enough to work for the Federal government. Then you get a plethora of holidays throughout the year, while everyone else is still slogging their guts out.)

The suggestion for a new public holiday was well received, until the British government decided to name it “National Day”.

At this point American readers may well be wondering what all the fuss is about, but unlike your nation’s obsession with self, Britain has moved on from such insular narcissism and in general its populace is concerned more with the wider world-view, rather than maintaining a rigid, nationalistic, fervor.

Notwithstanding, the government may well have got away with it were it to end there, but unbeknown to anyone – even the Monarch, herself – Gordon Brown had taken it upon himself to instigate a report on ‘citizenship in the United Kingdom’.

Leader of the committee was none other than British Establishment figure, and Attorney General under Tony Blair’s government, Lord Goldsmith. That’s the same Lord Goldsmith who succumbed to political pressure and decreed the invasion of Iraq was lawful, after previously expressing severe doubts, causing Elizabeth Wilmshurst, deputy legal adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to resign because she did not agree with the official opinion that the use of force in Iraq was legal. She also accused Lord Goldsmith of changing his view on the matter.^[1]

Not content with gifting Tony Blair the excuse he needed to pitch the nation into an illegal war, Lord Goldsmith has now managed to infuriate the Queen by recommending that all British schoolchildren be forced to take a pledge of allegiance, not to the Monarch, but to the government and the country.^[2]

(NOTE: British schoolchildren have never taken any pledge of allegiance to anything, forced or otherwise, except perhaps the Boy Scouts or Girl Guides.)

Yet another of his suggestions was for a “major overhaul of ‘archaic’ treason laws”. Following Her Majesty’s serious displeasure, I imagine that can’t come quickly enough for him.

While many Brits are now thinking perhaps Lord Goldsmith belongs more in Washington than Windsor, it seems Gordon Brown and a number of other “parliamentary republicans” are working even more intently to bring Washington to Windsor.

It may all have appeared as nothing more than a storm in the great British teacup, were it not for a recent “lesson plan” sent to school teachers by the British Ministry of Defence. (NOTE: the MOD does not make a habit of involving itself in the tutoring of British schoolchildren!) The plan contained instructions on how to “educate” children on the Iraq War.^[3]

A “Student’s Worksheet”, contained within the “Lesson Plan”, emphasizes reconstruction in Iraq, but makes no mention of civilian casualties. It also states “The invasion was also necessary to allow the opportunity to remove Saddam, an oppressive dictator, from power, and bring democracy to Iraq”, but fails to reveal that action alone was illegal under international law.

Teacher’s unions have taken up the issue, which they consider is unlawful under the 1996 Education Act. The Act aims to ensure all political issues are presented to pupils in a fair and balanced way.

The MOD is huffing and puffing over the issue, claiming it was only trying to ‘stimulate classroom debate about the Iraq war’.

What it has failed to explain to date, is why the British word “programme”, used on occasion within the documents, is spelled throughout in the American manner, i.e. “program”.

Could it be that these “lesson plans” are simply copies of indoctrinal documents already in use throughout American schools?

All-in-all, by its actions and intents, the British government appears hellbent on turning the United Kingdom into the 51st State of the Union.

^{[1] “Lord Goldsmith’s legal advice and the Iraq war”, Guardian, April 27th, 2005}

^{[2] “Queen furious with Gordon Brown….”, Daily Mail, March 16th, 2008}

^{[3] “Iraq: teachers told to rewrite history” Independent, March 14th, 2008}

^{My thanks to “This Old Brit” for the information on the MOD “lesson plans” and the link to the Independent’s report.}

Filed under: Gordon Brown unveiled

Barack Obama has distanced himself from words spoken in 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, by his Christian pastor, Jeremiah Wright.^[1]

Wright told his congregation, in a sermon:

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards.

“America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”

It was, of course, expected that Obama would denounce such talk, surfacing as it has on the web and the media some seven years later. It would be political suicide to do otherwise.

Sadly, that’s the state of politics today. The truth can rarely be embraced.

^{[1] BBC – “Obama spurns pastor’s 9/11 jibe”}

Filed under: Political inconvenience

How many times has the media shown video footage of refugees forced from their homes and living in makeshift tents? They are sad pictures to watch, but such pictures are usually from Africa. It happens all the time in Africa.

Thank God such terrible scenarios never occur here – in America, land of the American Dream.

Or, do they?

Way back in 2002, just two years into George W Bush’s presidency, he made a speech at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington.^[1]

Here is part of that speech:

“…….I believe owning something is a part of the American Dream……..I believe when somebody owns their own home, they’re realizing the American Dream. They can say it’s my home, it’s nobody else’s home. And we saw that yesterday in Atlanta, when we went to the new homes of the new homeowners. And I saw with pride firsthand, the man say, welcome to my home. He didn’t say, welcome to government’s home; he didn’t say, welcome to my neighbor’s home; he said, welcome to my home……

…….. We are here in Washington, D.C. to address problems. So I’ve set this goal for the country. We want 5.5 million more homeowners by 2010 — million more minority homeowners by 2010. (Applause.) Five-and-a-half million families by 2010 will own a home. That is our goal. It is a realistic goal. But it’s going to mean we’re going to have to work hard to achieve the goal, all of us. And by all of us, I mean not only the federal government, but the private sector, as well…….

And so I want to, one, encourage you to do everything you can to work in a realistic, smart way to get this done. I repeat, we’re here for a reason. And part of the reason is to make this dream extend everywhere.

I’m going to do my part by setting the goal, by reminding people of the goal, by heralding the goal, and by calling people into action, both the federal level, state level, local level, and in the private sector. (Applause.)

And so what are the barriers that we can deal with here in Washington? Well, probably the single barrier to first-time homeownership is high down payments. People take a look at the down payment, they say that’s too high, I’m not buying. They may have the desire to buy, but they don’t have the wherewithal to handle the down payment. We can deal with that. And so I’ve asked Congress to fully fund an American Dream down payment fund which will help a low-income family to qualify to buy, to buy. (Applause.)

We believe when this fund is fully funded and properly administered, which it will be under the Bush administration, that over 40,000 families a year — 40,000 families a year — will be able to realize the dream we want them to be able to realize, and that’s owning their own home. (Applause.)

The second barrier to ownership is the lack of affordable housing. There are neighborhoods in America where you just can’t find a house that’s affordable to purchase, and we need to deal with that problem. The best way to do so, I think, is to set up a single family affordable housing tax credit to the tune of $2.4 billion over the next five years to encourage affordable single family housing in inner-city America. (Applause.)

The third problem is the fact that the rules are too complex. People get discouraged by the fine print on the contracts. They take a look and say, well, I’m not so sure I want to sign this. There’s too many words. (Laughter.) There’s too many pitfalls. So one of the things that the Secretary is going to do is he’s going to simplify the closing documents and all the documents that have to deal with homeownership.

It is essential that we make it easier for people to buy a home, not harder. And in order to do so, we’ve got to educate folks. Some of us take homeownership for granted, but there are people — obviously, the home purchase is a significant, significant decision by our fellow Americans. We’ve got people who have newly arrived to our country, don’t know the customs. We’ve got people in certain neighborhoods that just aren’t really sure what it means to buy a home. And it seems like to us that it makes sense to have a outreach program, an education program that explains the whys and wherefores of buying a house, to make it easier for people to not only understand the legal implications and ramifications, but to make it easier to understand how to get a good loan……

…….we want to make sure the Section 8 homeownership program is fully implemented. This is a program that provides vouchers for first-time home buyers which they can use for down payments and/or mortgage payments…….

………And so, therefore, I’ve called — yesterday, I called upon the private sector to help us and help the home buyers. We need more capital in the private markets for first-time, low-income buyers. And I’m proud to report that Fannie Mae has heard the call and, as I understand, it’s about $440 billion over a period of time. They’ve used their influence to create that much capital available for the type of home buyer we’re talking about here. It’s in their charter; it now needs to be implemented. Freddie Mac is interested in helping. I appreciate both of those agencies providing the underpinnings of good capital……..

……..part of the cornerstone of America is the ability for somebody, regardless of where they’re from, regardless of where they were born, to say, this is my home; I own this home, it is my piece of property, it is my part of the American experience. It is essential that we stay focused on the goal, and work hard to achieve that goal. And when it’s all said and done, we can look back and say, because of my work, because of our collective work, America is a better place……”

            

The numbers of people living in Tent City, Ontario, California, and other similar sites, are growing due the sup-prime mortgage crisis initiated by George W Bush and his administration in 2002. More and more Americans are ending up in tents or RCV’s with nowhere else to go.

So much for their American Dream.

Heckuva job yer did, Bushie.

^{[1] “President Reiterates Goal on Homeownership”, WHPR
      (Speech available in print, video, or audio format)}

Filed under: Bush’s failures