I agree with Mark that the UK Postcode data known as Postzon should be free – read why he thinks that here, and if you agree, go to the UK Government Petitions website and sign the petition (before 28th March).

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/geopostcode/

So, the British Government are under heavy scrutiny due to apparent abuse of their expenses system.  I don’t want to write loads about it, I just want to say two things.  Firstly, there are always people who take the piss, there are people who make mistakes and there are people who do ‘what everyone else does’ because well, that’s what you do.  So I don’t think all the MP’s were corrupt, or that they were all intentionally defrauding the country using a system with badly defined rules to get away with theft, as some people do.

Clare Short has this to say (here),

She told the BBC she had switched from an interest-only to a repayment mortgage and had continued to send bills to the fees office – but had repaid the money when the error was pointed out in 2006.

I accept that.  I believe she’s being honest.  I work in a large organisation where this kind of thing is probably pretty common.  Confusing rules, mistakes, people paying things back.  But here’s the kicker, and the second thing I want to say.

Clare Short may not have been abusing the system, Clare Short may have made a real mistake, and may have rectified it.  Many MP’s probably did.  But those same MP’s knew their colleagues were fleecing the system.  They knew their colleagues were claiming stuff that didn’t add up.  They knew the system was too easy to abuse.  They may not have personally abused the system – but they didn’t make any obvious, real attempt to stop others doing so.

As a result, the entire establishment is at fault.  It should shut up, stop whinging and deal with the issue at the root.

US President Barack Obama has ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as well as all overseas CIA detention centres for terror suspects.

Full story here.

Step. In the right. Direction.

The language is a little confusing, but there may be some light at the end of the tunnel for people protesting against proposition 8.

From UPI,

It’s unfortunate, obviously, but it’s not the end,” Schwarzenegger told CNN. “I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area.

Well, not all of you, but anyone who voted for this,

California has voted to ban gay marriages only months after the practice was legalised, in a move which left thousands of homosexual couples stranded in a legal limbo.

The proposal to limit marriage to members of the opposite sex was approved by 52.1 percent of voters, compared with 47.9 percent who voted against, with 95 per cent of votes counted.

Well, they elected a president with vision, intelligence and some respect in the rest of the world.  I hope it works out for us all.

American bloggers are writing “remember where you were when Obama was elected”, well, it should be easy for me.  I was in bed.

Good luck Obama, hopefully this is the start of eight years of not randomly invading places because it seems like a good idea at the time.

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot!
A stick or a stake for King James’ sake
Will you please to give us a fagot
If you can’t give us one, we’ll take two;
The better for us and the worse for you!

or

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Just can’t seem to turn the election off.

Two states in so far, 8 McCain, 3 Obama (both projected).

Can’t seen to reconcile why I’m so fascinated in a race which I can’t effect.

Found here, originally from here, and quoted briefly here,

MCCAIN: Oh my god, I did not leave my left nut in a tiger cage in the Tomb of Horrors to spend my Friday nights mopping up after the new kid.

and

MCCAIN: Yeah?  Bring it!  I didn’t spend 3 years in the Abyss with Githzerai hooking my nads up to a car battery to get beat by some Wellesley girl.

Check out the full post here.

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7668477.stm

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has told MPs that plans to extend terror detention to 42 days will be dropped from the Counter-Terrorism Bill.

It follows a heavy defeat for the government in the House of Lords, which threw out the plan by 309 votes to 118.