Two neo-conservative faces from the BBC coverage of the US election.
John R. Bolton
David Frum.
.
Faces in the crowd in Chicago:
Almost There?
Dear world, How will the world look tomorrow? I think it will look pretty much like today, although today is particularly sunny for a November day in Glasgow, Scotland. The sun will shine again tomorrow and I will once again wage a (losing) battle with my fridge and its tendency to freeze my milk. It is a mundane existence but it is mine.
The US is voting for a new president today, of course. In its own way it has an impact on my life, although, mainly, in ways I find difficult to explain. My best example is my own little backyard.
In foreign matters, the Danish government has relied upon the US administration far more than any other Danish government I can recall. The Danish PM believes himself to be a close, personal friend of Mr Bush and, lo, the Danish government was one of the first to offer support for the War in Iraq (we even sent a submarine). In domestic matters, the Danish government has relied upon a far-right political party to lend them authority. The far-right party has a platform of anti-Muslim and anti-immigration sentiments with an anti-plurality, anti-intellectual stance on most other matters. This has been the political landscape in my little country since 2001. I moved to the UK in 2006 for several reasons - including an uneasy feeling of no longer being comfortable calling myself a Dane.
The world is very unlikely to change overnight and I do not think it will look any different tomorrow. I hope in a vague and abstract way that my desired (and, according to the polls, entirely likely) result of the US election will trickle down to affect a change in my own little country. How will the far-right react to a US president with a multi-ethnic background and whose father was a lapsed Muslim? How will the Danish PM deal with a US president whose stance on war is vastly different? Can I once again look at my national flag without a bad taste in my mouth?
I can but hope.
If you are an American citizen, please do go out and vote today. You are voting for yourself and your country - you are also voting for me and my country.
Love, Karie.
PS. It's been a long, long haul. This one sums it up - sorry about the NSFW URL as the content is entire SFW: This Effing Election - a babel tower of words.
Revelations
In January, Cindy Jacobs, a co-founder of an American prayer movement and host of the TV show God Knows, had a prophecy come to her. The voice of God warned Cindy about the troubles ahead for global economy. And lo, on October 29 Cindy and her fellow believers went to Wall Street and prayed in front of the Golden Bull that their fortunes should be restored and for wealth to return to the US.
In Cindy's own words:
"We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the 'Lion’s Market,' or God’s control over the economic systems," she said. "While we do not have the full revelation of all this will entail, we do know that without intercession, economies will crumble."
Thank you Daily Kos, Ravelry and Metafilter for the heads-up. I was going to write a lengthy commentary but I think Cindy and her friends speak well enough for themselves.
What word is missing in this story?
I found this interesting: "I'm sure everyone has already heard about the plot to murder Obama and many others (..) [but] there is a curious but obvious word missing." Words are powerful - even (or especially) if they are absent.
As You Wish
The third and final US presidential debate has been and gone whilst I was soundly asleep. I have looked at various reactions - ranging from Republican blogges to left-wing UK newspapers - but this remains the funniest take I've read:
::30 minutes into the debate, tension has increased as each candidate has perfectly parried each others attacks::
McCain: You are wonderful. Obama: Thank you; I've worked hard to become so. McCain: I admit it, you are better than I am. Obama: Then why are you smiling? McCain: Because I know something you don't know. Obama: And what is that? McCain: I... am not left-handed. [McCain moves his pen to his right hand and gains an advantage] Obama: You are amazing. McCain: I ought to be, after 20 years. Obama: Oh, there's something I ought to tell you. McCain: Tell me. Obama: I'm not left-handed either. [Obama moves his pen to his right hand and regains his advantage]
And if you are less geeky than me (which is very, very likely - yes, I'm embracing my inner geek nowadays), they are referencing this film.
Words Fail Me
Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."