President-elect Obama

I recently read Barack Obama's 'Dreams from My Father'.



His inter-racial background has clearly been an important, if not the most important, aspect of his development. His father was a remote human factor, but he was clearly a man of great intelligence, who gained a ph.d at Harvard, and the Senator has, in adulthood, embraced his African roots. Immediate influences were his Kansas-born mother, and her parents, as well as his mother's second husband; and his environment, growing up mostly in Hawaii, but also in Indonesia.

The Senator does not dwell on his years at college in California and New York, rather skipping to the immediate post-graduate period of several years he spent working with the deprived population in south Chicago. He starts from the humblest of beginnings: there is nothing of privilege, neither in his attitudes, his background, nor his accessible resources. It is perhaps for these very reasons, that the concerns he develops for the forgotten white and black poor are bedrock, and I suspect that they are so strong that they may underlie all of his thinking. I suggest that the Senator has no problem in seeing the continuity between the poverty of south Chicago, and that which exists in Kenya, Indonesia, and every other place where privilege consigns the poor, at the very least, to oblivion.

I have, perhaps, only once read any biographical material which so frankly displays the development, thinking, and conclusions of the author. It is all the more extraordinary to have such honesty from a major political force.

Our Father's Children

Every day I am confronted with new challenges: there are too many people,we must limit population growth: we are going to run out of food, because there are too many people to feed: we are going to run out of oil: the polar icecap is melting, and within tens of years ports will be flooded, and islands will be submerged.

I think about all these things, and then I think of our heavenly Father, and the way he constructed our universe. The multitude of his creations is beyond our ability to count, and yet they interact, and have done, for billions of years. We grow up believing our fathers can do anything they choose, but here we have a father who really can do whatever he chooses. Is it not a little ridiculous to suggest that he has not anticipated our needs?

I do not know the answer. I respect the concept that we should do what we can to husband our resources; that we should work to reverse man-made climate change; that we should divide the available resources equitably. I do not believe that birth-control is part of the solution.

I think our Father knows exactly how many children he wants, and that he has made provision for everything that they require.

More Company

Desi and Maura went out to Charleston airport yesterday evening to welcome Joan and Jean arriving from Bellingham. Joan is staying through the 7th of January, while Jean will be here for ten days. Such a treat for us to be able to spend time together.

Television and 'Boston Legal'

I am not an undiscriminating fan of television, and generally find that the greater part of my interest is satisfied by channel 1 of Telefis Eireann. I was surprised, therefore, when I stumbled on 'Boston Legal' recently.



My attention was first caught by William Shattner, and the change that time had made on the captain of the Starship Enterprise. In quick succession I concluded that he was constantly thinking of how he might satisfy his sexual urges, and seemed inclined to reach for the Chivas Regal, both being unusual, in my experience, for the head of a successful Boston legal practice. It quickly became clear that the majority of the partners, and staff, shared his sexual needs.

The other principal, James Spader, intrigued me for another reason. He is so brilliant that he only has to be asked to step into a case, no matter how late in the process it may be, in order to make a closing statement which is always sufficient to sway the jury, no matter how contrary their prior opinions may have been.

The gold lies in what Spader manages, in the process, to tell us about American society: that sixty per cent of American married men have had extra-marital sex, that forty per cent of all married people in America have been divorced at least once, that America insists on overseas recipients of its aid forswearing abortion, although abortion is legal, in certain circumstances, in America.

The Financial World

I have suspected for years that some dreadful retribution would be imposed upon us because of, the frivolous fashion in which so many have accumulated debt, speculation as to how people might profit from escalating real estate values, the unprincipled way in which lenders have taken advantage of them. I never, in my wildest dreams, speculated that we might face financial meltdown, an Armageddon of the world monetary system. I believe that this is what the people in power confront, and I am unimpressed by much of the response. It appears to me that some, in a position to know what was developing, were either not on top of their jobs, or knew that their superiors would either, not listen to them, or would suggest that they consider resigning. However, we are here, and what is happening?

President Bush authorised his Treasury Secretary to take the necessary steps for the United States to provide 700 billion dollars in financing to relieve the pressures which are threatening the American economy. I believe he was reluctant to take this step, and I think his initial thought was that the Secretary should have complete discretion on how the funds were used. The funds were authorised, but Congress influenced the basis under which they would be disbursed.

While America has been addressing its financial situation, others have also been struggling with similar problems. The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, decided one way to tackle the problem was for governments to introduce additional capital to banks which were in difficulty, and Britain moved in that direction. The European Union decided the British initiative was good, and its members adopted it. America has now followed suit.

One of the problems in America is that, with less than 300 billion of the original 700 billion committed, everybody and his brother is trying to get to the feeding trough before the rest of the funds are allocated. If enhancing the banks' capital is a good idea, what about us? One candidate being the automobile companies.

There was an editorial in the New York Times last Wednesday on a hearing in the House of Representatives the previous day about the expenditure of the $700 billion. The Treasury Secretary insisted that the funds could not be used to prevent individual mortgage foreclosures, an opinion Representative Barney Frank demonstrated was untrue. Ms. Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, apparently demonstrated that, if an investment of $24 billion was made in protecting banks from part of any further loss from renegotiating mortgage payment terms and if the result was to lessen the fall in real estate values by just 3%, an additional $40 billion would be available to individual consumers. Where is the sense in advancing $25 billion to automobile companies who have been in denial since foreign car makers started making substantial inroads into their domestic markets 40 years ago, while we refuse to help, indirectly, ordinary citizens who are fighting to save their homes?

Sixty Minutes

I watched this CBS news programme on Sunday evening to see the first such interview of the president-elect, Barack Obama, since his convincing victory over Senator McCain.


I was, first of all, struck by the apparent lack of preparation. The Senator sat upright on something which almost appeared to be a leather-covered padded bench, directly opposite the presenter, so that there was no opportunity to look at both of them during a conversational exchange, which was, in fact, lacking. It was essentially question and answer, without any opportunity for exploration. I found it distracting that the last four or five inches of the senator's bright red tie, dangled beneath his buttoned jacket. The impression was of something which had been cobbled together at very short notice, without the opportunity for professional staging.

I did not find the senator as impressive as I had when I heard him during the campaign. I have noticed that since the election he has played down the commitments he made so generously while he was campaigning, cautioning people that they cannot expect him to do everything at once. It is, perhaps, a legitimate attitude, especially in light of the current financial situation.

It bothers me that I do not think he is prepared to let anyone inside his mind. It was only when he spoke about his children, and his wife, that I felt I might really be getting a glimpse of who Senator Obama really is.

Art and Something More

The Dulwich Picture Gallery in London is to loan nine paintings to the Frick, in New York. It wants to make itself, a small but renowned gallery, known to American audiences, and what better way than by displaying complementary pictures in that lovely Fifth Avenue mansion.

I cherish the memories I have of wandering idly through its rooms,admiring the paintings, and my surroundings, thinking that I was enjoying a similar experience to that of the mansion's one-time owner, without any of the trauma of ownership.

It brings back a similar memory of walking around J.P. Morgan's study, which one could do when I was first in New York. Everything was as it had been when he was alive, and you were allowed examine priceless items from as close a distance as you wished, but those days are gone.

Perspective

The second world war changed the character of the western world,and of other parts as well. Previous to the war advanced education was the preserve of the upper classes, who were thus able to maintain their stranglehold on worthwhile careers, and on disposable income, whereas the uneducated had to make do with a subsistence life. The war changed all that.

In America there was the GI Bill of Rights which opened college up to all those young men and women who had brains, but no money. Gradually a whole new society came into being, where disposable income was not an elitist perk, but in various measures was available to a wide spectrum of working people.

Unfortunately, nobody, as far as I can see, thought that it would be a good idea to teach these newly affluent people how to manage their new resources. The tragic result we now see all around us. Unsuspecting people thought they could trust banks, especially internationally respected Wall Street firms, without trying to find out what kind of an investment they were buying, from these supposed men of integrity.

This morning I read of a little town in Germany. A local church is gradually losing its congregation, and income. It decided to protect its future by investing its four million euros of funds with a Wall Street firm. What a tragedy.

Awakening

It is as slight as the first tremors of an earthquake, when you are not really sure what is happening, but it is there. America is awakening, and its citizens are deciding that enough is enough, just as the world has been hoping for so long that they would do.

I read on Saturday that 25 million have already voted,under the absentee ballot system, and over the weekend the TV newsreels showed queues of people stretching for hundreds of yards, waiting patiently to vote, people who perhaps knew they would not be able to make the commitment on Tuesday. America is voting,and the listlessness, the sense that nobody is listening, has vanished. They know that every vote counts, and they are determined that they will not squander this opportunity: they hear a voice, and they are listening.

I think that America is about to find its position in the world again, not the voice of vested interests, but the voice which has rallied the world to its dreams for more than two hundred years.

Place for All Creeds

The presidential election is just a handful of days away, and I hear terms such as Muslim and Socialist used to denigrate candidates.

I think of America's tradition of welcoming everyone to its shores, a tradition which is respected all over the world. The best of America lies with those who made and who preserve that tradition, who respect the diversity of their brethren. There is no place in this tradition for those who try to turn us against groups of upright people, because of the sins of a few.

Socialism is a term which serves as an umbrella for different political philosophies, but the essential spirit is that of a concern for the welfare of our brothers and sisters. In my opinion, the terms socialism and capitalism are not mutually exclusive, and aspirations for a melding of both should not be deplored.

Charleston

Maura and I arrived in Charleston Airport about 6:30 0n Monday evening. The sky had been clear and blue all the way from Atlanta, but dusk was falling. The air was cool.

We woke to a beautiful morning and, after breakfast, we strolled over to our little lake and stood watching a flock of egrets standing on a headland below the swimming pool, as if waiting for some imminent manifestation.

Suddenly, we realised that all the ducks on the lake were desperately paddling towards us, some taking to flight as they realised that they were being left behind. We remembered then; that they firmly believe everyone who walks by their lake is required to feed them, by way of a toll.

In the evening, after Desi closed Crushed Fine Wine, Betsy and he drove down, and we bar-b-cued hamburgers. We sat afterwards on our little deck, talking, until they left, about 10:30.

Bubbles and Budgets

The Irish Government introduced their budget for 2009 on Tuesday, and the country went crazy. First of all the Government appeared to have been sleep-walking the first half of of the year, because all of the ministers, at least in public, appeared to be unaware that the bottom had fallen out of their 2008 budget, which is where the Bubbles come in. The Irish economy has been riding a real-estate construction and escalating value boom,which many chose to consider would go on for ever. It didn't.

There were two keys to the development of the problem. One was the recent great success of the Irish economy, the so-called Celtic Tiger, and some kind of delusion that we were teflon coated. The other was a changing banking philosophy. Banking traditionally has been based on the philosophy that you borrow long-term to finance long-term lending, and short-term to finance short-term lending. In recent years, someone, somewhere, got the idea that you would make a lot more money if, when short-term rates are low, you borrow on the short-term market, and lend, at much higher rates, on mortgages for example. You could make even more money if you give people mortgages for 100% of the price of a house, throw in additional funds to buy furniture, and don'y worry too much about their ability to repay. You could make evem more money if you package a group of mortgages, and sell them to investors: then you could issue even more mortgages. The problem begins, of course, when some people realise that these 'investments' they have bought have less value than they thought. Then banks become worried about the other banks to whom they are lending funds on a short-term basis, and they refuse to lend to them, so they cannot repay the short-term debt they already have outstanding. The result is the chaos we see in the banking industry.

Society here has been in an uproar since Tuesday. Everybody seems to have conveniently forgotten that we all participated in this delusion that we had, in some way, found the golden key to good fortune. We felt it was only right that our government should spread this wealth around. It is different now that the hair-shirt has been brought out. There is talk of new 'stealth' taxes, and a lot of emphasis on the demands being made on the poor. Well, in this deeply-caring society I don't believe that those who are genuinely poor need worry, and, as for the rest of us, as my mother used say, 'you have to pay the piper'.

So Far, So Fast

America made its first great leap into the international arena when it launched an expeditionary force in 1917 to come to the aid of Britain, France, and Italy, in their first world war with the combined German and Austrian empires.

After the war the League of Nations was formed, but Germany descended into hyper-inflation, and America entered into the Great Depression. America withdrew from the rest of the world into Isolationism, as it was known. When Germany entered Poland, thus starting the second world war, American opinion was opposed to intervention, and Britain had to struggle alone for two years, although America was generous in supplying her material needs. America only came into the war when it was attacked by Japan,whereupon Germany declared war.

After the war America adopted a new, enlightened policy of economic aid for Western Europe, called the Marshall Plan, and cooperated in the creation and development of NATO, as a shield against aggressive Communist expansion. It was not, however, an imperial effort, and when Britain and Israel invaded Egypt in 1956, to gain control of the Suez Canal, President Eisenhower forced them to withdraw.

Since then there has been a clouding of the principles which have governed American foreign policy, at least to me there has. Vietnam was, supposedly, a war against Communism, based on the 'Domino Theory', that if you did not fight Coommunism, wherever it raised its head, then it would overwhelm you. The problem, in my mind,is that Vietnam was a French colony. Were the insurgents really Communists, or were they freedom fighters? In any event,it seems to me that this blurring of the motivations for international interventions has increased, to the extent that America has recently displayed much of the attitude and activity which we have traditionally described as Imperialism.

A Special Week

Eugene arrived from Australia the previous Friday, and early Sunday morning we drove up to the lookout on Howth Head. It had rained all day Saturday, into the evening, but the sky was blue, and the sun shone brightly over Dublin Bay. Dalkey, Bray Head and the Wicklow Mountains, were all clearly visible, while all of Dublin City lay just below us, to the right. I thought of Enniskerry and an early morning many years ago, when George led me across the fields behind his home, and showed me the sun just beginning to rise out of the Irish Sea.



We walked down the cliff-side until we came to what might at one time have been just a path which sheep had trodden down, and walked in the direction of the little port of Howth. The sea was several hundred feet below us, and occasionally we would pass others, including mountain bikers, enjoying this lovely public facility. After a while Ireland's Eye came into view, and soon we passed the spot where Maura and I picnicked a few weeks ago. Then, after walking out to the end of the mole we returned.



On Wednesday, again in the morning, Eugene took me out to Malahide Castle, once an English aristocrat's residence, but now a public park. I had never realised there was so much to see. It is meticulously maintained, and I plan on returning, often I hope. We then drove north, past Malahide, to Donabate, where we often spent Sundays with family, relaxing by the sea, and bar-b-cuing. The only change at the beach was that you could no longer drive on to it, to avoid erosion I would think.



Afterwards he took me up to Portrane, where the family also used gather, but which must have been before we returned to Ireland. The sea-front at Portrane is very striking. Lambay Island is quite close, providing an extra dimension to the view, which is south to Malahide. The cliffs are quite modest, compared to Howth, and there are some little beaches, which are accessible by clambering down the cliff-side. Eugene spoke of the caves which riddle the cliffs, and which they had explored, when they were boys. He also showed me the little, grassy plateau where they had their picnics.

Perception

Last week I noticed a news item on the BBC website. It referred to comments made by John Gray, a retired professor of political philosophy at the London School of Economics. He suggested that American geo-political eminence in the world, which it has enjoyed since the second world war, was now ended, because "The American free- market creed has self-destructed while countries that retained overall control of markets has been vindicated".

The former American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, was asked for his comments. part of which follows:
"If Professor Gray believes this, can he assure us that he is selling his U.S. assets short? If so, where is he placing his money instead? And if he has no U.S.assets, why should we be paying any attention to him."

It is the last sentence which caught my attention. Unfortunately, I think there are a great number of people outside of the United States who would think that Ambassador Bolton's comment implies a lack of interest in the opinions, and concerns, of other than Americans. I do not believe this attitude is typical of ordinary Americans, but the rhetoric of powerful, public people, such as the ambassador, is the voice the world has heard over the past few years.

Last on Nato

There was a lot of coverage of the recent attempts by the Georgian government to recover control of secessionist areas bordering on Russia, and the aggressive response of Russian armed forces. I particularly remember the image of a Russian tank crumpling up a private car as it pushed it out of its way. There were comments about the loss of civilian life, and the wounds of others who survived, but I did not see anything precise. It seems to me that there is never enough attention paid to the civilian losses.

When NATO bombed Belgrade, during the struggle over Kosovo, there was jubilant reporting of how not one airman was lost; but how many civilians died? We hear about terrorist atrocities and the resulting loss of life, legitimate concerns; but when unmanned drones, or other targeted strikes, kill civilians, we are too often assured there was no loss of innocent life.

Life is life, and none is trivial. We have a responsibility to safeguard all life, and have no right to suggest our opponent's life is any less precious than our own.

Excellence

I think we all respect excellence, in one form or another, although most of us would laugh if it were suggested we aspire to it in our own lives. However,I suspect we all, at least to some extent, think we do some, or even one, thing better than most people.

What is it which attracts us to a painting which we believe that no one, other than the artist could ever have painted so well. Is it because we believe that somewhere absolute perfection lies?

Why is it that people want to "make something of themselves"?

More About NATO

Georgia is a snall, rather remote, country, physically the size of the Irish Republic, nestling between the Soviet Union, Turkey, and Iran. Why would NATO be so anxious to extend membership to this country?

I suggest that first we have to recognise that NATO has come a long way since Western Europe cowered under its umbrella. Few, if any, Europeans feel threatened by Russia, or anybody else, so that I suspect that they do not really have any great notion of it, except as some amorphous group which acts in a protective fashion. I think that it is always unfortunate when ordinary citizens allow themselves to lose sight of why their governments are doing certain things, and of the devices, or institutions, they are using. I think that the reason Georgia is being wooed as a prospective member of NATO is not because the West is threatened by Russia anymore, but because of its need for natural resources.

Western Europe has a great need for oil and natural gas, much of the gas coming from Russia, which maximises the price, and sometimes can act in an apparently capricious manner. Kazakhstan, a former Russian republic, east of the Caspian Sea, has vast reserves of natural gas, which it is ready to supply to the West. This gas could be supplied through Russia, which would add stiff premiums, or it could be shipped by pipeline through Georgia, and this is the current intention.

I have no problem with people making money, and no desire to pay more to heat my home than is necessary, but I think we should be aware of what our leaders are doing, in our name, and why they are doing it. There is one additional aspect I would like to address another day. It is the effect on the people who live in these areas of contest.

Tribute to a Lady

This week our Father took a lovely member of our family to himself. Elizabeth had struggled for many weeks with the results of the latest heart procedure she had undergone. At last, when the doctors conceded they could do no more, her face was peaceful and contented.
Elizabeth had always lived with a heart deficiency, and she underwent various procedures, including major surgery more than once, but she never craved attention, nor let it stop her trying to live as normal a life as she could. She was an inspiration to us all in her Stoic acceptance, and determination not to let it deny her an iota of enjoyment and achievement from her life. Elizabeth was, and is, an inspiration to all of us, especially when we carp at trifles, or complain that life is unfair to us.
Enjoy your happiness, Elizabeth, because we know that you are enjoying happiness that we cannot begin to understand. We miss you: we always will, but we trust our Father that he has every intention of bringing us all together again, and that there will then be no more partings, nor sadness.
Au revoir.

Getting to Kimmage Road

Last Thursday Maura and I were once more exploring how to get to Kimmage Road. this time we wanted to find a bus which started in the centre of the city, near Connolly Station, where our DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) trains leave us off. Our reason for doing this was because Dublin public transportation is geocentric: it starts with the premise that everything has to go through the centre of the city, so if you can't beat them you must join them.
I had various data. Bus maps from Dublin Bus' office in O'Connell Street, printed routes, and timetables for various bus routes which I had downloaded from the Internet. I wasn't making much progress, because the route information on the timetables was quite cryptic. I decided to access Google's maps, and I started out with the map of the United States, and moved my pointer across the Atlantic to Ireland, and then kept focusing on Dublin, getting a more detailed map all the time, until I had Kimmage Road. It didn't really help, because the route information on the timetables did not mention Kimmage road. I kept studying the Google map, for no apparent reason, because it did not address bus routes. I noticed cyphers by a large intersection, and wondered what they signified. I focused the poimter, and clicked, and, what do you know, it was the number of a bus. I tracked along Kimmage road to the cypher nearest 105, the address I wanted, and pointed again, number 15a. I was more alert by now, and noticed in the margin some notes, including "To" and "From". I clicked "To", and I got a response,"Where do you want to go?" I responded "105 Kimmage Road" The response this time was a line on the map which started at the nearest cypher, representing the nearest bus stop, and finished at 105 Kimmage Road, adding that it was a distance of half a kilometre.

The Removal

Maura and I went to a removal the other evening. It wasn't a house removal, it was the removal of a corpse, one of Maura's cousins, from the funeral home to the church. We did not start at the funeral home, as many would have done, constituting a long procession across country from Kilcock to Moynalvey in Meath. We were late, trying to locate a place which had taken the Internet's resources to locate, and at last we were looking for the final turn, after the Hatchet public house, and the Gaelic football field, when we saw a Guarda car parked by the side of the road. Of course! Brian was a Guarda Siochana!
"We are late for Brian O'Sullivan's removal, can you help?"
"Sure, that's why we're here. Take this turn for half a mile."
A quarter of a mile, and the cars were littered all over the place, and scores of people were just standing by the road, waiting for the hearse to arrive so that they might fall in behind it.
More Guarda, frowning this time, implying, "You don't expect to park here?"
"I have an elderly lady with me, I need invalid parking."
"Sneak in there to the left, sir."
Right beside the church, a beautiful little, cut-stone country church in the middle of nowhere, which would have to have been three or four times as big to house everyone, so I stood outside, and listened to the prayers on loudspeakers, while Peggy and Maura wheedled their way inside.
Then we all jostled our way inside, as those inside left, after filing past the mourning family, and expressing their condolences, so that we, in turn could express our sorrow for the family's loss.
Later Maura told me another cousin asked her to apologise to me because she had not acknowledged my presence personally. There is a hierarchy at Irish funerals: the older you are the more reverent people are to you.

NATO

I have found myself thinking of NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,in connection with various violence around the world.
As the second world war drew to a close, there was substantial concern over the future of Western Europe. Northern Italy was very strongly inclined to communism, and there was a real concern that the Russians fighting the Germans might join up with the Italian communist partisans. This concern was avoided, partly because of the sudden surrender of the German forces in northern Italy. However, the communist parties in France and Italy were so strong that for years there was concern about these countries' political future, especially that of Italy.
In 1949 America guaranteed Western Europe's future by creating NATO, which brought much of western Europe together under the guarantee of United States military support, an action which pushed into history America's pre second world war isolationism. Europe has thrived under the NATO umbrella, and the original need of it may have disappeared. It still exists, however, and is used for what appear to me to be quite different purposes from those which justified its creation.
I intend to explore some of these situations periodically.

A New Dublin

I got lost last week driving on the south side of town, whilst I was trying to find Kimmage Road West, so I stopped at a petrol station, where an elderly couple were standing chatting on the fore-court.
" Excuse me. I am looking for Kimmage Road West, but I'm afraid I am lost. Can you help me?"
The lady responded immediately. "Knock at the door of one of those houses across the street. They will be able to help you."
She sensed that was not the answer I had expected.
"Go in there. They will know." Motioning in the direction of the convenience store behind the pumps. At this point the man said.
"They're all Chinese. You'd have better luck if you asked them where Tibet was."
I think it was the same day that Maura drew my attention to the newspaper vendors who now sell their papers at many major traffic-light junctions.
" Des, do you notice that the young men are always black?"
I can remember when, if you saw a black person in Dublin, you knew that they were either attached to one of the diplomatic embassies, or that they were students at Trinity College.

Running Mate

Senator Barack Obama announced his choice of running mate on the steps of the Illinois State Capitol, where President Lincoln announced he would run for president almost one hundred and fifty years ago. What hubris! To imply to prospective voters that they should think of you in terms of Lincoln? What man, or woman, would suggest that you might look to him, or her, for the seemingly inexhaustible reserves that Lincoln subsequently demonstrated? Who was the running mate, whom he was announcing as his partner, and whom he had invited to this hallowed place?
I know nothing of Senator Biden, other than what the media have made known, but that may be enough. He is a demonstrated heavy-weight when it comes to doing business in the Senate, and he is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He is Catholic, from a north-eastern state, and he is from a working-class background. So there we have it. Senator Obama counts on him for protection from those who would suggest he is light on Washington politics,foreign affairs, and the fisticuffs of international relations. He also, I suspect, expects that he will bring into his camp that Democratic electorate of the North-East, whom Senator Clinton demonstrated to be hers.
United States law requires that any candidate for President or Vice-president should previously have been legally vetted. Senator Obama did not vet Senator Clinton. Why? Why would he not have, at the very least, done that, even if he had no intention of choosing her?
I suspect this election may be decided by the women voting, and I think they may decide that they got the short end of the stick.

Raposa Serra do Sol

Raposa Serra do Sol is an Indian reservation in the Brazilian state of Roraima, at the point where Brazil borders Venezuela and Guyana. The reserve comprises 46% of the area of the state, with an Indian population of 14,000, out of a total population of 390,000. Six non-Indian rice planters occupy 15,000 hectares of the reservation, and have legally contested, for the past twenty years, efforts to compel them to return the land to Indian control. The Indians' case is now before the Brazilian Supreme Court.

Who, or What, is Senator Obama

I was accused, earlier this year, of 'not liking' Senator Obama.
I do not think politicians are objects of love, or hate, for me. I believe I am more interested in whether they are individuals of integrity, of experience, of commitment, of vision, and of whatever qualities are required for the particular post to which they aspire.
I have, from the very beginning, been impressed by how articulate the Senator is, and by the domestic policies he proposes for America. I was disturbed by his apparent lack of concern as to how he would implement his proposals, and I have come to wonder how such a relative newcomer to national politics has been able to fund his campaign in such an extravagant manner. Beyond all of this, I wonder what drives the Senator.
I see no evidence that he is concerned about his inability to attract Democratic voters in the party's traditional bastions such as New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California, and I wonder if there is a clue there. Does Senator Obama see himself as some mythic figure, who will unite Americans, not behind a vision, but behind a visionary?

Recycling and Beyond

Maura just drew my attention to waste recycling. We don't have to separate plastics from paper, but family not three miles away have to separate them. And I started thinking.
The European Union, in Brussels, establishes the standards, and then attempts to enforce them, but some of us have rather primitive ideas of what recycling is all about, while I am sure the Dutch have been recycling everything, very methodically, for many years. Then we have new members, and Brussels must have to decide at what level they are, and how long they need to get up to speed. And this is just recycling. What about roads? Do they need financial help, and expertise? The whole thing seems endless. The biggest problem may be deciding whether countries can be admitted at all, and that is where Turkey is at now. Can Europe tolerate a member which is trying hard to be an upstanding lay state, while part of the population wants it to profess its Islamic faith?
I go from there to our heavenly Father. He has billions of us, and he alone knows how many of us are trying to go off on our own. It reminds me of a young mother with any number of toddlers greater than one,each determined to explore the world on their own terms.
I guess it will all sort itself out in the end.

North Side of Howth

In our part of the world the sun is very important, probably because we don't see too much of it, and people pay particular attention as to where they site a house. Will we get sunshine in the living-rooms during the day? In the case of Howth the north side is a lot less desirable, and less expensive, than the south side, which gets whatever sun there is all day.

Yesterday, however, since our investment was just a few hours of our day, we decided to visit the north side. There wasn't a lot of sun, but it wasn't raining either. We took our packed lunch, and drove past the marina, and up the little road, by the King Sitric restaurant, so narrow and obscure you wouldn't expect anything of it. It climbs, hugging the headland on its right, with mostly old cottages on the left, perched above the sea. One has an inconspicuous plaque, noting that J.B.Yeats lived there between 1880 and 1883. I think he had already fallen in love with Maud Gonne, who seems to have spent her life refusing to marry him. After driving for five or so minutes the road ends in an informal public car park.



We took our collapsible chairs, and our picnic lunch, and climbed up the path, walking for perhaps five or so minutes, until we saw a little patch on the left where we could perch. There was still a lot to climb, but not for us. We were already high, looking down on the seabirds which seemed to have taken over a large rocky headland, a few hundred feet below us. Ireland's Eye was out to sea on our left, where we could also look at the activity in Howth Harbour. Occasionally, we would see a small fishing-boat returning with its catch, surrounded by seabirds hoping for a free lunch. The sun came out, and we lazed in the heat, watching the planes taking off from Dublin airport.

Doha Round

It is disappointing that the trade negotiations appear to have foundered. I am afraid I don't know as much as I would like about the issues, but intend correcting that: there is a body of information available on Wikipedia.
I did get one clue last evening watching RTE news. A young man, a principal in a financial services company, was deploring the breakdown, because his firm would not be able to export as much as they would otherwise, and this would mean they could not employ as many people, and "these are all high-paying jobs I am talking about." A major problem is that in exchange for allowing these imports, vulnerable countries want protection for their farmers.
Europe and America insist on protecting their own heavily subsidised farmers, while the industrialised farming industry wants to flood the world with their production. There is little chance of concessions there from a Republican president in an election year, since the farm belt is solidly Republican, and here in Ireland farming concerns helped defeat the Lisbon Treaty referendum.
Long-term I wonder whether the answer is to make a distinction, in Europe and America, and probably elsewhere too, between small farmers and large commercial enterprises. Support the small, family farmer economically, but take away the fincial subsidies which make large enterprises obscenely rich.

Political America

I have a bunch of thoughts going around in my head, revolving around Senators McCain and Obama.
First of all, I realise that every jurisdiction has different constituencies, but when it comes to America, you are really talking about different countries, and different peoples. I am not talking about race, but the way people think, and what is important to them. People west of the Mississippi do no think in the same way as people east of it, and those in the Rust Belt think differently from everybody else. I do not think that many Americans, no matter where they live, think a great deal about what is happening anywhere else in the world.
Senator Obama has, I think at least in his own opinion, thought that he has done his campaign a great deal of good by all of the enthusiasm and visibility his world tour has generated, although I think the fact that he turned down meeting the wounded servicemen in Germany may be more damaging than he yet realises.
Senator McCain spent part of last week campaigning in Ohio, a state he has to win if, as a Republican, he is to become president. Senator Obama won the Democratic nomination by beatig Senator Cinton in states which traditionally vote Republican. The fact that both senators endorsed his candidacy was not enough for him to carry the Democratic state of Massachusetts.
Where would you be spending your time if you were Senator Obama?

Who's On First?

Senator McCain loyally supports the president's conservative foreign policy: the President apparently goes back on his conservative foreign policy, and Senator Obama tries to get all of the television big wheels to focus on what he is doing overseas. I haven't caught up with what Senator McCain thinks of all this. I'll tell you what I think.
Everyone in America should be running out in the street shouting, Hurray for George Bush. I think he's done just about the most impressive about-face that I can remember. He's going to talk to the Iranians, and my prayers are answered. Maybe after all Israel is not going to involve the world in some kind of atomic Armageddon before the next president is inaugurated.
Let's hear it for George Bush fellas!

The Days of Yore

Nothing today I'm afraid. I must catch up on my emails. You can't expect to get unless you give.
How lucky I used be. Secretaries to handle the drudgery, and others to do other things. But really, I would not change a thing.
Now, I may not be able to do much, but I can be selective. I do not have to work on other's priorities. It may not be much, but its mine.

Awakening, Rumbling

I feel a great sense of change, and it starts with Christianity and Islam.
Christianity seems to be on its knees, just waiting for the last blows of materialism to leave it prostrate, but that has happened before. I see much of Islam insisting on secular life dominated by religious values. Then I see Turkey, Egypt, and Pakistan, trying to introduce some balance between religion and secular life. Young women in Turkey insist on the right to cover their faces in public, while young women in Iran assert the right to dress as they like. In Africa, which was despoiled so badly, that the backlash allowed unprincipled men to rape their fiefdoms,we see progress by Africans in stopping the abuses in Zimbabwe. Perhaps the most encouraging of all is Pope Benedict's acknowledgment of sin in the terrible acts of sexual abuse committed by ministers of God.
One more sign, is America's decision to sit down in Switzerland with the Iranian government, in order to discuss, ostensibly, Iran's nuclear programme. It is, in my opinion, an enormously important event. The world has gradualy, over the period since the last world war, separated into two entities, America and the rest. There has been a gradual growth in America of a feeling of invincibility behind its nuclear shield, and its wealth. No part of the world can any longer claim separation, because young people have been able to make their dreams and aspirations known to everyone. Americans have to start realising that they need to get to know how other people think, how they live, and that we are all brothers and sisters.

June 21 Teaser

I hadn't planned on giving the answer, because I saw no evidence that anyone had read it, but at least one kind soul did read it.

The answer is, the Roman Republic, which lasted almost five hundred years. The missing words were 'in horses'.

Last of Kerry

Perhaps not the very last, but certainly there is nothing on the horizon.
On that 1960 visit we drove out of Kenmare one day to drive round the Ring of Kerry, one of the nicest drives that I can remember, and very soon we saw a young woman walking by the side of the road. We offered her a lift and she began to talk,of her young husband, and her baby. She was poor, but she was happy, blissfully unaware of anything beyond her immediate understanding.
Later that morning we had to stop in Cahersiveen for petrol. I had never seen a gravity feed pump before: you have to pump up petrol a gallon at a time, from the storage tank, just as you would water from a well. An elderly man came out to serve us, and I explained we wanted the tank filled. He smiled at us, but uttered not a word. Then I saw a young man coming towards us, and he asked 'Can I help you?'
'Yes, we want the tank filled.'
'My father has no English, I'll take care of you.'
Then I understood. We were in part of the Gaeltacht, one of the few scattered areas where Gaelic is the everyday language.
Our last encounter was also in Cahersiveen. We went into a little shop to buy chocolate, not knowing what we might expect.
'You're from America, which part?'
'We live in Queens.'
'I lived in the Bronx for thirty years.'

Portmarnock Traffic

I decided to walk down to Portmarnock yesterday morning, although it was raining, to post a letter. As it happened, the rain petered out shortly after I left. As I turned off of Station Road, at the roundabout, and into the village road, I saw the traffic going into Portmarnock was stopped, apparently as far as the filling station, while there was no traffic coming from Portmarnock. There was no activity, nobody was sounding their horns, nor was anyone agitatedly trying to see what was going on. As I approached the filling station I saw some ducks on the sidewalk in front of me, and when I actually reached the station I saw that the same group of female ducks about which I spoke some time ago, perhaps 150, were crossing over to the filling station. They were coming out of the field, through a break in the wall, walking in single file, and were completely oblivious to the traffic, which seemed quite content to wait.
I went on my way, the traffic began to pass regularly I posted my letter, and started back home. After a while I noticed that the traffic had stalled again. When I approached the filling station, I found that there had been a change: the ducks had now reversed themselves and were walking back across the road.

Portmarnock

More of Kingdom of Kerry

I looked at Maura: she looked at me, and said:
"Mikey wants to know, do you like Kerry?"
I said, "Yes, I do like Kerry", and Mikey looked at Maura, who said,
"Mikey, Des says, Yes, he does like Kerry."
Mikey might as well have been speaking Gaelic, and I might have been speaking German, so Maura had to act as translator as long as we were there.
It reminds me of another time we were driving to Kerry, when we were just leaving Limerick, and had to stop for petrol, a time remote enough, that they came out to put the petrol in the car. The man was middle-aged, and also, characteristic of another age, interested in speaking to strangers. He chatted, and I responded.
When I got into the car, Maura asked, "What were you talking about. You were having such a lively conversation?"
"I have no idea."

The Kingdom of Kerry

The first time I visited Kerry was in 1960, Maura's and my first visit to Ireland since we had sailed out of Cork Harbout, at a few months' interval, in 1956. We rented a Morris Minor, which took us everywhere. One of our first trips was to Kerry.
Our first stop in Kerry was at the International Hotel,in Killarney, and from there we drove to Kenmare, and then across the Kenmare River, and up the road through Coolacapogh, where Katie was brought up, climbing all the way up to the Esk. We were on our way to visit Michael O'Sullivan, Maura's uncle, whose wife was wintering in Dublin, although we were rather vague as to how we would get there. Ultimately, Maura insisted I stop and ask for directions, which I am reluctant to do.
"You must ask for Mikey Mike Dan."
I saw a couple of elderly men and stopped. "I'm looking for Michael O'Sullivan's farm,can you help me?" Blank stares.
"He means Mikey Mike Dan!"
"Oh, Mikey Mike Dan: you want the Esk. Just keep on until you're almost in Cork. Take the last left before the tunnel."
" Thanks."
"You're more than welcome."
Mikey welcomed us as if it was the most natural thing in the world for visitors from America to drop in for a chat, and then he turned to ask me a question:
(more tomorrow)

The Irish Weather

"Shall I start the bar-b-cue?"
"Yes, I think you might."
We have steak for dinner on Saturday, normally about 4:00 in the afternoon, and we always bar-b-cue them, on our terrace, no matter what the weather is doing. There was heavy rain yesterday morning, although it had improved during the day. I heat the bar-b-cue for about ten minutes, and as I was going about my routine I thought that perhaps we might eat outside.
"Shall we eat on the terrace?"
"Do you think we can?"
Every decision about the outdoors tends to be marginal in Ireland.
"I think so."
"Well, then let's"
I was nervous about my suggestion, thinking it was turning colder. The steaks were cooked to perfection, which was reassuring, since I have been having trouble with my Weber gas unit. We had a lovely meal, and then sat chatting for quite a long time, enjoying the late afternoon sun.
The weather in Ireland is largely, I suggest, a state of mind: you can either make the best of it, or you can buckle under to its vagaries. I find the whole thing quite exciting. In St. Petersburg, Florida, the newspaper is free, if the sun did not shine the previous day. I have heard at least one resident say "Dash! Another sunny day".
By the way. It rained all evening, as we watched T.V.

A Little Outing

Yesterday Maura said "Its a nice day, why don't we drive over to Nicky's Plaice, and I'll get some scallops for you. I'll pack a lunch and we can eat up at the lookout on Howth Head." "Sounds good." So off we went.
We had almost reached Howth, about half-an-hour later, when Maura asked "Shall we eat first, or shop for the scallops?" Howth is unique, in this respect, that when you reach Sutton, the only connection of this rocky headland to the mainland, you can drive straight up the cliffs overlooking Dublin Bay, or turn left for a mile or so to the pier. We decided to shop first, which was lucky, because Nicky closes at 1:00 p.m. on Mondays.
Howth village, is essentially a fishing-port, although there is a marina as well, and all along the pier, on the left-hand side, there is a succession of fishmongers, while the fishing boats are moored on the right. Nicky's is our choice, and we bought mussels, plaice for Maura, scallops for me, and crab, for the crabcakes I look forward to for dinner on Sundays.
We drove along by the Marina, where Angus Og probably waited in his boat to rescue Diarmait from the pursuing Finn, before carrying Grania and he to safety at Bruig na Boinne. Up through the twisting streets, past the church and up to Howth Head. It was too cold to sit out, but we sat looking out over Dublin Bay, to Dalkey, Bray Head, and the Wicklow Mountains, before strolling along the cliffs.

Sluice River and the Ducks

Earlier in the month I walked down Station Road, turned left on the Portmarnock Road, saw a gap in traffic, increasingly rare, and darted across the road, so that I would have a good view of the wild life preserve. The Sluice River empties into Portmarnock Sound here, and there is a wide expanse of wetlands which is home to a lot of birds. The Canada geese have gone for the summer, but we always have the ducks, which normally congregate opposite the petrol station, a rich source for treats from various people.
I was surprised to see all the female ducks tightly huddled on the near side of the Sluice River. The males were either swimming aimlessly around in the river, or sitting, mostly alone, amongst the grass on the opposite bank. How curious! Especially when the males normally won't let anyone near their partner.

Tail Wagging the Dog

It is difficult,when everyone is complimenting you on how great a financial success Ireland has become, and when one is regularly told that we are the richest nation in the world, to retain one's grasp on reality. I found it especially so recently, when the campaigning for the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was in progress, and then when the result was declared.
The treaty is designed to enhance the centralised decision-making progress for the European Community, which now has twenty-seven members, and twenty-six members have left the decision to their national parliaments. Ireland chose instead to have a referendum in which each citizen could vote, yes or no, for or against adopting the treaty. The result was that there was a margin of about seven per cent against ratifying the treaty.
I saw everything. One poster said "Vote for Ireland in a Strong Europe, Vote No'. One comment I heard was, 'They (Europe) haven't fixed the roads.' If anything were to turn me against universal suffrage, this election would be it. The Irish government seemed to sleepwalk through the whole process.
The European Union has five hundred million residents, and five million have turned it on its head, because the Treaty has to be accepted unanimously by all twenty-seven members.

Franciscans and Limerick

Last week the Franciscans celebrated their last mass in Limerick at their Henry Street Church, after more than seven hundred years of service to the community. The last time I walked through the Gorbals, my parents' and grandparents' parish church, St. Francis, was closed. What a haven that was for the Irish, their own little ghetto, where they could rely upon being left alone to enjoy each other. Just one of many signs.
You walk through Dublin now and you won't see that many people blessing themselves when they pass a church. If you go to mass on a Sunday, it could be a Nigerian priest, who has come to Ireland as a missionary. What a change! Just as a priest friend in Scotland prophesied to me not that many years ago.

Free Trade

People, and governments, with the power to impose their will, have been trying to control trade in the western world at least as long as they have been able to write to each other. Now governments talk about 'freeing' trade with each other. What does it all mean? It means, at least for me, that trading blocks use their power over resources and wealthy populations, to extract concessions from other blocks which have something they seek. Many poor working people suffer the loss of their employment as a result. Let me give two examples.
The fishing industry in Ireland is dominated by small boats, which are restricted in the fish they are allowed harvest, and in the number of days they are allowed to go to sea. I am confident that, if I had access to all the treaties and data involved, the European Community would be able to convince me that Europe as a whole has gained. The Irish fisherman has still lost his livelihood.
A poor Mexican farmer could previously provide for his family from his small holding of land. Now, after Mexico has negotiated trade agreements with the United States, the small farmer cannot compete with exported food from America. He is forced, if he wants to feed his family, to try to find marginal employment in the United States, only to be denied legal entry.
There should be provision in every one of these treaties to provide directly for those who are going to be hurt by them, and I don't mean handouts. There should be provision for the Irish fisherman, so that he is still allowed to fish, even if it is at the expense of factory ships: the Mexican farmer should be protected in his small holding, so that he is not driven off his land.

The lamb and the ewe

Maura's and my visits to Kerry have fallen into a pattern. We normally stay around Kenmare, and after breakfast we like to walk around the town, or drive out into the surrounding country and visit some other town or village. Maura picks up cold cuts, and whatever else we need for a picnic lunch, before we drive out sightseeing. We stop for lunch when we feel peckish, and see a pleasant spot.
One day we were driving up through the mountains just to the west of the Mac gillicuddys Reeks (mountains), when we spotted a nice grassy area, beside a mountain stream. The sun was warm, and we spread ourselves out on a grassy patch beside the stream. We had our picnic, and gradually a bleating registered on me, and I looked around to find the source. I spotted a lamb, standing on a rocky outcrop. It stood erect, looking steadily in the one direction, giving its little bleat every minute or two. We studied it for a while, and I decided to investigate. I found,in a hollow midway between our picnic site and the lamb, a ewe: its eyes were open, it didn't utter a sound, and it was lying on its back. "It can't get up Des, we must help it: the lamb is hungry." "But Maura, perhaps the ewe is sick. I'm going to get help." We drove down the mountain to the first cottage, and the young farmer came back with us, and had it up on its legs in no time. "It belongs to my neighbour. If you hadn't come for me it would have been dead by evening."

Teaser

"Do not imagine that it was by force of arms that our ancestors made a great nation out of a small community. If that were true, we should today have a far more glorious nation. In allies, in our own citizens, in armaments,[two words deleted....too big a clue!]we have greater resources than they enjoyed. But it was other causes that made them great, causes that with us have ceased to exist: energy in our own land, a rule of justice outside our borders; in forming policy, a mind that is free because not at the mercy of criminal passions. Instead of these we have self-indulgence and greed, public poverty and private opulence. We praise riches: we pursue a course of sloth. No distinction is made between good men and bad: the intrigues of ambition win the prizes due to merit. No wonder, when each of you thinks only of his own private interest; when at home you are slaves to your appetites, and to money and influence in your public life. The consequence is that an attack is being launched on a republic left without defences."

Can you identify the republic?
Do you know what the missing words are?

Tea on the bog

I touched briefly on the Esk, I think when I spoke of Radio Eireann. The Esk is a hill farm in Kerry, just before you go over the Caha Mountains on the long road from Kenmare to Glengariff, and I must tell you some time about when my father-in-law and his brother worked building that road when they were young.
It wasn't the first time I was in Kerry, when I first was on the Esk, but that's another story, of an earlier Kerry. Padraig and Una were on holiday with us, with their family, when we decided to go up and see the Esk. The farm-house was abandoned, but we roamed around, and found a piece of bog-oak, from trees which were overwhelmed by the bog when it started growing four thousand years ago. I put my eye on a piece which I longed to have for my rockery in County Meath. We left, and I had a phone-call in the evening and had to leave Kerry.
Maura, Padraig and Una, decided Des must have his bog-oak, and went back to the Esk, but this time they had company, Stephen, Maura's and Padraig's cousin, who was stacking turf. "So it was you was here yesterday." We had thought the hills were deserted, but someone had told Stephen he had company. In fact, Stephen told how his neighbours would know his sheep individually, and would look out for one if it was lost. I have just thought of the time we found the ewe lying on its back on the other side of the Mac gillicuddy's Reeks, and how our attention was drawn by the plaintive bleating of its lamb: another story. Stephen was anxious to get the turf out to the road and get payment for it that night, but said, of course they could have the bog-oak, and he would help them get it out, but first they had to have a cup of tea. 'There's no tea like the tea you brew in the bog". They said "Well now we'll help you get the turf out to the road." "Well, I'm beholden to you, now I'll have my money here [right-hand, back trousers pocket] this evening".

Europe

I remember, it must be sixty years ago, a Jesuit priest telling me "Des, Europe is finished, youth must look for its future elsewhere." It is impossible to convey why his comment was no more than an expression of the reality which surrounded us. We were just on the fringes of the devastation, but as you went south it became more and more real: one third of London was in ruins, and God only knows how great was the devastation in Germany and central Europe. Then a miracle happened: one man had a vision. Why don't we knit the iron, steel and coal industries of Europe together, so that no single nation can ever again use them in a quest for national domination. That man was Jean Monnet, and his idea was seized upon by Konrad Adenauer and by Maurice Schuman, for the first step in what would become the European Community.
Europe is far from finished, and people throughout the world still look to it for the initiatives which will bring us all closer to our dreams. It is wrestling now with one of its greatest challenges: how to acknowledge Turkey's European credentials, and integrate one of the most populous Islamic states into the European Community. What an accomplishment that will be, in showing that the future lies not in bombs and suicide attacks, but in partnership and acknowledgement of our brotherhood, and in the charity to accept our different customs and beliefs.

Too Many People

Yesterday, somewhere, I heard of someone, rather prestigious, if my memory serves me, say that there are too many people, and the world cannot support this endlessly increasing population.

Origen, a distinguished member of the early Christian church, thought we are the fallen angels, and this life is our opportunity to regain paradise. Suppose he was right. Then we may expect that the world will not run out of food, water, or whatever else, until every one of these souls has been born into this life.

Of course, Origen may have been wrong. In any event, God has a plan, and nothing is going to interfere with its implementation, which is not to suggest that a prudent use of our resources is always appropriate.

A better idea, than limiting population, might be to concentrate on distributing what is available in a more equitable manner.

Democracy

"Equality of opportunity and freedom for the individual to do as he likes are, for Plato and Aristotle, the salient characteristics of democracy." These editorial comments are taken from Plato's Republic.

Sometimes, in the West, we preen ourselves on our democracy, even prime ministers and presidents, although we acquiesce in the denial of democracy to others, outside our jurisdiction, and even within it, when we begrudge our fellow citizens the opportunities from which we take so much pride ourselves.

I think it is especially shameful when we are accessories to the killing of innocent civilians, or when we allow helpless people to die from natural disasters.

The Greeks felt that democracy required all citizens to be knowledgeable about their state's affairs, and to participate in their management. To-day it almost seems that we are content to be bombarded by campaigns dependent on vast finances spent on television and newspaper advertisements, but otherwise without much substance.

Irish Television

Telefis Eireann broadcasts a programme, 'Nationwide', Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The purpose is to introduce viewers to different places around Ireland, and what the local people are doing. In the summer it makes a practice of visiting various locations which are finalists in the 'Tidy Towns' contest. The interest, for me, is that they manage to give me a snapshot of what is happening all round the country. Very often they focus on an entrepreneur, mostly humble people. For example they might interview a woman who decided to commercialise her ability to make cheese: other times it may be someone who is using modern communications and computer technology to run a successful business from modest homes in remote parts of the country, quite often foreigners, mostly from the European mainland.

Last Wednesday evening there was a unique approach. The subjects were two towns, one in County Leitrim, in the Irish Republic, and the other in County Fermanagh, in the North of Ireland. The approach was to show how people in both places were using their ingenuity, and local resources to develop small businesses, and how they were co-operating with their cross-border neighbours. This is just the latest sign I see that the Good Friday agreement is really working. Who among us ten years ago would have thought that the centuries long hostility might start to disintegrate so fast?

Time Magazine's Poll

Time's fiftieth annual poll of its readers, as to the most influential world personality, appeared in this week's issue. In 2nd place was a South Korean singer, and in 158th place was the president of the United States. No matter what your opinion of President Bush may be, he is still president of the United States, the most powerful nation in the world.

I must admit to being surprised, but not shocked. Powerful, or advanced nations, tend to have little interest in those they consider less powerful or advanced, although I do think they tend to have more respect for their leaders. The results, however, show us something else, the interests of the voters. The interest of a great majority of the voters, is with popular entertainers, not politicians or religious figures, especially when we see that the maker of Nintendo video games garnered almost 2 million votes.

The worrying thing for me is that it is, I expect, from a similar body of voters will come the next president of the United States.

Democratic Primaries

The Democratic Party primaries have developed in what I think is a rather unusual way, and I thought I might explain why I have this opinion.

The 'super' delegates, whom I believe to be about six hundred prestigious party members, but unelected in any primary, hold the balance of power, so that they are in a position to sway the election if they believe the public choice to be ill-advised. I assume that Senators Kennedy and Kerry of Massachusetts would be in this group.

Florida and Michigan chose to disregard party instructions as to the permissible dates for holding their primaries, and the results were declared invalid. There appears to be no intention of allowing, or requiring, the states to reschedule them. Senator Clinton won both states.

The results so far show Senator Obama to have a significant lead. However, a great part of his total is in states which are dominated by the Republican Party. Will his popularity among Democrats be of any help in swaying Republican voters? Senator Clinton's strength is in the Democratic heartland, with exceptions, such as Illinois

I think it was unfortunate that Senators Kennedy and Kerry sought to influence the choice, instead of waiting to see how they could ensure the best partnership of presidential and vice-presidential candidates, before they showed their hand. Their backing in their own state, Massachusetts, was insufficient for Senator Obama to carry the state primary.

Radio Eirean

I like to listen to the radio, especially on weekend mornings, when there are interviews, or one-on-one discussions with authors about their work, but I suppose my interest really rises when people speak about themselves, or when they have written about their lives. They are mostly not what the world would consider successes, but they seem always to have done fulfilling things, or can speak of that with which we can all relate.

Last weekend John Bowman interviewed the author of a recently published work, in which the gentleman spoke about cutting the turf when he was young. In the country, and even in the towns, people would have access to a defined area of bog, where they would cut their winter supply of fuel, stack it to dry, and then transport it home. He spoke of when he was young, and his memories of days spent at the bog, and then went on to talk of Bord na Mona, which mechanised the harvesting of the turf. Gone then were the days spent with his father and brothers, and the tea which his dad said never tasted as good as it did at the bog. And that last comment took me back to a bog in Kerry, and a hillside farm called the Esk. But that's for another day.

The Weather

You know how I go on about the weather here, a minor irritant given everything else we have.

Yesterday and today have been gorgeus, in the low 20's I should think, which is bliss for us. I took my work out on the terrace, and puzzled over it out there yesterday and today, allowing myself to be distracted by everything which drew my attention. You see, we may not, although it is quite unlikely, have weather like this again before next spring, We ate lunch and dinner out there too, each day. Of course our neighbours must think we are mad. Still, we can't resist any opportunity to recapture how we used enjoy the halcyon weather in Connecticut.

I must tell you, another day, about the proposed subway station in Stephens Green. And how they are going to tear up O'Connell Street, which only recently got an expensive facelift, for another subway station.

Spring

I think this may be my favorite season, although I have special feelings for the Fall, especially the wonderful ones that occur in New England. Perhaps it is the mystery I sense.
It has been especially cold this year, and I thought we surely won't have much of a spring this year; everything will just stay huddled in the ground. Still the daffodils came out, and blanketed every open space in the city, in that wonderful display Dublin puts on, and I remembered that nature is more concerned with the solstices than the temperature. Now the chestnut trees are in full leaf, with that beautiful green that the leaves have when they have only recently burst out of their little cocoons, while the flower clusters show us where the chestnuts will soon nestle. The days lengthen,and the earth knows, while the roots of the trees, the trunks, and the branches sense they must get ready for the surge of nutrients which will waken them for another season of life.

Barack Obama

When I listened to Barack Obama, in Charleston in January, I was particularly struck by the senator's commitments - 'loan-free' college education, health benefits for all, and no more manufacturing jobs lost to overseas locations. How would he fulfill his pledges, since he did not refer to method or means? I was particularly intrigued by the last promise, since the United States has committed itself by free trade treaties.



I see that a Canadian diplomat was similarly concerned, but a member of Mr. Obama's staff assured him he need not worry. I can only assume that the senator is not sincere in his commitment to implementation, and that bothers me, since it suggests that his promises are nothing more than rhetoric. The last thing America needs is a charmer.

My Ireland

Maura and I drove out to Meath on Monday, to a little church at Donaghmore, not fifteen miles from the General Post Office in O'Connell Street, where an old lady, 96, was to be buried. She had died Friday morning, and had asked that her remains be brought to the church Saturday, and that she lie there until the funeral mass, so, after a wedding mass on Saturday, it was arranged as she had asked. This way all her friends could drop in when they had a chance, and say goodbye, and Monday, after the funeral mass, there was to be another wedding.

I could tell there would be problems, when we were still a half-a-mile away on the little short-cut we had taken, because suddenly cars were jammed up against the hedges, where their owners had left them. When we got to the church Maura managed to get a seat, where a lady signalled her she could squeeze up. The little church, six to a pew, and perhaps, twenty pews on each side of the single aisle, was jambed. There must have been twenty-five priests crowded on the sanctuary, from the same order as her son, and I'd be very surprised if there was anybody there who could not claim that his blood was one hundred per cent Irish. These are farming people, either farmers or farm labourers, or horsey people: owners, trainers, jockeys, and everybody who works around farms or horses. Unless you were born amongst them, you are a 'blow-in', and you will always be a 'blow-in', as will your descendants.

Kitty was there, who phones Maura when her black currants are ripe, and then gets her pleasure from exchanging gossip with here when she picks them up: Stan was there too, whose uncle Eddie, rode Caughoo to win the Grand National, in 1947, and Wardie, who helped Meath win the Gaelic football trophy, the Sam Maguire cup, when he was young. Maura used, when she holidayed at the Rath Farm, be driven to this little church by her Aunt Katie, in her little trap pulled by a pony

Everybody knew Chrissie, and looked out for her, when she walked around the roads near her little cottage, or made sure that she wanted for nothing.

Super Tuesday

The results of Tuesday's primaries in the States are all in, and how fascinating they are.

McCain is so confident of his own ability elsewhere to gain the primary votes he needs, that he is able to suggest to his supporters, in West Virginia for instance, that they vote for Huckabee, so as to deprive Romney of a victory, since he knows he cannot win himself. Hardly the way in which you would expect a lily-white democracy to function.

Then we have the Democrats and this is where the fascination comes. If one looks at Obama's and Clinton's victories, we see that Obama is especially powerful in the south and in the farmbelt, both strongly Republican in recent years, while Clinton's strength is in the Democratic heartland, the East and California. Obama couldn't even carry Massachusetts with the support of both senators, Kennedy and Kerry, and the Kennedy clan. If ever there was a 'dream' ticket it is Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton. There is one big problem.

If the Clinton/Obama contest continues indefinitely then there is the prospect that the Democratic party's fundraising ability is going to be exhausted by the primary battle, while McCain is in the enviable position of increasing his war-chest for the real election in the autumn.

Reaching Out

I have been trying to understand what was going on around me for as long as I can remember, and I feel that I have been very fortunate in the opportunities I have had. Great as they have been, I am amazed when I think of what has recntly become available, to virtually everybody on our planet. Access to the Web is now worldwide; libraries race to capture in digital form virtually everything which has been written; news media provide instant news reports; students in Iran, as people everywhere, tell us what is really going on in their countries. We no longer have to learn through the distortions of others: we can reach out to others individually, find out who they are, what they need, and what they can offer us.

I would like to be part of such an effort, and it is for this reason that I felt it worthwhile making the commitment to begin this initiative. I have no idea how it will develop, if it should develop at all. I have no preconceived agenda, hidden or otherwise. I look upon it as a forum, in which each is free to make his contribution.

Metamorphosis

Yesterday, as Maura and I sat on the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) train approaching Donaghmede, on our way into Dublin, I happened to glance out towards the construction, when suddenly I realised that, in the midst of the construction, were five, or perhaps six, huge columns with those windmill blades which betrayed them as wind turbines, for generating electricity, and I started thinking.
When we came back to Ireland to live, perhaps twenty years ago, nothing much had changed, since I was a little boy. Unemployment was almost twenty percent, and people questione our sanity leaving America. The construction cranes are not as numerous as they were, and they say growth will be two and a half per this year instead of five or six per cent, but the change is still extraordinary.
The government has been trying, since the 1930's to bring the Irish Language, Gaelic, back, but the other day I read that the second most widespread language spoken here is Mandarin Chinese. The construction around the River Liffey, and in other parts of the city, could be compared to the most expensive in New York City, and the multitude of foreign languages which other passersby are speaking on O'Connell Street is incredible. The majority of the residents of central Dublin are foreign-born.

Brrrrh!

Here, in Ireland, we are in a unique situation. We are approximately on the same latitude as Moscow and Montreal, but we have a very moderate climate. We are protected from the extremes of European temperatures by our fringe location in the Atlantic, and we are, normally, protected from the Arctic blasts by the Gulf Stream and the temperate weather fronts which follow it across the Atlantic; nor do we ever have to worry about hurricanes, tornados, or volcanic eruptions. In compensation we accept that we can never count on settled weather: winter and summer often compete, by wearing each other's clothes. Suddenly that all changed a few days ago.
The Arctic suddenly decided to assert itself and we have lived with temperatures, which seem as cold as I remember in Montreal, and winds which made the cold a cruel companion out-of-doors. There were pictures on television of a large container ship about one hundred miles off our southern coast which had forty foot containers strewn across its decks like matchboxes.

Clinton-Obama or Vice Versa

I think it is good that neither candidate has ruled out accepting the second spot on the presidential ticket, since it suggests to me that ego is not the conclusive element in their struggle for the presidency. If I am right, and we are fortunate enough to have two viable candidates for president, who are prepared to subordinate their personal ambition in order to achieve their professed goals, for America, and the world, then we are truly blessed. The possibility would be that they might be able to look forward to sixteen years in which they were able to define and implement plans based on their electoral promises.

This election is not just about America. The whole world is waiting to see who is going to manage the power which rests with the United States. Will it be someone who genuinely believes that all men and women are created equal, and that they must therefore work for everyone, or will it be somebody who, no matter what they say, is dedicated to a narrow vision, and selfish objectives?

Gaza

I feel so strongly for the Palestinian people, both in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, and the scenes this week at the Egyptian boundary remind me of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Are we on the verge of seeing an end to violence and repression? Can we dare to hope that the 'movers and shakers' will really work at bringing justice to all those poor people, both Jewish and Arab, who live under a constant threat of violence?

Growing old

Yesterday I visited an old lady in hospital, who wants to return to her empty home, while everyone tells her she can't live on her own. Why can't we accept, as do little children, that others know best?

Balkan Politics

I read that the Serbian presidential candidate most likely to be successful is the inheritor of Slobodan Milosevich's policies. Perhaps we are on the verge of more bloodshed in the Balkans.

Rome and Constantinople fought, within the Roman Empire, to achieve dominace over the Balkans, and their self-styled inheritors have fought ever since to achieve the same goal. When are we ever going to realise that we must accept each other for what we are, or, at the very least, agree to differ in harmony? There are now those within the European Union and within Turkey who are striving to have Turkey accepted within the Union. What an advance that would be. Perhaps these verses from the New Testament, where John addresses Christ, should guide us.

Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him, because he
followeth not with us.
And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
Luke 9: 49-50

A lonely pastime...

I must say that I find writing to be a lonely pastime, especially at 6:40 in the morning, when everyone appears to be asleep, but not quite everyone: a plane just passed on its way into Dublin airport, I see another light on in the adjacent apartment building, and an early commuter pulling in to Portmarnock Dart station parking lot. There must be others awake. Hello!