THAT PALIN RESIGNATION.....

Thanks to Mahons for breaking the news here on ATW re Sarah Palin's shock decision to step down as Governor of Alaska.

We'll get more news on this from Palin shortly but I hope the reason for this is as a catalyst for 2012. Those who paint her as dumb are the same sort of  people who portrayed Reagan as a simpleton. If Palin can go on and emulate even half of his success, that would be great. Of course there may be other personal issues involved here, but I doubt it.

I know it goes against accepted political wisdom - even in GOP circles - but I think Palin would make a fantastic candidate in 2012 and I hope this is but the beginning, not the end, for her rise and rise. 

ATW JUKEBOX PART TWO

An exercise in writing a rollicking pop song from a master of the genre...

ATW Friday Night Jukebox

Push the boat out, people - have a couple.

OVER HERE - EXIT STAGE RIGHT - PALIN QUITS

Sarah Palin will be quitting mid-term as Governor of Alaska.   Talk about Independence Day.  Whether it is for her stated reasons, or some other reason, only time will tell.

Possibly a smart move.  She will remain a figure admired by the far right, and this frees her from accountability for whatever happens in Alaska that she would have if she finished her term. 

More later....

Save Our Pubs and Clubs

FIFTY pubs a week are closing, in part because of New Labour's fascistic smoking ban. Pro-freedom group FOREST has launched a response with its Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign, which seeks an amendment to allow smoking areas in, you know, private premises. This is the most pressing cultural and economic matter in the Kingdom today.

Sign up here.

WRONG CURE

Correctly analysing an illness but then prescribing the wrong treatment does the medical profession no good at all. 

Children as young as eight are being brought into hospitals unconscious after getting drunk on cheap cider, spirits and alcopops such is the ease of access to cut-price alcohol, according to doctors.

The problems of binge-drinking are now so serious that small hospitals that used to treat one intoxicated child a month are now receiving several under-age drinkers every Friday and Saturday night, the British Medical Association’s annual conference was told.

The warnings from doctors were backed today by figures suggesting that a child under 12 is being admitted to Accident & Emergency departments because of alcohol every other day. Of the more than 4,500 hospital admissions of children under the age of 16 caused by alcohol last year, 181 involved under-12s. Reporting that drink-related problems had become “much, much greater” over the past decade, doctors called for a minimum price per unit of alcohol, clearer labelling of alcoholic content and a ban on the advertising of beers, wines and spirits.

Let us assume that the figures concerning VERY young children consuming alochol are correct - and I see no reason why this would not be the case. This being the case the issue here is WHY have the parent(s) of the kids concerned not been brought in to legal custody for questioning? After all, the parents are responsible for what their children get up to, Imbiding alcohol is clearly a VERY bad thing for children to do and should be prevented but once again the totalitarian instinct in the BMA comes out and urges draconian bans and the destruction of the advertising industry in this area. Total nonsense.

The parents must be HELD RESPONSIBLE for their kids behaviour and if an 8 year old child is out getting drunk then the parent needs an intense and sober questioning. The core issue lies in the home, not the off-license.  But the BMA doesn't like to be judgemental.

VIKINGS IN HELMAND

Vikings in Afghanistan are NOT a good idea. So why has the government presided over their continued use when the liabilities are so well known?

British Forces in Afghanistan have been dealt a huge personal blow with the loss of the most senior infantry commander to be killed in action since the Falklands war. Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, 39, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed when the Viking armoured tracked vehicle that he was travelling in was blown up in Helmand. Trooper Joshua Hammond, 19, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, was also killed and six soldiers were wounded, some critically. The Viking, which has proved vulnerable to Taleban roadside bombs, was blown up about five miles north of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

A sad loss demonstrating yet again the perils into which our armed forces are sent whilst being inadequately protected by the mean spirited anti military Labour scum in power. I salute Lieutenant Col Thorneloe and Trooper Hammond - and pass on my sincere condolences to their families. Both deaths are a tragic loss.

Just a Distraction, ENJOY

NO LIMITS....

I think that this chart shows rather impressively what has happened to the UK since the multicultis came to power in 1997. 

Sarah Palin, Runner

Let’s put politics aside for a moment and get 'up close and personal' with Sarah Palin in an article from Runners World.    Palin is like a cool drink of water on a hot summer day. Genuine…refreshing.

Here’s a great Palin quote:

“I used to joke around with John McCain during the campaign about coming jogging with me. And once I asked him what his favorite exercise was, and he said, ‘I go wading.’ Wading. He lives on a creek in Arizona, so he goes wading. That cracked me up.”

Here's Sarah doing some yoga:

See what I mean?  Refreshing. 

"Freedom Of Speech Is An Obstacle To Government"

JUDGE Andrew Napolitano was on typically top form in yesterday's Freedom Watch.

It's time to ask already, can't the administration of the Pharoah Obamses at all remain within constitutional bounds?

Austria Comes To Threadneedle Street

GOODNESS knows there's no lack of ignorance out there on the cause the Brown-Greenspan Depression. How pleasing, therefore, to see the Mises-Hayek theory of the business cycle gaining traction in the mainstream media:

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, complained recently that he lacked the powers required to fulfil his new statutory role of ensuring stability in the banking system. A more powerful Bank of England would do a better job.

He is wrong. The economy would benefit from a weaker Bank of England, stripped of its principal power: namely, the power to set interest rates. This is not intended as a criticism of Mr King or of the other members of his Monetary Policy Committee. No one should be allowed to set interest rates.

Interest rates are simply prices for borrowing. As with all prices, they should be determined by supply and demand in a free market. When they are fixed by a wise man, or by a wise committee, they no longer carry information about the preferences of consumers and the scarcity of resources. On the contrary, no matter how wise the dictator, interest rates set by diktat are sure to be a kind of misinformation, leading those who act on them into error ...../

Conventional wisdom contends that the current recession was caused by the free-market zealotry of recent economic policy and by excessively low interest rates. It is an absurd view, given that interest rates are not determined by market forces. Interest rates are manipulated by central banks with a government-mandated monopoly in the issuance of money.

Some of those still defending free markets protest that, contrary to popular opinion, banks were heavily regulated before the financial crisis. So they were. But this is quibbling. The role of central banks means that, at its core, we did not have a free market financial system. We had a command economy.

Exactly right. Government manipulation of interest rates is the core problem and the reason why we have booms and busts. Unless and until rates are allowed to float naturally, to reflect the balance of savings and loans, we will continue to have illusory booms ahead of recessions.

FILTHY!

What does this say about the National Health Service?

Disgusted at the conditions, she grabbed the antibacterial fluid dispenser at the end of her bed and some hand towels from the bathroom. She then set about cleaning her four-bed ward, at one point dropping to her hands and knees to sanitise the floor as she dragged her drip trolley behind her. 'It was shameful to see how sloppy the cleaners were while I was there. I was not prepared to put up with such conditions,' said Miss Tosbell, a 48-year-old divorcee who was admitted to Colchester General Hospital in Essex with an abscess in her neck.

Hygiene in our hospitals seen such an obvious and basic requirement but one that eludes far too many of our NHS management. Dirty wards are just unacceptable and this lady is to be commended for taking direct action but we need to go much further. We need to remove the dead hand of the State from healthcare.

A Partial Eclipse of the Heart

When it comes to nationalist propaganda, the Scottish Nasty Party have evidently stepped into the shoes occupied by their 'Irish' counterparts 10 or more years ago. They have managed to leak out snippets of propaganda that the MSM is, alas, failing to adequately challenge. One of the SNP's latest press releases concerns the alleged positive persuasive tactics of their party. The SNP begin their little Pravda piece with the following passage:

'A poll for the BBC shows an increasing number of Scots back the SNP's call for the Scottish Parliament to negotiate for Scotland to become an independent state.'

Whoa, steady horsey!! Let's not let your vicious anti-Britishness get ahead of you. What the BBC poll respondents actually said was that they requested a referendum to settle the issue, perhaps because they are somewhat fed-up with the focus of politics north of the Border resting on a pointless and completely destabilising aim of breaking the Union when more mundane political matters should be, and were meant to be, the order of the day for the Scottish Parliament following its inception. According to the BBC a clear majority of Scots want their nation to remain within the United Kingdom family.

Moreover, the poll found different degrees of support for the Union depending on how an independence referendum question is phrased. Rob Roy Salmond's preferred option....

'the Scottish Government should negotiate a settlement with the government of the United Kingdom so that Scotland becomes an independent state'

......won 42% support with 50% opposing such a measure.

In the poll's own design of the question....

'In a referendum on independence for Scotland, how would you vote?'....

54% of respondents wanted Scotland to remain within the UK and 38% favoured an independent state.

However, when a range of options was put to the participants...

'Which of a range of scenarios were closest to people's views of how Scotland should be governed?

28% backed the option of Scotland's separating from the rest of the UK.

47% were in favour of remaining in the UK, with the Scottish Parliament able to make "some decisions about the level of taxation and government spending in Scotland."

22% said Scotland should remain part of the UK, with "decisions about the level of taxation and spending in Scotland made by the UK Government.'

On this count, support for the Union comes in at an impressive 69%.  The option to include a range of choices in any hypothetical referendum also has implications for Northern Ireland.  Nationalists there mistakenly think that a referendum on UK cession only has to include a straightforward question on remaining in the UK or joining the Irish Republic.  The Belfast Agreement commits Parliament to no such thing.  A referendum Act could include questions on remaining in the UK with Direct Rule AND remaining within the UK with a devolved Parliament as well as the option of joining the Irish Republic.  Polls suggest that the margin between the two straightforward constitutional options widens when the pro-Union count is multiple choice on systems of internal governance.

With this appearing to be the case in Scotland also, the Unionist parties have an ace to play.  Due to the fact that they can block a referendum if the wording doesn't suit, Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem MSPs can play the ace of agreeing to a referendum if the option of remaining within the UK is mult-faceted with questions on the powers the electorate desire for Holyrood.  That way they can win an even more convincing vote and effectively kick the potential destruction of our Union into the long grass for a very long time indeed.

What Comfort For The Atheist?

A friend of mine lost her grandmother very recently, and posted the following piece on her Facebook page. I found it quite moving and very thought-provoking in its rather stark honesty, and with her kind permission reproduce it here for the ATW readership to muse on.

My Grandmother Is Dead - What Comfort For The Atheist?

Contrary to what has been suggested, as an atheist I have no trouble when I feel grateful- I have plenty of people to thank. It's like an Oscar's acceptance speech; serendipity, the kindness of those who have helped me, my good fortune for such good family and friends, my talents and, usually, my own hard work have brought me the things I have.

I'm pretty sure not knowing what to say to the dying and the bereaved by far outways needing someone else to add to the honour roll. I could not and cannot in honesty claim that she is in a better place,that I will see her again, that she is with her family now or that she is an angel watching over me because I don't believe a word of it.

Grandma was very old- at 93 she'd had more than a fair crack at the whip. Before she died she was in a lot of pain and unhappy, and outlived most of her contemporaries and family, trapped in a body that had conspired against her for at least the last 20 years, with a mind that didn't feel any older than 40.

At least I know she isn't having the days of her life examined for the judges to decide if she's naughty or nice, or whatever is supposed to happen to get you into the much hyped After(life) Party. A straight interpretation of the rules would indicate she wouldn't get in. At least I know none of that is real, and that in death she is at peace, as if in a dreamless sleep from which she will never wake. Her body will be cremated and her ashes scattered alongside her father's. And that's enough, I think. We'll remember her until we die too, and that's all anyone can hope for. That's all I'd ever want.

I don't mean to offend my religious friends, but if you can put God is Great in your statuses, surely I can put God Doesn't Exist in mine.

ANOTHER GAY DAY

It seems that everyone is after the gay vote this week,

David Cameron has come out (whoops) and said that the Conservative party had 'got it wrong' when it introduced Section 28 in the late 1980s. The Tory leader's latest remarks, during an appearance at a Gay Pride event, were attacked last night by traditionalists on the Right of his party. They pointed out that as recently as 2003, when Tony Blair axed the clause, Mr Cameron voted for a Tory amendment described by gay rights groups as 'Section 28 by the back door'.

Section 28 was a law which banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools. Of course this was one of the key good things that the Conservatives did when in power but now, alas, the promotion of gayness is mandatory and we must all obey the liberal who shill for this.

The gay vote - estimated at 2.65 million people (by whom?) - will be an alleged key political battleground ahead of an election expected next May. Gordon Brown is hosting a gathering of leading gay and lesbian figures in Downing Street on Saturday, and his wife Sarah is joining a Gay Pride march.

This is SO patronising for gay people, I think. Surely they vote on other issues than their sexuality?God, I am SO sick of this endless elevation of gayness.

Here's the deal; I couldn't care less what people get up to in their private lives and if homosexuality is your thing, fine. I don't AGREE with it on a moral and religious basis but as I say, it's your choicee. But why oh why does the political  class feel so inclined to pander to the militant gay advocates who seem to have a need to flaunt their sexuality in our face? 

I am afraid the  establishment - including Dave the Rave - all bend over backwards to proclaim that homosexuality is "special" and "healthy" and must not  in any way be judged as perverse or indeed depraved. All the way to Bedlam...whistling as we go...

THE MOST VIOLENT COUNTRY IN EUROPE

Shocking to read that Britain's violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it is revealed today.

Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries. The figures comes on the day new Home Secretary Alan Johnson makes his first major speech on crime, promising to be tough on loutish behaviour.

That's the problem with this lousy government. All they do is make speeches, and empty promises. Meanwhile the debauched and depraved society they have helped createspirals out of control - with Human Rights legislation ensuring that the thugs and thieves are protected lest we be too judgemental.

In the decade following the party's election in 1997, the number of recorded violent attacks soared by 77 per cent to 1.158million - or more than two every minute.

Socialism in action. Who was it that came to power promising to be "tough on crime"? 

COSHING JUSTICE

I think my colleague on ATW Andrew McCann raised an interesting point concerning the decision by "Justice Minister" Jack Straw to refuse prison release to the Great Train robber, Ronnie Biggs. I would like to give you my take on it.

79 years old Biggs has been denied parole because the Minister concluded that he did not show remorse for his crime . During that infamous robbery back in 1964, the train driver was coshed on the head with an iron bar - though Biggs had no involvement in that assault.

Now consider the case of Northern Ireland junior Minister and former IRA convict Gerry Kelly. Mr Kelly shot a prison officer in the head during an attempted prison outbreak and yet along with hundreds of IRA associates, prison release was considered entirely as being appropriate. Anyone catch Kelly express his absolute remorse for his crimes? Post me the link when you find it.

The IRA show no remorse but that it fine, it is expedient to overlook such details. Biggs show no remorse so he must rot in jail.

Bottom line; This degenerate goverment has debased justice to the point where it is now an even bigger laughing stock than Ronnie Biggs.

Karl Malden - RIP

One of the great actors of film passed away today.  He was 97 and married since 1938.   Would On the Waterfront, Patton, Baby Doll or Streetcar Named Desire have been the same without his subtle everyman performance?  No.  An actor's actor.     

MR ZERO

You would need a heart of stone NOT  to laugh at this latest gaffe from McDoom!

Hat-tip to my co-conspirator over at ASE GrumpyoldTwat!