Olympics: I have a facial on the 8th of August

Scheduling appointments

I must have words with my calendar secretary, he has been scheduling all sorts of appointments that I am not sure I would be able to honour because of other eventualities that might arise.

I have found that I have a facial schedule; in fact, it is a full body treatment as a metrosexual aside; on the 8^th of August 2008 in the afternoon. That is not to say I have no other indulgences before then but that seems to clash with another important event that I had previously considered attending.

Regrets, regrets

My regrets to the Chinese government for not being able to attend in person the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing would be duly expressed, but the greater regret would be, if I have cucumbers over my dainty eyelids, I would not watching the opening ceremony on television either.

I would not give up a floatation tank treatment and the reflexology manipulations not to talk of the beauty treatments that would make a me surer man than me to while away precious pampering time in front of a tube – I do not have a flat-screen television yet – the one I have still works.

We are busy

Before I begin the self-flagellation of utter regret, Gordon Brown might also be down at the spa, Ban Ki-Moon seems to have booked his pedicure for the same time and George Bush is thinking maybe his pheasant shooting date might just change the course of history to make him the best President of the United States ever.

Suddenly, at the eighth second, of the eighth minute of the eighth hour in the night of the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth (It is really the ninth) year of the millennium we might all be busy doing something else but what the Chinese want us to do – watch their grand show of pretending to be a nation that has arrived on the world stage.

Learning from 1936

This time we would not be spectators of a new kind foreboding once experienced in Berlin in 1936, all is not well in China today just was all was not well in German then, one has to be discreet enough not to mention Tibet, Myanmar, Darfur or human rights within China itself, that would not be the done thing.

Ah! I have an offer at the Spa, I can visit twice in a month, and I would be back there on the 24^th of August.

The dog or the wild lioness

What patriotism?

Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.

Pause and think – this is the purportedly the reverse acronym or backronym for the USA Patriot Act 2001.  Methinks we have been sold a Trojan Horse.

When the news first broke out that the Presidency of the United States of America had authorised the surveillance of American citizens, one let that frustration of due process pass on.

However, the commentary that has developed since that revelation to that which now includes the secret scanning of radiation around the premises of American Muslims.

Patriotism is supposedly the love of ones fatherland, but at what cost to freedom, liberty and safety? This is a very concerning issue.

Latitude and abuse

I am of the view that the US Congress did offer great latitude to the President to fight the war on terror which is explicit in that it affords the President everything in his power to prosecute that war.

However, the extent of that power should only be exercised to include undefined and unspecified situations; meaning, where a due process and an existing explicit law exists which has not be superseded, then that take precedent.

Due process

In the case of the surveillance of American citizens, explicit due process exists, hence, it cannot first be ignored by the President nor does it fall under the remit of the great latitude.

One of the reasons for due process is the prevention of abuse; it forces the executive to work with the judiciary even in expedited situations with all evidence properly documented.

Where this process is overruled or ignored, those checks and balances are lost, because the continual review of the activities is done only within the executive without legislative or judicial oversight. It violates the rule of law and blunts the democratic principle of the separation of powers.

More so, without oversight, it means people wrongly targeted or abuse of process cannot be properly prosecuted. This is a democratic aberration and for this to happen in the , well, one wonders how strong their democratic credentials are.

The arguments

• The President has said, what he has done is within the law and the Attorney General has waded in to extrapolate on the latitude given the President – the jury is out regarding the legality of that standpoint.
• The President called the revelation of those facts shameful; they might be, but if due process had been followed there would be no need for the revelation to create that much commentary. One does not recall the President calling the revelation of Valerie Plame’s status as a CIA agent shameful.
• The President has said the revelation of this information helps the enemy, however, I think the enemy is within. First the argument about due process prevails over this, then as a democracy you cannot apply the “end justifies the means” principle for the abuse of process.
• The President says this is saving people’s lives; maybe it is, but that is beside the point, the executive cannot become a law onto itself. Principle and integrity should not be supplanted by the histrionics that prevent the objective debate of issues.

Patriot Act revisited

Now that the “fog of war” is clearing, the Congress is having another good look at the Patriot Act and they have decided that the provisions cannot be extended indefinitely.

The blanket passage of flawed legislation on the flood of patriotic support for the President in a time of crisis is now thankfully receiving better and due scrutiny.

Also, we see that senators have been able to persuade the Presidency to accept the need to have a law that explicitly instructs against the practise of torture by all American personnel after a rather bruising few months.

The principle

The fundamental principle at stake here is that even in the time of war, the President still cannot exercise untrammelled powers without due process and oversight.

This leads on to the concept that this is still a democracy, they have a president not a king, and it is neither an absolute monarchy nor a theocracy. The congress and judiciary are there to turn that Texan swagger into a stiff match, hopefully.

The guard dog or the lioness

The Patriot Act is supposed to be like a guard dog, protecting the owner and attacking the enemy. The more we look at the dog the more it looks like a wild and angry lioness that has just lost a cub; meaning it either needs to be caged to protect us from its savagery and is of no use in attacking the enemy or we have to be in cages and have the lioness roam seeking out and eating the enemy.

Do we need a guard dog or a wild lioness?

Essential liberty or temporary safety

One commentator did say that the American Muslims should be enlisted in the war against terror not blacklisted in it; they had no part in the activities of September 2001.

Furthermore, Americans must decide if they are really deserving of both their safety and liberty as the words of Benjamin Franklin ring true today as they did over 200 years ago. “They who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

At this time of seasonal goodwill, one hopes that a New Years resolution is brewing in the Presidency to go beyond upholding the letter but also the spirit of the democratic principles raised by all concerned citizens.

Merry Christmas to all my readers.

Aborted by non-abortionists

Lessons from the news

The last week became another week of interesting assertions as the news started with the tragedies of loss of life through accident and misadventure in Nigeria and climaxed with a resignation in the midst of the White House.

Not too much is known about the victims of the air crash but it warranted 3 days of national mourning in Nigeria, this compounded with more revelations about the fact that the President’s wife, now laid to rest did indeed die from the consequences of cosmetic surgery offered by the “exclusive” Molding Clinic in Marbella, Spain.

There are lots of lessons to be learnt from the need to establish better air craft maintenance regimes to the inordinate quest for youth through surgical augmentation – which some commentator ascribed to the cultural colonialism engulfing Africans of means.

Toupee or to shave

My own resolve was to shave my head completely the moment I noticed signs of emerging baldness, it was easier to manage, accept and handle, and not an iota of my confidence or esteem was affected by that decision.

We just have to accept some aspects of nature, or what I mean in the generally quoted prayer is the courage to know what to change, what we cannot change, knowing the difference and moving on.

Mired after conception

Back to the by-line, Harriet Miers the erstwhile nominee to the post of Associate Justice in the US Supreme Court withdrew her name from consideration by reason of the unrelenting opposition from conservatives who thought besides the issue of gravitas, she had not made clear her stand on the issue of abortion.

Law and politics in America has this strange litmus test of being judged or pre-judged on the issue of abortion, that apparent cornerstone of constitutional law of protecting the unborn over considerations of the already living and existing is almost bizarre to the extreme.

This is besides the fact that Ms Miers belongs to an evangelical communion which would most definitely be opposed to abortion.

A manager is a manager

However, the grating part of this nomination was exemplified in another nomination for the post of the chairman of the US Federal Reserve where some commentators had offered that Mr Bush’s bank manger could as well be in the running.

That had become the basis for levelling a charge of cronyism on a president who was supposed to clean out the Aegean stables of the office of the Presidency after the peccadilloes of the Clinton years.

However, if the bank manager were nominated, Mr Bush could easily have said he was a good bank manager and what needs to be managed is a bank, albeit the bank of the largest economy in the world and that quite convincingly in his almost dronish voice.

Scooter the Hobbler

We had not heard the last of the clean-out as we had run out of breath waiting for the indictments of the special prosecutor on the leaking of a covert agent’s name in order to discredit her husband.

By the time we heard that the Chief of Staff to the Vice-President had been indicted from perjury and obstruction amongst other charges – 5 in all – the only quote of the day that stuck was about such charges defiling the office of the president.

The President in his folksy almost smiling demeanour offered that there was work to be done and moved on to Camp David, but the special prosecutor has only shot the first salvo – a resignation from any staff of the White House is probably the rarest sight, but that scalp might just be the first on this matter.

There might be more heads bowed in shame, but Scooter which is the nickname of that functionary did not scoot out, rather he hobbled off on crutches.

The only hope for the next week might just require a confident walk that makes the last week the tipping point into new expectations. Even onlookers have to have to live to be spectators as live passes on around them.

In office but not in power

In Office and losing credibility

One would not cast oneself as a political observer of any note but at times things do become too obvious to be ignored after a while.

It is generally thought that politicians in a final term are lame-duck politicians in that there is nothing to fight for but the confirming of ones legacy for the sake of posterity.

That is the view that prevailed at the re-election of George W. Bush, however the radical ideas and appointments that have ensued show that there is going to be a bit of moving and shaking before he calls off.

The same has already been said of Tony Blair of the United Kingdom who was re-elected last month for a third term albeit with a reduced majority, the parliamentary plan does look radical and full, but having said he would not serve the full term, we should expect he would be off in a few years.

Another European leader also appears to fit into the second term lame-duck scenario having had a squabbling first term that lasted just 9 months. Well, some people view that 9-month period as the gestation that has given birth to the least imaginative and innovative government in recent history.

That said, most of the radical activity that proceeds out this office has centred around burnishing his image for every criticism or parody made of him in the courts. For a politician, this is the thinnest-skinned ever encountered.

Today, offers the opportunity to pass severe judgement on the ideas, policies, demeanour and vision of this cabinet. The European Constitution referendum debate been hijacked by both the extreme and the indifference who have excited the concerned has left the government of the day cack-handed and stuttering about the real benefits of being in Europe.

Only arrogance and indifference can explain why the coalition that makes up the government has failed to look available and present in the campaign for the advancement of Europe.

In more common parlance, they are just completely clueless; in the world we live in, being clueless could as well be a complement.

Even now, the citizenry might just be secretly hoping that Harry Potter who bears a striking resemblance to our protagonist was the Prime Minister for the fact that he is smart, agile, bold and resourceful. The real alter ego just seems to have his wand pointed the other way and his broom flying backwards.

Two exchanges in the British Parliament to the Prime Minister of that time in the early 1990s typify the circumstances in which we find ourselves in the Netherlands.

The non-Midas touch of the Prime Minister here leaves us in dire need of a new and representative government and even though they are in office, they are definitely not in power. Alas!

Clearasil Total Control in Mainz

The Visit

One could not help but watch with amusement the visit of Mr George W. Bush to Europe, starting with meeting the Belgian royals, the government, then the EU Commission, NATO and then off to a city 2000 years old founded by the Romans called Mainz. [1]

The symbolism of the whole event is not lost on keen observers of the event and history.

However, the title is to illustrate the proverbial situation where presumably the leopard - Dubbiyew - has lost his spots in declaring extreme friendship and unity with the European cause as partners in liberty, freedom, justice and that most uniting divisor - Iraq.

Clearasil

Clearasil [2] happens to be most common commercial cosmetic used to deal with spots, acne, blemishes and unseemly colours, but it would be disingenuous of me to suggest that all that had happened was cosmetic, but why are the protesters still out there?

Now, one can understand the master-stroke of genius that informed replacing a dour gentleman of gravitas in the person of Colin Powell; who at times looked so much at odds with the cards he was dealt that you almost felt great sympathy for him.

With Dr Condolezza Rice [3] whose charm offensive hardly 2 weeks ago in her whirlwind tour of the American "friendly" states, especially France had chivalry sweep the continent. Like we had returned to the day Sir Walter Raleigh [4] laid his cloak down for Queen Elizabeth the First to walk over a muddy patch. I submit; Chivalry is not dead in Europe.

There is no doubt that Clearasil and its effects are either obvious or desired as a thing of the mind, just as Regaine [5] allegedly portends to offer hair to those who struggle to come to terms with male pattern baldness, I know of one instance where it put more hair on a person's back than you will find on a sheep in mid-winter in New Zealand.

Total

Borrowing a cliché, gone are the days when the crowds in the streets of Germany would welcome with such fanfare a president of the United States like John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan who both did profound and probably mad-hatter things in Berlin that have become staples of 20th Century history.

Even Bill Clinton did attract an audience at the Brandenburg Gate in July 1994 [6]. That probably was the last time an American president had the world stage looking to Berlin and Germany for something of historical significance. Bill Clinton can call into Berlin with ease, he is a true German and European friend.

How times have changed, a whole city of Mainz is now sealed off [7] for a visiting American president so much so that he will not and cannot come across the gentle folk of the city.

Wonderfully ironic it is that main home page of the City of Mainz suggests that they are eager to host the bi-lateral meetings - that is really pulling the wool over my eyes.

Control

Even that now begins to speak for itself, crowd control, protest control, shops closed, schools closed and the serious vetting of select members of the Young Leaders almost reminds one of the great prospects of the Hilter Jungen - perish the thought! Maybe it is all Pest Control.

Rumour has it that on one of the streets that was to accommodate the presidential motorcade a funereal shop specialising in memorial stones was advised to move the stones out of town, just in case some exuberant youth broke into the shop and picked up a 100-kilogram stone and pelted the motorcade - you can never accuse the Polizei of lacking such vivid imagination even with these carefully weighted words.

In Mainz

This is where the symbolism is complete when contrasted with America, definitely this was a city of Old Europe being over 2000 years old means it evokes history, culture, heritage, values and architecture of mind-boggling proportions.

It also happens to be the city of Johanes Gutenberg [8] who invented the printing press which gave rise to literacy, helped propagate the millennium and has won him the deserving accolade of the man of the Second Millennium.

Then there was sailing down the river Rhein, it makes one wonder if the fish were asked to stay home. [9]

References

[1] Mainz Online: Home Page

http://www.mainz.de/WGAPublisher/online/html/default/hpkr-5nkek8.en.0

[2] Clearasil Total Control

http://www.mytotalcontrol.co.uk/

[3] MSNBC - Rice charms in first diplomatic dance

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6948654/

[4] Sir Walter Raleigh: A Who2 Profile

http://www.who2.com/sirwalterraleigh.html

[5] Hair loss products - Regaine UK

http://www.regaine.co.uk/

[6] "Berlin is free!" President Clinton Brandenburg Gate, Berlin. July 1994.

http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga6-940712.htm

[7] News Analysis: Bush sealed off from Germans in Mainz

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/23/news/scene.html

[8] Mainz Online: Gutenberg

http://www.mainz.de/WGAPublisher/online/html/inhaltsbereich_no_frames/mkuz-5tagms.en.0

[9] Much Ado About Bush | Germany | Deutsche Welle |

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1493287,00.html

Of Tsunamis and people

The Chain of years

Finally, one has gotten to that point where it is impossible to not realise that the New Year has come and gone and there are new things on the horizon.

In the time before Christmas 2004 and now, there have been such world changing events it has been impossible not to be affected, concerned or involved, but how much of the response to all this is genuine, reflective and the impetus to do better at working for a just and free world?

Tsunami of water

Starting with the tsunami which made a devastating visitation to the Indian Ocean wiping out almost 200,000 souls, it appears from all analysis that whilst the tsunami was not preventable preventative measures could have been taken to prevent that magnitude of loss of life if people who observed that earthquake had been more imaginative in their understanding of that event.

An earthquake of that magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in the middle of an ocean would almost always result in a tsunami on its surrounding shores. In some cases people had up to 3 hours to evacuate before being overwhelmed with such damaging force.

Whilst there is no sophisticated tsunami warning system and outlying areas were inhabited by rural folk who live in standards of poverty unseen in the West, but also with dazzling amounts of contentment not seen in the West either, it is debatable that every house does not have a wireless and probably a town-crier.

A wireless, one must say is a radio, the news of impending danger could have gone out on the primitive communication device and been much help.

However, at the cost of probably billions of dollars an early warning system would be implemented for the sophisticated and hopefully, not to the exclusion of the less technologically savvy.

It simply goes without saying that the quantity of scientific brains lacking common sense is increasing alarmingly, the inability to use imagination in the useful salvation of life when pigeon-holed in the scientific laboratories and research centres without thinking of cost and profit is becoming unforgivable.

It is that same misguided notion that makes September the eleventh 2001 most poignant, America was not attacked with bombs, missiles or military weapons rather, it was 4 fully laden airplanes - passengers and fuel - that flew into the twin towers and the Pentagon - the advent of Mr George W. Bush's interesting presidency.

Basically, security, freedom, democracy, safety are in the hands of the citizens of the world, not the tools that we use to bring them about. What would seismologists have done if the earthquake were closer to home?

The exhortation rings along once again - always think globally, no matter what is happening locally. [1]

The Tsunami of aid

Yesterday at a benefit concert in the United Kingdom, GBP 1,25 million was raised for the victims of the tsunami disaster just at the same time that it was making the news that tetanus is becoming the biggest threat to survivors and the relief volunteers.

Pledges close to $2 billion have been made with so much noise made of the generosity of the West and the miserliness of the Arab states.

It comes to might that teaching of Jesus where He exhorts that works of charity should be such that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

For once, I have distanced myself from the hysteria of donations whilst trying to see where if the pledges would be fulfilled first, and then if all that would really be used for the affected.

The Tsunami of democracies

First with Ukraine, who have finally been able to inaugurate their chosen president because one principle was about the people and the other was about methods and tools.

Democracy should always be about people, and if any lesson can be learnt from the trial of democracy in Ukraine; the will of the people should and must prevail.

The Palestinians had an opportunity to elect someone after the death of the man who kept the Palestinian cause in the public eye. Mr Yasser Arafat did not lead his people to the chosen land, he was no Moses.

What he saw from the mountain top was not pleasing to him nor could he persuade his people of that in 2000. It was an opportunity missed, but he hoped he would get better. No matter how Mr Arafat is castigated, he remains the true spirit of the Palestinian cause any successor would be dwarfed in his shoes, but a new beginning beckons.

Next change? Israel.

An inauguration costing $40 million; and this for a re-election that nobody but Americans wanted. The tendency for a leader of a constituency of just under 300 million people of a global population close to 6.3 billion to intend and imply that that election leads to world presidency needs to be nipped at the bud.

The slanted American democratic practices which I have covered in many ways in my blogs do not have the kudos to be extrapolated to mean global leadership.

One could be forgiven for thinking the inauguration speech was a Sunday morning TV evangelist sermon on freedom and liberty, but then for someone who has such strong moral values, determination and convictions, I am at loss in seeing the difference between Mr George W. Bush and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – the former leading a democracy masquerading as a theocracy in the US and the latter having lead a theocracy masquerading as a democracy in Iran.

Basically, the government of the people cannot move back to a theocracy in the earth that we live in today, because the concepts of God, authority, leadership and attendant interpretation of those issues impact of the citizenry in different ways.

The agreement of purpose cannot only be imposed by accepted tyranny as in Iran or the Patriot Act in the States exemplified in the so vividly in Guantanamo Bay.

Next on the democratic list is Iraq, where the candidature is hardly known to the electorate and chaos reigns as if the birthplace of chaos is Babylon, it is unlikely Nostradamus foresaw that amazing genius that has used the force of freedom to sacrifice life, peace, sovereignty and common sense in one blow.

If there is any change, it cannot be the increase of peace for the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, it appears the year 2005 would be ever so interesting – how you read interesting would depend on if you are a native English speaker from Britain or from elsewhere.

References

[1] The Asian Tsunami: Think Globally, Locally, Journalistically
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=76241

To lose a loss of life

To lose a loss of life

The deluge of Malapropisms that flow off the lips of that graduate of Harvard University does make one wonder if his graduation thesis was written in a dialect of English that makes everyone prick up their ears at the commencement of each utterance.

This time, having just visited wounded soldiers in hospital he walked out into the glare of the usual media circus to express a few thoughts about the carnage that resulted in the loss of twenty-something lives of soldiers and civilians having lunch under a tent in the confines of an American base in Iraq. [1]

Having stuttered over a few words expressing condolences, regret and anguish, one turn of phrase came out as "... to lose a loss of life ..."

The peace in Saddam's time

It is without doubt that the seemingly peaceful Iraq under Saddam Hussien in which a few people were terrorised and abused to death by a handful of despotic psychopaths has turned into a terrorist insurgency where live and property in every town is constantly threatened.

The rape of Fallujah in which many of the self-same terrorists were holed lead to a dispersal of these insurgents to relatively peaceful areas of Iraq which included Mosul in the North.

As governor of Texas, he presided a record number of death penalty executions, it appears there is a numbness to the realities and emotion of death, both criminal and young American alike are expendable in the quest to appear tough. [2] The numbness that informs the mechanical signing of letters of condolence from the Secretary of Defense, though he has now offered to personally sign each letter [3]

Whilst, it might be argued in the president’s defence that he is protecting the American people the land of Iraq has probably seen on average more blood spilt in the 21 months of visitation than when Saddam Hussein ruled with terror.

Derailing history from the tracks of reason

One version of history might suggest that the Butcher of Crawford who lead a "free and fair" America in the debunking of the spirit of the Geneva Convention, had in conjunction with being caught napping at the crest of events of September the Eleventh expended the lives of over 1,000 youths and probably 100,000 Iraqis to pre-empt the re-occurrence of 9-11.

Then he balanced that on the principle of offering freedom, justice and democracy at a cost that is becoming the most expensive purchase of freedom in civilisation.

Death for many is FINAL

Being a committed Christian who might believe in the existence of life after death, as well as the realities of heaven and hell does not confer on anyone the right to despatch so many to the great beyond. This earth might for him be transitory, but for the grieving relations and family of the departed, there is finality, a vacuum and an absence for those left widowed, orphaned, fatherless or motherless.

Without doubt, the lure to join the forces on the premise that they would provide opportunities for a career and secure future is as much a loaded mouse-trap where many get trapped before they've had a whiff of the cheese bait. Dead, maimed or completely traumatised. There ought to be better ways of getting out of the ghetto to becoming successful apart from joining the forces and definitely not just by being a musician.

A cult of bizarre people

The draft would eventually be re-introduced because America being the country that it is, has all the hallmarks of extreme conservatism whilst trying hard to display liberal values.

Most are at ease with the death penalty and the choice of abortion is based on a public morality rather than a personal, conviction or medical need; stem-cell research is not a cause for scientific advancement and the choice of partnership is not the reserve of the few to decide on what alternative relationship they are inclined to have; little wonder that personal liberties would be further curtailed as the gullible rally round the flag and the American people would be deservedly governed as they have chosen.

Oceans of blood

This Iraqi quest has been so blood-thirsty that the demon that so feasts on the blood of the innocent and guilty alike would hardly be sated regardless of the developments. Time and again, we have been assured that for every step-change in offering sovereignty to the Iraqis the insurgency would subside; that is still a pipe-dream. [3]

Finally, to quote directly from The Economist - Christmas Edition 2004 a comment by an Englishman with regards to the Potemkin Steps in Odessa, Ukraine [4] "an ill-conceived design if intended for ornament; its utility is more than doubtful, and its execution is so defective that its fall is already anticipated" - So can be said of the Iraqi quagmire, I pause, reflect and sigh!

[1] BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Eyewitness: Carnage in the canteen

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4116343.stm

[2] George Bush: death penalty,capital punishment,George W. Bush,Texas,political polls

http://www.texecutions.com/

[3] CNN.com - Signature on death letters fuels Rumsfeld criticism - Dec 19, 2004

http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2004/US/12/19/rumsfeld.signature/

[4] Casualties in Iraq - 2004

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

[5] VirtualTourist.com - E-Diogo's Odessa Travel Page

http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/38554/abbcb/

The Potemkin Steps - 192 Steps with 10 landings; if viewed from above, one sees just the landings and when viewed from below, one sees just the steps.

Every Vote Counts and Matters

The World Expects...

Once again we come to the cross-roads of democracy where the government of the people, for some people by fewer rich people is decided by many people who should realise that it affects all people.

Once too often I have heard of a group of people called the American People a constituency that the Presidency represents by adopting a theocratic resolve on all social issues and blinding stubbornness oblivious of the realities of the Iraqi quagmire.

However, let us get to the issues starting with a simple analogy and its unfortunate lack of correlation.

This Security Issue

For instance, if I had a security firm that signed a long-term contract to offer services to protect life, property and security and then within the first year of the contract, we suffered loss of life, property and security, would I be renewing that contract or seeking better services?

Then after the catastrophic losses, the security firm resurfaces as a reborn firm with a new mission statement, new vision and probably a lot of restrictions to my freedom and access to my associates whilst chasing after the known people who make me suffer such loss, for a while I am content with all that activity.

Afterwards, the security firm decides to go after persons who had no relationship to the original perpetrators of the serious crime on the premise that a relationship might develop between these persons and the persons who caused us such great harm - I think I should be a bit suspect of this whole idea. What about the guys who did all the damage, who is going after them?

The retort comes back, that most of their employees are imprisoned on some secluded island out of reach of the law and reason. Really?

Fine, than news comes back from a number of auditors that the security firm was lax in many aspects that could have prevented the loss, that the decision to divert resources to un-associated issues was neither necessary nor useful in pursuing the aim of capturing the original perpetrators.

We are now left with a bigger contract bill and a greater loss of life, property and security and no particular idea of how to extricate ourselves from any of the issues in which we have embedded ourselves with such optimism but pessimistic realities.

The truth of the matter

• When was American attacked?
• Who was in charge when America was attacked?
• Following the analogy, if this not a case of bolting the doors after the horses has bolted, what is?
• The horses are lost but the stable is secure, fine, but what was the stable built for?
• Was Iraq implicated in the September 11th attacks?
• Should not the war on terror first have dealt with Al Qaeda before looking further afield to prosecute other ideological aims?
• Is it really worth all that has now been lost?

Probable answers

America was attacked on September the 11th in the year 2001 during the term of President George W. Bush who happens to be the head of the security firm that was supposed to be protecting the full interests of the American people - life, property and security.

Surely, the presidency of George W. Bush was energised after the attack, but it is now on record that the guard was dozing off at the sentry leaving America vulnerable to the attack it suffered.

More so, his 8 months in office had produced landmark issues of isolation, tax cuts, pandering to special interests and so on - meaning he could have done something about security and putting Al Qaeda in the cross-hairs.

Any security guard would sound tougher and act tougher if caught to have failed on the job, unfortunately the horses that bolted are completely lost, to suggest you have not been attacked again does not preclude that fact that you are attacked on his watch.

A security guard should be up to the job from the first day and through out the term of the contract - this one failed.

The war on terror should first and always have been the war on that terrorist Osama bin Ladin and his Al Qaeda organisation. Iraq could have come a lot later with better reasons. But would a second term yield a war in Iran and North Korea which are fledging nuclear powers?

Oh yes! Go after the terrorists in their backyard and you can only sponsor that with a bigger deficit and definitely the return of the DRAFT. The draft Bush, Cheney and Clinton so successfully avoided, by playing the system. People who have not experience of the horror of war and prosecute wars are reckless as best and plain tyrannical at worst.

Just the numbers would do, over $120 billion, over 1,000 dead American sons and daughters, over 29,000 wounded soldiers, over 100,000 dead Iraqis, a 52 card deck of former Iraqi officials, one free Osama bin Laden, one free Mullah Omar of the Taliban regime, one terrorist den of Iraq, one greatest opium exporting country of Afghanistan, 2 emerging nuclear powers of North Korea and Iran and one weaponless Libya.

All for almost 4,000 dead Americans, the twin towers and 3 lost airplanes?

At one time someone should start counting the cost and that is NOW.

The World Really Expects...

Americans need to look beyond the local issues, "Act Local but Think Global", this election is a world election, we need someone the rest of the almost 6 billion people of the earth would feel comfortable with, who would promote both national and international peace without infuriating others who take an opposing view - a diplomat.

The world needs a strong American economy with sound principled economic policies grounded making for a surplus rather than an unprecedented budget deficit that leaves the unborn already saddled with debt.

That used to be the forte of third-world impoverished and indebted Bantustans - an economics.

The world needs a leader of the United States that sees the US as uniting the people and not in the context of "us and them", polarising every opinion that comes into the public debate - a leader of great persuasion.

Every American who can vote should and must vote for one of the persons vying for Presidency and every vote counts. Ralph Nader is not running for Presidency, he is not on enough state ballots to seize any electoral seats of any significance. That would be a wasted vote.

In fact, Ralph Nader and his supporters should vote for one of the proper Presidential candidates, either George W. Bush or John Kerry.

We cannot afford more of the same, nor can we afford a more aggressive more of the same for another four years, we probably need change and good change at that, regardless of the some inkling that the alternative is not as persuasive as he should be.

Get out and vote and do it right - the world expects and your conscience expects.