Frying pans and melting pots

February 11, 2010

I am struck by the difference between two seemingly close cultures. One of course being at least in the main deriving from the other. In less than two hundred and fifty years these cultures seem to have drifted farther apart than I am sure any of our fore fathers would have guessed. Yes, I realize we were forcibly seperated by a war and then another about thirty years later. However, you might think we would retain some semblence of each other.
No, I do not speak to the difference between the US direct representative democracy versus a proportional representation which resides in the UK. I personally like to vote for my candidate, not for the party. Maybe iot is the grassroots feeling I enjoyed of all levels of American political process for better or worse.
I will only broadly hint at my running battle with English versus American language. How do you pronounce queen as queen and quay as key? Wait, why do you add extra bits to aluminum with your spelling and pronunciation? Why is a vacation a holiday and when did a cell phone become a mobile phone? Finally, if trousers are pants, pants are underwear and ladies underwear are knickers, why do you refer to "pants" and "knickers" as underwear? These minor irritations prove amusing to me. Especially when standing in front of a large group of English asking two guys if they have any black pants to work in. Social blunders. . .
One of the striking things which most would not even bother noticing is the idea of society as found in the young. How many Americans know and can recite the Pledge of Allegiance? I would bet most. We are taught about our melting pot culture where everybody is American and supports America. We sing the National Anthem in school from when we are little children. We are taught patriotic songs about our country. I bet if I mention, "This Land is Our Land . . ." again most of us Americans will start humming along. Heck, I can even fold the American Flag properly thanks to Mr. Norlin my third grade teacher.
Here, it seems they lack the certainty of identity. While we consider ourselves a melting pot where once you are there you are American, here it is a selection of which country you are from. I state proudly, I am an American from Minnesota of German descent as do most others I know with variations. Here I find most will claim they are Pakistani, Indian even Scottish and Welsh before even thinking of themselves as English or British. They speak no pledge to a common flag. They rarely sing the national anthem at school. They insulate themselves in a nanny culture to protect from offending each other and become isolated pockets.
Maybe one of the main reasons they have a hard time understanding us is we admit our country is not perfect, but we try hard to keep the "melting pot" alive in our schools and make it better. Here, it is more like eggs in a hot frying pan. No chance to get together before becoming set in an isolated shape.

Taxes from heaven

February 05, 2010

Well, the great snow storms of 2009 have passed into the repository of history for England. The complications and lessons continue to be learned from the ability of English way of doing things. Most people will remember the rallying cry of the American colonies during the Revolution. This should be remembered as freedom from the English way of doing things. Well, who can forget the catchy slogan of no taxation without representation. It is not for me to complain abot the Chancellor being able to adjust taxes for the entire country on a whim. How about we raise the tax on everything because we can't manage to run our expenses in Parliament and we have a shortfall in our budget. I won't claim to understand how they can have a national sales tax of 17.5% and everybody accepts this as ok. Actually, the Chancellor lowered it to 15% for a few months to help get the economy started again, but since Jan 1, it is back to 17.5%.
Nope, here is what I can not simply understand. The local councils have now come out saying they are going to have to raise the council (property) tax in order to pay for the snow removal which occurred. There is no appeal as they will simply hike the tax rate up by 3% to pay for this extrodinary circumstance.
Wait, weren't these the councils who failed to have enough salt and sand to actually keep roads open? Or were these the councils who had only a few trucks actually in operation to even attempt to keep the main streets clear. Perhaps these are the councils who state in the newspapers they have millions in surplus, but they can not dip into those reserves in case of emergency. I seem to be slightly confused by the response.
It makes one wonder why America strove for its independence a couple hundred years ago with a simple rally cry.

Bankers, MPs and followin the Money

January 23, 2010

Well, it seems the big complaint of most people across both the USA, the UK and several other countries is how the bankers have stolen millions of pounds/dollars or other such denomination in their greed for bonuses. The politicians are now attempting to curtail money paid to the upper echelon of the bankers. A one time tax n bonuses or breaking up banks so they "aren't too large to fail."
We as Americans complain about the state of our government. The US Supreme Court recently ruled spending by corporations and PACs is actually legal in elections. Reporters in England are saying how this will make a hotly contested and "dirty" election even worse. This from a country who decries American ignorance about the world but most then most people here can't tell you where Florida, New York and California are in relation to one another.
The elected British officials work under the title of M.P. (Not to be confused with the military police of American military fame.) It seems the MPs have been having the fun with their paychecks and seem to act very surprised and flabbergasted when some in the public decried their spending habits.
It seems the British government made use of their own ability to write laws even better for themselves than their compatriots in the US did. Imagine this senario for a moment.
You are elected to the British Parliament. You now have the ability to purchase a house near London to use as your residence when you are in session. All interest payments on the loans will be paid for by the government. (Read the taxpayers and yes, I am one. Being a non-EU, I pay the one of the highest tax rates and can't even vote these silly buggers out.) The government will then pay all "reasonable" expenses incurred to furnish, renovate and provide upkeep on the properties. The MP were allowed to declare which place would be their primary residence.
When one of the newspapers leaked the story of how the MPs were claiming for items such as resurfacing a tennis court, an island on a pond for the ducks or even paying family members tens of thousands of pounds to do the laundry, people became slightly angry with the politicians. There was to be a grand inquiry into all claims made. Any that were not completely in line were to be refunded back to the government. Mps were embarrassed as the Home Secretary paid back money for her husband's porn channel at their house. Others claimed interest on house loans which had been paid off for years. (This of course was a simple accounting error. Yeah right!) One had renovated the house claimed the money for the loan then sold the house and kept the money tax free because he classed it now as his primary residence. He subsequently bought another house from his brother and was in the process of renovating it after declaring his original house was now his primary residence.
This continued for a few weeks as more information came to light. MPs were even taped complaining about how the poor people couldn't possibly understand how hard it is to actually be an MP and they should actually get more benefits.
Several members of parliament who admitted they were deeply in the wrong said they would not stand in the next election. They would humbly serve out the remains of their terms and quietly retire. Something fishy? Well of course there was. Any MP who served out their term would be given their full pay for the cycle, they would receive their retirement package and be given a golden handshake the one time payment of about 65,000GBP for their service to the country. It seems at least in this country, there is a reason why it is difficult to find an honest person in politics. Did I mention, you don't actually pick the person running. The leaders of the parties does that for you and you are voting for the party to represent you.
A big thank you goes to our Founding Fathers. The US may be flawed and we may fight about our politics, but at least they are ours even if the big money gets spent by PACs and corporations. . .