Insta-Hoglets 27th Nov.

Instant gratification can only be acheived through the use of...punchposts mixed with snark.

Remember that absolut-ely wonderful graphic from the 2 Political Junkies? Well, now the owners of a certain well known vodka brand have issued a cease and desist threat.

Meanwhile, Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson talks about how his political satires lead to "foul-mouthed, abusive, often obscene and frequently threatening" emails from the wingnut brigade.

The Pentagon is planning to beef up its ability to spy on Americans at home. Since their efforts would be aimed at law enforcement in a domestic setting I would have thought this would run a swathe through "posse comitatus" but when have the rules ever mattered to BushCo?

Boris Johnson, Member of Parliament and editor of the Spectator Magazine offers to go to jail so that the rest of us can find out what Bush and Blair don't want us to. Was the "bomb talk we shouldn't talk about" a sick and inhuman joke or a sick and inhuman plan?

Writing for FrontPageMagazine, some American ex-pat bends the truth way out of shape so that she can assure the home readership that "The First Step To Britishness Is Your Poppy" and bash Moslems in the process. This kind of little-England racism makes me sick.

I'm here to tell you, as a Brit, that the only places you will see a "sea of red flowers in the lapels of British men and women" is in rightwing enclaves like the financial district of London. Many wear white poppies as a protest over the Iraq War and belligerence in general. Many non-English Brits refuse to wear a red poppy for Remembrance Sunday simply because they are reminded of English exploitation of the Scots, Irish and Welsh as cannon fodder for their Imperial wars. Scots, for instance, make up one tenth of the British population, one third of the army and two thirds of the war dead.

In yet another sign that, as Gordon Brown's day gets closer, the UK is no longer quite as likely to pander to every neo-con wish - Bolton has been told to take a hike over his move to include Britain in plans to withhold UN budget contributions as blackmail for concessions.

David Luban in the WaPo nails it when it comes to the "should we torture" debate. On one hand there are fans of "24" who worry about ticking nukes and minutes until the last commercial break and on the other there is this:

"So the most urgent question has nothing to do with torture and ticking bombs. It has to do with brutal tactics that fall short -- but not far short -- of torture employed on a fishing expedition for morsels of information that might prove useful but usually don't, according to people who have worked in military intelligence."

Go read for an excellent analysis of how BushCo has warped American ethics with weasel words.

Lastly comes this interview with John McCain from the always-Right Washington Times. Have a read at it - it concentrates on McCain's economic beliefs and his differences with BushCo over tax-cuts, the environment and such - then decide whether its a puff piece or an assasination disguised as a puff piece.