As the marvellous Mr Obama and his science men chip away at a decade’s worth of Bush inspired anti intellectualism, The Nurse is delighted to find a corresponding hike in atheism taking place over the water. 

As reported in the New York Times, unbelievers are coming out of the closet in droves. So much so that the US’s new atheist activism is being likened to the emergence of the 1980s’ Gay Rights movement.  

So it’s out with Bush’s legacy of ‘truthiness’, the practice of using personal gut reactions rather than hard facts to drive policy decisions. And in with Obama’s pledge to restore science to it’s “proper place”… a promise that’s already bearing fruit.  

The Nurse knows what kind of US leader she prefers. Not one who allows creationism to be taught in schools . Definitely not one who is deeply suspicious of intellectual excellence. But a leader who understands that if we descend into superstition at this stage in the game we’ll be totally and royally stuffed. A leader who’s spiritual but not overtly religious. Someone with the nouse to appoint a Nobel laureate to the US cabinet for the first time.  

The Nurse wishes the UK had an Obama of our own. Perhaps, if she escaped from prison, she could hit stateside and bring the man back to the UK as a gift to the nation? Not kidnapping as such, she’d just kind of borrow him…

While in the US bigger things are afoot as Obama’s winds of change continue to blow hard and cold. 

The Nurse is amused to find herself envious of Americans for the first time.  

Obama has only been in  power since January but his formidable team of science advisers has hit the ground running. They’ve already stormed the scientific high ground. Stem cell research is back on the agenda. The loony christian right looks like being stopped in it’s tracks. And today the short sighted, profligate behemoth that is General Motors finally got the ticking off of it’s miserable, greedy life.

Marvellous stuff. This is the kind if clean sweep, no nonsense, like it or lump it, tough love politics that The Nurse would be pleased and proud  to engage with.

Obama’s the kind of leader she needs. Someone who isn’t scared of being unpopular. Someone prepared to make brutally clean sweeps. Someone who thinks beyond the end of their silly fat nose into their kids’ future and recognises that it is almost too late to change, but that we must try. 

We want one of those!

Everyone loves kittens. The Nurse is no exception, although her cats are virtual; mere images on a laptop rather than talktative, furry, entertaining real life cats.  

The Nurse has always liked Americans. She just found Bush and his Administration objectionable. 

Reaching out the hand of goodwill,  she’d like to present President Obama and his family with this matching set of virtual kittens - the same ones she featured in her last post - for the White House, to complement whichever dog they choose.   

Their actual owner,  the redoubtable Ms Edwards,  probably won’t mind. If  she does there’s not a lot she can do about it. This place is just as difficult to get into as it is to escape from. 

So enjoy your kittens, President O. The Nurse salutes you.

XX

She can’t remember the last time she was excited about politics. For years she has been variously exasperated, bored, frustrated, maddened and rendered comatose. Seldom has she felt positive or hopeful.

But this is different. She’d go as far as to admit that Obama’s victory gave her a little Kennedy moment, squatting on her iron bed in her damp cell. As though a ray of light had shone through the impenetrable walls.

The Nurse finds herself feeling uncommonly cheery. Jolly well done America. Welcome to President Obama, champion of science and a highly intelligent bloke. 

Let’s hope the dark days of greed and ignorance are over.   

Even the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, congratulated Barrack Obama on his election win. This is the first time since the 1979 islamic revolution that an Iranian leader has made such positive remarks toward an American president elect which is quite remarkable.

While the task that faces Obama is quite formidable there is clearly an air of optimism for the future. We think that his election was a vote for democracy, honesty, common sense and decency. Well done Obama and well done America!

Having been illegally incarcerated in the Guantanamo bay concentration camp for the past 5 years it will take some strength to rebuild his life. We wish him and his family the very best of luck and fortune in 2008.

Guantanamo should not exist. It is an illegal concentration camp and those responsible for its existence should be prosecuted. We don’t condone terrorist activities at all, but that does not excuse the actions of those who will incarcerate people with little or no concrete evidence of their involvement in or sympathies with terrorist organisations.

How is it even possible for an illegal institution like Guantanamo to exist today?

I had a great time, met some incredibly generous people and formed some lasting and rewarding relationships. One of my best friends is a Gynaecologist working in L.A. who spends his days inspecting the expensively coiffeured minges of the rich and once-were-famous. Mainly middle aged and elderly ex-daytime T.V. starlets whose names I dare not mention.

He tells me all sorts of stories about the surgical procedures that he performs. Mainly major repairs and overhauls due to over-use, abuse and ageing. People are living much longer these days and the ladies want their vaginas to remain usable well into their 70′s. So my chum charges a small fortune to turn a sausage-wallet that’s as loose as a wizards sleeve with piss-flaps the size of John Wayne’s saddle-bags into something the lady could open beer bottles with. Or so I am told.

I love America!

Like business, politics works to the rules of the playground.

It seems really silly to try and tell Iran they can’t have a nuclear deterrent when every other bugger has a load of them stashed in the garden shed. The US and UK  included. 

Isn’t it common sense that nuclear weapons will only work as a deterrent if everybody has one? 

Try only letting half the kids in a school play with their gameboy at lunchtime, confiscating the rest, and watch chaos ensue!

What business is it of Bush’s whether Iran joins the ‘we’ve got nuclear weapons’ club?

The Nurse doens’t remember awarding the US the moral high ground… far from it. Who says the US wears the white hat? Who decided theirs was the voice of international reason?

Oh, how The Nurse would love to poke Bush in the eye with a pointy stick…

He suggested that, in Britain, his chances of surviving prostate cancer would have been around 44% whereas in the U.S. his chances were much higher at around 82%.

Firstly, his figures are wildly inaccurate. The current, accurate figures for the U.K. are around 70% of prostate cancer sufferers will survive. But, more importantly, he misses the point of a nationalised health service.

The U.K.’s National Health Service is a success story. Over 50 years it has transformed the quality of healthcare and the quality of peoples lives in this country. And we are not talking about the privileged few who can afford to pay into expensive healthcare plans for private medical care, as people are required to do in the U.S. We are talking about everybody, rich, poor, young and old from any and every ethnic and cultural group, without discrimination.

Rudy Giuliani’s half-witted statement shows that he is an elitist idiot who is out of touch with the poorer Americans who don’t have any form of healthcare insurance. How many Americans suffer and die from prostate cancer because they don’t have the necessary healthcare insurance and can’t afford to pay for the healthcare that they need? That is a figure I’d like to hear him quote.

It looks like healthcare is likely to be a prime battleground in the American presidential campaign. I hope that the 10′s of millions of Americans who don’t have any form of health insurance recognise how out-of-touch Mr Giuliani is with their lives and vote accordingly.