Over the past year, many sharia court decisions in the UK have been backed by the force of law. The legal justification is an Act of Parliament which permits courts to enforce arbitration decisions. On the surface, this justification is nothing extraordinary. Many legal systems, including our own, look favorably upon and even encourage alternative dispute resolution. What’s happening in the UK however is not your typical arbitration system.
The types of cases approved by British courts have included not only your run of the mill contract case, but also divorce, inheritance, and even domestic violence cases. Many Brits were outraged earlier this year when the Archbishop of Canterbury claimed that the imposition of Sharia Law was inevitable. I suspect that those who have noticed and bemoaned Britain’s lax attitude toward Islamic extremism in their midst will have a similar reaction to this latest revelation.
I’d like to think Gordon Brown would have something to say about the unprecedented parallel legal system that emerged on his watch. Then again, that might be expecting too much from a Labour Prime Minister who refuses to identify his nation’s enemy and can’t even hold Glasgow East.
This piece in the Daily Mail is quite a sad read, but definitely worth a look. Written by Carol Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher’s daughter, it offers a glimpse into the Iron Lady’s ongoing battle with dementia while also providing a personal look into her life by someone who obviously loves her dearly.
The latest piece from Times Online editor, American Gerard Baker, first came to my attention about an hour ago and it’s a doozy!
His latest op-ed is absolutely awesome. Baker takes the media’s open desire to make Barack Obama the Savior/Messiah and completely pokes fun at those who have this view (he also calls Gordon Brown, Gordon the Leper!) through colorful and biblical-style language. I don’t think the New Yorker crowd will misunderstand this satire, but one never knows. Here’s a sample from the beginning:
“And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.”
I wish Obama would have “ventured forth” to the wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, but that would have seemed “too political.” The Pentagon simply told him not to bring his media and campaign troglodytes, but he could go as an elected official, rather than a candidate. He chose not to go. However, he made it to the gym though.
One thing that bothers me even more than wasteful government programs is the way government often wastes money advertising wasteful government programs. Actually, what really bothers me is being caught off guard by a photo of an oversized vomiting sea cow. Thankfully this masterpiece advertising the fact that government will clean up your puddle of yack was funded by our British friends’ hard earned tax funds and not ours. Small comfort to those of us who, um, enjoyed that photo for free.
On a lighter note, if there is any truth to what was implied by today’s rumor, then this hag would be one heck of a step up for Alex Rodriguez.
The recent dilemma wreaking havoc over the Anglican Church is what to do about homosexuals. Many traditionalists and conservatives are angry by the Church’s lurch to the Left in recent years. Ordaining female priests and having openly gay ministers were vexing enough for the old school crowd, but last month two gay priests married each other in a “blessing ceremony” that went beyond anything sanctioned by the Church before and is also in open defiance of Anglican guidelines.
Some conservative clergy are even threatening a worldwide split over this issue. I believe it is an important issue. Religion is not supposed to reflect the hip new headlines and trends, it’s supposed to be a spiritual road map to help us better understand the depth of our soul. If your beliefs don’t mesh with a particular religion, join a new one, or try going Unitarian or Taoist. But witnessing one’s own religion change its core beliefs on an issue based on the social whims of the last three decades, which seek to change the face of a church approaching its 500th birthday should be vexing.
Go to the polls and change government policy, but leave religion out of this kind of secular social engineering. Or, from another angle, keep it up, Anglicans, and you’ll doubtlessly add more to the ranks of my Catholic faith!
Kudos to Ireland for rejecting the EU Constitution in Thursday’s referendum. Although the rejected document was actually titled the “Lisbon Treaty,” voters realized that it was nothing more than the previously-rejected Constitution under a different name. How do we know this? Angela Merkel admitted it last year.
The main question on everyone’s mind at this point is whether EU proponents will find a way to implement their treaty over the objections of their citizens. I’m more interested in Gordon Brown’s position. During the last General Election, the Labour Party promised voters that the UK would not implement the EU Constitution without first obtaining the people’s approval in a referendum. Sensing his country’s opposition to the treaty, Brown ignored his party’s promise and rammed the Lisbon Treaty (EU Constitution) through Parliament without holding a referendum. Thankfully and ironically, the Irish saved British sovereignty for the time being.
As the headline indicates, May 2008 saw the lowest monthly death toll for US troops in Iraq since March 2003 when the war began. Nineteen soldiers lost their lives last month. We hadn’t seen numbers that low since 21 soldiers died in the month of February 2004. This is a testament to the successes we’ve been seeing over the last year as the enemy gets weaker, the Iraqi Military gets stronger, and our role slowly changes from security to maintenance and rebuilding efforts.
Conditions on the ground are also improving such that Australia is safely removing their last 500 troops from Iraq and the British footprint around Basra has been seriously reduced.
It’s funny how bias can work. Back when Tony Blair was a slick socialist in the mode of Bill Clinton posing a threat to John Major, I thought Cherie Blair was an insufferable *itch. After what Tony Blair did for the U.S. and the civilized world against a terrorist-harboring regime however, I now find Cherie to be delightful. At least I admit my bias though.
Our British friends went to the polls in a series of local elections in England and Wales on Friday and the results were an unmitigated disaster for Gordon Brown’s Labour Party. In fact, it was the Conservatives’ best election result in years. The icing on the cake however, was that Boris Johnson defeated Red Ken Livingstone to become Mayor of London.
Although he was recently placed under the Imperius Curse, I’ve always been a Boris Johnson fan. He’s right of center, intelligent, amusing, and will not suffer from the same kind of anti-all-that-is-right-with-the- world diarrhea of the mouth that plagued Mr. Livingstone.
One classic line of attack from the liberal playbook is the false charge that conservatives are threatened by powerful women. You’d think conservative admiration for powerful women such as Margaret Thatcher, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, and Condoleezza Rice would have dispelled this notion, but facts never got in the way of a good liberal talking point before so why start now?
This two-week old clip from Prime Minister’s Questions is worth watching for two reasons. First, it shows that left-wing leaders (in this case, Harriet Harman) never hesitate to parrot the false and outdated idea that conservatives oppose powerful women, even here when the lefty was reminded just seconds before that her pioneering moment was about thirty years too late. Second, Hague was just funny.
We all love Nicholas Sarkozy for single-handedly making it OK to like the French again, and giving the Republicans here in America a model to win in November. But, we didn’t know much about his wife Carla until her recent trip to the UK this week.
Carla Sarkozy, formerly Carla Bruni (supermodel, poet, musician, actress, trysty lover of Mick Jagger et al), is taking the upper crust Euro political scene by storm. She’s glitzy, beautiful, chic, with a French accent the British media is just lapping up, making her an absolute craze across the pond!
Of course, she’s not the typical model for a major country’s First Lady, hence the paparazzi-like obsession of the media. Plus, the coupling of she and Sarko might seem a bit awkward to some: he the articulate go-getter, she the fashionista/ditz. Yet, the “New Diana” or the New “John and Jackie”? I don’t know about that, but aesthetically, as First Ladies go, she reminds us of slightly aged eye-candy you still don’t need wine to appreciate.
This video (about 3 minutes) at CentreRight of William Hague mocking Gordon Brown reminded me why Hague is my favorite foreign politician. It’s geek humor, but if you know British politics, especially the Blair-Brown feud, you will laugh at loud. Even Labour leaders did. If you decide to click through to the video, make sure you choose the full screen option so you can see how well this bit played with all three of the main parties.
American economic woes drove world markets down considerably today, making today the worst worldwide market plunge since 9/11!
They’re even calling it “Black Monday” in London, as the FTSE (“footsie” as they say), lost 5.5% before recovering to a 4.3% loss by day’s end. London markets haven’t had a worse January since 1936. The drop is being fueled by speculation that President Bush’s plan won’t be enough to help the ailing US economy.
Japan, China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Brazil, Europe, and Canada were all off by big percentages today and the ripple is apt to hit American markets tomorrow, which are currently taking a breather for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. India was apparently hardest hit and China took a sizable hit (they aren’t used to that).
Hopefully, some good news that oil is testing $90 a barrel and that a stimulus package is likely to be addressed quickly should slow the bleeding.
UK MP Barry Sheerman apparently isn’t very fond of Roman Catholic Bishops who seek to teach Roman Catholic doctrine in Roman Catholic schools. Reacting to Lancaster Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue’s call for abstinence education and crucifixes in Catholic school classrooms, Sheerman has requested that the Bishop appear before his Parliamentary committee because according to the MP:
A group of bishops appear to be taking a much firmer line and I think it would be useful to call representatives of the Catholic church in front of the committee to find out what is going on . . . It seems to me that faith education works all right as long as people are not that serious about their faith. But as soon as there is a more doctrinaire attitude questions have to be asked. It does become worrying when you get a new push from more fundamentalist bishops.This is taxpayers’ money after all.
I realize that the Roman Catholic Church can now boast larger attendance than the state-established alternative, but demanding Parliamentary hearings regarding how Catholic schools are run, whether they receive tax dollars or not, is a little over the top. Needless to say, stories like this should make American Christians grateful for the First Amendment which protects our God-given religious liberty.
Our British Catholic friends will be fine though. This Bishop O’Donoghue doesn’t seem likely to roll over. If St. Thomas More could resist Henry VIII’s demands, then Bishop O’Donoghue should have no problem handling this Sheerman fellow.
I think I’ll break up this string of anti-Huck posts.
Gordon Brown signed the renamed EU Constitution the other day, and he is rightfully taking a lot of heat for it. The thing is, in the 2005 election, the Labour Party manifesto promised to hold a referendum before the UK would adopt the EU Constitution. The reason Brown is broke his promise is that he actually favors the Constitution, but his country does not. In fact, this Constitution is so unpopular that Brown couldn’t even bring himself to sign the document at the EU heads of state photo op. It’s quite a pickle for Tony Blair’s successor.
If he were to go through with the referendum, it would go down, and there would probably be a General Election. With the Conservatives polling higher right now than at any time since 1988, that would be mean his life-long ambition of living at 10 Downing Street would be short-lived.
I have a theory about Gordon Brown. Labour is going to lose the next election and he knows it. For this reason, I predict that he is going to hold off on calling an election for as long as he possibly can, maybe even until 2010, and simply implement the policies he supports regardless of how unpopular they are. In the mean time, Prime Minister’s Questions should continue to entertain. David Cameron has been wiping the floor with Gordon for several weeks now. Expect this to continue.
Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party candidate for Mayor of London, has been placed under the imperius curse by She Who Must Not Be Named. Although Johnson has never been one to simply tow his party’s line, he has never actually gone off the deep end. Now, by his own admission, he is endorsing “a woman who seems to have acted out the role of First Lady, from 1993 to 2000, like a mixture between Cherie Blair and Lady Macbeth, stamping her heel, bawling out subordinates and frisbeeing ashtrays at her erring husband.”
This endorsement is a coup for SWMNBN for several reasons. It virtually ensures that she will avoid one of John Kerry’s gaffes from 2004, claiming the support of foreign leaders without being able to name any. It will add credibility to her proclaimed desire to restore America’s reputation around the world. Finally, the fact SWMNBN has a British Conservative on her side rather than a Syrian Baathist dictator already distinguishes her from the other powerful woman in American politics, Nancy Pelosi. Once again she can use her fellow liberals as a foil in her bid to pretend to be moderate.
I still want Boris as Mayor of London, but let’s hope the folks in middle America are more resistant to the Imperius Curse than he was.
Everything is falling apart for Gordon Brown. After weeks of speculation that there was a snap election in the works, Gordon Brown chickened out, deciding against calling the election. Brown’s about-face alone is a significant story, but was merely the culmination of what was a terrific week for Conservative Party Leader David Cameron.
The week began with David Cameron delivering a speech at the Conservative Party Conference that was described by many as frank and authentic. This was significant for Cameron because his Achilles Heel until then was that he was an indecisive, inauthentic, and unprincipled politician who stood for nothing. Following the speech, the Conservatives closed the gap with Labour, finally destroying the Brown Bounce which has lasted since July. This caused Brown to realize that he might actually lose the election if he called it, and he chickened out.
This enabled the Conservatives to jump all over the Prime Minister and now the political landscape across the pond is completely different than it was just one week ago. At the beginning of the week, Labour looked unbeatable and Gordon Brown was seen as a strong and principled leader. After Cameron’s speech and Brown’s misstep, the Conservatives are on offense, and Gordon Brown is seen as the indecisive, inauthentic, and unprincipled politician who stands for nothing.
At this point, the Conservatives have new life and Labour is scrambling over what is being called Black Saturday. The wheel has turned. Not a bad week for Mr. Cameron.
It’s no secret that I’m a William Hague fan. His moral clarity would be an asset to the UK and the world, and his brand of political theater is rivaled by few. For quite some time now, I’ve been hoping for and even predicting a Hague comeback in which he re-gains his position as leader of the British Conservative Party, wins a general election, and moves into Number Ten. I’m happy to say this idea is no longer far-fetched. In fact, he is now favored to be the next Tory leader.
It’s true that Hague lost badly to Tony Blair’s Labour Party in 2001, but it wasn’t really his fault. Blair was a phenomenal and wildly popular politician in 2001. Hague on the other hand, took over the Conservative Party after its worst defeat in over a century and presided over them while they divided beyond belief. If he does get a second chance, I have no doubt he would win.
The following clip is a humorous exchange between Hague and former Deputy Prime Minster John Prescott (think of a belligerent and funny Ted Kennedy without the bridge incident) from about a year and a half ago. Hague was filling in for David Cameron at the time. Maybe next time he’ll be replacing him.
For those unfamiliar with Johnson, he is a Tory who looks like Doc Brown, writes like Ann Coulter, and is as entertaining as Bob Dornan. He may not be in the same mold as many American conservatives (e.g. he opposes the war in Iraq War), but his habit of attacking the media and nanny state leftists in ways that will have you on the floor laughing makes his campaign worth following. His celebrity status also gives him a reasonable chance of defeating the repulsive Livingstone.
Even if you’re not usually interested in what our British Conservative friends are up to, be sure to check out Boris’ website every now and then for some thought-provoking commentary and even some cheap laughs. You might not always agree with him, but you will appreciate his approach. He would make a much better Mayor than Red Ken. I hope he wins.
Several Labour MPs are calling on Gordon Brown to call a snap election. With Labour riding high in the polls, many marginal backbenchers realize that their best chance of keeping their jobs is to fight an election battle before people remember why it is they were disaffected with Labour in the first place. After all, the Brown bounce can’t last forever, can it?
It wasn’t too long ago that David Cameron’s Conservatives were riding high in the polls and openly salivating over the prospect of running against Gordon Brown. Labour’s popularity during Tony Blair’s final days in Downing Street were nothing to brag about and Cameron seemingly succeeded in redefining the Conservative brand. Obviously our Conservative friends expected the new Prime Minister to enjoy a some sort of bounce after becoming Prime Minister but unfortunately for them, what went up still hasn’t come down. In fact, Labour’s lead over the Conservatives has increased since Brown took over back in July. It just might make sense for Brown to call an election even though he only recently achieved his life-long ambition.
But there’s the rub. Although Brown’s best chance to lead Labour to victory is right now, victory is never certain in politics. I think Gordon might be a little reluctant to risk his life-long ambition. The longer he waits though, the more likely he is to lose. This is quite a dilemma. Whatever Gordon decides to do, it would be wise to keep that referendum promise. Otherwise, the British map could turn bluer than people think.
Margaret Thatcher visited 10 Downing Street today, giving conservatives around the world a pleasant flashback and a momentary mirage of the way things ought to be. What a shame that Gordon wasn’t the one who was just visiting.
There is no consensus over whether Brown’s invitation to the Iron Lady was a shrewd political move. The BBC sees it as a blunder which will offend Labour’s rank and file. Readers at Conservative Home seem to disagree. They think the meeting was brilliant from a Labour point of view, especially given David Cameron’s recent departures from conservative principles.
Like our conservative British friends, I think it was great photo op for the Prime Minister. It will not cause a Labour backlash because left wing mental cases always do as they are told on election day; and conservative supporters will be reminded of the greatness that no longer leads their party. Moreover, Brown’s appearance with the greatest Prime Minister of my lifetime can only lend credibility to his ongoing centrist charade. Brown’s invitation was brilliant.
This article should be a huge wake-up call to many in the United States who want to embrace national health care. It is a simple principle that goes back to the Enlightenment: the more the government does for its citizens, the less personal freedoms their subjects have. When put in the hands of welfare state socialism, we get the UK’s own National Health System crisis, and the bizarre ways some in the Conservative Party think they can save it. The article also delves into the Tory idea for a school voucher system that could easily slip into forced busing, and some “ownership society”-style housing proposals, but their health care position is a bit scary.
Rewarding people for eating well and living healthy lifestyles, but suggesting that those who do not abide by the state’s mandate of “healthy” living should be snubbed by the system. This is somehow reasonable? Sounds like a wonderful system: dictating what people eat and punishing them if they don’t abide! I suppose they’ll soon suggest using the public camera system to monitor how long or if people jog in the morning. Since the government controls health care in the UK, the government is using its power of coersion on its own citizens in this case, potentially using their subject’s actual health as their carrot and stick. To them, a “responsible citizen” worthy of care is only what those few elected elites think it is. And this is the Tory point of view!
What plenty of universal government-controlled health care advocates in the US don’t understand is these unintended consequences of nanny-state socialism. The people’s own choices and decisions are taken out of the equation; thereby their personal freedoms are reduced. In a free market system, it is up to the health care provider to determine who should get coverage. If a person does not qualify, they can shop around to many other HMOs. However, persuasion is not coersion. Perks for healthy living is one thing, but punishment for eating certain foods too much is bordering on totalitarian.
Sorry Londoners, but Tube workers have walked off the job as part of their 72-hour strike. Having experienced the most recent NYC subway strike, I know how aggravated many of you are. I truly feel for you.
I’m sure our London friends are familiar with this song about the frustrations of urban transportation, but most of my fellow Americans are not. Enjoy.
WARNING: Video contains strong language which may be offensive to the overly sensitive.
For some time now, Gordon Brown has been risking his Labour party’s post-Blair bounce by arrogantly insisting that the UK adopt the EU Constitution without a referendum despite Labour’s most recent election manifesto promising one. Until now, Labour’s worst case scenario resulting from their broken promise was the creation of an issue for the Conservatives to hammer at the next election. Things are much worse for Labour now.
According to the Telegraph, 120 Labour MPS are in revolt, demanding that Brown keep their party’s election promise. This is a major test for Brown. Unlike in the US, where party revolts are merely embarassing, losing a vote in the House of Commons can topple a government, leading to a nearly immediate election conducted in the aftermath of the governing party’s recent embarassment. Brown will probably avoid this scenario.
Gordon Brown is probably savvy enough to weather this storm, either by fulfilling Labour’s promise to hold a referendum or by dropping the idea of an EU Constitution. Hopefully, he’ll choose the latter.
Gordon Brown has been riding high in the polls ever since he moved into Downing Street despite ignoring the source of the attempted terrorist attacks on his country. In fact, Brown is doing so well that many of our British friends believe that a snap election may be called sometime soon. Labour should not be planning their victory party so soon however. Although David Cameron’s Conservatives have been unable to make so much as a dent in Labour’s lead, Gordon Brown may still be his party’s undoing.
Although the Labour government is more popular than at any point during its third term, it now appears that Brown is displaying the same kind of arrogance that led to Labour’s plummeting popularity in the first place. Despite promising a referendum on the unpopular EU Constitution, the Labour government now appears poised to pass the Constitution without bothering to hold their promised referendum. This is hardly surprising considering the previous referenda in other countries rejecting the Constitution. Even the French under Chirac sent a resounding “non” when asked if they wanted to be surrender their sovereignty.
Polls in the UK show that even those who would support the EU Constitution believe that the government should hold its promised referendum. If Gordon Brown goes through with his plan to ram the Constitution through Parliament despite his party’s promise to listen to the people, his bounce may disappear; that is, if the Conservatives play their cards right.
New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had his first joint press conference with President Bush at Camp David this morning and guess what? They got along on all the foreign policy issues that matter, including Iraq, Iran and the overall War on Terror! Brown sounded outright hawkish on the nature of terrorism and the will to keep fighting with vigor. Also, as a complete slap in the face to Liberals here and across the Pond, Brown said, “we should acknowledge the debt the world owes the United States in its leadership in this fight against international terrorism.” Well, hot damn! Thanks!
On Iraq, the southern areas near Basra that the British control will see troop withdrawals based upon, of all things, progress on the ground! Sounds a lot like our plan, working faster in Basra because it’s ethincally homogenous and smaller than the area America controls.
Overall, a surprisingly positive meeting with Bush. They seem to get along well and share a mutual respect. A good start in my opinion, especially since Britain and America are still on the same page about finding and destroying the great evil of our day. In another surprise, the British people had shown growing disdain toward Tony Blair because of Iraq, yet Brown comes over to America to chat with the sinister GWB. One would think that he’d give Bush a piece of his mind, yet he realizes that the reality on the ground is that neither the US or UK can just get up and leave Iraq or shirk from our responsibilities in combatting terrorism. It was big of Brown to be honest with us all despite the potential political repercussions at home.
Just days after Islamic terrorists attempted to attack London and successfully attacked Glasgow International Airport, Gordon Brown has forbidden his ministers from using word “Muslim” when describing terrorism. This move comes despite the fact that every act of international terrorism in recent years in the UK and elsewhere has been committed by Muslims. I’m sure the BBC will be gushing with pride over this bout of political correctness.
Although Brown is clearly trying to avoid straining relations with British Muslims, such efforts are futile because that battle was lost years ago. Moderate Muslims, especially in the UK, are well aware of what terrorism is and abhor it. Narrowly-tailored statements connecting radical elements of Islam to terrorism will not offend Muslims who are truly outraged that the face of their religion has been hijacked by cowardly scum. Those Muslims who do not abhor terrorism are not people one should worry about offending anyway. Covering up the nature of Islamic terrorism will do nothing to solve the problem.
Less than a week into his reign, Gordon Brown is already beginning to show that he is no Tony Blair.
Word has come out from across that pond that a loaded car bomb was found near Picadilly Circus in the heart of London outside of a popular night club, and on Park Lane, at the edge of Hyde Park. 60 liters of petrol, propane gas and nails were found in an abandoned car near Haymarket. There was an estimated potential of 1,770 people near a Haymarket night club complex last night and had the bomb gone off, this would have meant horrendous carnage or “significant damage and loss of life” as British anti-terror chief Peter Clarke said. Britain is on high alert and they are checking the street cameras as I write.
But this is Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s second full day as PM, and the day after he replaced Blair’s entire cabinet. There is a transition going on at the moment and perhaps this plot was designed to inflict a chaotic blow to the new government, or to make a statement about Tony Blair’s new position as Mideast Envoy. Either way, this plot doesn’t seem random.
It’s not a new story. Remember the March 11 train bombings in Spain that led to a Socialist wuss-like government that pulled out of Iraq and flung its tail between its legs? Our enemies are not stupid and they understand our politics and the weaknesses of our system. There’s no evidence yet that this was al Qaeda or another well-organized group, but that doesn’t matter– it was still perpetrated by elements that do not respect the rule of law or freedom. Also, the US is not heightening alert levels just yet.
This bothers me for another reason, though. It is actually a fear I have for America once we have a new President next year. The bad guys will try something to hit America or American interests once we have a new administration, regardless of party affiliation. Look for Iran, China and Russia to exert force against us as well at that point. It’s just the nature of the beast and the world we live in.
Axis of Right 