New lines of communication for the Labour Club

Our industrious Chairperson has recently inaugurated a new website for the Labour Club.

You can find it at aberdeenuniversitylabourclub.org.

This website will act as a messageboard for the Labour Club to promote the Club's events and campaigns. As well as this it will also enable members to more easily interact with the Labour Club, and so will hopefully strengthen the Club's democratic nature.

Tschüß,
Secretary

I think skewered is the right word...

I think skewered is the right word for what Scottish Unionist has done to the SNP in two blog posts today.

The first, "Pan-unionist alliance", lines up quotes from Iain Gray (Leader, Scottish Labour), Murdo Fraser (Deputy Leader, Scottish Conservatives) and Tavish Scott (Leader, Scottish Liberal Democrats) laying bare Alex Salmond and his party for what they are, posturing blow hards.

The second has the pretty self-explanatory title "Hypocrisy, thy name is Salmond". It includes this perceptive quote from George Orwell.

“All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts ... Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits but according to who does them.”

Since I'm a shameless promoter of Labour bloggers I'll round off this post by encouraging anyone interested in astute and intelligent political analysis* to head over and check out Scottish Unionist.


*[If you don't like astute and intelligent analysis try an SNP blog.]

A short one today

[I was in Edinburgh yesterday visiting my grandmother which is why there was no post.]

Here's a very informative post from Though Cowards Flinch which (to whet your appetite) starts:

Over any holiday, online reading material tends to accumulate. Christmas 2008 has been no exception even though no few blogs are on vacation. One that I really wanted to challenge was the post over at Mil’s place entitled, “The Petri Dish Philosophy of Politics“. Mil makes the argument that we should import regional minimum wages into the UK, allowing say Birmingham or Manchester to experiment with a higher minimum wage.

Enjoy.

Balanced Theological Discourse

This blog and its writers believe in allowing opinions to be voiced and in encouraging a balanced view of issues. On Wednesday we had a post about the pope from a Catholic. Obviously to balance it up we need an opposing view; that of an atheist, me.

And I'll start by saying, good for you Benedict.

No readers I haven't lost my marbles and embraced homophobia (although there are some who say his comments on that issue have been misrepresented), I am referring to his Christmas day address. Which included this (emphasis mine):

Wherever the dignity and rights of the human person are trampled upon; wherever the selfishness of individuals and groups prevails over the common good; wherever fratricidal hatred and the exploitation of man by man risk being taken for granted; wherever internecine conflicts divide ethnic and social groups and disrupt peaceful coexistence; wherever terrorism continues to strike; wherever the basics needed for survival are lacking; wherever an increasingly uncertain future is regarded with apprehension, even in affluent nations: in each of these places may the Light of Christmas shine forth and encourage all people to do their part in a spirit of authentic solidarity. If people look only to their own interests, our world will certainly fall apart.

A lot of the speech was religious BS but this bit is spot on; especially the final line. That last line comes close to summing up the main difference between labour and the Tories, we stand for everyone they stand for themselves.

p.s. There will not be a Blogorama this week ebcause of the holiday. Blogorama V will instead be posted on the 31st. (probably.

p.p.s. On a wild tangent Blogger doesn't recognise "Blog" as being a word!!!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

A tip o' the hat to John Gray from whom I got this lovely new snow effect.

And just to give this post a bit more substance how about a bit of actual festive music:

"Euthanize David Mitchell!"

Though Cowards Flinch used this same provocative title in a response to an article written by David Mitchell in the Guardian's Comment is free section. This article was concerning euthanasia and was inspired by the recent discussion in the subject brought up by the death of Craig Ewert assisted by the Swiss charity Dignitas.

Though Cowards Flinch had an extremely negative view of the article which I largely share. Whilst I enjoy David Mitchell's comedic work the arguments he offers are weak and the jokes he makes fall flat, for example:

Like L. casei imunitas, the friendly bacterium, and Excellium, the fuel, it comes from a school of branding that believes that cod-Latinising a nice word makes people believe that your product or service possesses that positive attribute. It's attempting to reverse engineer etymology so that customers will think: 'Of course! We must derive our modern word "immunity" from the ancient Roman anti-bloating yoghurt.' Anyone stupid enough to believe that deserves a big pill.

Well no actually, the reason L. casei immunitas has a latin name is because that's how species are named, and I don't think anyone is supposed to believe the etymology works that way round. When a product is named "Excellium" is named in order to suggest excellence, not to make people think that excellence is named after it. It would be stupid to think so and it is stupid of David Mitchell to suggest it because it is blatantly not the case.

And for the information of David Mitchell Dignitas is a german speaking charity which caters to people of other nationalities and tongues. Having the name Dignitas implies what they offer, dignity in death rather than suffering. A point which he misses especially badly:

But if the clinic wants to say that they'll provide death with dignity, why don't they just name it 'Dignity'?

I don't know, maybe it's because they don't speak english as their native language.

I don't for a moment doubt the agony and sincere desire for death of any of the recently reported cases of assisted suicide. Their circumstances are tragic and I don't begrudge any of those people their hard-won peace. But what they've done is not normal and I wish people would stop going on about it as if it should be.

I agree with Though Cowards Flinch on their criticism of this point, lots of things that humans do is not normal by the standard of other animals. Modern medical technology such as respirators and kidney dialysis machines are not normal. An animal in the wild would die if it became ill enough to require dialysis so why do humans do it. We do it because we value life. It may seem contradictory to say that in a post supporting euthanasia but I believe that it's not, I believe that because there are other things that are valuable. Like freedom of determination and also quality of life. Human beings are set apart to quite a large degree by our highly evolved intellects; we are able to appreciate our lives on a higher level than simply the struggle for existence. If that existence coming to an end in such a way that that end will be more relief than tragedy why should the person not be able to take control of their own destiny.

Furthermore to say it is not normal is absolutely no reason at all to say it should be illegal, having the right to end your own suffering does not take away the seriousness of the act. No-one is saying it should be normal, what they are saying is that cognisant human beings should have the right to determine their own destiny without loved ones being prosecuted for helping them in what is a perfectly legal act in itself.

The main argument cited against legalising assisted suicide is that it may cause people to be put under pressure to end their lives prematurely - pressure, it is implied, that will be exerted by younger relatives who tire of an old person's ill health, moaning, money-hoarding, racism or smell. But I think it's worse than that - I think we'd end up putting pressure on ourselves.

Anyone who plans slightly obsessively - who thinks about packing days before the end of a holiday, puts their coat on during the last scene of a play or leaves football matches early to avoid traffic - is at risk of seeing death, in a society where we control its timing, as merely another job to get done. It's the last thing on the 'to do' list and their organised natures may make them feel duty-bound to 'get it done'.

Earlier on in the article he say's that he "[doesn't] begrudge any of those people their hard-won peace" and yet he seems perfectly happen to demean their choice. By his ridiculous assertion that making assisted suicide legal would put pressure on people to arrange their own deaths simply in order to be convenient he essentially implies that the decision is an easy one. The 100 or so Britons that have so far chosen to end their lives with the help of Dignitas did not do so because it was convenient, it I'm sure that it wasn't an easy decision for any of them.

So quite how it would suddenly be an easy option if it was legal in this country I don't know. He makes mention of the survival instinct in humans, and yet misses the point that it is indeed deep rooted, and simply having the opportunity to choose death does not make death an attractive option. To say that we should deny people the right to choose and force people to endure suffering because of some frivolous idea that it would make death attractive and a convenient way to order your life is ridiculous.

Legalising the right to die would weaken, in some people, the stubborn will to survive which is the cornerstone of our nature. Many would be seduced into finishing life in good order, clearing their desks. Millions of pensioners already dutifully sell their houses, move into care homes and take out insurance policies to pay for funeral expenses: they don't want to be a bother or a financial drain. It's not going to take much to make some of them give everything up - give up - just to be selfless and tidy. Only the selfish and messy will make old bones.

One thing that David Mitchell seems not to understand is that it's already legal and easy to commit suicide, human beings are frail so it doesn't take much to kill yourself. Amazingly enough though despite this frailty suicide is happily still relatively rare. If David Mitchell had stopped to consider that he might have realised that that's because people want to live too much to die. When people choose to end their own lives there is a very strong reason (Be that through physical or mental suffering or through mental illness.) to do so.

Suicide is not something to be taken lightly, and recognising a human beings right to self-determination and the ability to end their own suffering would not make it any less so.

I was very disappointed with this article, I felt that it was puerile and had very little thought put into it. David Mitchell is intelligent enough to do better than this.



My thanks to Though Cowards Flinch for putting me on to this and also for their continued high standard of blogging.

Human Rights Day/Blogoroma III: Feministing

I don't know how many of you knew it but today was the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights. If you're interested you can read the declaration in its entirety (Which I recommend as it's a very inspiring document) here.

(Also in Gàidhlig Albanach here and Cesky here.)

I thought that since today is also Blogorama Day^TM I would highlight a blog which offered some coverage of the event. It's a bit of a departure from the main focus of blogorama, that is to cover Labour bloggers, but I'm tired and so you'll just have to settle this week for one of my favourite blogs, Feministing.

Feministing is a feminist (Duh!) blog written by a group of very talented young female bloggers. They cover a range of issues related to gender equality and women's rights. What I especially appreciate is their focus beyond their own sphere to look at gay rights and racial issues as well. They are always very frank about some of the more unfortunate issues related to historical feminism, specifically the focus of most feminism being on the rights of white women and ignoring the situation of other ethnicities.

The main author behind Feministing is Jessica Valenti, who as well as being the found of Feministing is also an excellent author. She has released two books on the issue feminism (Both of which I naturally own.); Full Frontal Feminism and He's a Stud, She's a Slut and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know.

She now has a third book in the pipeline, The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women , which focuses on the US's incredibly creepy "Purity" balls.

If you think I'm being harsh by calling the things creepy you really need to read this quote taken from the article:

But first...a creepy anecdote.

Kylie Miraldi has come from California to celebrate her 18th birthday tonight. She'll be going to San Jose State on a volleyball scholarship next year. Her father, who looks a little like Superman, is on the dance floor with one of her sisters; he turns out to be Dean Miraldi, a former offensive lineman with the Philadelphia Eagles. When Kylie was 13, her parents took her on a hike in Lake Tahoe, Calif. "We discussed what it means to be a teenager in today's world," she says. They gave her a charm for her bracelet--a lock in the shape of a heart. Her father has the key. "On my wedding day, he'll give it to my husband," she explains. "It's a symbol of my father giving up the covering of my heart, protecting me, since it means my husband is now the protector. He becomes like the shield to my heart, to love me as I'm supposed to be loved."

Paging Dr. Freud!

I think even Freud would be creeped out by that...

Anyway back on topic. They covered Human Rights Day with an article highlighting the work done by human right's campaigners around the world to improve their own communities. I think that that's something we can all appreciate and respect.

From Feministing:

Today is the anniversary of the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Sixty years on, we pay tribute to the extraordinary vision of the Declaration's original drafters and to the many human rights defenders around the world who have struggled to make their vision a reality.

The Declaration belongs to each and every one of us - read it, learn it, promote it and claim it as your own.

During its "16 Days" series, MADRE, an amazing international women's rights organization, has been posting some great examples on their blog of women around the world who are taking this to heart.

In Kenya, women established a village called Umoja ("unity") where violence against women is prohibited.

In Colombia, in communities threatened by violence from military and paramilitary groups, a group called LIMPAL works to support displaced women and their families.

In Sudan, women have created a farmer's union to allow them to demand government support for their agricultural projects.

It's important to remember that Human Rights Day isn't about calling on other countries to honor basic human rights. It's about working for those rights in our own communities.

There's one common thread that connects these disparate groups of people, and that's co-operation. (I think it links nicely back to the post I made earlier about Unions.) When people work together we can achieve great things, our diverse skills and experiences add up to make an incredibly effective whole, which when channeled in a positive manner can effect great changes and move us towards a more equal society for everyone. That's what makes these community groups flourish, and it's what makes Labour so great.

The Takeover Begins

Just a quick post to thank the Bickerstaffe Record and Birmingham University Labour Students for including us on their blogrolls. This is just the kind of co-operation that will help Labour bloggers to increase our web presence. It does this by two main mechanisms, the first is simply that the more websites link to your blog the more people will get a chance to hear about it. And secondly related again to linking is that the more links to a page or website the higher up the page you are in search engines like google.

Not forgetting of course the simple fact that having connections between bloggers facilitates the passing of information and stories across blogs. And the passing of information is vital if we are going to ensure that we get the word out about Labour's work and achievements in government.

Blogorama II: Though Cowards Flinch

“We all know what happens to those who stand in the middle of the road — they get run down.” - Aneurin Bevan

For the second Blogorama we're covering a blog run by a group of young bloggers called "Though Cowards Flinch". They write very intelligent and thought provoking articles on a variety of political subjects. For example here skewering the Right's ridiculous use of political correctness:

More and more it seems that the term “politically correct” is a bludgeon to be arbitrarily wielded against the entire Left, simply by virtue of being Left. The wonder of the whole thing is the implicit manner in which this construct of faulty reasoning is attempted: lefties are against hunting so it is politically incorrect. Lefties are scroungers, so having a job is politically incorrect. Lefties love abortion, so opposing it is politically incorrect.

Miles uses ‘political correctness’ at one point as a means of referring to toeing a line of consensus, in which case all creeds of politics are in some form guilty of political correctness and the term becomes essentially meaningless. She also uses it in the ideological sense mentioned above, reducing it to a doctrinaire battle-cry for the Right. No doubt the woolly thinking of Miles hasn’t considered quite so deeply this question, since beside such vacuous utterances on political correctness, she can record how she hates that Palin’s daughter is a cheerleader.

As a feminist I particularly appreciate their articles on gender issues, and I'm sure that those West Wing fans in the Labour Club will appreciate the reference in their recent article on polling.

From a blogging perspective they seem to hold the same goals as this blog; to create a community of bloggers, and to improve the efficiency of the disbursement of information by the Labour Party, and to raise the level of participation of members. The internet holds a myriad of opportunities to draw people together and allow people to interact without the logistical difficulties of time and place. It also a fantastic tool to teach people about our ideals, goals and achievements and in the process increase our supporter base and fundraising potential.

They make these points and more in this about on the use of "New Media". An especially vexing problem for bloggers, especially as compared to traditional media outlets which have large staffs and fact finders spread all around the country, is their difficulty in being able to get information about industrial disputes and other important events across the country. It is this fundamental stumbling block that can be overcome by the simple means of co-operation between bloggers in geographically disperse bloggers. However saying it can be overcome belies the difficulty of effectively co-ordinating a large group of people all of whom have differing levels of information and time available to participate. It is this difficulty that I hope to tackle working for the Scottish Labour Students Committee.

This spirit of co-operativity is summed up best in the penultimate paragraph:

These are some of the opportunities offered by heightened communication between bloggers and by the additional technology open to us through Web 2.0. I’d like the opinion of some of my fellow bloggers on just these subjects, so I’m going to tap Peter Kenyon, Mil, Paul [That's last week's blogorama subject and the person who suggested Though Cowards Flinch], Susan, Tom, Stroppybird and Penny for their own comments or articles, because I think each of them will have a distinctive point of view ranging from those of feminists to community activists to internet-lovers to ideologically aware Marxists. Also, The Yorkshire Ranter seems to have given this some thought already.

They also covered some of the same stories as this blog, take for example the releasing of the BNPs list of racist wankers members; here and there.

So why not head over there and see what you think for yourself. On a final note I found Though Cowards Flinch through being recommended it by a poster in the comments of last weeks blogorama, if anyone else has ideas for blogs we can cover or just interesting blogs in general please do tell us.

We Broke 1000

At the bottom of the page we have a counter which as you can see is now showing over 1000 hits on the site. The counter was put up a couple of weeks into the life of the blog so the number of hits we have had will be higher still.

While its our first thousand we hope that it wont be the last and that we reach the next thousand hits faster than we got this one.

So from me to everyone who has posted, contributed and just offered support a big thanks.

New SpringWidget

The Labour Blogosphere: Blogorama I

I believe that Labour is the best party to lead Britain. I'm sure that a lot of people reading this agree with me. However, not everyone does. That's why communication of ideas and campaigning are so important in politics. The ability to reach out and affect the thinking of voters, and to persuade people to support you is key to any political campaign. During Barack Obama's year long campaign for the White House he was supremely successful at building up a grassroots network of supporters and fundraisers using the internet.

At the next general election, and especially as time goes by at future elections, the internet will play a far greater role in informing people about the policies of the Labour party, what we have achieved in office, and what we plan to do in the future. And that is what this post is about; using the internet to transmit ideas, mostly via blogging but also through e-mail and video.

At the Labour homepage you can access membersnet the homepage for members of the Labour Party. Here you can browse a directory of members' blogs. I think that the widespread involvement of members in actively discussing politics is something to be encouraged. So every Wednesday from now I intend, conditions permitting, to introduce the readers here to a new Labour blog. This new weekyl segment is to be called Blogorama.

For the inaugural Blogorama we are going to visit the remote, rarely travelled reaches of darkest West Lancashire, specifically the town of Bickerstaffe. The blog in question is the Bickerstaffe Record, which is written by the local Labour Councillor, a man whose supreme intellect and refined tastes are shown by the fact that he has read posts and commented on this very blog. ("One month on" and "Why do we do it?" for those who are curious.)

In particular I wish to draw your attention to a very good post he did in the last few days about unemployment figures. A topic which may seem very dry, but is of the utmost importance not just to those who have unfortunately lost their jobs, or are in danger of unemployment, due to the current global economic problems, but also to those of us that wish to refute the untruths propagated by the Tories and others. Specifically that the current economic situation is as bad as, or getting to be as bad as, it got during Thatcher's time in office.

"IT ISN’T! THE WAY UNEMPLOYMENT IS MEASURED HAS CHANGED, roughly by the same proportions that we changed from inches to centimetres, but which didn’t mean we suddenly got people who were 20 feet tall."

That quote from the blog links back to a previous post he did on the subject which explains what the problem is with regards to the reporting of unemployment figures:

"The BBC, then, carries as it’s headline figure the unemployment total (end of September) of 1.82 million. Responsibly enough, it also quotes the latest claimant count at 98,900, but this latter figure is likely to get less coverage in days to come as the media focuses in on the higher figure.

It’s important first to make the difference between the two figures clear. The unemployment figure (1.82 million) is based on the International Labour Organisation definition, which the incoming Labour government said it would use when it came into power in 1997. It is measured by the Labour Force Survey of (from memory 57,000)households, and even though it is based on a sample and there open to samplinig differences, it is generally reckoned to give a more accurate representation of unemployment because it measures the number of people who ‘want to work, are available to work, and are actively seeking employment’, whatever their benefit status (including those not claiming benefit).

As such, it is generally considered more accurate than the ‘claimant count’, which is simply the number of people seeking unemployment-related benefit, as well as being comparable internationally. For a summary of the differences between the two measures see here.

The important point is that the Conservatives used the less accurate claimant count when they were in government. Thus, when we talk about the ‘1 in 10′ jobless figure of the mid 1980s, we are referring to 3 million people on the claimant count alone. The ILO figure was much higher."

The Tories would like people to believe that Labour's strong record on the economy (In large part thanks to our extremely capable Chancellors) is not as solid as it seems. They aim to do this by their manipulation of statistics to make labour's record seem as dismal as their own, but as this post so ably demonstrated that just isn't the case. One of the major differences between Labour and the Tories as I noted in the post yesterday is the manner in which we react to unemployment and insecurity in the job market. We do something about it, the Tories simply close the shutters and sit snugly in the warm whilst those left in the cold have to fend for themselves.

Recently when John Prescott was in Aberdeen he gave an excellent speech about campaigning which was attended by members of the Labour Club. One of the things he stressed was getting the truth out about Labour's record in government. That's what this post from the Bickerstaffe Record does. It may not have the readership of a national newspaper but it is directed and engages with local people. All we need is a blogger in each constituency providing direct and accurate information about all that Labour has achieved and all we can achieve and to refute Tory and SNP misinformation, and we can make sure that we are ready for 21st Century campaigning, and we can make sure that we are ready to Go 4th and win again.

One Month On...

It is now one month since we started blogging and I think we've made a good start. After only 31 days we are coming up on a half century of posts. 

In order to build on this start I would like some feedback. What do people like about the blog, what don't you like, what do you think we should cover? Please feel free to leave any comment that you like.

Also, this is a collaborative effort. If you want an article about a particular topic or you want to write your own blog post please e-mail us at aberdeenuniversitylabourclub@gmail.com.

Thank you and please comment.

A mixed bag - a few entertaining articles from my blogroll

Britain's* Black Women Overcome Pay Gap.  I found this article through Feministing's Weekly Feminist Reader, and i thought it seemed interesting.

*In the original article it says "England's" but it's referring to Britain as a whole so I altered it.

Also at that site I found an article entitled McCain to Be in the Obama Cabinet?

And from the Friendly Atheist is news of a church that can be summed up simply by its name; Madonna of Orgasm Church. 

A quote from the priest; "The orgasm is God, the orgasm should be worshiped".

And finally, again from Feministing's round up is "The Bitch and the Ditz", a very good article about the two women in this year's Presidential election. I'll let you guess which one is which.

Blogging and Google Reader

I have a confession to make; I love Google. I love the search engine, I love Gmail, I love the fact that they supported the no vote on Proposition 8 (If anyone want to know what Prop 8 has to do with the Labour Club and why I care about it, it's because it's about equality and that is an important issue to Labour.) but most of all I love Google Reader.

Google Reader collects the posts of all my favourite blogs in one place for me to read. Best of all it means that I can easily stay up to date with whatever is being posted here or at the Labour Party's own news feed. That's why I would recommend Google reader to the readers of this blog. It's an easy way to keep up with Aberdeen University labour Club's news and events; plus with the Labour news feed you can stay tapped into what the Party is saying and doing.

Aside from talking about Google reader, I'd also like to hear about the readers of this blog. What are your interests? What other blogs do you visit online?

To encourage a bit of disclosure here's my own personal blog roll (categories are in bold, my favourites are in italics):

Political
A Comrade in Ellon
Aberdeen University Labour Club
Bitch Blogs
Boiling Point Blog
Feminism/Popular Culture
Feminist Daily News
Feminist Finance
Feministing
johannhari.com
Labour Party News
ScienceBlogs: Politics

Science
Angry Astronomer
Bad Astronomy Blog
Good Math, Bad Math
Science Blogs: Physical Sciences
The Unapologetic Mathematician
erv
Real Climate
RESONAANCES

Skepticism
Secular Philosophy
a geocentric view
Friendly Atheist
Greta Christina's Blog
Pharyngula
RichardDawkins.net
Sam Harris
Daylight Atheism
UDreamOfJanie

Webcomics, I'll just list these to save space: Darths & Droids, The Last Days of FOXHOUND, The Perry Bible Fellowship, xkcd.com, Erfworld, Order of the Stick, QC RSS, Ctrl+Alt+Del, VG Cats.

So, now you know a little bit about me. What about you, the reader?

Any comments about blogging, my blogroll, this blog or just in general are welcome.

Parallel Processing

>If you look at the bottom of the screen you will see a brand new gadget. That shows the amount of processing time given to the World Community Grid by members of the brand new Aberdeen University Labour Club WCG group. [Currently 0 but then it is a brand new group.]

I will let their own words stand as an introduction: 

World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Our work is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better. Our success depends on individuals - like you - collectively contributing their unused computer time to this not-for-profit endeavor.

In short, by becoming a member of World Community Grid you can use the spare processing power of your computer to help perform research on numerous excellent causes: fighting cancer, AIDs and researching higher yield varieties of rice amongst many others.

All you have to help is sign up and download the software. [Joining the team Aberdeen University Labour Club would be nice too.]

Election 2008 - Live

[04:00] VICTORY IS SWEET. GOODNIGHT FROM THE LABOUR CLUB!!!!!

[04:00] OBAMA IS PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[03:58] We're coming up on the Pacific states polling closing. We're minutes away from President Obama being confirmed as the 44th President of the United States of America.

[03:51] Donald is going to be sick because kyle proposed to his fiancee on a boat going past the Statue of Liberty.

[03:43] FOX NEWS PROJECTS VIRGINIA FOR OBAMA!!!

[03:42] Obama's lead in Virginia stretches to 57,000. A few flyover states go for McCain.

[03:30] It's looking good for Obama in Virginia. 49,000 with 90% reporting.

[03:19] Njoki says: "John Bolton is Ned Flanders with attitude.

[03:13] John Bolton's going off on one on the BBC. A BBC reporter in Colorado didn't accept a Republican's BS and supposedly that means he's an appalling journalist. Idiot.

[03:04] Iowa has gone Obama. That gives Obama 207 electoral college votes and with California he needs only 8 votes more. If he wins all of the states he's winning in he'll get close to 340 votes.

[02:58] Obama now has a small lead in Virginia. He now leads in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.

[02:50] Mississippi has gone to McCain. A late surge for McCain perhaps. Hell no.

[02:47] Arizona is expected soon. This could give us an idea of how bad it's going to be for McCain.

[02:39] With 73% reporting Virginia is now 50:50 with McCain's lead down to 5,000.

[02:36] Update.
ABC: Obama 200 McCain 90
CBS: Obama 199 McCain 124
BBC: Obama 200 McCain 90

[02:34] Two US networks have projected New Mexico for Obama.

[02:31] McCain's lead in Virginia is down to 12,000 with 71% reporting.

[02:25] Ohio has gone Obama!!!! If he wins California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii which are all safe democrat he will be the 44th President.

[02:17] McCain's lead in Virginia is down to 21,000 with 67% reporting.

[02:09] Update: Obama 174 McCain 76

[02:04] Fox has projected Ohio for Obama.

[02:03] A McCain campaigner has been quoted as saying the McCain needs a miracle.

[02:00] New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Rhode Island and Michigan all projected for Obama. Kansas, North Dakota and Wyoming projected for McCain.
Updated score: Obama 174 McCain 61.

[01:59] Prague says Good Bye for Now! Wake me up, when someone gets over 270 electoral college votes. Thank you for a wonderful evening and coopearation. See you!

[01:44] Some networks are projecting Georgia for McCain.
Jesse Jackson is on the BBC.

[01:33] Obama leads by 5% in Florida with 36% reporting.

[01:32] Updated electoral college votes: McCain (R) - 49; Obama (D) - 103. BBC reports.

[01:27] We have developed a theory here to explain the Obama vote discrepancy. It is possibly due to the splitting of New Hampshire's votes between the candidates. New Hampshire apportions its votes proportionately to the vote total for each candidate.

[01:21] No changes to report but Obama has a 250,000 lead in Florida with 30% reporting and a 17% lead in North Carolina.

[01:18] According to Czech media, Pakistani public opinion would prefer Barack Obama as US president. Additionally, Cuba's ex-leader Fidel Castro indirectly referred to Obama as being a better candidate.
Overall, we can say that Obama's moderate image appeals to many sides and could play beneficiary role in stabilising US foreign policy and the way USA is perceived around the world. Foreign politics and economy are indisputably the two most important long-term topics that need to be solved.

[01:10] Interesting clash in totals, ABC says 102 for Obama, BBC says 103. And CNN's website still keeps the old figure of 77.

[01:04] Updated electoral college votes: McCain (R) - 34; Obama (D) - 103.
BBC reports.

[01:01] Illinois goes to Obama and so does the District of Columbia!

[01:01] Pennsylvania goes for Obama. It seems like Obama will get it.

[00:55] Updated electoral college votes: McCain (R) - 16; Obama (D) - 3.

[00:52] Virginia appears to go to McCain, currently leading with 56% against Obama's 43%. ABC projects South Carolina for McCain.

[00:46] At this very early stage Obama leads in South Carolina!!!

He has opened up a 10 percentage point in Florida and a 3 point lead in North Carolina.

[00:42] Opinion polls show that John McCain managed to persuade 70% of voters that Barack Obama will raise taxes. Needless to say, that 61% of voters feel that McCain will do the same.

[00:37] Early information show narrow difference between McCain and Obama in Indiana. But further news can't be assumed. Indiana has 11 electoral college votes. And its results are important for McCain's performence.

[00:34] Obama has narrow leads in Florida and North Carolina, but with only a few districts reporting.

[00:31] Senate elections in Virginia were won by Democrat Mark Warner (57% of vote), could this be an indicator that the 'swing state' of Virgina will go to Democrats and Obama?

[00.25] This just in from ABC news. McCain is 6% ahead in Virginia but it is still too close to call.

[00:10] First electoral college votes appear! So far: Barack Obama (D) - 3; John McCain (R) - 8.

[00:00] Good evening (repectively morning) to Aberdeen and thanks for the admin privileges! So here is what the Czech media reports. According to the opinion polls, 72 % of new voters have casted their vote for Obama, while 27% were in favour of McCain.
Analysis have previously shown support among youth voters for Obama. However since this group of voters has a traditionally lower turnout during the elections, their presence will be important for Barack's potential victory.

[23:56] Here's a shout out to out supporter in the Czech Republic. I have now granted you admin privileges so you should be able to add your thoughts to the mix.

[23:32] The party's started here with the attendance now in double figures. Still very little to report.

[23:17] Not much yet but we're still here and ready to keep you filled in. Polls have now closed in parts of Indiana and Kentucky. No results in yet.

[23:00] Welcome to Aberdeen University Labour Club's 2008 live Presidential Election coverage. Hopefully we'll be covering an Obama victory, but no matter what the result we're going to be here all night.

Remember Remember the 4th of November

Just a reminder to all the people who read this blog that tonight we are going to be doing a live blog from the election night party.

We are going to be watching a live feed from a couple of the US networks (the wonders of the Internet) and adding our own comments on what is happening. So come and joining us and add your own comments if you want.

We go live at 11pm.

Breaking new ground in blogging.

As always the Aberdeen University Labour Club blog is breaking new ground in blogging technology. I am writing this blog and posting it from a train halfway between Carlisle and Edinburgh. [A route about 100 miles out of my way, thank you very much rail works at North Berwick.]

And now I shall justify this self serving proclamation by posting some juicy intellectual quotes about voting:

Vote early and vote often. - Al Capone, 1899 - 1947

Suffrage, n. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which is held to be both a privilege and a duty) means, as commonly interpreted, the right to vote for the man of another man's choice, and is highly prized.
- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1881 - 1906

Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you. Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.
- Bernard Levin

Truth is not determined by majority vote.
- Doug Gwyn

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
- John Quincy Adams, 1767 - 1848

My problem is that, with the two-party system, you only get to vote against one candidate in each race.
- G. Armour Van Horn