The Biden Vs. Palin VP debate, that is, if Palin isnt dropped from the ticket before then, is indeed an exciting prospect. Biden was continually picked as the surprise best performer in the Democratic candidates debates, and his knowledge and years of experience make him an engaging speaker. Palin on the other hand had her training in local small town politics.

The prospect of Biden coming up against an inexperienced governor from a small state reminded me of the AARP presidential debate in Davenport, Iowa, earlier this year. Watch Biden tear Bill Richardson apart below. He manages to so successfully floor his opponents ‘experience’ claim that all Richardson can do is smile in appreciation of having been taught a lesson from this master.

I have shown no restraint in my previous posts on my Obama bashing. I will be truthful, I had lost hope in the future of America. For me Obama had gone from hope and change to I hope he will change, but the announcement of Joe Biden as the the democratic Vice Presidential candidate restored my faith in the potential of an Obama presidency and the future of America and the world.

There is no question for me that Joe Biden was by far the best pick for the VP candidate. Biden brings to the ticket qualities that will benefit an Obama presidency greatly and the combination of the two reassures me about Obamas judgement and future policies.

It is true that Biden voted for the war, but since he has become the most vocal, eloquent and powerful critic of the war. But the most important thing that Biden brings to the ticket is a sensible, responsible plan for the US’s removal from the war. In fact it is the only plan, although some have criticised it, I have yet to see anything better. Obama has the best anti war credentials, but even many who disagree with the war, including myself, are wary how the US would leave the country, and what it would leave behind. Biden gives reassurance to those people.

I have heard it said that choosing Biden was a mistake, it highlights Obama’s inexperience, but lets face it, Obama is inexperienced by any measure, and personally I think it shows great judgement on his part to pick someone like Biden, than picking another inexperienced candidate. In fact Biden’s knowledge in foreign affairs is so great that he would be an asset on absolutely any ticket.

Biden has a big mouth, but this will be a great asset in an Obama administration. Already at times in this campaign we have seen Obama floating in the ether. Speaking in front of rallys of thousands of adoring fans it is only human that Obama will occasionally lose a grip on himself. I have no doubt however that Biden will have no problem in occasionally bringing Obama back down to earth with a few timely remarks in the privacy of the oval office.

Finally, the most important quality for any vice presidential candidate, Biden is a great guy.

How Wall-Mart is seeking to destroy the free market and our democracy

A modern democracy, founded on a liberal, free market economy needs unions in order to function properly. It may seem philosophically strange for all of you that grew up in the neo con era where the legacy of giants, great thinkers such as Smith and Keynes have been bastardised by a right wing intent on destroying the very institutions that they claim to revere, but true it is, and its logic and foundation in economic theory can not be denied (for those that don’t wish to believe my arguments read the passage from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations below).

Nothing more illustrates the point than the current news that Wall-Mart, in an act reminiscent of Putin’s Russia, is attempting to influence the elections by coercing its workers to vote Republican. The company is holding mandatory meetings with its staff warning them that a Democratic victory could lead to job losses and high union dues.

And this is exactly the point. Without unions, who is there to prevent this disgusting behaviour on the part of Wall-Mart. Without unions, there are no institutions to protect workers from political coercion and when large corporations work to manipulate elections in order to prevent the freedom of association, one of the founding principals of American democracy, is our democracy itself not at threat?

How we will provide energy in the future for our society currently remains one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. Solving it will require boldness, imagination and above all action. As the second paragraph of Obama’s energy policy states, ‘Our country can not afford politics as usual - not at a moment when the energy challenge we face is so great and the consequences of inaction are so dangerous’

Unfortunately for us though, Obama’s energy plan is politics as usual, because it seeks more to grab headlines and to capture the votes of the misconceived than it does to provide serious solutions to the energy crisis. Many of the policies he proposes are week or ineffective and find their basis more in the propaganda of the right than they do in the arguments climatologists and economists

Immediately Provide Emergency Energy Rebate

• Ill overlook the oversight of an indefinite article in the title, because this is actually one of the few policies I support, this tax on oil companies is already being tried in Italy, the so called ‘Robin Hood Tax’ and people will need help with their heating bills this winter.

Crack Down on Excessive Speculation

• Ever since biblical times people have been quick to blame the speculators for the high price of commodities. However a report by the International Energy Authority (IEA) this year concluded that speculation had had little effect on the current high oil prices. Supply and demand were the key factors

Release Oil From the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

• The Strategic Petroleum Reserve contains 707 million barrels of oil. Current US consumption of oil is 20 million barrels of oil per day, working on the assumption that the entire reserve would not be released and a significant reserve would be kept, this policy will have little effect on the price of oil

Implement Cap and Trade Programs

• Another good policy that is already being implemented by a number of states

Make the US a Leader on Climate Change

• See below

Invest in Our Secure Energy Future and Create 5 Million Jobs

• In principle all good stuff, but once again the measures are marginal. 1 billion a year for businesses, a small chip in a 14 trillion dollar economy. Consider how much the government subsidises weapons development.

Increase Fuel Economy Standards

• Obama wants to increase fuel economy standards by 4% per year. This in 10 years would ot even bring the US to today’s European fuel economy standards. Today the average US car gets 20.4 miles to the gallon, whereas European cars get 40. The technology is here, we shouldn’t have to wait another 20 years to get it.

1 Million Plug in Vehicles on the Road by 2015

• There are 280 million cars on the road today in the US. A Drop in the ocean.

The Use it or Lose it Approach

• Obama claims that oil companies have millions of acres that they are not drilling on. These lands probably contain marginal wells, which are called marginal for a reason. They are old oil fields that have been exhausted to the point that they are no longer profitable to pump oil from, they typically produce less than 10 barrels a day. Again a drop in the ocean

Promote the responsible Domestic Production of Oil and Gas

• Drilling in the Alaska, responsible?

10% Electricity to Come From Renewable Sources by 2012

• Again, this is far below European standards which have a target of 20% by 2010. How is this making the US a leader in climate change?

Develop Clean Coal Technology

• Why? people in West Virginia arn’t going to vote for you anyway.

There are more measures, many of which are again marginal or vague, but most importantly what about the things that arn’t mentioned. For example solar power. New film technologies are currently being developed that will drastically reduce the price of solar power. Even with current technology California is on the verge of Grid Parity, when Solar power production costs the same as conventional electricity. Wind is another increasingly popular source in Europe, and the EU has set itself the goal of providing 20% of its electricity from wind by 2020. Why did Obama only mention these important renewable and above all clean energy sources in passing? whereas there were specific policies for nuclear, coal and biofuels? Perhaps he was too busy speculating for oil in Alaska

Here at the Seminal we teamed up with Veracifier.com to produce this video of Afghan students from the University of Kabul speaking about their thoughts on the current situation in Afghanistan. Filmed during my visit to Bucharest for the Young Atlanticists Summit the students were part of a group that had won a scholarship to come to Bucharest and meet with other young people from NATO countries. Amongst the many interesting things that were said by the students was the stress they placed on the need to negotiate with the Taliban who they saw as fellow citizens.

An interview I made for the iCitizenForum, a website that I work for, with the Reverend Yearwood. I thought this may be of interest to the seminal community. Reverend Yearwood is President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, an organisation that campaigns on issues from the rights of Hurricane Katrina victims to the plight of Iraqi Refugees.

Rev. Yearwood - iCitizenForum from George Turner on Vimeo.

Sometimes, I really think that the Democratic party are really trying their best to insult my intelligence. The now stupid amount of times that McCain has been misquoted as saying that he wouldn’t mind being at war in Iraq for 100 years can surely mean only one thing. That the Democrats think that the US public are so stupid that they cannot work out the meaning of a quite simple statement.

I read it, saw it on youtube, and have a brain and therefore know that what McCain was saying was that he didn’t think the American public would mind having troops in Iraq if they were not fighting a war, hence the reference to South Korea and Japan. Obviously that statement is the polar opposite of saying that he wouldn’t mind a 100 year war.

But more important that my offense taken at the idiocy of the Democratic response to his statement, is the idiocy of the Democratic response to his statement, on two counts. Firstly, although McCain’s statement did not amount to the declaration of a crusade, it did sound like scarily like an endorsement of colonialism. Something that the Democrats, in their desperation to score cheap political points have almost entirely overlooked. Secondly the fact that the Democrats could seriously think that such transparent twisting of words is acceptable in todays world means that they have failed to grasp the independence of mind afforded to today’s generation by the internet.

Just a quick post of the interview I had with the Estonian Prez.

G

Yesterday’s speech by the President of Georgia, which is well worth watching, at the Young Atlanticists Summit. Saakashvili was an entertaining speaker, accusing the West of repeating their reccord of appeasement in the current issue as to whether Georgia should be given the prospect of membership to NATO. Other topics covered include the progress that democracy has made in Georgia and the situation in Afghanistan.

Today, we again linked up with Kabul University live for a meeting with Hamid Karzai. This time however, the Afghans had learned their lesson after yesterday when the students of Kabul University were allowed to speak their minds.

The speech by Karzai was largely unremarkable. He highlighted the huge progress being made in Afghanistan, particularly in the area of health care. He thanked the international community for helping Afghanistan. What more could we expect from a leader who owes his position entirely to foreign intervention.

However the most interesting part of the event was when Kabul University was allowed to ask questions of their president. As I reported yesterday, when given the same opportunity with the Secretary General of NATO the students fired pointed questions.

However with Karzi, not one student asked a question, but rather two students made statements thanking both President Karzi and the international community for all that they had done for Afghanistan and a third made a plea to the world’s media to show the great things happening in Afghanistan.

Both yesterday and today the students who spoke were hand picked by the university, and todays display of sycophancy only served to put yesterday’s exchange into starker contrast.