Carl Tyler's Blog

1 - Whilst I do not personally agree with releasing the bomber, I do believe it was not a political decision.

I personally think the "special relationship" is already affected by the NHS bashing that certain Americans, and American new channels are engaged in (and to be fair a few UK politicians).

Its not as if anyone is suggesting America should have an NHS, but apparently I live in a communist state as I have socialised medicine. But hey, arnt the police/teachers/firemen in the US "socialised".. but thats another issue

2 - @1 It is true Neil, we are pinko commy scum. We don't believe that someone should declare bankruptcy every 30 seconds because of health costs, and these are people with health insurance.

It is amazing the things people say about the NHS over here, yet none of them have ever experienced it. They also forget to mention, that if you have some money you can still buy private health insurance in the UK, it's not all or nothing, also they forget to mention, that when the private insurance stops paying, the NHS will pick it up.

For the most advanced country in the world, it's sometimes very selfish and backwards.

3 - { Link }

Hmmm......

4 - Actually, let me not just leave a snarky comment, linking to a BBC report that Libya asserts they secured this release as part of a trade deal -- although that would really suck if true.

I do get bothered when Europeans (in general) listen to talk radio or other American nutjobs and do the superiority dance, like they've figured out something that Americans are incapable of. There are a lot of people here who grock the issues and want an intelligent debate. I once heard that judging French people by Parisians was like judging Americans by New Yorkers. Yikes.

We're a lot more diverse than you think. For example, I'm a moderate Republican who hates what George Bush and Dick Cheney did to our country and the world as much as anyone (and to a similar extent to the Republican Party). I'm rooting for Obama for the sake of the country, although I didn't vote for him (but I would have, as I did for my cartoonishly ineffectual Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, if he was running against Bush). The problem is that the loudmouth extremes in this country tend to drown out the thoughtful middle.... but I've seen that trend everywhere including Europe. So take a deep breath, things run in cycles and no one way is perpetually better than another; that leads to closed-mindedness and you can think of many examples on both sides of the Atlantic to back that up.

All that said, releasing that murderous dirtbag was wrong no matter what justification you want to apply, or who authorized it, under what rules. Having him greeted as a hero was despicable to the memory of the people were killed because they boarded an airplane... I mean, how were those people any more culpable than the London or Madrid transit riders who died?

I'd just ask, stay on point and stop turning one conversation into a whole different one. When biases show like that no one wins, and no one learns from anything.

5 - Things have not been the same at #10 Downing Street since The Right Honourable
Baroness Thatcher.

(I decided to go with the snarky comment )

6 - @ nice points Art. Are you implying Britain my do things for it's own self interests?

No need to imply mate, history is full of things we've been doing for years. Hello native American, have some blankets.

7 - No you're right Carl, this is too heavy. Tell you what, let's get together over a pint and make fun of ALL the other cultures. That'll restore our special relationship!