'So what if I celebrate it standin' on a corner'

The State of the Union?

Its been a bit of a couple of weeks of politics here, the UK Prime Minister was over last week and Tuesday was the ‘State of the Union’ address. This the the president's annual opportunity to set out in Congress how America is getting on and what his legislative programme is going to look like for the next year. 

It looks very different to the Queen’s Speech but I guess the point is the same.  Some of the differences are in the aesthetics.  In the States the room is has a vibrant blue carpet and the seats are blue and yellow.  It is very different from the burgundy leather of the House of Lords .  Those present on the floor are in colourful ties and outfits, I always feel in Westminster it has a bit ‘men in grey suits’ look about it.  Those in the gallery are equally as bright, some in smart suits and others in bomber jackets, often marking out prior military service.  It's just a bit less formal than we are used to in national politics in the UK.   There is a great deal of applause and cheering (sometimes too much - many folk seem to jump to their feet with every presidential syllable).  What there is not is any waving of paper with a cry of ‘here, here’ or any form of ‘yah-boo’ about it.  I found that refreshing.

Aside from the aesthetics there are other differences that stuck me as significant.  The audience comprise members of both Houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives.  They all get a seat where there's room.  Nobody has to stand simply because they come from one house and not the other.  In the UK it is convention that the Queen sits in the Lords and the members of House of Commons only get to stand in that house and are not offered a seat, regardless of age or infirmity.  You'd get looked at funny on the buses in Edinburgh if you didn’t give up your seat to somebody that needed it more, but that’s just not allowed in parliament! 

It also struck me that the person standing up and talking about the policies was also the one responsible for them and accountable for their delivery.  It was, kind of, straight from the horse's qmouth rather than delivered, as it is in the UK by the Queen who has no power to ensure the police she is speaking about are delivered upon.

Now I get the tradition in the UK and I understand the intention of a constitutional monarchy, but I just felt that the American equivalent was just a bit closer to the people; that the citizen was more invested in the process and I kind of liked that.  

We also visited the White House visitor centre this weekend and watched, as part of that, a film about the presidency.  President Obama was speaking on it and he made the point that the President is a unique role as its the only role in US politics which all Americans get to vote on who the incumbent should be.  That caused me to reflect on the UK, particularly given it is now an election year, and conclude that this is something the US has that is not found within British democracy.  There is no single figure that each citizen is able to vote for in an attempt to have them elected to a position of national leadership.  All our votes are restricted to our locality, rather than having a national impact.

Once again, what I see in America is similar to what goes on in the UK, it’s just very different.

Stones of Hope

 

Last Monday was also Martin Luther King Day and was a public holiday here.  My son, Gregor and I went to the memorial where we were joined by a couple of hundred others, including a men's choir who were singing at the foot of the memorial.  One of the things that dawned on my boy was how wrong it would be for his school not to take in pupils because they were black.  He was also amazed to hear that was happening in the States not too long ago.  Whilst there is still much to do here, there is no doubt American civil rights have evolved greatly since the Montgomery bus protests and the school segregation in the south.  I guess, just marking the life of King through a public holiday each year keeps the civil rights focus alive.

Do they have a Starbucks in space?

We had a day at the Air and Space Museum this week too, what a blast(!)  Real rockets, planes and bombs!  It was a fantastic museum.  But there were a couple of things of particular note for me.  First off was the news.  We went to a couple of films about the Hubble and space travel.  Both showed news footage and both pieces of footage came from the BBC.  I’m simply not sure why the Smithsonian, which is a singularly American organisation would use BBC coverage of, in this case, the Space Shuttle to make a point rather than any American broadcaster.  Just seemed odd is all.   

The second point of note beyond the obvious was McDonalds.  Here’s the thing; when I arrived in the Stats I decided I was going to give a little more as possible to The Man, particularly Mr McDonald and Mr Starbucks.  Now, I don’t drink coffee so the Starbucks plan, I thought, would be a breeze but as I do eat burgers I thought avoiding Ronald McDonald would be a bit harder.  Well, I called that one wrong!  It is nigh on impossible to avoid Starbucks here.  They are on every street corner in downtown DC and often there are more than one branch on the same corner.  There is little alternative, there are no other coffee chains such as Costa or Cafe Nero, its just Starbucks and they are really ingrained into society here including, as I have just discovered, spell check!  Whilst there are millions of McDonalds too, they are easier to avoid as there are many other, local and small scale alternatives.  I had successfully managed to carry out that avoidance until the Air and Space Museum…McDonalds have the sole for concession in there, so it was cheese burgers and disappointment all round for us!

Fast cars and guns

I had a bit of a white knuckle day yesterday spent at a local police training facility.  In short, it was fast cars and guns!  

The training school had a bespoke traffic area, which resembled a race track.  It was great fun driving American cop cars at high speed around it.  It was also interesting to find out what kind of training American cops get, which is very different to ours.  Vehicle Pursuits are commonplace and are often set in motion for things we would not think important enough to give chase for in Scotland, such as road tax and MOT violations.  Many of the cars at the training school as vehicles that have been forfeited by criminals.  In short, if you choose to sell drugs or commit other crime from your car in Virginia you are very likely to lose it on conviction.  Where the car is worth a bit, it is sold by the county that confiscated it and the money applied to the confiscating department, so if the sheriff takes the car, the Sheriff’s Department gets the cash.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.  It strikes me that this may take the look of policing profiteering from crime rather than just going out to solve it.  I know there are confiscations in Scotland but, as far as I’m aware, Police Scotland does not sell the property and keep the cash for the organisation itself!  I think that’s a distance that should be kept.

The other thing I got to do yesterday was shoot guns.  This is not something I have ever done before and the last time I smelled so much cordite I was attending the wedding of a friend who had  only recently made the acquaintance of the bride himself, and was marrying her at the behest of her angry father who was soon to become a grandfather!  Now regular readers will know I’m not a fan of guns and policing or widespread gun ownership in general and I am not going to rant about that.  I looked at this as an experience and enjoyed it on that level.  The trainers were fantastic, they were supportive and they knew their onions.  The officers I was shooting with were taking part in a certification shoot.  As I say, I’ve never been as such close quarters to such a thing, consequently it was truly impressive to see how good at it they were.  Every shot was on target or close enough to be on the money.  I was previously a firearms commander and negotiator and have reflected at great length on how I would feel if, though my actions or decisions somebody lost their life and I am comfortable in those roles because of that.  Yesterday was the first time I really gave thought to how it would be to have somebody shooting at me…that made me very uncomfortable and something I would certainly not want to be exposed to.  I don’t think that makes me exceptional.  What I did find exceptional was that these men and women were training for just that scenario, a scenario some had already encountered and survived.  I don’t think policing should be routinely armed and I don't support widespread gun ownership.  I was, however, impressed by the skills and bravery of those who were prepared to face these dangers in the name of law enforcement and protecting the human.

These cops were proud of their skills.  There was also a poster on a classroom wall reminding them that it was good to be proud of their achievements and to display those on their uniforms.  Police uniforms are different here to those we wear in Scotland.  A couple of these differences are in the badges officers wear.  All display their names on a bar along with the year they joined the service.  I was not always a fan of that, but have been converted.  I think its a good thing that officers' names are visible on uniforms.  That visibility has got me out of a corner a couple of times, which will be no surprise to those who know how good I am with names!  I also think the cops themselves like being referred to by name rather than simply ‘officer’.  The other badges cops here wear reflect their specialisms; so if a cop is a negotiator they wear a badge that says so on their uniform.  Similarly, if they are SWAT team members, firearms trainers or have medical capability they wear badges that say so.  I think that's a great idea.  Many cops in Scotland such as class one drivers or officers with language skills as well as negotiators or firearms officers have only gotten to that position through dedication and hard work, often done in addition to the ‘day job’.  I think the uniform badges are a good way to acknowledge that, it may also inspire others too, which would be no bad thing, I think.

Its really cold here, no really!

Oof, its been cold here this last few days.  Seriously cold, like chilled eyeballs and unable to feel your ears after the pain cold.  There has also been a bit of snow, but only a bit.  My friends in New York and Boston have really suffered there with several feet of the white stuff.  I only mention it because of the novelty of it.  We get snow in Scotland and there are many places where we get feet of it during a winter, but for a townie like me, its unusual to see such a heavy fall in the cities.  Hopefully all friends are safe and warm.

What I’ve learned this week

The Union is in good health, perhaps because everyone gets a seat.

Civil Rights remain a work in progress here but that’s acknowledged. 

It's hard to avoid The Man.

Wearing badges to work is actually a good thing!

Any thoughts or comments always welcome.

Take care mates