Block Aid

I was astonished to learn that the Native blockade in Caledonia, Ontario had entered its 60th day last week. The blockade must have been up for 30 days before anybody in the media noticed. Nevertheless, the protesters from Six Nations have shown great patience and conviction in their cause. They are currently protesting the construction of 250 houses in an area they consider sacred land. [What part of this country isn’t sacred to native people?] Since governments and developers have shortchanged aboriginal peoples in this country, blockades are erected as a symbolic form of protest.

When it comes to the definitive blockade, nothing beats the actions of farmers. Last Monday, farmers drove a long line of their tractors directly in front of the Canadian Prime Minister’s house. They stopped traffic, disrupted the PM’s schedule and made the front page of every newspaper West of Ontario. They were reminding the PM and the government that they needed more financial aid, just in time for the May 2 Federal budget. Farmers have traditionally protested in this manner because it’s simple and distinguishable on the horizon. No image of peaceful protest is better than the long line of red harvesters and green tractors moving slowly along the highway.

In Caledonia, an anti-blockade protest came to a head with 500 people marching on the highway. In a bizarre twist of allegiance, a police car was damaged and one arrest made. Perhaps that person should mix his politics with root beer instead of Molson’s.

The good news is that the great Canadian compromise of negotiating a settlement is continuing. And that’s what most protests are all about: a desire to be included in the decision-making process. The question is whether a consensus will be reached in Caledonia. It all depends on who has the biggest and hardest head.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Same Play New Cast

Last week’s changes in the White House can best be described as a casting change in the long-running farce known as the Bush Administration. A new Chief of Staff doesn’t mean anything more than superficial change at the higher levels but it did send a scare into the West Wing. The surprise resignation of Scott McLellan as Press Secretary was a bit of a shock. His remarkable career in double-speak comes to an end.

Karl Rove may not be in the building but he’ll still be a major influence on policy. I would suggest that he’ll be working to shape the upcoming congressional election platform and perhaps place Bush in the proper, conservative context. That means he’s going back to directing, instead of acting.

Joel Kaplan is good at asking Congress for money and as the Bush gang goes deeper into debt over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he’ll be playing the part of Oliver Twist with his hand out. In 2000, when Florida fixed its eyes and its votes on Bush, Kaplan was reportedly part of the pseudo-protest known at the Brooks Brothers Riots. This was a gang of Republicans posing as outraged Florida voters who were sent from Washington to intimidate the staff conducting the recount. So Kaplan has gone from a background performer to lead actor in six years.

Josh Bolten is the George C. Scott version of a Chief of Staff. He’s aggressive, loud and likes to control the conversation. Clearly his appointment and the other inner-circle changes are cosmetic at best. But they do serve an important purpose: distraction.

Just when the heat about who leaked the name of Valerie Plame starts to increase, Bush shakes up his cast of characters and the White House herd, aka the Press Corps, follows his lead. Lewis Libby’s plea of not guilty in the Plame affair, was the more important story, last week, because he’s been charged with perjury during the Fitzgerald investigation. Last week it was reported that Libby said Cheney authorized the leak in 2003.
[See: http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0414nj3.htm]

Considering how the mainstream media was successfully distracted from the Libby story that could implicate Cheney and Bush, the White House wins again.

George W. should open his own casting agency.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Democracy: Italian Style

Definition of the Italian political system, metaphorically speaking:

You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

Italians take their politics seriously. So much so, that they often change governments on an annual basis. Last week, after 5 years of continuous service, Silvio Berlusconi was voted out of office. Romano Prodi was voted in, but he has to form a coalition of sorts, just to keep everybody happy and to keep the Left on the same political page.

Berlusconi, owner of Mediaset, a huge media empire, also owns a soccer team and half the judges in Italy. He makes Mussolini look like boy scout. Corruption, payoffs and bribes are a way of life for him and his Forza Italia political movement. For the people whose hands are being greased, the result was less than satisfactory. But for the rest of the people, Romano Prodi is their man of the hour. [Let’s hope his government lasts a whole lot longer]

Prodi’s politics are a little bland to the inexperienced eye, but he does have one thing going for him: he’s not Berlusconi. And that says more about the Italian electorate than the media will have you believe. Berlusconi was rude, difficult and a lousy manager of the economy. His government even changed the electoral rules last December in order to improve his chances in the recent election. He also sent Italian troops into Iraq and backed George W. Bush, the most hated man in Europe. Prodi, who defeated Berlusconi in 1996, couldn’t manage the impatient Communists and was voted out two years later. In 2006, he still has a lot to handle on the Left; we’ll just have to wait and see how effective he is this time.

How many cows does Professor Prodi have to sell to boost the economy and lower the debt?

Only the cows that want to come home.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Salem Witch Trial c.2006

The trial of the so-called 20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui has been a rather familiar form of the Salem witch hunt. Here’s a guy that’s been in jail for 5 years without proper legal representation, under extreme circumstances in jail and now he “qualifies” for the death penalty. [This trial even has its own version of spectral evidence.]

Moussaoui admitted he was going to participate in the attacks of 9/11 but he’s been inconsistent in his often emotional statements. Perhaps his treatment in jail had something to do with it. As reported a few years ago by Seymour Hersh, [Moussaoui]...has been held in a windowless, six-by-six cell with the lights on 24 hours a day for eight months and has been denied free access to counsel.” Even his own lawyers admit that he suffers from some form of mental illness, perhaps schizophrenia. Last week, in a story on MSNBC, it was revealed that Moussaoui was wearing a stun belt that was controlled by U.S. Marshals. Like the accused in Salem, Mass. 314 years ago, the defendants suffered “fits, outbreaks of obscene babbling, and wild partying in the local woodland.”

Regardless of his diagnosis, Moussaoui isn’t quite the terrorist the prosecution makes him out to be that’s why he was allowed to testify. He looks and often acts the part with emotional outbursts to shock the jury. But in the words of Bill Maher, “he’s an open-miker”; a wannabe al Qaeda member. He has the desire but not the talent, that’s why he was arrested in the first place. Yet he stands to die for 9/11.

Revenge is a meal best served cold, it has been said. Perhaps that’s what this expensive trial is all about. We can’t get bin Laden but we can get one of his deranged disciples and if he’s punished, we all feel better. Just like it was in Salem in 1692; sometimes the appearance of justice is enough, regardless of the truth.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Straight Down The Middle 2

Proportional representation is a blessing and a curse. In Israel, particularly following last week’s elections, it’s a little more of the latter. Ehud Olmert, the new Prime Minister, only won 28 seats in the Knesset and now seeks partnerships to maintain a coalition government. His toughest job is appeasing the right while being responsible to the people. But perhaps this is what voters wanted: a compromise.

For the first time in years, a new party was elected that wasn’t Labor or Likud, indicating to me that the people want a government down the middle, neither left nor right. It looks like Sharon was correct: progressive steps to end the fighting with Palestine, while building a Jewish state in its purist form was the solution. And like a famous Captain of a ship called Enterprise, Sharon isn’t around to make it so. Nevertheless the people have spoken and Olmert has his work cut out for him [literally and figuratively].

Benjamin Netanyahu looks like yesterday’s man. He tried to frighten voters into electing Likud based on a fear of HAMAS. But HAMAS has shown it’s hand and was not necessarily considered the evil empire Netanyahu made them out to be. Besides Olmert is being supported by the extremist Yisrael Beiteinu party regarding his policy for the West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who says nothing changes regarding HAMAS’s policy toward Israel, is in for a big surprise. Olmert may still act unilaterally to build a metaphorical wall between Israelis and Palestinians on the West Bank.

Israeli voters elected a more centrist party to lead them. Maybe they’re willing to negotiate with the Palestinians and that would be a blessing.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.