COOL ! By Andrew Wastling

I woke up feeling optimistic about the future of the planet for the first time in many years After eight wasted years of what amounts to government by a fascist junta of gangsters, crooks and warmongers - perhaps we can all hope that the US under Obama will now take a more progressive road and a lead on the environment for a change? If he does nothing else - the fact that a black man has become President is in itself inspirational and aspirational - the last time I cried tears of joy was when Mandela walked out of his prison cell all those years ago - it did feel like history in the making.

On the Dream of Freedom (1963): So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed . . . that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true."

I would have preferred Martin Luther King as the first black President - in many respects the progressives are still forty years behind in the struggle - and as we all know time is very precious. Let's hope this time around the coalition of left progressives are allowed to implement their agenda?

For it was the Reverend King's politics that posed the greatest threat to the ruling elite's -not just the colour of his skin - as with the likes of Lenin ... whoops ... sorry ... Lennon ... watch The US Vs John Lennon - Artist.Humanitarian.National Threat - to give it it's full working title. Similarly anyone wanting to know what the US Power Elites really think about black aspirational politics and minority community engagement would do well to check out Black Panther :Emory Douglas And the Art of Revolution, Urbis, Manchester www.urbis.org.uk

I'm glad he's black ... I hope he's also very red and very green! He'll need to be to sort out the dire mess the planet, and consequently all of us ... are now in.

Speaking of colour - the Radio 3: Free Thinking Lectures -Being Green Can Be Dangerous given by John Gray was excellent. A well argued, - if immensely pessimistic antidote to any excess of euphoria any of us might have after the US election coverage. It's available on BBC Iplayer. Well worth a listen. As is his recent book, Black Mass : Apocalyptic Religion & The Death of Utopia ... the book that simply has to be the ultimate bedtime reading for cynical jaded politico's like myself ... and beware it's nowhere near as cheerful as the snappily optimistic title makes out!

Despite everything I'm still planning to escape to that little solar powered commune up on a hill somewhere - the only question in my mind now is when, not if I drop out of the rat-race (with apologies to our rat comrades!).

At a certain age it becomes simply too wearing to get angry - much - and it's tempting to finally give up trying to struggle against the tide of lemmings heading full speed over the edge of the cliff. My books are already in boxes, my solar powered lap-top on re-charge and my publications guide to the Centre for Alternative Technology, well thumbed. Nearly time to head to higher ground. But not yet - surprises like the US election still fire the tiny sparks of hope still flickering somewhere down there in the charred cinders of political idealism. Perhaps there is still some hope left?

Opinions - Barack Obama By Lee Cassanell

Civilisations rise and fall. People live and people die but sometimes we are lucky enough to bear witness to moments of great historical significance, moments of pure hope and optimism for a better world and a better tomorrow. The election of Senator Barack Obama has renewed my belief in the American public and the American ideal. It has renewed my belief that no matter who you are or were you come from, Read more...

Opinions - Dating Nightmare Part 2 By Leah Scarpati
	I'm pleased to say that I have a different slant on the subject now. I'm so fickle...all it takes is a month of dating with a TDH rugby playing fireman and the dating garden's all rosy! All the time I was complaining about the crap first dates with guys I very easily found something wrong with (often when there probably wasn't actually anything wrong with them); I wasn't really thinking too far ahead. Read more...

Opinions - Dating Nightmare Part 1 By Leah Scarpati
	Why is dating such a nightmare?! I must admit I haven't really been on that many successful dates; I've only had 2 long-term relationships and 3 half-arsed attempts at them that didn't last more than five minutes. So in between those I've been on enough dates to be suitably apprehensive about how they'll turn out. I've found that in my experience they go Read more...

Opinions - USA Neocon Maniacs are at it again, duping the lying western media propaganda machine with lies by Mo.
	US backed ( 1000 marines advising, commandos and mercenaries)forces of Georgia ( birthplace of Stalin), sneak attacked Russian Peace Keeping Troops Thursday evening killing thousands of civilians (Over 2000 civilians are reported killed ). Under distraction of Beijing Olympics, Dick Cheney may well be heading the Neocon maniacs into new war fronts setting up for another cold war, diverting media attention from the disastrous economic situation in the USA. Read more...

Opinions - Mary Poppins, I Ain't! By Leah Scarpati
	I may sound like an old spinster woman but I'm convinced I can drum up a following on this one. I was at the gym tonight (trying to work out) and I'll admit, was bloody knackered by the time I got to the changing rooms. I'd had a crap day at work and all I wanted to do was chill out. Cue - screaming kids in the changing room. So I decided to escape Read more...

Opinions - David Icke blows away 400 people at a Free Public Meeting on Sunday, July 6th By Mo
	Believe him or not David Icke is one of very few people who can hold an audience in the palm of his hand for many hours, well beyond the one and a half hours reported on the internet. His three and a half hour talk enthralled the audience with revelations beyond the scheming Big Brother drones in the Tory and Labour parties to the fact that Neocons' behind the Big Brother State Read more...

Opinions - The BBC Dipping into Youtube for Viewers By Mo UPDATED BBC's BBC Phil Hayton Denies All knowlege
	The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known simply as the BBC, is the world's largest broadcasting corporation. It has 28,000 employees in the United Kingdom alone and an annual budget of more than £4 billion. Founded on 18 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd, it was subsequently granted a Royal Charter and Read more...

Opinions - Response to The BBC Dipping into YouTube for Viewers By Martin Deane
	Fire away Mo! Seconds out, round two. I actually have a soft spot for the Beeb but no, it's not my unrequited love for Neighbours or the Archers. Forgive me for lumping them together, apparently they're different despite hugely annoying theme tunes, but you may not know where I'm coming from yet. This is despite not having a TV licence which is how the BBC funds itself Read more...

Opinions - Lies And War Crimes By Michelle Dee
	The words "weapons of mass destruction" were noticeably absent from the speech by George W. Bush on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion. The apocalyptic rhetoric used to firstly motivate the political will then move the might of the military forces was replaced by talk of regime change and removing Saddam Hussein from power. It is illegal to go to war in order to Read more...

Opinions - Censored By D R Callaghan
	A few minutes ago I used the readers comments facility in the online Hull Daily Mail to comment on the main story about the killing of Simon Murden. My comment: Ironic is it not? that the police are unable to crack down on the alcohol-fuelled yobs terrorising families, shopkeepers and the elderly, yet when faced with a young man who needs medical attention they can pump six bullets into him Read more...

Opinions - The Sexuality of the 9/11 Attacks By Christopher Skolik
	The Pentagon is itself a potent symbol of manhood and military virility. It goes without saying that was an act of violent homoerotic self extinction and assault-as if the terrorists could not survive such an act of homoerotic penetration, their out dated belief system and self ideation would not allow it-no matter how metaphorical the act. Only the unification of sex and death could breach that gap. Read more...

Opinions - Iraq War Theme Park By Christopher Skolik
	War seems to be a human necessity, a requirement on some basic level. To counteract the dangers of random disorganised war springing up I suggest we turn Iraq into a fully functioning war zone theme park -all the benefits of paint balling but with the relief of tension that only live ammunition and Read more...

Opinions - Notes Toward a Chavology By Christopher Skolik
	The local Hull 'chav' lad needs profiling and placing in his rightful context. Fiercely proud of his 'thickness'- intelligence is not to be trusted, it might unleash all kinds of awful weirdness upon his world, a world he clings to with the whitened knuckles of the drowning man, the perennial cry of 'Don't get clever with me' echoes across council estates of the north ... Read more...

Opinions - Maureen Lipman at Pave By Sean
	Just saw Maureen Lipman at a reading at the Pave. It took two attempts to gain entrance. At the first attempt i was turned away on the grounds that it was a private function - apparently i didn't look 'Avenues' enough. I'm Avenues enough to have my taxes pay for it, mind. I just got in in time to catch a couple of 'anecdotes' which mocked the poverty of working Read more...

Opinions - All At Sea Or Way Out West? (Orwellian Nightmare Or Whitehall Farce?) By D R Callaghan
	Admiral Sir Alan West wants us to 'snitch' on our neighbours, friends and even on our own family. Who's he? I hear you ask. He's none other than the Government's new 'Security Minister'. Isn't it comforting to know that we now have a 'Security Minister' (Big Brother?) looking after our 'way of life'? The former First Sea Lord also warned that Britain faces a 15-year battle Read more...

Opinions - Candle In The Wind By Jim Higo
	Who'd want to be a Bosnian landmine victim? Terrible injuries, lost limbs, scarred for life and then to cap it all, when you thought it couldn't get any worse, you get a visit from Princess Diana. Just when it seemed your life had reached its absolute nadir, you see her coming at you with those big eyes, like a spaced out Desert Orchid. Read more...

Opinions - Depart For New Earth By David Sloan
	Depart for new earth AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Professor Stephen Hawking said recently that for the human race to survive we must gain a foothold on another planet, and as if by divine intervention our astronomers soon found another earth-like planet in the heavens. It has a mass five times that of earth and is probably made of the same sort of rock with Read more...

Opinions - Trees Are Bastards By Sally Satan
	Now amidst all the current chatter of climate change inevitably being a Bad Thing, the still small voice of calm must be heard. How many people do you know who have died recently as a direct result of climate change? Exactly. None. And yet we go on, beating ourselves up for being human and not animal or mineral, and for ruining the planet. But we should Read more...

Opinions - The Reception of Wisdom By Kenton Hall
	There is a story that I tell. I likely tell it far too often and one of these days, a friend or family member is going to sneak up behind me and garrotte me with a length of fishing line. No, it's not the one about that. Or that one, either. Now that I think about it, there are many stories that I tell too often. However, the story I am referring to today recalls the moment Read more...

Opinions - Divided We Fall By Lee Cassanell

	"The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them" Karl Marx So Tony Blair's pledge to end poverty has taken a kick in the teeth after the news that 300,000 (or 200,000 or 100,000 depending on which paper or website you read) more children have slipped below the line. Read more...