I have an American friend called Dick. I shan’t write his surname because it wouldn’t be wise as he has so many interesting stories in his life that can get him in trouble with bad people who might have long memories.
I was once commissioned to write a screenplay based on a series of incidents in Dick's life in which he was intimately involved with trying to halt a very questionable regime gaining access to nuclear weapons. When I was approached to do the job I told them I had to check out his story for myself prior to writing anything. I gained access to Special Forces and various intelligence agencies that gave me the confirmation I needed.
Dick and I became firm friends over a long period of time over which Dick’s history became known to me. He had given a great deal for his country, and now due to that service this is his medical condition. He is numb from the pulverizing! It would take something as large as the Dead Sea scrolls to write it all down, but here it is in brief.
Dick has no ankle joint to speak of left to him after surgery, there’s nothing really there; two bulged discs impinge on his main nerve running along his spine, which is fused at the bottom, so he finds turning an agony. That, when taken together with his diabetes, together make a lethal, miserable one two punch! By the end of the day he can’t see straight and is totally wrung out because the energy it takes for him to fight the pain is man killing!
So how do you suppose this man spends his time? Dick crawls out of his bed each day to look after his son who suffers from his own lifelong ailment.
That clearly was not enough so Dick also set up a new business to develop and market an amazing new technology to help his country and allies fight their enemies. This takes the form of a wrist worn computer and display that can receive and send real time information in a battle environment. It can do this under water, on the ground, in extreme heat and cold. It will save many allied lives currently lost in ambush and a range of other situations.
Dick has developed this amazing, world leading technology with a tiny team of people on a limited budget against huge odds. In direct competition in live test conditions his equipment has surpassed every last piece of competition and is now almost ready.
This article is my small testament to an exceptional man; whether or not he triumphs over all the odds I think Dick is a great advertisement for America and for the sheer gritty staying power of the human spirit.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Justice
Lately there have been some extraordinary decisions in the English justice system. Amongst the most absurd was the finding of the Maidstone Crown Court, which this week decided that some ecological activists had not broken the law when they had intentionally shut down the Kingsworth power station during their protest.
Apparently, so the argument went during the trial, if the supposed greater evil being stopped is bad enough, then it is within the law to break the law and stop the perfectly legal generation of power.
The “evil” of the power station is that places like it are supposedly going to destroy our planet, and therefore it is to the greater good to put a stop to it.
In other words, it doesn’t matter if you act illegally to stop something that the politically correct consider bad or evil, because even when you’re caught breaking the law you will be let off by the justice system. This can only lead down a very slippery slope in which there will be no law.
We cannot allow passing fads, fashionable thinking or transient convenience to overcome common sense or the law.
Apparently, so the argument went during the trial, if the supposed greater evil being stopped is bad enough, then it is within the law to break the law and stop the perfectly legal generation of power.
The “evil” of the power station is that places like it are supposedly going to destroy our planet, and therefore it is to the greater good to put a stop to it.
In other words, it doesn’t matter if you act illegally to stop something that the politically correct consider bad or evil, because even when you’re caught breaking the law you will be let off by the justice system. This can only lead down a very slippery slope in which there will be no law.
We cannot allow passing fads, fashionable thinking or transient convenience to overcome common sense or the law.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
IslamicVictims
In the last week the trial was concluded of a group of Islamic men, born in the UK, who were accused of plotting to blow up a large number of trans Atlantic jets. Three of the defendants were found guilty of lesser charges, and one man was acquitted. It is mooted that the Director of Public Prosecution will soon announce that the rest of the men charged are to be re-tried after the jury were unable to reach a decision about them.
This is despite the fact that these men had made individual suicide videos for release after their ultimately unsuccessful suicide attacks. The ingredients of the explosive devices were also found, as were details of the targeted aircraft. In addition to this these men had also been trained to carry out such missions in Pakistan. What did the jury want, an engraved invitation to mass murder?
Who can care whatever warped motivation such maniacs claim when their aim was to massacre thousands of men, women and children of every race, color and creed in an act designed to horrify on an even greater scale than the jets crashing into the Twin Towers.
I am not a lawyer, nor an expert on this case, but there is something very wrong when hugely well-prepared cases such as this one are not able to obtain the serious convictions the evidence appears to justify. We hope that someone very high in the English justice system is investigating how this jury deliberated, and what was its composition. There are grave misgivings being voiced by many people when such questionable decisions are reached without explanation. Is this another case of misguided political correctness gone mad, this time in the jury room?
At the same time, and unconnected in almost every way, across London, there are four of the most senior Islamic officers in the Metropolitan Police Force at various stages of claims against that organization for racial bias against them. All of these complaints single out for special condemnation the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair. Normally I am at the forefront of those condemning this silly and super PC man, but surely not for his racism. He genuflects to the false gods of PC’ness and exposes his posterior whilst he grovels on the floor. How could anyone be less racist than this man? In fact, under his leadership it is much harder to get into the police force and gain promotion if you are white and English than if you are from a minority.
How wonderfully ironic that Ian Blair should be hoist on his own ample petard in this instance, and how stupid. The four officers concerned are professional chance takers, who it appears might well just be seeking to get rich quick by making silly and unsubstantiated claims for racial discrimination in order that they might gain financially.
To add to this ghastly parody of racial prejudice, it is now reported that the lawyer acting for these officers is himself a person with a more than questionable past. Are we all shocked, I don’t think any of us can be. We inhabit an Orwellian world in which everything is distorted and warped by falsehood and greedy inadequate people who care nothing about loyalty, integrity or society.
What makes it worse in both these stories is that most of the people concerned are Asians of the Muslim faith and were born or were raised in the UK. They have taken everything this country has had to offer and in return abuse us and seek to harm or gain from us. They are despicable human beings, not because they are Muslim, but because they are human garbage that deserves nothing but our contempt. In this society that has embraced a victim culture it has become hard for some to remember that the real victims are the people who actually suffer, and not the people who are able to complain the loudest.
This is despite the fact that these men had made individual suicide videos for release after their ultimately unsuccessful suicide attacks. The ingredients of the explosive devices were also found, as were details of the targeted aircraft. In addition to this these men had also been trained to carry out such missions in Pakistan. What did the jury want, an engraved invitation to mass murder?
Who can care whatever warped motivation such maniacs claim when their aim was to massacre thousands of men, women and children of every race, color and creed in an act designed to horrify on an even greater scale than the jets crashing into the Twin Towers.
I am not a lawyer, nor an expert on this case, but there is something very wrong when hugely well-prepared cases such as this one are not able to obtain the serious convictions the evidence appears to justify. We hope that someone very high in the English justice system is investigating how this jury deliberated, and what was its composition. There are grave misgivings being voiced by many people when such questionable decisions are reached without explanation. Is this another case of misguided political correctness gone mad, this time in the jury room?
At the same time, and unconnected in almost every way, across London, there are four of the most senior Islamic officers in the Metropolitan Police Force at various stages of claims against that organization for racial bias against them. All of these complaints single out for special condemnation the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair. Normally I am at the forefront of those condemning this silly and super PC man, but surely not for his racism. He genuflects to the false gods of PC’ness and exposes his posterior whilst he grovels on the floor. How could anyone be less racist than this man? In fact, under his leadership it is much harder to get into the police force and gain promotion if you are white and English than if you are from a minority.
How wonderfully ironic that Ian Blair should be hoist on his own ample petard in this instance, and how stupid. The four officers concerned are professional chance takers, who it appears might well just be seeking to get rich quick by making silly and unsubstantiated claims for racial discrimination in order that they might gain financially.
To add to this ghastly parody of racial prejudice, it is now reported that the lawyer acting for these officers is himself a person with a more than questionable past. Are we all shocked, I don’t think any of us can be. We inhabit an Orwellian world in which everything is distorted and warped by falsehood and greedy inadequate people who care nothing about loyalty, integrity or society.
What makes it worse in both these stories is that most of the people concerned are Asians of the Muslim faith and were born or were raised in the UK. They have taken everything this country has had to offer and in return abuse us and seek to harm or gain from us. They are despicable human beings, not because they are Muslim, but because they are human garbage that deserves nothing but our contempt. In this society that has embraced a victim culture it has become hard for some to remember that the real victims are the people who actually suffer, and not the people who are able to complain the loudest.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
TheWorkaholic
My name is Tony and I am a workaholic. There you go, the first step is the big one, the admission that there is something wrong with me. Now I’ve gone that far I guess I should explain myself.
A couple of days back I made the declaration that I was not going to post a blog until the middle of the week and all would be explained at that time. This is now the time to take that next step.
I consider myself a person of moderation in most things, except for some strongly held opinions which you have had the misfortune or otherwise to share with me in this column. I noticed that not everyone works like me, and thought that entirely natural, after all each of is built differently. In fact I think I’m lazy, and never doing enough to justify any kind of hard working description.
My grandfather Gershon worked hard, “like a donkey” my father used to say of his father. Sometimes 18 to 20 hours a day, every day for years too numerous to bear, almost dancing up and down the hard floor of his little room as a tailor’s presser in Soho’s D’arblay Street he strived to look after his family for year after year of unrelenting effort. I remember watching him as a young boy as he worked himself into his early grave. Despite his almost superhuman East European strength eventually the never-ending work took its toll on this pocket dynamo.
That was hard work, but it was my late father, Michael, who really worked hard. I never saw anyone start earlier or work later than him, and although he worked with his brain and not his brawn it was no less hard. Of course they also had something else in common, these two wonderful men who were so different in many ways; they both died too early.
So when my wife, kids, friends and even strangers started to tell me I was working too hard I, being the son of my father, at first took no notice. To me writing a book or a blog or working on a film script is pleasure, not pain. It just doesn’t seem like work. A phone call about a deal is like a stroll in the park, and doing a bit of research on the net or handling my e-mails is mostly fun and a pleasure. I’m happy working on my laptop during the evening. I am keen to be in contact on my BlackBerry most of the time.
Then it dawned on my, I have become a workaholic, I never stop working, or thinking about work, or writing, or doing deals. This became obvious to me when I intentionally cut back on my workload and felt withdrawal symptoms that were almost physical.
As a result I decided to see if I could turn off all my machinery before and after office hours and to intentionally not post these columns for a couple of days.
The world didn’t come to an end, it still revolves, and apart from a few kind souls worrying if I was OK because they had come to anticipate my columns every day, everyone and everything survived.
This has taught me to attempt the previously impossible, to try and do a little less working and a little more living. I trust you will all agree that this is the right way for a now admitted workaholic to go.
I suspect that I am not alone as a workaholic; I think that there are people reading this column who could learn from some of my mistakes and who would benefit from a spot of rest and recreation. Spoil yourselves; you’re only on this planet a very brief time.
A couple of days back I made the declaration that I was not going to post a blog until the middle of the week and all would be explained at that time. This is now the time to take that next step.
I consider myself a person of moderation in most things, except for some strongly held opinions which you have had the misfortune or otherwise to share with me in this column. I noticed that not everyone works like me, and thought that entirely natural, after all each of is built differently. In fact I think I’m lazy, and never doing enough to justify any kind of hard working description.
My grandfather Gershon worked hard, “like a donkey” my father used to say of his father. Sometimes 18 to 20 hours a day, every day for years too numerous to bear, almost dancing up and down the hard floor of his little room as a tailor’s presser in Soho’s D’arblay Street he strived to look after his family for year after year of unrelenting effort. I remember watching him as a young boy as he worked himself into his early grave. Despite his almost superhuman East European strength eventually the never-ending work took its toll on this pocket dynamo.
That was hard work, but it was my late father, Michael, who really worked hard. I never saw anyone start earlier or work later than him, and although he worked with his brain and not his brawn it was no less hard. Of course they also had something else in common, these two wonderful men who were so different in many ways; they both died too early.
So when my wife, kids, friends and even strangers started to tell me I was working too hard I, being the son of my father, at first took no notice. To me writing a book or a blog or working on a film script is pleasure, not pain. It just doesn’t seem like work. A phone call about a deal is like a stroll in the park, and doing a bit of research on the net or handling my e-mails is mostly fun and a pleasure. I’m happy working on my laptop during the evening. I am keen to be in contact on my BlackBerry most of the time.
Then it dawned on my, I have become a workaholic, I never stop working, or thinking about work, or writing, or doing deals. This became obvious to me when I intentionally cut back on my workload and felt withdrawal symptoms that were almost physical.
As a result I decided to see if I could turn off all my machinery before and after office hours and to intentionally not post these columns for a couple of days.
The world didn’t come to an end, it still revolves, and apart from a few kind souls worrying if I was OK because they had come to anticipate my columns every day, everyone and everything survived.
This has taught me to attempt the previously impossible, to try and do a little less working and a little more living. I trust you will all agree that this is the right way for a now admitted workaholic to go.
I suspect that I am not alone as a workaholic; I think that there are people reading this column who could learn from some of my mistakes and who would benefit from a spot of rest and recreation. Spoil yourselves; you’re only on this planet a very brief time.
Monday, September 8, 2008
नोनेव्स्तोदय!
I have decided not to write any blogs until the middle of the week. All will be explained then and I apologize to any of you that look forward to my taking my head and using it as a battering ram.
See you soon!
See you soon!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
ThePalinReaction
The reaction to Sarah Palin’s speech when she accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for the role of Vice President was even bigger than that given to her Presidential running mate, John McCain, when he appeared in front of his convention and a TV audience of 39 million. This slightly exceeded the number of television viewers that Obama attracted and validates the view that this election is still too close to call.
Certainly my mailbag reflected a very lively debate taking place on this election across America and finding its way across the pond. The Presidential race has taken off after the electrifying introduction of Sarah Palin.
Many of my correspondents adopted the stance that, because I rated Palin’s speech so highly I obviously rate her as highly. Well, the truth is I don’t know any more about her than any of you and it’s way too early to make a proper judgment, either way. It wouldn’t be possible to say she’s the best thing since sliced bread, but equally the liberal media’s attempt to paint her as the devil incarnate is absurd.
Some of you agree that this media bias exists but what was clear is how polarized American opinion is over who the next President will be. It is more super charged and heated than political choice usually is from my liberal left leaning friends, and I wonder if that’s because they are beginning to realize that this election is not going to be the walkover they had been anticipating.
As a foreigner I should maintain the strict public neutrality that I suggest should be the role of the American media. To that end we shall revisit these themes as the election unfolds. It is sad that serious debate should be so obviously trivialized by both sides and their supporters but if you look back into history this has always been the case. It’s just more evident now.
What should happen now is that there should be public and open debate through which we should learn more about the candidates and their true personalities. I am concerned that the spin-doctors are so busy managing events that we might not get to do so. In the UK we recently had an election for the Mayor of London, won by a Conservative maverick, Boris Johnson. He could almost be the British political son of John McCain; his spin-doctors were able to get him elected whilst stage-managing his campaign to avoid his ever saying anything. I wonder if the British Conservatives and American Republicans are lending each other their political playbook?
If that is the case we can anticipate McCain and Obama will keep the campaigns general whilst the respective Vice-Presidential candidates slug it out on the detail. I think that would be a big mistake for Obama. He needs to let us know what he aims to do, and how he’s going to do it. It is becoming obvious that the American public already trusts the honor of McCain, even if they don’t necessarily agree with his politics, whereas the voters admire Obama, his oratory and his ability as a Professor and machine politician, but there is not a long history of great orators or Professors or machine politicians winning the Presidency.
Everything should be in favor of the Democratic Party after Iraq, George W Bush’s perceived failures and a faltering economy, which makes it even more surprising that McCain is simply not fading away.
Certainly my mailbag reflected a very lively debate taking place on this election across America and finding its way across the pond. The Presidential race has taken off after the electrifying introduction of Sarah Palin.
Many of my correspondents adopted the stance that, because I rated Palin’s speech so highly I obviously rate her as highly. Well, the truth is I don’t know any more about her than any of you and it’s way too early to make a proper judgment, either way. It wouldn’t be possible to say she’s the best thing since sliced bread, but equally the liberal media’s attempt to paint her as the devil incarnate is absurd.
Some of you agree that this media bias exists but what was clear is how polarized American opinion is over who the next President will be. It is more super charged and heated than political choice usually is from my liberal left leaning friends, and I wonder if that’s because they are beginning to realize that this election is not going to be the walkover they had been anticipating.
As a foreigner I should maintain the strict public neutrality that I suggest should be the role of the American media. To that end we shall revisit these themes as the election unfolds. It is sad that serious debate should be so obviously trivialized by both sides and their supporters but if you look back into history this has always been the case. It’s just more evident now.
What should happen now is that there should be public and open debate through which we should learn more about the candidates and their true personalities. I am concerned that the spin-doctors are so busy managing events that we might not get to do so. In the UK we recently had an election for the Mayor of London, won by a Conservative maverick, Boris Johnson. He could almost be the British political son of John McCain; his spin-doctors were able to get him elected whilst stage-managing his campaign to avoid his ever saying anything. I wonder if the British Conservatives and American Republicans are lending each other their political playbook?
If that is the case we can anticipate McCain and Obama will keep the campaigns general whilst the respective Vice-Presidential candidates slug it out on the detail. I think that would be a big mistake for Obama. He needs to let us know what he aims to do, and how he’s going to do it. It is becoming obvious that the American public already trusts the honor of McCain, even if they don’t necessarily agree with his politics, whereas the voters admire Obama, his oratory and his ability as a Professor and machine politician, but there is not a long history of great orators or Professors or machine politicians winning the Presidency.
Everything should be in favor of the Democratic Party after Iraq, George W Bush’s perceived failures and a faltering economy, which makes it even more surprising that McCain is simply not fading away.
Friday, September 5, 2008
SarahPalin
Sarah Palin made her speech accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for the role of Vice President. Not only was she able to deflect the mounting criticism of her being selected, she was triumphantly good. Watching this woman it is hard to believe that she had only served as Governor of Alaska for less than two years and prior to that for a few years as Mayor of a tiny town in that state.
With the media speculating that the McCain camp has made a dreadful mistake following several revelations regarding Governor Palin's past, some might have thought the 44-year-old, mother of five would adopt a low key, defensive tone, but this was not to be.
Governor Palin provided a suitably dramatic close to the third day of the Republican National Convention by coming out swinging at Barack Obama and the media whilst promoting her own small-town and gubernatorial government experience. She very effectively made the point that she and McCain have executive experience whereas Obama does not.
Sarah Palin was already known to be a tenacious fighter amongst the people of her Alaskan home state, and now the rest of the world has witnessed her feisty resolve live and in action. Her style was devastating, steely and barbed resolve delivered with a charming smile. Her intentions and style were clear, when, in a particularly pointed early barb, attacked Senator Obama's past as a community organizer in Chicago. She made him and this occupation sound silly and unnecessary.
"Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown," she said. "And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."
In a classic 'when life hands you lemons' routine, Governor Palin chose to address the media frenzy surrounding her family head on. With her own daughter's pregnancy underscoring the differences in policy preference. But the Palins have insisted that they are proud of Bristol's decision to go through with the pregnancy, rather than have an abortion, as Governor Palin is extremely pro-life. Her recently having a Down’s syndrome baby just a few months ago, which she proudly shared with the world rather than hiding further evidences this.
On the subject of the media coverage of Sarah Palin we should contrast their attempts to make her seem a far right wing, Christian lunatic getting way too close to the nuclear trigger to their cloying, sycophantic, syrupy coverage of Barack Obama. This is bias writ large and it has crossed the Atlantic and is evident in the BBC, who adores the man from Chicago and clearly despise the woman from Alaska.
In her speech, she also addressed several of her other supposed weak points, each time turning them all into positives.
Addressing the negative media hype she has generated, she said:
"I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion -- I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country."
Although some have pointed to Palin’s Washington DC inexperience as a weakness, she cleverly framed it as a net positive, claiming a history as a reformer.
" I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau, when I stood up to the special interests, and the lobbyists, and the Big Oil companies, and the good-old boys."
But the man with a bull’s eye on his chest was Obama, for whom she reserved her strongest attacks. "It's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs, but not a single major law or reform, not even in the state Senate. This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word 'victory' except when he's talking about his own campaign."
After pointing to Obama's soaring oratory and over dramatic setting at the Democratic National Convention, she asked, "What exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer -- the answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.
America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit it. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions. Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."
At the conclusion of her triumphant speech, Senator McCain joined her on stage and asked, "Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?"
The crowd cheered in response, clearly energized by Palin's forceful tone and no-nonsense approach. On a night in which Republicans formally nominated Senator McCain, the party platform suddenly seems more coherent than it has in months.
Within moments of the evening's curtain drop, the Obama campaign issued their statement about Governor Palin's address:
"The speech that Governor Palin gave was well delivered, but it was written by George Bush's speechwriter and sounds exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we've heard from George Bush for the last eight years."
Here’s a newsflash for the Obama campaign staff, every one of us knows that all major political speeches in the USA are written by professional speechwriters. We are aware that this was also the case with the speech of Sarah Palin, but she captured our imagination and made the Republican spirit soar. She tailored the speech to fit both her mouth and soul, and that clearly found an echo with her party and possibly America.
It’s amazing to think that but for some twist of fate almost none of us would have ever heard of this woman. After this speech, which she seemed born to deliver, I think its fair to forecast that Sarah Palin might well be a national figure for the rest of her life.
With the media speculating that the McCain camp has made a dreadful mistake following several revelations regarding Governor Palin's past, some might have thought the 44-year-old, mother of five would adopt a low key, defensive tone, but this was not to be.
Governor Palin provided a suitably dramatic close to the third day of the Republican National Convention by coming out swinging at Barack Obama and the media whilst promoting her own small-town and gubernatorial government experience. She very effectively made the point that she and McCain have executive experience whereas Obama does not.
Sarah Palin was already known to be a tenacious fighter amongst the people of her Alaskan home state, and now the rest of the world has witnessed her feisty resolve live and in action. Her style was devastating, steely and barbed resolve delivered with a charming smile. Her intentions and style were clear, when, in a particularly pointed early barb, attacked Senator Obama's past as a community organizer in Chicago. She made him and this occupation sound silly and unnecessary.
"Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown," she said. "And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."
In a classic 'when life hands you lemons' routine, Governor Palin chose to address the media frenzy surrounding her family head on. With her own daughter's pregnancy underscoring the differences in policy preference. But the Palins have insisted that they are proud of Bristol's decision to go through with the pregnancy, rather than have an abortion, as Governor Palin is extremely pro-life. Her recently having a Down’s syndrome baby just a few months ago, which she proudly shared with the world rather than hiding further evidences this.
On the subject of the media coverage of Sarah Palin we should contrast their attempts to make her seem a far right wing, Christian lunatic getting way too close to the nuclear trigger to their cloying, sycophantic, syrupy coverage of Barack Obama. This is bias writ large and it has crossed the Atlantic and is evident in the BBC, who adores the man from Chicago and clearly despise the woman from Alaska.
In her speech, she also addressed several of her other supposed weak points, each time turning them all into positives.
Addressing the negative media hype she has generated, she said:
"I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion -- I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country."
Although some have pointed to Palin’s Washington DC inexperience as a weakness, she cleverly framed it as a net positive, claiming a history as a reformer.
" I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau, when I stood up to the special interests, and the lobbyists, and the Big Oil companies, and the good-old boys."
But the man with a bull’s eye on his chest was Obama, for whom she reserved her strongest attacks. "It's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs, but not a single major law or reform, not even in the state Senate. This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word 'victory' except when he's talking about his own campaign."
After pointing to Obama's soaring oratory and over dramatic setting at the Democratic National Convention, she asked, "What exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer -- the answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.
America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit it. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions. Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."
At the conclusion of her triumphant speech, Senator McCain joined her on stage and asked, "Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?"
The crowd cheered in response, clearly energized by Palin's forceful tone and no-nonsense approach. On a night in which Republicans formally nominated Senator McCain, the party platform suddenly seems more coherent than it has in months.
Within moments of the evening's curtain drop, the Obama campaign issued their statement about Governor Palin's address:
"The speech that Governor Palin gave was well delivered, but it was written by George Bush's speechwriter and sounds exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we've heard from George Bush for the last eight years."
Here’s a newsflash for the Obama campaign staff, every one of us knows that all major political speeches in the USA are written by professional speechwriters. We are aware that this was also the case with the speech of Sarah Palin, but she captured our imagination and made the Republican spirit soar. She tailored the speech to fit both her mouth and soul, and that clearly found an echo with her party and possibly America.
It’s amazing to think that but for some twist of fate almost none of us would have ever heard of this woman. After this speech, which she seemed born to deliver, I think its fair to forecast that Sarah Palin might well be a national figure for the rest of her life.
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