Throwing stones from the glasshouse

Throughout history, there have been many moments where political parties or ruling regimes have used desperate measures to stay in power. Obviously, we are seeing it take place right now in Zimbabwe. Burma’s ruling Junta has used every trick in the book to keep Aung San Suu Kyi out of the picture. Kenya has had its fair share of troubles, and Cuba just ignores even the vaguest tickle of opposition to the status quo. So it is not surprising that in Malaysia, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is yet again having to fend off what seems to be trumped up sodomy charges, just as he is trying to re-enter the Malaysian political scene which at the moment is moving away from the ruling party.

Ibrahim’s fall from grace started way back in 1998 when he criticised the then Prime Minister Mahatir.

 A few days later Anwar addressed a protest gathering of nearly 100,000 people in Kuala Lumpur, after which a number of his supporters marched to Mahathir’s then official residence demanding reformasi (economic and political reforms) and Mahathir’s resignation. This march, a rare event in Malaysia, caused concern in the government. That night, Anwar’s home was raided by a masked and armed SWAT team from the Royal Malaysian Police. His arrest was announced several hours later, as were those of several of Anwar’s supporters, although most of them were later released.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim

Open your mouth and criticise, and all of a sudden your house gets raided and serious charges of corruption and sodomy get levelled against you. Charges that could lead to hefty jail terms. Anwar was found guilty of both charges, and sentenced to six years for corruption and nine years for sodomy. He was released in 2004, and the sodomy charge was overturned.

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressed doubts about the fairness of the trials.  Amnesty International subsequently designated Anwar as a prisoner of conscience. The trial also provoked international criticism. US vice president Al Gore denounced the sodomy trial of Anwar as a “mockery”, but Mahathir rejected all such international criticism as “foreign interference.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim

Now he finds himself facing more sodomy charges. How convenient. He is free to take part in political events again, and just when he starts to put pressure on the ruling party, trumped up charges appear. Dr Mahatir, and the current Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi, may disagree on how to run Malaysia, but they seem to have similar tactics when dealing with Ibrahim. Denials are coming thick and fast, but it is all too coincidental, and the world knows it.

The great thing is this time Ibrahim has come out guns blazing and has filed a lawsuit against the 23 year old man who has accused him of sodomy.

Ibrahim, 63, “was left fighting for his political credibility, calling a press conference at 1.20 am to deny allegations that he sodomised his aide,” The Star newspaper said on Sunday.

Wan Ismail (Ibrahim’s wife) told media persons in the afternoon that the police report on sodomy lodged against her husband was an attempt to “assassinate” his political career.

“They could not bring him down through other ways and so made this political attempt, which is just a repeat of what had happened about 10 years ago,” NST Online said.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim

Those who know me know I can’t keep my mouth shut when I see something is just plain wrong. With 99.9% of people I meet or work with, I get along fine. But there is that small minute percentage that despise me, and it’s because I have their measure, and they hate it. This small percentage are not nice people, and hate having their many deficiencies pointed out to them. It’s the same in the case of Ibrahim. By all accounts he is highly respected all around the world. But to those he is a thorn in the side to, he is the most hated man on the planet, and the quicker they shut him up the better.

But his reaction this time comes from years of experience, and somehow I can see the actor Peter Finch, as Howard Beale, in the 1976 movie ‘Network’:

Howard Beale: [shouting] You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!’ So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,
[shouting]
Howard Beale: ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:
Howard Beale: [screaming at the top of his lungs] “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/quotes

Anwar, you get ‘as mad as hell’. You’re not only standing up for yourself, but political fairness and freedom everywhere.

Enjoy your day.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe looks like he could be entering the final knockout round of his rigged title fight; and it won’t be his opponent who will be knocked out.

I was heartened to receive a long letter of support from a reader after my last blog post on Zimbabwe. I was saying in my last post that I felt very conscious that some of you may stop reading my blog, as I tend to be a bit ‘Zimbabwe-centric’. However, I was encouraged to keep up the pressure, and it seems the international community is finally taking off its blinkers and condeming Mugabe.

Nelson Mandela has even waded into the debate, calling Mugabe’s leadership ‘a tragic failure’, Queen Elizabeth II has taken back the knighthood she gave him in 1994, and the head of the African National Congress in South Africa, Jacob Zuma, stated:

“We cannot agree with ZANU-PF. We cannot agree with them on values,” Zuma said in Johannesburg, South Africa. “We fought for the right of people to vote, we fought for democracy.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/25/MNNG11ECPM.DTL

And when one hears this sort of talk, you know we are finally heading in the right direction:

South Africa’s Congress of South African Trade Unions, allied to the ANC, said it would campaign for Mugabe’s total isolation. It called on all trade unions in the world “to make sure that they never ever serve Mugabe anywhere, including at airports, restaurants, shops, etc. Further we call on all workers and citizens of the world never to allow Mugabe to set foot in their countries.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/25/MNNG11ECPM.DTL

Total Isolation. This is music to my ears and hopefully to Morgan Tsvangirai’s ears. Finally the world is saying ‘enough.’ It should have said enough a long, long time ago. It had to take Morgan Tsvangirai hiding in the Dutch Embassy for fear of his life for the world to act, and finally see Mugabe for the psychotic dellusional weirdo that he is.

Mugabe seems to have been immune to any pressure, and happily thumbed his nose at anyone who thought they could stop him and convince him to act otherwise. But what I have said over and over is at least starting to show signs of developing. We need to find Mugabe’s Achilles Heel, and everyone needs to put pressure on him and virtually straightjacket him. Trust me, without the main bully, all the other little bullies will run away in fear. Supporters of Mugabe only support him because they fear for their lives or are getting kickbacks and bribes.

Even though the Southern African Development Community sat on their hands for what seemed like an eternity, they are now finally waking up to the fact that the longer this disgusting flagrant display of dictatorial violence goes on, the more it discredits the entire African continent, or at least those countries in the southern half of the continent. It is fast becoming the scenario similar to hanging out with the obnoxious friend. You stick with him or her as long as you can, but there comes a time when you have to turn around and say, “No. You’re out of line, and I’m not taking it anymore.”

Zambia’s Levy Mwanawasa, who chairs the Southern African Development Community regional bloc, conceded that “what is happening in Zimbabwe is, of course, of tremendous embarrassment to all of us”.

http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/292010789667201.php

For southern Africa, they are not taking it anymore, and we are seeing a domino effect of southern African leaders now ready to stand side by side, with arms crossed, staring Mugabe down. If South African President Thabo Mbeki doesn’t come to the party soon, he is going to find himself extremely isolated as well. He still has not condemned Mugabe, but he needs to very soon. His country is the only country that can really turn the screws on Mugabe, and make him hurt.

The end is nigh for Robert Gabriel Mugabe. Let’s just hope he has at least some common sense to see the walls closing in on him, and bows out gracefully.

Then we’ll hit him for crimes against humanity.

Enjoy your day.

Whatever your political leanings, as of the 1st July, there will be no more Australian Democrat Senators in the Australian parliament. The Senate elections from the November 2007 Federal Election will take effect, which means a complete changing of the guard in the Senate chamber.For those of you unfamiliar with this particular political party, it has changed the Australian political landscape since its foundation.

Australia is a two party political system, by and large; The Australian Labor Party and The Liberal Party of Australia. These two parties have had terriers at their ankles, namely the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), which split from the Labor Party in 1955 over communism. However, no political party has had such a profound impact on the way in which Australians have thought politically, and the direction of those thoughts.

Don Chipp, the party’s founder, began the party back in 1977. The basis of this party, and its motto was ‘to keep the bastards honest.’ Chipp believed that the other two political parties had been sitting in parliament without proper challenge for too many years. The DLP was a party that was driven by its hard line Catholic base, so even though it maintained the balance of power in the Senate, its decisions were always ruled by its faith, which was not a good thing. The Democrats, however, scrutinized legislation instigated by either left wing or right wing parties and both sides of the political ditch needed to provide good sound legislation first and foremost, otherwise it was sent to the graveyard of dead bills.

Even if one did not vote for the Democrats, the talk at election time always involved them. For myself, I valued the Democrats presence, and voted for them in the Senate. I did this, as I have never, and will never, give one party control of both houses of Parliament. The Democrats were, to me, a centralist party, and therefore, I trusted them to look at legislation on merit, and pass it or vote it down accordingly. Without them on the scene, I will be definitely looking for a party that can give me the same satisfaction. The Greens may get my vote, but they would need to broaden their political vision more than just green issues for me to give them the same respect I gave the Democrats.

So to say they meant nothing is simply not accurate. As former Senator Andrew Bartlett said today:

“The Australian Democrats have been the most successful third party in Australian politics, which is a two party system. We’ve done it better than anyone else. It’s very sad and very historic to be there at the end.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/25/2285936.htm

So what went wrong? Why are they no more? This party was very successful for many years, but it was this particular event that sounded the death nell.

Internal conflict over the government’s proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST), during the 1998 federal election and in Parliament in 1999 was extremely damaging to the Democrats. Meg Lees (then Parliamentary leader) campaigned on a modified GST platform, opposing the GST on food and books. After negotiations with Prime Minister Howard, Meg Lees and Andrew Murray (both part of the centrist element within the Democrats) agreed to support the GST legislation with exemptions for most food and some medicines. Many left-wing Democrat voters and a large number of party members regarded this as a betrayal, and two senators on the party’s left, Natasha Stott Despoja and Andrew Bartlett, voted against the GST.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Democrats

All it took was one moment in time, albeit a very contentious moment in time, and the party collectively signed their death warrants. All that they stood for they kissed goodbye, and the house of cards that they had built was falling down. Their credibility as a party that was keeping the other parties honest was unable to hold water anymore. They sided with the government of the day, and helped bring in a major and some would argue damaging, piece of taxation legislation with very few changes. They caved, and the government of the day got what they wanted with very little sacrifice on their part.

So it is truly an end of an era. Where the Democrats will go from here is anyone’s guess. Maybe they were a party that was meant to be, and meant to heighten our political consciousness, at this moment in time. If nothing else, they have at least made us think a little longer before we put that cross on the ballot paper.

Enjoy your day…and to my sister, who has always kept me honest, a very Happy Birthday!

Grafitti has always been associated with rebelliousness, disobedience, and daring. In later years, some have softened their approach to Grafitti, and valued it as a form of artistic expression. However, the fact remains that it is illegal, and it costs local governments all around the world millions of dollars to clean this stuff off public spaces. So, it comes as a surprise that the National Trust of Australia is considering classifying certain Melbourne city laneways as heritage sites, to protect the graffiti that exists there.

“It’s a cultural value. It’s part of the urban fabric”, says Tracey Avery of the National Trust.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/23/2282814.htm

I am sure we will all admit that some of the more ‘mural style’ graffiti is a stunning display of artistic talent, and whoever did it should be encouraged to pursue a career in art. But a lot of the time it is random scribbles, symbols, and ‘tags’ which are a way of teenagers claiming ‘territory’ and notoriety.

The issue here is what message is this sending, and what ramifications this decision will have on those committing graffiti crime? Yes, it is a crime, as it is defacing public property, or private property. With this consideration, is the National Trust inadvertedly encouraging more young people to grafitti? Are they creating a higher cleanup bill for local councils?

“It clearly sends the wrong message that we as a society are going to be acceptable of vandalism and other anti-social behaviour, and that it doesn’t matter that it costs local government over $260 million a year to clean up.” -Scott Hilditch from Graffiti Hurts Australia.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/23/2282814.htm

I have had my front fence grafittied, and it looked terrible. It inconvenienced me and made me have to go out, buy paint, and paint the entire length of my fence. At that time, I was not looking at this person’s artistic genius. Would Ms. Avery from the National Trust stand in awe at grafitti on her front fence? Of course she wouldn’t. She would be cursing the little bastards that did it and order her council representatives to ‘do something about the graiffiti crime in the area’. I don’t think you would find her espousing the wonders of the ‘urban fabric’ then.

If what the National Trust wanted to protect was a commissioned piece of grafitti art that has added to the ‘urban landscape’ and was sanctioned legally as a way of recognising the talents of these unique men and women, then that would be different. But the kids who ‘tag’ people’s front fences will not be giving a right royal toss about the ‘urban fabric.’ All they will see is the green light for them to do whatever they like. A parent sitting down with their teenager chastising them for defacing property will probably be hit with the response, “The National Trust likes it.”

The other side of this is the fact that these people do this form of artwork because it is unconventional. They don’t want to create art the traditional way. They want to secretly do this work, and develop a name for themselves without anyone really knowing who they are. That’s the attraction of grafitti art.

However, we are forgetting one of the most famous grafitti artists of them all, Arthur Stace. This homeless alcoholic spent 40 years writing the word ‘Eternity’ across as many parts of Sydney as he could. He became an icon in Sydney, and his graffiti was immortalised on the Sydney Harbor Bridge as part of the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He never wanted to be known, but he sure wanted his message to be heard. That same mentality exists amongst today’s grafitti artists.

In a sense, I see both sides of this argument. However, to legitamise vandalism is not only irresponsible, but it opening up a Pandora’s Box that we will find very hard to close.

Enjoy your day.

The latest Pit Bull Terrier attack on a woman in Perth, Western Australia, has yet again highlighted to me that this is a breed that is good for nothing, and a breed that should be made extinct.

The American Pit Bull Terrier is a fighting dog. It is what is was bred for. It is extremely aggressive, and according to Dr. Hugh Wirth, Australian RSPCA President, has no redeeming qualities at all.

 “(They) don’t keep this very special dog in a way that it can not possibly hurt any member of the community, or any other animal for that matter.”

“The problem is these dogs are bred solely to fight, so they have a very low threshold of tolerance of other dogs and if they feel as though they’re threatened in any way, this genetic conditioning kicks in and they become a raging beast.They’ll attack anything they think is a threat to themselves, whether it’s a human or whether it’s another dog and they won’t stop attacking until that alleged threat to their safety disappears.”
http://thinkexist.com/quotes/hugh_wirth/

So, with this blatant slab of information from a qualified veterinarian, why do some people still want these dogs as pets? If they are only good for aggression and fighting, then why choose to live with a ticking time bomb? The woman who was attacked, was attacked by her boyfriend’s dog. The female Pit Bull that attacked her was destroyed, but the male who has yet to attack, still lives with her boyfriend. I am telling you now, if I was going out with someone and they had a Pit Bull, it would be a very clear case of, “The Pit Bull or me.” There is not a snowflake’s chance in hell that I would be anywhere near it.

However, famous American dog trainer, Cesar Millan, had this to say:

I have written many blogs about the regime of Zimbabwe’s dictator, Robert Mugabe. I was hesitant to write another one, as I know many of you will say, “Not another bloody Mugabe blog”, but the latest news coming out of the screwed up nation literally fills me with a giant sense of hopelessness.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader for the Movement for Democratic Change, and the man trying to remove Robert Mugabe from power, is seriously thinking of giving up on any further attempt to win power. Mugabe has stopped opposition supporters from meeting, or from holding political rallies in the lead up to the Presidential run-off election on June 27. MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti has been arrested on a trumped up charge of treason. Tsvangirai has himself been detained without charge numerous times in the last few weeks. And the most horrific element to all this has been the kidnapping and brutal killing of the wife of Harare’s MDC Mayor.

In a further sign of the worsening situation in Zimbabwe, the body of the mayor of Harare’s wife was found in a mortuary close to the couple’s house north of the city. She had been beaten so severely with rocks and iron bars that her face was almost unrecognizable, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/20/zimbabwe.violence/index.html

Can you blame Tsvangirai for wanting to throw in the towel?  As I have reported before, the African continent sits on its hands; it honestly does not care. The rest of the world community is jumping up and down, but, similar to the Burmese Junta, Mugabe sits back, pokes his tongue out and keeps doing what he has done for over 20 years.

There has only been one lone African hand raised these last few days. It is the hand of Rwandan President, Paul Kagame.

Meanwhile Rwandan President Paul Kagame attacked what he said was a failure by African nations to address the situation in Zimbabwe, breaking rank with other countries in the region who have until now avoided direct criticism of the electoral process.

“It does not need a genius to understand that free and fair elections can be hard to contemplate in the current situation,” Kagame told a news conference.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/20/zimbabwe.violence/index.html

One can only continue to protest if one can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, the light Tsvangirai is seeing ahead is a train. How is he ever going to have a serious chance of running for President, if his opponent is stopping him from campaigning, trumping up charges, and murdering supporters? And then, if he does win, Mugabe vows to begin a guerilla war against the new government. The old bastard will go down in a violent blaze of glory.

President Kagame of Rwanda needs to seriously rally the African leaders not just behind Tsvangirai, but behind the future of Zimbabwe. Tabo Mbeki of South South Africa needs to develop some courage and tackle Mugabe head on. It is Africa as a collective group that needs to get hard line with Mugabe. No more conferences, no more ’sitting back and waiting for the result’, but hard line punishments that will hurt Mugabe, and banish him from the playground. I have no idea what they can do, but I am sure they do. They just haven’t exercised their power. However it is important that it is collective power. President Kagame can do nothing on his own.

I know that many a victory has come through tough struggles and pain. Nelson Mandela suffered decades in prison before he finally saw the South Africa that he had been longing for. But, like Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, pain simply for the sake of it when the rest of the world glances over from time to time and says, “Sad, isn’t it?” can be seen as simply not worth it.

Enjoy your day.

I have a bit of a penchant for ‘old sayings’. I have always been intrigued by them. I have also wondered many times who made them up. Well, today’s ‘old saying’ is, “Too late she cried.”

Former Australian Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough, has stated today that the Rudd Labor government has a huge responsibility to continue with the former Howard government’s Northern Territory Indigenous Intervention plan. Even though the intervention seems to have its good points, and I praise the former government for at least being on the right track, it was implemented in 2007. For those of you unfamiliar with the former government, they came to power not in 2007, not in 2001, not even as far back as 1998, but March 1996! For over a decade, former Prime Minister, John Howard did nothing for the Indigenous people of Australia. He did not apologise, he rarely even mentioned the existence of Indigenous people until he called a Federal Election last year. It was an election he was destined to lose, so he needed to pull out all stops. So he began to put in place a program to stop abuse among Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

Now, it is never too late to help people. But it was too late for the former government to be seen as credible in regard to looking after the health and wellbeing of Indigenous communties. So for the former minister to tap the present government on the shoulder and say, “Continue our great work” is a bit rich.

If the former government had been vigilant in its help of Indigenous people, and had a fantastic track record over 11 and a half years, then yes, tell Kevin Rudd to be a respectful steward, and improve on the great work that has already been done. But the bottom line is, the previous government pulled out an election year ploy to save their hides, and the Indigenous communities knew it. If Howard and his government were serious about wanting to improve the lot of the first Australians, then he would have apologised years ago, and put in place long term, tangible strategies that would have seen Aboriginal people streets ahead than where they are now.

Mr Brough said the apology by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was a chance to build momentum for long-term planning, but the Government needs to ask where Aboriginal communities will be in 20 years time.

“Here we are in 2008, we’ve just said sorry. We’ve said sorry for the mistakes of the past,” he said.

“Who is going to give the apology in 2028 for the mistakes of today?

“We will be saying sorry but we will have no excuse because we know better.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/19/2280253.htm

So, if this is Mr.Brough’s benchmark, then John Howard and his team, Brough included, has no excuse. In 1996, Australia wasn’t exactly sitting in a 1940’s mentality. Aboriginal people received the vote way back in 1967, so to plead ignorance is a bit beyond the pale. Brough wants to keep the Rudd government to account, but the government that he was a part of seems to be exempt from the same level of scrutiny.

So Mal, “Too late, too late she cried, as she waved her wooden leg.”

Enjoy your day.

There is an old saying, ‘Do you see the glass half full, or the glass half empty?’ If we look at the current crisis in regard to fuel prices, you would be forgiven for seeing the glass half empty.

However, studies have shown that as the price or petrol (gasoline) increases to record highs, we are not sitting around whinging about it. Instead, we are working out ways we can avoid spending unnecessary amounts of hard earned cash. In doing so, we will probably do untold amounts of good to the environment.

“Certainly for now we do know that people get used to a certain price over time and it may be the case that we’re just seeing the knee-jerk reaction,” he said.

“But if we do see the price of petrol continuing to rise then we’re going to continue to see people changing their behaviour.

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that people are looking to public transport now, that they’re using their cars less to go up to the shops to buy a litre of milk, whatever it happens to be.

“Even in terms of businesses they’ve clearly got to adjust their behaviours, perhaps making sure that trucks and semi-trailers are well and truly full, and may be able to reduce the number of trips they make.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/18/2279048.htm

If you look at it, we are changing our habits for purely selfish reasons; we want more cash in our pockets, and we will do anything not to give it to someone else. It’s sad that we are not looking at protecting the environment for the sake of protecting the environment. But, whatever works.

Having lived in Asia for the last 5 years, I have not needed a car. Public Transport has been good enough for me to survive on. Now that I am returning to Australia, the thought of driving everywhere and spending astronomical amounts of money on petrol is not something I am looking forward to. Even I am thinking of times that I can leave the car at home and use public transport, which is in turn, changing my habits from what they were the last time I lived in Australia.

So, like me, it may well be the first time we, as global citizens, have really thought about what we do every day, rather than just put our minds in automatic pilot, and go through the motions of life. It may also make the drivers of the world truly look at how efficient our city’s public transport systems are, and even see how bad they are for the first time. Again, we will jump up and down if those systems are not up to speed, and we will do this, again, out of pure selfishness.

Maybe this is the answer to getting the world’s citizens to take environmental issues seriously; make them hurt. Just like when you want to get your kids to do something for you, threaten to take away something they really like. Rest assured, what you want done by them will be done in record time. No fuss, and very little effort.

As oil prices increase, so does our awareness of the world around us. If high oil prices end up saving our environment, then we can look back and say that this was the pivotal moment in each of our lives that changed the downward environmental spiral.

Enjoy your day.

Al Gore has today endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. Yes, this may have been seen as predictable, but it is extremely important.

Gore has always been seen as the ‘President that nearly was’ or the candidate that had the Presidency ’stolen’ from him in 2000. I sometimes wonder what our world would have been like now if Al Gore was at this point in time coming to the end of his 8 years as President. I dare say the world would be a very different place, and the United States would be a much more respected nation.

Gore has been pressured to stand as a candidate for the Presidency again, but he knew that such a move would destroy his credibility. He has poured too much time and energy in being seen as the credible voice on environmental matters to ruin that, so the best thing he could have done was to endorse Obama; and what an endorsement it was.

Gore was scathing in his criticism of the Bush administration, more than any other political figure. He knows just how much punch he packs, and he is using it.

“After the last eight years, even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter,” Gore said, adding, “After eight years of lost jobs and lower wages, we need change. After eight years of incompetence, negligence and failure, we need change.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/16/gore.obama/index.html

Don’t hold back Al. And he didn’t.

Gore said the Bush administration has “dishonored and disrespected” the Constitution and led the nation through “eight years of the most serious foreign policy mistakes in the entire history of our nation.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/16/gore.obama/index.html

Al Gore has been trying to ring the environmental emergency bell for many a year now, and it is only now that we are ’sort of’ listening. What he sees in Barack Obama is someone who is whipping up the winds of change, and change can bring about the environmental outcomes he has been hoping for for as long as I can remember.

He called for Americans to move beyond partisanship and select in Obama a leader who can “solve the climate crisis and create a bright future.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/16/gore.obama/index.html

Momentum is building. Some could call Gore opportunistic, and maybe he is. But he knows that since Australia signed the Kyoto Agreement, the United States is very alone in its attitudes towards the environment. Gore has already praised the new Australian Government on their signing of the Kyoto Agreement, and now he feels its time to ride the same sort of wave that made people like John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. the historic icons that they have become. How amazing is it be to not only be associated with one of the most charismatic figures in US politics in years, but to see his environmental plan finally taken seriously, and something done about it.

“…Gore praised Obama as someone who could mobilize people, young and old, who had never before taken part in politics. Gore went on to praise the nominee’s vision on the environment, domestic and international issues.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/16/gore.obama/index.html

Mobilisation is the key word here. In this world where many countries are still way, way behind the eight ball in regard to taking this crisis seriously, we need to mobilise ourselves into action. As I have intimated before, whatever your political leaning, Barack Obama has revitalised the young, and made them interested in our world, and what matters. He has been the centre of more debates on issues than any other Presidential candidate since JFK. So, to use a surfing analogy, when the wave is big and it’s coming in, the surfer would be silly to ignore it.  Al Gore is the surfer, and Obama is the wave in a normally quiet ocean. 

Gore has been dressed in the wetsuit and waiting on his surfboard for a long time waiting for the wave to come in and carry his message to the world. He would be a fool to let this once in a lifetime wave wash over him now.

Enjoy your day.

Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, is given a tour of Xavier University.

Since September 11, 2001, people of the Islamic faith, as well as arabs in general, have had a bad rap. Like with any group where one or two bad eggs reside, the whole group suffers. Good Catholic priests have had to endure being seen as child molesters, because of the sins of their colleagues. Comedian Robin Williams made a joke about how arabs are treated on aeroplanes these days:

“Ladies and gentleman, we are now about to conduct some random bag checks…I’ll just read out some names: Osama Bin Seen, Hassan Bin Hit…”

Arab muslims, as well as muslims in general are seen as the new enemy, and that means all of them.

So, it was nice to see a story recently which breaks right through these barriers and stereotypes, and has allowed us to see that countries in the Middle East are run by normal, everyday people who want to live in peace. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, an oil rich emirate in the Middle East, has donated $100 Million to New Orleans to help rebuild schools, hospitals and homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

“We saw what happened to Orleans,” the emir said in the interview. “We were watching on television. We are part of this society. It is good for everyone to help out. I really felt sorry for the people.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/us/nationalspecial/30emir.html

Apart from CNN, I have failed to see this story given a lot of airplay. George W Bush has spent the best part of his Presidency painting arabs and muslims as evil nasty terrorists who plan to take over the world. It has scared people so much, that if anyone was planning to have a holiday in the Middle East, say to Jordan, Bahrain, Egypt, or the UAE, friends would be frightened to death and swear that their loved one is heading into the fiery depths of hell.

What I find ironic is that by his actions, the Emir has done two things. One, he has allowed the people of the United States to see the other side of the arab world, and of Islam. Two, he has unconciously shown George W Bush up for his ineptitude in responding to Hurricane Katrina at the time. What won George Bush the 2004 Presidential election was fear. Fear that these horrible boogie men from lands far away were going to come in the middle of the night and kill you and your children. What the Emir has done is quietly walk into the lives of the poeple of New Orleans and say, “I want to help”. Boogie men never want to help. You couldnt get better PR if you paid for it.

“How wonderful that country has been to this area when we didn’t get the kind of support we needed immediately from our own government.”

Because of the country’s generosity and the speed with which it acted, Qatar represents “a ray of hope for all of us,”  said Tulane University President Scott Cowen.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/qatar_amir_visits_new_orleans.html

It takes just one person to break down the barriers of prejudice. When people say to you, “What can I do? I’m only one person.” You tell them this story. Yes, he has bucketloads of cash, but the cash isn’t the most important aspect of this story. It’s what he is doing to improve the image of arabs and muslims worldwide. Through his efforts, at least the people who are recovering from Hurricane Katrina will think twice before they judge anyone based on a ignorant assumption.

Enjoy your day.