Death of Detroit an evolutionary necessity?

The so-called ‘Big three’ (Ford, GM and Chrysler) have gone to Washington, cap in hand begging for a bailout and it looks like Washington has said no.

There have been many irate bloggers questioning why it is fair to bailout finance companies but not the auto industry. Personally I think, hard though it is, the most American thing to do is let these companies fail.

What will happen?

Innovation will suddenly burst from its hiding place. The stifling presence of the 3 behemoths will be gone and smaller, lean and focused companies will spring up and thrive focusing on greener fuels and environmentally friendlier transport. Wrenching Americans away from its oil addiction.

Then the world will sit up and take notice and the US will again lead the world in ingenuity and vision.

It will be painful but it will be necessary. It will be true capitalism.

America has to move forward, grow up, evolve and since the auto industry is at its heart, then perhaps it makes sense to begin there.

Embrace it.

Deal or No Deal as Religion

The UK version of ‘Deal or no Deal’ strikes me as a perfect allegory to explain why people cling to religion despite it making not a jot of difference to their lives. So bear with me and imagine one episode of Deal or No Deal is an entire life.

BECOMING A BELIEVER
At random a contestant is selected – a Chosen One if you will. This Chosen One is convinced he has the best box in the room. He believes that his happiness lies within the box but in reality he won’t find out til the end of the game what exactly it is and by then it may be too late. The Chosen One may tell tales of hardship and how they hope this game will change their lives. None of this changes what is actually in the box he chose.

THE NON-BELIEVERS (ATHEISTS)
The 21 other contestants are not the chosen ones but (in the eyes of the believer) can help or hinder him on his way to finding happiness. All The Chosen One has to do is select some of their boxes of happiness to be eliminated from the game and this will help him define what is in his own.The non believers themselves stay in the game but their happiness is inconsequential and only a stepping stone to the happiness of The Chosen One. By not playing the non-believers have no reason to fear winning or losing, just revealing the truth to The Chosen One.
None of this changes what is actually in the box he holds.

ACTIONS OF BELIEVERS
The Chosen One will use arbitrary forms of divination to determine what is in his box. Certain numbers that have featured previously, The colour of someone’s shirt or even whether someone is new to the game or not – all become important sources of information. None of this changes what is actually in the box he holds.

THE WORD OF GOD
Every three rounds the banker (God) calls and gives them a sign. He cannot tell them what is in their box but he can give them instant gratification – answer their prayers so to speak. The Chosen One can choose to accept or reject the offer – he can choose to be happy now or gamble on being much happier later. None of this changes what is actually in the box he holds.

THE DEAL
The game ends and The Chosen One finally gets to see what is in their box. The contents have not changed since the beginning of the game but they have attributed a value to it that it may not have. They have used signs, symbols, intuition and other hocus-pocus to divine a meaning – gain an insight but it is not until the game ends do they know whether they are right or not. Seeing what is in the box does not actually change what is inside. Sometimes they are deeply disappointed but by then the game is over. Sometimes they are happy but admit they could have been happier. Very rarely does anyone win the first prize.

THE TRUTH
From an atheists point of view the happiness is not in the box. It is watching the game.

(P.S. Yes. I really need to get back to full-time work)

O.J. to spend next 9 years defending his end-zone

OJ Simpson has been sent down for his gun-wielding moment of stupidity at a Vegas hotel. He was trying to reclaim some of his own possessions which some memorabilia enthusiasts had obtained and instead of going through normal legal channels decided the most intelligent way to do it was to brandish a gun in their faces and lock them in a hotel room.

O.J. was quoted as saying ‘I didn’t think what I was doing was illegal.’ Whether he is referring to hacking to death his ex-wife or this current case is unclear.

I was in L.A. during the original murder and slow-speed chase. I watched the swarm of news helicopters from the roof of the apartment as he was doing his infamous slow speed chase through the city. I saw people take TV’s into restaurants so they would not miss a minute of the drama. I endured the rolling 24 hour news coverage much of it based on speculation and I even chatted with Robert Kardashian on the phone about his role in the case (long, long story about how THAT came about).

What surprised me at the time was the quality of the media reporting. I once remember a whole day being devoted to claims that ‘they had found the knife!’ which later turned out to be a discarded butter knife found on waste ground. ‘And now over to Chad who can tell us more about butter knives..Chad..’ – It really did get that silly.

This Vegas case seemed pretty cut and dried and was devoid of much of the media circus. I just cannot believe that OJ who had been through all this before put himself in the same position with such a ridiculous plot. It also put into clear focus how unintelligent the man is. Could a man who clumsily put together this ‘robbery’ really have got away with a murder under the glare of the entire LAPD? Hmmm.

I might write a further post next week about the original OJ case, the verdict and my passing involvement in it if you are at all interested.

Dark Knight Oscar talk is worthless

The internet seems to be anxious. It seems to be pacing up and down, brow furrowed, hands wringing with an occasional pleading look heavenward.

“Will Dark Knight win an Oscar?’ is the question causing this online angst. The blogs are full of it. ‘Will Heath Ledger win it posthumously?’, ‘Will a big budget blockbuster upset tradition?’

The truth is (Spoiler alert) it doesn’t matter a jot.

If you enjoyed the film and if you were captivated by Ledger’s performance what difference is another endorsement going to make? What further validation does this film need?

It is a triumph of entertainment and Ledger’s performance is one of the best I have seen of any actor in any film. No gold coloured statuette is going to change my mind.

Now internet, relax, deep breaths. Go worry about something else

Image versus Reality

Much has been written recently about the ’scam’ called Lapland New Forest. This was where an enterprising family set up a Winter Wonderland theme park attraction and charged everyone £25 to get in. Sadly the image the park had projected did not match up to the reality and this led to some very angry punters.

The story was picked up by the media because it had everything – Christmas, wrong-doing, sad kids but no real harm done. It was an easy story to report on, had some great imagery and was to be fair mildly amusing in a Father Ted kind of way.

The owners of the park seem (so far) to have done nothing illegal. They simply overcharged and underprovided. This ended up on the news.

Every day we are being ripped off to the same extent whether it be British gas not honouring their Service agreements, insurance companies not paying out or local councils failing to do the job they are paid for yet it rarely makes the headlines.

Stick a crying child and a smoking Elf in the mix and Bingo – you got yourselves a news story.

So bearing this in mind, next time you need to get your heating fixed and you are told it will take days for them to appear and then they don’t, then why not dress your child as an elf poke him in the eye and invite a press photographer around. It would help if you had a husky tied to him too.

Thank You Darling

I am not a particularly big fan of New Labour but it is hard not to come up with some grudging respect for their actions over the last month.

Fiscal control is right in the middle of Gordon Brown’s comfort zone and I imagine him sitting at his desk in No.10 getting positively moist watching the financial markets fluctuate. He was absolutely the guy you want in charge in the middle of this type of ‘crisis’.

So we came to yesterdays Pre-budget report admirably read out by Chancellor Alisdair Darling. The reduction of VAT, the increased borrowing and the higher taxation on those earning lots of money – all are the right thing to do at this very point in time.

The Torys have carped from the sidelines about Tax bombshells and hidden VAT raises but have offered nothing as an alternative. It makes them sound like the Father-in-Law from Harry Enfield – ‘You don’t want to do it like that’.

The actions are not long-term panaceas. It will be difficult in the future for all of us but sometimes you have to live in the moment and be self-confident enough that you can handle what comes after. The UK is made up of some of the hardiest people in the world and we can roll with some heavy punches. All we ask is that whenever possible, the government that we employ and pay for, uses its strength to help.

Hindsight will likely make a mockery of Brown and Darlings decisions but hindsight will conveniently forget that the only alternative was to do nothing and that is simply not the British way.

Bailout passes – Pelosi promises accountability

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Vote for gods sake!

Rewarding sleaze – Mandelson returns to British cabinet

Peter Mandelson has been invited back into the fold of British politics by PM Gordon Brown. The move has surprised many observers as it is common knowledge that Brown and Mandelson fell out in 1994.

Mandelson is currently serving as an EU trade commissioner and is not an MP. To take up the post Mandelson has to abandon his post and step straight into a lordship, bypassing the need to seek the approval of the masses.

Mandelson has previously been forced to resign TWICE over abuses of power. The first resignation involved a dodgy mortgage loan, given to him by someone his department was investigating. He also failed to declare this loan to his building society which is something you or I would go to jail for.

Mandelson gave up his job, only to return ten months later and was given the task of sorting out Northern Ireland. He then had to resign again after allegations of abusing his position to influence the Home Office over passports for friends of his.

Mandelson was then rewarded with a cushy EU job.

Now he is to get a Lordship and be given one of the most influential posts in British Industry.

Is this an example of the fair society of the future Gordon Brown wishes to build? You can lie and cheat your way through public life and be rewarded with ever more powerful jobs? Mandelson is a professional politician whose sole contribution has been to use PR and smoke and mirrors to keep his cronies in Power and feather his own nest. The country faces difficult economic times ahead and the PM puts a spin-doctor in charge of British business.

Gordon, any public trust you once had has now just disappeared.

A cure for ADHD

Recently there has been a lot of kids diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I believe that most of this is horses*** and can be put down to bad parenting and the rush to find a medical excuse for a child’s shortcomings. In the spirit of altruism however I have decided to invent a cure anyway: