Bittersweet

Boston.com

The election is long over. A new year is starting, and even most of the more ardent liberals are moving on. But in Louisburg Square this week, one determined group isn’t quite ready to let go. About a half dozen supporters of John Kerry are holding vigil in front of his house, still hoping for a Kerry presidency.

The little knot of demonstrators, calling themselves the Coalition Against Election Fraud, stood shivering in the cold yesterday, hoisting signs and pressing fliers into the hands of bewildered passersby. Taxi drivers, neighbors digging cars out of the snow, and Beacon Hill residents who happened to be strolling by were subjected to earnest pleas to join the cause.

‘’Who knows? Maybe we’ll overturn the election,” said Sheila Parks, a vigil organizer.

… or maybe not.

In all fairness Kerry did increase his votes by nearly 300 in the Ohio recount, but somehow I don’t think that is good enough for these people.

hat tip Blogs for Bush

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Newsweek has an interesting article comparing George Bush and Tony Blair to Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

People often ask how history will remember our generation of leaders in comparison with the second world war leaders Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Many comment that today’s leaders look small compared with the giants of the past. This is, I believe, a misconception. In their day, both Churchill and Roosevelt were frequently criticized, often savagely, by their fellow countrymen, including legislators who had little knowledge of the behind-the-scenes reality of the war.
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Although it can easily be argued that George W. Bush and Tony Blair face a far lesser challenge than Roosevelt and Churchill did—that the war on terror is not a third world war—they may well, with the passage of time and the opening of the archives, join the ranks of Roosevelt and Churchill. Their own societies are too divided today to deliver a calm judgment, and many of their achievements may be in the future: when Iraq has a stable democracy, with Al Qaeda neutralized, and when Israel and the Palestinian Authority are independent democracies, living side by side in constructive economic cooperation. If they can move this latter aim, to which Bush and Blair pledged themselves on Nov. 12, it will be a leadership achievement of historic proportions.

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Like all of you I am overwhelmed and grief stricken in the aftermath of the Tsunami. I don’t have it in me to talk politics or play the blame game, especially in areas that I admit I do not understand.

So this post and my prayers are for the victims and the survivors.

With the death toll just over 57,000 and expected to continue to climb money is desperately needed for food, medicine, clothing and shelter.

Please donate to the charity of your choice or follow this link to receive or give information.

The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami

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Merry Christmas to you all

Have a safe and joyful holiday

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Sorry for the non blogging but I’m fighting a pretty nasty head cold at the moment. I’ll get back to posting as soon as I can.

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For sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years, George W. Bush is TIME’s 2004 Person of the Year

An ordinary politician tells swing voters what they want to hear; Bush invited them to vote for him because he refused to. Ordinary politicians need to be liked; Bush finds the hostility of his critics reassuring. Challengers run as outsiders, promising change; it’s an extraordinary politician who tries this while holding the title Leader of the Free World. Ordinary Presidents have made mistakes and then sought to redeem themselves by admitting them; when Bush was told by some fellow Republicans that his fate depended on confessing his errors, he blew them off.

See also:
Congratulations to Powerline - Blog Of The Year.

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I was asked this morning what I thought about Kofi Annan’s little meeting with Colin Powell yesterday.

I was also asked if I thought it was ironic that Annan was here looking for the Administrations support in the food for oil scandal.

What I think about the United Nations and Kofi Annan in particular is no secret, not to anyone who knows me personally nor to readers of this blog.

I believe Annan and his merry band of thugs are as corrupt as the Corleone family. I don’t believe they do the jobs they were entrusted to do and that they have outlived their usefulness. I’d like to see them reduced to nothing more than a humanitarian organization, dispensing aid where and when needed. It would also be nice if a new organization could be formed, one that doesn’t allow dicators and rogue nations any say in world affairs.

In fact being a democracy would be a requirement for membership.

There’s even more I could say on what I think but the fact is that my thoughts are irrelevant in the bigger picture.

What is important now are the January elections in Iraq and all we have now is the United Nations as it stands. So I suppose if Colin Powell and the Bush administration have to make a deal with Kofi to get some much needed help then who am I to complain.

I have supported the war and I still do, but supporting it doesn’t mean I don’t wish it was over and I don’t wish for our soldiers to return home. The sooner that country is stable the sooner that can become a reality and the sooner the reality the better for the Iraqis.

The sad truth is that had the world via the United Nations stood behind us in our mission, then we would not face the problems in Iraq that we do. But they didn’t and knowing this has emboldened the insurgency and fed anti American attitudes around the world. They found it easy to ignore the political and financial motivations of the opposers and believed only that the UN didn’t support us so therefore we must have been wrong.

A few days ago another mass grave was found in Iraq, this one containing over 500 bodies, and yet there are still people who claim putting an end to Saddam Hussain’s reign of terror was illegal and immoral.

As I said if there are deals to be made then make them. I’ll not complain or whine as long as the job gets done. But if Kofi Annan or the United Nations screw us over then my hope is that the Administration and all of our Allies in Iraq make it their life’s work to see that organization torn apart and nothing left but the shame of every humanitarian( here and here) and political failure ( here and here) connected to it.

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