Another one bites the dust ...
There was a political cartoon in the Basel newspaper Saturday that, sadly, is probably closer to the truth than anyone really wants to admit: The cartoon shows McCain and Obama looking out a window at a crumbling building with a sign "American Financial Crisis". McCain says to Obama, "Um, do you still want the job?" and Obama answers "Hmmm..."
The news this morning is simply more of the same ... an overnight bailout of two European banks (one German and one Belgian), and the breakup and selloff of a failing UK bank.
Then the report that the next US bank is taking on water ... Wachovia has put itself up for sale.
I think the European elections which took place yesterday were a clear sign of where the world is headed: In Bavaria, the CSU (the conservatives or "republicans") lost their absolute majority after more than 50 years. The socialists (liberals, "democrats") also lost voters. The Greens and the grass-roots (bürgerliche) parties all gained seats, while the extreme left-wing socialist party didn't make the 5% limit (so they still are not represented in parliament).
In Austria, the two major parties (conservative ÖVP and socalist SPÖ) both took big losses, and the smaller right-wing parties gained seats.
In Switzerland, there were no major parliamentary elections, but both Basel and Zürich finally voted in non-smoking laws in restaurants and public buildings.
The Europeans have shown that the large political parties have lost touch with their constituents, and that the voters have had enough. 2008 may be the last time that US elections are dominated by two parties ... I could very well imagine the end of the Republican party after the upcoming election, as the younger, more liberal-minded side of the party gets tired of taking orders from the ultra-conservative old men who've been running the party and have completely lost touch with reality.
Then again, I'm waiting for exactly the same thing to happen to the Catholic Church, too. I wonder how long it will take before a new generation of clergy gets tired of taking orders from an old man in Rome who has obviously lost all contact with the world that the rest of us live in, yet dictates how millions of followers should behave and live (even though his mandates make no sense from a medical or logical standpoint).
The blog by evilshell recently, talking about the zombie-like state of some ultra-religious parents and their daughters should be a warning to the rest of us: Organized religion really is "opium for the people". The problem with opium, heroin, cocaine, hash, alcohol, whatever is that after it wears off, you're back in reality, and reality hasn't gotten any better while you were gone.
(On a side note, there was an article in Saturday's paper about the guy who designs the clothing for the Pope. From the quotes in the paper, it was quite obvious that this guy is queer. I don't like that term, but it's the only one that comes to mind, since it was used in that TV show "Queer as Folk". There was a picture of Benedict XVI with lace trim on one of his coats. I held up the picture and showed it to my wife, and asked her ... "Doesn't that look very gay?" ["Sieht dass nicht sehr schwul aus?"]. "Ja" was her answer.)
The news this morning is simply more of the same ... an overnight bailout of two European banks (one German and one Belgian), and the breakup and selloff of a failing UK bank.
Then the report that the next US bank is taking on water ... Wachovia has put itself up for sale.
I think the European elections which took place yesterday were a clear sign of where the world is headed: In Bavaria, the CSU (the conservatives or "republicans") lost their absolute majority after more than 50 years. The socialists (liberals, "democrats") also lost voters. The Greens and the grass-roots (bürgerliche) parties all gained seats, while the extreme left-wing socialist party didn't make the 5% limit (so they still are not represented in parliament).
In Austria, the two major parties (conservative ÖVP and socalist SPÖ) both took big losses, and the smaller right-wing parties gained seats.
In Switzerland, there were no major parliamentary elections, but both Basel and Zürich finally voted in non-smoking laws in restaurants and public buildings.
The Europeans have shown that the large political parties have lost touch with their constituents, and that the voters have had enough. 2008 may be the last time that US elections are dominated by two parties ... I could very well imagine the end of the Republican party after the upcoming election, as the younger, more liberal-minded side of the party gets tired of taking orders from the ultra-conservative old men who've been running the party and have completely lost touch with reality.
Then again, I'm waiting for exactly the same thing to happen to the Catholic Church, too. I wonder how long it will take before a new generation of clergy gets tired of taking orders from an old man in Rome who has obviously lost all contact with the world that the rest of us live in, yet dictates how millions of followers should behave and live (even though his mandates make no sense from a medical or logical standpoint).
The blog by evilshell recently, talking about the zombie-like state of some ultra-religious parents and their daughters should be a warning to the rest of us: Organized religion really is "opium for the people". The problem with opium, heroin, cocaine, hash, alcohol, whatever is that after it wears off, you're back in reality, and reality hasn't gotten any better while you were gone.
(On a side note, there was an article in Saturday's paper about the guy who designs the clothing for the Pope. From the quotes in the paper, it was quite obvious that this guy is queer. I don't like that term, but it's the only one that comes to mind, since it was used in that TV show "Queer as Folk". There was a picture of Benedict XVI with lace trim on one of his coats. I held up the picture and showed it to my wife, and asked her ... "Doesn't that look very gay?" ["Sieht dass nicht sehr schwul aus?"]. "Ja" was her answer.)