After months of nothing but seemingly bad news, here are three small indications that there might be re-emerging signs of intelligent life on the planet.
First: A decided shift to the Right in European parliamentary elections. Left wing parties in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, and Britain were worked over rather thoroughly. This despite a serious “crisis of capitalism”. Perhaps real people can ascertain the difference between a crisis of the financial system and the underlying system of capitalism better than their leaders can.
Second: The Lebanese parliamentary elections went to the U.S.-backed coalition despite predictions that terrorist supported Hezbollah would easily capture a majority. While the victory seemed to surprise everyone, the New York Times was quick to credit Obama for the results, citing his speech on U.S – Muslim relations. So be it, but I don’t think he took the opportunity to even mention the upcoming Lebancese elections in his world famous “I am a Muslim” speech (no doubt patterned on JFK’s “Eich bein ein Berliner!”speech). It’s just as likely that the election results were due to gaffe-a-minute Joe Biden’s comments in late May, as relayed by the NYT article:
When Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. visited Lebanon in late May, and appeared to threaten withdrawal of financial aid if the opposition won, that was widely derided as a kiss of death. But now, some political analysts believe the vice president may have helped by crystallizing for voters their choice: alliance with the United States, France and the regional allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia; or with Iran and Syria and their allies, Hezbollah and Hamas. As the old saying goes: even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Third: SCOTUS stays the execution of Chrysler. At least for a day. Ruth Bader-Ginsberg - no less - has issued the order. We can only hope that the Court will take up the appeal on this government-backed unconstitutional bankruptcy proceeding ( as I previously posted here.)
We take our signs of hope anywhere we can. Perhaps there’s once again a whiff of change in the air. And I don’t mean the hopey-changey variety.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Signs of Intelligent Life
