Hail to intelligent women....

But You Can Keep Your Hat On!

Americans will never cease to amaze or fascinate me!  Their new President has had about two full days in office where he has overruled, rearranged and written up some pretty important laws, rules and regulations... But according to the overwhelming response to this little tidbit on the CNN site (When at work; Should Obama wear a jacket or not?) - nothing will be too small to mention or get worked up about! I can already see an endless stream of comparisons with his predecessor from now on... from the color of socks to......? Only your lack of imagination will be able to stop this one! -

Meanwhile Foxnews has launched an all hands on deck for a "Fear and Smear campaign" called "Americas Future" against the new administration (What a surprise!) 

But the really scary thing is,  just how many Americans, who lists this network, as their only source of "News" !!!

            

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

The windmills of his mind..

I'd tuned to CNN.. And again I saw John McCain bashing his opponent, re- repeating his punchlines... He does that a lot... It's like, why give up a good line, just because you've used a hundred times before? This time it was the one that goes like this; " If Obama wanted to run against George Bush, he should have run for office, 4 years ago!" and then it was the line about earmarks, going on about telescopes... and the one about socialism, spreading the wealth.... And on it goes...;

He makes me think of Don Quixote; The old warrior stuck in a moment in his past, fighting  a lost cause; The windmills! Unfortunately they are only in his head.. You can even say, that the old Knight, was a kind of "Maverick" in his time... But a true one, as opposed to McCains illusory "Lone rider" And that McCain's dark fiery eyes is betraying his anger,  ambition, power greed, and something as human as

"living up to the old man"... (McCain the father; The admiral, went through the same thing with his dad; John McCain's grandfather; who was a admiral too!) When asked; What do you think of Colin Powells endorsement of Obama? His repeated auto answer is listing the 4 secretaries of State and more than 200 generals and admirals on his side... Kinda like the kid telling you; My dad is bigger than yours...

  

Then I read an article in Rolling Stone issue 1063, written by Tim Dickinson, a member of the Republican Party and who voted for McCain in 2000 in the California Primary.

And that background article, rattled me... McCain; A man I thought of as; An old warhorse fighting a lost NeoCon cause, going a bit deaf, from too much drumming.....  But, as it turns out, it's his own drum, he's been banging all along while doing the navy-ditty "For the love of the country"!  

The reasons why his own party mates is turning their backs on him, and especially the Republicans in the US Military, who are not as easily fooled by his pilot bravado, as the rest of the nation. All this becomes much more understandable and crystal clear to me, after having read this well researched piece. It's filled with a vast amount of interviews with firsthand sources. This reckless and raging old man is such a fraud... .  

 A man of such mediocrity (He graduated 894 out of 899!!) his only means to rise to power is by nepotism, sucking up and manipulating the media with half truths and whole lies...  Some of the far out  and dishonest statements in the article, is quotes from his autobiography, as tainted as it is, by his selective memory and fact tweaks! 

 McCains erratic, hotheaded and impulsive character, has these very traits in common with my ancient warrior... and then I didn't mention McCains long career in womanizing and that Quixote loved his damsels as well.... But the old Don is basically harmless and John McCain is anything but! If that man comes into power, real power; we'd better run for the hills and start stocking up on food and what else we might need, in order to survive another great war!

 I wouldn't want either

 John McCain the Maverick with a rusty honor

 or

Don Quixote the Knight in rusty armor

as

 the most powerful warrior in the world -

                                     

                                   

-This is Don Quixote endorsed by Sancho Panza just like John McCain has been endorsed by Al Qaeda on their website.. (",)

 And McClellan (ex White House Press secretary) has now endorsed Obama - Yet another Republican has crossed over from the "Dark Side" - (",)

But what never ceases to amaze me; Is the fact, that The Leading Nation of the Free World,  apparently hasn't invented a voting process and tools, which works in a infallible manner and without hiccups! The whole process is outrageously time consuming and troublesome......

And then I'm not saying a word about the whole voting system of electoral votes and so on!

Smooth operator with a human touch

Ahr, well... The colors of fall is blowing in at full blast and the wind is getting noticeably chillier... Just like the atmosphere at the US elections.

And at full blast is, the all attention consuming US election... The campaigns are firering off the heaviest ammo they can muster and the dirtiest truths, half-truths and right out lies, they can possibly dig up. And all this without coming across like an angry, impulsive wildcard as opposed to a determined, informed pro...Cold or presidential? And so on, and on and on....! "An ugly campaign, is getting harder to do, on account of the internet"- says Huffingtonpost

 Now that Barack Obama is going to Hawaii to visit his sick Granny Toot. Michelle Obama, his very capable wife and selfprofessed "Obama Mama" is going to do the talking for a couple of days...(Can you imagine Cindy McCain do that?) The media speculated on the effect on the swing- voters of this trip, and should his Campaign managers now be nervous?

 For me, this would only take away the last hesitation, if any! This proves that; Obama is, what he say he is; A man concerned  about the soft as well as the hard issues. And thus; All cries of Obama being way too slick, cold and smooth for his own or the nations good... must now be silenced...!

But humans with their emotional likes and dislikes are indeed a fickle affair... 

What it all boils down to is that all of this, is all of it in the eye of the beholder! 

There's no telling what they might do, when the day comes. When Non-Joe the Non-Plumber, stands all by his lonesome in the booth with only his maker as his witness, where he'll put his cross or whatever fantastic system the Americans have dreamed up!  - The first reports of voting machines with a mind of their own, is already coming in - This is promising!

On CNN; I saw a map of the world, decked out like a political map of US. 

In the case of the world having a vote in this election, the map was almost entirely Democratically blue - Georgia and Russia would go to John McCain, though! -( How can your have a running mate; Sarah Palin, who will not give interviews?)

But this brings me back to my old utopian idea of a system for global "voting". A vote that didn't count as a US citizenship vote would or should, but should count never the less, they have super-delegates and electorals in the American elections already. This could be like; An amount of people, picked at random. The number is according to size of the country. Every country in the world is involved. And everyone should have a say/vote.  From Albania to Japan.

America and whoever is running the show is a huge influence on all of our lives - Just throw a sideway glance at the finance rumble!- whether we like or not, and we should therefore have a say in their elections. This would only be fair.... But it will never be.... but still...! 

If you want to play with political maps go to RealClear Politics site, also a great place for any questions, you might have about American Politics... which is a bit mysterious for Europeans as my self. - Oh, and they have authors from both sides - Elephants and Donkeys alike!

The gap is flexible, and it's apparently a uphill battle for McCain, who is loosing Colorado...or rather searching for a trick to win the election without winning Colorado, New Mexico and Iowa.... Good luck on that one! And McCain is currently harping on Obamas inexperience on national security and therefore being a danger to the nation. But I think that Rep. Colin Powells endorsement of Obama, pretty much neutralizes that statement!!  - And Obama is leading with 9 points...

And right now McCain is grabbing on to anything, that comes his way or not, to hook on voters; Like; Obama hanging out with baseball players of different clubs and claiming to be fan of them all, depending of which state he's in, that Obama is a socialist, you name it.. nothing is too small, too petty as not to be thrown in. 

Does being a Vietnam POW, makes you an expert on the matter of all concerning national securities and foreign policies? Or maybe just a expert on being a POW? This is said with the outmost respect to what the man must have endured! 

A Danish taxidriver told me, that he was certain, that Obama will be assasinated, if he makes it to office....; "The Americans will never allow a black man as President" Man, that's a disturbing thought!

 Heard  a Danish reporter (Martin Krasnik ) (danish link) 

say ( yep, yet another danish link -sorry!!); "One of the real problems, is the divided nation. Well, that's not exactly news. Both candidates have shout outs for a united America. But I hadn't thought of the consequences; (but maybe that's just me) And this is, that everyone keeps to their own side of political observation; Only reading/hearing/seeing what their peers has to say, do... etc. And that's how; outrageous, die hard rumors E.g. "Obama is a Muslim" can live a long and undisputed life. 

Each side have their "own" radio/TV personalities, who can pour gasoline on the mythic bonfires to their hearts content... No " Presse etisk råd" (Council of media- ethics) to keep journalists in check here, or keeping the blunt and uninhibited media personalities on the straight and narrow -( Think O'Reilly on Fox) Being objective is not the name of the game ...!! Try and watch something like CNN's "The situation room" Everyone in that studio is biased and openly so...! I have talked to conservative Americans, and they prefer Fox news and thinks of CNN as too biased !! Just to show you, that we tend think that our opponents are the only one who's partial to the facts  

But anyways... I know what Martin Krasnik means, though... As I sometimes have a hard time listening to people of other political observation, than my own... I do tend to either turn them off or turn the page. Because it does have an effect on my blood pressure, when I try to exercise some restraint and sit through an interview with the likes of the danish right-wing politician and extreme patriot; Pia Kjærsgård...( Link in danish) But if I don't pay attention to the people, who is of a different opinion, than my own, then how can I even pretend to be informed...?

 When it comes to; Websites, documentaries, books and news-paper articles etc.etc ; I find, that the Objective author/instigator is a creature in danger of extinction.... 

On that note, I wanted to read a american newspaper and as I still don't have my Mac back from repairs, I thought I'd treat myself to the Sunday edition of "The New York Times" (Talking about keeping to ones own! ) And yes, it is a rare treat, when in Denmark, one has to pay; 80,- Dkr (14,15$) for a copy.... Somehow the slow death of the printed word, doesn't come as a surprise! But at least the Sunday ed. is as abundant in reading matter as the spanish "El Pais" Sunday edition. NYT comes with two glittery magazines, a Book, a Arts& Leisure, a Travel, a Styles, a Week in review, a Sports and a Business supplements.... So there's enough for the rest of the week.... Served up with my latest flame: Ben and Jerry's "Bohemian Raspberry" Now that "Cherry Garcia" is so very hard to find in these parts!  

Ice cream goes really well with Dutch "Stroopwafels", American Politics

 and the oncomming elections, which I find as fascinating as a great J. Le Carré novel....

 (All Stroopwafels is courtesy of Ninon & Simon in Amsterdam)

Little Miss Pipedream

Well, last night 01:00 GMT and 09:00 in HongKong; The Biden Vs Palin show went out into the satellite orbit and touched down, right here in Copenhagen, Denmark at 03:00 am - Had set the alarmclock, as to be in full vigor; with tea and my favorite icecream; Baskin &Robbins' Cookies'n' cream within my reach....

 And what to say? I'm totally and absolutely on my knees with infatuation with CNN's "Prime Toyboy"; Anderson Cooper,  Wolf Blitzer, a horde of analysts, commentators and leading figures in the world of political journalists and speech writers of every observance!  But what really turns me on is; The "Magic Map" - A gigantic touch TV screen, where the "Senior Political analyst" of the hour can throw maps of states, statistical figures, swing-votes, cities, Democrats' Super-delegates, Homepages and what have you around and around...  -and then draw a color-full circle or a line or two to underline a statement made in the heat of the moment or under the influence of outrageous paychecks and the power that comes along with it, almost as an afterthought! - Magic Map is (for me) the definition of a high-tech playmate of the year!

But let the one and only VP debate begin;

 I saw Joe Biden ( Yeahr.. I misspelled his name in the last post!) behave like a true gentleman, actually chocking up (!! - touching the subject of his life as a single parent) when, Mrs Palin, for upteemth time insinuated that he wouldn't know, what an average American, would be talking about at the kitchen table and she would, because she is a Mother! He didn't correct her, when she got names she should know, wrong! He didn't patronize her and for me, his biggest accomplishment of the evening was, that he didn't laugh outright of all the silliness and hot air she vented... He went after her boss instead - Well done, Joe! "Can I call you, Joe?" ( I'm so down to earth, straight forward, folksy and to top things off, I'm a hockey Mum too! You see...!)

Man, did she sound rehearsed, refusing to answer the questions, where she hadn't been coached beforehand. She had two or three sentences, she said again, and again I.e. "The greed and corruption of wall street" "Tap into"..... She said herself; "I have only, what, 5 weeks of this?" When asked if there were any promises, she had to undo, because of the recent financial situation.. And then she wants to take on Washington? - McCain being part of that exact same city and the people running it... 

Maybe she's dreaming of headlines like "Mrs Palin goes to Washington"   

 Or maybe secretly harboring the illusion, that James Stewart's character is  based on a true life story and she gets to reenact it?

- But then again, I don't think for a second, thats she's even half as "naive and sweetly innocent" as she wants us to believe! She must be thankful for the lack of followup questions in last night's debate and she probably, inwardly, thanked her good lord above, when moderator  Gwen Ifill  chose to let Sarah Palin slide off easy and let her "Not answer" with "I'd rather talk about" And what she just loooved to talk about was about: All the oil in the Alaskan ground and all the pipes and millions of barrels of oil (And pork?)  America could "Tap into" there... - No fighting windmills, solar energy or other alternatives for Mrs Palin! She even managed to answer the question of " What is you Achilles heel " with a 3 minute long self-glorification! (Maybe she doesn't know the meaning of the phrase?) Apparently, being a Hockey-mum is her biggest asset on her job application for Vice Presidency of the United States 

 I'm so very surprised, when Rep. commentators afterward tells us, what a fine job  she did; talking "Folksy"! Do they honestly believe that a few "Doggones" and "Darns", is what it takes, when applying for the second most powerful job in the world?

 

No way, the Americans is gonna buy this toxic, ignorant, one horse town wannabe politician... ?!

            - I said with hope and faith in the Nation of the brave.... But I still won't bet good money on the victory of Obama/ Biden ticket!

 Thankfully the election is not up to vice presidents 

but to;

 Barack Obama and  John McCain 

Their next debate will be on next tuesday!