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.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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.
Monday, August 4, 2008
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?
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?
Friday, August 1, 2008
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.
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.
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