Pennsylvania Tuesday

The much anticipated Democratic primary has come and gone and Hillary's win doesn't seem to have resolved anything.

I don't have a tendency to dislike people, but let me say upfront that I don't like Hillary Clinton, and not only for supporting Bush's war, echoing his "If you're not with us, you're against us". She has conducted a rather sleazy campaign. The New York Times has accused her of being mean, vacuous and desperate. According to reports, she has appealed to industrial workers who's jobs have disappeared due to, presumably, NAFTA. But her husband was responsible for bringing in that trade agreement. She reportedly was also supported by rural voters, Catholics, gun owners, women who would vote for anything feminine regardless of personality or policy, and church-goers. Hardly a progressive group. (As a Catholic child, I was told by the nuns that Jesus was exactly six feet tall. Think about that.) Obama, on the other hand, drew the support of the wealthy (read educated), the young, blacks and suburbanites. So we're told.

For years I have lamented the intelligence of the electorate. Does that make me an "elitist", as Hillary has accused Obama of being? Or is it simply that they normally don't vote as I do?

I share the fear of many Democrats that the continued sparring between these candidates will only benefit the Republicans, and that Hillary, who's mathematical chances of overtaking Obama's delegate lead is considered to be next to zero, should withdraw for the good of the Party and nation. Another Republican White House is not a happy conjecture. But Hillary places her personal ambition ahead of all that.

As a Canadian, I know what Washington policy can do to my country. And the world, for that matter. We live in hopes, but we can't do anything about it.

Obama's Pastor

Political junkies are anxiously awaiting the result of next Tuesday's Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. What effect will the pronouncements of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright have on the outcome, and will Senator Clinton benefit thereby?

Wright has reportedly said that America, because of its atrocities, had it coming when the twin towers were attacked and demolished, and that instead of "God Bless America", it should be "God Damn America".

These words will move an American patriot to a state of apoplexy. But there are people in America, not only blacks, who think likewise, and millions around the world. U.S. foreign policy has been destructive to many countries and cultures.

If indeed America "had it coming", clearly the 3000 people who died on 9/11 did not. Even if most of them approved of America's behavior overseas, that did not sanction their deaths. Revenge is an ugly thing.

And I don't think God should be asked to damn America. He may just do it on His own.

What do Pennsylvanians of the Democratic persuasion think of all this? Will it stick on Obama? We'll see on Tuesday.

Politics, American Style, as Entertainment

Senators Clinton and Obama are going at it hot and heavy. Obama has said something to the effect that because of hard economic times, many of those affected in the states where mill closings have taken a heavy toll are frustrated and angry and are liable to vent on such issues as abortion, gun control, religion, etc. These remarks are costing him, although they may hit the nail on the head. Republicans are delighted and Clinton is calling him elitist, which is a cheap shot. Attempting to lure some of the yahoos who are not too happy with the "moderate" McCain, she is depicting herself as much of a church-going and gun-toting person as any loyal American. Both she and Obama claim to find strength in their faith. All this is very sad, but it resonates in a country where a majority, almost, voted for Bush-Cheney, twice.

Obama is on the defensive, which is a sure way to lose. Unless he goes on the offensive and hammers Clinton on her support for the war and whatever else he can come up with, he's in trouble. The Pennsylvania primary is next week - he doesn't have much time. Clinton is gaining a reputation as a fighter, which she brags about, and many, maybe most, Americans don't care if a person fights fairly or not, winning is everything. I'll be watching next Tuesday.

Progress??

My generation was raised believing in progress. According to the theory, the present was not perfect but it was better than the past and the future would be better than the present. We no longer burned people at the stake, economic conditions were better and would continue to improve, there was a brighter future ahead. The holocaust would not happen again, the United Nations gave us hope. This view persisted through the'50s and throughout the Kennedy presidency. It then came crashing down. LBJ, Viet Nam, Nixon, Iraq, Dick Cheney. So much for progress.

Other civilizations had a different view. History and everything else went in cycles. Ascendancy and decline, over and over again, forever. Civilization followed by barbarism and back again. Slowly back again. Death and rebirth and death again.

Even in those days of our rose-coloured glasses, we should have looked around us more carefully. The survivors of the holocaust drove out the Palestinians at gun point and established Israel with the support of the Western powers and the UN. The land deeds of the Palestinians were worthless because God had deeded the land to the Jews 3000 years ago. The British left India in a mess; Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs are fighting to this day. Europeans abandoned their African colonies because they were no longer profitable and chaos has remained. Mao came to power in China. In high school, I was asked to write an essay on the UN, supposedly the hope of mankind. I forget the gist of my essay, but I do remember ending it by predicting that there would always be war. I didn't really believe, did I?

Pandora, according to Greek legend, was the first woman. She was "inflicted" on man because Zeus was angry about Prometheus stealing the secret of fire. She had a jar containing all the evils of mankind, including greed, envy, slander, vanity, pining. She opened it and all the evils escaped. When she quickly recapped it, only hope was left.

Today extreme Muslims are repeating the Christian barbarisms of the Middle Ages. Where is progress? Where is hope?

Maybe it's still in the jar.

A Fart in a Windstorm

Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski made some very crude comments about homosexuals about 20 years ago on a tape which the Saskatchewan NDP stumbled across recently. One comment was "faggots with dirt on their fingernails which transmit diseases". The federal NDP and Liberals are running with this and demanding a resignation, etc. Blather, blather, blather. Stephen Harper says that a proper and sincere apology has been made and it should be accepted as such.
Please God, don't strike me dead, but in this case I agree with Harper. Lukiwski was a very young man at the time. I can recall friends of my youth having similar views and I'm sure those friends today would find such views repulsive. It was commonly felt that "homos" were unnatural, immoral, dirty and so on. There was fear of infection, they might try to lead us into "sin". As far as I can tell from the evidence, homosexuals are mostly born that way due to some brain chemistry. We have seen that many gays are outstanding citizens with decent morals, they can get elected to Parliament and occupy other important functions without having to disavow their sexual orientation.

So why don't the Liberals and NDP stop trying to score political points on this issue and get on with the nation's business?

What's Going On Here?

If you've been listening to the news lately, you've heard a chorus of commentators, pundits and gurus all telling us that we are witnessing the end of times, the pillars of the Temple are crumbling, recession (the dreaded 'R' word) is looming and we'd better hunker down for hard times.

Really? My friend the stock broker claims we are at the beginning of a bull market. And indeed, this morning the Asian and European markets are up sharply following the trend of the last few days. Could it be that all these investors have not been listening to the news? It is said that markets climb a wall of worry, and there is certainly a lot of worry out there. It is also said that bull markets take off when the mood is most pessimistic. And it is said that it is always darkest before the dawn. (Is that really true?) Chicken Little, feeling a drop of rain on his head, runs around shouting that the sky is falling.

So what will it be? The pundits or my friend the broker? Take your pick.