STATESIDE

We have, both polly and tickle, been away for the last few weeks to the most westerly state of the states. A wonderful experience. tickle's interest in modern history was somewhat satisfied, following our visit to Pearl Harbour. It is easily recognised why the Japanese saw a sitting duck of a target. I am, however, always impressed how the Americans acknowlede a weakness and can compound it by having it recorded on film, the massive explosion that sank the USS Arizona I would guess came from film from a Japanese dive bomber, the moment is included in an introductory film prior to being ferried to the 'Arizona' memorial site, over which a viewing platform has been installed. From this vantage point it is clear that oil is still rising, confirmed by the rainbow effect of the permanent oil slick. All in all we both found this a most moving experience. The rest of the trip was also pretty impressive. This included cruising by, after dark, Hawaii's active volcano, an awesome site. Mother nature in the raw.





We were there during the current 'primary campaign' which is so obviously generated by their TV News channels, which appear to employ even more 'pundits' than our own BBC does to bore us with the none event football. Nevertheless there are moments to savour. We tended to follow Fox news, which provided us with some considerable wisdom from Bill O'Reilly who, to his eternal credit talks basic commonsense. While interviewing Hillary Clinton, she of the false smile and everything else underhand, he posed the question of why she was persuing a kind of NHS when the two states already practising this benefit were badly in debt, one of the states being her own state of New York. Proceeding, he continued by enquiring why he should pay more taxes to support self imposed ailments such as drug addiction and alcoholism. If only we could have this breed of interrogator instead of the limp 'party line towing' morons. Another impressive performer is the former Clinton aide Dick Morris, who, since reaching maturity, has switched to Obama. He was saying in the middle of April that the Democrats had decided who should be their nominee, that is if you base it on votes (Democracy). The media of course makes money from perpetuating this farce. Morris also came up with the best line following a remark from his interviewer. 'Hillary has experienced eight years in the White House'. To which he pointed out that so also had the 'pastry cook'. Overall you can easily recognise that both Blair and Brown studied at the court of Clinton. Although I couldn't possibly support the kind of socialism of the Democrats, or any type of left wing politics, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge Obama's immense ability as an orator. Incidently, we didn't speak to one American who rated Clinton.





Our biggest disappointment on our trip was LA. Airport Term.4. Outbound, passing through on a Tuesday evening it was almost empty, however upon our return 6am on a Sunday, the place was packed. I just can't believe that they fly to church. The main problem was the lack of toilet (restroom) facilities. Normally there would be two but with one being out of order this was creating considerable inconvenience.





Finally, Alan and Katina in the land of 'Oz', we hope you had a safe journey home.