Thursday, 6 November 2008

People 'can't wait for ID cards'

TB just choked as he read this on the
BBC website:

Jacqui Smith says public demand means people will be able to pre-register for an ID card within the next few months.

The cards will be available for all from 2012 but she said: "I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long."

TB doesn't believe her.

Freedom of Infomation letter anyone?



Noticed
Shane
has just got this story too.

Glenrothes

TB has eyes and ears everywhere... none more so than on the streets of Glenrothes tonight. Apparently the Labour camp have all but given up today, despite the fact that interest rates were slashed in another cheap by-election trick by Gordo. TB's eyes say that there is no sign of the 350 activits

Labour claimed
to have on the streets today. The SNP and Tories were out in force.


The SNP have been the dominent ones on the door steps - they've had activists all over the seat all week. The Lib Dems are making more of an effort than in Glasgow East and the Tories have thrown a fair bit of weight behind Maurice Golden. TB's mole will report directly from the count tonight.

TB's predictions: SNP victory by 1 to 2k - Tories in third. Hopefully.

Let the games begin...

Congratulations to the NO2ID sympathiser who swiped the Home Secretaries water glass and thus her fingerprints...

Guido has the full story
.


This should be amusing...

The movie script ending...

So it's finally over... for the last 18 months Tory Bear has been watching from afar the events of the most exciting presidential election in his lifetime. Election night was a depressing affair and TB refrained from commenting until the full implications of the results have sunk in, apologies to those who were asking for comment or opinion in the last 24 hours. Now after a plane ride home, a stiff drink and a very long sleep here goes...

The one thing that stopped this being a total annihilation and wipe out for the Republicans was John McCain. He stood firm and fought as hard as he damn well could. If only he had beaten Bush to the nomination in 2000 - the world would no doubt be a very different place with a McCain White House dealing with the post 9/11 climate. Palin mobilised the base which no doubt shored up a solid chunk of the McCain vote, but had it been any other Republican candidate against Obama then the TB feels the margin of victory would have been a lot greater.

McCain was gracious and humble in defeat and handled his crowd perfectly. People have made a big hoohaa out of the fact that the crowd were booing Obama but TB saw this as frustration rather than anything more malicious. These people have slaved away for months on end and given it their all. The hacks who have been flown in from around the world in business class for the champagne and glory part of the election should bear in mind what the people they are so quick to dismiss have been through in the last year. The fact the media had the audacity to attack a few McCain staffers for venting their despair and upset with a boo is sickening in light of the fact the riot police were on standby across the country in case Obama lost.

So where are we now? Despite the fact it seems the Democrats have missed out on their "super majority" in the Senate they do however control every branch of government. Things are going to be very tough for conservatives in America in the next four years and TB fully expects to see Obama's true colours very quickly revealed in a full scale aggressive leftist agenda. There is nothing the Republicans can do to stop it and the world woke up on Wednesday morning truly a different place. Yes it's fantastic that America is finally one small step toward atonement for it's years of sin but at the end of the day this is one gesture and as many poignant clips on the news channels have said today- this is just the beginning of an end to racism in America. Whether any true change will come around remains to be seen.

The world has changed for a very different reason though; America and it's standing in the world is at a crossroads. It's economy is in tatters, it's army is overstretched and losing on two fronts, and it resources are waning. The end of America as a super power is emerging and the election of a socialist leader is arguably a dying gasp of a dying superpower. With this sharp shift to the left we will see an amateur tackling the middle east, things could get very messy indeed. Obama has promised to pull the troops out of Iraq and soon, this is going to cause the entire region to descend into chaos and America's name will once again be mud. With America declining on the world stage and embracing leftist ideals of sitting down to talk with murderers and terrorist dictators, as Obama has promised to do, new countries will emerge to fill the power gap. China and Russia are in the ascendancy and soon will be truly the new superpowers as America declines back into its shell.

That is why the election of John McCain was so vital and that is why TB is so worried for the next eight years. TB has always been a defender of America and it's people but he is extremely angry at the moment. When people say to him that Americans are dumb or idiots etc etc he stands up for them but right now TB barely has the energy. Someone came along that was shiny and glossy, trendy and new and like the Pied Piper has led them up the mountain to their own destruction. People will study the campaign for years to come as a textbook way to manipulate an entire country. There is no denying his fantastic oratory and his campaign skills but to be fair 800 million dollars goes a bloody long way. Especially when your opponent is capped at $85 million.

So America has reached the end of an era. Small c conservatism has taken one hell of a hit in the last 72 hours and while it will be incredible to see a black family enter the White House on 20th January the price at which that image comes and the socialist baggage that comes with it, leaves a very bitter aftertaste in the mouth... even if there is a little cute fluffy puppy too.

I'm here from the government...

So it seems the walkers had a good day... tailed by a cctv car!


Tory Bear imagines the conversation with the community support officers and police back up went a little something like this...

Evey:
Who are you?

V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.

Evey: Well I can see that.

V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.

Evey: Oh. Right.

V:
But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona. Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Evey: Are you like a crazy person?

V: I am quite sure they will say so.

Unto the world a child is born...

Nice to see Guardian writer Jemima Kiss isn't too excited about the Obama victory on Twitter...

Wednesday, 5 November 2008


Nooooooooooot.

If only the issues had been the issue...

Thanks to the TB fan who emailed this one in...bit late now but cool pic.

Tuesday, 4 November 2008

Perks of the job...


Two days into the new job at
ConservativeHome
and it seems Mr Isaby is already enjoying the perks...

Somewhere in the projects the two campaigns met...



TB strongly recommends you watch this to the very end...who’s gonna be the baddest b-boy in Washington, who’s gonna pop to the top, who’s gonna freeze in the White House and who’s gonna do the worm all the way to Ohio?

So to settle this once and for all, the Grand Old Posse lay it down to the Democrats for a once-and-for-all dance off - winner takes all…

TB would tap that too my friend.

Hat-Tip -
Noise Porn
- if you like beats and gingers TB recommends you check it out...

What's Guido up to?

Hat-Tip Ben Brogan

CFers and YBFers in The Times


The Times
has picked up on the fact that 10 young Britons are campaigning for McCain in Ohio...

And your point is?

The increasingly irritating, obnoxious and comically bad
Conservative and Unionist
blog that is hosted in the States at "toryparty.net" (and registered to a PO Box in Vancouver that is associated with serious internet fraud,) seems to have had another session on google... The elusive tory hate blogger seems to simply trawl right-of-centre blogs all day and try make witty or obnoxious comments about what he finds. However TB doesn't really get his point today... He links to the McCain Bournmouth 2007 speech in praise of David Cameron:

“So, my friends, let me close by reiterating how grateful I am for this opportunity, and how greatly encouraged and proud I am to the see my fellow conservatives in Great Britain, under David Cameron’s very able and determined leadership, stand up to stake your claim for leadership with honesty, courage and resolve. You claim the future, and you will see more of it than I will. But I am content and inspired in my late years to know still, as I have always known, that there will always be a Britain, and that the future is in the safe hands of the two great peoples who long ago decided to make history together.”

Yes... and your point being?

For TB's American readers...

My Friend,

From the time I entered the Naval Academy at age seventeen I have been privileged and honored to serve my country.

Throughout my years of service, I've been faced with challenges where I could have taken the easy way out and given up. But I'm an American and I never give up. Instead, I choose to show courage and stand up and fight for the country I love. Today, I am asking you to stand with me and to fight for our country's future.

Our country faces enormous challenges and our next president must be ready to lead on day one. My lifetime of experience has prepared me to lead our great nation. I'm prepared to bring solutions to our economic challenges, bring our troops home in victory and improve our nation's healthcare system.

Time and time again, my country has saved my life and I owe her more than she has ever owed me. I have chosen to show my gratitude through a life of service to our country and tomorrow, you will have a choice before you.

I humbly ask you to make the choice that will allow me to serve my country a little while longer by casting your vote to elect me as your next President of the United States.

Finally, I ask that you never forget that much has been sacrificed to protect our right to vote. We must never forget those Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, and with their lives, have protected our freedom. It is my great hope that you will exercise your right to vote as an American tomorrow.

I thank you for your kind support, your dedication to our cause, and most importantly I thank you for your vote.

With sincere appreciation,


John McCain

Monday, 3 November 2008

Why Home Secretaries turn into monsters...

The ever delectable Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
asked today
why Home Secretaries always turn into such monsters? It's a fair question and a good point and TB recommends that she checks out tonight's episode of
Spooks
to see what they have to put up with... A corker of the episode. TB is beginning to wonder about all those rogue gas explosions... Though this doesn't give Jaquai Smith the excuse to become the little dictator she has her heart set on being. ID cards won't save us... Spooks will!

Good to see Spooks have moved on from that horrible flirtation with leftyness and have got back to old fashioned Russian dissing.

Birmingham University CF endorses McCain

Seems another

campus branch
has endorsed the McCain/Palin ticket.


In a similar vote to Edinburgh University last week, the branch executive of Birmingham University Conservative Future are throwing their support behind not what is trendy and cool but what is the best for America and the world.

Hat-Tip-
The Young Conservative
- competition is healthy. In a way... still no link to torybear.com though - rather petty no?

Covering it live?

TB will be blogging through the night tomorrow but is anyone up for a liveblog chat from about midnight?


Happy to host one but only if there are people up for it...

Let yourself be known in the comments if you are interested.

The end is nigh...

Apologies for the lack of blogging in the last few days - TB has been busy with essays. Business resumes tomorrow with liveblogging throughout election night.


Tory Bear suggests that you check out the new
students4freedom
website and blog if you haven't already done so. Details of their upcoming conference can be found there. The world is going to be a very different place on Wednesday morning and groups like students4freedom are precisely what is going to be needed to defend against the rise of the new left. While it may start in America, don't forget for one second that Brown will try get as much of the Obama stardust to rub off on him as he can.

If you still think President Obama is a good idea then TB suggests you take a peek at this Samizdata
today
:

"Obama is a cipher. He is like a Russian matryoshka doll. Nobody except perhaps his closest associates know what is at the core. The best estimate is to look at his friends and mentors and what their values are. That topic has been thoroughly discussed and some reasonable people place him solidly in a group of hard core totalitarians. If we ignore his promises shifting like smoke on the wind, his closest core group seems to be fired by hatred and revenge against America in general and the US Constitution in particular. Certainly that is what his confidants and advisers (and wife) say in public."

"...already 43% of American 'tax payers' pay no taxes. We are getting dangerously close
to the point where the people who net more off of government outnumber the people who pay more into it. If we cross that threshold of voters taking versus voters paying, it is a point of no return. It appears certain that we will pass that point early in an Obama administration."

This election has been going on so long it is hard to remember what watching the news or blogging was like without it. After the mammoth primary season scores of big names have fallen by the wayside - careers and dreams shattered and billions of dollars poured in to the worlds most elaborate smoke and mirrors. Our elections pale in comparison to the excitement and depth of a US race and although TB fully expects to be drowning his sorrows come about 5am when the Mac finally throws in the towel (and Mrs Palin is sent back from whence she came,) it's been one hell of a ride...

The only comfort left is that great quote from his RNC nomination speech, is their a glimmer of hope?



"Nothing is inevitable here, we're Americans, we never give up, we never quit. We never hide from history -we make history. Stand up and fight"

Sunday, 2 November 2008

A report from the stump...

TB is rather jealous of the YBF team who are out in the states campaigning for McCain Palin...


TB tried his utmost to get out there but the old degree had to come first sadly. They even got to see Arnie and the Mac at a rally in Ohio...


The sunday press was a sickening read of pro-messiah adoration.



Is it too late to stop?


With a heavy heart TB has to conclude yes he can.

Saturday, 1 November 2008

Vote McCain or...

...Arnie will be knocking on your door.



"Barack Obama can't do anything about his skinny legs and scrawny arms but he really should put some meat on his policies...
John McCain has served his country longer in a PoW camp than Barack Obama has served in the Senate...

I play an action hero, John McCain is an action hero...

America cannot afford Barack Obama - just as Europe is rolling back its 'spread the wealth ' policies we don't need them in America..."

Hat-Tip ConHome