Maidstone Weald Labour Party

EARLY IN 2007 THE UNITED NATIONS INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE FOURTH ASSESSMENT REPORT HIGHLIGHTED THE SCALE OF SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS THAT NOW EXISTS AROUND MANKIND'S INFLUENCE ON THE CLIMATE.
KEY FINDINGS INCLUDED;

The atmospheric concentration of Co2 in 2005 , 380ppm exceeds by far the natural range over the last 650,000 years, 180 to 300 ppm, as determined fron ice cores;

warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.

continued greenhouse gas emissions at, or above, current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes in the global climate system during the 21st century, scenarios for temperature inreases this century range from 1.8c to 6.4 c.

Following this, road map to a global deal on greenhouse gas emissions was agreed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, with a view to it being finalised by the end of 2009.
RC

STAY COOL.......WE'RE TURNING UP THE HEAT ON CLIMATE CHANGE.

THE PLANET IS GETTING WARMER. BARELY A DAY GOES BY WITHOUT REPORTS OF STRANGE WEATHER PATTERNS: DROUGHTS, STORMS AND VIOLENT FLOODS OR HURRICANES. EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE PREDICTED TO BECOME EVEN MORE FREQUENT IN THE FUTURE. RC.

Two local Labour prospective Parliamentary candidates who were in America helping Barack Obama’s campaign have arrived back in the UK, hailing his ‘inspirational’ election victory.
Chris Clark, Labour’s Parliamentary Spokesman for Ashford, and Dr Rav Seeruthun, Labour’s Parliamentary Spokesman for Maidstone and the Weald, arrived in the US two weeks before the election and were based in the key swing state of Florida.

Chris and Rav took part in the Florida Democratic Party’s efforts to ‘get out the vote’, knocking on doors and speaking with voters in the Tampa area.

The parliamentary candidates were guests of the Hillsborough Democratic Party and Susan Smith (centre of the picture attached). 

They also met with one of the many lawyers working for the Democrats in Florida. They were astounded about how complicated the ballot was, in total it was over four sides of A4 paper. The received a really positive response from the American public. They were really interested in how an Obama win will have a positive effect on the world. Their main challenge was not to get caught up in long conversations and to get on with the job of winning votes!

Chris said:

‘This has been an amazing experience. I’ve worked on lots of election campaigns in the UK but this was something else, an inspirational, defining moment, and it’s been an honour and a privilege to be involved. Knocking on doors in Florida, I sensed real excitement, a feeling that people are desperate for change. And being at the reception in Tampa on Tuesday night with hundreds of volunteers, who’ve all worked so hard, was special.’

‘The hopes of people around the world are invested in Barack Obama following this historic victory. From day one, he will have to take important and difficult decisions on the economy, on energy, on the environment and on foreign affairs. If there’s anyone who can meet that challenge and deliver the change we need, it’s Barack Obama.’

Rav said:

‘This is an event led by my generation doing something incredibly positive and I feel really proud of that. It’s been an absolute privilege to be part of history helping Barack Obama become the first black President of the United States. We have been doing everything we could to help this happen: we have knocked on doors in 90 degree heat, telephoned hundreds of voters and stood outside polling stations in the two hour queues for early voting encouraging people to support change.

We were lucky enough to see Obama and Bill Clinton speak together in Orlando. It was amazing to see the make up of the crowd, all ages, all races, all chanting ‘yes we can’. Obama is an inspirational figure and the right man for the America and the world. I remember doing speeches about Martin Luther King at school, and never thought that in my lifetime this would happen.

When we were out door knocking it was difficult to see that number of houses that had been foreclosed because of the credit crunch. Obama now has to prove himself and his first one hundred days will be key to this, he now has to ask what’s next?’

During the trip, Chris and Rav recorded their experiences on the campaign trail in an online weblog – it's online now at chrisandravinamerica.blogspot.com.

OBAMA WINS YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Labels: USA 2008 presidential election

Last night we attended the 'Get Out The Vote Rally' in a barn in Riverview. This was a really special occasion, with local candidates in attendance. There are lots of local elections being run in parallel with the Presidential election, and all the races are on the same ballot paper (more on this in a future blog entry). Each stood up and spoke in turn, delivering passionate speeches about why they're running for office. There was loads of food and drink for free, and campaign merchandise (t-shirts, yard signs, etc) on sale. It was a real community affair, and everyone was very friendly. We ought to hold more events like this in Britain.

The picture above shows Rav and myself with Susan Smith, our host, who's been a great help in organising every aspect of our trip from recommending hotels, airlines and car hire companies, to giving us information on the where we need to go and what we need to do. Behind us (and much taller than us!) is fellow British Labour party member, Harry, who's also out here to help with the campaign.

Today we went out canvassing again. Leaving aside the issue of whether I'm a bad map reader or the American road system is difficult to understand (I think the answer's both), we had another good day. It wasn't so hot but there were still loads of lizards around, and they scuttle across the paths as you walk along. Enough travelogue, back to politics: there are lots of Obama-Biden signs out, and quite a few McCain-Palin signs too. We've met some people who are voting for McCain, but not many. Generally, those that are breaking for McCain are very polite. One said to me today (in response to the question, 'Will you be supporting Senator Obama?'): 'I'm the diametric opposite of Senator Obama, but I appreciate what you're doing, and thank you.' At the other end of the scale was a couple I spoke to, who quoted some wild attacks on Obama they'd pick up from who-knows-where - according to them, he's a secret Muslim (as if - besides the fact that Obama is a practising Christian - being a Muslim would mean he couldn't be a good President), and he's also the fulfilment of a Nostradamus prophecy. We bid them good day and continued on our way.

On the same estate where the gentleman I mentioned above was so polite, we saw the car pictured above, plastered with McCain-Palin stickers and innovatively featuring the Republicans' attack lines on the rear windscreen. (I have pixellated the vehicle's license plate to protect the owner's identity.) As we were coming to the end of our work on the estate, one resident of the estate stopped his vehicle to ask what we were doing. When we told him, he said there was a 'no soliciting' sign at the gate, and we shouldn't be there. He then aggressively told us to leave and threatened to call the police. (Those weren't the exact words he used - they aren't suitable for publication on this blog!) We acted in accordance with his wishes and left the estate, as we still had work to do elsewhere. Subsequently, though, we've found that 'soliciting' means random calls - like door-to-door sales - and does not cover targeted approaches to registered supporters, which is what we were undertaking. So like the Terminator - we'll be back.

So, that's today in summary. We'll be out early tomorrow - not sure what we're doing yet, but we're due at Doug and Roz's for 9am. Later in the day there's a rally in New Port Richey (north of here) to promote early voting. Senator Joe Biden, Barack Obama's running-mate and hopefully the next Vice President of the United States, will be speaking, as will local community organisers. We're planning to go along - for both of us, it'll be our first time at a large scale political rally in the US, so we're rather excited. We'll post our observations tomorrow when we get back from the rally.

Labels: USA 2008 presidential election