24 December 2009

Apparently Eurostar needs more advance warning for winter storms

How about nine days?
Seven inches of snow is likely in the Kansas City area, perhaps resulting in carolers singing of this White Christmas being a nightmare instead of a dream come true. This means, if my past two major winter storm comparisons are indeed a reliable indication, the Channel region should expect this maelstrom on or around 3 January 2010, if not sooner as a result of the nor'easter that froze Washington D.C. earlier this week.

Since Eurostar and other European transportation agencies somehow were caught off guard by last week's wintry mess (which has doused Iowa in blizzard-like conditions the week before), I thought I'd do my part and serve as a harbinger.

Christmas Messages

Tomorrow, after families across the UK finish their turkey dinners complete with Christmas puddings and mince pies (and where it would be a very bad idea to try and bite into a Christmas cracker), many of them will sit in front of the TV or radio and receive The Queen's annual Christmas Message, set for broadcast at 1500 GMT. (Many others will be hitting refresh on YouTube for the video to appear.) This year, Her Majesty will give praise to the Armed Forces, who have taken considerably heavier losses in 2009. This year's broadcast was produced by ITN, who alternate with the BBC.

Meanwhile Channel 4, a year after choosing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for their alternate broadcast (and giving him prime time billing as opposed to running it against The Queen), has selected Katie Piper, a 26-year-old who survived an acid assault engineered by her ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch. Piper's story, whose dreams to become a television presenter was derailed by the assault, leaving her blind in one eye and requiring at least 30 surgeries to restore her facial skin, was documented by Channel 4 last October to high acclaim. Her five-minute message, aimed to provide hope and optimism, will air at the same time.

Fortunately, for homes with digital TV, they won't have to choose between the two. As Channel 4 has a time-shifted channel, digital TV viewers can view the alternate message at 4 p.m.

21 December 2009

Another American export to arrive in Brtiain

In the past five year, the US has exported to the UK in droves restaurant brands, High School Musical, obnoxiously expensive school dances, baseball jargon, Premier League goalies, The Apprentice, yours truly, and now the crème de la crème: Prime Minister's Election Debates.

Long discussed but never agreed to until now, the three major Westminster parties have agreed to have their leaders participate in three 90-minute debates, set to take place on ITV, Sky News and BBC. Regional debates for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will also take place. Three potential problems will crop up when these debates debut, perhaps as early as February.

First, nationalist parties (Scottish National Party and Wales' Plaid Cymru) are threatening to take all three networks to court and sue their way onto the nationwide debates. While they have the chance to make their case against the Labour, LibDem and Tory leaders from their respective devolved legislatures, they also argue that having nationwide debates doubles the publicity of the Westminster Three. This brings about another tangent to the West Lothian Question, which asks why Scottish MPs have an opportunity to weigh in on affairs in England when they and English MPs aren't able to weigh in on Scottish affairs. Why would voters in Kent or Cornwall care what Alex Salmond says about a domestic issue when the SNP or Plaid Cymru have no desire to run candidates in England? If either party want in the debates, then it would be to their advantage to campaign to put their leader in 10 Downing, rather than pursuing independence.

However, both parties can point to Canada for support, as Canadian broadcasters have had televised leaders' debates since the election of 1968. Their qualifications are that a party must have one MP in order for the party leader to appear. This ensures the place of le Bloc Québécois, the nationalist party who only runs candidates in Quebec, and thus a debate exclusively in French. Indeed the SNP & Plaid Cymru can potentially push for debates to occur in Scots Gaelic and Cymraeg, and potentially as many as 11 parties on a leaders' debate in the UK, including the Irish republican Sinn Féin party and one-member parties Independent Kidderminster Hospital & Health Concern and Respect - The Unity Coalition. Factoring in the European Parliament, UKIP and the BNP could both make claims to become part of the leadership debate, which by then might as well be turned into a game show called "Westminster Squares" or a farcical school cafeteria food fight. The fear of this, however, could bring about a worse response and put it down to two parties, shutting out the third that could easily become the figurative kingmaker in future elections.

Second, as it stands, each debate will be televised on only one network at a time. This leaves out Channel 4 and Five. Worse, should the election occur in May or June, ITV could pull a devious stunt and run "Britain's Got Talent" against the broadcast of the remaining two debates on Sky and BBC. For these debates to gain enough traction and be seen not as a ratings ploy but instead a worthy tool of informing voters, they should be operated by a multi-network commission and allowed to be broadcast on every network that wants to allot time for it.

Third, critics of the debates argue that placing the party leader on a nationwide televised debate puts more emphasis on the leader and party brand, detracting from the individual running in each constituency for his or her party. This criticism, however, can be levelled against any function involving the role of a party leader—Prime Minister's Questions, Question Time, election party broadcasts, the party manifesto—and is mostly a reaction to the evolution of the role of Prime Minister the past 200 years, and by extension party leaders. The debates, however, would harden the role of the Prime Minister as an executive, whereas the position remains in the legislative branch with powers delegated by the monarchical executive. By debates being televised to millions, several of whom won't bother to read the manifestos or even push the Red Button to review the party broadcasts, individual candidates could find themselves in a more narrow definition of their party, and deviating from that image could cost both them and their party.

While this is a major step forward in bringing election processes to the masses of today, the potential changes it may make to how elections play out could be few and minimal or quite drastic.

Now THIS should have been #1 in the UK this week!

Forget X Factor and Rage Against The Machine. The BBC has posted a message from a group of sewer workers from Thames Water.

Most enlightening and hilarious. I wonder if people will follow their lyrical subterranean advice.

17 December 2009

So 103 years of tradition is bunk?

With the eleven universities in the Big Ten Conference likely to agree to a plan to add one or three more members in the near future, speculation in the media is turning widely to the prospect of Mizzou defecting from the Big 12. If such discussions transpire to where Mizzou does make the move to a Big Ten+2, they will leave behind a conference whose predecessor the Big Eight (formerly Big Seven, Big Six, and Missouri Valley) they helped form in 1907, along with Kansas, Nebraska, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Now while the Big Ten has a plenty of tradition as America's oldest collegiate athletic conference and serious academic acumen, Mizzou would be getting all this for the sake of milking more out of the St. Louis market:
  • No guaranteed Border Showdown with KU. The MU-KU rivalry has its roots in the run-up to the U.S. Civil War and was one of the many spawns of a great American university tradition, Homecoming. In its place would be Mizzou's only current rivalry with a Big Ten school, Illinois, whose roots is exclusively in the fact that the biggest city on the Missouri-Illinois border is St. Louis. In football, this game is already set to expire after next season. Aside from this, Mizzou has no significant rivalry with any other Big Ten school, except Northwestern in the contest for best journalism school.
  • Longer travel times. Instead of being the easternmost member of the Big 12 Conference, Mizzou would become the southernmost and westernmost of a larger Big Ten. Also, its longest trip won't be a 695-mile sojourn to Boulder to take on a so-so Buffalo squad, but an 800-mile odyssey to challenge Joe Paterno's vaunted Penn State Nittany Lions.
  • One heck of a tougher schedule just to get into a BCS bowl. Instead of playing perennial powerhouses Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, Mizzou instead goes up against Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State and Wisconsin. While a Big Ten+2 western conference might result in Mizzou often rising to the top for a new championship game, winning that championship game would have Mizzou going to Pasadena with a likelihood of getting speared by USC in the Rose Bowl.
But of course, this isn't happening tomorrow, and that's only from the football perspective. When factoring in all sports, the Big Ten offer more (12 men's, 13 women's) than the Big 12 (10 men's, 11 women's). In men's basketball, Mizzou would have to put up quite a fight against Tom Izzo's Spartans of Michigan State and typically tough teams at Wisconsin and Ohio State, of which only Wisconsin would be in a western division.

Unfortunate for Missouri tourism revenue, especially Kansas City, leaving the Big 12 for a Big Ten+2 would cause the state to lose its pivot point in attracting conference tournaments (because why would KU host such tournaments in Missouri?) and instead become a fringe area. Chicago's central location would be reinforced, with St. Louis likely to be seen as a bone thrown to the west when Minneapolis/St. Paul and Milwaukee won't do. It would be imperative for Mizzou officials, and by extension state lawmakers, to consider this when making statements regarding the prospect of Mizzou jumping conferences.

But this is all speculation. For starters, the Big Ten have to agree whether or not to seek a 12th school, or go further and expand to 14 or even 16. And then there are other schools they are destined to consider, likely Big East schools like Syracuse, Rutgers and Pittsburgh. And they just could find a way for Notre Dame to shrug off its staunch independent mentality and embrace a place in a historic conference (then again, I've been dreaming of a Notre Dame-Mizzou game for years now.)

Raging against the same machine…

Author's note: this was reported today by the Daily Star, the lowbrow sister of the Daily Express. All the guy probably did was what I did once I read the story: find the names on the same list on Wikipedia.

When it comes to the UK music charts, the most coveted prize of the year is to have the most popular song at Christmas. As described by the BBC in 2001, winning the honour conveys the ultimate sign of name recognition in the UK, guaranteeing a spot on talk shows and Top of the Pops programmes. Schemes to obtain the top spot, attempted as early as 1973, were lampooned in the comedy film Love Actually with a parody of The Troggs' "Love is All Around".

Since 2005, the Christmas Number One spot has been dominated by winners of The X Factor, Britain's counterpart to American Idol. As the final episode airs two weeks before Christmas, demand for the new release of the show's winner ultimately spikes. And while Leona Lewis has made waves on US charts, I'd be surprised if anyone back home has heard of Shayne Ward, Leon Jackson or Alexandra Burke. And now there's another representative of the music "establishment": Joe McElderry, an 18-year-old from the Tyneside town of South Shields and winner of this year's hotly contested X Factor. His single "The Climb" (which is a cover of Miley Cyrus) was produced by SyCo, Simon Cowell's recording label, which is part of the Sony Music conglomerate.

However, those tired of the bubble-gum, sugar-coated covers that are churned out by Simon Cowell are rallying on Facebook to get a different song at the top. Enter Rage Against The Machine and their 1992 debut single, "Killing In The Name", complete with 17 mentions of one obscene word. The band, along with several UK radio personalities and the first winner of X Factor, are expressing support for the endeavour, which has been made easier this year by purchased downloads now counting in the charts. Earlier today, a partially edited version of song aired at the end of an interview with the band on BBC Five Live (and by partially, I mean a refrain featuring said obscene word aired four times before being yanked from the air.) Also today, the online music magazine Gigwise claims RATM is surpassing McElderry by 65,000 downloads.

"Killing In The Name" was released by Epic, also a subsidiary of Sony Music.

Even if Cowell is going to blow a gasket being unseated by anarchists, someone in a hi-rise on New York's Columbus Circle is still revelling in turning anarchists into a different breed of sheep. All the while, the real X Factor (where Christians are concerned) isn't factoring on the charts. The last Christmas song to reach #1 during Christmas was a 2004 remake of the 1985 Band Aid hit "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

If I had to choose one song to download this week, it's going to be this one. It just happens to be another Sony artist.

15 December 2009

Ninety-eight turns out to be too great

Last week I became aware of a wonderfully devised infographic by The New York Times showing the increasing number of food stamps recipients across the US. The Times found that over the past two years, program participation has ballooned to now encompass almost one in eight Americans, and twice as many children.

Missouri was highlighted in the related article as having signed up 98 percent of eligible Missourians, and having five counties (Pemiscot, Dunklin, Ripley, Mississippi and New Madrid) among the 25 counties in the U.S. with highest participation. An additional 16 counties in Missouri, ranging from St. Louis City to McDonald County, have half their children receiving food stamps.

Now, it turns out the high participation numbers reported to the US Department of Agriculture wasn't entirely because of a successful push to get qualified families on the dole, but instead a computer glitch that has kept figures inflated since September 2002. The most common miscalculation came when a qualified resident would leave a household but not be deducted from the count.

A recalculation is underway, which could bring Missouri's count down by as much as one-fourth. The big hit, however, could come from Missouri repaying $4.4 million in bonus benefits granted to the state for its high participation rates.

09 December 2009

Onward Christian Hoteliers

Report from the BBC just over an hour ago

A Christian couple from Liverpool have been cleared of charges that they insulted a Muslim guest at their bed & breakfast because she was wearing a hijab.

The hoteliers, Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang, faced a judge in a Liverpool Magistrates Court this week following accusations made by Ericka Tazi, who spent much of March 2009 at the B&B to attend classes at a nearby hospital. Tazi, a 60-year-old who converted to Islam 18 months ago, accused the Christian-devout Vogelenzangs of calling her a terrorist and insulting her choice of religion by comparing the Prophet Muhammad to several infamous dictators. The couple, while admitting that they did weren't fond of Tazi's apparel selection, seeing it as a form of bondage, they say the discussion wasn't as heated as Tazi claims.

Judge Richard Clancy, who was hearing the case, ruled following two days of testimony that the evidence was inconsistent to the charges presented and threw the case out. While the Vogelenzangs were quick to offer praise to God and their supporters for holding prayer vigils, business to their B&B has dropped by 80 percent.

Indeed a case of "she said, she said" heightened by the differing, entrenched views of two Abrahamic religions. Hopefully, both parties in the case will during this festive season find cause to, while extolling their beliefs, gain a degree of tolerance for others. If anyone is destined or inclined to convert, he or she will do so best when he or she is the one seeking out for spiritual guidance.

08 December 2009

Marceline trumped by wicked roundabout

Walt Disney World recently completed a contest to find its first twin community. Evidently they didn't want to look toward Linn County and Disney's boyhood town of Marceline, but rather in the UK. Now twinned with the Magic Kingdom and potential site of Disney's utopian EPCOT: the magic roundabout and still-depressed town centre of Swindon in eastern Wiltshire.

Swindon's entry, submitted by a 20-year-old bank employee, beat out 24 other entries to win the honour from the Florida resort. She, along with her nephew and niece, will travel to Florida to unveil the plaque declaring the twinned status between the 28,000-acre complex and Swindon. So what drew the Mouse to Wiltshire?

In addition to the complex-yet-safer Magic Roundabout (drivers-eye view from the Swindon Advertiser) it appears as though the Seven Dwarfs would like to work for the many industries situated in Swindon, including the hub of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Main Line from London to Bristol and car factories for Renault and Honda. Meanwhile, anyone from the Mickey Mouse Club who wants to become a Hare Krishna would feel right at home in the UK's largest concentration of practitioners. And being on the M4 between London and Wales, Lightning McQueen can use the fabled roundabouts to mount a challenge to Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton when the British Grand Prix returns to Silverstone, roughly a 90-minute drive northeast to the edge of Northamptonshire.

Here's to hoping that MoDOT, just days after their divergent diamond won praise from Popular Science magazine in their Best of What's New year-in-review, doesn't find reason to put in a magic roundabout of their own in Linn County, or suggest Florida do the same outside Downtown Disney. I sense such a roundabout would confuse the heck out of drivers guiding buses to the next Bell Game.

04 December 2009

The Windmills of Scotland

The Scottish National Party might want to consider adopting a new patron saint: Don Quixote.

Of course, the Catholic Church (and any mainstream religious operation, for that matter) wouldn't allow the canonisation of a fictional character. But on the day dedicated to the patron saint of Scotland, this past Monday, the SNP made known yet again their desire to tilt the windmills of the 300-year-old Acts of Union. This time, the SNP-led minority Scottish Government released their long-awaited white paper which spells out their plans to pursue a referendum next year asking voters on whether they want to commit Scotland to independence from the United Kingdom.

This report, which would have reached 200 pages with just a few more pictures of SNP leaders in front of saltires, details their findings from two years of meetings and forums. It also comes just days after the SNP were soundly defeated in the Glasgow North East by-election by a rebounding Labour. But the report could be summed up in one vague, idealistic paragraph:

"We want independence for Scotland. We want to run our own things. We already run some things, but we want to run everything. But we don't mind keeping your NHS doctors, your passports, your Queen (she descended from our Stuarts, after all) and even your Pounds. After all, we're part of one big European family that'll listen to us, embrace us as a new member, and bail us out if this doesn't work, right? Right?"

Throughout the paper, the Scottish government's position makes clear their desire to achieve independence, explaining where they are currently inhibited under the current devolution scheme and where independence from the UK would increase Scotland's international representation and potentially its economic growth. Their conclusions and goals for independence, however, showed their only assurances as Scotland taking full responsibility for their affairs, while not sufficiently indicating how becoming a more vocal voice in bodies such as the European Union or United Nations would benefit Scotland. Even when it comes to the referendum they want to have next year, they even suggest that such a question posited to the voter have more than one option, as opposed to the typical yes-no ballot question that would be seen as binding.

It would be delusional for Alex Salmond's cavalry of Rocinates to assume that they can somehow supplant the remnants of the UK on the UN Security Council, let alone push for a reform of the 15-member body. Or for an independent Scotland to be the one voice that suddenly convinces stubborn Czechs, Aussies and Arkansans to combat climate change. Or for an independent Scotland to be taken seriously as a partner in the fight against global terrorism, when the lone man convicted of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 spent just two weeks in prison for each victim of the bombing.

It's not helping our Gaelic Quixotes either that two of the windmills they must charge at are the two banks chartered in Edinburgh – the Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland. Both banks are now owned by holding companies (RBS Group and Lloyds, respectively) which are owned partly by British taxpayers (again respectively, 58% and 43%). Would an independent Scotland be capable of propping up these two banks? All the while, will the muscle an independent Scotland suddenly gain in Brussels ensure that the big banks "come back into the real world"?

If failing to keep Labour from regaining Glasgow North East doesn't indicate to the SNP that they're losing touch with the future citizens of their independent Scotland, then the fate of their candidates in the next general election will determine that. At their most recent annual conference, the SNP boldly declared that they would become the kingmakers come June, claiming 20 seats at Westminster and determining who in a hung parliament would become Prime Minister. Elections to the Scottish Parliament follow in 2011.

These lofty goals are about to smack head-first into the two-metre long blades turning the mill on the barley for future bottles of whisky. Lofty ambitions with vague means to achieve the end is bound to cause heart-wrenching setbacks.

27 November 2009

Tinfoil Hats Don't Ward Off Extradition Papers

I might have to remember that in the event the Home Office somehow has misplaced my visa application. This is becoming evident as lawyers for 43-year-old Gary McKinnon are down to last-ditch efforts to prevent his extradition to the U.S. to face charges of hacking into Department of Defense computers. McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a higher-functioning form of autism, says he did access those computers but he was looking for evidence on UFOs, specifically whether the US government was covering up information on their existence as well as their propulsion systems.

While this defense might bring about a chuckle on the US side, the case has generated widespread disapproval in the UK. Yesterday, Home Secretary Alan Johnson again declined to intercede, saying he was powerless to prevent the move and added that he had received assurances that McKinnon's condition would be taken into account with regards to his custody while in the US. Government critics, including a committee in the House of Commons, say McKinnon's mental health is too precarious to allow his removal from the UK, while others have pointed out apparent inequities in the extradition treaty between America and Britain.

Unfortunate for McKinnon, he picked the weeks following 9/11 to start gaining unauthorized access to DoD computers and look for this information on UFOs. This is a gross breach of national security, and while more needs done to safeguard IT resources, breaking into a foreign government's computers is a form of cyber warfare. As he could have gained more sensitive information if he had wanted, McKinnon must face the music, and unless the US expresses willingness to set up a temporary courtroom on Grosvenor Square in London, his extradition is thus necessary. Likewise, if a US citizen were to hack into the UK's Ministry of Defence computers looking for information on something as benign as who's contracted to forge the Victoria Cross medallions, he or she should expect ramifications from UK authorities.

Conversely, should McKinnon find himself in a US courtroom, his diagnosis of Asperger's must be weighed when it comes to sentencing. 70 years does seem excessive for someone with a mental condition, especially if such a sentence is served in Leavenworth. As McKinnon has admitted on multiple occasions to the BBC his actions, a plea bargain which would allow him to serve the majority of his sentence in the UK would be wise.

Therefore, instead of McKinnon's advocates convincing a UK government that is struggling to find some remnant of credibility to hold onto, they should instead put the pressure on the US State Department to be the compassionate ones. After all, it was Barack Obama who won the Nobel Peace Prize in spite of declining to issue a pardon posthumously to boxer Jack Johnson. If he wants to prove to a growingly skeptical international community that he does aim to "strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," he could start by scrapping extradition and either hammer a plea deal with McKinnon or let him be tried in the UK.

25 November 2009

Didn't hear this in the Queen's speech last week

Last week, the last annual State Opening of Parliament occurred, where Her Majesty The Queen read the annual goals of the House of Commons. By "Annual Goals of the House of Commons" that pretty much meant the Labour Party Manifesto for the election on or before 3 June that they've been dawdling on calling. One thing that wasn't mentioned in the Queen's speech that might catch many residents of the UK and Commonwealth off-guard is about to be proposed by prime minister Gordon Brown later this week when Commonwealth heads of government meet in Trinidad.

The Prime Minister wishes to remove provisions that bar Catholics from assuming the British throne and also discontinue the automatic elevation of male heirs. If other Commonwealth government heads agree to pursue similar bills in their respective parliaments, they will remove a roadblock installed to assure the succession of Protestants (namely members of the Church of England) since the Glorious Revolution 321 years ago. In the UK, the measure was introduced earlier this year by Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP from Oxford West. Government officials in March prevented the measure from coming up for discussion, but the Prime Minister indicated interest in debating the issue a later date, after meeting with members of the Royal Family about other possible changes to the line of succession.

Brown does make it a point to note that the measure is to ensure that no discrimination exists in the manner by which the Head of State of the 16 Commonwealth realms is selected, and for that should be applauded. Where opposition to the idea exists, principally from Australia and Canada (according to Brown & Harris during Question Time today), might need better justifying. If members of Kevin Rudd & Stephen Harper's respective governments object to the prospect of a princess assuming the throne over her younger brother, then there lies a serious problem. Ironic, considering that Canada gained Dominion status in 1867 from Queen Victoria and full independence from Westminster in 1982.

It again must be noted that in addition to being the sovereign leader of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and 13 other countries, the person seated on the British throne also is the sovereign of the Church of England. As sovereign of the Church of England, he/she is responsible for appointing (by way of clerical committees fleshing out candidates for the Prime Minister to formally nominate) the spiritual leader of the church, the Archbishop of Canterbury. While the monarch's role is largely ceremonial in this process, they still retain by law the ability to not grant royal assent to the appointment of new bishops. Thus, it would make sense for the monarch, as a fellow member of the Anglican Communion, rather than a Catholic, Southern Baptist, Sikh, etc. etc., to make the appointment. Conversely, Catholics likely would not be fond of Anglican bishops sitting in the conclave to select the next pope, nor would a Latter-Day Saint be thrilled at the prospect of a seat on the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles filled by someone who has no intention of accepting the Book of Mormon as word incarnate.

This chief concern, coming as the Roman Catholic Church earlier this year announced plans to allow Anglican parishes which disapprove of changes within the Church of England to convert to Catholicism, needs adequately addressed and resolved by Commonwealth leaders this weekend should any such change to the rule of succession take place. Or, they can take the easy way out and either do nothing, declare a universal separation of Church and Crown, or abolish the monarchy altogether and become republics still aligned in an organization that British governments have gradually let become supplanted by the EU.

09 November 2009

Eight Hours of Daylight

Welcome to November, where the sun's setting over the North Downs of Kent at 4:30. By month's end, it'll be just after 4:00.

Meanwhile, a side project I've been working on for the Romney Marsh Times has finally been published. Enjoy this interview I conducted with lifelong James Bond fan and expert Graham Rye.

Things should be picking up in the coming days. Along with the nightlight.

22 October 2009

What's Eating Johnny Bull?

Much of the UK is on edge tonight for one of two (if not both) reasons. This morning, members of the Communications Workers Union began organised work stoppages throughout Royal Mail, picketing the services' proposed modernisation efforts. Those efforts include Royal Mail's proposed introduction of automated equipment that would sort mail in the order the postman/postwoman would deliver it, which would eliminate hundreds of jobs, and the prospect of privatising the service.

Today drivers and workers at mail processing centres picketed, and tomorrow the delivery and collection staff will picket. And with no desire for the union, Royal Mail magaement, and government ministers to come to an agreement, the CWU has announced that additional stoppages will be planned for next week. Trick or Treat.

Meanwhile, the politically minded are in heated debates over whether tonight will mark a "red letter day" for democracy or its darkest hour. Earlier today, under intense security and with throngs of protesters outside White City, the BBC's weekly Question Time took place with Nick Griffin, leader of the controversial far-right British National Party, on the panel along with Justice Secretary Jack Straw. In spite of multiple criticisms about the prospect of the appearance on this high profile Q&A programme legitimising the presence of the BNP in British Politics, the BBC's chiefs say that because they have been elected to local councils and now the European Parliament, they are entitled to appear on the show.

On the flip side, several who oppose the BNP's message of anti-EU, "British & Celtic Folk > anyone who produces just enough skin pigment" say that having Griffin appear on Question Time will put the spotlight on the extremist views of the party, who only three years ago removed anti-Semitic clauses in their constitution, and are just now relenting to calls on removing race restrictions on their membership.

The buzz over the past week, and much of the programme slated to air on BBC One in about 20 minutes, focused squarely on scrutinising the views of Griffin and the BNP. Earlier this week, retired generals launched a campaign saying that there was nothing British about the BNP, and demanding the BNP cease using images of Winston Churchill and the Spitfire fighter plane in their campaign material. News agencies profiled districts and council boroughs where the BNP had won seats. All the while, the party considers this bonus coverage and is comparing it to the rise of France's le Front National 25 years ago.

I will likely react to tonight's Question Time once it airs. And my new BS detector arrives in the post.

21 October 2009

Shull & Moriarty wish they thought of this…

While nepotism has been frowned upon in US Politics, and its practitioners scolded in some states, efforts to shun it in the UK are causing some MPs to find ways around new rules proposed by an in-house auditor.

This morning, BBC South East reported that Susan Gale, who has worked in her husband Roger's Parliament office since his election from North Thanet (surrounding Margate in easternmost Kent) in 1983, has written to an employment solicitors agency looking for advice on how to keep her job should rules make it illegal for MPs to hire family members for their offices. Reportedly, she says that she would either have to divorce her husband to remain at the job or become unemployed.

A statement of that nature would get the "Really?" treatment from Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. While I'm half-tempted to come up with one bordering on half-researched ad hominems, I'll concede to the master Seth Myers. After all, he'd execute such a rant much better and be surrounded by an audience already laughing uncontrollably just after midnight.

If the Gales are serious about divorce for the sake of keeping her on the gravy train in the midst of a recession, as oppose to coming up with a budget like most of Middle England, this would perhaps be the first instance of a sham divorce in modern history. No one's going to believe there was a lack of love or irreconcilable differences. Especially if such a divorce was genuine, in which case where was the love to begin with?

This duo have been a steady force for the Tories in East Kent, claiming the seat when it was established in 1983 over a last-minute campaign by Cherie Booth, who wound up in 10 Downing a decade later as Mrs. Blair. But with public distrust down to a point where Average Joe voters are threatening to vote for the reactionary BNP just to send a message, no seat is safe. To publicly say something of this sort shows a complete disregard for the people's interests in Parliament. To say you would go so far as to discard participation in a noble institution like marriage just to keep feeding at the public trough shows complete callousness and lack of concern for proper use of the taxpayer's money.

It's bizarre loophole exploitations like this that make taxpayers angry as hell. At least it's nice to know that Peggy Shull & Judy Moriarty didn't think of this when they helped their kids out 15 years ago.

16 October 2009

On Fairy Tales

This past week, I've been reading one newspaper non-stop: the Labour-leaning Guardian, and they've been telling fairy tales. Included in each issue the past week were booklets containing some of the most well-known fairy tales, which I've been accumulating for use a few years down the road in the event the Mrs. and I beget little Missouri expats (although in most likelihood, they'll be Kentish expats in Missouri). To get the most of the £8 we've paid to collect the booklets, I've subjected myself to the Guardian's telling of the ongoing fairy tale of how little Gordy will rise back to the top, even as his Commons leader defiantly challenges the retroactive application of new reimbursement limits.

(Sidenote of great importance: one ongoing tale where the valiant hero is the Guardian just hit the denoument, as they have achieved victory over the nefarious villain Trafigura over the oil firm's attempts to squelch Parliament debate, coverage of such debate, and court rulings squelching coverage of such debate, over Trafigura's alleged dumping of oil waste off the Ivory Coast. A much-needed victory for free press that even resulted in Gordon Brown applauding a motion from a Tory backbencher.)

Chief among the Guardian's fairy tales was spelled out on Sunday, when they told about the story of David the Etonian going to Brussels to tag up with Polish apologists, Latvian SS-lovers, and Czech global warning sceptics. Among the articles telling this story, foreign secretary David Miliband penned a column criticising the Conservatives for aligning with such parties instead of sticking with the mainstream conservatives parties fronted by Sarkozy, Merkel and Berlusconi. The tale spelled out over the course of seven pages, including an extensive piece on the leader of Poland's Law and Justice Party, Michal Kaminski, who stymied Poland's attempts to apologise for atrocities committed on its Jewish residents during Nazi occupation in World War II. What makes this heavy coverage a fairy tale is this:

There isn't as much concern about the European Parliament in Middle England as there should be. I noted four months ago that the big winner of the night when the UK counted its European Parliament voters was Yasmina from The Apprentice, as that aired on BBC One while the two BNP members elected to Parliament made their victory speeches on BBC Two. To further the apparent contempt shown for those elections, BBC dumped The Apprentice finale from its regular slot on Wednesday as to avoid conflicting with a World Cup qualifier game on ITV, where England demolished Andorra 6-0.

So what impact is a Conservative side shying away from its natural connections to the continent's centre-right and Christian Democrat parties in favour of parties with global warming sceptics and questionable stances on same-sex rights? Frankly, I doubt that's going to weigh on the mind of British voters when the next election rolls around. As much as UKIP would like the debate to be focused on the growing control of the European Parliament in Brussels/Strasbourg on UK affairs, parliamentary expenses, the economy and government spending will be front and centre in the next election, which again will be no later than 3 June.

Please note that I'm not in defence of this grouping. While the Tories formed this group of anti-Federalists to hammer a Jeffersonesque approach to running the EU, this new group only accounts for ten percent of MEPs. And given the far-right stance of some of these parties (including Latvia's TB/LNNK, which has only one MEP), they might be more suited for the BNP than the party set to form the next government no later than June.

09 October 2009

Honeymoon over

Even if the Mrs. and I weren't able to go on honeymoon, it's about time I get back here. Only one post in the past month, not counting my earlier one today. That's not what I had in mind.

Rest assured, in-between the paperwork, CV-editing, dish-washing, etc., I will get back to posting here. More likely than not, a review of the Lisobn Treaty and likely appointment of Tony Blair to be Europe's John Hancock is on the books.

Norway's Parliament hands out $1.4 million for ability to sign disaster declarations

I can say with certainty that I was proud to play a part in helping Barack Obama winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. No, I didn’t hold up a campaign sign, order a T-shirt, or even cast my vote for the 11 Missouri electors that would have actually voted for him in Jefferson City, had he won 5500 more votes than John McCain.

Instead, I reported on a massive ice storm that blanketed the Ozarks in two inches of ice last January, some of which aired on CBS Radio’s hourly news reports. The system, which caused widespread tree damage and left large swaths of Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky out of power for weeks, netted a federal disaster declaration from Obama during the second week of his Administration. As it turns out, this was just enough for a qualified nominator to submit Obama’s name to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and more than enough for the committee to select him as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Certainly this had to play in the minds of those five Norwegian parliamentarians, huddling in the Storting each time Oslo picks up at least three inches of snow. No way could these five august leaders of this non-EU nation award a prize honouring a lifetime of accomplishments to world peace to someone who merely warms up much of the world with feel-good speeches. Someone whose successful bills in the U.S. and Illinois State senates didn’t include sweeping, world-changing measures like universal healthcare but instead bi-partisan measures on military transparency. How that translates into Obama’s “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” I’m baffled.

Three U.S. presidents have received the Nobel Peace Prize prior to Obama. Teddy Roosevelt had just negotiated a peace treaty between the Russians and Japanese in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, when winning the award in 1906. Woodrow Wilson, upon winning in 1919, had convinced many of the world’s nations to sign up for the League of Nations, but not the U.S. Senate. And Jimmy Carter received the honour 20 years after his presidency, marked positively by the Camp David Accords but marred more by the Tehran Embassy hostage crisis and his ordering the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which resulted in Zimbabwe winning the gold medal in women's field hockey.

All those accomplishments and follies came before they received the prize. Obama, on the other hand, has during his presidency chaired one meeting of the United Nations Security Council, delivered speeches in three foreign capitals before fawning audiences, declared intentions to close Gitmo, make federal disaster declarations in the aftermath of mother nature’s worst, and most importantly not be George W. Bush. A list of accomplishments that, while incredible, seem pale when it comes to defining a lifetime of work for peace. And it would be foolish for the Committee to award a lifetime prize as an advance for the successful completion of a laundry list of lofty goals such as combating terrorism, providing health care for every American, and staving off global warming.

Most of Obama’s accomplishments in the White House have come since the February 1 deadline to submit nominees. Somehow, it’s amazing that Obama had made a contribution during his nascent administration that warranted a prize recognising lifetime achievement. Indeed it’s wonderful that a multi-ethnic child, who spent part of his childhood overseas, went to Harvard and built up communities in Chicago's South Side, overcame prejudice and adversity to become the figurative leader of the free world. Unfortunately, were this a viable reason to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Chile’s Michelle Bachelet and Baroness Margaret Thatcher are still awaiting theirs.

So it’s between Norway beating the dead horse known as Bush’s legacy and Obama responding to a horrendous ice storm. And it would be just plain selfish for Norway’s five parliamentarians to put their grudges toward America’s cowboy diplomat above the ideals of Alfred Nobel’s will.

Enter the ice storm of January 2009. It had been forecasted days in advance, but its severity wouldn’t be known until it coated every tree branch, road surface, power line and for sale sign between Tulsa and Cincinnati with two inches of solid ice. The storm would find its way across the Atlantic, bringing much of Great Britain to a sliding halt the following week under a foot of snow.

Power crews responded from neighbouring areas as portable generators and wood stoves were in high demand. In Kentucky, where 24 people died as a result of the storm, Governor Steve Beshear called up every unit of the state’s National Guard to respond to the storm. In Northwest Arkansas, crews from as far as Pennsylvania and Minnesota trekked to the Ozarks to restore power and clear fallen branches.

And Obama? He signed the necessary documents on 27 January declaring parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kentucky disaster areas, thus allowing federal aid to assist the recovery. A simple, routine stroke of the pen which further enabled government agencies from federal to town and county levels, churches, power companies, disaster relief agencies and neighbours to clear their streets and get back on the grid. Neighbours and crews which possibly included migrant workers and international representatives to Fortune 500 companies snowed in that week.

Congratulations, Mr. President. By helping 500,000 Americans recover from a vicious ice storm, you’ve just won the Nobel Peace Prize. It might have taken three weeks for some people to get back on the grid, but at least the world is a better place knowing that your disaster declaration kept people warm during the storm. Over cups of hot chocolate and buzzing chainsaws, Americans strengthen ties with themselves and the occasional foreign national, and most importantly cooperated to clear out all the Bradford pear trees which unfortunately couldn’t stand the weight of all that ice.

25 September 2009

A quiet yet hectic fortnight past

The past two weeks have been non-stop last-minute wedding plans. I'm in-between handing touristy pamphlets to my parents for sightseeing around Dover, printing programmes for tomorrow's ceremony, and eagerly awaiting information on when my best man is arriving in the area after his night in London. All the while, the future Mrs. Missouri Expatriate is most deservedly sleeping in after another late night at work. One major disadvantage to planning a wedding on 6½ weeks notice: work schedules don't budge as easily.

So tonight marks my last night as a figurative free man. And more likely than not, there will be a belated tribute to Arthur Guinness (as last night was the 250th anniversary of the creation of Guinness – brilliant!) tonight, coupled with a nervous sleep at home and the possible sneaking-in of Mizzou Football's game at Nevada tonight (which kicks off at 2 am UK time).

All the while, the stench of Kirkcaldian absurdity has skyrocketed the past fortnight. His attorney general, the Baroness Scotland, has been fined £5000 (roughly $8500) for hiring a housemaid from Tonga unable to prove her right to work in the UK, under a civil law pushed through the House of Lords by the Baroness herself two years ago. Now comes the Telegraph today claiming, alongside plugs for their book due out in high street book stores this November, No Expenses Spared, saying that the guys who tipped the paper off about the claims of duck moats, gardening bills, potentially fradulent mortgages, and Sky Sports subscriptions were military soldiers taking on extra jobs during their time off so that they can have extra money to buy bulletproof vests and their families' Christmas presents.

I'd lambast about this, maybe dismiss any last remote chance of Gordon Brown pulling off a Truman '48, but we're about to deliver the helium for our wedding balloons to the evening venue. (Oh, and if you really want that book now, you can shell out an extra three quid and buy it directly from the Telegraph.)

11 September 2009

Just as the dirt was settling at Arlington…

It's been two weeks since the late Senator Edward Kennedy was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. And as Kennedy's colleagues return to session and debate healthcare, across the pond one politician isn't done with the tributes.

Former Conservative leader Michael Howard, in his weekly missive published in his district's papers, expressed displeasure toward the tributes of the Massachusetts Democrat which implied that only left-wing leaders are capable of showing concern for the underprivileged. In the column Howard writes of how the right cannot concede the moral high ground when it comes to delivering on policies. Additionally, he claims that every Labour government has left power with unemployment higher than it was when they entered 10 Downing Street, and that while the left can show they care about the issues affecting underprivileged voters, they are not competent in dealing with them.

Howard, however, does not go into detail of any particular cause taken up by Kennedy, the Labour Party, or any left-leaning government, and relies on calling successful the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank created by Iain Duncan Smith. Smith, Howard's predecessor as leader of the Conservatives, was forced to step down in October 2003 following a no-confidence vote by his own party, which occurred during an investigation into how much he paid his wife to be his secretary. While Smith was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, inaccuracies in his résumé and his general ineffectiveness during Prime Minister's Questions dogged his two-year turn at the helm.

It is dangerous for one to believe or say that anyone who does not lean for one political party or persuasion must invariably not care about the disadvantaged. And yes, there are right-leaning politicians who show care and successfully deliver for the underprivileged, and conversely left-leaning politicians who are more interested in proposing programmes to help but only for the sake of lining one's pockets or garnering insurance re-election votes. Ultimately, it cannot come down to party-wide politics for voters to truly determine which candidate will best deliver and serve them. Specific solutions must be proposed, backgrounds proven, and risks evaluated.

Senator Kennedy will be remembered for his persistent and adamant support for his liberal causes and beliefs, including his partnering with George W. Bush to push through the education act No Child Left Behind. One wonders if MP Howard is wondering how glowing a recap of his 26-year career in the Commons will be when his tenure comes to an end no later than June of next year.

10 September 2009

This commuter won't like driving in Wootton Bassett either

As the casualty count soars higher in Afghanistan for both British and American troops, so too are the funeral processions for the soldiers killed whilst combating Taliban insurgents. In the UK, more soldiers have died in the War on Terror in Afghanistan than in Iraq, and many of these fallen men and women in uniform have been honoured upon their return to their native soil by way of a casket procession through the Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett. Here, the high street has closed down in the mid-afternoon as the caskets move slowly away from the nearby Royal Air Force base in Lyneham and toward a coroner's hospital office in Oxford. Townspeople and veterans of prior wars line up on the streets hours before the procession makes it way through the town.

One such person who might find this a terrible traffic tie-up recently made herself known in suburban St. Louis this week. A woman wrote a letter of complaint to Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer, stating that she was displeased with how the funeral procession of a Marine who died from wounds incurred in Afghanistan took up one lane of traffic on Highway 30, but that traffic was stopped in the other by persons affiliated not with law enforcement but with Patriot Guard, a veterans' group that escorts military funeral processions by motorcycle. In particular, she took offence to two members of the group who dismounted and approached her car, being described as "dirty, nasty, renegade, who knows what", and berating her for not stopping for the procession.

Sheriff Boyer's response was anything but tepid. He wrote: "I would like to say that I am sorry for the inconvenience we caused you during the funeral procession of Sergeant 1st Class William B. Woods, but I cannot do so. I would ask instead that you take a moment of your time to take into consideration the scope of the event." Blasting the woman's distress as minuscule compared to what American soldiers are facing overseas, Boyer referenced his prior experience as a Vietnam veteran and spent the majority of the letter describing the sacrifices being made by the armed forces. Boyer sidestepped the concern of the woman's treatment by the Patriot Guard, mentioning that the soldier's uncle was among the riders and a Vietnam vet.

It remains to be seen how she responds to Boyer's e-mail, especially as it now makes its way around the Internet, or if she really was in need of a trip to the restroom or to pick up her kids from a daycare center. If it turns out she really can't think past the hood ornament on her vehicle (or where one would be if her car's model came with one), then I'd advise her to stand on the roadside the next time the bodies of eight young men who lives were cut short make their way to their final resting place. Whether or not she agrees with the mission on which, on average, one to two soldiers per day are paying the ultimate price, sacrifice for nation cannot go unnoticed or be eschewed in favour of shorter commutes.

The woman's e-mail and Sheriff Boyer's response have been posted on a Veterans of Foreign Wars forum.

07 September 2009

Cavendish seeing arches (OK, just one Arch.)

Today marks the start of the third Tour of Missouri, and in lieu of racing in his sorta-native Britain later this week, the Manxman Mark Cavendish will suit up for Team Columbia on the starting line in St. Louis today. Last year Cavendish won three of the seven stages in the Tour, winning the sprint title. This year's defense is spurred by six stage wins at le Tour de France, and he'll have strong competition from the Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd.

But that won't be Cavendish's only worry, as in addition to his quest for a second straight Edward Jones sprint jersey, he'll be alongside team leader George Hincapie, who will aim for his second overall jersey. The 2007 winner will aim to reclaim the yellow jersey from last year's winner, Christian Vande Velde from Team Garmin-Slipstream. Both American riders, however, also face tougher competition, as seven of the 14 teams present in this year's race were present in France.

Several top riders, including Hushovd, Yaroslav Popyvich and Jens Voigt, have opted out of this month's la Vuelta de España in favor of 600-plus miles of relentless rolling hills in circuits, city-to-city and an individual time trial in the Show-Me State. Also opting for the stateside race is longtime cycling commentator Paul Sherwen.

The Tour this year will reverse direction, starting in St. Louis and finishing in Kansas City, both major cities hosting a circuit race in their respective downtowns. Also this year, the Tour makes first-time visits to Ste. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau in Southeast Missouri, plus Sedalia and Chillicothe. Absent from the Tour are the familiar destinations of Springfield and Branson, and Columbia, as the city cited conflicts with the home opener for Mizzou Football.

Tour organizers will make available Webcasts of each stage's final three hours on their Web site http://tourofmissouri.com and via Universal Sports Circuit finishes in St. Louis and Kansas City will also be covered by KMOV and KMBC, respectively.

04 September 2009

One quick Q&A

What does an expat listen to at 1:30 local time on a Saturday morning?

High School Football.

Better yet, tonight is one of the most storied rivalry games in all of high school football, the Bell Game between Brookfield and Marceline, neighboring towns in North Missouri's Linn County. In the UK, such a game would akin to a cross-town derby in the Conference leagues, one that even Jeff Stelling would probably overlook in favour of reports from a match between Aston Villa and Fulham.

The two times I covered the Bell Game, I became immersed in it. There's more to the rivalry than the game itself; it's the spirit between the two towns, how families in both towns grew up around their schools. How, in spite of the depopulation of North Missouri's farmlands and the construction of freeways bypassing even smaller towns, two nearby towns with fabled sons (Pershing in the case of Brookfield; Disney for Marceline) stand together, support one another, at least until it comes to duking it out on the gridiron for a fire engine bell. It's quite an alluring sight and sound, ringing the bell in your home town's main street upon winning it.

Tonight's game is on KIRK 99.9 out of Macon. Live audio stream here.

(Oh, and before I forget, GO JAYS! BEAT RAY-PEC!)

Whitehall Cracks, and up came a bubblin' crude—Black gold, Lybian tea

Just in from the Telegraph, Justice Secretary Jack Straw admits that recent contracts between the oil giant BP and Libya played a role in facilitating the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. This "unapologetic" revelation comes (conveniently) on the first Friday back from summer holiday and days after Prime Minister Gordon Brown emphatically denied a link between deals for oil from Libya and the release or transfer of the only man convicted of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103. In the interview with the Telegraph, Straw admitted that he backed down from his request that al-Megrahi would be excluded from a possible prisoner transfer in a deal between the UK and Libya, after BP warned that maintaining that exclusion would cost the company a half-billion pound contract.

Straw's revelation, however, pertained to an agreement that was not invoked when Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill released al-Megrahi from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds. MacAskill's decision was roundly condemned Monday by the opposition parties in Scotland's parliament, but the motion stopped short of including a non-confidence clause that would have toppled the minority Scottish National Party government and forced an election. However, it is another bone thrown in the already heaping pile of distrust the average British voter has in Westminster.

Should this revelation convince enough backbenchers to force an election before year's end, the Commons Speaker will have less time to prepare for his new opponent in his Buckingham constituency: the outgoing leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage. Farage, who also led UKIP's delegation in the European Parliament, will defy the tradition of established parties not submitting candidates to challenge the Speaker, who must step aside from his/her party when assuming the role. Bercow, formerly a Tory who many in his party believe should really be a Labour MP, will be painted by Farage as the head of a broken, dysfunctional, self-serving and pass-the-quid Commons. Slight concern for the Kent native Farage is that although Bercow started leaning into Tony Blair's Third Way camp prior to his elevation to Speaker, Buckingham is one of the most reliably Conservative constituencies in the UK. Should Farage's campaign, which will also bring up the banning of incandescent light bulbs, convince enough Tories to dump Bercow or simply stay home from the polls, the subsequent ripples coinciding with the imminent fall of the Labour government (or a Deweyesque collapse that keeps Brown around) will bring about renewed debate about the UK's role in Europe.

Provided Scotland want to stick around for it.

01 September 2009

How the EU marks a 70th Anniversary

Today is the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, when Nazi Germany's Panzer tanks and troops rolled into Poland. If you're wanting to travel to Europe to remember the horrors that began on this day 70 years ago, leave your incandescent light bulbs at home.

A ban on the traditional 100-watt frosted light bulb has taken effect in the EU, making illegal its manufacture and import. Stores that have stocks may continue to sell them until they run out, in which case they are required to carry more energy-efficient light bulbs, those being halogen, fluorescent and LEDs. While EU Commissioner Andris Piebalgs of Latvia, the Commissioner of Energy, says switching the bulbs will result in households saving €50 (GB£44 or US$72) on energy costs annually by 2020, the British tabloid Daily Mail gave away coupons last week to encourage its readers to horde the bulbs before they became contraband. (An article from two weeks ago makes obvious their editorial standpoint.)

Concerns raised across Europe about the forced switchover include whether energy-saver bulbs work with dimmer switches, whether the light output decreases, and the risk of mercury poisoning from using fluorescent bulbs across the house. Oh, and the whole "Who's running my country, (nation's capital) or Brussels/Strasbourg?" debate.

Meanwhile, to prepare to mark the 70th anniversary of Britain's entry into WW2 this coming Thursday, Westminster has rekindled the spirit of rationing by way of increasing the tax on petrol by another two pence per litre (12.3¢ per gallon). This is the third hike this year, and is suggested to be both a revenue generator and effort to get more people in public transit. As such, the price of regular petrol (the equivalent of premium unleaded in the US) is now £1.089 per litre, or US$6.73 per gallon.

Let freedom wring.

25 August 2009

Pretend I'm writing this for the Beeb

Up-to-date reports of this developing story can be best read from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Political Fix and tweeted by Tony Messenger and Jake Wagman. Again, pretend I'm writing this for the BBC. (If BBC wish to use it, they're more than welcome to. By the way, my mobile number is 077…)

A lawmaker made famous by the 2004 documentary "Can Mr Smith Get To Washington Anymore?" will resign from his seat in the Missouri state senate after pleading guilty to federal charges of obstructing justice.

Jeff Smith, a Democrat state senator from St Louis, admitted in court that he knew about an independent campaign producing fliers aimed to benefit Mr Smith's 2004 campaign for Congress.

Mr Smith finished second of ten in the Democratic primary for Missouri's Third District, behind eventual winner Russ Carnahan for the open seat vacated by long-time congressman Dick Gephardt.

'This event has humbled me.'

In a statement to the press, Mr Smith admitted fault and apologised to the constituents of his district in St. Louis city.

“Federal campaign finance law prohibits specific coordination between a campaign and anyone preparing an independent expenditure,” Mr Smith said. “When the independent operator requested funding, I authorized a close friend to raise money for the effort, and my press secretary provided public information about my opponent’s voting record. I withheld my knowledge of these facts during the Federal Election Commission’s 2004 investigation, misleading investigators and filing a false affidavit.”

Local media have named the 'close friend' as Milton 'Skip' Ohlsen III. Mr Ohlsen is currently in jail following a guilty plea to mortgage fraud charges. A 2007 investigation by the Federal Elections Commission, spurred by a complaint filed by Mr Carnahan, named Mr Ohlsen as the distributor of fliers that improperly attacked the Carnahan campaign in 2004. The report also found that Mr Ohlsen received $13,000 from an unknown source to fund the fliers.

In recent weeks, Mr Ohlsen was discovered to have become heavily involved with the Missouri Democratic Party, assisting with campaigns and dining in the governor's mansion in 2004 with then-governor Bob Holden. Mr Ohlsen has been in legal troubles since the 1990s.

Another member of Smith's 2004 campaign, state representative Steve Brown of Clayton, pleaded guilty to similar charges today and also resigned.

Grassroots campaigner

Mr Smith was in the third year of his first four-year term in the Missouri Senate, first elected in November 2006.

His resignation likely brings to a sudden close a political career that meteorically rose during his 2004 campaign for Congress as told in the documentary, "Can Mr Smith Get To Washington Anymore?"

Then a 29-year-old professor at Washington University in St Louis, Mr Smith relied on personal connections and funds to develop a grassroots campaign to challenge the perceived establishment candidate Russ Carnahan. Mr Carnahan's father Mel was the Missouri governor who died in a 2000 plane crash.

Despite gaining support along the campaign, Mr Smith lost by two points to Mr Carnahan in the August 2004 primary.

Mr Smith ran in 2006 for the open state senate seat in St Louis city, beating four Democratic candidates in the primary before arriving uncontested in the state capital Jefferson City.

Mr Smith's campaign would be the forerunner of other modern grassroots campaigns that would elevate lawmakers from near-obscurity into prominence, most notably President Barack Obama and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Four Months Since the first post…

And chances are I still have posts from early July at the bottom of this page. It hasn't been working out too well wedging regular ruminations of current events here and back home inbetween planning a wedding from scratch 46 days before the ceremony, exterminating fleas by way of vacuum cleaner, and other domestic necessities.

It's very rarely the desire of a journalist to be the story, but I can't help but realise how seemingly unique my situation is: to essentially walk away from a seemingly promising career in radio broadcasting just off my home turf, leave my native Missouri, leave behind four generations of family, sell my car that ran on 85% corn ethanol, all to be with the woman whom I will marry in one month. Already one of my longtime friends suggested I drop the political commentary and just focus this blog on, well, me.

It is easy to resort to talking about oneself (and it would be hypocritical to say I don't like talking about myself), but frankly, is there really interest in people hearing how a loud American is faring in Britain? Or do I stick with just the occasional retort to reports from home?

I've set up a poll to last the remainder of the month on the right. Have at it.

20 August 2009

Life sentence = Two weeks??

Just moments ago, the lone man convicted of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish village of Lockerbie took off on an Airbus from Glasgow to make the trip back home to Libya. And with it could be the biggest gamble of an independent Scottish government since the hare-brained idea to colonise the Isthmus of Panama over 300 years ago.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was convicted in a Scottish court in 2001 for placing on board the Pam Am flight the bomb that brought it down in December 1988, killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. That incident exacerbated Libya's isolationism under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and Pan Am's inevitable collapse and absorption into Delta. Megrahi was sentenced to spend the remainder of his life in prison.

Earlier today, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, from the Scottish Nationalist-led government, granted Megrahi's request for release on compassionate grounds, stating that Megrahi was terminally ill with prostate cancer and had only three months to live. MacAskill cited the prevailing desire of providing humanitarian compassion over justice. With the release granted instead of transferring Megrahi to a Libyan prison, Megrahi will have spent two weeks in prison for each fatality. And Megrahi will arrive in Libya on the night of an annual celebration commemorating Col. Gaddafi's rise to power.

Reaction among English politicans are like that of their American counterparts. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, himself a Scot, quickly declared the decision a Scottish affair. Conservative leader David Cameron, while affirming the right of the Scottish government to make the decision, called MacAskill's decision flat-out wrong. This statement was echoed by the leader of Scotland's Labour Party.

What complicates this case is the introduction of devolution to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales ten years ago. Had Pan Am 103 been stricken two minutes earlier, we'd probably be talking about the bombing occurring in Cumbria's Brampton, thus having the case go through English courts. (Ideally, we'd never be talking about it on account of the flight never coming down.) But since July 1999, Scotland has operated its domestic affairs separated from Westminster, but its foreign affairs still made by Westminster. The efforts by the U.S. State Department and seven senators were unable to sway the Scottish government, which will be seen by political pundits as a sign of Scotland asserting its right to independence.

As this chapter of this tragic incident plays out, mixing with the emotions of families on both sides of the pond, the question of devolution has found its way into the discussion. William Wallace just might be smiling.

19 August 2009

Maybe that national Boy Rangers camp wasn't such a good idea…

A rising star in Missouri politics featured in a 2004 documentary might come crashing down to Earth following reports that he is under investigation by the FBI.

State Senator Jeff Smith, a Democrat from St. Louis city, is reported to be contemplating resigning his seat amid reports in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the FBI is investigating potential campaign improprieties in Smith's 2004 bid for Congress. At the moment, Smith has not confirmed or denied the Post-Dispatch's reports, and likewise the FBI would not confirm or deny whether Smith is under investigation.

According to the Post-Dispatch, this reported investigation stems from a complaint initially filed by the campaign of Russ Carnahan, who eventually beat Smith and eight others in the Democratic primary and went on to become the Congressman for Missouri's 3rd district. The complaint alleged that fliers targeting Carnahan's campaign were by Smith's campaign, misleading, and funded in a way that contravened federal election laws. An earlier investigation, however, identified the distributor of the fliers as Milton "Skip" Ohlsen, who has served jail time for possessing cocaine, and is in jail now on unrelated charges of firearms possession and mortgage fraud. Where Ohlsen received $13,000 to enable the fliers' distribution, however, was not determined.

This happens to be the campaign where Smith's campaign was filmed for the documentary "Can Mr. Smith Get To Washington Anymore?" Smith came in second, within two percent of the son of deceased governor Mel Carnahan.

So now the question circulating around Jefferson City and Senator Smith is whether those funds did in fact come from his campaign. And recent actions—Smith turning in teaching credentials at Washington University, staffers for Governor Nixon and Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields looking up state statutes concerning the resolving of vacancies in the State Senate, Smith not posting on his Twitter account in 11 days—don't look too well for preserving his innocence.

Sounds like he might need to pull the same stunt his Hollywood character namesake (portrayed by James Stewart in 1939) if any such charges have no merit. Else, be ready for two elections in the 4th State Senate District in 2010, as Smith's first term is to expire next year.

17 August 2009

Return to Laclede County

Sometime this week, the man whose odyssey originating in eastern Laclede County gave the ruling military junta in Myanmar the kangaroo court case desired to affirm next year's general elections as a joke in their favor, will return home to the comfort of his home somewhere off Highway 32 east of Lebanon. And meanwhile, the woman who has become the face of the struggle for democracy around the world, remains under house arrest for the next 18 months, just after said general elections. All thanks to a senator from… Virginia?

Virginia senator Jim Webb travelled to Myanmar over the weekend to visit with the military junta's leadership, on his own accord. This trip resulted in the release of 53-year-old John Yettaw, who was sentenced to seven years hard labor following his conviction of entering Myanmar illegally. Yettaw, meanwhile, is in a Bangkok hospital following a seizure, and will have to find his own way back to Missouri. (And according to a recent search of When To Fly, it's going to run the family $890 for a one-way ticket from Bangkok to Springfield, if they book him today to arrive on 8 September.)

And what still startles me is the lack of response on the local front. After meeting with both the junta leadership and pro-democracy leader Aung San Soo Kyi, Webb has expressed support for easing sanctions on Myanmar. (Reports of China and India increasing trade with the country would undermine the current sanctions.) But in the three months the man from Falcon, Missouri, who claimed he had a vision and sought to warn Soo Kyi, no statements were made by any elected official from Missouri concerning his condition, conviction, or even that of Soo Kyi. Perhaps with Mr. Yettaw on his way home (and a reporter from a major Missouri media operation finally writing about this, this particular story by The Kansas City Star's Tony Rizzo featuring Mrs. Yettaw), we might hear from Webb's colleagues about their office's views on what transpired over the last three months.

14 August 2009

Foot-In-Mouth Disease might have claimed a Dovorian first…

And if this MP has his way, it might skip my train station for the sake of marketing.

A missive written by Labour MP Gwyn Prosser of Dover last May has recently sparked the attention of detractors. This comes as Southeastern Trains announced that peak train service on its new Javelin "bullet train" to Dover, Folkestone and Thanet will expand three months ahead of schedule. The expanded service, through Ashford and Medway's Ebbsfield to London's St. Pancras station, will begin on 7 September, and full service will start by year's end.

In May, Prosser wrote that were the Javelin's service "tweaked", it could make the trip from Dover Priory station to St. Pancras in just under an hour. By tweak, Prosser means dump one of the two Folkestone stops so that Dover can claim it's less than an hour away. He calls this a "psychologically important threshold."

Prosser's missive for the Hawkinge Gazette re-surfaced yesterday when Folkestone West Councillor Tim Prater, upon linking to it, tweeted the suggestion as: "Rubbish. Folkestone Central has best bus links, Folkestone West more parking. We need both." And three negative responses from readers have been published.

Back home, Trenton is an hour's drive west of Kirksville. The fastest I drove it down Highway 6, however, was 64 minutes. As far as I'm concerned, it's an hour's drive.

13 August 2009

Forget Swine Flu; UK braces for Tory Foot-in-Mouth Disease

While the US debate vigorously the virtues and/or follies of the NHS, and the NHS replace the teenagers they hired to diagnose over the phone cases of Swine Flu, another ailment has swept through the ranks of the Conservative Party.

At first, it claimed London mayor Boris Johnson, who last month called an extra £250,000 for writing a weekly column for the Daily Telegraph "chicken feed". This is on top of his salary as mayor, which is a mere £140,000, and was initially raised amid criticisms that he was receiving it in spite of a directive from David Cameron for Tory front-benchers to dump their second jobs in preparation for the election that has to occur before 3 June 2010.

Now comes a video, filmed by an invited visitor who was protesting the excessive expenses claims of MPs, where shadow Commons leader Alan Duncan stated: "You have to live on rations and are treated like s---." The base salary for a Member of Parliament is £65,000 per year, plus reimbursable expenses.

Naturally, most Conservative front-benchers were quick to distance themselves from Duncan's comments, and Duncan's apology was equally quick. However, his chance of recovering from this strain of foot-in-mouth disease appears grim, as he might have an extended stay in an intensive care unit called a backbench.

06 August 2009

Friedman helicopter lands in London, stretches my dollar

Today the Bank of England, as authorised by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, announced that it was infusing another £50 billion into the British economy as part of its "quantitative easing" scheme to get Britain spending again. This brings the total up to £175 million flowing out of the City of London. With the release, however, that figure promptly went from US$297.5 million to US$294 million, as more liquidity in the economy means less value and thus more inflation.

Or as the bank's hoping to do, no deflation. And the bank seems to have its way with preventing deflation, with house prices up just over 1 percent and forecasters revising their year-end house sales projections from a decline of 10 percent to a modest rise, but still a decline in 2010.

I'm not an economist, but with major figures appearing to bottom out, I sense that we just might be at the end of the beginning of the global recession. And that might be putting it cautious.

05 August 2009

Time for East Normal to cook up more spin…

With several economists calling the collegiate Class of 2009 the "Lost Generation", graduating in the midst of a global recession, it doesn't look good if you're at a university that either can't get their grads hired or into well-paying jobs.

So how will liberal arts universities (like my alma mater) respond to the lead of this story in today's Kansas City Star, which purloins a famous country/western lyric advising parents to not let their kids go to liberal arts colleges? The story, citing data from a global database of workplace salaries, reinforces what's been circulating around high school guidance offices and university quads for years: grads from engineering schools on average make a lot more per year than grads from liberal arts schools.

How much more? By this study, driving 90 miles south from Columbia to the Missouri University of Science and Technology results in making 42.9% more than 90 miles in the opposite direction to Truman State, at max $57,300 to $40,100. Mid-career the gap remains percentage wise, with Rolla grads making up to $30,000 more. Of course, engineering careers are typically hi-skilled (energy, construction, transport), while liberal arts careers tend to be around government and civil service (education, nursing, mass media).

The big question that universities will need to tackle, should this recession drag on, is how to attract students who are worried about making ends meet without breaking the bank. Certainly for blue-blood and engineering schools, not too big a problem. But for universities whose graduates tend to go into careers where jobs are evaporating and/or aren't being propped up by government subsidies, some spin might be in order.

Hmm… maybe I should have learned to do my laundry a lot sooner…

03 August 2009

Fortnight Over

After two weeks in the Kentish wilderness, I have finally caught up with what I missed whilst chopping wood, burning wood, and providing a smash hit with my home-made rotisserie cooker. By smash hit, I mean it actually cooked three chickens, none of them fell into the fire, the pole didn't break, and no one had food poisoning the next morning.

So now, after missing out on Parkville's Tom Watson narrowly missing a chance to win the Open at Turnberry and Labour resorting to homophobia in their futile effort to retain Norwich North in the recent by-election, I'm back parked behind my laptop. And recently I've been making notes on how British media are framing the States in their correspondent reports. And for correspondents from a country where 70 percent of the populace don't say that there is a God (in spite of all coinage containing abbreviations for "By the Grace of God" and "Defender of the Faith" with reference to Queen Elizabeth II), any story from the U.S. where religious fervour equals a "backward" approach grabs headlines, albeit buried well inside.

On various supply runs to go after chicken, marshmallows, and other edibles, I picked up the Labour-leaning Guardian on two occasions and the Murdoch-owned Sunday Times once. And twice in the Guardian, correspondent, columnist and editor alike hammed up rather condescendingly the religious aspect of each story. For starters, this Guardian piece on the Texas Board of Education considering a proposal to emphasise Christian influence on the founding of the United States. That same day in their Sport section, Lawrence Donegan commented on Stewart Cink's celebratory speech, at first lamenting the concept of athletes giving thanks to God for their performance in their sport (including identifying Kurt Warner as still with the St. Louis Rams when he led Arizona's Cardinals in the most recent Super Bowl), but credited Cink with invoking the Almighty in a succinct, but not bragging manner.

Then comes the final commentary from BBC's Justin Webb, who after eight years of reporting from Washington is returning to the British Isles. In his generally glowing commentary of his adopted home (and his kids' native land), his echoing the in-bred optimism of the U.S. comes to a screeching halt when referencing the case of two Wisconsin parents convicted of reckless homicide for refusing to take their 11-year-old diabetic daughter to a doctor. Until she stopped breathing those parents believed that having their child treated with regular insulin shots was putting a doctor's word above God's.

Now I can't doubt the existence of the fervently religious back home. Quite often I find myself able to relate closer to them than secularists that dominate Western Europe. But as growing numbers suggest that the way to curb poverty, abortion, illegal immigration, socialism, fascism, racism, etc. etc. is to emphasize a narrow strand of Christian thought, to isolate their communities from outside influence, and to latch onto any far-fetched idea to satisfy their conviction, I find myself leaning in the opposite direction.

Seriously, if the Founding Fathers were truly devout Christians, then why would the First Amendment ban Congress from establishing a state religion before banning them from prohibiting its free exercise? Why would Thomas Jefferson have a Koran on his book shelf? Why would the words of an avowed religious critic, Thomas Paine, be the very call to bring America to revolt against the tyranny of King George III (who, as pointed out last month, was head of the Church of England)?

But at the same token, for every nut who attempts to end an argument with an impromptu mass recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, there are genuine, devout, and open-minded followers of Christianity and the many other faiths that have flourished in the States. And for secular media to assume that any religious person from the U.S. must believe that God directed U.S. troops to pillage Toronto (then known as York) in 1813, Obama was born in Kenya, and the capital of Wisconsin is Green Bay, evokes a dangerous tendency to condescend.

And more often than not, pride comes before the fall.

17 July 2009

The Cookie Crumbles No More…

I had to stop for a moment to reflect on the passing of an American legend today. Although I never had the opportunity to witness a newscast anchored by Missouri native Walter Cronkite, I'm sure most Americans who remember him in the anchor chair will pause and remember many moments from his 19-year stint as the anchor of the CBS Evening News.

This comes just three days prior to the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, where Cronkite sat in front of the camera, just as captivated and amazed as his audience when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon. But there are two moments I'll most remember and hope remain enshrined forever on YouTube and other video hosting Web sites:

First is that of Cronkite announcing to the world the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, and subsequently reacting to the official statement. (Uncut footage of coverage from the day can be found here; first of nine parts 10 minutes each.) Second is his breaking from his role as a reporter to deliver a stinging criticism of the handling of the Vietnam War. In both instances, Cronkite influenced the evolution of television and American History.

Tonight, America has lost a media pioneer and icon of a generation. His calm demeanor, his desire to provide to the audience the entire story, and his congenial and reassuring presence as America transitioned from postwar bliss into a world of uncertainty will reverberate for years, among journalists and viewers alike. In a world where a multitude of media options and tastes exist, few if any will ever be able to capture the unified trust and audience that Cronkite maintained for almost two decades.

Cronkite was 92. As a native of St. Joseph who received his broadcasting start at KCMO in Kansas City, Cronkite is enshrined in the Hall of Famous Missourians.

And that's the way it is, Friday, July 17, 2009. Er, Saturday, July 18, 2009 in the Eastern Hemisphere.

A Fortnight in the Kentish Wilderness

And yes, by wilderness I mean no Twitter, no Blogger, no e-mail, etc. etc.

Unfortunately, this means I miss Thursday's by-election in the Norwich North constituency. Labour is struggling to maintain its margin of 5500 votes following the resignation of Ian Gibson, whom Labour delisted following his extravagant expense claims. Twelve candidates, including three independents and the first candidate from the "NOTA" party (None Of The Above), are contesting the race, which is Labour's next big test as to whether they stand a chance of another term in Parliament.

So until two Fridays from now…

P.S.: GO TOM WATSON!

14 July 2009

Tour of MO Conference Call: Kinder declares victory for Tour fans, volunteers

Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder thanked supporters of the Tour of Missouri in a news conference call Tuesday afternoon, saying they helped save the nascent cycling race from collapsing because of budget cuts and that the victory was theirs.

He also took aim at Governor Nixon's previous lack of support, as highlighted by KY3's David Catanese, but welcomed the governor as a new supporter of the race.

An audio summary of this afternoon's call (where no questions were taken) follows:

I think I broke the camel's back…

If my handwritten letter arrived in Jefferson City today, which I believe is possible, then the camel's back just may have been broken.

Governor Nixon just announced that he will release the $1.5 million initially withheld from the Tour of Missouri. In exchange, the Tour's organizing company and the Department of Tourism will publish their ledgers for public review.

For cyclists in le Tour de France slated to compete in the Tour of Missouri this September, this is definitely a happy Bastille Day.

10 July 2009

The Second of Two Open Letters

No, I'm not going to handwrite this one and send it out; too many people to send to and their address is changing from day to day. Oh, and they do have bigger fish to fry over the next two weeks.

To the cyclists committed to the Tour of Missouri:

Certainly you've read by now, or heard about, reports of the Tour of Missouri's funding being cut, putting the event in jeopardy. The timing of this move could not be worse: less than two months before the 600-mile trek through the Show-Me State, and in the middle of cycling's largest stage.

It is my hope, as a cycling fan and native Missourian, that you will lend your voice to encourage the continuation of this wonderful and fast-growing event in the States. With a large contingent of riders from North America making their marks in international circuits, it is important to keep nascent races like the Tour of Missouri in operation to engender interest in cycling.

I humbly ask that, during interviews with the press while riding through the French countryside this month, you please verbally commit your support and intention to race in this September's Tour of Missouri.

Thank you and hope to see you on the roads of Missouri soon.

Sincerely,
/s/ Kyle Hill
Folkestone, Kent, UK
(Formerly Kansas City, MO)

The First of Two Open Letters

The following will be handwritten and sent via post later today. Hopefully it'll arrive and just might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

10 July 2009

The Hon. Jeremiah "Jay" Nixon
Governor of Missouri
P.O. Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102

Governor Nixon,

By now you have heard from perhaps thousands of enthusiastic cycling fans and Missourians alike, hoping you will reverse the proposed $1.5 million reduction of spending to the Tour of Missouri. It has perhaps been explained repeatedly that this is by far Missouri's largest sporting event, larger even than next week's All-Star Game in St. Louis.

Save the occasional visit by the Toronto Blue Jays to Kauffman Stadium, the Tour of Missouri is our state's only opportunity to host an international sporting contest. And this contest isn't confined to the stadia of our two major metropolitans. Over the span of a week in September, dozens of the world's top cyclists tackle the breathtaking scenery and relentless terrain of Missouri's sideroads, bringing a globally popular sport to outstate areas. Fans from around the world, many fresh from cheering on their favourite teams in France, will line the highways around Jackson, Salem, Vienna, Utica, and countless other smaller towns that otherwise would go without notice even to their fellow Missourians from Kansas City and St. Louis. These fans bring with them the spending power of the Euro, Sterling, and other world currencies, introducing new revenue into the various businesses along the route and sponsoring the tour.

For who do these fans and visitors to the Show-Me State cheer? Of the 14 teams confirmed to appear in September, seven are currently racing in le Tour de France, and among their ranks share 22 championship jerseys from cycling's big three European and American races over the past decade and seven Olympic gold medals. Aside from the Tour of California, the Tour of Missouri is their only other opportunity to experience quality competition in the United States.

I write this letter 4400 miles away, in the English county of Kent. Two years ago, the Tour de France rolled through here from London to Canterbury, and stories of that day remain popular among the natives. I have been in the area for only six weeks, and in that time have sought to promote my native Missouri to nearly everyone I meet. While the newest ambassador to the United Kingdom is a St. Louis native, I struggle to find signs of Missouri's current impact on the UK. In a recent BBC miniseries, where humourist Stephen Fry visited every state in the US, his stop in Missouri was at an abandoned warehouse in St. Louis where three homeless people were living. In terms of edibles, stores carrying wines from America have inventory only from California, ignoring our lush vineyards that the Tour of Missouri emphasises every year. The mere mention of Boulevards, toasted ravioli and pulled pork on a bun, perhaps our state's staple foods, draws blank stares. When I mention that I'm from Missouri, often I have to explain where in the United States we are and for what we're famous. Unfortunately, sometimes I have to mention a certain state to the west for context, prompting anecdotes about Dorothy and Toto.

I state the preceding because I see the potential the Tour has in promoting a positive image of Missouri to the world. I Since its inception, I have been most supportive of the Tour. In the inaugural race, I volunteered along the route at three separate stages. Were it not for my employment away from the Tour route, I would have done so last year and again this September. And since I first learned of the Tour, I feared that it would become a political football, both used by its supporters and detractors. Sadly, I believe it has become the case. I am fully aware of the partisan pressure that may be attached to resorting the funds. I too know the situation Missouri and much the world is facing economically, trying to find ways to keep afloat and re-evaluating spending priorities. Already this year's tour has an increase of sponsors, and the chance exists that next year enough sponsors will line up to negate the need for taxpayer assistance.

Of the world's most popular sports, no sport brings the top athletes to the farthest reaches of a region than cycling. It would be a considerable stretch to bring soccer's Beckham, Rooney or Ronaldo to our hometowns of DeSoto or Kirksville, and while one could predict the likelihood of Albert Pujols or Matt Cassel visiting either, they already bring positive name recognition to Missouri and thus don't capture the intrigue and buzz the way Lance Armstrong, Fabian Cancellara, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, Danny Pate, Christian VandeVelde and others could, should funding be fully restored to the Tour of Missouri.

The Tour of Missouri is a showcase of the entire state and puts many of our 114 counties in the spotlight. The state has poured tens of millions into athletic facilities including the Edward Jones Dome, the Chiefs' new training camp in St. Joseph, and several university athletic facilities; facilities that fans in outstate communities must drive to reach. By maintaining financial support for the Tour of Missouri, the state can not only show support for a truly international sport but also showcase an alternate method of transportation that is healthy for the rider and considerably more environmentally friendly.

Please fully restore funding to this major showcase of our great State.

Regards,
/s/ Kyle Hill
Folkestone, Kent, UK
(Formerly Kansas City, MO)

I have another letter in the works; however, as my printer has yet to arrive here, I now must transcribe this and make sure it's legible before mailing it off today.